The 13th Floor

The Matrix, eXistenZ, Open Your Eyes, and now The 13th Floor, from German director Josef Rusnak -- this life-is-a-dream motif is turning into a recurring nightmare. Computers once again are the culprits in this new take on virtual unreality, which is not quite as flashy, stylish, or ambitious as its recent peers but does score points with its affable characters and performances. Craig Bierko brings a warm smile to his David Duchovny-esque deadpan as Douglas Hall, who with fellow hacker Whitney (a freaky Vincent D'Onofrio) and mentor Hannon Fuller (a creepily avuncular Armin Mueller-Stahl) is developing a computer game that's a virtual re-creation of 1937 Los Angeles. Fuller is found murdered, however, and as is often the case in movies of this type Hall is the prime suspect, though he can't remember a thing. To learn the truth he logs into the game, and though the near-monochromatic, computer-generated period sets are rich and sinister, the surprise twists he encounters are the expected ones. With Gretchen Mol adding another level of intrigue as a generic femme fatale, and Dennis Haysbert doing a poor job of making sense of things as a gumshoe, Floor has charm, atmosphere, and some wit but blurs the illusion/reality line into a snore. At the Holiday, Showcase, Tri-Boro, and Woonsocket cinemas.
-- Peter Keough