300 (R, 117 minutes) Much like his previous work, Sin City, Frank Miller’s stylish comic book 300 comes to life on the big screen. This faithful (nearly panel-for-panel) adaptation arrives courtesy of up-and-comer Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead). This violent, highly visual adventure tale tells the story of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. where 300 bedraggled Spartans beat back the entire Persian army. Gerard Butler (The Phantom of the Opera) and Dominic West (“The Wire”) star. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Blades of Glory (PG-13, 93 minutes) The names Will Ferrell (Talladega Nights, Anchorman) and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite, The Benchwarmers) don’t exactly guarantee intellectual social satire, but they do promise pure, stupid fun. This sporting comedy finds the comedic duo cast as a pair of rival Olympic ice skaters who get permanently banned from the sport thanks to their on-ice fisticuffs. A loophole, however, allows them back in the game—but only if they compete in couples skating. Cast includes comedians Will Arnett, Amy Poehler and Rob Corddry and skaters Sasha Cohen, Peggy Fleming and Scott Hamilton. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Dead Silence (R, 90 minutes) From James Wan, the writer/director of Saw, comes this old-fashioned but entertaining ghost story. A widower (Ryan Kwanten, “Summerland”) returns to his small hometown to solve his wife’s murder. Wouldn’t you know it, the ghost of a crazy female ventriloquist is haunting the place, using her possessed puppets to hunt down and cut out the tongues of any victims unfortunate enough to scream in fright. I hate it when that happens. The film isn’t as gory as Saw, but it’s got some decent jump-out-of-your-seat moments. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Disturbia (PG-13, 104 minutes) It’s a blatant steal of Hitchcock’s Rear Window, but the film is fairly honest about it. Shia LaBeouf (Holes, Constantine) stars as a teen stuck at home under house arrest. Bored out of his skull, he takes to spying on the neighbors. Before long, he spots one who might just be a serial killer, bumping off victims in his garage. Is this observation real, or just the product of an overactive imagination? Coming Friday; check local listings
Grindhouse (R, 185 minuts) Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez team up to create this double-feature tribute to the days of junky grindhouse horror films. Tarantino directs a killer car chase film starring Kurt Russell, while Rodriguez gives us an over-the-top zombie film with Rose McGowen. The films do their best to re-create the ramshackle exploitation vibe of the mid-’70s—right down to the damaged film stock and missing scenes. Plus, there are even trailers for other “fake” films. A grand old time! Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
The Hills Have Eyes 2 (R, 89 minutes) Alexandra Aja’s 2006 remake of Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes had its moments, so it’s not too surprising to see a gruesome sequel. Unfortunately, Aja has bugged out for greener territories. By way of compensation, Craven is back aboard as screenwriter (along with son Jonathan Craven). Perhaps he’s trying to make up for his 1985 bomb The Hills Have Eyes Part II (a certified all-time stinker). This time around, a group of National Guard trainees find themselves attacked by vicious desert-dwelling mutants. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
The Last Mimzy (PG, 94 minutes) In this bizarrely misguided New Age kiddie flick, two youngsters discover a magical toybox from the future. Inside are a bunch of weird devices and a telepathic stuffed rabbit (the titular Mimzy). Soon, the kids start exhibiting all sorts of techno-mystical, quantum mathematical superpowers (levitation, teleportation, the ability to speak with spiders). The film borrows its entire plot structure from E.T. the Extraterrestrial, but is far creepier than it is cute. Perfect for 8-year-olds who loved What the Bleep Do We Know!?, though. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
The Lives of Others (R, 137 minutes) This Academy Award winner from Germany takes us back to the days of the Berlin Wall. In East Germany, a by-the-books secret police officer named Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe, the GDR’s answer to Stanley Tucci) is ordered to spy on a seemingly loyal Communist Party playwright and his actress girlfriend. The good captain fills the couple’s apartment with listening devices and starts prying into their private lives. As the investigation wears on, Wiesler becomes increasingly absorbed in the happy couple’s daily drama—which only serves to highlight how empty the policeman’s life really is. Ultimately, the quiet, observational film transcends its thriller-like setting and finds a universal message about the purely human need to connect with one another. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre
Meet the Robinsons (G, 102 minutes) Disney presents this colorful but convoluted non-Pixar-based CGI film. In it, a kid inventor is whisked away to the future by a mysterious stranger in a time machine. The plot—something about multiple generations of good and evil, a talking dinosaur and a hat with a mind of its own—seems unnecessarily complicated. Kids with ADD will probably be fine with all the frantic action, but adults are likely to find it a loud and unfocussed mix of Back to the Future and “The Jetsons.” Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
