30 Days of Night (R, 113 minutes) The hit graphic novel about a savage (but clever) band of vampires who emigrate to Alaska to bask in the extended darkness of the Arctic Circle’s sunless winter hits the big screen. Josh Hartnett (40 Days and 40 Nights) headlines as the small-town sheriff who tries to fend off the bloodthirsty gang until the sun returns. An energetic, scary and tense addition to the well-worn vampire mythos. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Across the Universe (PG-13, 131 minutes) Arty director Julie Taymor (Frida, Titus and that damn Lion King on Broadway) turns a bunch of Beatles songs into a long-form music video with a sappy story. Didn’t The Beatles already receive this treatment with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band? Well, at least this one doesn’t star The Bee Gees. There are lots and lots of surreal images (all of which were more interesting when they appeared in Pink Floyd The Wall) and a naive story about star-crossed hippie lovers Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) and Jude (Jim Sturgess). No points are awarded for guessing which songs they get to sing. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
American Gangster (R, 157 minutes) Based on an article by Marc Jacobson (who also inspired 2001’s The Believer), this crime saga dramatizes the life of Manhattan drug kingpin Frank Lucas. Denzel Washington stars as the slick thug who builds an empire during the ’70s while battling a determined police detective (played by Russell Crowe). Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) does camera duty. Opening Friday; check local listings
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (R, 160 minutes) There’s not a lot of rootin’, tootin’ action in this lengthy, late-period Western, but the relationship between slightly over-the-hill trainrobber Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and his sycophantic, idol-worshipping would-be killer (Casey Affleck) is mesmerizing. Affleck creates a particularly memorable character in real-life assassin Robert Ford—he’s sort of the Old West version of Mark David Chapman. The film takes its sweet time getting to the titular action, but it’s a gorgeously shot, thought-provoking ride. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Bee Movie (PG, 100 minutes) Jerry Seinfeld not only voices the main character in this computer-animated fable, but penned the script about a disillusioned bee who doesn’t want to spend his life making honey. On a trip outside the hive, he meets and falls in love with (sort of) a New York florist (Renée Zellweger). Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates, Larry King, Ray Liotta, Oprah Winfrey and Sting (of course) are among the stars crowding up the credits block. Opening Friday; check local listings
The Comebacks (PG-13, 104 minutes) Inspirational sports movies get the Scary Movie Treatment (formerly known as the Airplane Treatment). An out-of-luck coach (comedian David Koechner) leads a rag-tag band of misfits to the football championships in this spoof of everything from Rocky to Remember the Titans to Blue Crush to Field of Dreams. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Dan in Real Life (PG-13, 95 minutes) Steve Carell almost entirely makes up for Evan Almighty with this sweet, entirely authentic romantic comedy. Carell plays the widowed father of three young girls who makes a living as an advice columnist—a job for which the permanently depressive Dan seems singularly unqualified. While on a family vacation/reunion in Rhode Island, Dan meets a lovely, smart, down-to-earth woman (Juliette Binochet). Unfortunately, she turns out to be the new girlfriend of Dan’s brother. A weekend of severe discomfort ensues. Not even the presence of Dane Cook can spoil this near-perfect blend of humor and emotion from writer/director Peter Hedges (Pieces of April). Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
The Darjeeling Limited (R, 91 minutes) Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) reunites with a few old pals to write and direct this comedy about three estranged American brothers (Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman) who reunite for a "spiritual quest" across India. Like all of Anderson’s film, this one is slow, stylized and painfully clever. An absolute must for fans. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Eastern Promises (R, 100 minutes) Director David Cronenberg (A History of Violence, Naked Lunch) contributes another sober rumination on violence. This one stars Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings) as a mysterious tattooed driver tied to a family of Russian mobsters from London. Our taciturn criminal’s world view goes through some serious changes when he crosses paths with an innocent midwife (Naomi Watts, King Kong) caught up in the death of a pregnant teen. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (PG-13, 114 minutes) Director Shekhar Kapur and star Cate Blanchett try to repeat history with this sequel to 1998’s award-winning Elizabeth. Here, the British monarch is distracted from running her empire by an affair with adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen). The cast is packed (Geoffrey Rush, Samantha Morton and Rhys Ifans are also in there) and the computer-generated maritime battles are impressive, but the history lesson feels simplified and melodramatic this time around. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
The Game Plan (PG, 110 minutes) Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars as a cocky professional quarterback who, out of the blue, finds the 8-year-old daughter he never knew dumped on his doorstep. This lazy family comedy recycles the most clichéd elements available from the sports movie genre and the “selfish adult learns a lesson from the impossibly cute little kid” genre. Suitable only for those mourning the loss of very special episodes of “Full House.” Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Gone Baby Gone (R, 115 minutes) Ben Affleck turns director to helm this gripping adaptation of a
