Email Author Jessica Winter

2000 Stories by Jessica Winter

• Music for the Masses

  published July 4, 2000

  Having toiled for the last decade in big-screen TV treatments and David Spade vehicles, Penelope Spheeris returns to her old moshing grounds with... More >>

• The Graduate

  published June 27, 2000

  In Lisanne Skyler's Getting to Know You, which knits together three Joyce Carol Oates stories, the watchful eye at the center of the stormy... More >>

• On the Beaten Path

  published June 6, 2000

  Channel 13's efforts to gain wider recognition for independent New York-based filmmakers with its Reel New York series are unassailable,... More >>

• Disguise the Limit

  published June 6, 2000

  The first half of Martin Lawrence's foray into prosthetic calisthenics, Big Momma's House, travels in nasty, scatological,... More >>

• Sweet and Lowdown

  published May 23, 2000

  Jackie Chan's latest shotgun marriage of martial-arts action and buddy-pic slapstick suffers from a script less written than treated, scenes less... More >>

• Thus Spake Maximus

  published May 23, 2000

  The Will to Power Grievously outnumbered, kneeling and with hands bound, Russell Crowe in Gladiator slays five armed executioners.... More >>

• Beasts and Beefcake

  published May 16, 2000

  Twelve years and $200 million in the making, the debut feature from Disney's digital studio finally lumbers into view, clutching in its jaws a... More >>

• Get a Clue

  published May 9, 2000

  "Teen movie" has become dreaded Hollywood shorthand—like "SNL spinoff" or "Kevin Costner vehicle"—since usually you can bet... More >>

• Triple Bypass

  published May 2, 2000

  Hard-luck Novalee Nation (Natalie Portman) puts a great deal of terrified faith in numerology: She was five when her momma left her, got 55... More >>

• Bedded and Bored

  published April 25, 2000

  Brazilian director Bruno Barreto calls his 14th film a gift to his wife and leading lady, Amy Irving, and if Bossa Nova avoids tripping a single... More >>

• Homing Instinct

  published April 18, 2000

  Léa Pool's new film, Set Me Free, conveys the fervent longings of adolescence through its sweet, lonely, and insatiably tactile... More >>

• Sofia Coppola's Mystery Girls

  published April 18, 2000

  For her limpid, pitch-perfect adaptation of The Virgin Suicides, first-time director Sofia Coppola adheres both to the narrative rhythms... More >>

• Clothes Make the Mail

  published April 18, 2000

  Identification numbers aren't just for prison fashions anymore. The folks at skim.com are betting that their... More >>

• Growing Up; Going Down

  published April 11, 2000

  The most exuberant set piece in the acutely sensitive Set Me Free finds two girls blithely spurning the puppy-dog attentions of the boys at... More >>

• Celluloid Zeroes

  published April 11, 2000

  The Bottle and The Throttle and Mechanized Death could be the working titles of any number of Joel Silver productions. Are... More >>

• Quit Playing Games (with my heart)

  published April 4, 2000

  First-time director Bonnie Hunt pays slavish adherence to the Nora Ephron rules of assembly for the prefab rom-com: emotion-cueing whitebread... More >>

• Get Shorty

  published March 28, 2000

  With 41 movies over four weeks, the fifth annual Short Film Exhibition offers a diverse lineup and more than a few finds. Opening night starts out... More >>

• Let's Do the Time Warp Again

  published March 21, 2000

  With his somber, bloody apocalypse fable X, veteran anime director Rintaro turns down the usual moon-surface gravity of japanimation to... More >>

• Rules of the Game

  published March 21, 2000

  Should campaign-finance reform apply to Oscar barnstorming? Witness the soft-money spendthrifts at Miramax (last seen wallpapering your local... More >>

• Family Viewing

  published March 14, 2000

  Christina Andreef worked as assistant director on Jane Campion's first three films, and Soft Fruit, Andreef's feature-length debut, is a... More >>

• Kitsch or Kill

  published March 7, 2000

  Those hoping to apply a little cultural-studies eugenics to the miscegenation of high art and low pop would no doubt have their knickers in a knot... More >>

• Michel Ocelot’s Animated Authenticity

  published February 15, 2000

  The coastal West African landscape of Michel Ocelot's childhood provides the backdrop for his riveting animated tour de force Kirikou and the... More >>

• Jerusalem Sisters’ Unorthodox Behavior

  published February 15, 2000

  Set in the ultra-Orthodox quarter of Jerusalem called Mea Shearim, Kadosh (meaning "sacred") studies two sisters enduring the ironhanded... More >>

• Sex and Hostage-Taking: All in a Day's Work

  published February 8, 2000

  At first, Gough Lewis's Sex: The Annabel Chong Story affects heavy-lidded ironic bemusement as Chong, queen of the World's Biggest... More >>

• Through the Looking Glass

  published February 1, 2000

  High-buffed, low-rack pulp, Eye of the Beholder is lovable in its own addled, literal-minded way. Its neo-noir, psych-thriller... More >>