New Line Cinema Winona Ryder and
John Hurt star in the supernatural thriller "Lost
Souls."
“Lost Souls” Directed by Janusz Kaminski
Starring Winona Ryder, John Hurt and Ben Chaplain In 1974,
“The Exorcist” opened nationwide to scare audiences
everywhere. Featuring demons and otherworldly evil forces, the
movie terrified audiences, forming a whole new definition of the
scary movie. Twenty-six years later, “Lost Souls” opens
to give audiences a good scare just in time for Halloween. Placing
the ideas of good and evil in a new context and set in present-day
New York, “Lost Souls” centers around Maya Larkin
(Winona Ryder), a schoolteacher who was saved from demonic
possession as a little girl. Her mentor, Father Lareaux (John
Hurt), asks her to take part in the exorcism of Henry Birdson (John
Diehl), a murderer imprisoned for killing his entire family.
Maya’s past and memories of her own exorcism are seen in
flashbacks throughout the film, providing a window into
Maya’s past and into her beliefs. The exorcism goes
terrifyingly wrong, causing Lareaux and Birdson to become
debilitated. Before being incapacitated, Birdson leaves a message,
written in numbers, that Maya takes and decodes, revealing to her
the name of the man that the devil incarnate will inhabit, Peter
Kelson (Ben Chaplin). Maya then has to find and convince Peter, an
agnostic who doesn’t believe in the faith and who leads a
charmed life, that the devil incarnate will take over his body. In
a world full of teen-flick scary movies such as
“Scream” and “I Know what You Did Last
Summer,” the horror genre has become inundated with movies
full of up-and-coming teen actors and formulaic scripts aimed at
young audiences. “Lost Souls” offers a different take
on the genre, providing audiences of all ages with a film that goes
beyond the traditional scary movie ideal and into a darker world
where the bad guy isn’t just a simple serial killer but
instead, the ultimate evil. Ryder plays her part to perfection.
With her expressive and emotive face, she conveys the feelings of
her character with ease. Not to go unnoticed is Ben Chaplin’s
performance. Far from his breakthrough role in 1996’s
“The Truth About Cats and Dogs,” Chaplain’s
portrayal of the conflicted Kelson shows a new side of Chaplin as
an actor. First-time director, Janusz Kaminski, best known for his
work on “Schindler’s List” and “Saving
Private Ryan” (for which he won Academy Awards for his
cinematography), directs the film. The movie uses gray-hued
cinematography and dark tones in various scenes throughout the
film, such as outdoor scenes, in order to give the movie a gloomy
feel that darkens the film’s mood. “Lost Souls”
looks into the ideas of faith and heaven and hell. It’s a
thoughtful movie, but at 103 minutes long is still short enough to
retain anyone’s attention. A thoroughly enjoyable movie that
leaves you with something to think about at the end, “Lost
Souls” is perfect to watch as Halloween draws near and ghouls
and goblins just aren’t as scary as they used to be.
Â
Jacqueline Maar Rating: 8
“Just Looking” Directed by Jason Alexander
Starring Patti LuPone, Ryan Merriman and Gretchen Mol Boys
will be boys, no matter where or when you meet them, and
14-year-old Lenny is no exception. Growing up in the Bronx in the
’50s, Lenny (Ryan Merriman) is curious about sex. Perhaps
“curious” is too mild of a word. Let’s just say
that this summer, he’s determined to see more than just the
stuff in books. He devotes the entire vacation to his dogged plan
to “witness an act of love.” Not a total waste of time,
since he knows that having a goal is the only way to get ahead in
life. Unfortunately, he is caught early in his venture when trying
to peep into the bedroom of his mother (Patti LuPone) and his
stepfather, a fat butcher. His punishment is a holiday in
“the country,” Queens, with his aunt and uncle. While
there, he meets a group of young inquisitive teens like himself and
though they’ve never done “it,” they talk about
“it.” Lenny learns more from these new friends than he
ever did in the Bronx. Another character who teaches Lenny a lesson
or two is Hedy (Gretchen Mol), a nurse. Absolutely enamored with
the former bra model, Lenny indulges his infatuation before he
sincerely develops a deep respect and love for her. Does
Lenny’s summer vacation goal ever materialize? The end is
inconsequential to the means. Before he returns to the Bronx, Lenny
masters beer jingles, learns about men and their
“needs” and, most importantly, he discovers the
difference between love and sex. Packed with sexual innuendo,
“Just Looking” skillfully weaves in more bang for your
buck, providing for both awkward and boisterous laughter.
