Upcoming Releases
THE HEARTBREAK KID (PG-13) The studio didn't screen this in time for our review, so we're as in the dark as you are about what the Farrelly Brothers will wind up doing with Neil Simon and Elaine May's fractured romance The Heartbreak Kid. Stars Ben Stiller and Michelle Monaghan. Opens Oct. 5 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB (PG-13) Based on Karen Joy Fowler's novel, and a goodly notch up from your standard chick-flick fare, The Jane Austen Book Club introduces us to five females of various ages and temperaments, and then shepherds them through a series of romantic ups and downs. Different though they are, the women are bound by a love of literature (specifically Austen) and all saddled with loutish, disposable or conspicuously absent male partners — and so their book club, formed as an "antidote to life," essentially becomes a forum for the characters to vent about their own lives. There's also a lone male (Hugh Dancy) who worms his way into this estrogenic inner circle, providing a romantic foil for one of the women, and an Austen-ian object of desire who saunters around the edge of the film offering heavy-lidded temptation. The club members sip vast quantities of wine and discuss the novels that, naturally, wind up providing perfect parallels for the what's happening in their own lives, and it all culminates in a shower of tears, confessions, reconciliations and declarations of love (at a library soiree, no less). The movie's not without its share of dopey chick-flick conventions and cute reaction shots from canines, but there's also some surprisingly clever stuff going on here. Favorite loaded image: the thwarted stud covering up his arousal by hastily plopping a Jane Austen paperback in his lap. Stars Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman, Maggie Grace and Jimmy Smits. Opens Oct. 5 at local theaters. 3 stars
THE SEEKER: THE DARK IS RISING (PG) The fate of the world hinges on a young boy who discovers he's really a mystical warrior charged with defeating the forces of evil. What ensues is cosmic PG-rated adventure that the studio apparently didn't have enough confidence in to screen for critics. Stars Drew Tyler Bell, Frances Conroy, James Cosmo and Wendy Crewson. Opens Oct. 5 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
RECENT RELEASES
2 DAYS IN PARIS (R) A brief encounter with a mixed Franco-American couple that inevitably evokes the Before Sunset/Before Sunrise projects, 2 Days in Paris stars director/screenwriter Julie Delpy as Marion, a quirky Frenchwoman on vacation with her even quirkier American boyfriend, Jack (Adam Goldberg). As its title suggests, the movie takes place during a quick stopover on Marion's Parisian home turf, where the couple spend their time strolling and engaging in mostly amusing and nearly nonstop chatter as in the Sunset/Sunrise films. A voice-over periodically attempts to sum up what the movie is "about," but it's completely unnecessary; what you see is what you get here. 2 Days in Paris doesn't do itself favors by inviting such close comparisons to the movies that inspired it, but the conversation is usually engaging, the scenery pretty and the price of admission a whole lot cheaper than a plane ticket to Paris. Also stars Daniel Bruhl, Marie Pillet, Albert Delpy and Aleksia Landeau. 3 stars
3:10 TO YUMA (PG-13) As in the 1957 film that inspired it, 3:10 to Yuma gives us a tightly wound cowboy cast adrift in an existential wilderness — Dan Evans (Christian Bale), a cash-strapped rancher who agrees to help transport notorious Alpha-male outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to jail. It's a journey that quickly turns tense, then treacherous, laying souls bare and, more often than not, revealing a terrible void where a conscience should be. As Yuma heads toward its big showdown and virtually every one of the movie's heroes reveal themselves as rats deserting a sinking ship, the film drops the ball a bit, but that's almost to be expected. Without at least a glimmer of light at the end, audiences would probably never have been able to bear all the surrounding darkness. Last act problems aside, 3:10 to Yuma is a solid piece of work, a western respectful of old-school conventions while breathing some new life into the form. Also stars Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol, Ben Foster, Dallas Roberts, Logan Lerman and Alan Tudyk. 3.5 stars
