| Movie Review Shadowboxer is out on DVD and is a must rent if you like slightly off-beat movies. Cuba Gooding Jr plays a professional assassin whose partner, both in life and in crime, is Rose (played by Helen Mirren). Rose and Mikey (CG Jr) have a relationship that is both repellent and touching - tender, but disturbing. It runs the gamut from familial to erotic and back again. Rose is dying from Cancer and as a result, now believes in God. When she and Mikey go to do a job and find that one of the witnesses is an innocent, very pregnant girl in labor, Rose makes a snap decision. "We're keeping them," she says. "Rose, they aren't puppies," Mikey reminds her. But keep them they do. And the dynamics of this little family unit are intriguing. Not for children or the faint of heart. Gore is minimal (despite lots of shootings), but there is a considerable amount of sex and violence. Mirren does not appear unclothed, which is just as well. Cuba Gooding Jr bares his adorable little round tush and there is a brief shot of a condom-covered penis.
__________________ Carlene Banded 11/29/04 -97 pounds |