REEL CRITICS

* EDITOR’S NOTE: The Reel Critics column features movie critiques written

by community members serving on our panel.

‘Shaft’ is watchable, but not great

“Shaft” is eminently watchable. It has all the ingredients of an action

movie, and it has all the talent on the screen you could ask for.

Samuel L. Jackson in the title role gives his usual high-caliber

performance, and the scenes between Wade (Christian Bale) and Peoples

Hernandez (Jeffrey Wright) steal the movie.

Toni Collette as the key witness is supremely well-cast. Remember her in

“Sixth Sense”? The rest of the “Shaft” cast was equally strong in their

supporting roles.

It is a good, although by no means original, plot.

John Shaft is the consummate policeman and defender of the law, and he

has a long memory when it comes to bringing to justice the rich and

spoiled playboy who admitted to murder.

Wade, the playboy and murderer, had fled the country when the judge

allowed bail. When Wade returns from exile two years later, Shaft meets

and arrests him at the airport. Again, the judge allows bail and so,

enraged, Shaft quits the force by hurling his badge at the wall. Great

scene.

Now the race is on to see who can be first to find the missing witness.

Shaft’s search attempt involves roughing up the neighborhood toughs, an

alliance with a former fellow police officer, a ploy to set Peoples’

henchmen and Peoples against each other. All of these pursuits have some

tense scenes.

“Shaft” is not a great movie. It is a reasonably entertaining albeit

predictable piece of work that even Samuel L. Jackson and his excellent

support staff could not quite slide from watchable to good.

* JOAN ANDRE is “over 65,” a Newport Beach resident who does a lot of

volunteer work.

Original score helps movie keep its cool

o7 “Who is the man, that would risk his neck for his brother, man?

Shaft--can ya dig it?”

f7 Well, the song remains the same, as written by Isaac Hayes back in

1971 for the original “Shaft” movie. But the aura of Shaftness has been

passed down from the first Shaft (portrayed by Richard Roundtree) to his

nephew and namesake John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson).

Jackson plays a streetwise and ultracool New York City police detective

who’s on the assault-turned-murder case, involving the killing of a black

man by racist yuppy Walter Wade Jr. (Christian Bale, fresh from “American

Psycho”).

Wade, the son of a wealthy and politically connected real estate

developer, literally thinks he can get away with murder and snidely

dismisses Shaft as a minor annoyance in Wade’s silver-spoon existence.

But he doesn’t realize Shaft knows there was a witness to his crime,

Diane Palmieri (Toni Collette), who disappeared from sight after being

threatened by Wade.

Throw in the requisite element of crooked cops and Shaft busting a drug

kingpin--in this case Peoples Hernandez (Jeffrey Wright of

“Basquiat”)--and you’ve pretty much got the entire plot of the film.

One missing element to the film is the sex, as in, there ain’t none (at

least none on screen, although it is implied).

Then there is the extended cameo by Richard Roundtree as “Uncle Shaft.”

Could someone get me some crackers and wine to go with this cheese?

Puhleaze! Why the uncle/nephew thing?

Didn’t anyone see the TV remake of “Kung Fu” a few years back, when they

tried this shtick? It failed then too, Grasshopper. Why not just make an

all new, updated “Shaft” and forget the ‘70s version.

o7 “They say this cat’s a bad mutha. Shut your mouth--just

talkin’ ‘bout Shaft. We can dig it.”

f7 The new Shaft does get a couple of good marks though. It retains the

original Oscar-winning film score and has Jackson as the title character.

Like Jules in “Pulp Fiction,” Jackson oozes dangerous cool in a role that

could easily have been turned into a parody reminiscent of Keenan Ivory

Wayans in “I’m Gonna Get You, Sucka.”

The funny thing about cool is you can say you’re cool, and you can act

like you’re cool; but if you do either, chances are you probably aren’t.

Jackson is Superfly. He is cool with a capital C (can ya dig it?).

o7 “Who’s the cat that won’t cop out, when there’s danger all

about? Shaft--right on.”

f7 The other plus in this “Shaft” is that the bad guys--Wade and

Hernandez--do work pretty well. However, as in a typical Anaheim Angels

baseball season, they start out strong, then turn into pale shadows of

their former selves by the end of the show.

So, on the Brunette scale of “pay full price,” “bargain matinee,” “video

rental,” “wait for cable,” or “I’d rather be a jive turkey than watch

this film again: rated R for strong violence and language, I give “Shaft”

the shaft with a strong “video rental” rating.

* RICHARD BRUNETTE is a 36-year-old Costa Mesa city recreation supervisor

and a Costa Mesa resident.

New ‘Fantasia’ is fantastic animated musical

“Fantasia 2000”. How do you describe it? Exciting, original, amazing,

spectacular?

“Fantasia 2000” has so many qualities that it is hard to come up with one

word to describe it. Basically it’s a breathtaking adventure in color and

sound.

Disney’s newest animated film consists of seven new segments of cartoons

and music, along with one returning classic from the 1940 “Fantasia.”

Each segment tells a story through cartoons and with one of three types

of music: the kind that tells a definite story, the kind that has no

specific plot but paints a series of pictures or the kind that simply

exists for its own sake.

The cartoons are a combination of animation and technology that is

digitally made with sound and picture. My two favorite segments are “The

Steadfast Tin Soldier” and “Firebird Suite.”

I liked “Tin Soldier” because of how the animation was done and how the

music corresponded with it. The beat was more up-tempo than slow, because

of the emotions and feelings the characters (the soldier, ballerina and

jack-in-the-box) were expressing.

I liked “Firebird Suite” because of the idea of life, death and renewal,

as well as the animation. The Mother Nature character was beautiful. The

way she flew through the forest had a marvelous effect on the whole

scene.

There is one part when a volcano monster arose out of a volcano. It was

in that instant that my brother, Michael, screamed because of the sudden

movement. It was a very realistic scare and almost everyone jumped. It

was a wonderful segment.

“Fantasia 2000” is a fantastic musical story of different events in life.

The music describes each cartoon segment really well. I recommend this

movie to anyone who enjoys classical music and likes varieties of

cartoons and animation.

* SARA SALAM, 12, is a sixth-grader at Eastbluff Elementary school in

Newport Beach. She likes soccer, ballet and writing.