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (PG-13) The new film from stylist extraordinaire Julie Taymor (Titus, Frida) promises a lushly visual approach and wall-to-wall Beatles music bolstering a basic boy-meets-girl scenario set against the groovy, tumultuous 1960s. The characters all have Beatlesque names like Lucy, Jude, Sadie and Jo-Jo, and psychedelicized imagery inspired by the Fab's tunes reportedly abounds — but the $10 million the studio ponied up for the rights to the music apparently didn't even buy them the original versions, so Across the Universe's 133-minute running time may become tough going what with the nonmusician actors themselves being the ones doing the warbling here. We'll have to wait to see how it all turns out, since the film was screened too late for review. Stars Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs and Martin Luthor McCoy. (Not Reviewed)
ARCTIC TALE (PG-13) A documentary that's tempting to describe as March of the Penguins with global warming and farts, Arctic Tale chronicles the lives and times of Nanu and Seela, a polar bear and walrus who struggle to survive at the top of the world and whose destinies eventually become entwined. The movie falls all over itself trying to be as family-friendly as possible, ascribing names and simplified human attributes to its animal subjects and providing an ingratiating narration by Queen Latifah. Nanu and Seela eventually find their footing in the world, but it's a task made even tougher due to melting polar ice caps upsetting the creatures' ecosystem — a global warming angle that shouldn't come as much of a shock considering Arctic Tale was produced by Al Gore's daughter, Kristen. The movie's not exactly subtle about hammering home its agenda, though, and as documentaries go, it's also just a tad disingenuous, in that "Nanu" and "Seela" don't in fact exist (they're actually composites cobbled together to support what the movie wants to say). Still, only a fool or a captain of industry would argue that Arctic Tale's environmental message is less than sound, so if it takes a few doctored facts and a Morgan Freeman-lite voice-over to do the job — well, any port in a storm. Directed by Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson. 2.5 stars
THE BRAVE ONE (R) In Neil Jordan's classy revenge flick/mood piece, Jodie Foster stars as a sensitive New Yorker who's nearly beaten to death and is then reborn as a remarkably efficient killing machine. For most of the movie's running time, though, Jordan places us at a distinct remove from the visceral thrill typically supplied by on-screen violence, choosing to comment on our collective impulse for revenge ("It feels good," is one bystander's succinct explanation) rather than revel in the rush of it all. Foster's character is never less than conflicted about her own actions, and the individual murders are depicted as messy, unpleasant events not remotely designed to get an audience on their feet cheering. Jordan actively roots around in the escalating alienation and de-sensitization, with more than a whiff of Taxi Driver in the claustrophobic atmosphere, making The Brave One a curious contradiction in terms — a payback flick that practically goes out of its way to avoid exploitation. The single, notable exception is the movie's final murder, a controversial scene that some may see as Jordan's 11th-hour appeal, whether ironic or not, to the crypto-fascist lurking inside us all. It doesn't quite turn the genre completely on its head, but The Brave One gives it a good shot. Also stars Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews and Mary Steenburgen. 3.5 stars
EASTERN PROMISES (R) Eastern Promises isn't quite as elaborately constructed a brainteaser as Cronenberg's recent A History of Violence, but it's definitely cut from the same cloth. The film is set in the multi-culti mean streets of London, the movie challenges us to connect its dots, as midwife Naomi Watts, nosing around in a dead girl's diary, becomes drawn into the murky underworld of the Russian mafia. Chief amongst these dangerous players are three of the most unforgettable characters you'll see on a screen this year — a Russian restaurateur/Godfather (Armin Mueller-Stahl), his psychotic son (Vincent Cassel, as memorably sadistic as any classic noir henchmen), and, most crucially, their enigmatic chauffeur/bagman (Viggo Mortensen), whose moral ambivalence twists the story into strange new shapes. Cronenberg lets the tale unfold in a psychologically-charged but meticulously minimalist and often oblique manner, with key events sometimes occurring off-screen and violence mostly implied — although when it does occasionally rise to the surface in all its ugly-as-sin glory, be prepared. Also stars Sinead Cusack and Jerzy Skolimonwski. 4 stars
