Alvin and the Chipmunks (PG) Mere months after showing up in Underdog, Jason Lee signs on for yet another CGI decimation of a beloved childhood cartoon. Here he plays David Seville, adoptive "father" to three singing chipmunks. This was probably better left to the imagination, but little kids will laugh at the cute animals and occasional bouts of rude humor. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
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. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
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. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (R, 117 minutes) Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon) directs this bleak thriller about two brothers (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke) who organize an ill-conceived robbery of their parents’ jewelry store. As expected, things go horribly wrong. It’s your typical caper flick, but with a master director, a very smart script and a hell of a cast (including Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei). Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Bella (PG-13, 100 minutes) Heavily hyped for its People’s Choice Award win at the Toronto Film Festival, this modest Hispanic romance introduces us to a failed soccer star (Eduardo Verastegui) working at his brother’s upscale Mexican restaurant in Manhattan. There, he meet a young waitress (Tammy Blanchard) who gets fired. The two becomes friends (and more), and she eventually reveals that she’s pregnant—at which point the film rams home its maudlin pro-life message. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. Opening Friday at Vinegar Hill Theatre
Beowulf (PG-13, 113 minutes) From the director who brought you The Polar Express (bad thing) and the writer who gave you The Sandman comic book (good thing), comes this motion-capture CGI update of the quintessential good-versus-evil fable. Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) voices our warrior hero, Crispin Glover (Wild at Heart) does Grendel duty and Angelina Jolie plays our monster’s disturbingly sexy mama. A bit on the rough side for kids. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Charlie Wilson’s War (R, 97 minutes) This fact-based drama details the life of unconventional Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), whose covert dealings with Mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan in the ’70s had some major long-term effects. (Cough—Osama bin Laden—cough.) Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Silkwood, The Birdcage) directs. Julia Roberts, Amy Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Emily Blunt round out the sizable cast. Opening Friday; check local listings
Enchanted (PG, 108 minutes) Disney attempts to turn its old image on its ear with this partly animated parody about a fairy tale princess (Amy Adams, Junebug) who is magically exiled to modern-day Manhattan by an evil queen (Susan Sarandon). She meets a handsome lawyer (Patrick Dempsey, trading on his "McDreamy" rep), but is soon pursued by Prince Charming (James Marsden). Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Fred Claus (PG, 114 minutes) Tim Allen seems to be taking this holiday season off, so it’s up to Vince Vaughn to fill in the slot. Vaughn plays the bitter, black sheep brother of Santa Claus (Paul Giamatti), who is forced to move to the North Pole after his girlfriend kicks him out. Hijinks ensue as Fred parties with the elves, incites sibling rivalry and generally creates some North Pole anarchy. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
The Golden Compass (PG-13) The first of Philip Pullman’s epic "His Dark Materials" trilogy comes to life courtesy of writer/director Chris Weitz (American Pie, About a Boy). Set on Earth in an alternate universe, the story concentrate on Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards), a gifted young gal who goes on a quest to save her best friend who has been kidnapped by a mysterious organization. Lyra’s quest leads her to the frozen North and into a war between her avaricious absentee parents (Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig). The CGI-heavy film glosses over much of the book’s (anti-)religious tone, which still isn’t enough to mollify angry Christians. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
I Am Legend (PG-13, 100 minutes) Will Smith steps out in front of this third attempt to adapt Richard Matheson’s classic sci-fi horror novel. Previous versions included Vincent Price in 1964’s The Last Man on Earth and Charlton Heston in 1971’s The Omega Man. Smith plays Dr. Robert Neville, a scientist trapped in New York City after a virus decimates all of humanity—which wouldn’t be so rough if most people hadn’t been transformed into bloodsucking monsters. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Trailer for I am Legend. |
