Spike Jonze
A wild-eyed theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) attempts to build a life-sized replica of New York City in preparation for an ambitious play in the feature directorial debut of notoriously quirky screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, and Emily Watson co-star in a tale of one man's quest to stage the ultimate love letter to the Big Apple. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, (more)
VICE Magazine co-founder Suroosh Alvi and VICE Films head Eddy Moretti embark on a gonzo journey to meet Iraq's only heavy metal band in a freewheeling documentary focusing on youth culture in war-torn Iraq. In the summer of 2005, shortly after Saddam Hussein's brutal rule came to an end, Iraqi heavy metal group Acrassicauda (named after an especially venomous breed of black scorpion) teamed with VICE Magazine to stage a sold out rock concert. Over a year later, VICE co-founder Alvi and filmmaker Moretti travel back to the Middle Eastern country to find out how the war has affected the band. What they find upon arriving for their reunion with Acrassicauda is especially disturbing. These are the images that the network news refuses to run - the story of an entire generation who risk their lives simply by standing in the open, and who are driven from their homeland by bombs and machinegun fire. In order to even practice, the band would have to risk their lives by exposing themselves to both Iraqi snipers and suspicious coalition forces. Then again, after your studio has been bombed into the ground what's the point in rehearsing anyway? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddy Moretti, Suroosh Alvi, (more)
Visually minded filmmaker Tarsem Singh returns to the director's chair for the first time since The Cell (2000) with this psychologically complex tale of a hospitalized paraplegic with a curious knack for storytelling. Unable to free himself from his sterile confines, the immobile patient's deepest fears form the basis of a dark story that he shares with his young companion -- a little girl who visits his room as she recovers from a nasty fall. As the eerie tale unfolds, reality and fantasy gradually merge to form a strange world in which anything is possible. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Pace, Catinca Untaru, (more)
For fans who thought the stakes couldn't be raised any higher and the bar couldn't be lowered any further, the original cast and crew of the stunt comedy sensation that swept the globe return for another round of jaw-dropping feats that are guaranteed to have viewers wincing through their laughter. Jeff Tremaine directs, and Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Steve-O, Ryan Dunn, and Jason "Wee Man" Acuna return to the screen to endure more pain and humiliation than ever thought possible on the big screen. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, (more)
From the creators of Jackass came another gross-out hodgepodge of wild, crazy, and idiotic stunts titled Wildboyz. The hosts of this unreal reality series were former Jackass regulars Chris Pontius and Steve-O (aka Stephen Otis). These two likable jerks traveled all over the world to spread the own dubious brand of "American culture" to other peoples. Yeah, right. Actually they hopped from country to country performing dangerous and dimwitted stunts involving animals -- with the animals getting all the best of it. From swimming with sharks to zapping one another with electric eels to swiping cookies from rattlesnakes, Chris and Steve-O would do anything for a laugh, even if it killed them ("No such luck," one can hear the series' critics muttering under their breath). Occasionally joining the hosts in their puerile perambulations were their Jackass colleagues Johnny Knoxville, Manny Puig, and Jason "Wee Man" Acuna. Wildboyz was first inflicted on the public on November 2, 2003, courtesy of MTV. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Pontius, Steve-O, (more)
Palm Video's Director's Label series compiles the short-form work of some of the most innovative names in music videos, advertisements, and short films -- some of whom have gone on to even greater success in features. One of the first in the series, The Work of Director Spike Jonze collects many of the director's most memorable videos, including his early clips for the Breeders ("Cannonball"), the Beastie Boys ("Sure Shot" and "Sabotage"), and Weezer ("Undone (The Sweater Song)" and "Buddy Holly"). Many of Jonze's short films are also featured, including his work with artist Mark Gonzales as well as his short-form documentaries. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
The Girl Skateboard Company puts its team in action and gets the results on tape in high style with this extreme sports video, directed in part by skate kid-turned-Hollywood auteur Spike Jonze. Dedicated to fallen comrade Keenan Milton (aka Kenmore), Yeah Right! includes exciting skating action, cool interviews, and hilarious skits. Brian Anderson, Brandon Biebel, Mike Carroll, Tony Ferguson, Rick Howard, Rudy Johnson, Eric Koston, and Guy Mariano are among the riders documented in this collection. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Tamra Davis directs the extreme sports documentary Keep Your Eyes Open. Contains dangerous stunts and personal interviews with top athletes. Some of the subjects include skiier Seth Morrison, Motocross racer Travis Pastrana, BMX rider Mat Hoffman, snowboarder Tina Basich, and surfer Sunny Garcia. Also features goofy skits featuring Spike Jonze and Beastie Boy Mike D (the director's husband) as security guards. Original music by the Beastie Boys. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
