Solid ‘L.A. Confidential’ Too Good To Be Damaged By Minor Goofs

It’s always a problem to make a period piece such as “L.A. Confidential.”

The Best Picture nominee (losing out, of course, to “Titanic”) is available next week on video (see capsule review below). And, unlike the immensely popular saltwater saga about a sinking ship, ‘L.A. Confidential” should play fairly well on the small screen.

You might even be able to spot some of the goofs.

For example, in one scene, the premiere of the sci-fi film “When Worlds Collide” is shown on a movie marquee. Trouble is, the scene is set in December, 1952, and “When Worlds Collide” premiered in 1951.

In another scene, the exact opposite occurred. “Roman Holiday” is shown playing before March 15, 1953. Trouble is, “Roman Holiday” didn’t open until later that same summer.

And then there’s the little problem of a car bearing a seven-digit California license plate. California didn’t begin using seven-digit car licenses until the 1970s.

These, of course, are minor crimes (crimes being an altogether appropriate word for “L.A. Confidential”). And even if you notice them, they’re not likely to spoil your viewing.

The only way I learned of them was from one of two Internet sites devoted to the study and, in one case, rent and/or purchase of videos.

The Internet Movie Datebase (www.imdb.com) is a site whose self-stated objective is “to provide useful and up-to-date movie information freely available on-line.” In addition to information on more than 130,000 movies, it boasts more than 2 million filmographies and other handy tidbits such as top and bottom film lists, daily movie news, box-office statistics and Oscar trivia.

For the movie-watcher more interested in actually obtaining certain videos, Reel.com (www.reel.com) markets itself as “the ultimate movie buff video store and guide on the Internet.” It offers 85,000 movies for sale (many for as low as $4.99) and 35,000 for rent.

Its features include the new MovieMap, a search engine that allows customers to ferret out films through more than 3,400 genres.

Try them both out. Watch the recommendations. Imagine the goofs you’re likely to find.

L.A. Confidential

***-1/2

Sneaking through the shadows caused by the bright lights of 1950s Los Angeles, director Curtis Hanson takes us on a visual tour of James Ellroy’s mystery novel. It involves three L.A.P.D. detectives who, each for his own reasons, question the official results of a murder investigation. Their sleuthing leads from a mass murder to police corruption and ends up threatening their very lives. Australian actors Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce join Oscar-winning Americans Kevin Spacey and Kim Basinger (as a Veronica Lake look-alike) in this ensemble piece, which is equal parts “Mulholland Falls” and “Chinatown” and all parts entertaining. Rated R

The Ice Storm

**-1/2

Having made such films as diverse as “The Wedding Banquet” and “Sense and Sensibility,” Ang Lee has ably demonstrated his versatility. But this turgid little study of the 1970s - “a kidney stone of a decade,” as Garry Trudeau once described it - proves that a few things are beyond Lee’s abilities. The problem is that “The Ice Storm,” which plays out like a John Cheever short story, never thaws in its examination of a lifestyle that is so empty as to be soul-draining. Over the course of a weekend, which is marked by a murderous storm that encases a New England suburb in frost, we see various couples and their children working out their dysfunctional duties. Despite its knowing attitude, Lee’s film never reveals the whys and wherefores beneath the storyline. The result is a collection of good performances, especially by Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Christina Ricci, but very little context tying them to a coherent theme. Rated R

Kiss the Girls

*

Based on the novel by Richard Patterson, “Kiss the Girls” falls into the category of serial-killer suspense film of which “The Silence of the Lambs” is still the prime example. But that minimal connection is the only thing that the two films have in common. Starring Morgan Freeman, whose character is a virtual ripoff of the criminal investigator he played in “Seven,” “Kiss the Girls” boasts an over-the-top plot that verges on the ridiculous. It involves a character called Casanova, who kidnaps women whom he “loves” so that he can enjoy them at his leisure. But whereas “Silence of the Lambs” featured one woman held prisoner in an underground cave, “Kiss the Girls” boasts nearly a dozen held in a cavern the size of Carlsbad. Moreover, the cops are as seemingly stupid as their nemesis is inventively intelligent. It’s a perfect case of more being less, and that applies especially to the brutality endured by the one woman (Ashley Judd) brave and resourceful enough to stand up for herself. In the end, despite the effective acting by Freeman and Judd, despite the pretty cinematography and despite our ongoing fascination with these sick, sinister souls of psychosis, “Kiss the Girls” is a distinct disappointment. Far from offering us any understanding about human frailty, it isn’t even scary enough to rate as good fun. Rated R