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S AT U R D AY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 0 6The Peaceful WarriorI felt an overwhelming urge to see the new movie "The PeacefulWarrior." Sure, the reviews were almost universally bad. But itsdirector is Victor Salva, a man who was a convicted sex offender (hevideotaped a 12 year old boy in "sexual situations") and THEN went onto forge a successful directorial career beginning with...Disney, of allplaces. That Disney film was "Powder," and it's hard to imagine anodder, more confused movie. It stars Sean Patrick Flanery of "YoungIndiana Jones" as an outcast with almost mystical powers. I don't knowhow to describe the movie other than to say something about it istortured and closeted -- and that was my feeling BEFORE finding outSalva's past. He also made a schlocky horror film "Jeepers Creepers"which SPOILER ALERT concludes with the monster triumphing overthe good guys END OF SPOILER ALERT that became a solid box officehit. The guy has issues. So when I saw his new project was "ThePeaceful Warrior," I went to Barnes & Noble to check out the book it'sbased on -- it's a poorly written New Age saga about a college gymnast(okay, promising) who is befriended and tutored in philosophy by agarage station attendant named Socrates with vaguely mystical powers.Laughingly based on the author's real life, it's one of those books that ismeant to inspire and instruct as much as tell a story. God help me, it'sthe sort of thing I have no patience for so I put it back. The movie is infact fairly bearable, thanks to a relatively low-key Nick Nolte asSocrates and a cast of exceptionally handsome young men on thegymnastics team. The camera is still a guilty voyeur when Salva is incharge, but this movie wasn't quite as twisted as Powder. I'm only sorryAshton Holmes (of A History of Violence) wasn't the lead. He was sucha wimpy kid in that movie, I have no idea how he got so buff for thisone. To my shock, the theater was pretty full, even though the moviehad been out for a week and surely wasn't getting good word of mouth.That should end soon and we can look forward to the DVD and Salva'scommentary track -- not to mention the pause button.POSTED BY MICHAEL IN NEW YORK AT 10:40 PM

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