I’m Not There (R, 135 minutes) Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven) directs this radical "biopic" about musician Bob Dylan. For starters, he recruits eight different actors (from Cate Blanchett to Richard Gere to Heath Ledger) to play the star at various stages of his life. As the narrative leaps helter skelter in time and space, Haynes takes every myth Dylan ever created at face value, crafting a bizarre kaleidoscope of beautiful lies. Only hardcore fans will get all the inside jokes, but it’s an intriguing film no matter what your musical taste. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
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 explicit sex going on (hence the rating), but the drama never pushes past melo. In Mandarin with English subtitles. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre
Michael Clayton (R, 119 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 screenwriter-turned-director Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum). Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (PG) After the first, frantic, largely nonsensical National Treasure raked in a ton of dough at the box office, we were guaranteed a return visit from Nic Cage and his Indiana Jones-ish historian. This time around, he’s trying to discover the truth about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by figuring out the mystery behind the missing pages from John Wilkes Booth’s diary. Naturally, this involves lots of crazy clues, some Tomb Raider-inspired traps and a United States map. Opening Friday; check local listings
No Country For Old Men (R, 121 minutes) The Coen brothers bring a touch of Fargo to West Texas with this gripping adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s offbeat crime novel. Josh Brolin (Grindhouse) is a humble welder who stumbles across $2 million from a drug deal gone bad. Javier Bardem (The Sea Inside) is the freaky, emotionless assassin sent to recover the cash. Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive) is the small-town sheriff just trying to figure out what the hell is going on. This one is darker and more serious than most Coen films, but there’s still plenty of priceless dialogue and sharp black humor on display. One of this year’s best. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
The Perfect Holiday (PG) A little girl turns to a department store Santa (hunky Morris Chestnut) in hopes of finding a husband for her divorced mother (sexy Gabriel Union). Where, oh where, will this pint-sized matchmaker ever find a good man? Perhaps under that white beard? This extremely mild romantic comedy is almost exactly the sort of holiday stocking stuffer you’d find on Lifetime Network or Hallmark Channel this time of year. In fact, you can probably find two or three this week with the exact same plot. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
P.S. I Love You (PG-13, 126 minutes) Are you a Vermont maple tree farmer? Do you love sap in all its forms? Well then, this high-concept romance-—sentimental enough to be a Mitch Albom novel—should be to your liking. Hilary Swank stars as a young widow who discovers that her late husband has left her a series of 10 messages, each describing inventive new ways to ease her pain. In carrying out these dying requests (with the help of her sitcom-cute friends, like Lisa Kudrow from "Friends"), our heroine learns to live and love again. Opening Friday; check local listings
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (R) Talk about your all-star collaborations. Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Stephen Sondheim? Sounds like a match made in heaven. The oft-told tale of a Victorian barber who wreaks gory revenge on the men who wrongly sent him to prison (and pretty much any other warm body that crosses his path) gets an imaginative big screen treatment. The story is bloody good fun and Depp ain’t half bad as a singer. Opening Friday; check local listings
This Christmas (NR, 118 minutes) A who’s who of African-American actors (Regina King, Loretta Devine, Mekhi Phifer, Delroy Lindo, Idris Elba) crowds this ensemble cast dramedy centering around the Whitfield clan’s first holiday gathering in four years. Expect secret divorces, marriages, pregnancies, fights, a song or two and a badly cooked dinner—the usual. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (R) Comedy magic man Judd Apatow co-wrote and produced this musical mixture of Walk the Line and Forrest Gump. John C. Reilly stars as our man Dewey, a singer who overcomes adversity to become a rock ‘n’ roll legend. Along the way, he meets everyone from Elvis to The Beatles. Be sure and duck or you’ll get hit in the face by the dirty jokes (starting with the title). Opening Friday; check local listings
What Would Jesus Buy? (PG) Morgan Spurlock, he of Super Size Me fame, produces this campy documentary about Reverend Billy, a performance artist-cum-consumer activist who preaches the true meaning of Christmas—which oddly enough does not include the mass purchase of material goods. The film highlights America’s growing culture of credit card debt and confronts mega-corps like Disney and Wal-Mart head on. Billy’s a bit of a freak, quite honestly, but he’s got a point. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
