UPCOMING RELEASES
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. Opens Sept. 22 at local theaters. (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. Opens Sept. 22 at local theaters. (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. Opens Sept. 22 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
RECENT RELEASES
ACCEPTED (PG-13) After being rejected by every college on the planet, a group of oddball high school graduates appease their parents by secretly creating a fake university, which conveniently accepts them all as students. Complications, as if you couldn't guess, arise. Stars Justin Long, Blake Lively, Mark Derwin and Columbus Short. (Not Reviewed)
BARNYARD (PG) Can't get enough of those computer-generated animated movies about cute, talking animals? Here's this week's — although the writer-director here is Steve Oedekerk (Ace Ventura, Kung Pow), which might indicate something's going on just a tad bit more subversive than the norm, if you squint hard enough. Featuring the voices of Courteney Cox, Kevin James and Danny Glover. (Not Reviewed)
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
CARS (G) As animated opuses go, this one doesn't quite scale the heights of the Toy Story movies, Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles or Nemo, but — and of course you knew this was coming — even the least of Pixar's efforts is better than 99 percent of the competition. The story here — of an ambitious, self-centered racecar who learns to slow down and smell the diesel — hits all the right emotional notes, but feels a bit scattered and long-winded in the telling, and there are lengthy stretches where not much of anything seems to be happening. The animation is up to Pixar's exalted standards and then some, but the film's style doesn't leap out at you like the company's other efforts, and the anthropomorphic autos, while readymade for marketing tie-ins, seem a touch or two less endearing and enduring than what we've come to expect from the guys who gave us Toy Story. Pound for pound, there's still some solid family entertainment to be had in Cars, but the movie's nearly two-hour running time may have you checking your watch more than once. Features the voices of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy and Cheech Marin. 3 stars
CLICK (PG-13) Another cosmic comedy from the creators of Bruce Almighty, that movie where Jim Carrey acquired divine power. Some similar magic is worked here with Adam Sandler, who gets his hands on a remote control that can manipulate the fabric of reality itself. Why wade through those arguments with your significant other, goes the movie's big joke, when you can fast forward straight to the make-up sex? A few major life lessons are certain to be in store at one point or another. Also stars Kate Beckinsale and Christopher Walken. (Not Reviewed)
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (PG-13) Much like the HBO sit-coms for which its director, David Frankel, is best known (Entourage and Sex and the City), The Devil Wears Prada zips along at a bright, busy clip, is competently crafted, mildly amusing and ultimately disposable. It's surprisingly easy to overlook the lack of substance and originality, however, when you've got Meryl Streep, in one of her most fully realized and thoroughly entertaining performances, holding court at the center of your movie. Technically speaking, our main character is a schlumpy, aspiring journalist named Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) who lucks into a job as assistant to the notorious Miranda Priestly (Streep), the powerful and ultra-sophisticated editor of a fictitious, Vogue-like fashion magazine called Runway. Tastemaker, queen bitch and snob extraordinaire, Streep's Priestly is an icy dragon lady who speaks softly and carries a big thermonuclear device, and every moment she's on screen is something to see. Just about everything else in The Devil Wears Prada, however, is negligible. Doe-eyed Andy transforms from fashion victim to couture-conscious swan and, as her career takes off, her personal life predictably disintegrates. Several bland romantic interests hover at the edges of the story, various minor characters deliver periodic speeches moralizing about Andy's impending loss of integrity, and Stanley Tucci pops up as the obligatory gay co-worker with whom our heroine bonds. Stars Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt and Adrian Grenier. 2.5 stars
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
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
HOLLYWOODLAND (R) A curiously modern update of an old-fashioned detective yarn, filled with muted tones, cool, noir-ish jazz and plenty of unsavory characters lurking just beneath the fat, smooth belly of Eisenhower's America. Adrien Brody stars as a down-on-his-luck private eye in 1950s L.A. trying to prove that the suicide of TV's Superman, actor George Reeves (Ben Affleck), was actually a murder. As is usually the case in the land of noir, the deeper one digs, the murkier things appear, and Brody's investigation begins yielding a wealth of unsettling information, as well as a host of possible killers. Everybody has something to hide, or so it seems, and the more the detective noses around, the more enemies he makes, and the more the walls seem to be closing in around him. The filmmakers drop hints as to where the truth may actually lie but are careful not to give too much away, even as they suggest intriguing parallels between Brody's angry, disappointed character and the famous corpse he's investigating. Both men are victims of the changing times, as Hollywoodland duly notes the simplistic "truth, justice and the American way" shtick of the '50s giving way to the fuzzier, ever darker moral parameters of the '60s. The movie doesn't bring its disparate strands to the most satisfying conclusion, but it's a pleasure just watching all the elaborately orchestrated chaos come to a boil. Also stars Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins, Lois Smith and Robin Tunney. 3.5 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
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
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
