‘The Ring’ rings scary a second time

JIM ERWIN

It’s really nice to finally see a horror movie that doesn’t assume

the audience is stupid. “The Ring Two” is easily the best of this

year’s winter horror flicks and is the best scary movie I’ve seen

since “The Ring” was released three years ago.

This is the second chapter of a supernatural story about a

poltergeist that kills people seven days after they watch her haunted

videotape. The ghost is an evil little girl named Samara who comes

out of her watery grave and through your TV to kill you.

This isn’t a mindless gore flick that splatters blood all over the

screen. It’s carefully told scary story for adults.

The idea of a ghost who reaches out to us through modern

technology is a subtle reminder of just how much our lives have

changed in the last couple of centuries.

We wouldn’t have to travel too far back in time to find people

who’d react to radio or television broadcasts like they are

communications from the spirit world. What makes “The Ring” series

(no Frodo here) so eerie is that Samara is out there in the

technological ether and she wants to kill all of us.

I’ve seen some complaints that the story for “The Ring Two” is

difficult to follow. I’m not quite sure what movie those people were

watching. It’s pretty straightforward.

In “The Ring,” Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) discovers the haunted

videotape after her niece dies mysteriously. Rachel watches the tape,

as does her son Aiden (David Dorfman), and Samara marks them both for

death with a haunting phone call. At the end of the movie, Rachel is

able to save herself and Aidan from Samara, but she can’t stop Samara

from continuing to kill. If you haven’t seen this movie, go rent it.

Watch it alone, and turn off all the lights in your home.

In “The Ring Two,” six months have passed and Rachel and Aiden

have moved to a small town in Oregon. Rachel is hoping that they’ve

escaped Samara, but obviously that can never happen.

Samara’s haunted video is still in circulation and her victims are

easy to spot. They all have faces that look like an Edvard Munch

artwork. The death of a local student tells Rachel that Samara is

very close. What Rachel doesn’t realize is that Samara is trying to

possess Aiden. The story focuses on Rachel’s battle to keep Samara

out of their lives.

The only tricky aspect about the story in “The Ring Two” is that

it assumes you’ve seen “The Ring.” This includes the contents of the

haunted video, and Samara’s history living on a farm with her adopted

parents. If you didn’t see the first movie, you probably won’t be

able to follow this sequel.

Director Hideo Nakata also made the Japanese versions of this

series (titled “Ringu” and “Ringu 2”). For the uber geeks who’ve seen

these two Japanese movies, which hopefully includes someone besides

me, “The Ring Two” is nothing at all like “Ringu 2.” You’ll be seeing

a completely different movie with a completely different story.

One of the things that makes Asian horror movies a little

different is their use of surrealistic imagery. There can be a lot of

unexplained weirdness for weirdness sake in this style of film.

Nakata does this a little and uses imagery like a burning tree

that suddenly appears on the wall. This and other unexplained events

are all directly connected to the images and story of the original

“The Ring.” It all makes perfect sense if you saw the first movie.

What makes “The Ring Two” enjoyable is the performances of Watts

and Dorfman. Unlike a lot of beautiful actors, Watts isn’t just

fluff. Her performances in movies such as “21 Grams,” “Mulholland

Drive,” and “I Heart Huckabees” show the depth of her talent and her

willingness to take chances as an actor. She’s the kind of performer

who can elevate everyone else in the movie to her level.

What’s nice is that Watts isn’t afraid of letting Dorfman, a

12-year-old, carry a scene when the burden of the story clearly falls

on his shoulders. Dorfman is able to show us when he’s possessed by

Samara without resorting to levitated contortions or spewing pea

soup. When he asks his mommy, Watts, to sit next to him and watch

cartoons, you fear for her.

I like “The Ring Two” as well, if not more, than the original.

This is the kind of movie you want to see in a crowded theater so you

hear everyone else’s screams and share the experience of laughing at

yourself for letting the movie get to you. I’m sure they’ll find some

way to make us all buy the DVD, but you won’t want to wait that long.

* JIM ERWIN, 40, is a technical writer and computer trainer.

‘Ice Princess’ won’t

a cool girl audience

A rite of passage most teenagers face is deciding what to do with

their lives after graduating from high school. Go to college or

pursue your dreams? “Ice Princess” explores both options from the

perspectives of two young women. One girl wants to become a

professional ice skater. The other longs to go to college. What stops

them from pursuing their goals? The same thing stopping all teenagers

-- their mothers.

High school physics whiz Casey (Michelle Trachtenberg) is headed

for Harvard if she passes the interview. To accomplish that, she

needs to develop and test out a mathematical theory that shows off

her skills. Casey applies her knowledge of physics to ice skating

with the intent of using aerodynamics to improve the ability of

skaters’ jumps and spins. Casey’s mom, Joan Carlyle (Joan Cusack),

supports her daughter only because spending time at the ice skating

rink working on the college prep project improves her chances of

getting into Harvard. What mom Joan objects to is the time Casey is

wasting spent ice skating.

One of the ice skaters Casey picks for her physics project is also

one of the popular girls from school. Gen’s (Hayden Panettiere)

future is aimed at qualifying for Olympic competition. Gen’s mother,

Tina Hardwood (Kim Cattrall), is the owner of the ice skating rink

and also Gen’s coach. As a former Olympic hopeful, Tina hopes her

daughter can do what she never did -- become an Olympic winner. To

accomplish that, Gen must spend all her time practicing at the ice

skating rink. And in order to achieve that, Gen’s mother doesn’t let

her date, have a social life or spend enough time on her studies.

