Munich in English - selected by independent Locals for Cosmopolitans, Newcomers and Residents - since 1989

Register and login

April 2002

Mixed Emotions

Skepticism, delight, anger and fright-- four blockbusters push our buttons.

DRAGONFLY***
(rated PG-13, 90 mins.)
It’s raining, it’s Venezuela and there is a bad mudslide. One minute Dr. Emily Darrow (Susanna Thompson), in South America on a medical mission, screams in desperation on the telephone to her husband, Dr. Joe Darrow (Kevin Costner), and the next, the phone line is dead and so is Emily. Joe is haunted by the fact that he does not know what went on in the final moments of his wife’s life. The doctor then begins to follow a trail of what he believes to be “signs” and “messages” from his wife in the hereafter. His deteriorating professional life is monitored by his likable neighbor, superbly played by Kathy Bates. Though Dragonfly was greeted with numerous boos by movie reviewers, the film has a certain something. Perhaps the Ghost of this century—an exploration of communication with the beyond—it will pluck the heartstrings of anyone who has suffered the loss of a loved one. It may not, however, be a non-believer’s cup of tea.

KATE AND LEOPOLD****
(rated PG-13, 118 mins.)
Kate (Meg Ryan) is a market analysis executive who makes a life out of pleasing test audiences. Her ex-boyfriend, Stuart (Liev Shreiber), is the visionary, starving-artist type—that is, until one of his mad cap inventions brings a man named Leopold (Hugh Jackman), the Duke of Albany circa 1876, to present-day Manhattan.The former aristocrat possesses the sophistication and manners of which every woman dreams. This feel-good flick focuses on Kate and her brother, Charlie (Breckin Meyer), who simply enjoy the charm and worldly elegance of a man from another century. Jackman is handsome, royally believable and a real leading man. Meg Ryan will certainly regain her status as box office sweetheart. A cross between Back to the Future and Pretty Woman, Kate and Leopold is a delightful two-hour break from our fast-paced, technology-crazed world.

JOHN Q.****
(rated PG-13, 118 mins.)
Right from the get-go, viewers will be drawn to John Q. Archibald (Denzel Washington)—a factory worker with a grocery clerk wife (Kimberly Elise)—whose old station wagon has been repossessed. The happy couple take their troubles in stride until their son collapses at a little league game because of heart failure. Hospital director (Anne Heche) and head cardiologist (James Wood) inform John Q. that his insurance will not cover the costs of a new heart and therefore his son will not be put on a donor list. Without the operation, his son will die. After exhausting every option—he even hocks his wife’s diamond ring—John Q. holds hostages in an emergency room to gain national attention. Suddenly people are listening, including an arrogant-but-effective police chief (Ray Liotta) and a concerned hostage negotiator (Robert Duvall). John Q. is Erin Brokovich with a health care spin. The film, with its powerful performance by Washington, drives home the fact that the American health care system stinks.

BLACK HAWK DOWN***
(rated R, 143 mins.)
This film is based on the inspiring, true account of a group of elite U.S. soldiers sent to Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 as part of a U.N. peacekeeping operation gone wrong. Their mission: to abduct several top soldiers of a Somalian warlord as part of a strategy to quell the civil war that was tearing away at the country. Black Hawk Down features the biggest firefight since Platoon. However, the Vietnam war flick’s director, Oliver Stone, wins the prize for focusing as much on each soldier’s psyche as on the bloodbath. Black Hawk Down director Ridley Scott never allows the viewer to get close to “his troops,” who spend the better part of two hours dodging bullets, explosives and body parts and screaming orders at one another. Perhaps this superbly produced film simply suffers from bad timing. Audiences disheartened by the war in Afghanistan may not see a combat film as entertainment.