REVIEWS IN A HURRY 2004 Alphabetical Index Reviews in a Hurry for 2004 (T) Reviews in a Hurry for 2004 (V) Reviews in a Hurry for March 2005
UHF (1989, 97 min, PG13) **1/2 – Directed by Jay Levey, starring “Weird Al” Yankovic, Kevin McCarthy, and Michael Richards.  A small town loser (parody musician Yankovic) inherits a dilapidated local television station and turns it around with crazy programming, incurring the wrath of a network big wig (McCarthy of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”).  The overarching plot is routine, but the miniature television parodies—including “Conan the Librarian,” “Gandhi II: No More Passive Resistance,” the deleted scene “Those Darn Homosexuals,” and numerous chair-throwing talk shows—are anarchic, childish gems. Unbreakable (2000, 106 min, PG13) ***1/2 - Directed & written by M. Night Shyamalan, starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson.  Willis gives one of his finest performances as a tired, beaten man who is the sole survivor of a massive train wreck.  His distant wife and son become concerned when he is contacted by a creepy comic book store owner (Jackson) who claims to know what happened.  The movie continues with many of themes Shyamalan first used in “The Sixth Sense:”  estranged, worn husbands, troubled boys, and the supernatural calmly colliding with the everyday.  Also, like the earlier film, special effects are shoved aside for character and atmosphere. Underworld (2003, 121 min, R) ** - Directed by Len Wiseman, starring Kate Beckinsale, Bill Nighy, and Michael Sheen.  Special effects and shoot-out friendly tale of a secret war between vampires and werewolves, and the one vampire (Beckinsale) that begins to question it.  “Underworld” doesn’t work because, unlike the “Blade” pictures, it takes its rather absurd premise absolutely seriously, and its people feel too much like video game characters to spark any sympathy.  Lots of leather. The Usual Suspects (1995, 106 min, R) *** - Directed by Bryan Singer, starring Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollack, and Kevin Spacey.  Clever (but not as clever as you’ve heard) noir about a gang of crooks thrown together by chance on a cross-country flight from an all-seeing and omnipresent mastercriminal named Keyser Soze.  Is Soze for real, is he an invention, or is he really one of the crooks?  Director Singer does well with both the shoot-outs and the talking, and gives the criminal underworld a nice, slightly cartoonish touch.  Oscar winner for Best Original Screenplay.