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CNN Today

Rosen: Fourth of July Movies Nothing to Write Home About

Aired June 30, 2000 - 2:31 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the long Fourth of July weekend might mean a short drive to your neighborhood cineplex. Hollywood is hoping the holiday will set off fireworks at the box office. Ticket sales are slumping from last year. Studio execs are counting on superstar draws like George Clooney, Robert De Niro, and Mel Gibson to get you into the theater, that might do it.

Gibson stars in the Revolutionary War epic "The Patriot," here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE PATRIOT")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Father, I thought you were a man of principle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you have a family of your own perhaps you will understand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I have a family of my own I won't hide them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang him, put his body on display.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Colonel, I beg you, by the rules of war...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you like a lesson, sir, in the rules of war, or perhaps your children would.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: A little tantalizer there for you.

Leah Rosen is film critic for "People" magazine. She joins us from New York to talk about "The Patriot" and other Fourth of July films.

Hello, Leah, how are you?

LEAH ROSEN, FILM CRITIC, "PEOPLE": Good afternoon.

ALLEN: How did you like this latest Mel Gibson entry? ROSEN: I really liked the first hour of this movie. I think the first hour is surprisingly ambitious for a big summer epic. It was smart, it has a screenplay by the same guy who wrote "Saving Private Ryan." However, and it's a big however, the film goes on for a total of two hours and 40 minutes, and that second hour and 40 minutes I found somewhat disappointing.

I thought they sort of -- the complex themes just drifted away, it sort of became one battle after another. I mean a lot of people are calling this "Braveheart" during the Revolutionary War, and it sort of is. Mel Gibson is a very strong, very much a movie star performance, and he takes you through it. There are some terrific battle scenes, they're also quite bloody, there's a reason this movie has an R rating.

ALLEN: Let's take another look at it, because we have another clip, do we?

ROSEN: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE PATRIOT")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I forbid you to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not a child.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are my child.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will fire first, start with the officers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know when or where they are going to strike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did you learn all of that riding and shooting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My father taught me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many were there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One man, sounds more like a ghost than a man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Well, I'm sorry about the second hour. Do you give the thumbs-up, thumbs down or go see it, don't go see it review.

ROSEN: If you like Mel Gibson, if you're interested in the Revolutionary War, if you want to see a big sprawling, very beautifully shot film, absolutely, go see it. I think you will be entertained. I think a lot you will find fascinating. I don't know that this movie is going to end up being "Braveheart" or one for the ages. But there was -- I found in a lot it sort of being swept up in a "movie-movie" kind of way, but towards the end it really gets -- it's too long and it gets rather hokey. And with the teenage son played by Heath Ledger, there were a few too many what I call "tiger-beat moments," you know, just sort of: Oh, that's the teen romance angle I guess. I can live without that.

ALLEN: A little formulaic action going on there.

ROSEN: A little bit.

ALLEN: Not to mention some violence, as you've warned us about that.

All right, well, let's move on then to "The Perfect Storm." A widely read book, what do you like? the book or the movie?

ROSEN: The book, I think the movie is an imperfect movie. "The Perfect Storm" is based on Sebastian Junger's bestselling non-fiction book about a true, 1991 -- there was just this horrific storm in the North Atlantic that kind of took out any boat unfortunate enough to be in its path.

The film concentrates on the crew of a little fishing boat called the Andrea Gail, hatted George Clooney as the captain. They go out to sea not knowing -- there was no way to know the storm was coming and get caught right in the center of it.

ALLEN: It's hard to imagine how one could botch such a great book and a great story.

ROSEN: They don't botch it completely. There are tremendous special effects, the water stuff really works well, a lot of it is computer animated. They also -- they worked in, I think, a 22-foot deep tank on Warner Brothers lot.

The water stuff works, the problem is the characters are sort of so sketchily drawn and the dialogue is so trite that once they get out there in the middle of the storm, you just don't care that much. The most affecting parts of the film, the part you're sort of sitting at the edge of your seat is when Coast Guardsmen are rescuing some passengers off a little sloop. You know nothing about the Coast Guard guy, nothing about the people on this other ship but it's sort of so exciting. And that's a problem, when you really don't care that much about your main characters.

ALLEN: Yes, but as you say, great special effects, that will probably pack them in any way.

Let's talk about our other movie that is starting this weekend, "Rocky and Bullwinkle." I kind of hear you are not crazy about this one.

ROSEN: No, I'm not crazy about this one. This, of course, the movie version of the early '60s animated TV show. I would simply say too much Rocky and Bullwinkle, not enough Boris and Natasha and especially fearless leader, who's played by Robert De Niro. This one is just flat. It's really, other than the first 10 minutes which is sort of funny in a spoof of show business, I think only kids are going to stay awake for this one.

ALLEN: Let's take a look at it.

ROSEN: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you liquidated moose and squirrel? did you use the city eye (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you talking to me? are you talking to me? then who else are you talking to? are you talking to me? I'm the only one here. So you must be talking to me.

And you are lying!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Sorry we made you sit through that again.

ROSEN: Well, you know, that's, of course, De Niro playing off his "are you talking to me" scene from "Taxi Driver," how many 5-year- olds are going to get that. And by the time the movie gets to that scene their adult chaperons will long since have zoned out.

ALLEN: Is there anything else there that you like, Leah, that's already out there that you would suggest for the weekend?

ROSEN: Yes, absolutely, there are movies to see. I would go see "Chicken Run." I mean, "Chicken Run" is a movie the whole family truly can get a kick of it, it is clever, it is funny, terrific clay animation. So "Chicken Run" is really should be on your list.

There's an art house film called "Croupier" about a blocked novelist in London who gets a job as a dealer at a casino. It's a thriller, it is smart. You will pay a lot of attention to it. "Croupier" is worth seeing. And I'd go see -- there's a "Hamlet," a new "Hamlet" set in contemporary Manhattan, all about power and money starring Ethan Hawke that's absolutely worth seeing.

ALLEN: All right, thank you so much for joining us Leah Rosen.

ROSEN: You're welcome.

ALLEN: Happy Fourth to you.

ROSEN: Thank you.

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