"Imaginary Heroes" is a movie about a dysfunctional family inhabiting
a dysfunctional household in a dysfunctional universe, where even the
stars in the night sky don't know where they belong. Trust me, if you
go see the movie, you'll find out what I mean. Now, with that said,
there are many good things going on in this movie.
It is filled with good characters, situations and possibilities,
but they never truly congeal into a coherent film, and this is a
shame. The film is very reminiscent of "The Ice Storm" and "Ordinary
People" in its themes.
Sigourney Weaver and Jeff Daniels, two very good actors, play wife
and husband to three children. When the eldest son commits suicide,
the family reaches its long-coming breaking point. The only child who
we really get to know well is the youngest son, Tim, played very well
by Emile Hirsch. A big problem with the movie is that it's in the
hands of director-writer Dan Harris. There does not appear to have
been a third voice saying, "Uhhh, wait a minute here, Dan. I'm not so
sure this scene really works."
The movie shifts gears in a grinding fashion between grief and
humor. These two emotions can work very well together, but in this
movie, there is no seamless transition. You see the actors trying to
inhabit their characters and coming up short because of the
awkwardness of the storytelling.
Some information given late in the movie to explain a major plot
twist rings like a cracked bell. This movie has all the ingredients
to make a substantial and effective movie, but in the end it does not
succeed in this endeavor.
"Imaginary Heroes" is rated R for language, sexual content and
drug use.
* DEAN BRIGGS of Glendale is a craftsman, actor and co-owner of
Yoga at the Village in Kenneth Village.
"Constantine" is a fantastical update to classic film noir
Los Angeles is the final barrier between this world and the next.
Now someone, or something, is looking to shatter that barrier, and
only one person can stop them -- John Constantine. Well, that's what
Warner Bros. would have you righteously believe in its R-rated
supernatural thriller.
Based upon the superb DC/Vertigo Comics series, the film stars
Keanu Reeves as the title character in what is essentially a 1940s
film noir updated to post-millennial Los Angeles, with demons, angels
and even Satan tossed into the mix. Constantine's antecedents are
such classic movie (and literary) detectives as Philip Marlowe and
Sam Spade. Constantine even dresses the part of the classic movie
