Upcoming Releases
THE GRUDGE 2 (R) Black-haired, dripping-wet ghost-girls may already be yesterday's news in Asia, but they're still hot stuff (for the moment, at least) in the megaplexes of America. This latest dose of Japanese horror, remade Hollywood-style, amplifies the original Grudge's tale of a supernatural curse that seems to strike at random, causing people to die in the grip of a powerful rage. Stars Amber Tamblyn, Jennifer Beals, Edison Chen, Eve Gordon and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Opens Oct. 13 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
MAN OF THE YEAR (PG-13) Robin Williams as the president of the United States? Be afraid! Be very afraid! Barry Levinson is the director here, reportedly working in a Wag the Dog-lite mode, with Williams as a talk show host who stumbles into the nation's highest office. Also stars Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, Lewis Black and Jeff Goldblum. Opens Oct. 13 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
RECENT RELEASES
ALL THE KING'S MEN (PG-13) Sean Penn is phenomenal, but just about everything else is wrong in All the Kings Men. Penn stars as Willie Stark (a thinly veiled stand-in for legendary Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long), a well-meaning but shrewd populist who connects with his fellow "redneck hicks," largely through the power of passionate oratory, to the point where he achieves something approaching absolute power and is in turn corrupted absolutely. The film's problems begin and end with its actors, an ensemble that looks great on paper, but that is, almost to an individual, horribly miscast. Three of the movie's prime roles go to Brits (Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Anthony Hopkins) and their attempts at Southern American accents are dubious at best, abominable at worst (Hopkins doesn't even appear to be going through the motions). Stars Sean Penn, Jude Law, James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins, Patricia Clarkson and Mark Ruffalo. 2 stars
THE BLACK DAHLIA (R) A lush homage to all things noir, De Palma's film takes as its springboard James Ellroy's fictionalized account of one of L.A.'s most famous unsolved crimes — the grisly 1947 murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth "Betty" Short — and then proceeds to pump up the darkness to nearly operatic proportions. The Black Dahlia unfolds in an opulently decadent, morally cracked L.A. At the center of the movie is a triangle consisting of the two investigating homicide detectives — a pair of former boxers nicknamed "Fire" and "Ice" (Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart) — and the beautiful hooker-turned-homemaker (Scarlett Johansson) who is their mutual object of desire. The movie practically disappears in its own frantic convolutions by the end, but it hardly matters. De Palma is in top form here, with several brilliantly choreographed set pieces establishing the tone, and a monochromatic palette (by master cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond) that's about as close as a color film can get to black-and-white. Stars Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank and Mia Kirshner. 3.5 stars
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH (PG-13) A slacker (Dane Cook) barely working at a Wal-Mart-like megastore has the hots for the cute new employee who looks a lot like Jessica Simpson (Jessica Simpson). The catch is that he's been told she'll only date guys who win the store's coveted "Employee of the Month" award, causing radical changes in slacker-boy's behavior. Also stars Andy Dick, Dax Shepard and Efren Ramirez. Not Reviewed)
EVERYONE'S HERO (G) Although it's mostly significant for being the final project of the late Christopher Reeve, Everyone's Hero offers amusing, non-threatening fun that will primarily be appreciated by kids young enough to think Home Alone is the funniest thing on the planet. The titular hero is none other than Babe Ruth himself (voiced by Brian Dennehy), and the film recounts the efforts of a plucky young 10-year-old (Jake T. Austin) to recover and return the Babe's beloved, recently stolen bat. This being an animated children's movie, it turns out that the famous bat can talk, as can a stray baseball the kid finds along the way, and the threesome (boy, bat and ball) soon become fast friends and teach one other valuable life lessons — in between shenanigans. The movie gets away with its anachronistically wholesome, ultra-idealistic feel by setting itself in a kinder, gentler America of the 1930s (where even the bums are apparently cute, clean and well-fed), and the humor here, though frequently physical in nature, is similarly less aggressive and irreverent than what we're used to in our kids' movies these days. You could do worse. Also featuring the voices of William H. Macy, Rob Reiner, Raven-Symone and Whoopi Goldberg. 3 stars
FLYBOYS (PG-13) Intrepid young American James Franco and a handful of his fellow countrymen join the beleaguered French flying forces struggling to stave off the Germans during World War I. This is being billed as the first WWI aviation film in over 40 years. Also stars Jean Reno, Martin Henderson and David Ellison. (Not Reviewed)