FEAST OF LOVE (R) Various couples come together and fall apart, all under the patient gaze of Morgan Freeman (impossibly kind and sage as ever), in this oddly contoured but basically syrupy and shallow offering from screenwriter Allison Burnett (Resurrecting the Champ). Two burning love affairs ignite within the film's first few moments, although the most promising of these fine romances — two women who fixate on one another at a softball game — is quickly forgotten, becoming merely the butt of one of Feast of Love's watered-down attempts at a joke. Instead, the movie chooses to focus its attentions on the sweetly clueless husband (Greg Kinnear) abandoned by one of the born-again softball lesbians. Kinnear's character isn't a particularly interesting type, and his missteps are painfully obvious as he winds up falling for his icy real-estate agent (who's screwing a married man on the side) and then moving in with her in a home infamous for housing romantically doomed couples. Meanwhile, the movie also follows around an ex-junkie pretty boy and his adorable girlfriend (Toby Hemingway and Alexa Davalos), laboring to convince us of connections where none exist between the various characters. Feast of Love aims for a quirky sort of pop mysticism that recalls American Beauty recalling something John Irving wrote several decades ago, but almost none of it feels particularly authentic or engaging. Also stars Selma Blair, Radha Mitchell, Billy Burke, Fred Ward and Jane Alexander. 2 stars
HALLOWEEN (R) Dedicated gorehound and horror-flick fanboy Rob Zombie in what, for better or worse, should be his element. John Carpenter's '70s slasher prototype gets remade by someone who cares, but will we? Stars Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Daeg Faerch, Sheri Moon, Brad Dourif, Udo Kier and Scout Taylor-Compton. (Not Reviewed)
IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (PG) A highly personal history of the nine lunar voyages made between 1968 and 1972, In the Shadow of the Moon gathers together the surviving Apollo astronauts (with one conspicuous omission) — the only human beings to ever stand on the surface of another world — and allows them to tell this epic story in their own words. The aging crew members spin tales that inevitably encompass the cosmic, but in ways that are approachable and occasionally even comic (one space jockey lays claim to being the first man to pee on the moon), their refreshingly down-to-earth observations providing an intimate counterpoint to the otherworldly archival footage presented here. Perhaps the most striking thing about David Sington's film, however, is the very different sort of America it so vividly recalls — a nation that, even at the height of the Vietnam War and cities aflame with racial strife, presented the world with a shining model of what humanity might be. In the Shadow of the Moon stops just short of being a completely satisfying experience — the movie doesn't address key concerns like why we suddenly stopped going to moon, for instance, and first-man-to-set-foot-on-the-moon Neil Armstrong, who refused to be interviewed for this project, becomes a frustrating black hole at the center of the film — but the dream evoked here is still a powerful one. Stars Jim Lovell, Dave Scott, John Young, Gene Cernan, Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Edgar Mitchell, Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt. 3.5 stars
INTO GREAT SILENCE (NR) In 1984, filmmaker Philip Groning asked to be allowed to shoot a documentary about life within the isolated Grand Chartreuse monastery perched high atop the French Alps. Sixteen years later, the monks got back to him and granted the filmmaker permission — which gives you an idea of both the painstakingly methodical nature of the Carthusian order and the extraordinarily unhurried relationship they have with time, qualities that are both meticulously examined and emulated by Groning's nearly three-hour documentary. Into Great Silence maintains an austere, nearly Spartan approach deeply respectful of its subjects, as it follows the monks' daily activities, both sacred and mundane. The film embraces what it observes without feeling compelled to make the constant repetition more palatable to an audience, eschewing voice-over or archival footage for what amount to real-time representations that allow us to better understand the rhythms of the lives we see on screen. Groning lived with the monks for six months, shooting without any additional crew and using only a hi-def video camera and natural light, and the results are, in their exceedingly calm and quiet way, often stunning. Action movie fans are advised to stay far, far away. 4 stars
