Around the turn of the 21st century, there were a whole bunch of movies that take a series of disparate episodes and tie them together on the streets of Los Angeles. “Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her” (2001) is not the best one of those movies. On paper, having Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman, Glenn Close, Cameron Diaz, Calista Flockhart and Holly Hunter tell stories about the love lives of complex women is a good idea, but paper is where it should have stayed, because the dialogue is so affected, the performers sound like they’re reading, not acting.
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It starts out sad and gets more depressing from there. Yet there’s something compelling about “The Art of Racing in the Rain” (2019). As hypnotic as a puppy’s gaze, it sinks its teeth into you and will not release until it makes good on its unspoken aim: You will cry. Narrated by Kevin Costner, the golden retriever of American actors, it’s a dogography steeped in mysticism, tracing the life of Enzo from the moment he meets his race-car-driving, chronically unlucky Job of a human until the two take one last, precious, lap around the track. And, perhaps, beyond. Good boy.
To say “Article 99” is derivative is to say blood is red. The title evokes “Catch: 22” while the movie itself is a 1992 reboot of “M*A*S*H” at a veterans hospital. It even has Kiefer Sutherland as the new doctor, echoing his dad’s role in the 1970 film. Kiefer’s pornstache is splendid, as is Ray Liotta’s hair (Ray’s the new Hawkeye). Bureaucrats are again the enemy, co-workers again have sex, there’s laughs, there’s pathos, there’s an inspirational climax, there’s even John C. McGinley from “Scrubs” playing – surprise! – a wacky doctor. You see it all coming from a mile away. Yawn.
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