28 Weeks Later (R) 2002’s apocalyptic zombie flick 28 Days Later was a shot in the arm to a stagnant horror film industry. Unfortunately, director Danny Boyle isn’t back for this follow-up. Substitute Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto) can’t quite replicate Boyle’s kinetic camerawork; but he does O.K., adding a few honest jump scares to a fairly standard script. It’s six months after the initial outbreak of the Rage Virus, and the U.S. Army has arrived in England, helping to secure a small section of London for repopulation. Naturally, everything goes wrong and those American boys start getting a tad trigger-happy. Coming Friday; check local listings
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
Are We Done Yet? (PG, 92 minutes) Clearly Ice Cube isn’t, cranking out a sequel to his 2005 family friendly hit Are We There Yet? This time around, filmmakers “borrow” basically the entire script to 1948’s Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, sending Mr. Cube out to the suburbs with his brood to perform endless slapstick repairs on a rundown house. Somewhere in southern California, Eazy-E is rolling over in his grave. Oh well. It beats Barbershop 3 or The Friday after the Friday After Next Friday. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Avenue Montaigne (PG-13, 100 minutes) Young Jessica (Cécile de France) arrives in Paris fresh from the countryside and lands a job at a busy sidewalk café on the titular street. There, our optimistic ingenue finds herself entangled in the personal and professional lives of the angst-ridden actors and performers who haunt Paris’ theater district. A frothy, decidedly French dramedy from the writer/director of 2003’s Jet Lag. In French with English subtitles. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre
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
The Condemned (R, 100 minutes) This junky remake of The World’s Most Dangerous Game, The Running Man, Battle Royale and roughly 1,200 other films finds wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin cast as a death row prisoner forced to engage in a fight-to-the-death reality show against a bunch of other murderous prisoners on a desolate island. Not only is it grim and sleazy, but it tries to make you feel bad for watching. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Delta Farce (PG-13) Two out of three members of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour star in this slapstick silly Iraq war sitcom. (Seriously, how bad does a movie have to be for Jeff Foxworthy to bow out?) Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Road Trip’s DJ Qualls (subbing for Foxworthy) star as a trio of redneck National Guardsmen who get recruited to fight in the Gulf War. When they are accidentally parachuted out over the Mexican desert, these three screwups mistakenly believe they’ve arrived in Iraq and end up trying to “liberate” a small village. This is just the thing for you, if you still think the phrase “git-r-done” is hilarious. Coming Friday; check local listings
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? Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Fracture (R, 112 minutes) Anthony Hopkins as a manipulative killer behind stuck bars? Haven’t we seen this somewhere before? Ryan Gosling plays the young D.A. caught up in a game of cat-and-mouse with Hopkins’ could-be killer. TV producer Gregory Hoblit (“NYPD Blue,” “L.A. Law”) directs. The film misses a lot of opportunity for suspense, but the absorbing script and quality acting make this a good bet for legal drama fans. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Georgia Rule (R, 113 minutes) Gary Marshall (The Princess Diaries, Runaway Bride, Pretty Woman, Beaches) adds another chick flick to his resumé. This one follows a rebellious, uncontrollable teenager (Lindsay Lohan, who surely was not typecast) who is hauled off by her dysfunctional mother (Felicity Huffman) to spend the summer on an Idaho farm with her tough-talking, no-nonsense granny (Jane Fonda). Lessons are learned, motherly bonds are strengthened and hankies are moistened. 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 McGowan. 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
Hot Fuzz (R, 121 minutes) Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, the team behind the 2004 gem Sean of the Dead, reunite to tweak another movie genre. This time around, Pegg stars as a top London cop who is sent to a sleepy English hamlet and teamed with a dimwit partner (Sean’s Nick Frost) by jealous colleagues. Eventually, the mismatched duo are prevailed upon to solve a series of bloody murders. The film has a blast making fun of classic ‘80s buddy cop movies, and the laughs are—more often than not—explosive. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
The Invisible (PG-13, 97 minutes) This remake of a recent Swedish thriller has an apparently dead teen (Justin Chatwin, War of the Worlds) wandering the halls of his high scho
ol looking for help in nailing his killer. He finds it in the form of a depressed girl (Margarita Levieva), who is suffering her own slightly more symbolic form of “invisibility.” Can Ghost Boy and Gloomy Girl solve the murder before, you know, some other bad stuff happens? Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Kickin’ It Old School (PG-13, 107 minutes) Comedian/prank show star Jamie Kennedy (who must be really jealous of Sacha Baron Cohen at this point) stars in this doofy comedy about a young breakdancer who hits his head during a talent show and slips into a coma. Waking up 20 years later, he tries to revive his aging team’s outdated career. Good for a few ’80s-inspired laughs and yet another in an endless string of David Hasselhoff cameos. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Lucky You (PG-13, 124 minutes) Curtis Hanson (8 Mile, L.A. Confidential) directs this comedy/drama about a hard-hearted poker player (Hulk’s Eric Bana) who falls in love with an aspiring singer (Drew Barrymore). Can our boy learn to drop the poker face and express his true feelings in time to win the girl (and maybe the money)? Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
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
Next (PG-13, 96 minutes) Nicolas Cage, his hair still not recovered from Ghost Rider, is Cris Johnson, a Las Vegas magician blessed with the power of precognition. Even though he’s tried his whole life to hide his ability to see into the future, he ends up recruited by a government agent (Julianne Moore) to help find a nuclear device hidden in Los Angeles by evil terrorists. From the writer of The Punisher and the director of Die Another Day. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
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 expecting a well-thought-out, intricately plotted mystery. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Spider-Man 3 (PG-13, 140 minutes) The third time is supposed to be a charm, but poor Spider-Man is having an awfully bad time of it in this second sequel to the smash hit superhero flick. Seems that Spidey’s best friend (James Franco) has gone insane and is now trying to kill him. He’s also been possessed by a malevolent alien life force and is trying to bring a sand-powered supervillain (Thomas Hayden Church) to justice. Oh, and he’s thinking of getting married. The film’s a bit long, but there’s plenty of action and the special effects should please hardcore comic book fans. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
