Movieline Online

EMPIRE: TV will often get a case of “Hollywood envy,” hopping on the bandwagon to try its hand at big-budget spectacle, usually in the form of a much-hyped mini-series “event.” Empire was network TV’s answer to Gladiator and Troy, a four-hour re-telling of the assassination of Julius Caesar and the rise of his successor, Octavious, a naïve pretty boy under the protection of Rome’s greatest gladiator, Tyrannus. I have no idea if history is presented properly here, but surprisingly, it’s a whole lot of fun! Sure, there are some corners cut in the battle scenes (computer generated legions are replaced by trees and plenty of fog), but the plot chugs along with a contagious energy and just enough gory gladiatorial combat to keep you from changing channels (or switching discs, as the case may be). Empire is smart enough not to get bogged down in politics, unlike the similar HBO show, Rome. This is old-fashioned adventure in an almost serialized format, just simplistic enough not to be insult...

THE FLICK: Get ready to hear this sentence a lot over the next few weeks: “Sky High is way better than you’d expect!” That’s because this clever teen movie / comic-book hybrid came on the heels of all the Incredibles hype and disappeared in a black hole when it hit theaters, a fate that was criminally unfair for a film this entertaining. The ad campaign was partly to blame – pitching the flick as something that might have shown up on The Disney Channel, not a feature film. Or maybe it was just the image of Kurt Russell in that silly looking super suit. But Sky High is a silly movie. And it embraces everything that a geeky middle-school (or middle-aged) comic book fan loves with genuine enthusiasm; a superhero-coated shell around a traditional teen flick fresh off the John Hughes assembly line. Only instead of the jocks and the nerds we have “heroes” and “sidekicks,” a student body separated by superpowers instead of raging hormones. Yet beset by the same angst and crises that every tee...

KING KONG: For anyone born after 1970, Dino De Laurentis’ version of King Kong is most likely the definitive version. Sad but true. And while it doesn’t hold a candle the original (where’s all the damn dinosaurs?), there are still some moments that rise above the overall embarrassment. Director John Guillermin stages Kong’s crash through the natives’ wall with considerable skill and effect while composer John Barry’s score is suitably bigger than life. Jessica Lange, as the object of Kong’s overtly sexual attention, comes off as the dumbest blonde in history while Jeff Bridges sports a Grizzly Adams beard...presumably to disguise his identity. But the big letdown is the film’s special effects (which Dino bragged would put the original to shame) made up mostly of Rick Baker in an ape suit along with an even worse-looking mechanical version. Even so, the film is endearingly goofy and the location photography gives it an epic scale even if the execution is second-rate. Extras include a th...

THE FLICK: Even if one ignores the technological achievements, the astounding box-office numbers, the unfathomable influence on filmmakers then and today, King Kong is still one hell of an entertaining movie. It is the very heart and soul of the modern blockbuster, relentlessly paced, extravagantly produced and expertly executed. And one of the few “genre” films that has earned the respect of normally standoff-ish critics and snobby audience types. Finally, after what seems like an eternity waiting for the film to hit DVD, you get to find out why. There’s no need to rehash plot points, here. Kong has evolved beyond a cinematic creation to a cultural touchstone. But if you haven’t seen it in a while, you forget just how ingeniously producer Merian C. Cooper one-ups the story time after time, conducting the film like an orchestra leading up to a deafening crescendo as Kong tumbles from the top of the Empire State Building. My favorite moments (you can’t talk about a movie like Kong witho...

THE FLICK: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a very good film. Keep that in mind as I shed some crocodile tears over the fact that it could have been an absolute masterpiece had director Tim Burton gotten his hands on the material when he was in his prime. As it stands now, it’s his best work since the first half of Sleepy Hollow and equal to the 70’s Gene Wilder version in almost every way (except for the Danny Elfman-composed “Oompa Loompa” songs, which awkwardly stop the action and sound like Oingo Boingo B-sides). Meanwhile, Johnny Depp continues to prove that if a script calls for an endearing freak as the main character, he’s the man to call. Purportedly sticking much closer to the book (I could pretend that I’m familiar with Roald Dahl’s work, but I’d rather not be turned into a blueberry), this version opens in storybook fashion with Charlie and his poverty-stricken but close-knit extended family struggling to eak out a living. Charlie dreams of finding one of Willie Wonka’s...