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Now Playing: stuff I've seen lately, in short
CINDERELLA MAN (2005, Ron Howard)- surprisingly engaging, largely due to the presence of Crowe and Giamatti, two of the least sentimental actors currently working in Hollywood. Zellweger stuff drags down the story, as she fails to trick up a cliched worried-wife role with her crinkly-faced mannerisms. Fight scenes good, in a RAGING BULL-in-color-and-PG13 way. Rating: **1/2.

UNLEASHED (2005, Louis Leterrier)- comes out swinging, starting as a quick-cutting actioner only to become a sometimes touching portrait of a killing machine’s (Jet Li, quite good) movement towards self-awareness. Story’s pretty silly, but the filmmaking and performances sell it (Bob Hoskins makes a scarily avuncular baddie). Certainly the most fun summer movie thusfar. Rating: **1/2.

ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM (2005, Alex Gibney)- despite attempts to interject filmic flair (moneybags, strippers, etc.), this expose of Enron’s rise and fall is like an audiobook with pictures (videobook?). Moments of outrage come throughout- California power outage/fires scenes especially- but credit belongs to the story, not Gibney. Maybe it’s time to give politically-motivated docs a breather. Rating: **.

HEAD-ON (2004, Fatih Akin)- fascinating character-driven work, with the personalities of aging punk Cahit (Birol Unel) and suicidal party girl Sibel (Sibel Kikelli) dictating the story’s trajectory. Their ethnicity (both German-born Turks), while part of the narrative, matters little to them, freeing them up to be individuals. Sexual frankness and unpredictability justify Fassbinder comparisons. Rating: ***.

JOINT SECURITY AREA (2000, Chan-Wook Park)- Park’s film about a incident along North/South Korea border is less effective as RASHOMON-inspired mystery than as minor-key drama. The central flashback is the highlight, as the major players in the violence become more complex while their dilemma becomes indelibly clear. Bookend material’s more prosiac, but it’s still worth seeing. Rating: **1/2.

And, as promised...

IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL (2004, Jessica Yu)- Henry Darger was a fascinating figure- a reclusive janitor who created a massive illustrated epic novel at night in his little room. While Yu’s tendency to parallel events in the book with Darger’s own life feels overly neat at times, computer-animated versions of scenes from the work prove surprisingly effective. Rating: **1/2.