THE KINGDOM (R) The clash of civilizations is writ large all over The Kingdom, but what the movie basically offers is straight-forward, relatively agenda-free entertainment — a fast-moving police procedural with thriller and action movie accents. The film's title refers to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where a small team of FBI agents (led by Jamie Foxx) has grudgingly been allowed to investigate a brutal massacre of Americans. Struggling to solve a mystery in a place that doesn't accept them, The Kingdom's American agents are some of the strangest strangers in a strange land since Sidney Poitier's Mr. Tibbs. Eventually, Foxx and friends abruptly shift into full battle mode, blasting away with heavy-duty assault weapons and burning up the Riyadhi roads in high-speed car chases as the Americans find themselves besieged in an Islamist enclave, and The Kingdom starts looking like an even more hellish version of Black Hawk Down. Director Peter Berg maximizes the chaos by shooting in that intentionally jerky ADD-esque style popularized by films like United 93 and The Bourne Ultimatum, a technique that aims to present everything as somehow edgier and more "real" — although when Foxx begins single-handedly blowing away the bad guys, reality is best taken with several grains of salt; he's clearly as indestructible as any action hero. Also stars Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman, Jeremy Piven, Danny Huston, Ashraf Barhom and Aku Suliman. 3.5 stars
KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS (PG-13) It's hard to shake the feeling that King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is some elaborate hoax, possibly even a case of Christopher Guest trying to pass off his latest mockumentary as reality filmmaking. But the truth of the matter is that you simply can't make stuff like this up (although, in typically perverse fashion, a Hollywood remake is reportedly already in the works). A humble but utterly unique documentary, equal parts real-life Revenge of the Nerds and edge-of-your-seat thriller, King of Kong applies William Burroughs' premise that "the universe is based on war and games" to diehard Donkey Kong devotees, turning their retro-videogame competitions into a cosmic struggle with destiny. And at the center of it all is the mano a mano between two polar opposites: longtime champion Billy Mitchell and challenger Steve Wiebe, a classic rivalry comparable (as one gamer tells us) to Marris and Mantle in their prime, or Heckle and Jeckle. It all culminates in a flurry of psychic sparks at a Guinness record-setting tournament as the movie morphs, without our even realizing it, from being an amusingly quirky comedy to an altogether engaging drama about people we genuinely care about it. Also stars Nicole Wiebe, Walter Day, Brian Kuh, Steve Sanders and Robert Mruczek. 3.5 stars
LADRON QUE ROBA A LADRON (PG-13) Ladron Que Roba a Ladron blithely riffs on classic heist films from Rififi to Ocean's Eleven while putting a unique ethnic and socio-political spin on the proceedings. The heroes here are Alejandro and Emilio (Latino megastars Fernando Colunga and Miguel Varoni), two illegal immigrants in the tradition of Robin Hood and Abbie Hoffman — "good thieves" targeting an unscrupulous "bad thief" whose infomercials have made him rich at the expense of poor, mostly Spanish-speaking consumers. With a crew assembled from the "invisible" ranks of the immigrant work force — gardeners, mechanics, parking valets and fry cooks — our heroes put into action a plan to steal the creep's cash and give the money back to the bilked Latinos. Sometimes the movie's cultural variations on genre clichés are amusing, but at other times they're just more of the same, and there are a few places where this mostly breezy and cheeky outing stops dead in its tracks in order to allow one of the characters to sneak in some overly earnest advocacy of immigrants' rights. There's not much going on in Ladron Que Roba a Ladron that's particularly original, but the movie wins points for its rendering — sort of like a novel sauce pairing for broiled chicken. Also stars Saul Lizaso, Ivonne Montero, Julie Gonzalo, Oscar Torres, Richard Azurdia, Gabriel Soto and Jojo Henrickson. 2.5 stars
MR. WOODCOCK (R) Phallic shadows fall mightily all over Mr. Woodcock, but, sadly, the film lacks the frenetic energy or even the gross-out bravado of Balls of Fury. Seann William Scott stars as John Farley, a successful self-help author who returns to his hometown only to find his mom (Susan Sarandon) dating the titular Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton), the sadistic, ultra-macho gym teacher who tormented him all through high school. A heated pissing contest naturally results, with the two men competing for the affections of Sarandon, engaging in a movie-long match of wits and brawn, and all but whipping out their johnsons while running for the measuring sticks. Thorton's Woodcock (and yes, the name means exactly what you think it does) is cut from much the same cloth as his self-involved jerk-offs in Bad Santa, Bad News Bears and School for Scoundrels, but a little bit of this sort of concentrated obnoxiousness goes a long way. There's an undeniable charisma that Thornton brings to the role, but the movie itself is dull and, for the most part, painfully void of real laughs. Also stars Amy Poehler and Ethan Suplee. 1.5 stars
