- TESTED
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG
Release Date: 25-FEB-2003
Media Type: DVDEven a genre film looks different in the hands of writer-director John Cassavetes. In this one, he casts a wonderfully hard-boiled Gena Rowlands as the title character: a former Mob moll who picked up a few tricks along the way. She becomes the unexpected guardian of a young boy (John Adames) who has just seen his parents wiped out. Worse, the Mob is after him as well, seeking a book he has--and the overdue fine is a killer. Though Cassavetes lets his actors have a little too much rein, it pays off in the complex--and surprisingly funny--performance by Rowlands as an unlikely nanny who discovers that, though she is an unwilling bodyguard, she actually learns to ca! re for the tough little guy she's trying to keep out of harm's way. --Marshall FineSharon Stone plays the title character, a gun moll with a heart of gold who takes a 7-year-old boy under her wing when her mobster friends threaten to rub him out (after killing his entire family). This remake of John Cassavetes's l980 film should probably have been nipped in the bud; Stone is totally miscast in the title role. As for the other characters, they don't inspire much sympathy or even interest in the audience, not even the cute kid. Why do directors feel the need to do remakes of good movies? As problematic as Cassavetes's films tend to be, Sidney Lumet should have known better than to take this on. Sharon Stone fans may enjoy this film, but there are plenty of disappointing problems that tend to get in the way. --Jerry RenshawCDIn the middle of the techno revolution, it was a bit of a risky move for Gloria Estefan to release Gloria!, an album of pure, unadult! erated disco that sounds as if it could have been recorded two! decades earlier. The risk paid off, though, because the album turned out to be one of her best--a nonstop dance party that keeps cooking through beat-heavy thumpers such as "Heaven's What I Feel," "Oye," and "I Just Wanna Be Happy"--the latter two bring in some of the Latin elements of her Miami Sound Machine days. Two concessions to current music trends include a duet with Wyclef Jean on "Don't Release Me" and the politically charged lyrics of "Cuba Libre" that cause you to think while you dance. --Daniel Durchholz
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