Movie Maven
by gregg shapiro
Coyote Ugly ( Touchstone Pictures ) :
You'd never know from seeing the ad campaign for this rip-roaring, high-kicking, hair-tossing, "Flashdance cocktail" of a movie that it is really an old-fashioned Hollywood love story that owes more to A Star Is Born than it does to Showgirls. Jersey girl Violet ( the alternately perky and pouty Piper Perabo ) leaves home and her widowed toll-collector father ( John Goodman ) for the big bad city, in this case an overly unrealistic Hollywood version of gritty Manhattan. Once there, she hopes to get her big break as a songwriter, but not until she overcomes her paralyzing stage-fright. To help in her socialization she gets a job as a bartender in a bar that is every straight man's ( and perhaps a few lesbians' ) dream tavern, where the all-female runway-model-gorgeous bartenders break into elaborate dance routines atop the bar. She also meets a mysterious young Australian man ( Adam Garcia ) , who believes in her, and gosh darn it, she triumphs! One would hope that a movie with characters this poorly realized in a screenplay so ridiculous it's insulting would have had no chance of getting produced. Guess again. On a scale of 1 to 10: 3 ( Wide release )
Hollow Man ( Columbia Pictures ) : Further proof that it takes more than great special effects ( created by Casey Cameron ) just to make a good movie, which is something that Hollow Man isn't. In fact, this movie is so transparent that the impressive special effects are almost reduced to being as laughable as those in old Godzilla movies. Misogynistic ( not surprising, considering that the director is Paul Verhoeven ) , too loud ( a few less explosions on the set and a few more in the text might have been beneficial ) , too violent ( simulated brutal violence against animals, for example ) , and too predictable ( mad scientist Kevin Bacon, who makes himself invisible, gets even madder when his experiment goes awry ) , and badly acted ( non-actress Elisabeth Shue and movie love-interest Josh Brolin will probably want to make this movie disappear from their resumes ) , Hollow Man is a hollow movie-going experience indeed. More shots of naked Bacon ( something the actor seems to be doing a lot of on-screen lately ) would have made this a hollow victory at best. On a scale of 1 to 10: 2.5 ( Wide release )
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye ( Lion's Gate ) : Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the filmmakers responsible for making club-kid Michael Alig take human form in their documentary Party Monster, have done it again with the unlikely subject of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker Messner. Narrated by RuPaul Charles, the story of the first lady of religious broadcasting comes to campy life in more than a dozen segments, all of which are introduced by two hand-puppets in an homage to both Bakker's beginnings and Babe.
From her religious upbringing in International Falls, Minn., to her heavenly ascension as a pioneer in the "electric church" preaching a "gospel of fun" to her ultimate downfall in the mid-1980s ( ex-husband Jim Bakker's one-night-stand with Jessica Hahn and Jerry Falwell's hostile takeover of the empire the Bakker's created ) , Tammy Faye is all too human. Her goofy laughter and endless supply of tears are as essential to her persona as her make-up kit, red hair and gaudy jewelry. While preaching her "double whammy of turned on Christian love," Tammy Faye was also among the first to openly embrace people with AIDS and gay people. Her secular talk show, co-hosted by openly gay actor Jim J. Bullock was further proof of her kitschy appeal to the gay community. Balanced with interviews ( including some with ex-hubby Bakker, current husband Roe Messner, children Tammy Sue and Jamie Charles, and gay religious activist Mel White ) and period film footage, this eye-opening documentary may make you a believer. On a scale of 1 to 10: 8.5 ( Wide release )
On a scale of 1 to 10: 8 ( Wide release )
On sale ( or for rent ) :
Appalachian Journey ( Sony Classical ) : How much does a person have to love Appalachian music to sit through more than an hour and a half of it on a video? A lot! This concert video, filmed in April of 2000 at Avery Fisher Hall in New York, performed by stringed instrument virtuosos Yo-Yo Ma ( cello ) , Mark O'Connor ( violin ) and Edgar Meyer ( bass ) is musically outstanding, but would have been better at an hour in length. The trio performs both traditional and original contemporary Appalachian music with such style that they all sound as if they were from the mountains. Guest vocalists James Taylor and Alison Krauss perform the Stephen Foster classics "Hard Times Come Again No More" and "Slumber My Darling," respectively, to resounding applause. Krauss also returns to play violin on the traditional number "Fisher's Hornpipe." If you love Appalachian music, this journey is for you. If not, see Free Tibet. On a scale of 1 to 10: 5 ( On video )
