Bernie Mac's Mr. 3000, Jude Law in Sky Captain
Sept. 17, 2004 — -- Now in theaters: Mr. 3000, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Head in the Clouds and Wimbledon.
Mr. 3000
I like Bernie Mac. Everybody likes Bernie Mac. That's a problem with Mr. 3000.
In the beginning of the movie we're supposed to hate him. But we like him so much we forgive him. The bigger problem with Mr. 3000 is that you see Bernie Mac in a baseball uniform and you think the movie is for kids. It isn't. He and Angela Bassett have a sexually charged relationship.
I don't know what's worse for a parent — taking your 8- or 9 year-old to a movie and having them ask questions you don't want to answer, or taking your 11- or 12-year-old and having them not ask questions because they know the answer. Either way, it's not a family film.
As a baseball fan, I was bothered by some of the shortcuts. I'm still waiting for a sports movie that doesn't end in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, but I'll forgive Bernie Mac for that as well. But the grown-up back story keeps his film from being a smash hit and, for parents anyway, makes it a close call. Grade: B-
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
The opening sequence looks like Fritz Lang's Metropolis meets those incredible 1940s Superman cartoons. The action is nonstop. I was in awe.
The look is astonishing. Saturday morning serials and sleazy pulp magazine covers come to life. But the reason Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was supposed to be the film of tomorrow was that it's all computer-generated. No one has ever seen anything like this. The only things real are the people and an occasional prop. And, unfortunately, sometimes you're not so sure about the people.