The Namesake (PG-13, 122 minutes) Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair) directs this multigenerational drama/comedy about an American-born son of East Indian immigrants who tries to shake off his parents’ too-traditional ways. Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) stars as our sullen protagonist, stuck between two worlds. Like the novel it’s based on (by Jhumpa Lahiri), the film wisely paints its pictures in small, intimate strokes. In English, Bengali and Hindi with English subtitles. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Pathfinder (R, 88 minutes) Karl Urban (Eomer in the Lord of the Rings films) stars in this bloody historical action flick. In it, a Viking child, accidentally left behind in the New World round about 1000 A.D., is raised by Native Americans. As an adult, he becomes a sword-wielding savior, fighting off a Norse invasion. Think Braveheart, but dumber. Blame director Marcus Nispel (the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake). Coming Friday; check local listings
Perfect Stranger (R, 109 minutes) What would you do if you suspected your best friend were murdered by a rich businessman with a taste for kinky online sex? Natually, you’d go undercover, seduce the guy and try to get him to confess. (Assuming you were in a sexy Hollywood thriller, of course.) Bruce Willis plays the could-be murderer. Halle Berry plays the undercover seductress. The filmmakers allegedly shot three different endings, each with a different character revealed as the murderer. So, don’t go expect
ing a well-thought-out, intricately plotted mystery. Coming Friday; check local listings
Premonition (PG-13, 110 minutes) Sandra Bullock follows up her alternate timeline romance, The Lake House, with an alternate timeline thriller. Sandy plays a suburban housewife who wakes up one day to find out her husband (Rosie O’Donnell’s man-crush Julian McMahon) is dead. She wakes up the next day to find out he’s alive. Is she having premonitions of his imminent death or is she somehow randomly traveling through time for reasons largely unexplained? It takes Bullock’s character most of the movie to figure out what viewers will have latched onto in the first 10 minutes. The film is one huge plot hole, and Bullock seems bored by it all. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
The Reaping (R, 96 minutes) Hilary Swank, letting the dust gather on that Oscar of hers, stars in this latest, decidedly unscary installment in the religious horror flick genre. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Redline (PG-13, 95 minutes) This low-budget Cannonball Run-ish action flick about an illegal cross-country street race is notable mostly because it features the personal exotic car collection of the producer, real estate investor Daniel Sadek. Sadek provided the vehicles, including a Phantom Rolls Royce, a Lamborghini Murcielago, a Ferrari Enzo, a Ferrari F430, a Ferrari Scaglietti and two Mercedes SLR McLarens….I think there are some humans in the film too, but I can’t be sure. Coming Friday; check local listings
Reign Over Me (R, 124 minutes) Adam Sandler stars in this tearjerking drama (Warning! Warning! Warning!) about a New York man who lost his entire family in the September 11 attacks. He’s crazy depressed and looks like Bob Dylan on a bender, at least until he runs into an old college roommate (Don Cheadle), who helps him recover. An intense mental drama about friendship, loss and overwhelming grief—pretty much the exact words you think of when Adam Sandler comes to mind. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Shooter (R, 120 minutes) Mark Wahlberg stars as an expert marksman who gets lured out of retirement after learning of a plot to assassinate the president. Anybody wanna lay odds that he’s being double-crossed and will soon be framed for the assassination attempt?…Didn’t think so. The plot is standard issue, but there’s plenty of music video-style action thanks to director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Tears of the Sun, King Arthur). Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Slow Burn (R, 93 minutes) Coming off the shelf after four years is this cheap thriller about a district attorney (Ray Liotta) listenting to the convoluted confession of a record store employee (LL Cool J) who may or may not have witnessed the rape (or was it a seduction?) of an assistant DA (who’s also sleeping with Liotta’s character). It might have all had something to do with the search for a mysterious gang leader. The film is highly derivative of The Usual Suspects, and gets increasingly silly thanks to Cool J.’s bizarre food-based metaphors. (Sample: “She walked into the room smelling like mashed potatoes, and every guy there wanted to be the gravy.”) Coming Friday; check local listings
TMNT (PG, 90 minutes) The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back! And this time, they’re in CGI! With their old nemesis Shredder gone, the Turtles have grown apart, but must reunite to battle an evil industrialist and his army of ancient monsters. Old-schoolers can rest assured, this one sticks fairly close to the original toon. Impressive guest voices belong to Sarah Michelle Gellar, Chris Evans, Zhang Ziyi, Patrick Stewart, Kevin Smith and Laurence Fishburne. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Wild Hogs (PG-13, 99 minutes) Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy (really, Bill?) go middle-aged crazy as a gang of suburban biker wannabes who hit the road looking for adventure and wind up running afoul of a violent Southwestern motorcycle gang called the Del Fuegos. Hijinks ensue. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
