The holiday season is now officially upon the year 2000. One could tell at the time because the ads and tie-ins for Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas were inescapable. The original work was a plea against the commercialization of the holiday, the Grinch's heart growing because he sees that, to the Whos, gifts are a bonus, the Christmas holiday is about being together with friends and family. In the lead-up to the new live-action adaptation, we were subjected to a Visa ad that directly contradicted that:
The promotion was also advertised on Kellogg's cereal boxes and was the center of a lawsuit between Visa and American Express. All I knew at the time was that, "Just in case we're wrong..." was cyncial and completely antithetical to what my favorite Christmas story was about. It soured me on the movie before it even came out, I refused to see it. A year later, when it came out on VHS, we rented it just to see...and Mom and I turned it off once Cindy Lou started singing (as it turns out, there are no other comparable musical numbers - this is the movie's attempt to get a hit single and possible Original Song nomination). So yes, I managed to avoid seeing this now-classic holiday film - seen and beloved and memed by apparently everyone else in my generation and all the generations after - until this year. Did I like it? Did I hate it? How were the other November 2000 releases? Let us talk:
Charlie's Angels
release: November 3
dir: McG
pr: Drew Barrymore / Leonard Goldberg / Nancy Juvonen
scr: Ryan Rowe & Ed Solomon and John August, from the TV series by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts
cin: Russell Carpenter
A trio of private detectives learn their latest case hits closer to home than they expected.
I watched Full Throttle countless times when it debuted on HBO, 2004 being the absolute peak of my Drew Barrymore crush. Yet I had not seen the first movie until just two months ago! As a Drew Barrymore fan, I am very satisfied, all the plot and character stuff hinges on her and this might be the hottest she's ever looked in a movie. The same house that was a major plot point in Body Double is here, as are Sam Rockwell's arms, which I would like to chew on. Is it a good movie? Not really. Ah, but is it a fun movie? Again, not really, but it insists that it is. It feels like a pilot for a franchise rather than a full film. Good soundtrack.
The Legend of Bagger Vance
release: November 3
dir: Robert Redford
pr: Jake Eberts / Michael Nozik / Robert Redford
scr: Jeremy Leven, from the novel by Steven Pressfield
cin: Michael Ballhaus
War-traumatized golfer must get his groove back to save Savannah's pride and a country club during the Great Depression - and just when he needs the help most, a mysterious caddy arrives.
Many, many, many family members tried to get me into golf over the years, understandable: I grew up behind a golf course, two of my sisters golfed, my grandfather took me out to watch him golf, and we even once had a family day of golfing where everyone did the full 18...but I stayed home with Mom and one other aunt. I don't understand the appeal of the game.
Though I admit, watching this movie, I was able to see what could be attractive about this game. As Bagger Vance (yeesh) reminds Rannulph Junuh, golf is a zen sport about patience, blocking all else out and focusing on the ball and the hole, no matter the distance between the two, feeling the vibrations and the invisible map of the universe guiding what you want to where it needs to be. It's a more universal message than it seems, applicable not just to golf, but to all areas of life. This is, after all, a story of a man who finally returns home from War under a shadow, no one else understanding what he's experienced in the trenches, no one even curious about his inability to hit the rough without seeing the blood of his comrades-in-arms. It is Bagger Vance and his coaching, his direct, homespun wisdom, that provide the nudge Matt Damon needs to play golf like he did before The Great War, to cut out the noise and focus on what needs to be done. Can't totally hate on a movie that wants to talk about sports not as competition, but as therapy. The costumes are crazy gorgeous, too.
Can't totally love it, either. Some of these Southern accents, particularly Charlize Theron's, are strained, and there's a general hokiness trying to play at folksiness in the ensemble, an air of inauthenticity. There is no sense of pacing, it takes forever to arrive at an Act One. And, of course, there is the controversial character of Bagger Vance himself, said by many to embody the "Magical Negro" trope: a Black man whose sole purpose is to show up, help the white people, and leave. And Bagger Vance literally appears out of nowhere, walking up out of the darkness, helps the traumatized Junuh with wisdom and advice in a sing-song cadence, then disappears into the horizon. And while it's for Junuh's own peace of mind, in the larger narrative, it's all to preserve an exclusive country club in the South, acres of land devoted to playtime for the elite, in the middle of the Great Depression. Where is the honor?
Men of Honor
release: November 10
dir: George Tillman, Jr.
pr: Bill Badalato / Robert Teitel
scr: Scott Marshall Smith
cin: Anthony B. Richmond
The life of Carl Brashear, who became the US Navy's first African-American master diver in the 1960s.
