dave fitz

The Ninth Gate is an intense, exciting & well-acted thriller with great direction and cinematography. The story concerns a man named Boris Balkan (Frank Langella) who collects books relating to Satan. He hires Dean Corso (Johnny Depp in another great performance), a rare book dealer, to track down copies of the book "Nine Gates of The Shadow Kingdom". 3 are known to exist: Balkan's and 2 others owned by collectors in Europe. He wants Corso to seek them out and compare them to see which, if any, are authentic. The book is said to have the power to conjure Satan. As Corso goes about his mission, the movie engrosses you with its suspenseful and spooky story and the beautiful European scenery. Lena Olin plays a woman whose husband owned a copy of the book, which he sold to Balkan before commiting suicide in the film's opening scene. She is trying desperately to get it back. Emmanuelle Seigner, director Roman Polanski's striking wife, appears from time to time to aid Corso and saves his life several times.

I don't want to give too much away, but I was truly stunned reading comments on this film by how few people really understood it. I thought it was easy to follow and by the end, we knew, at least I did, what was going on and what the Seigner character's purpose in the film was. The final scene has been roundly criticized on here. I thought it was a great ending. I had never seen a Polanski film before, but now I plan to see some of his others, like Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown which I've never seen but heard alot about.

Erin Brockovich, directed by Steven Soderbergh (sex, lies and videotape) is an inspiring true story. Julia Roberts stars as Erin Brockovich, a twice divorced mother of 3. She takes a job at a law office and is intrigued by a certain case. Her further investigation finds evidence of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company letting hexavalent chromium, a poisonous substance, into the local water supply in Hinkley, CA. Many residents of the town are getting sick and Julia convinces her boss (Albert Finney) to take on the case. All of their time and money is devoted to helping the people. It is reminiscent of A Civil Action, starring John Travolta, another true story about big companies poisoning the water supply in Woburn, Massachusetts.

Roberts is wonderful in this role. Her chemistry with Finney, who adores her even though they drive each other crazy, is terrific. Aaron Eckhart is good as George, the biker who lives next door and takes care of Erin's kids while she's out of town working the case. Roberts, not a large-breasted woman, provides a great advertisement for the Wonderbra in her low-cut outfits. Overall, a very entertaining and inspiring film with nothing objectionable, aside from Roberts' frequent use of the F-word.

"Bob Roberts" is the writing and directing debut of the very talented actor Tim Robbins. It is filmed in documentary style, telling the story of Bob Roberts, the conservative son of hippie parents who is running for the U.S. Senate seat from Pennsylvania. His message is conveyed through a series of folk songs. His albums and videos are reminiscent of Bob Dylan (The Freewheelin' Bob Roberts), but his songs have titles like "Drugs Stink" and "This Land Was Made For Me" and lyrics like "what's right is right, what's left is wrong".

It's funny to see the very liberal Robbins play a character like this. The songs, written by Robbins and his brother David, are very witty and biting and get his point across beautifully.

Bob pulls a crazy stunt near the end to try to sway voters in his direction which I'm surprised no real politician has done. James Spader does an absolute perfect parody of a news anchor. A very funny movie, particularly the songs Robbins sings. Brilliant satire. The final shot in this movie, like the one in Robbins' Cradle Will Rock, is very powerful.