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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us November 3, 2005 ‘The Weatherman’ is lukewarm despite strong cast By Chris Honoré For the Tidings The trailers for “The Weatherman” are decidedly deceptive. Given the carefully selected scenes of David Spritz (Nicolas Cage), Chicago Weatherman, being pelted by soft drinks, burritos and shakes, the impression is that this film is a breezy comedy. Likely about a somewhat klutzy weather guy whose life’s a fun-filled disaster. Not even close. If it’s a comedy, it is a dark one. How dark? The basement at midnight. And there is precious little to laugh at. Dave’s life seems flat-lined, stalled, and ultimately sad. Clearly, Dave Spritz fails to heed the advice that says if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Instead he seems intent on burying himself ever deeper in a pit of muddled relationships — he is divorced, his wife (Hope Davis) declares she has never liked him, the distance between Dave and his children is of Grand Canyon proportions, as it is with his father (Michael Caine). And not to forget his purposeless work. Or at least that is how he feels about it. Sure he’s a well-paid weatherman on a Chicago television station; however, the truth is that Dave doesn’t have a clue why it rains one day and snows the next. All he can figure out is that weather, like his life, is a mystery and it has something to do with wind. But what he can do, and do very well, is make predictions based on hunches, all delivered with a winning smile and a well orchestrated sweep of his hands. Dave’s weather report is a happy meal even when it’s more of the same: snow, ice and a wind chill that staggers. But the subtext to the film is that Dave seems to be in the grip of a full-blown mid-life crisis. A familiar theme that Hollywood comes back to time and again. Generally, the set up is comedic: aging forty-something guy is confronted with a life that seems to have veered off the expressway and is now stuck on a side road going nowhere. All that once seemed promising now seems, well, less so. Suddenly, life is about angst and ennui. Followed by a prolonged sigh. The search for meaning has turned into a snipe hunt. Or a road trip. This is the stuff of existential crisis. Kierkegaard’s bread and butter. It may also be the stuff of myth. Is there a time in a man’s life when there’s a perfect storm of buffeting emotions that sends him schlepping out to buy hair dye, more youthful clothes, a red sports car, inspired by his long conversations at work with a young woman named Bambi? Is it inevitable? A time when the house, the kids, the wife (that would be the one in the ancient robe with cream on her face) all seem like a collective anchor? Not likely. It’s just all too neat. A cliché. Everyone feels adrift at times. Everyone feels as if work has lost its initial purpose and routine is burnishing all the interesting rough edges. And everyone can become enamored, secretly, with the idea that without the anchor, well, ala Michael Jordan, you believe you could fly. But, as life teaches, things change. Life is all about the long haul. And getting to that point of new insight and self-realization, while life-changing, perhaps, is actually not that interesting — at least not when contemplating making a movie. And that is really what has happened regarding “Weatherman.” It isn’t all that interesting. And though Dave does have an epiphany at the end, which can happen, there’s not enough juice in said transition, from depressed aimlessness to understanding, to fill a feature length film. And that’s not to say that the ensemble of actors is not top drawer. It is. But, jeez. Spending almost two hours waiting for Dave to stop digging is just not that interesting. Chicken Little After Chicken Little mistakes a falling acorn for a piece of the sky and panics, he’s determined to restore his good name. But then a real piece of the sky lands on his head! Voice talents of Zach Braff, Joan Cusack, Garry Marshall, Wallace Shawn, Don Knotts, Patrick Stewart, Patrick Warburton . G/81 min. Jarhead Boot camp and active duty in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait offers a series of dramatic and traumatic experiences for a Marine in Operation Desert Storm. The story is laced with dark wit, honest inquisition and episodes that are surreal, poignant, tragic and absurd. Directed by Sam Mendes (“American Beautym,” “Road to Perdition”); Based on the memoirs of Marine Anthony Swofford. Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Peter Karsgaard, Lucas Black, Chris Cooper. R for pervasive language, some violent images and strong sexual content/123 min. Good Night and Good Luck In the mid-1950’s, Edward R. Murrow and his producer, Fred Friendly, helped bring an end to the tyranny of the blacklist and Joseph McCarthy, who had the power to destroy careers and lives by accusing people of being or aiding Communists. Filmed in black and white. Directed and co-written by George Clooney David Strathairn, George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Ray Wise, Robert Burke, Frank Langella, Jeff Daniels, Tate Donovan. PG for mild thematic elements and brief language/100 min. Thumbsucker Justin, at 17, is still sucking his thumb. The behavior disrupts his family, his love life and his identity. His mother tries to be supportive, while his father is tough, but both of them have their own fears and disappointments. Others outside the family try to help, including Justin’s New Age orthodontist and his debate coach. An honest and funny look at the struggles of people who feel flawed, in youth and in middle age. Directed by Mike Mills (debut). Lou Taylor Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Vincent D’Onofrio, Keanu Reeves, Vince Vaughn, Kelli Garner. R for drug/alcohol use and sexuality involving teens, language and a disturbing image/97 min. Prime A divorced 37-year-old career woman from Manhattan begins seeing a talented 23-year-old painter from Brooklyn, not knowing that her therapist, the person she tells her deepest secrets to, has her own relationship to the young man. Meryl Streep, Uma Thurman, Bryan Greenberg. PG-13 for sexual content including dialogue, and for language, 106 min. Weather Man A frazzled Chicago TV weatherman tries to gain respect from his Nobel Prize-winning father by pursuing a job on a national morning show. Nicholas Cage, Michael Caine, Hope Davis. R for strong language and sexual content, 102 min. Legend of Zorro It is now time for Zorro to keep his promise to his wife, Elena, to give up his secret identity and live a normal life. But when forces conspire to unleash a threat that could change the course of history forever, only Zorro can stop it. Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rufus Sewell. PG for sequences of violence/peril and action, language and a couple of suggestive moments, 126 min. Saw 2 Jigsaw, the brilliant, disturbed mastermind is back. When detective Eric Mason investigates a new murder, he apprehends Jigsaw with little effort. But that’s part of Jigsaw’s plan... Tobin Bell, Lyriq Bent, Donnie Wahlberg, Franky G., Glenn Plummer. R for grisly violence and gore, terror, language and drug content, 91 min. Dreamer A once great horse trainer is inspired by his young daughter to nurse an injured racehorse back to health and a shot at the Breeders’ Cup. Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Kris Kristofferson . PG for brief mild language. 105 min. In Her Shoes A sexy, irresponsible party girl moves in with her workaholic attorney sister, strains that relationship, and ends up with her newly found grandmother, who tries to help her find herself and get the two sisters back together. Cameron Diaz, Tony Collette, Shirley MacLaine. PG-13 for thematic material, language and some sexual content, 130 min. North Country A single mom who has suffered a range of abuse at work rallies her female coworkers to rise above the traditionally unfair treatment they face at a local mining company. Directed by Niki Caro (“Whale Rider”) Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Woody Harrelson, Sissy Spacek . R for sequences involving sexual harassment including violence and dialogue, and for language, 126 min. Proof Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by David Auburn, “Proof” follows a devoted daughter who comes to terms with the death of her father, a brilliant mathematician whose genius was crippled by mental insanity. She adjusts to his death with the help of one of her father’s former mathematical students, who searches through her father’s notebooks in the hope of discovering a bit of his old brilliance. While coming to terms with the possibility that his genius, which she has inherited, may come at a painful price, her estranged sister arrives to help settle their father’s affairs. Directed by John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”); Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis. PG-13 for sexual content, language and drug references, 100 min. Wallace and Gromit in ‘Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ Our intrepid heroes cash in with their newest invention, a humane pest control device, “Anti-Pesto.” Soon their house is filled with captured bunnies. Then a huge, mysterious, veggie ravaging beast begins terrorizing the neighborhood. Voice talents of Peter Sallis, Helena Bonham-Carter, Ralph Fiennes. G, 96 min. (85 min. + 11 min. Madagascar Penguins short subject “A Christmas Caper”) DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams