Critic Doctor (Herb Kane) - Capsule reviews by Peter Sobczynski: City of Ghosts (R), Almost Salinas (PG)

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CITY OF GHOSTS

(R) In "City of Ghosts," in which he makes his directorial debut, Matt Dillon stars as an American, caught up in the middle of an insurance policy scam, who rushes off to Bangkok to track down his mysterious partner/mentor (James Caan) and finds himself caught in what the press notes describe as "a bizarre, ominous environment where cleverness is bait." While the plot may sound reminiscent of the immortal "The Third Man", that is where the similarities end. The screenplay (which Dillon co-wrote with Barry Gifford) is a muddle - there are too many characters, too many loose ends and it can never decide if Dillon is another slick con man or a decent man caught in circumstances beyond his control-and Dillon’s direction of his fellow actors (including Natascha McElhone and Stellan Skarsgard) seems to have consisted entirely of telling each person that they are playing the Dennis Hopper role (frankly, the best performance in the film comes from a sunglass-stealing monkey.) As a result, the film is nothing more than a bunch of pretty pictures in the service of a film that, like its protagonist, manages to go all over the map without ever really arriving at a destination or a point.

CREDITS: Written by Matt Dillon & Barry Gifford. Directed by Matt Dillon.. Starring Matt Dillon, James Caan, Natascha McElhone and Gerard Depardieu. Rated R. 116 minutes. A United Artists release.

ALMOST SALINAS

1/2 (PG) "Almost Salinas" is one of those films that is so sincere and sweet-natured that a critic almost feels like a creep for pointing out it the fact that it is nothing more than a sappy collection of silly clichés and characters that are so aggressively "colorful" that you want to reach into the screen and slap them around. Set in an out-of-the-way California gas station/diner, whose claim to fame is that it was the last place James Dean stopped at before his fatal car crash, the film shows how the lives of the people who work there-the Crusty-Old-Owner-With-A-Devastating-Secret (John Mahoney), the cynical-Older-Waitress-Who-Has-Seen-It-All (Virginia Madsen), the Sweet-Young-Waitress-Who-Wants-To-See-The-World (Amanda Pitera) and the Amusingly-Ethnic-Short-Order-Cook (Ian Gomez)-are changed forever when a movie crew comes to the diner to shoot a film on Dean. Writer-director Terry Green can never decide on the tone of his material (at some points, the film crew are portrayed as know-nothing barbarians and, at other points, they seem to be almost sincere) and the film is cluttered with far too many on-set romances; even Mahoney gets in on the act with a relationship with a journalist (Linda Edmond) who shows up at the station one day and simply never leaves (nor does she ever file a story or even take a note while she is there). Throw in some weird attempts at comic relief (including numerous scenes where Mahoney holds the cook at gunpoint while spouting off ethnic slurs in a misguided attempt to demonstrate their "friendship") and an absolutely unforgivable ending and you have a film that is filled with good intentions that leads slowly but surely to Movie Hell.

CREDITS: Written and directed by Terry Green. Starring John Mahoney, Linda Edmond, Virginia Madsen and Ian Gomex. Rated PG. 92 minutes. A Curb Entertainment release.

-- Capsule Reviews by Peter Sobczynski

CRITIC DOCTOR DISCLAIMER

While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.

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