Susan Granger’s VIDEO UPDATE for week of Friday, June 23:
Jodie Foster plays Anna Leonowens, the strong-willed, recently widowed schoolteacher who travels to Siam in 1862 with her young son in “Anna and the King.” And Hong Kong action star Chow Yun-Fat is imposing and impressive as King Mongkut, the proud monarch who is amazed when an stubborn, impertinent Englishwoman dares ton consider himself his equal. It’s sumptuous film-making weighed down by a weak, simplistic subplot involving treason.
Filmmaker Barry Levinson says, “If I knew things would no longer be, I would have tried to remember better.” So the evocative, nostalgic “Liberty Heights” is his fourth semi-autobiographical film set in Baltimore, like “Diner,” “Tin Men” and “Avalon.” Focusing on the changing times of the mid’50s, it tackles provocative issues of race, religion, and class distinction.
“Gun Shy” has Sandra Bullock and Liam Neeson but something went terribly wrong with the incomprehensible script and lame direction of this silly mob comedy. “Grosse Pointe Blank” explored much the same ironic territory – far better – without colonic irrigation and poop jokes.
For pre-schoolers, Nickelodeon releases “Blues’ Big Treasure Hunt,” featuring a live-action appearance by Rue McClanahan and the vocal talents of Gregory Hines.
For foreign film aficionados, there’s “The Emperor and the Assassin,” Chen Kaige’s massive (161 minutes), sprawling epic tale of China’s first emperor, Ying Zheng, heir to the throne of Qin, whose goal was to unite the warring seven kingdoms, climaxing in the year 227 B.C..
PICKS OF THE WEEK: “Sweet and Lowdown” is Woody Allen’s fanciful, rhythm-filled mock documentary about a legendary jazz guitarist of the ’30s, played by Oscar-nominated Sean Penn. And “Topsy Turvy” is Mike Leigh’s charming, unconventional biopic of Gilbert & Sullivan, concentrating on their development of “The Mikado” in the 1880s.