Free Tibet ( TSG/Palm Pictures/ Mammoth Pictures ) : Opening with newsreel footage of Tibet, which is then interspersed with crowd scenes at the Tibetan Freedom Concert, this documentary goes a step farther than Woodstock in politicizing music. This documentary's intention is the same as Jetsun Milarepa's, an 11th century Tibetan saint who brought enlightenment through music, for whom the Tibetan cause-based Milarepa Fund is named. Diverse performers such as Beck, Foo Fighters, De La Soul, Buddy Guy, A Tribe Called Quest, Skatalites, Fugees, Beastie Boys, Bjork, John Lee Hooker, Cibo Matto, Pavement, Biz Markie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, and Smashing Pumpkins took the stage for the cause and even provided commentary during interviews. There is also some subliminal recruitment occurring by use of footage of embassy protests and the mention of Students For A Free Tibet, the grassroots found on university campuses and high schools. Interviews with the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual and political leader of Tibet are informative, and the movie's emotional high point occurs when a formerly imprisoned monk presents each of the concert organizers with an offering scarf. Some enlightenment did occur, particularly for those in attendance. Thirty thousand signatures were acquired on a petition during the course of the concert, regarding China's most-favored nation status, bound for President Bill Clinton's desk. However, the documentary's message, heavy-handed as it is, is in the music. On a scale of 1 to 10: 5.5 ( On DVD )
Aimee & Jaguar
by lawrence ferber
You think it's hard keeping a lover in today's climate of superhuman gym queens, Prada models, and constant head-turning? Then consider the horror of trying to maintain or find a relationship in 1940s Nazi-ruled Germany. Lilly Wust can certainly tell you you've got it better—her lover, Felice, was dragged off kicking and screaming, murdered by those goosestepping bastards over 50 years ago. Their tragic, true story makes up Max Farberbock's emotionally affecting, although overlong, wartime love epic.
The films has a one-week run at the Music Box starting Aug. 18.
Beautiful blonde Berlin housewife Lilly Wust ( Juliane Kohler ) spends most of her unspectacular life at home tending to her four children ( and an occasional affair ) while her soldier husband Gunther ( Detlev Buck ) is off to war. But when she meets the dark-haired, sexy Felice ( Maria Schrader ) at a train station cafe, Lilly's world turns completely upside down. Felice, a closeted Jew and lesbian who works for a Nazi paper under a false name and secretly delivers information to a resistance group, is immediately smitten by Lilly. And after a few failed passes, Lilly gives in and the two commence a passionate love affair, nicknaming each other Aimee ( Lilly ) and Jaguar ( Felice ) . Complications arise, like Gunther's visits home, Felice's sporadic disappearances and eventual confession that she's Jewish. But the couple endure, and a circle of lesbian friends surrounds them. All seems ideal until a fateful day in August 1944.
Framed by modern-day Lilly's run-in with her lesbian ex-housekeeper—also Felice's ex-girlfriend—at an old folks' home, Ferberbock's film begins and ends beautifully. The stuff Hollywood wartime love epics are made of, complete with stunning art direction, period costumes and makeup, and explosions with planes flying overhead. But the film's final third begins to feel repetitious, as secretly Jewish Felice keeps leaving a pining and confused Lilly in the dust without explanation, and could have used some trimming. Some of the film's best moments are when we get an idea of the time's underground life for lesbians—best exemplified by three such friends of Felice's, played adroitly by Elisabeth Degen, Heike Makatsch and Johanna Wokalek.
Stage vets Schrader and Kohler are a good pairing, the former oozing warm and commanding sexuality while the latter expertly goes from confused, jittery newbie to confident rebel. Inge Keller also deserves note for her stern, wounded modern-day Lilly, who betrays irrevocable loss but still manages friskiness. Despite the overlong length and too-curt condensation of real-life details which deserved elaboration ( the real Lilly actually saw Felice after her arrest, and a fascinating hunt after the war followed ) , Aimee & Jaguar still packs a sobering emotional punch.
***
Join Chicago 2006, the group organized to bring the Gay Games to Chicago in 2006, for a special benefit on the opening night of Aimee & Jaguar, Friday, Aug. 18, at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport. Tickets are $15 and include admission to the film, four chances to win a Trek Mountain Bike ( donated by Out Spoke'n Bikes, 1113 Belmont, www.teamoutspoken.com ) , and chances to win other sports gear and tickets. Fax ( 847 ) 256-8954; www.chicago2006.org
