The Film Journal...Passionate and informed film criticism from an auteurist perspective.

Editor's Home Video Notes

By Rick Curnutte

Richard A. Curnutte, Jr. is the Editor of The Film Journal. He has studied English and Film at Ohio University and The Ohio State University.

8 Mile

8 Mile - Curtis Hanson delivers a career-best film with a strikingly forceful central performance from Eminem. Though many have claimed it's merely the rapper playing himself, Eminem's performance draws from much more than his public persona. At times sad and thoughtful, other times anguished and enraged, Eminem's Jimmy Smith, Jr. is a creation not unlike James Dean's in Rebel Without a Cause or, dare I say it, Brando's in On the Waterfront. A force to be reckoned with, Eminem really delivers the goods here.

Eve's Bayou - Director Kasi Lemmon's dreadful The Caveman's Valentine betrays the almost surgical precision which she displayed in this magnificent film. Part memoir, part mystery, Eve's Bayou is a beautiful, lyrical film in which no one is as they appear and narrative form can be twisted to suit almost any implausibility.

Full Frontal - After his box-office three-peat of Erin Brockovich, Traffic and Ocean's Eleven, Steven Soderbergh is back to his underground roots with this playful, boisterous comedy that tosses aside convention and post invites and deflects criticism in nearly every frame. Full Frontal, a movie about a movie about a movie about the movie industry, is a welcome return to form, and serves as a segue into Soderbergh's finest film to date, Solaris.

Jackass: The Movie - Mostly dismissed as fratboy antics, the tricks and stunts of the Jackass crowd have always struck me as a kind of Fight Club-esque performance art. Here they take things to extremes they couldn't on the MTV series, to stupifying, often unbelievable results. Johnny Knoxville is the Svengali hero of his crew, but each member is thrust into the forefront in a non-stop barrage of low-class, high-energy antics.

Personal Velocity - A story about three female characters who are all linked by one occurrence lends comparisons to the much less effective The Hours. Personal Velocity feels more naked in its honesty about the gender, and the actresses here enhance the material, rather than destract from it. All three actresses (Kyra Sedgewick, Parker Posey and Fairuza Balk) give career-best performances. Parker Posey, especially, is a revelation as the icy book editor who finds love in her heart, even if it's not in her marriage. A solid DV effort.

Red Dragon - Not nearly as bad as the film's bad reviews would have led me to believe, Red Dragon suffers from being merely ok. A stunningly impressive cast is only occasionally put to effective use (Emily Watson, Ralph Fiennes). Anthony Hopkins' Lecter has become almost a parody of himself. Still, some strong moments, almost all of them with Watson and Fiennes make this worth seeing, even for a Brett Ratner film.

Roger Dodger - Campbell Scott is relentlessly brilliant as the philosophical womanizer in Dylan Kidd's remarkably astute character dramedy. At turns hilarious and frightening, Roger is never less than fascinating, and Scott's performance never less than revelatory.

Scarlet Diva - Director and star Asia Argento has the blood of her father coarsing through her veins as she delivers this sexually charged mini-masterpiece about a movie starlet going through one hell of a crazy mid-twenties life crisis.

Secretary - The most original romance in years, Secretary is the film last year that everyone should have seen but didn't. Maggie Gyllenhaal is revelatory in the lead role and James Spader gives his best performance in years. Surprisingly feminist for a film about a woman getting spanked by her boss, Secretary is a quirky, twisted, delightful little film.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Years after its much-balleyhooed release, Roger Rabbit manages to enthrall kids and grownups alike. The technical aspects still look flawless and the story feels just as fresh as when the film debuted.