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"2 Days in the Valley"

"2 Days in the Valley" is a must see for Los Angelenos –
especially those who enjoy a slightly satirical look on the
town.

The film, set entirely in the San Fernando Valley, portrays
characters who either revere the valley or despise the smoggy
basin.

The ensemble cast which is eclectic, but perfectly chosen,
glorifies an equally impressive script. Each character leads a life
independent of all the others, but in the course of two days they
all become intertwined, for better or worse.

The event that brings them all together is a contracted murder
gone wrong. Two hitmen work together on the murder and part ways
when it is done. The problem is that young, ruthless Lee Woods
(James Spader), plans to kill the older, out-of-work hitman, Dosmo
Pizzo (Danny Aiello), after their first murder is made. This second
murder isn’t successful, however, and Dosmo is forced to hold a man
prisoner in a nearby home so that he can figure out how to get out
of town.

Every event is more outrageous and unexpected than the one
before it, and the web of characters becomes more tangled. At some
points the story just seems too out of control yet it is just so
enjoyable that it doesn’t seem to matter.

Several scenes are standouts, including a fight scene between a
feisty Olympian (Teri Hatcher, "Lois and Clark") and Lee Wood’s
girlfriend (newcomer Charlize Theron). Rarely are there
full-fledged fight scenes between women and this one is bound start
a new trend – it is 10 times more exciting than a typical
testosterone fight.

Other characters include Jeff Daniels and Eric Stoltz as
small-time undercover cops who stumble across the murder scene when
Becky Foxx (Teri Hatcher) hails their car in her underwear and
covered in blood.

The film is captivating from the opening scene and remains
interesting throughout; in the course of 48 hours some fall in
love, some commit murders and some do both. In addition to being
quite humorous, the novelty of such a complicated and unexpected
plot makes the film both entertaining and memorable.

Grade: A

"A Perfect Candidate"

Ever wondered what goes on behind closed doors of a political
election? Well, "The Perfect Candidate," a fly-on-the-wall
documentary about the 1994 Virginia Senate election between Lt.
Col. Oliver North and Sen. Charles Robb takes you behind those
doors. This entertaining insight into the political world displays
real life politics as though it were a Broadway play.

The main players (candidates) in this show constantly provide
entertainment rather than the real political issues, which is all
too common in American political campaigns. The veteran documentary
filmmakers R.J Cutler and David Van Taylor have built this film
based on the character flaws of the two running candidates in this
particular race for the Senate.

Oliver North is portrayed as the "All American hero" who has
come back from his humiliation in 1988 to try to regain his public
crown.

Sen. Charles Robb, the slack-jawed bureaucrat, tries to
ingratiate himself among potential voters by going into a random
supermarket and shaking hands. With acts like this, Sen. Robb is
shown as a huge phony with pathetic people skills. It makes one
wonder how he ever got elected in the first place. With two
interesting characters like these, whose histories read like a
story from "Hard Copy," it is hard not to love politics.

During the process of the film two other characters emerge to
add a more personal journey amidst the superficial candidates.
Chief North strategist Mark Goodin gives a deeper insight into
North’s campaign. His driven, focused personality makes him look
like he is the real candidate. The one person that adds the only
touch of humanity to the otherwise cold documentary is Washington
Post correspondent Don Baker. His pursuit for truth and integrity
in this fiasco is constantly knocked back by lies and broken
promises.

The film has a tremendous amount to say about how we elect our
leaders and how vulnerable we are to a certain kind of demagoguery.
With a brilliant editing style that makes all the commotion of an
election fit together in an intriguing and easy to follow
documentary, producers Cutler and Van Taylor are sure to be in the
running again for another Academy Award nomination. Cutler’s
previous documentary, "The War Room," which was based on the Bill
Clinton election in 1992, received a 1994 Academy Award nomination
for best documentary. He then decided to collaborate with
producer/director David Van Taylor, whose previous credits include
"Dream Deceivers," the documentary behind James Vance vs. Judas
Priest. Their previous expertise in documentary films shines in
"The Perfect Candidate."

Grade: A-

"Somebody to Love"

If Alexandre Rockwell’s new film proves anything, it’s that you
should never wonder how bad a movie can be. The answer you get may
be an excruciating experience. It’s true that Rockwell has
distinguished himself in a short period of time as a purveyor of
insipid faux-art house cinema, yet the director seems intent on
knocking the floor out of the basement of quality, and prove that a
bad film can always be worse.

What satanic powers of persuasion does Alexandre Rockwell wield
that he, a filmmaker astoundingly devoid of talent can continue to
produce films when he has thrice demonstrated no skills with regard
to the cinematic arts? Every day one hears tales of how difficult
making a film is, even for the masters of the medium. Yet the man
who inflicted 1992’s "In the Soup" on an unsuspecting public is
back with "Somebody to Love," which features embarrassing moments
by Rosie Perez, Harvey Keitel, Michael DeLorenzo, and Anthony
Quinn.

Unencumbered by such things as concern for character
development, working with compelling themes, or engineering even
the semblance of a plot, Rockwell has an uncanny ability to craft
films of such impenetrable badness that they don’t even amuse in
the perverse way bad films often do. What you get is a cliche-laden
mess, created by a filmmaker who obviously has nothing of
importance on his mind.

Perez plays Mercedes, an aspiring actress who works as a taxi
dancer in a seedy downtown club. Her boyfriend is a nobody actor
who believes he’s somebody (played by Keitel sporting false
choppers and oily hair), but she steals the heart of a near-mute
young man (DeLorenzo) who falls for her during one of her
dances.

Just like "In the Soup," the story centers on a young artist
striving for stardom and fulfillment (gee, how hard do you think it
was for the young director to come up with that storyline), but
finds many "quirky" characters and plot twist separating him/her
from his/her goal. Also like "Soup" and Rockwell’s agonizing
contribution to last year’s "Four Rooms," "Somebody to Love"
features Rockwell’s trademark brand of manic kineticism, the kind
usually achieved only through bad improv or early rehearsals.
Scenes come and go without either pushing along the plot (since
there is none), or exposing the inner life of the characters (all
of whom are broad, grotesque caricatures who have no inner
life).

Worse than all this is the romanticized racism Rockwell displays
towards Latinos. One appalling tracking shot takes us through a
roofless shack as overbearing salsa music blares from the
soundtrack. In the shack, the group DeLorenzo’s character lives
with is shown gleefully waking up with the rooster’s crow, with
four or five in a bed, and others reduced to sleeping in bathtubs.
Why they smile as they live in squalor is never addressed because
Rockwell is employing the "jolly Mexican" stereotype, which was
raised to an art form in John Steinbeck’s "Tortilla Flats." The
same brand of patronizing and reductive racism is employed at the
film’s end when a group of drum-beating dasheki-wearing African
Americans inexplicably appear to deliver the message to the forlorn
Perez that life may suck, but the occasional moment of magic
realism makes it all worthwhile.

Midway through, it becomes clear that this film is a woeful
product of a young man still dazzled by the genius of Federico
Fellini, and clueless to the fact that only Fellini can do Fellini,
which is what made him Fellini. Rockwell’s attempt at the
Felliniesque only serves to prove both how great Fellini was and
how disastrous his movies would’ve been without his vision, genius,
or talent. Perhaps a year of travel or some time spent in UCLA’s
department of Film and Television might give the director an
opportunity to find something original within that might be worthy
of becoming a film. Until this happens, watch for him and stay
away. Five minutes on URSA will give you more entertainment and
insight into the human condition than this film.

Grade: F

Reviews compiled by Lori Swingle, Simon Dunstan and Brandon
Wilson