Arts & Entertainment
 
 
 

Weekend releases won't win any awards

'Bounce,' 'Osama,' 'Score' offer little more than relief from season's mediocre releases
 
 

By Geronimo Rodriguez
The Daily Cougar

The latest slate of movies getting shoved into theaters won't get people racing toward the lonely ticket counter, but The Big Bounce should offer laughs until the industry makes its anticipated rebound.

Forget that it stars the legendary Morgan Freeman, don't mind the witty Owen Wilson popping his head in and out of scenes, and try not to dwell on the fact that the trailers promise Sara Foster skipping around in a bikini.

Instead, think about Elmore Leonard, who might not have the Midas touch when it comes to box office monsters, but who does know how to create fresh characters and relentless dialogue.

Coming out of a semi-retirement, George Armitage directs the film -- his last work was 1997's Grosse Pointe Blank.

Aside from excelling in the black comedy department, Leonard, who also penned Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, Barry Levinson's Get Shorty and Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight, is perhaps one of the last true writers in the film industry. What else do you want?

President Bush must be smiling from ear to ear since the release of Osama, a film that follows around a young girl and her mother after the Taliban forces them out of a job.

Writer and director Siddiq Barmak has won numerous awards, including Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes, but he failed to grab an Academy Awards nomination, which doesn't say much.

Save for the fact that it stars Scarlet Johansson, there isn't much to say about The Perfect Score. Johansson, who has found the spotlight since Lost in Translation, has yet to show she can overwhelm the screen, but she definitely has the ability to warm up a story.

The premise revolves around a group of teens who plan to break into a Princeton Testing Center with intentions of stealing the SATs and getting a perfect score. Sounds like a fine idea, but shouldn't they just try studying for it?

Directed by Brian Robbins, who has a strike against him with Hard Ball, the film also stars Erika Christensen, who's coming off the creepy Swimfan.

Even when your sweet someone is eyeing that light-hearted teen flick, remember this: You Got Served will suck the air out the room and eat away at the audience's common sense, hoping it doesn't know the difference between a bad film and an awful one.

The story follows a couple of guys who waste their days burning up their soles by battling (or street dancing) for a few thousands dollars. It stars Steve Harvey (for about a second) and the B2K boys, who've since parted ways. Some say they broke up for personal reasons, but they're probably just blaming one another for the clunker they're about to drop into theaters.

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