2 Days in Paris (R, 96 minutes) Julie Delpy, unwilling to leave Paris in the wake of Before Sunrise/Before Sunset, sticks around the City of Lights for this romantic comedy/drama about a squabbling couple (Delpy and Adam Goldberg) who go to France to rekindle their relationship. Delpy writes and directs as well, channeling a bit of Woody Allen—with an extra dose of discomfort thrown in for good measure. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre
3:10 to Yuma (R, 117 minutes) Russell Crowe and Christian Bale replace Glenn Ford and Van Heflin in this remake of the highly regarded 1957 western. Crowe is the outlaw leader on his way to court via the titular conveyance. Bale is the small-time rancher charged with escorting him there alive—no small task when droves of gun-toting bad guys show up. The film’s tense, ticking clock narrative plays out quite a bit like High Noon, with Bale and especially Crowe turning in compelling performances. James Mangold (Walk the Line) directs. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Balls of Fury (PG-13, 90 minutes) What could be better than the folks behind "Reno: 911" taking Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon and re-writing it as a rude comedy about an illegal underground ping-pong tournament lorded over by evil Christopher Walken? Completely absurd, but I dare you not to giggle on multiple occasions. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Becoming Jane (PG, 113 minutes) Winsome Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) stars in this speculative biopic about young Jane Austen. Prior to becoming a famous author, Austen was just another romantic chick being wooed a young Irish hunk (James McAvoy from The Last King of Scotland). Brits James Cromwell, Julie Walters and Maggie Smith class up the joint in supporting roles. Perhaps the biggest blow to this romantic drama is the fact that it wasn’t actually penned by Austen. As a result, it’s no Pride and Prejudice. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
The Bourne Ultimatum (PG-13, 111 minutes) The third (loose) adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s spy thriller series wraps things up for our amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon). This time, our boy is racing around the globe, trying to shake a government agent and uncover the final mysteries about his dark past. This, of course, involves shooting a whole lot of people. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
The Brave One (R, 119 minutes) A mere two weeks after Kevin Bacon tried his hand at starring in a remake of Death Wish comes Jodie Foster doing largely the same thing. Foster takes on the role of Erica, a New Yorker who struggles to recover from a brutal attack by setting out on a mission of bloody vigilante revenge. The script feels awfully knee-jerk stereotypical at times, but some tight direction from Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) and a typically gritty performance by Foster keep things from becoming too trite. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Trailer for The Brave One. |
The Brothers Solomon (R, 91 minutes) Will Arnett ("Arrested Development") and Will Forte ("Saturday Night Live") team up with director Bob Odenkirk (one half of "Mr. Show") for this comedy about two socially inept brothers desperate to find perfect mates in order to provide an heir for their dying grandfather. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Death at a Funeral (R, 90 minutes) Former Muppet man Frank Oz directs this very British farce about a funeral gone very wrong. A large, dysfunctional family (all mostly unknown actors on this side of the pond) gathers at a lovely house in the English countryside to mourn the passing of its patriarch. Over the course of the chaotic funeral, various wacky situations (homosexual dwarves, hallucinogenic drugs, diarrhea) rear their ugly head. Farce should appear effortless, and Death at a Funeral strains so hard to be funny that it nearly busts a blood vessel. Unfortunately, it aims for the drawing room wit of Oscar Wilde and lands somewhere near the sitcom zaniness of Benny Hill. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Death Sentence (R, 110 minutes) Kevin Bacon plays a mild-mannered executive who has the perfect family life—that is, until he witnesses the brutal murder of his son by evil street punks and transforms into a blood-soaked vigilante killer. If this sounds a little like Death Wish, it should. It’s based on the book Death Sentence, author Brian Garfield’s sequel to his 1972 novel, Death Wish (which inspired the five Death Wish films starring Charles Bronson). James Wan (the dude behind the Saw films) directs. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Dragon Wars (PG-13, 100 minutes) A Korean film with an American cast, this old-fashioned monster movie finds two mythical serpents (one good, one bad) battling for supremacy in modern-day Los Angeles. Lots of tiny humans are caught in the crossfire. The story has been pared to its bare minimum (probably for the best), but the special effects are plenty of fun. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Good Luck Chuck (R, 96 minutes) Dane Cook (still swimming in the crude romantic comedy pool after Employee of the Month) stars as a love-’em-and-leave-’em stud whose one-night stands immediately go on to meet the true love of their life. When our boy Chuck meets "the one" (embodied by Jessica Alba), he hopes to break his lifelong curse and form a lasting relationship. Opening Friday; check local listings
