10,000 B.C. (PG-13, 109 minutes) Roland Emmerich (Stargate, Independence Day) directs this big-budget SPFX extravaganza. It’s, well, 10,000 B.C., and a hairy, mammoth-hunting hero (unknown Steven Strait) is prevailed upon to rescue his tribe from a civilization of pyramid-dwelling slavers. Omar Sharif is in there, doing his best prehistoric work since The 13th Warrior. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
The Bank Job (R, 110 minutes) Jason Statham (The Italian Job, The Transporter) is in familiar territory, starring in this early-’70s crime caper about a would-be bankrobber targeting a London bank stuffed full of cash and jewelry. Unbenownst to our protagonist and his crew, the bank’s safety deposit boxes are also packed with secrets revealing a web of corruption stretching from London’s criminal underworld to the highest echelons of the British government. The mechanics are awfuly familiar, but director Roger Donaldson (Cocktail, Species) keeps things lively. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Be Kind Rewind (PG-13, 101 minutes) With Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) at the helm, you know you’re in for a weird ride. Jack Black and Mos Def play a couple of video store employees who accidentally erase every videotape in the store. In order to retain the store’s one loyal customer, an elderly lady with a shaky grip on reality, they set out to recreate every film in stock, armed with only a cheap video camera. The result is a two-man tour-de-force, covering The Lion King, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Driving Miss Daisy, Robocop and more. Soon, the whole town is getting in on the filmmaking action. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
City of Men (R, 110 minutes) This loose, not-quite-sequel to Fernando Meirelles’ City of God takes us back to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and introduces us to two new characters (played by the stars of City of God). In this go-around, we’ve got a pair of teenage best friends trying to stay out of Rio’s violent gang life. One locates his long-lost father and attempts to reconnect. One slowly comes to grips with his own premature parenthood. New director Paulo Morelli delivers plenty of high-caliber action (thanks to a fast-spreading gang war), lots of character drama and only slightly more moralizing than Meirelles. In Portuguese with English subtitles. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
College Road Trip (G, 83 minutes) Plump ex-“Cosby” kid Raven-Symoné continues to wish upon a star that she’ll morph into Miley Cyrus (Disney Channel show? Check. Recording career? Check. Nintendo DS videogame? Check. Tween-targeted movie? Check.) Here, Raven plays an overachieving high school student who decides to travel the country looking for the perfect college. Naturally, her overprotective dad (Martin Lawrence) insists on going with her. Oh, and there’s also a wacky pet pig in the car. Hijinks—you guessed it—ensue. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (PG-13, 112 minutes) Julian Schnabel (Before Night Falls, Basquiat) delves, once more, into an exploration of the detached, otherworldly vision of artists. This one is another true-life biopic, concentrating on the later days of Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby. Bauby suffered a massive stroke at a young age, paralyzing his entire body except for his left eyelid. Amazingly, he was able to dictate an entire autobiography by blinking. The film is a grim but beautiful visual poem full of half-liquid images. If only Schnabel had spent more time on the story Bauby had to tell and less time on the details of his dictation. In French with English subtitles. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre
Doomsday (R, 105 minutes) British director Neil Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers), heads back to the ’80s for inspiration, cobbling together as many post-apocalyptic films (The Road Warrior, Escape From New York, 1990: The Bronx Warriors) as he can. After a lethal virus wipes out most of the U.K., a team of crack soldiers is sent into the walled-off quarantine zone to locate a cure. Apparently, evil people with mohawks don’t want them to succeed. Regal Seminole Square 4
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! (G, 88 minutes) Reviewed here. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Funny Games (R, 108 minutes) Bavarian agent provacoteur Michael Haneke (Caché, The Piano Teacher) is given the opportunity to remake his scabrous 1997 thriller. To his credit, he pulls no punches, giving us the same brutally manipulative satire of American filmmaking. As before, he invites the audience to become accomplices as two painfully polite psychos (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet) tease and torture an upscale suburban family (including Tim Roth and Naomi Watts) over the course of one long weekend. This movie will either blow you away or piss you off. Probably both. Which is exactly what the director wants. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