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (PG-13) The off-kilter yet pleasantly homespun America on display in this good-natured collaboration between Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor isn't really a story so much as a series of riffs, routines and odd ends that add up to considerably more than the sum of their parts. Then again, you might also say that the film's collection of small moments, tall tales and off-the-cuff anecdotes is nothing but story. Like so many Altman movies, this one is a wash of detail without concrete beginnings or ends, covering everything from love and death to sugar rushes and shoplifting. A Prairie Home Companion takes place on the set and behind the scenes of a long-running radio variety show in the process of broadcasting its final program. The show's musical guests, comedians and commentators compose a sort of family, both on stage and off, and Altman flits between observing their public performances and the backstage feuds, flings and foibles. The comparisons to Nashville are unavoidable, with A Prairie Home Companion playing like a scaled-down, less ambitious version of that 1975 Altman masterpiece crossed with the more recent and frivolous The Company. The ensemble cast seems to be having a great time together (the chemistry between Harrelson and Reilly is particularly inspired), the overlapping dialogue is quintessential Altman, and most of it plays out in a way that's as effortlessly natural as it is enjoyable. Stars Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Virginia Madsen, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly and Lindsay Lohan. 4 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
PULSE (PG-13) Japanese horror movies are still hot, so here's the latest Hollywood remake. Kristen Bell and Ian Somerhalder suspect they may have stumbled upon a supernatural website in this remake of a 1991 film by Asian auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure). Also stars Christina Milian. (Not Reviewed)
THE QUIET (R) Director Jamie Babbit moves a half-step up from the clumsy campfest of But I'm a Cheerleader to this sleek, angsty oddity about a lonely deaf girl who moves in with a suburban family and discovers some very ugly secrets. Like Babbit's previous film, however, The Quiet is also very much about the social politics of high school, and the movie sometimes feels like an after-school special imperfectly fused with some existential art flick where everyone wanders around mumbling about how much they hate their lives. The family that takes in poor, deaf Dot (Camilla Belle) consists of a pill-popping, semi-comatose mom (Edie Falco), a predatory dad (Martin Donovan) and a perky, blonde cheerleader daughter (Elisha Cutbert) who delights in tormenting the new houseguest. For her part, Dot may as well have a sign on her back reading "Kick me, I'm a misfit," and her snobby high school peers dutifully oblige by shunning the shabbily dressed outsider (all except for the local jock stud, who also has ADD, and apparently digs girls who can't hear him talk). The secrets and lies accumulate, along with whiffs of everything from incest to lesbianism; long, tortured gazes into the camera abound and the whole thing is set to creepy death-trance chamber-muzak ripped off from Crash. Also stars Shawn Ashmore and Katy Mixon. 2.5 stars
SUPERMAN RETURNS (PG-13) What to do with a ridiculously old-fashioned icon in these jaded, post-postmodern times? Why, make him an even more iconic icon, of course. Superman Returns is classy pop art that pushes every heroic anachronism and narrative inconsistency of the Superman mythos to its outer limits, then steps back and dares us to deny it. Taking up pretty much right after 1980's Superman II, Superman Returns meticulously recreates the spirit and particulars of Richard Donner's first two Superman outings, with our hero (a slightly wooden Brandon Routh) back in action after a prolonged absence — only to discover former flame Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth, also wooden) hooked up with another man, and perpetual arch-enemy Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey, putting a slightly more sinister spin on Gene Hackman's version) waiting in the wings. There's certainly fun to be had here, but Superman Returns takes such a reverential approach to its famous hero that he sometimes seems like an insect in amber, and consequently the film floats as often as it soars (it doesn't help that the pacing of this 2 1/2-hour opus is a bit dodgy, particularly in the beginning). But when the movie does get down to business, all is forgiven, with spectacular special effects sequences and elegant cinematic poetry that lifts Superman Returns several notches above standard popcorn fare. As superhero movies go, Superman Returns isn't quite the success story of Batman Begins (although both films reinvent the wheel by getting back to basics), but it makes a solid case for the continued relevance of Superman and his franchise. Also stars stars Parker Posey, James Marsden, Frank Langella and Eva Marie Saint. 3.5 stars
TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY (PG-13) Will Ferrell trots out yet another variation of his standard character — clueless, a bit pompous, but thoroughly silly and ultimately redeemable (think Adam Sandler crossed with The Mary Tyler Moore Show's Ted Baxter) — in this enjoyably ridiculous outing from the folks who brought you Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Ferrell's redneck racecar driver in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is basically just TV talking head Ron Burgundy with a different accent and worse table manners, and the new movie is even more of a plotless excuse for Ferrell's riffing than Anchorman was. That said, much of Talladega Nights is really quite funny, cruising along with considerable energy as it unleashes volleys of bizarre comic non-sequiturs and what appear to be semi-improvised skits. A lot of it falls flat but every so often a scene appears out of nowhere and simply floors us (case in point: the priceless sequence of an extended family dinner, featuring one of the oddest graces ever uttered.) Stars Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Gary Cole and Michael Clarke Duncan. 3 stars
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
This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2006.