Hairspray (PG, 107 minutes) It seems redundant to remake the Broadway remake of John Waters’ 1988 film. But it’s hard to grouse when the results are such top-notch fun. Newcomer Nikki Blonsky takes over for Ricki Lake, proving herself a spunky little sparkplug. Surrounding her is an able cast of singers and dancers including John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Amanda Bynes and Michelle Pfeiffer. The costumes are great, the music is infectious and the story (about the racial integration of a 1960s TV dance show) quite sincere. It’s hard not to grin your way from start to finish. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Mr. Bean’s Holiday (G, 90 minutes) Though most Americans don’t realize it, the first Mr. Bean movie was one of the most successful comedies in history—mostly because its wordless slapstick made it suitable for release in countries as far flung as Argentina, Iceland and Estonia. Honestly, Bean was not star Rowan Atkinson’s finest hour. But it made $200 million, guaranteeing some sort of sequel. Ten years later, we get this collection of vignettes in which the hapless Mr. Bean travels to France, learns to bicycle, fights with seafood and helps reunite a young tyke with his father. Atkinson is no Harold Lloyd, but the film is worthy of a few decent chuckles. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Mr. Woodcock (PG-13) Seann William Scott (American Pie) stars as a young man who returns to his hometown only to find that his mom (Susan Sarandon) is marrying his arch-nemesis (Billy Bob Thornton), the high school gym coach who made his life a living hell. And, yes, you can expect more balls in the crotch jokes. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
The Nanny Diaries (PG-13, 107 minutes) Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus’ popular tell-all novel comes to the big screen with Scarlett Johansson as a college student who goes to work as a nanny for a rich New York couple. Suddenly, she’s tasked with caring for a bratty kid, dealing with the dysfuctional parents (Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti) and juggling a possible new romance (Chris Evans from Fantastic Four). Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Ratatouille (G, 110 minutes) Animation lovers can breathe a sigh of relief. Pixar, the team behind The Incredibles, Toy Story and so much more, returns with another CGI comedy for the whole family. The star is a food-loving rodent living inside a famous Paris bistro who dreams of becoming a world-class chef—not a career path open to most rats. To realize his gastronomic potential, he teams up with a hapless young kitchen helper to wow the cooking world. Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Brian Dennehy, Peter O’Toole and Janeane Garofalo are among the voice cast. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Resident Evil: Extinction (R, 95 minutes) The Resident Evil franchise ups the ante (so to speak) with this postapocalyptic outing. Apparently things have gone very wrong since the last couple of movies, as Alice (Milla Jovovich) is now leading a small band of survivors across the Nevada desert. While passing through the ruins of Las Vegas, the group must battle hordes of undead monsters created by the Umbrella Corporation’s now rampant T-Virus. Speaking of coming back from the dead, Russell Mulcahy (Highlander) directs. Opening Friday; check local listings
Rush Hour 3 (PG-13, 90 minutes) Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker and director Brett Ratner are back for another exciting, occasionally obnoxious go-around in the Rush Hour franchise. This time, mismatched buddy cop duo of Chief Inspector Lee and Detective Carter are in Paris and have indavertantly gotten themelves mixed up with a murderous Chinese Triad. This calls for some kung fu and some wacky "yo mama" jokes! Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Shoot ‘Em
Up (NR, 93 minutes) Clive Owen (Sin City) stars in this stripped-to-its-bare-bones action flick as a mysterious dude in the wrong place at the wrong time who delivers a woman’s baby during a shootout and is then called upon to protect the infant from an army of gunmen. Among the bad guys: Paul Giamatti (Sideways), who can be surprisingly sadistic when he wants to. Writer/director Michael Davis (the direct-to-video Monster Man) tries his best to one-up John Woo in the over-the-top action department. The thin plot is liberally lifted from the climax of Woo’s Hard-Boiled, but the gunfights never let up. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
The Simpsons Movie (PG-13, 87 minutes) Who doesn’t love "The Simpsons"? Here, America’s favorite animated family comes to the big screen. Seems Homer has lost his job at the power plant after causing a nuclear accident that forces the evacuation of Springfield, possibly forever. In a word: D’oh! Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Stardust (PG-13, 130 minutes) The popular fantasy novel by comic book icon Neil Gaiman gets turned into a live-action film about a young man who promises to retrieve a fallen star for his beloved. His quest takes him into a magical realm where stars are alive, witches prey on humans and pirates sail through the skies. Claire Danes is the star (literally), Michelle Pfeiffer is the witch and Robert De Niro is the pirate. Fans of romantic adventure stories along the lines of The Princess Bride will welcome this one with open arms. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Superbad (R, 114 minutes) From the makers of Knocked Up comes another outrageous comedy. This one stars Jonah Hill (Accepted) and Michael Cera ("Arrested Development") as a couple of dorky, codependent high schoolers who figure they’ll get lucky if only they can score some booze for an upcoming graduation party. This is unrepentant R-rated stuff and all the better for it. Underneath all the shocking talk about male and female anatomy, however, is a rather sweet story about friendship and growing up. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Sydney White (PG-13) Credit where credit is due: Sydney White is certainly the first film to combine Show White and the Seven Dwarves and Revenge of the Nerds. Amanda Bynes, arguably the most talented of the Disney Channel’s tween queens, stars as the titular college freshman who tries to pledge her long-dead mother’s sorority, only to run up against a shallow and vindictive beauty queen (Sara Paxton). Booted from the paradise of sorority row, she shacks up with a septet of super dorks, who help her get revenge against the evil Greeks. It’s awfully silly stuff (the poisoned apple is now an iMac), but young gals will like it just fine. Opening Friday; check local listings
