Palo Alto Weekly Movie Listings
Heavyweights (Not reviewed) (UA 6) For overweight Gerry and his friends, "Fat Camp" was a dream come true--until the new owner and fitness guru turns it into a nightmare. Rated PG. 1 hour, 38 min.

Hoop Dreams *** 1/2 (Palo Alto Square, UA 6) This documentary keeps you entirely caught up in the successes and failures of two inner-city boys recruited to play basketball at a suburban prep school as it follows William Gates and Arthur Agee for almost five years as they struggle with adolescence, family crises and economic pressures. "Hoop Dreams" carries with it all the elements of a good fictional sports movie: plenty of nail-biting buzzer shots, plenty of triumph over adversity. But being a true story, the wins at the buzzer don't solve all the boys' problems. Rated PG-13. (Profanity) 2 hours, 51 min. --N.M.

Immortal Beloved **1/2 (Century 16) Similar in structure but not complexity to "Citizen Kane," this mystery follows a loyal friend (Jeroen Krabbe) as he interviews three women in hopes of discovering the secret love of Ludwig van Beethoven (Gary Oldman). As each tells her story, writer-director Bernard Rose ("Candyman") reveals different shadings of the great German composer--his progressive deafness, the custody battles over his nephew, the passionate music that he believed could carry one directly into his mental state. Despite the virtuosity of Oldman's performance and opulent production values, the movie only rarely soars to the heights of the maestro's glorious music. Rated R. 2 hours, 3 min. --S.T.

Legends of the Fall **1/2 (Century 16, Century 12) Director Edward Zwick and composer James Horner, the team that so successfully set off the emotional fireworks in "Glory," deliver sweeping images and an overblown musical score that fail to elevate this western much above the level of melodrama. Although the tale revolves around a bitter patriarch (Anthony Hopkins) and his three sons (Aidan Quinn, Henry Thomas, Brad Pitt), the movie belongs to Pitt (and his hair) as the soulful Tristan. Rated R. 2 hours, 13 min. --S.T.

Little Women *** 1/2 (Century 16, Century 12) Gillian Armstrong creates the fourth movie rendition of Louisa May Alcott's timeless "Little Women." Winona Ryder takes the lead as the offbeat Jo, playing the story's heroine with just the right mix of sugar and fiery spice. Ryder is strategically teamed with the youthful talent of Kristen Dunst as Amy, Claire Danes, of "My So-Called Life," as Beth and Susan Sarandon as the righteous Marmee. The story revolves around Jo and her sisters in the snowy Massachusettes of the 1860s, where they learn about life, jealous boys and the injustices of a male-dominated society. Rated PG. 1 hour, 50 min. --S.I.

The Madness of King George *** 1/2 (Park, UA 6) A historical drama about madness, compassion and power, "King George" has it all: astonishing acting, literate dialogue, an engrossing narrative, brilliant camera movements and stunning costumes and settings. At the very least, director Nicholas Hytner's account of the mental instability of King George III and of the power struggles that emerged as a result of his illness qualifies as a great work of the "Masterpiece Theatre" genre. Nigel Hawthorne's performance is superb. Rated R (for the king's occasional surges of virility). 1 hour, 58 min. --L.S.

A Man of No Importance ** 1/2 (Guild) Alfie Byrne (Albert Finney) is a middle-aged bus conductor with a flair for the dramatic, a passion for poetry and a love of Oscar Wilde that is rivaled only by his secret affection for a handsome young bus driver (Rufus Sewell). Woven through a gentle little plot that has Alfie staging Wilde's "Salome" with his rag-tag troupe of actors is the real story: his coming to terms with his homosexuality in a society that's more repressed than he is. Thankfully, this sometimes too-precious film, written originally as a television drama, belongs completely to the incomparable Finney. Rated R (for brief nudity and one sex scene). 1 hour, 38 min. --M.H.