The creative team behind Being John Malkovich -- director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman -- return with this equally offbeat comedy, in which Kaufman himself becomes the leading character. Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is a gifted but profoundly neurotic screenwriter who, after the success of Being John Malkovich, has been hired to write a script adapted from the nonfiction book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. But while Charlie is obsessive about his work, he's also intensely paranoid, given to deep depression, socially inept, and terrified of talking to women, qualities which are making it difficult to get on with his work or hold on to his tenuous relationship with girlfriend Amelia (Cara Seymour). Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin brother, Donald Kaufman (also played by Cage), has shown up to move in with his brother. Emotionally, Donald is Charlie's polar opposite -- a loudmouthed, over-confident, superficial party animal who has an easy way with the ladies. Donald has decided to follow his brother's footsteps and take up screenwriting as well, but embracing the dictates of screenwriting tutor Robert McKee (Brian Cox), he's cranking out a cliché-ridden serial-killer thriller when not busy making time with new girlfriend Caroline (Maggie Gyllenhaal). As Donald blazes through his screenplay, Charlie slowly picks away at his story, in which author Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) chronicles John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a scruffy but devoted plant enthusiast who tries to save rare species of orchids by stealing them from their natural home in the swamps of Florida. As John and Susan become better acquainted, they find themselves attracted to one another; similarly, Charlie finds himself increasingly fascinated with Susan, and finds himself falling in love with her, even though he's only seen her photo on the dust jacket of her book. Charlie arranges to meet Susan, but is too nervous to confront her face to face, so he sends Donald (who has just scored a seven-figure deal for his script) in his place, while he attends a screenwriting seminar held by McKee. Adaptation also features Tilda Swinton, Judy Greer, and Stephen Tobolowsky. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, (more)
Johnny Knoxville and his crew of fun-loving masochists bring their routines to the big screen in this feature adaptation of the popular but controversial MTV series Jackass. A crew of young men perform a variety of strange, painful, and often humiliating stunts for the amusement of themselves and those around them, including crawling across dozens of mousetraps while wearing rodent make-up, being rolled down bowling lanes on skateboards, racing in golf carts across an ancient driving range, giving themselves self-inflicted paper cuts, making snow cones out of urine, tightrope walking over live alligators, using uninstalled sanitary plumbing in a hardware store, terrifying Japanese pedestrians while wearing panda costumes, and much, much more. Johnny Knoxville, the show's creator and star, returns to head up this movie version of Jackass, along with series regulars Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Chris Pontius, Steve-O, Dave England, Jason "Wee Man" Acuna, Preston Lacy, Ehren McGhehey, and Brandon DiCamillo; Henry Rollins, Tony Hawk, and Spike Jonze are among the movie's guest stars. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, (more)
Video director Michel Gondry and scriptwriter Charles Kaufman -- who shot to fame after penning Being John Malkovich -- collaborate on this bizarre fable about human behavior in and out of society. The film opens by quickly introducing the three leads -- Lila (Patricia Arquette) who is locked away in prison; Puff (Rhys Ifans) who is testifying before Congress; and Nathan Bronfman (Tim Robbins) who is sitting in a glowing white afterlife waiting room with a bullet hole in his head. Rewinding to the beginning of the story, the film shows Lila as a girl about to enter womanhood. Unfortunately, puberty goes horribly awry and she starts to grow thick hair all over her body. After performing as Queen Kong in a circus freak show, she chucks it all and goes to live in the forest, where she becomes the best-selling author of a misanthropic hard-line ecological tome. At age 30, her itch for male companionship becomes overwhelming and she ventures back into the city. She is helped by electrolysis guru Louise (Rosie Perez), who not only makes Lila presentable to society, but introduces her to Nathan, a 35-year-old virgin who, as a scientist, has devoted his life to teaching table etiquette to lab mice. While showing Nathan the joys of the wild outdoors, Lila and her new beau discover an extremely hirsute feral man whom they dub Puff. Placing him a cage in his lab, Nathan sets out to teach Puff the ways of polite society while dreaming of fame and fortune. The first task is to curb Puff's enormous sexual appetite -- any time he catches sight of a female, Puff either tries to hump her or masturbates vigorously. Nathan yokes him with an electric collar that shocks him any time he acts unseemly. Unfortunately, the humans on the other side of the cage can't quite control their libidos either: Nathan succumbs to the incessant double entendres of his saucy French assistant Gabrielle (Miranda Otto) while Lila finds an animalistic lust for Nathan's science experiment. This film was screened at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Patricia Arquette, (more)