GRIDIRON GANG (PG-13) While it's basically just another spin on Remember the Titans and The Longest Yard, Gridiron Gang, against all odds, turns out to be a somewhat meatier variation on your standard inspirational sports movie. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars as Sean Porter, the manager of a juvenile correctional facility, who takes a bunch of aimless, angry inmates and gives them something to live for by turning them into a first-rate football team. Most of the requisite clichés are on board here, encapsulated by The Rock's periodic pep talks extolling the virtues of self-esteem, teamwork and "heart," and you can be sure that every one of the movie's scruffy underdogs will eventually get his day — but director Phil Joanou instills Gridiron Gang with some smart touches and an unexpected toughness that make it a lot easier to believe in the film. The movie's grittier, more aggressive grace notes don't completely redeem its warm and fuzzy tendencies, but there's still plenty to like here, and The Rock holds down the center nicely. The guy's no Brando, sure, but as slabs of action-hero beefcake go, his acting chops could make Vin Diesel weep. Also stars Xzibit, Vanessa Ferlito, L. Scott Caldwell and Leon Rippy. 3 stars
THE ILLUSIONIST (R) Eisenheim (Edward Norton) is a master magician in 19th century Vienna, summoning ghosts from mirrors and commanding orange trees to grow from seeds in seconds. Exploiting the power of art and of the supernatural, the charismatic Eisenheim's cosmic parlor tricks soon gain him a rabid following among the local hoi polloi — putting the magician on a direct collision course with their sadistic, egomaniacal ruler, Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). There's also a beautiful woman (Jessica Biel) in the mix, natch, desired by both men, and so making this royal pissing match all the more personal and vicious. For most of its running time, The Illusionist has the good sense to keep its mysteries exactly as they should be: mysterious. It's a handsomely crafted, pleasant enough diversion, but the film nearly squanders its accumulated good will in a cheap-shot ending that attempts to "surprise" us by tying up every loose end in an elaborate M. Night Shyamalan meets The Usual Suspects bow. Also stars Paul Giamatti. 3 stars
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (PG-13) This is the Al Gore Movie in much the same way that Brokeback Mountain was for the longest time the Gay Cowboy Movie. The movie is gussied up with lots of slick visual aids, but it is essentially a filmed lecture delivered by Gore to a polite, well-groomed audience. Gore comes off as authoritative (in his crisp blue blazer) but friendly and approachable (note the lack of tie) — but although the messenger is friendly, the message is anything but. An Inconvenient Truth is designed to scare the hell out of us, and that's just what it does. Gore provides ample but concise evidence of global warming, debunks the phenomenon's would-be debunkers, then gets down-and-dirty with an extended cataloging of the effects of unrestricted fossil fuel burning. Unfortunately, the movie is flawed by periodic interludes that look a lot like campaign ads for Gore's 2008 Presidential run (complete with endless shots of Al as government's last honest man, staring pensively out of doorways and windows, the weight of the world on his broad shoulders). Even more troubling, however, is that after nearly an hour and a half of ecological doom and gloom, we get barely a few minutes of suggestions as to how global warming might be fixed. The "solutions" scroll simultaneously with the closing credits almost as an afterthought, as if the filmmakers hope we won't notice how pathetic it is to believe recycling a few cans is going to stave off the next tsunami. That might just be the scariest thing of all in the scariest disaster film of the summer. 3.5 stars
INVINCIBLE (PG) Fans of Remember the Titans and The Rookie are the intended audience of this rags-to-riches sports story from the same studio that brought you those aforementioned flicks. Mark Wahlberg stars as a down-on-his-luck 30-year-old bartender who tries out for the Philadelphia Eagles and, against all odds, winds up becoming a star player. Also stars Greg Kinnear, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rispoli and Kevin Conway. (Not Reviewed)
JACKASS: NUMBER 2 (R) More painful, senseless self-mutilation, crude, public displays of base humiliation, spewing and splattering of bodily fluids and other signposts of the impending demise of Western Civilization. That's entertainment, and it's all in a day's work for our hosts, Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera and Steve-O. (Not Reviewed)
JET LI'S FEARLESS (PG-13) Directed by Ronny Yu (Bride with White Hair) and choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping (The Matrix, Kill Bill), this Jet Li martial arts vehicle (reportedly his last) arrives with some fairly serious credentials. The film, which has already set box office records in Asia, features Li as a legendary kung fu fighter in turn-of-the-century China. Also stars Masato Harada, Shido Nakamura and Anthony De Longis. (Not Reviewed)
THE LAST KISS (R) Connection-crazed Crash scripter Paul Haggis and starry-eyed Tony Goldwyn (director of sapfests such as A Walk on the Moon and Someone Like You) put a sprawling ensemble cast through their paces in a dramedy about a group of characters dealing with the slings and arrows of turning 30. The source material here is Italian director Gabriele Muccino's L'Ultimo Baccio — which, believe it or not, is a pretty good movie — so try to keep an open mind. Stars Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Casey Affleck, Rachel Bilson, Blythe Danner, Tom Wilkinson and Michael Weston. (Not Reviewed)
