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CNN Live Today

'At the Movies'

Aired August 08, 2002 - 13:51   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: There they are, the beautiful Hollywood couple. "Friends" star Jennifer Aniston and her husband, Brad Pitt, were out on the red carpet last night. Brad Pitt with a rather woolly look there. The pair attended the Hollywood premiere of Aniston's movie "The Good Girl." The movie opens in limited release this Friday. The "Good Girl" is just one of several anticipated movies to hit this weekend. So what should we see?
"People" magazine film criticize Leah Rozen is going to help us make a decision on how to spend our weekend at the movies.

So let's begin with Jennifer Aniston's movie, Leah. Did you like it? Sundance Film Festival folks seemed to like it back in Utah earlier in the year?

LEAH ROZEN, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: Well, I saw it at Sundance and then I saw it again to make sure I wasn't wrong. I saw it again a couple weeks ago. And I like this film. I think "The Good Girl" is a pretty good film. And Jennifer Aniston is just fine, and I think her fans from "Friends" will be happily surprised that she can do something besides "Rachel." She play a Texas housewife who leads a pretty drab existence. She is a clerk at a store, sells makeup. Her husband kind of sits on the couch most of the time, smoking dope. She ends up having an affair with a young man, a troubled young man right there, Jake Gillenhall, who also works at the store, and things sort of fall it pieces, but in a comic way.

There are an awful lot of colorful characters in this movie. It kind of has a subversive undertow going on. But it's a good indy film. So I think fans of independent cinema, fans of Jennifer Aniston are going to be happy with "Good Girl."

WHITFIELD: This is a very unglamorous role for her, and we are seeing this new wave, among a lot of stars, including Julia Roberts lately, who are taking these rather unglamorous roles, I guess, to kind -- as a departure, and to kind of stretch their skills as actors.

ROZEN: Well, it's a chance to sort of do a part that maybe has more substance than things you are being offered in big Hollywood films. So you do an indy film, and you are hoping, if you are really lucky, it ends up being a breakout role similar to, you know, John Travolta, when he did "Pulp Fiction," or something like that. That's what they are all hoping.

WHITFIELD: OK, Clint Eastwood, he is back on the big screen. So many of us glad to see him, no matter what. Is this something familiar to what we've ordinarily seen him in, kind of "Dirty Harry"- ish.

ROZEN: Well, yes. He is playing a cop again, something he has done numerous times. In this case, he is an FBI agent in "Blood Works" who specializes in profiling. But the difference here, and what I like about Clint Eastwood, is he always plays his age. The guy is in his early 70s. In this, he is retired from the FBI because after bad heart, and two months before the movie "Blood Works" starts, the Clint Eastwood character has had a heart transplant. So he then ends up searching for -- a woman comes to him, saying please find the killer of my sister. Clint is sort of, why should I do it? And the woman played by Wanda De Jesus, says, because you have my sister's heart in your chest.

So basically he is looking for the murderer of the woman whose heart saved him, all sorts of complications. It's pretty good thriller. It has got complications. My one problem is, in the end, you kind of know where it's going, and the end seems pretty ordinary. And I always wish with Clint Eastwood, the films he's in and the ones he directs, which he did both in this, he'd just challenge himself an the audience more. So a solid b positive. Stick with that blood theme.

WHITFIELD: Something else getting a lot of attention, a challenge of a roll, sort of a new 007, this "XXX."

ROZEN: Yes, "XXX." Unless you are really, really into action is triple z. This one is aimed squarely at adolescent boys who are thrilled by the kind of thing you are seeing here, where he is going to snowboard ahead of some massive avalanche, and of course, multiple explosions; any time you can blow something up the better.

This is Vin Diesel playing, essentially, James Bond for the millennium.

WHITFIELD: You know what I like in this -- they are saying this is a real guy kind of flick, but you know what I like about Vin Diesel's character is he doesn't smoke and he doesn't drink, so he kind of lives on the edge, but he's clean.

ROZEN: He sure has attitude. And the movie is all about attitude. They kind of forgot the plot. They certainly forgot writing, anything that resembles descent dialogue. It's the kind of thing where my favorite line in the movie, he says to somebody, "Forget police, think Playstation, blow something up."

WHITFIELD: All right.

ROZEN: They have stolen the James Bond formula of wholesale, but then what they do is sort of jettison anything resembling savoir faire, and instead do stunt, stunt, stunt.

WHITFIELD: Cool stuff. All right, we've got some good movies to pick from this weekend. Thank you very much, Leah Rozen from "People" magazine.

ROZEN: You're welcome. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com