Furthermore, the story focuses on relationships, be it with
fathers, adulters or abusers. The plot is well balanced between the
drama and the comedy, resulting in a light-hearted and touching
film. Mol is divine, winning over the hearts of the audience
despite her devilish ways. Merriman’s performance abounds
with youthful energy, allowing his character to get away with his
puerile and juvenile stunts. Though the film takes place in a
specific period and a particular place, its narrative is
nevertheless compelling. No matter where you banish them to, boys
will always be boys.
Â
Emilia Hwang Rating: 8
“The Ladies Man” starring Tim Meadows and
Karyn Parsons directed by Reginald Hudlin So how does an
obnoxious, boorish guy who’s trapped in tacky disco fashions
and an oversized afro get the girls? Hell if “The Ladies
Man” knows. The hero Leon Phelps (Tim Meadows) is such a
sexually crude womanizer with no redeeming qualities, that his
ability to attract hordes of beautiful women is beyond explanation.
(Is his butt lotion loaded up with some potent pheromones that the
world doesn’t know about?) In fact, this comedy explains
nothing, but presents this SNL personality as a given playboy with
a “little black book” as voluminous as the yellow
pages. With lines like “It’s not like I’m
imagining a hot chick when I’m boning a skank,” he gets
these sultry women to make googly eyes at him. “The Ladies
Man” has a premise so awful, there’s no saving this
sinker ““ unless the filmmakers embrace the campiness of it
all to create an orgy of bad taste. And they do. The contrived
story is just a vehicle for Leon to emit as many stinkers of a
pick-up line as possible like, “It’s like someone
stuffed two fine hams down your dress” for starters. Just for
being himself, Leon gets booted off a radio station along with his
producer Julie (Karyn Parsons). When Leon gets a mysterious love
letter from a woman who wants to share her body and money with the
ladies man, he goes in search of her because, duh, he can’t
remember her because he’s had so many hot rich babes.
Meanwhile, a mob of angry husbands hunts this ladies man
who’s slept with all their wives. Led by Greco-Roman wrestler
Lance (Will Ferrell), the guys are out to do something with giant
pliers. The campiness works because the filmmakers are fully aware
that “Ladies Man” is a dumb movie with stupid
characters. There is no ounce of reality or a hint of a relatable
relationship like kind and beautiful Julie’s loyalty to this
oversexed lothario, except that he subjects her fiance to a rather
disgusting torture. With flashbacks, narration and mushy love
scenes taking up very little time, it’s like the filmmakers
knowingly want to steamroll through these movie conventions as fast
as they can to avoid triteness ““ and that is the most welcome
quality of this movie. Instead, “The Ladies Man”
parodies the conventions. Everything obvious is that much more
obvious ““ good girl Julie lives in a pink room with her
parents. It makes irony achingly ironic as the husbands proclaim
their masculinity, only to break into a song-and-dance number
reminiscent of a Britney Spears music video. And while leading men
can be jerks, but display some kind of gentle side, Leon Phelps is
twice as obnoxious and reveals only slivers of sensitivity.
Bizarrely enough, however, not just a few women find him charming,
an entire phone book full of women find him irresistible. Such
extremes transcend this potentially awful conventional comedy to
the realm of campy fun.
Sandy Yang Rating: 6