Casey hits upon the idea that using herself as the guinea pig for

her summer college experiment will improve the results of the

experiment. Once she hits the ice, applies her calculations to her

own spins and jumps, Casey realizes she would rather be a

professional skater rather than go to college. Casey’s decision,

however, fails to be warmly embraced by her mother, Gen or Gen’s

mother. Tension between the girls and their mothers and each other

begins to build.

Aimed at younger teenage girls, the conflicts in “Ice Princess”

never escalate beyond a stern glance or a few unkind words. Nor is

punishment doled out for breaking parental rules, such as lying to

your mother. But that is not the point of “Ice Princess.” Nor is it

the film’s point of view.

“Ice Princess” is seen from the perspective of a teenage girl

having a dream that must be lived out. Casey is mostly a positive

role model. To help pay for ice-skating expenses, for example, she

takes a job. To continue skating once her senior year begins, Casey

maintains her grades. When it comes to dating and boys, she is chaste

at all times. With the story told from a 17-year-old’s point of view,

the teenagers know best, not the parents, who tend to behave a wee

bit like high school dweebs or sorority girls at times. Yet, that is

a common perception teenagers have of their parents, when they

themselves are struggling to become more independent while continuing

to be dependent and live at home until turning 18.

Competitive ice skating performances by Casey, Gen and others

appear in between the major and minor story lines of Walt Disney’s

“Ice Princess.” The best performances come from professional skaters

playing minor or walk-on parts in the overall storyline. Two of the

best skaters are a preteen and a teenage punk rocker. They are the

best because, unlike the main characters, they are competitive

professional skaters and their performances are unedited. Meaning,

their performances are captured and edited similar to a televised

skating competition broadcast. With the camera maintaining a full

view of the skaters from head to toe, the camera rarely cuts away

from the performance. The effect is inspirational, unlike the

choppily edited performances of Casey and Gen. Their routines are

viewed from either such a great distance or from extreme close-ups to

suggest stunt doubles. Nothing wrong with using doubles, but the

inspiration the audience experiences watching a film needs to come

from the lead actors, the heroes, not from the bit characters.

“Ice Princess” is a girl’s movie with girl rules and girl dreams

and girl activities. Leave the boys at home for this one, and if you

do insist they tag along, then be kind and nudge them awake only when

they snore too loudly.

* PEGGY J. ROGERS, 40, produces commercial videos and

documentaries.

Movie finds upside

to downward spiral

I received quite a shock last Saturday night when I arrived at the

theater to see “The Upside of Anger” and was informed the 7:10 p.m.

showing was sold out. I have come to expect this type of thing

regarding movies aimed at teens or some of the summer blockbusters.

However, I never anticipated an adult-oriented, “R” rated film with

no “A-List” stars was going to completely fill a large theater.

I suppose I underestimated the appeal of a well-acted and

well-reviewed drama in the midst of the usual deluge of lightweight

romantic comedies, grade “B” horror movies and computer-generated

cartoon epics. When I returned Sunday evening and finally got to see

“The Upside of Anger,” I was treated to an unusually frank and

realistic look at a man, a woman and her four daughters struggling to

cope with the hand fate had dealt them.

The man is Denny Davies (Kevin Costner), a retired professional

baseball player with a somewhat illustrious career who seemingly

failed to hang on to much of his money. Davies now scrounges every

dollar he can signing bats and balls, making personal appearances,

posing as a “front man” for real estate developers, and hosting a

radio show on which he refuses to discuss baseball for reasons that

are later revealed.

The woman is Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen), a well-heeled suburban

housewife with four daughters. Terry’s husband has disappeared, and

it appears this event coincides with an impending layoff from his

executive position. Terry assumes he has run off with his secretary,

who returned to Sweden. Terry refuses to file for divorce until her

husband shows his face and explains his abandonment of the family.

Terry sinks into an alcoholic haze due to the crisis. Denny, a man

who has been given basically a free pass in life, is all too happy to

spend time drinking with her while she laments her predicament.

Eventually the two fall into a fragile romance almost by default.

Terry views any show of independence from her daughters as a lack

of support. Her oldest daughter Hadley (Alicia Witt) is graduating

college and simultaneously announces her pregnancy and engagement.

Another daughter, Emily (Keri Russell), is an aspiring dancer, whom

Terry discourages from accepting a scholarship to a dance academy in

order so that she may attend the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Her youngest daughter Lavender (Evan Rachel Wood) -- or “Popeye,” as

she is nicknamed -- is trying to find herself in high school and is

the unofficial documenter of the family and the world around her.

The most pressing problem for Terry is her daughter, Andy (Erika

Christensen), who just graduated high school but has no intention of

going to college. Instead, Andy wants a career in the entertainment

field and Denny arranges for her to become a production assistant at

the radio station. This only occurs because his producer “Shep” (Mike

Binder, who also wrote and directed) is a middle-aged letch with a

proclivity for much younger women. Terry is absolutely disgusted by

this development and does nothing to hide it. Ultimately her obvious

displeasure doesn’t dissuade her daughter or her inappropriate

suitor.

The film documents the three years following the disappearance of

Terry’s husband and ends with a shocking turn of events that I will

not reveal here. What makes this film extraordinary is the manner in

which these two sad people slowly reveal themselves. These are not

two-dimensional characters. There is a depth of character to both

Denny and Terry that renders them much more than two pathetic

alcoholics. It becomes obvious the two of them took a long journey to

arrive at their current circumstances, and the people they became are

believable and touching. “The Upside of Anger” leaves you with the

sense that you know the characters and like them despite their

numerous flaws.

* VAN NOVACK, 50, is the director of institutional research at Cal

State Long Beach and lives in Huntington Beach with his wife

Elizabeth.