The influential rap act the Beastie Boys has over a dozen of its videos collected on this release. Included are the promotional clips for such fan favorites as "Sabotage," "Intergalactic," "Hey Ladies," "Body Movin'," and "So What'cha Want." The DVD release of this collection offers remixes of the songs that can be accessed while the video plays, commentaries, interviews, and a photo gallery. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Three stars team up for this unusual look at America's role in the war against Iraq. In 1991, as the Gulf War winds to a close, three American servicemen find themselves happy to have achieved victory but wondering about the ultimate importance of what they've done (especially since Saddam Hussein is still in power). Major Archie Gates (George Clooney) is a decorated Vietnam veteran and special forces officer with two weeks to go before he retires; Sgt. Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg) has a new baby at home; and Chief Elgin (Ice Cube) is probably just going to end up back in Detroit. So when one of them comes across a map that seems to point out where Saddam's forces have stashed a large cache of gold they stole from Kuwait, they decide to follow the trail and take some of the war booty for themselves. However, the deeper they journey into Iraq, the more they see of the consequences of America's policies in the Middle East. Although President George Bush and the American military urged Iraqi citizens to rise up against Saddam Hussein, and pledged their support to a people's movement against the leader, Iraqis found that when they took to the streets against Saddam, the United States did not back them up, and the loss of Iraqi lives was fearsome. When Gates, Barlow and Elgin become aware of what's happening, they're torn between their desire to grab the fortune they came for and the demands of their conscience to help the people they came to liberate. Three Kings was directed by David O. Russell and marked a significant change of direction after his dark-humored relationship comedies, Spanking the Monkey and Flirting with Disaster. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, (more)
Would you pay money to journey into the mind of the star of Con Air, The Killing Fields, and In The Line of Fire? Puppeteer Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is having money problems, so he takes a temporary job as a file clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a large office building. One day, while rummaging behind a cabinet, he finds a small door that leads to the center of the mind of actor John Malkovich (played by, you guessed it, John Malkovich). Craig discovers that entering the portal allows him to become John Malkovich for a brief spell, and in time he and his beautiful but aloof co-worker Maxine (Catherine Keener) get the bright idea to charge admission for the privilege of spending 15 minutes inside the head of a well-known actor. Malkovich realizes that something strange is happening to him, but can do little to stop it, as strangers take over his mind for a quarter-hour at a time. Craig's wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz) eventually takes a trip into Malkovich's psyche, and she soon finds herself in love with Maxine, with whom Malkovich has an affair; meanwhile, Maxine in time becomes infatuated with both Craig and Lotte, but only when they're inside Malkovich. Being John Malkovich marked the feature-length debut of director Spike Jonze, who previously made acclaimed music videos for Weezer, The Beastie Boys, and The Breeders, among others. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, (more)
Sarah Pirozek filmed this documentary combining interviews with concert footage of the 1996 San Francisco Tibetan Freedom Concert, which attracted 100,000 people to Golden Gate Park. The film's executive producer, Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, is a Buddhist who initiated the concept of the annual concert. Included are current-events clips (the Dalai Lama addressing Congress, President Clinton announcing a continuation of trade despite China's treatment of Tibetans). With numbers (or partial performances) from top groups (A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, Bjork, De La Soul, Foo Fighters, Fugees, Richie Havens, John Lee Hooker, Biz Markie, Tim Meadows, Yoko Ono, Pavement, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins), this film was distributed to one city at a time and marketed like a concert tour. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Neighborhood pride runs deep in Echo Park, so when two lifelong friends join the local gang as a matter of course, they're handed down gang names from the previous generation of homegirls. Unfortunately, Sad Girl (Angel Aviles) and Mousie (Seidy Lopez) don't remain friends for long. When Mousie withdraws into herself to cope with the responsibilities of young motherhood after bearing the child of her one true love, Ernesto (Jacob Vargas), Sad Girl and Ernesto turn to each other for comfort. Soon, Sad Girl herself ends up pregnant, and warm sisterhood cools to an icy feud. Ernesto starts dealing drugs to support his two young families -- and to outfit the gussied-up low rider that he hides from both of his unsuspecting girlfriends. The economic and romantic entanglements of these three characters serve as the entry point into this multifaceted exploration of L.A. street life, but Mi Vida Loca rapidly expands in scope to take in other characters, most of them female. Bleach-blond Whisper (Nelida Lopez), for instance, learns the drug-dealing ropes from Ernesto and considers crossing gender lines to open her own operation. The slightly older Giggles (Marlo Marron), however, refuses to fall into old dependencies and habits after being imprisoned for four years for a crime her boyfriend committed. Sad Girl's sister, La Blue Eyes (Magali Alvarado), the only character to choose college over gang life, chances upon a poem written by a prison inmate and becomes hopelessly smitten, abandoning her books for a passionate jailhouse correspondence. The focus of Mi Vida Loca shifts freely between these and several other characters, many of whom take turns providing narration and context. The director's daughter, Tiffany Anders, has a small role in the film alongside many real-life Echo Park denizens; several musicians and film directors also make cameos, among them Spike Jonze, Kurt Voss, Kid Frost, and the members of Los Lobos. Salma Hayek got her SAG card by playing a tiny role. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angel Aviles, Seidy Lopez, (more)
