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  WINDY CITY TIMES

Movie Maven
by Gregg Shapiro
2003-10-01

This article shared 2103 times since Wed Oct 1, 2003
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Limited runs and special events:@ Big Wig, 1551 W. Division, (773) 235-9100: Mummification Night at the 2nd Pleasure Play Party to benefit the movie Dominatrix Waitrix - Oct. 12

@ Chicago Theatre, 175 N State, (312) 263-1138: Koyaanisqatsi Live w/the Philip Glass Ensemble – Oct. 3

@ Facets Multi-Media, 1517 W Fullerton, (800) 532-2387: Chicago International Children's Film Festival – Oct. 23 – Nov. 2

@ Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, (312) 846-2600: Theater series featuring the 1973 adaptations of plays into movies: The Homecoming – Oct. 3, 4, 8; Luther – Oct. 3, 6, 8; A Delicate Balance – Oct. 4, 6, 9; Galileo – Oct. 5, 7, 20; The Maids – Oct. 24, 27, 28; The Man In The Glass Booth – Oct. 24, 27; The Iceman Cometh – Oct. 25, 29, Nov. 5.

@ Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State, (312) 747-4050: Apocalypse Now Redux – Oct. 4; Platoon – Oct. 11.

@ Lewis University, One University Parkway, Romeoville, (815) 836-5291: Latino Film Festival – Y Tu Mama Tambien - Oct. 2; Talk To Her – Oct. 6; American Me – Oct. 15.

In theaters:

Casa De Los Babys (IFC)—Writer and director John Sayles continues his strong return to form with this movie about six women in Mexico who are there to adopt babies and take them back to America. This is not your usual array of female characters and it is to Sayles's credit that he made them so unique. Skipper (the ubiquitous Daryl Hannah) is a fitness-obsessed woman who has lost three of her own babies; whiny and difficult Nancy (Marcia Gay Harden) does nothing but complain, steal from the hotel maids' carts and criticize everything; Gayle (Mary Steenburgen) is a born-again recovering alcoholic; Leslie (Lili Taylor) is a brusque New Yorker whose single mother approach to adoption has some of the other women concerned, especially Nancy, who is convinced that Leslie is a lesbian; Jennifer (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a young wife whose marriage appears to be on the rocks; and Eileen (Susan Lynch) is an Irish immigrant living in Boston with an out-of-work husband. The women are staying in a hotel run by Sra. Munoz (an ever-youthful Rita Moreno), whose son is on parole for revolutionary activities. The women also interact with Ascuncion (Vanessa Martinez), who works as a maid, and has her own tragic story of motherhood. The movie ends a bit abruptly, leaving a few too many unanswered questions, but the acting makes it a worthwhile view. (B-)

Duplex (Miramax)—WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS IMPORTANT PLOT DETAILS. As one of the few people who liked Death To Smoochy, I was looking forward to Danny DeVito's latest directorial effort and was, for the most part, not disappointed. Duplex is a Farrelly Brothers-like comedy starring Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore as husband and wife Alex and Nancy. Real estate agent Kenneth (Harvey Fierstein) sells the Manhattan marrieds a Brooklyn duplex, the only thing within their price range, with a catch. Mrs. Connolly (Eileen Essel), the little old lady who lives upstairs in an $88-a-month rent-controlled apartment is a big old pain in the ass. She is very demanding of them during daylight hours and then keeps them awake with loud TV viewing all night. She eventually costs Nancy her magazine job and interferes with Alex finishing his novel. She also gets the pair into trouble with the law, when a police officer played by Robert Wisdom takes an interest in the goings on in the duplex. At wits' end, the couple wracks their brains to come up with a plan to get the old lady out, which includes booby-trapping her flat, buying a gun, sneaking into her apartment via dumbwaiter with pillow in hand to smother her, and eventually hiring a killer. The resilient senior citizen, who they estimate to be between 95 and 105, proves to be too much for them. The big, gay surprise ending comes in the form of Kenneth being Mrs. Connolly's son and the police officer is Kenneth's lover. Funny and fast-paced with plenty of painful-looking pratfalls and stunts (and fewer bodily function and gross-out jokes than you might expect), Duplex is a reminder that there's no place like home. (B)

The School of Rock (Paramount): As usual, show-off rock guitar player and lazy freeloader Dewey (the increasingly John Belushi-like Jack Black) doesn't have the rent money for his substitute-teacher roommate Ned (queer actor/writer/director Mike White, who also wrote The School of Rock screenplay). He's been mooching off of Ned for years and when Ned's girlfriend Patty (Sarah Silverman) learns that Dewey also can't repay the more than $2,000 that he owes him, she convinces Ned to throw Dewey out of the apartment. A day later Dewey is fired by the band he plays in just as they were preparing to compete in a Battle of the Bands event with a cash prize. While Ned is away at work, Dewey takes a call from Ms. Mullins (Joan Cusack), the principal at Horace Green Preparatory, the 'best elementary school in the state,' and he pretends to be Ned so that he can get the job and make some money. Once in the classroom, where the 10-year-old students' parents pay a hefty $15,000 per year tuition, Dewey proceeds to turn the class upside down, beginning by tearing up the gold star/demerit chart on the wall. After seeing his students in music class, he gets the bright idea to recruit them as his new band and groom them to compete in the Battle of the Bands. Dewey educates the kids in the intricacies of rock and roll by diagramming the history of rock, showing them videos and sending them home with Yes and Rush CDs for homework. Each child has a role, either as band members or roadies or security. 'Fancy pants' Billy (Brian Falduto), who cites Liza Minnelli as his favorite musician, wants to be the band's stylist and is given the job. Needless to say, Dewey's deception is discovered and the three weeks of preparation for the competition run the risk of being flushed away. The band, The School of Rock, does succeed in performing, to the delight of their once-skeptical families, and Dewey finds his calling. (B)

On TV:

Sundance Channel (check local listings for times) – E Minha Cara / That's My Face - Oct. 1, 5, 10, 25, 30; Priest – Oct. 1, 9, 21; The Sum of Us – Oct. 2, 17, 22, 25; The Adventures of Sebastian Cole – Oct. 3, 11, 15, 23, 28; Fire - Oct. 8, 12, 25, 30; My Beautiful Laundrette – Oct. 9, 12, 22, 28; Don't You Worry, It Will Probably Pass – Oct. 11; Prom Fight: The Marc Hall Story – Oct. 11; Get Real – Oct. 11, 16, 19, 22, 28; Aimee & Jaguar – Oct. 14, 19, 24, 30.


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