While Smith is magicking himself across putting greens so rich white folk can keep a country club operating during the Depression, Cuba Gooding, Jr., is taking on systemic racism in the US Navy all by himself - and narrowly winning! And then he takes on discrimination against disabled servicemen with the help of the racist instructor whom he battled in the first place! There's a gap, of course, a gap that I would have liked to see filled by the life of Carl Brashear, but we get a bit more focus on that aforementioned instructor, played by top-billed Robert De Niro, so that the story of the US Navy's first African-American master diver is also the story of his (fictional) antagonist-friend Billy Sunday. But it's a fine, inoffensive movie. Just unsurprising and unstylish, too. Unfussy, I guess you could say. Also, I really need to see Jerry Maguire because, except for his small part in American Gangster, I don't understand Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s whole thing.
Red Planet
release: November 10
dir: Anthony Hoffman
pr: Bruce Berman / Mark Canton / Jorge Saralegui
scr: Chuck Pfarrer and Jonathan Lemkin, story by Chuck Pfarrer
cin: Peter Suschitzky
Astronauts head for Mars to see the progress of a terra-forming project - and things go wrong.
A flop at the box office, a miss with the critics, and a big hit for me. What do people not like about this movie? The performances are across-the-board solid, I had no idea Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore were feuding and refused to shoot some scenes together, their chemistry on-screen is wonderfully complementary, the former more introspective, the latter more...hm, not blustery, but direct. It's a survival picture, so every ten to fifteen minutes there's a challenge, a breakthrough, and an additional conflict arising from a previous challenge, all experienced under this ticking clock that could mean eternity on Mars. The first act feels almost like an absurdist play - is Mars a metaphor for Purgatory, are they already dead and awaiting judgment, is Carrie-Anne Moss like a Mother Goddess looking after her charges? - and throughout are peppered ideas the tension in space exploration between science and military, the perils of creation, and how a supposed failure can unlock a new breakthrough, possibly. All hailt he Mars flicks of 2000!
Bounce
release: November 17
dir/scr: Don Roos
pr: Michael Besman / Steve Golin
cin: Robert Elswit
An ad exec swaps plane tickets with a stranger he meets at the airport; when that plane goes down, the exec seeks to help the widow...and falls in love.
Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow both deliver fine performances. Paltrow especially does a great balance of the grieving widow and the newly hopeful on the dating scene. Yeah, OK movie. It's no Return to Me.
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
release: November 17
wins: Best Makeup (Rick Baker / Gail Rowell-Ryan)
nominations: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Michael Corenblith / Merideth Boswell), Best Costume Design (Rita Ryack)
dir: Ron Howard
pr: Brian Grazer / Ron Howard
scr: Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman, from the book by Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel
cin: Donald Peterman
Adaptation of the classic story about a hermit who resents the Christmas-loving denizens of Whoville and plots to ruin their holiday.
Incredible craftsmanship on display: the curlicue sets, the gravity-defying hair, the doodly costumes, the transformative makeup that does not disguise the film's stars yet completely turns them into Whos. Jim Carrey's energy is undeniable, he gives a full-bodied, emotional performance under the layers and layers of furry costume, green makeup, and yellow contacts - and, yes, while he plays the comedy magnificently, he communicates loneliness and buried sorrow, often with just his mouth. Impressive work, on his part. The rest of the movie is a cacophonous thing. It's both over-developed - there's so much insistence on defending the Grinch, including an attempt at public rehabilitation before he commences the stealing, that the main conflict, the rest of the movie, feels forced, wheel-spinning to pad out the runtime - and under-developed - Cindy Lou Who's parents have epiphanies off-screen, representative of the whole Who experience of turning character just to further the story, even though you can see in your head a transitional moment, just a glance even, that could make it work. Like, if you're going to go there, commit! I understand why it's a classic for many in my generation and those that follow, but I am not satisfied.
102 Dalmatians
release: November 22
nominations: Best Costume Design (Anthony Powell)
dir: Kevin Lima
pr: Frédéric Bovis / Edward S. Feldman / Lucette Legot
scr: Kristen Buckley & Brian Regan and Bob Tzudiker & Noni White, story by Kristen Buckley & Brian Regan, from characters created by Dodie Smith
cin: Adrian Biddle / Roger Pratt
A rehabilitated Cruella De Ville is released from the criminal asylum and now only seeks to fund a pet shelter...but there is a hitch to the hypnosis she is rehabbed under, and she's just one bad chime away from turning back to her wicked ways.
A kooky Glenn Close performance is a solid foundation for any movie, I believe. As the good Ella, she is unhinged, with a higher angel voice, big infant eyes, and such an aversion to fur that she is physically repelled and revolted by her own mansion. As the bad Cruella, she is right back to wild hair and a cackling cruelty: she loves to be bad. Funny stuff, but she relapses too quickly, and the tension between her two personalities is not exploited to its full potential (one yearns for Maxie). Weirdly similar climax to Chicken Run. That Costume Design nomination is well earned.
Tomorrow, the first of a three-part look at December!
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