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (R) The current darling of the Sundance crowd and the feel-good bummer of the summer, Little Miss Sunshine is all about gawking at the geeks. The family members in this bittersweet comedy are all hugely dysfunctional and the movie turns them into such ridiculous figures of fun that it often feels condescending, but Little Miss Sunshine is ultimately much more interested in being endearing than offensive. Or, heaven forbid, edgy. Everything here is fair game for comedy (the more embarrassing the better), but husband and wife co-directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris diligently avoid letting comic exaggeration slide into cruelty, supplying a comforting squeeze of the hand of a full-blown group hug whenever possible, so that we walk away from even the most potentially unpleasant scenes feeling uplifted rather than dirty. The result is a movie that, although often very amusing, also feels more than a little forced as it struggles to balance its quirkiness with the big, fat heart it wears so proudly on its sleeve. The excellent ensemble cast includes Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin. 3 stars
OPEN SEASON (PG) On the heels of Madagascar and The Wild, here's yet another kid-friendly take on the whacky high jinx ensuing when city-bred beasties get thrust into the great outdoors. Martin Lawrence lends his voice to the character of Boog, an overly domesticated grizzly bear who finds it tough going when his owner leaves him to fend for himself in the great outdoors. Lack of creature comforts and an abundance of annoying fellow animals are bad enough (nut-wielding squirrels with Scottish accents, skunks and beavers with attitudes, a needy deer voiced by Aston Kutcher), but the worst threat of all is gun-toting humankind, natch, providing the movie with its obligatory message. The humor here encompasses a familiar mix of the heartwarming, slapstick and poop jokes, and the animation looks much like every other CGI kiddie flick you've seen over the past few years (not a bad thing, but not exactly good, either), but the movie's no better or worse than most of its recent inspirations. If you can get past the disturbing concept of a buddy movie starring four-legged versions of Lawrence and Kutcher, you may even have find yourself having a fairly good time. Also featuring the voices of Debra Mesing, Gary Sinise and Billy Connolly. 3 stars
OVER THE HEDGE (PG-13) Bruce Willis has his most convincing action hero role in some time, supplying the voice for a wily raccoon on a mission. The raccoon hooks up with a community of woodland creatures, leads them to the promised land of suburbia, introduces them to the glories of junk food, and shows them how to snatch the stuff in a series of daring heists. The catch here is that the raccoon has a hidden agenda — to eventually snag all the food for himself (specifically, for a intimidating bear he owes big time) — but, this being DreamWorks' latest PG-rated animation, the proper life lessons kick in just in time to ensure happy endings all around. Over the Hedge won't change anyone's life — the movie lacks the rafters-raising wit of a Shrek or the emotional richness of Pixar's best stuff — but this is solid, second-tier kiddie fare, and an awful lot of fun. Features the voices of Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell and Nick Nolte.3.5 stars
THE PROTECTOR (R) There's a tremendous amount of hype floating around about Thai martial arts artist Tony Jaa being the "New Jackie Chan," or perhaps even the "New Bruce Lee," and most of that hype turns out to be well-deserved. Jaa may not have Lee's raw charisma or Chan's self-deprecating comedic chops but, just on the strength of 2004's Ong Bak and now this quaint little bone-crusher (alternately known as The Warrior King, Tom Yum Goong and Ong Bak 2), there's nobody in contemporary action films that can touch him. The plot of The Protector is pretty simple (even silly) stuff — Jaa plays a simple country lad who travels to Sydney Australia when his prized elephant is stolen by evil thugs — but the energy level is unflagging and the action is frequently spectacular. Jaa faces off against a seemingly endless stream of increasingly lethal opponents in a variety of unusual settings, the highlight of which is an uninterrupted 10-minute tracking shot of our hero fighting his way floor by floor through the bad guys' lair. Also stars Johnny Nguyen, Mum Jokmok and Petchtahi Wongkamlao. 3.5 stars
