Susan Granger’s VIDEO UPDATE for week of Friday, June 30:
Agnieszka Holland’s “The Third Miracle” combines a provocative idea that delves into religious faith with a detective story and courtroom drama. Ed Harris plays a “miracle” detective, a priest wrestling with his own doubts about dogma, who investigates a spiritual Chicago woman recommended for sainthood, while Anne Heche delivers a powerful performance as the woman’s daughter, a non-believer, who cannot forgive her mother for abandoning her to serve the church.
“Hanging Up” offers an overdose of cheery cute as three frenzied sisters (Meg Ryan, Lisa Kudrow, Diane Keaton) cope with sibling rivalry while dealing with their philandering father (Walter Matthau) who’s suffered a minor stroke. It’s a flimsy, floundering attempt at comedy. Then there’s “Meeting Daddy” about a neurotic New Yorker (Josh Charles) who meets his dream girl (Alexandra Wentworth) and must cope with her manipulative father (Lloyd Bridges).
For thriller fans, Eric Roberts stars in “La Cucaracha,” which attempts to be a Hitchcockian tale of madness and redemption below the border. Roberts plays an American ex-patriate whose dreams of writing a great novel have faded into delusions and paranoia. “Mercy” is an erotic tale in which a homicide detective, played by Ellen Barkin, pursues a perverted murderer and is guided through a sexually deviant underground by Pete Wilson and Julian Sands.
PICK OF THE WEEK: “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” Anthony Minghella’s creepy Oscar-contender, stars Matt Damon as the chameleon-like Tom Ripley, who claims “I always thought it would be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.” Ripley’s a leech, an amoral outsider, whose appeal intrigues and mystifies Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett. If you can’t travel this summer, let John Seale’s magnificent cinematography take you to the shimmering waters of the Mediterranean and the twisting, cobbled alleys of Italy.