In Bruges (R, 107 minutes) A pair of mismatched British hitmen (Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson) are sent to cool their heels in the backwater Belgian tourist town of Bruges after a particularly brutal job. At first bored out of their minds amid the Gothic architecture tours and peaceful cobblestone streets, the two eventually adjust to the local groove–at least until their psycho boss (Ralph Fiennes) shows up. The film gets kinda talky and features a lot of European in-jokes, but mostly manages to transcend the blackly comic hitman genre solidified by Guy Ritchie a decade or so ago. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Jumper (PG-13, 90 minutes) The bestselling sci-fi series by Stephen Gould gets the action movie treatment by director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith). Hayden Christensen is a confused young man born with the ability to teleport anywhere in the world. Eventually, he discovers a secret order of people with identical abilities and becomes embroiled in a super-powered war that has been raging for thousands of years. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4
Juno (PG-13, 91 minutes) A labor of love from stripper-turned-writer Diablo Cody (author of Candy Girl) and director Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking), this sweet, smart and very funny flick easily earns a spot as one of the best films of the year. Snarky, cynical 16-year-old Juno (Ellen Page, Hard Candy) gets pregnant after a bout of boredom-induced sex with her best friend Bleeker (Michael Cera from Superbad). Ruling out abortion, Juno decides to have the kid and give it away to “some lady with a bum ovary or a couple nice lesbos.” The pitch-perfect dialogue, the lo-fi soundtrack, the spectacular cast and the perceptive story make this the cult comedy to beat. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (PG-13, 92 minutes) Amy Adams (Enchanted) and Frances McDormand (Fargo) star in this ’30s-set comedy/drama about a middle-aged London governess (McDormand) who finds herself unfairly dismissed and tries to land a job as a “social secretary” for a glamorous American actress (Adams). It’s all a whirl of cocktails parties and witty banter as our mousy heroine gets a rapid-fire makeover while Cole Porter tunes and air raid sirens fill up the soundtrack. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Never Back Down (PG-13, 106 minutes) What if you took the formula for all those endless street dancing movies (Step Up 2 The Streets) and replaced breakdancing with mixed martial arts? Well, you’d get this film, which is basically Bloodsport as recreated by the cast of “The O.C.” Sean Faris (The Brotherhood 2: Young Warlocks) stars as a rebellious new high school student who is lured into an underground fight club, where he must fight for honor and some chick in a spaghetti-strap tanktop. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
The Other Boleyn Girl (PG-13, 115 minutes) Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson star in this glitzy adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s best-selling novel. The historical storyline finds siblings Anne and Mary competing for the affections of England’s King Henry VIII. As any halfway decent Anglophile knows, neither girl kept her head on her neck for very long—which is part of the film’s problem. It looks good, but it’s notably glum. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Semi-Pro (R, 90 minutes) The star player/owner/coach of a third-rate ’70s basketball team (Will Ferrell) finds out his Michigan Topics have an outside shot at being folded into the NBA—if they can dramatically increase their attendance. With the help of his teammates (Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin), he stops at nothing to attract attention. Typical but likable retro silliness from Mr. Ferrell. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4
The Spiderwick Chronicles (PG, 97 minutes) The popular young adult fantasy series comes to the big screen with hardly a whiff of Harry Potter about it. Three young children (including Freddie Highmore playing twins) move to a remote country mansion with their recently divorced mother (Mary Louise-Parker). There, they discover their great uncle’s legacy, a book detailing the lives of the fairies, goblins, brownies and other magical creatures that inhabit our world. Unfortunately, an evil goblin wants to get his hands on that book, forcing our young heroes to defend themselves. The cast is quite good (Nick Nolte, Joan Plowright and David Strathairn are among the adults), and the script (partially credited to John Sayles) is surprisingly mature. Way too scary for the little ones, though. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4
Vantage Point (PG-13, 90 minutes) Taking its inpiration, as so many other films have, from Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, this political thriller presents a crime as seen from five different viewpoints. Seems that some terrorists (or are they?) have tried to assassinate the President of the United States (or have they?). A host of witnesses (or are they?), each present their own perspective on the crime, allowing us to see the damn thing again and again and again (and again and again). Starry cast includes Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, Dennis Quaid, William Hurt and Matthew Fox. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4
