Dec 14, 2006 2:23 pm US/Pacific
James Rocchi's Picks and Pans, December 15, 2006
(CBS 5)
As the year comes to an end, there's a host of Oscar contenders -- and pretenders -- playing on Bay Area screens. Here's a roundup of some of the best and worse, from the multiplex to the arthouse.
The History Boys (Three out of Four Stars)
Based on Alan Bennett's wildly successful British stage play, The History Boys follows a group of advanced students - preparing to read the exams that may earn them a place at prestigious Oxford or Cambridge -- under the tutelage of three very different teachers. Mr. Hector (Richard Griffiths) is a whimsical know-it-all with a slightly inappropriate fondness for his young charges; Mrs. Linott (Frances de la Tour) is a careful confidante and stern guide; Mr. Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore) is a new-school teacher more interested in gaming the college entrance system than actually teaching. The movie may wear its stage beginnings a little obviously, but it's still packed with great dialogue, and plenty of nicely-tuned performances from The Boys themselves.
DreamGirls (Four out of Four Stars)
David Geffen waited decades to bring his Broadway triumph to the big screen; the wait was worth it. Based on a skewed, fictionalized retelling of the story of Diana Ross, the Supremes and Motown Records itself, Dreamgirls is packed with show-stopping numbers -- and some great performances. Pop icon Beyoncé may have the lead billing, but it's ex-American Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson who steals the show as exiled Dreamgirl Effie, cast out from the group's success. Director Bill Condon adapts the play with flash and excitement, and Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy deliver strong work as a rising music mogul and a falling star.
Eragon (Two out of Four Stars)
Your teen kids will probably love Eragon; you'll be sitting in your seat bored enough to ask the following questions: Is that really Jeremy Irons playing our hero's mentor? Is that really John Malkovich playing an evil king? Did whoever wrote this manage to rip off Lord of the Rings, Dragonheart and The Never-Ending Story? Depressingly, the answers are 'Yes," "Yes," and "God help us, yes." Starring Edward Speelers as a young man bonded to a mystical dragon in a fantasy kingdom, Eragon's soaring dragons and mystical battle scenes demonstrate the depressing truth that nowadays, computers can do just about anything in movies -- except create a coherent, original story.
The Good Shepherd (Two out of Four Stars)
Rober De Niro directed The Good Shepherd, and you can get a rough sense of what he was looking for: A sweeping saga along the lines of The Godfather, where private lives influence public events. But the film's undercut by its own casting -- It's hard enough to ask audiences to buy Matt Damon as a CIA man, but making him the father of a 26-year-old son is virtually impossible to swallow. Eric Roth's script has flashes and glimmerings of power in the occasional scene, but the fact is that The Good Shepherd simmers along for over two and a half hours, leaving us wishing and hoping that it might, somewhere, have come to a more satisfying to a full and rolling boil.
CBS 5 Film Critic James Rocchi
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