OPENING THIS WEEK
AMERICAN TEEN (PG-13) Nanette Burstein's American Teen, ostensibly a documentary, goes down so smooth that a prime time broadcast on MTV wouldn't be at all out of the question. Burstein takes her camera into a typical high school in a typical, mostly white, mostly middle-class town, where she focuses on a group of seniors who seem to fit into easily recognizable molds, at least at first. We meet Colin the Jock, Jake the Nerd, Hannah the Rebel and Megan the Popular One (who leads a clique of hotties straight out of Heathers or Mean Girls), and watch their lives unfold as lines blur, identities are questioned, alliances fracture and form, and the kids deal with the various pitfalls of growing up. It's surprisingly gripping stuff, but the film's supposedly spontaneous emotional explosions don't always ring completely true. At worst, they feel a bit like dramatic recreations, almost as if the kids were milking the moment for the camera — but perhaps this is just the natural byproduct of what happens when you attempt to document members of a generation raised on Survivor, for whom the lines between reality and reality programming no longer matter. Credibility issues aside, though, it's almost insidious how easy it is to by seduced by the film as it roots around in the sometimes cruel but usually fascinating social dynamics of young adults trapped in a too-small space. Whether what American Teen shows us is strictly true or not is another matter, but, as we're constantly learning, the truth can be as fluid as we need it to be. Stars Hannah Bailey, Colin Clemens, Megan Krizmanich, Jake Tusing, Mitch Reinholt and Geoff Haase. Opens Aug. 29 at local theaters. 3.5 stars
BABYLON A.D. (PG-13) The new film from director Mathieu Kassovitz (La Haine, Gothika) is a sci-fi-ish thriller with Vin Diesel guarding a woman hosting a virus that could destroy the world. There's also a cult lurking on the sidelines seeking to create some sort of a genetically altered Messiah. Also stars Meanie Thierry, Michelle Yeoh, Lambert Wilson and Charlotte Rampling. Opens Aug. 29 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
HAMLET 2 (R) Read Lance Goldenberg's review.
TELL NO ONE (NR) Read Lance Goldenberg's review.
THE KITE The latest in the Gasparilla International Film Festival’s estimable Global Lens Series is a Lebanese film about a 16-year-old who must cross a border checkpoint between Lebanon and Israel to marry a man she has never met — complicated by the fact that she is in love with the Israeli soldier guarding the border. Directed by Randa Chahal Sabbag. 8 p.m., Fri. Aug. 29, Reeves Hall, University of Tampa. (Not reviewed)
TRAITOR (PG-13) Despite all the international-thriller trappings — there seems to be a captioned establishing shot every ten minutes — this feature more closely resembles such stool-pigeon dramas as White Heat, Donnie Brasco and The Departed. The central character, played with winning gravity by Don Cheadle, is an American-born Muslim whose loyalties bounce like a pinball between U.S. law enforcement and the jihadist cell he's infiltrated. Based on a story by Steve Martin of all people, the script seldom rises above formula (Guy Pearce and Neal McDonough are especially ill-served as a pair of starchy FBI agents), but its respectful treatment of Islam is both unusual and welcome. With Jeff Daniels and Said Taghmaoui, excellent as Cheadle's jihadist pal. Jeffrey Nachmanoff directed. Opens Aug. 27 at local theaters. —J.R. Jones
TRANSSIBERIAN (R) A middle-American couple (Emily Mortimer and Woody Harrelson) hope to rekindle their marriage on an “adventurous” trip across Asia on the Transsiberian Railway, but when they meet a mysterious younger pair (Eduardo Noriega and Kate Mara), they find more excitement than they bargained for. Director Brad Anderson proves to be a close student of Alfred Hitchcock thrillers, cultivating a skin-crawling sensation of paranoia amid the former Soviet locations. It’s the perfect film for audiences who find the Hostel films too low-brow, and The Darjeeling Limited too twee. Opens Aug. 29 at local theaters. —Curt Holman
RECENT RELEASES
BOTTLE SHOCK (PG-13) Another movie that begins by telling us it's "based on a true story," Bottle Shock doesn't play as fast and loose with facts as some, but it doesn't hesitate to throw in a made-up romance or two and some trusty father-son tensions to embellish its essentially accurate account of the landmark event that finally gave American wines the respect they deserved. That event — a blind tasting held in Paris during American's bicentennial year, and judged by France's most esteemed oenophiles — resulted in a couple of rag tag California wineries shocking the world by, for the first time ever, stomping all over their French counterparts. The movie spends a little too much time watching its characters chase their tails, but Bill Pullman and Chris Pine are solid as the father and son proprietors of a struggling Napa Valley winery, and Alan Rickman is a lot of fun as the British wine snob who discovers the joys of California while putting the tasting event in motion. Like Sideways, Bottle Shock uses humans and wine as interchangeable metaphors for each other (adversity makes them both stronger), and it all takes place in a weirdly magical California where even the most rough and tumble bikers know the difference between a Merlot and a Zinfandel. The film splits its time between Paris and the rolling halls of Napa, the music an appropriate mix of Maria Callas and the Doobie Brothers, with scenery so voluptuous and sun-drenched you have to restrain yourself from sticking your face in the screen to lap it all up. Also stars Rachael Taylor Freddy Rodriguez, Dennis Farina and Eliza Dushku. 3.5 stars
