Xiibaro Reviews: Outside Providence, Chill Factor, The King of Masks, Buena Vista Social Club

Outside Providence

(Dir: Michael Corrente, Starring Shawn Hatosy, Amy Smart, Gabrielle Mann, Alec Baldwin, Jon Abrahams, Tommy Bone, Jonathan Brandis, Jack Fever, Adam Lavorgna, Jesse Leach, Kristen Shorten, Alex Toma, and George Wendt)

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BY: DAVID PERRY

Almost exactly one year ago I was singing the praises of a certain comedy that I had the luck of seeing at a preview screening two weeks ahead of time. There's Something About Mary was an extra treat to me because I saw it without any jokes ruined by television commercials that showed the scenes that I laughed hardest at. In recommending the film to virtually everybody, I had the chance to reintroduce myself to the Farrelly Brothers. Their script as well as their direction of the film was just as important to the hilarity of the film as W. Earl Brown, but I had never really been that enthralled by their previous works. Dumb and Dumber was funny in my opinion (I guess it counts as a guilty pleasure), and their Kingpin was the funniest film of its year, but neither really jumped off the screen like Mary. I went back and rewatched those two films and found subtle things that made me rethink their combined worth. The two brothers were the comedic equivalent of the Wachowski Brothers (all four of those stated are also very good at doing commentaries for their films on various venues).

Still that did not cause me to have high expectations about Outside Providence. It is merely written and produced by the duo, with American Buffalo's Michael Corrente directing. The film has none of the charm of Mary and is not near as funny. Its story of a down on his luck fellow being sent to preparatory school and falling in love is about as cock-eyed and boring as an A&E dramatization of There's Something About Mary. I would actually come near saying that I all together hated the film. I cannot think of one time that I actually laughed at anything in the film that was meant as a joke.

The visual style of Corrente does not bode well with the story and the film seems unsettled and off-target throughout. I actual do believe that Corrente might be able to do a drama, but this was not his best choice for comedy (of course I will admit that he is the only director that could make David Mamet prose seem boring). None of the cast works and the story and direction seem just as uninterested as I was. I do hate to say this, but if there has to be a kink in the Farrelly films, let this be the only one. Of course one must remember that the Wachowski Brothers only faltered once, and it too was when they merely wrote the film and did not direct (the film was the Stallone/Bandaras vehicle Assassins).

Chill Factor

(Dir: Hugh Johnson, Starring Skeet Ulrich, Cuba Gooding Jr., Peter Firth, David Paymer, Hudson Leick, Daniel Hugh-Kelly, and Jordan Mott)

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BY: DAVID PERRY

One thing that I have a tendency of doing is complaining about certain actors throughout their careers. Not just modern day actors but also those of the sixties and seventies, my two largest viewing periods. Names like Sophia Loren and Rod Steiger (though I will make a concession with The Pawnbroker) have continually seen their merits dismissed with the stroke of my pen. But those two were part of a minority back then, now nearly half of the working acting stock is rotten. Not just unfunny comedic actors like Chris Farley, David Spade, and Adam Sandler, but also many that try their luck at dramatic and adventure roles (for the sake of my own mental stability, I shall not even get into the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, and Steven Siegal). Well before the release of Chill Factor, I had often named one person as the worst actor of the nineties. In my mind, you cannot get much worse than Skeet Ulrich. Many films have been troubled with his presence, and often he is the sole downfall of a film (I was a big fan of Scream, but my biggest problem and, in my opinion, the main debit of the film was Ulrich's inclusion in the cast. Skeet Ulrich has never shown any acting prowess and has fallen on his face everytime he has tried (of course the only time Ulrich's presence in a film was a plus was his picture being a mockery in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut). Whether the film be As Good As It Gets, Touch, or The Newton Boys, he stands as the worst part of the movie (for The Newton Boys, he was one of many bad things about the film, but still the worst). With the release of Chill Factor, Ulrich gets an addition to his shamed filmography.

Chill Factor is another one of those stupid buddy action films with mostly uttered dialogue in between action sequences. If Tango and Cash didn't teach the studios, one can only hope that this will. A drifter finds himself on a mission to save millions of lives when a scientist friend of his (Paymer) gives him a weapon of mass destruction called Elvis with the instructions to deliver it to a nearby army base. It seems that a rogue former military officer named Brynner (Firth), who went to prison for a mistake the scientist made, is now set to steal the weapon and sell it to the highest bidder. The big problem is that this weapon will more or less blow-up if its temperature rises above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. That means that Ulrich has to find a way to keep the package cold in the trek to the army base. There enters Jerome (Gooding) with his ice cream truck that he has come upon in a moment of anger at its owner. The two try their best to get this package to the base while keeping it cold and trying not to be killed by the officer and the police believing that Ulrich is responsible for the death of Paymer.

The film is an utter disgrace to filmmaking stealing from Speed, Project X, and even Daylight. The film is less than worthwhile to sit through. The only thing that I could think of that was near interesting was that David Paymer, one of my choices for most underrated comedic actors. The film is terribly boring, neither thrilling nor half interesting. The normally strong actor Gooding even falters since he seems to be attempting to be an unfunny form of comic relief. Chill Factor is not the worst action film I've seen this year, but it is pretty close.