Miami Rhapsody ** (Century 16) A neurotic yet charming narrator delivers a monologue about a broken engagement as a series of vignettes unspools about one family's trials in sustaining love relationships. Sound familiar? In a gender twist, Sarah Jessica Parker tosses off dazzling quips and assumes the comic persona of Woody Allen. Mia Farrow plays her mother. And Miami stands in for Manhattan. Writer-director David Frankel pulls off some funny moments, but mostly, the movie's comic energy is as flat as a paper valentine. Rated PG (for adult situations). 1 hour, 35 min. --S.T.

Nobody's Fool ** 1/2 (Century 16, Century 12) Robert Benton's detailed portrait of a curmudgeon with a heart of gold shimmers with intelligent acting, intelligent dialogue and a carefully modulated vision of small-town life. Paul Newman is charming as Sully, an irresponsible laborer whose stubborness leads to frequent bouts of unemployment. The town bourgeosie see Sully as a ne'er-do-well, but to the working class he is a modern-day Don Quixote, a heroic figure who tilts with middle-class values rather than windmills. Maybe you believe, as "Nobody's Fool" continuously suggests, that people who frequent diners are, by definition, better human beings than people who eat at country clubs. If so, may Sully marry your daughter. Rated R. 1 hour, 52 min. --L.S.

Pulp Fiction ** (Century 16, Century 12) This second feature by Quentin Tarantino is stylish and nihilistic, rife with lowlifes and misfits. The movie tells three intersecting tales: the nervous lovebirds (Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer) knocking off a greasy spoon; the bumbling hit men (Samuel Jackson and John Travolta); and the palooka (Bruce Willis) on the run after not taking a dive. They're all compulsive, with both their guns and their mouths, and what sprays from the latter is a mix of pop culture, profanity and lurid threats. This fictional world, though rendered imaginatively, can't sustain the movie. Tarantino keeps repeating his effects. Time and time again, characters are taunted at gunpoint. Time and again, grisly melodrama is played against mundane chitchat. Rated R. 2 hours, 34 min. --M.V.

The Quick and the Dead *** (Century 16, Century 12) In Sam Raimi's homage to Sergio Leone, Sharon Stone is a hip, gun-slinging cowgirl who rides into the godforsaken town of Redemption, hell-bent on destroying a sadistic tyrant (Gene Hackman), who rules with an iron fist over the town and Ellen's darkest memories. Dark and gender-bending, this "High Noon Meets The Road Warrior" is trademark Raimi ("Darkman," "Army of Darkness"), complete with fast-paced action, unusual camera angles and cleverly choreographed violence. Sharon Stone in a black comedy horror-western. What a concept. Rated R for excessive violence. 1 hour, 43 min. --J.A.

Quiz Show **1/2 (Century 16, Century 12) This film is more of a forced metaphor for America's lost innocence than it is a compelling story, but director Robert Redford wields the camera with his usual grace and spares nothing on the period detail. Ralph Fiennes is acceptable as Charles Van Doren, the Ivy League golden boy seduced by the deceptive tactics of the "Twenty One" producers. Rob Morrow overplays his role as a virtuous Congressional investigator. John Turturro is brilliant as the comically pathetic shlemiel who tips off Congress to the dirty dealings at NBC. Rated PG-13. 2 hours, 10 min. --M.H.

Red **** (Palo Alto Square) Brilliantly closing Krzysztof Kieslowski's trilogy of meditations based on the colors and themes of the French flag, "Red" functions as a fascinating essay on the concept of fraternity and then explodes in its final moments with powerful emotional resonances from "Blue" and "White." The cumulative punch of Kieslowski's achievement is a narrative, visual and aural knockout. Within his visual game, the lives of the main characters intersect in surprising ways, and a mystical sense of destiny and discovery drives the narrative with only the viewer aware of the characters' crossed paths. Rated R. 1 hour, 35 min. Subtitled. --S.T.