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP (R) Working for the first time from a self-penned script, director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) has created a film that is in almost every way an extension of his daring, ridiculous, and unabashedly cerebral collaborations with acclaimed screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. Gondry's new movie may lack the high-concept hook and metaphysical subtleties of many of Kaufman's projects, but The Science of Sleep's delirious jumbling of fantasy and reality is its own reward — ingenious, provocative and, for much of its running time, a thing of pure beauty. Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Stephane, a graphic designer given to mixing up dreams with reality, and whose hyperactive imagination eventually takes over the movie. The film's lack of a linear structure may sometimes appear to lack cohesiveness, but it's a well-thought-out randomness that mirrors not only the mess of the protagonist's mind ("Fuck organization," he declares at one point), but the way that dreams work in general. Gondry trades here in Bunuel-ian non-sequiturs and communicates some very sophisticated ideas in ways that are extremely clever, yet executed with a certain deliberate primitiveness. (Cameras and cars are likely to be constructed from cardboard, water from sheets of cellophane, and those omnipresent dreams are concocted in a ridiculously lo-fi TV studio, out of a witch's brew of booze, spaghetti and old vinyl records.) There's a love story here as well that doesn't engage us quite as much as it should, but the movie succeeds, sometimes spectacularly, in almost every other way. Also stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat, Miou-Miou and Pierre Vaneck. 4 stars
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING (R) The buzz was apparently getting so bad on this "prequel" to the Texas Chainsaw horror franchise that all advance screenings simply came to a halt — which means we didn't get to see it. As is often the case in situations like this, that's probably a blessing in disguise. Stars Jordana Brewster, Taylor Handley, Cyia Batten, Diora Baird and Matthew Bomer. Opens Oct. 6 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
TRUST THE MAN (R) A third-rate chick flick for guys, Trust the Man inadvertently demonstrates that the only thing worse than a bunch of weepy females baring their souls on queue and coming up empty is when a bunch of overgrown boys are allowed to do the same thing. David Duchovny plays a househusband who spends his days taking care of the kids and hanging out with his equally idle brother-in-law (Billy Crudup, sporting some of the most offensive facial hair in recent memory). The male characters in Trust the Man have all the time in the world to stew in their own not-very-interesting juices, surf porn sites and, above all else, whine — something they do on the phone, in trendy restaurants, bathrooms, cars, street corners and anywhere else they happen to find themselves. All of the movie's relationships implode about midway through, and the various characters wander about in circles as director Bart Freundlich clumsily attempts to milk each new convolution for laughs and, even more disastrously, the occasional profundity. The film's tone is rarely anything but shrill, its characters are mainly shallow purveyors of clichés, and the humor amounts to sex jokes, spit-takes and leftover Woody Allen one-liners. By the time the grand finale rolls around — an evening at the theater transformed by grandstanding audience members into one of those horribly literal "all the world's a stage" routines — it's hard suppressing an involuntary shudder or two. Also stars Julianne Moore and Maggie Gyllenhaal. 1 star
WORLD TRADE CENTER (PG-13) Oliver Stone's curiously conventional new film comes a little too close to being the movie everybody feared United 93 would turn out to be. Stone's movie is both too much and not enough, too calculating and often alarmingly bogus as it proceeds to boil down the events of September 11 into the ordeal of a couple of Port Authority cops trapped in the rubble of the twin towers. World Trade Center is essentially an old-school disaster flick, a based-on-real-life Apollo 13-ish drama that segues predictably between the plight of beleaguered, confined heroes and the agonies of their free-roaming friends and loved ones. The scenario plays out in methodical, surprisingly formulaic fashion (Stone, whose best films have always been written by himself, works here from a script by Andrea Berloff), with the director sublimating his unique filmmaking instincts and brazen stylistic flourishes in the service of a final product that, frankly, looks like it could have been made by any old hack. The nominal star here is Nicolas Cage, literally a talking head here, spending most of the movie completely immobilized and buried up to the neck in debris like some sooty reject from a Samuel Beckett play. When the movie isn't dwelling on Cage howling into the darkness, it's following around his significant others as they strut and fret, seizing on every sentimental cliché in the book. Also stars Michael Pena, Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon. 2.5 stars
YOU, ME AND DUPREE (PG-13) Fans of Owen Wilson films will be disappointed to know that his latest picture falls short of the comedy bar he's so firmly established. When the loveable yet immature Dupree (Wilson) gets fired from his job and kicked out of his apartment, he's forced to move in with his newlywed friends, Carl and Molly (played by Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson). Of course, he quickly manages to turn their world upside down — which includes accidentally setting fire to the couple's living room — but while the are a few humorous scenes scattered throughout the movie, and, despite the star power of Michael Douglas as Molly's father and Carl's manipulative boss, You, Me and Dupree's overall plot lacks true comedic substance and it comes to a rather predictable conclusion. Also stars Amanda Detmer and Seth Rogan. 2 stars —Amy Moczynski