mystery novel by Dennis Lehane (the guy who also provided Sean Penn with Mystic River). Casey Affleck delivers an understated star turn as a youthful, but charismatic Boston P.I. who—along with his attractive g.f. Michelle Monaghan (The Heartbreak Kid)—is hired to help out in a child-abduction case. A little snooping through Beantown’s seedier neighborhoods roots out a mother with some very ugly underworld connections and a growing conspiracy. Some of the plot mechanics might not be entirely realistic, but Affleck has created a gritty and quite realistic portrait of low-rent Boston.Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Halloween (R, 109 minutes) Rocker Rob Zombie (House of 1,000 Corpses) tries his hand at remaking (or "reimagining" or whatever) John Carpenter’s 1978 slasher classic. Zombie crams the cast with great cameos (Malcolm McDowell, Udo Kier, Danny Trejo, Dee Wallace, Brad Dourif, Ken Foree, Sid Haig, Adrienne Barbeau, Sybil Danning, Richard Lynch). The story remains largely unchanged, with disturbed, knife-wielding Michael Meyers returning to his hometown of Haddonfield after spending 17 years in a mental institution. Zombie obviously loves the material and adds a bit more backstory (probably too much) to chew over in this not entirely unwelcome go-around. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Into the Wild (R, 140 minutes) Sean Penn directs this poetic, true-life biopic about Chris McCandless, a middle-class college grad who abandoned his possessions, renamed himself "Alexander Supertramp" and hitchhiked to Alaska to live a Thoreau-like existence in the wilderness. He starved to death after a few months. Emile Hirsch (The Girl Next Door) gives a strong performance and Penn avoids romanticizing the misguided rebel too awfully much. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre
Lust, Caution (NC-17, 148 minutes) Director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) returns to China for this lugubrious 1942-set spy drama. Tony Leung (Hard-Boiled) is a Shanghai official working with the occupying Japanese. Pretty newcomer Tang Wei is a resistance agent who gets close to him by acting the seductress. There’s a whole heck of a lot of quite explicit sex going on (hence the rating), but the drama never pushes past melo. In Madarin with English subtitles. Coming to Vinegar Hill Theatre; check listings
Martian Child (PG) John Cusack headlines this feel-good drama/comedy about a brokenhearted writer who adopts a troubled 6-year-old boy who believes that he is from Mars. But what if, like, magically, this kid really is from Mars? This well-meaning family-ish film feels a bit like About a Boy, but has an uncomfortable whiff of K-PAX about it. Opening Friday; check local listings
Michael Clayton (R, 120 minutes) George Clooney toplines this hard-hitting legal drama about an in-house "fixer" at a top New York Law firm. When one of the firm’s defense attorneys goes bonkers working on a questionable class action lawsuit, our titular character is called in to clean house. Naturally, our protagonist starts to uncover all sorts of dirty truths that could potentially sabotage the case. Will he do his job or do the right thing? Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack round out a topflight cast for screenwriterwriter-turned-director Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum). Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Rendition (R, 120 minutes) Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal are the sexy young stars of this drama about government kidnapping and torture. Witherspoon is the Chicago soccer mom whose hunky Egyptian hubby gets nabbed by the CIA and electrocuted (among other things) to find out his (possibly nonexistant) ties to a terrorist bombing in North Africa. Gyllenhaal is the sypathetic CIA analyst who tries to help Witherspoon get her husband back. The cast (including Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin and Peter Sarsgaard) try their best, but the direction is dull and the script badly melodramatic. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Saw IV (R, 108 minutes) Not even death can keep a good killer down. Despite having passed away in the last Saw film, our conscientious serial killer Jigsaw is back from beyond the grave. While trying to sort out the remains of the last deadly game, two FBI agents fight to save a SWAT team commander stuck in a series of ingenious traps left behind by Jigsaw. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Things We Lost in the Fire (R, 129 minutes) Audrey Burke (Halle Berry) is reeling from the shock of losing her husband, the father of her two children, to a random act of violence. Emotionally adrift, she invites a down-and-out heroin addict (Benicio Del Toro) to live with her. Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Catharsis, recovery and friendship are the watchwords of this subdued drama by Susan Bier (After the Wedding). Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? (PG-13) Tyler Perry directs another big screen adaptation of one of his shot-to-video stageplays (this one barely a year old). For better or worse (much better as far as I’m concerned), Perry’s drag character Madea does not appear in this comedy/drama about a sexy young temptress who shows up at a marriage retreat for couples only. Perfectly acceptable if you like your comedy, your drama and your Christian dogma extremely light. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
We Own the Night (R, 117 minutes) Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg and Robert Duvall star in this muscular but conventional crime drama about a coke-dealing Brooklyn nightclub manager who tries to save his straight-arrow brother and father (both cops) from evil Russian hitmen. Writer/director James Gray (maker of the nearly identical flicks Little Odessa and The Yards) would helm a fine episode of “The Shield,” but he’s no Martin Scorsese. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
