Upcoming Releases
CRAZY LOVE (R) It's not your typical romantic fantasy. Boy meets girl; girl dates boy but then rejects him when she begins to suspect he's a deceitful, abusive psychopath; boy throws acid into girl's face, disfiguring and blinding her; boy gets out of prison many years later, pursues girl again and finally gets her to marry him. A love story so bizarre it could only be true, the documentary Crazy Love tells the strange, nearly half-century-old-and-counting affair of Burt and Linda Pucach, two deeply neurotic individuals whose relationship exists in a shadowy place where catastrophic freak show meets suburban banality. Director Dan Klores relies heavily on talking heads to tell his story, the main heads being a now elderly Burt and Linda (a creepy, Lynchian spectacle, her bewigged, wizened face dominated by big, flamboyant dark glasses). This creates a certain amount of frustration, as the movie doesn't really go in for supplying commentary or insights, and Burt and Linda aren't particularly credible witnesses to their own lives — he's about the most unreliable narrator ever, and she's so guarded that it often simply seems like nobody's home behind those dark glasses. Still, with material this juicy you don't particularly need someone connecting the dots, and Crazy Love gives us a story that basically tells itself. Opens July 27 at Tampa Theatre. Call theater to confirm. 3 stars
I KNOW WHO KILLED ME (R) Lindsay Lohan, cast against type as a model citizen and perfect student, escapes from the clutches of a serial killer only to insist that she's not who people think she is and that the real victim is still in mortal danger. Also stars Julia Ormond and Neal McDonough. Opens July 27 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
RESCUE DAWN (PG-13) Enigmatic German director Werner Herzog takes one step toward the mainstream and two steps back into that intriguing gray zone where fiction and nonfiction filmmaking blur. Based on his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly, an account of a U.S. pilot shot down over Laos in 1965, Rescue Dawn re-imagines the tale again, this time with a bigger budget, a bit of star power and freed from the constraints and stigmas of the documentary format. Stars Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies and Galen Yuen. Opens July 27 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (PG-13) 20th Century Fox, to their eternal discredit, denied critics an advance peak at this baby, but I'm hoping against hope that's no reflection on The Simpsons Movie's suckability factor. This is the first full-length big-screen feature based on the best and funniest TV show, like, ever — so is there any way you can not see this? Featuring the voices of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith and Hank Azaria. Opens July 27 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
RECENT RELEASES
1408 (PG-13) Paranormal investigator and confirmed skeptic Mike Enslin (John Cusack) meets his match when he checks in the titular room at a Manhattan hotel and finds all hell literally breaking loose. Based on a short story by Stephen King, 1408 is a welcome change from the Saw/Hostel splatterfests currently in vogue, but the film's approach isn't exactly old-school psychological-horror either. Director Mikael Hafstrom throws a steady stream of somewhat incongruous elements at the wall hoping something will stick, and while there's plenty of eerie atmosphere and surreal visions here, there are also lots of cheap tricks, with the equivalent of somebody jumping out of a closet and yelling "Boo!" every few minutes. Cusack is on screen nearly every moment here, and he's quite good, but the film is a mixed bag — for better or worse, a spot-on translation of King's compulsively watchable and eminently disposable style. Also stars Samuel L. Jackson and Mary McCormack. 3 stars
28 WEEKS LATER (R) 28 Weeks Later is largely headache-inducing stuff — frenetic, synapse-shredding, strobe-light-and-amyl-nitrate horror. The movie picks up some months after its predecessor (28 Days Later), with the zombie-inducing epidemic of the original film apparently contained and American-led NATO forces moving in to help rebuild a devastated Britain. Everything soon enough goes to hell, of course, and the bulk of the film is pure chaos, as masses of frightened human survivors and infected, flesh-craving zombies run amok through the streets of London. There are some clever turns here, but the movie mainly just tosses out a series of faceless characters for its zombies to chow down on. Stars Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Catherine McCormack, Imogen Poots, Makintosh Muggleton and Idris Elba. 2.5 stars
EVAN ALMIGHTY (PG-13) A sequel to Bruce Almighty minus Jim Carrey, in which Steve Carell goes all Noah-esque when God (Morgan Freeman) tells him to build an ark. Also stars Lauren Graham, Wanda Sykes, John Goodman and Steve Oedekerk. (Not Reviewed)
