WinterMovieRecap: Pickin'theflicks

CRlSTIN MARCY ASSISTANT PERSPECTIVES EDITOR

a guitarist who retired to the garden.

A few songs are familiar: '·Run So Far;' recorded by Eric Clapton in 1989, and the clever, upbeat "Any Road," performed for a VHI special in 1997 (incidentally not broadcast unti] after Harrison's death). His new material has a memorable ring. The underlying theme, after all, is one that has pervaded nearly all of Harrison's work since the seminal release of "All Things Must Pass" in 1970: the trappings of success are meaningless compared with the quest for spirituality. In the strucPHoToCOUIITTSYOF GooGI.E turally fasci- ued to write and record feverishly. Shortly before his death a year ago, he spoke of releasing some "Brainwashed," the final work of the "qt1iet Beade" symbolizes_George Harrison looking back at a career, his music and his devotion to·his spirituality.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was a movie based on the autobiography of game show producer and host Chuck Barris. It recalls his break into television, his love life, and his secret life as a CIA agent. It is an impressive directorial debut from George Clooney who also stars as a CIA agent. The acting is great, and directors' choice of camera shots is creative and inventive.

S OUT OF S PAWS

long. Even though it is a really good movie, it is not a movie people would want to watch again. However, the idea of avenges and friendship is worth seeing at least once.

3 OUT OF S PAWS

The Hours is a movie about three different characters in three different eras that are affected by the Virginia Woolf novel, Mrs. Dalloway. Nicole Kidman, hardly recognizable in a prosthetic nose, shines as the depressed and conflicted Virginia Woolf.

4 OUT OF S PAWS

Ring and the new characters make the movie the priceless gem that it is. Gollum/Smeagol, the schizophrenic, pitiful, emaciated creature that lusts after the ring is particularly good. Bring on the third one.

S OUT OF 5 PAWS of that work, but unfortunately he did nating title track, he delves through a not live to see the project through.

The task to salvage this music fell to bis son Dhani and former Wilbury colleague Jeff Lynne. The two have brought together a dozen of these recordings in "Brainwashed" (Dark Horse/Capitol Records). The music is vintage Harrison; laidback but by no means underpowered, with melodies tugged between major and minor keys, and lyrics that are filled with humorous wordplay and cutting directness. His trademark slide guitar shines through everywhere and is particularly fluid in the instrumental "Marwa Blues" and at the start of"Stuck Inside a Cloud." Harrison is certainly not catalog of worldly cynicism, pauses for an aside about the nature of the soul and offers a Hindu chant as an extended coda. Nonetheless, Harrison's piety is not proper: who else would contrast, as he does in "Brainwashed," a backing chorus singing "God God God," with a lead vocal line that includes an expletive?

The special edition of the "Quiet Beatle's" last release comes with a DVD which focuses on Harrison, his son and Lynne. Lynne sums up au of the footage in saying his last words about George: "I think he'd want to be remembered as a great musician and a gardner."

Gangs of New York is an epic. The movie was almost three hours

The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, picks up where The Fellowship of the Ring left off with hobbits Frodo and Sam continuing on their quest to destroy the ring of power, but this time they are being led to their destination by the lustful and deceitful Gollum, who once possessed the Ring. Meanwhile, hobbits Merry and Pippin have escaped capture by Saruman 's evil forces and have left traces behind for Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli to follow, but the three companions are caught up in a battle to destroy one of the last races of men, the people of Rohan.

The Two Towers is a masterpiece of a movie. The storyline is more dangerous and more perilous than The Fellowship of the

Maid in Manhattan stars Jennifer Lopez as a maid, Marisa, at a first rate four star hotel in Manhattan. She is mistaken for a guest of the hotel, not a worker, and falls for a man "typically out of her league." It is a cheesy romantic comedy with the ever so popular Jennifer Lopez being overused. Give her some time off!

2 OUT OF S PAWS

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