SHOOT 'EM UP (R) Shoot 'Em Up is nothing if not a Looney Tune of epic proportions, filled with outrageously kinetic action and stylized violence. Too much is never, ever enough here, where the obvious influences are Tarantino and Rodriguez, and, even more significantly, the early John Woo bullet ballets that inspired them. Clive Owen stars as the nameless hero (known only by the alias "Smith") who comes to the aid of a pregnant woman in the film's opening moments, delivers her baby and spends the rest of the movie trading bullets with the legions of bad guys who, for nefarious reasons revealed in due time, want the infant dead. The baby's nothing but a Maguffin, though, and the "plot" a transparent excuse for a succession of gleefully over-the-top action scenes set to the soothing sounds of Motley Crüe, Motorhead and AC/DC. The movie's hero leaps through space with both barrels blazing, engaging in gun battles while holding an infant in his arms (an obvious nod to Woo's Hard Boiled), fornicating and even parachuting. It's all as bloody as it is ridiculous and mindless, but it's also an awful lot of fun. Head bad guy Paul Giamatti makes a fine, frustrated Elmer Fudd to Owen's roguish Bugs, a hero who displays all the depth of a cartoon but still manages to be hugely entertaining. Also stars Monica Bellucci and Daniel Pilon. 3.5 stars
STARDUST (PG) An appealing concoction that honors the spirit of fairy tales while putting a clever, gently ironic spin on everything it touches. Some might be tempted to call the approach a little calculated, too Shrek postmodern-lite by way of The Princess Bride (with a touch of Gilliam's Baron Munchausen thrown in for good measure) — but even if Stardust doesn't quite achieve the same heights as its prototypes, the air up there is often pretty exhilarating. The movie's forward momentum eventually takes on a life of its own as our heroes (Charlie Cox and Claire Danes) leap from frying pan to fire, out of witches' cauldrons and straight into flying pirate ships. Fireworks ensue, love finds a way, and the movie sends us off out of the theater with a crescendo of digital mayhem and one final Happily Ever After. Danes is just awkward enough to be immensely appealing here (she's turning into Hollywood's coolest big-boned blonde since Uma Thurman), Michelle Pfeiffer is perfectly cast as an aging witch desperate to hang on to her beauty, and, just when your attention might be about to flag, in marches Robert De Niro, chewing up the scenery as a big, bad pirate screaming to unleash his inner queen. Also stars Sienna Miller, Jason Flemyng and Rupert Everett. 3.5 stars
SUPERBAD (R) The next generation in American Pie's mutated strain, Superbad is so hilariously dirty that we don't always recognize its jokes can also be pretty darned smart. Our horndog heroes are Evan (Arrested Development's Michael Cera) and Seth (Jonah Hill, the flabby roommate from Knocked Up), best pals who, along with their even more pathetic friend, Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), embark on a mission to buy booze and get laid at the big, end-of-high-school party. A comedy of errors ensues where absolutely everything goes wrong, and the more wrong things go, the funnier they get. One bizarre detour leads to another, until Superbad finally arrives at an extremely odd and — hang on, now — poignant place where the kids' sexual and romantic fantasies all come true, albeit in classic Monkey's Paw fashion, with every major and minor triumph compromised by something a little bit sad or unpleasant. The script here (by Ali G Show writers Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogan, who also starred in Knocked Up) practically assures our helpless, guilty laughter but grounds the gross-out shenanigans in a coming-of-age narrative that bends clichés to its will, even as it grants flesh and blood to even its most obnoxious characters. But don't let that fool you; Superbad is rarely less than rude, crude and ridiculous, thank goodness, and no one gets let off the hook here. Also stars Emma Stone, Martha MacIssac, Bill Hader and Seth Rogan. 3.5 stars
This article appears in Oct 3-9, 2007.