The King of Masks

(Dir: Wu Tianming, Starring Zhu Xu, Zhou Ren-ying, Zhang Riuyang, and Zhao Zhigang)

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BY: DAVID PERRY

Many could note that I can be a push-over for foreign language films. I do not believe it to be because I just like sitting through subtitled films, but because they are generally better. It is quite a arduous task for a foreign film to get to the US and then to places as small as where I'm situated. Most of your poor foreign films are left in their countries and never see an American release since distributors are not in the business to see a film they import do poorly because of lackluster reviews. But that does not keep out all the bad foreign films. While your lavish dramas like Ridicule and Babette's Feast serve a large number of the imports, the majority seem to be tales of childhood. Some are exquisite masterpieces like Au Revoir Les Enfants and Ma Vie en Rose, others are terrible atrocities like Leolo and Kolya. My expectations are always high for a foreign film, but if it has a major child character, I'm usual going in with some reservations. That is the case with The King of Masks (Bian Lian). At first glance it looks like yet another story of a craggy old person brought to understanding by a child he/she is left with like Kolya and Central Station, but thanks to a little twist and a much harsher treatment of the child as well as the older person, The King of Masks is far from the sappy film that the others were (at least until the end).

The King of Masks is about a man in China that is known as the "King of Masks" because he has mastered an art of changing masked faces in a split second. Living as a peasant, he has little in life, but the lack that causes him the most trouble is that he has no son to give this art to and let the family ability live on. After having a talk with a local performer, the King (Xu) decides that he must buy a son. After casually parusing through a galley where girls plead for him to adopt him, he sets eyes on a young boy named Doggie (Ren-ying) that is the clearest image of the perfect grandson. After buying the child from an abusive father, the King sets out to teach the child all his secrets. But all falls apart when in a moment of panic, Doggie admits that he is really a she. This so upsets the King that he refuses to have anything to do with the child, but slowly he is won over and allows Doggie to serve as an agile performer in his routine. After Doggie causes many problems for the King, she sets out to find him a real grandson.

The film is a beautiful work that transcends the ideals of high drama without getting too melodramatic. The performance from Xu is astounding, though I was a little off-set at Ren-ying's, who actually left me detesting Doggie and all the suffering that she brings to the King. Tianming's direction is at times mesmerizing, at other times formulaic. I did enjoy the film, but only half heartedly. The fact that many characters were less than interesting does not help, but the main problem is in its conclusion. The end is so cloying and annoying that the film almost falls apart over it. Though a very good looking film and an interesting piece, The King of Masks is a bit of a disappointment.

Buena Vista Social Club

(Dir: Wim Wenders, Appearances by Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, Ry Cooder, Rubén González, Omaha Portioned, Luis Barrage, Joachim Cooder, Julio Alberto Fernández, Carlos González, Salvador Repilado Labrada, Pío Leyva, Manuel 'Puntillita' Licea, Orlando 'Cachaíto' López, Benito Suárez Magana, Manuel 'Guajiro' Mirabal, Eliades Ochoa, Julienne Oviedo Sánchez, Barbarito Torres, Alberto 'Virgilio' Valdés, Amadito Valdés, Lázaro Villa, and Juan de Marcos González)

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BY: DAVID PERRY

There are pretty much two objectives for documentaries: to enlighten those knowledgable on the subject and to interest those unaquainted with the subject. I have seen many that have been really good on one side of the objectives, but not the other. That is much harder to do with concert documentaries. Very few people, including those who could care less about Hendrix and Joplin, would say that Michael Widleigh's Woodstock does not cause interest in the event. The same can be said about D.A. Pennebaker's Don't Look Back about Bob Dylan, but then there is the atrocious Jim Jarmusch documentary on Neil Young titled Year of the Horse, which is of interest only to the biggest fans of Young. Most concert films are rather listless and uninteresting for anyone that is not a fan of the singer or band in question, with the exception of maybe those made by Pennebaker. That is not the case with Buena Vista Social Club. Directed by a renowned independent film director (Wing's of Desire's Wim Wenders), like Year of the Horse, it shows off its group more interestingly than most regular documentaries.

I will be first to admit that I was completely in the dark about who The Buena Vista Social Club was when I entered the theatre doors, but when I left I was ready to buy myself a CD of their music and check out what books were out on them. They are a group of Cubans that perform traditional Cuban music better than Ricky Martin could ever dream of. Brought together by American musician Ry Cooder, the group of men and one woman are shown in the film one at a time as they make their way to performing at Carnegie Hall. The group is varied in stories ranging from the on-going virility of one to the excessive checkers ability of another.

The film is a treat to watch, but I have one major complaint: it goes on just a little too long. I was held in my interest from beginning to end, but I kept on thinking that it was about time for the film to end. If not just for the music, the film is worth seeing for the people alone. I was especially interested in guitarists Compay Segundo and Ry Cooder, pianist Gonzalez, and singer Ferrer. Wenders and his cameraman work the shots of the concerts in Amsterdam and New York perfectly with the intermittent stories, never really spending too much time at either spot at one time. Though not half as important, The Buena Vista Social Club is just as interesting as Don't Look Back.