Halloween frights, oscar fights
( 2001-10-27 10:18 ) ()

halloween

It's beginning to look a lot like, uh, Halloween, at movie theaters with horror flicks ``Thirteen Ghosts'' and ``Bones'', debuting on Friday alongside two films with early Oscar buzz, ``K-Pax'' and ``Life as a House''.

Miramax Films also ushers ``On the Line,'' into movie houses around the country, but don't expect that romantic comedy, starring teen music idols Lance Bass and Joey Fatone of 'N Sync (news - web sites), to be that studio's Oscar favorite this year. Hardly.

The passing of Halloween means the annual parade of Oscar films is just around the corner, and Miramax is always a player during the season. This year its widely-anticipated ``The Shipping News'', Sundance favorite ``In the Bedroom'' and French film, ``Amelie'', all pack an Oscar punch, or two

In the category of one-two punches, Kevin Spacey stars in ''Shipping News'' and ``K-Pax'', in which he plays a space alien named Prot, increasing his chances at a best actor Oscar. But the two-time Academy Award winner told reporters in recent interviews that it's too soon to know what Oscar voters will have on their minds this year.

Indeed, he noted that last year, the same thing was being said for him in ``Pay it Forward,'' and that movie quickly fell off the radar screen after mixed reviews and poor box office.

``The thing I try to focus on is the work and not what award may or may not come,'' Spacey said. ``The film is being presented on its own merit and if it finds a place at the end of the year where people are discussing (awards) in a real way and not a hype way, then it will deserve it. If not, that's okay, too.''

Spacey said there was a danger in making the movie because it could have become too saccharine sweet with its message about being open to the possibilities life has to offer.

``But I think the film actually reaches for something, and it does it in a way that's not pretentious and in a way that has a kind of lighter touch,'' he said.

Spacey tells of wearing a wig to early rehearsals of ''K-Pax'', only to have co-star Jeff Bridges suggest it was a wrong choice. So Spacey exchanged the wig for tousled hair and sunglasses (because Earth is too bright). Other than that, Prot is pretty plain.

The alien arrives in the mental hospital after being arrested. He insists he's from another planet, but appears human. Dr. Powell, played by Bridges, is immediately intrigued by Prot's apparent sanity despite his insistence he's from another planet.

In the weeks to come, Prot helps the other patients see their lives in a new way, and his simple philosophies also help heal some of Powell's mental scars over a previous marriage and his relationship with his college-age son.

HAUNTED HOUSES

``K-Pax'' shares many of the same themes with ``Life as a House,'' about a failed architect who, after being fired from his job and learning he is seriously ill, decides to finally build his dream house and in the process he repairs his relationship with an estranged teenage son and ex-wife.

Director Irwin Winkler said the idea of the story had been kicking around in his head for five or six years.

``It's a very moving story, and something I believe in,'' Winkler told Reuters. ``What would you do if you had only 3 or so years before your died, what would you do? Well, whatever the answer is, why don't you just do it now?,'' he said.

Kevin Kline plays George Monroe, a middle-aged man who sets out to put his life back together, and the buzz in Hollywood is that it's one of his most nuanced roles yet. The film opens in major cities on Friday, and nationwide in coming weeks.

Two films that will very likely not win any Oscar attention are fright flicks, ``Thirteen Ghosts'' with ``American Pie'' star Shannon Elizabeth, and ``Bones'' with rapper ``Snoop Dogg''.

``Ghosts'' will likely see more of the business because it opens on more than 2,700 screens to ``Bones'' 900, but the amount of box office doesn't mean one is better than the other because these movies are all about the trick, more than the treat.

In ``Ghosts'', a father and his kids have lost just about everything they have when they inherit a super huge house made of glass and steel. They are rich! They soon learn, however, the mansion belongs to them and a horde of horrible specters. They must escape with their lives -- if they can.

``Bones'' stars Snoop Dogg as a one-time patron of his 'hood who, in 1979, was killed by crack dealers. His house still stands, but is abandoned with Jimmy Bones buried inside. When a group of kids buys it and move in, they release the spirit of old Jimmy Bones, and life in the 'hood quickly turns hellish.

Finally, ``On the Line'' stars Bass as a guy named Kevin who sees a girl on a Chicago train and is struck by love at first sight. But his lack of confidence keeps Kevin from talking to the girl, Abby. He thinks he has missed his one shot at true love, until his friend Rod (Fatone) sets out to find the fated sweetheart for his best bud.