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 story of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. when 300 bedraggled Spartans beat back the entire Persian army. Gerard Butler (The Phantom of the Opera) and Dominic West (“The Wire”) star. Coming Friday; check local listings
The Abandoned (R, 94 minutes) This audience choice favorite from the recent “8 Films to Die For” Horrorfest tour now gets its own solo theatrical release. It’s your basic ghost story about an orphaned girl who returns to her biological parents’ isolated Russian farmhouse. Director Nacho Cerda, known for his transgressive underground shorts (Aftermath, Genesis), does an impressive job of delivering a visceral visual experience in his first feature film. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Amazing Grace (PG, 111 minutes) Ioan Gruffudd is William Wilburforce, an 18th-century British do-gooder who championed the abolitionist cause in British Parliament. This well-cast, workmanlike costume drama is invaluable as an educational piece and, as entertainment, falls somewhere between lecture and sermon. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
The Astronaut Farmer (PG, 104 minutes) From oddball indie auteurs Mark and Michael Polish (Twin Falls Idaho, Southfork) comes this surprisingly straightforward feel-good flick about a former-astronaut-turned-rancher (Billy Bob Thornton) who wants to build a rocket ship in his barn. Everything you expect to happen in this “don’t give up on your dreams” heartwarmer does, but you’ll probably still leave the theater with a smile on your face. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Black Snake Moan (R, 116 minutes) This sizzling drama, hot off the film fest circuit, features Christina Ricci as a backwoods nymphomaniac and Samuel L. Jackson as a god-fearing bluesman who kidnaps her in an effort to “cure her of her wickedness.” It’s a crazy mix of Erskine Caldwell, Baby Doll and all-out Russ Meyer-style exploitation, but if you go expecting nothing more than pulpy Southern melodrama, you’ll get your money’s worth and then some. Ricci is a sight to behold as the feral sex machine and Jackson can belt out a mean blues tune. Not for the kiddies. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Breach (PG-13, 110 minutes) Based on a true story, this real-life espionage thriller finds a young FBI recruit (Ryan Phillippe) drafted to spy on his boss (Chris Cooper), a longtime agent who seems to be selling secrets to the Soviet Union. Director Billy Ray (Shattered Glass) resists the temptation to turn this into too much of a Hollywood action thriller, instead relying on his solid cast (also including Laura Linney, Kathleen Quinlan, Dennis Haysbert and Bruce Davidson) for acting fireworks. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Bridge to Terabithia (PG, 95 minutes) Katherine Paterson’s Newberry Award-winning children’s book (filmed once before in 1985) comes to life as a big-budget feature film. Thankfully, the smart script remains faithful to Paterson’s original story. Josh Hutcherson (Zathura) plays Jesse, a poor middle school kid who’s ignored at home and bullied at school. He finds his one true friend in fellow outsider Leslie (AnnaSophia Robb, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). He’s an aspiring artist, she loves telling stories. Together, they retreat into their own little fantasy world. Although the commercials make this look like a third-rate Chronicles of Narnia, it isn’t. The fantasies these kids have are never real (they take up barely 10 minutes of screen time), and the film’s only major misstep is rendering them in such detailed CGI. This is no whimsical fantasy, but a well thought-out coming-of-age tale, not so far removed from Stand By Me or My Girl. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Ghost Rider (PG-13, 114 minutes) Nicolas Cage finally gets around to starring in a
full-fledged superhero movie. Here, he plays minor Marvel character Johnny Blaze, a motorcycle stunt man who makes a deal with the devil and is transformed into a hellblazing vigilante. Don’t get too excited, fanboys; it’s from the same writer/director who gave us Elektra, Daredevil and Grumpier Old Men. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Hannibal Rising (R, 117 minutes) Cannibal/pop culture icon Hannibal Lecter has been involved in two good books (Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs) and two bad books (Hannibal and Hannibal Rising). He’s also given birth to two good movies (Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs) and two bad movies (Hannibal and Red Dragon). Here comes the tiebreaker. Frenchman Gaspard Ulliel (A Very Long Engagement) stars in this grisly but unnecessary prequel as the young Lecter hunting down and killing the men responsible for his parents’ deaths during World War II. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Happy Feet (PG, 87 minutes) Wouldn’t March of the Penguins have been so much more interesting if the birds could sing and tap-dance? That’s the premise of this odd CGI musical featuring the voices of Hugh Jackman, Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, Brittany Murphy and Robin Williams. (Couldn’t rehab have kept Robin out of at least a couple movies this year?) The film hijacks so many random pop tunes (Prince, The Beach Boys, Grandmaster Flash, Queen) that it starts to sound like a broken iPod Shuffle—at least until the music is dropped in favor of a very confused ecological message. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Music and Lyrics (PG-13, 96 minutes) Cute without being cloying, this genial romantic comedy features Hugh Grant as a washed-up ‘80s pop star who hooks up with a daffy amateur writer (Drew Barrymore) to pen a new tune for the world’s most popular teen starlet. Eventually, the two find time to fall in love; but the film is mostly about artistic integrity, selling out and the fickle world of the music biz. Grant and Barrymore are both adorable in their own way, the music is quite catchy and the script never drowns itself in sap. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
Norbit (PG-13, 110 minutes) Yes, it’s another excuse to put Eddie Murphy in a fat suit. But Murphy at least gives it his acting all in this very broad comedy/romance about a mild-mannered dork (the titular Norbit) who is engaged to a monstrous (in more ways than one) woman (also played by Murphy). When our submissive hero meets the girl of his dreams (Thandie Newton), he schemes to lose his gigantic girlfriend. Hijinks ensue. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
The Number 23 (R, 95 minutes) Jim Carrey goes briefly serious for this clever thriller about an ordinary family man who becomes obse
ssed with a mystery novel that appears to be based on his real life—except for the fact it ends in a murder that has yet to happen. Is our boy going slowly nuts, or does he have a date with destiny? It’s sort of a darker (though still slightly humorous) version of Stranger Than Fiction, complete with an alternative “comic noir” storyline in which Carrey is a tough-talking detective. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Pan’s Labyrinth (R, 117 minutes) From Mexican director Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Blade II, The Devil’s Backbone, Cronos) comes this intelligent, phantasmagorical fantasy about a young girl who travels with her pregnant mother to post-war Spain. Hoping to avoid the grim reality of Franco’s fascist repression, our heroine escapes into a fantasy world of her own creation. In time, the two worlds—one stylized and beautiful, one bloody and brutal—begin to meld. Despite certain Alice in Wonderland connections, this dark, disturbing fantasy is not a kids’ film. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Reno 911: Miami (R, 84 minutes) The half-assed sheriffs from Comedy Central’s “Reno 911” find themselves on the big screen and in Miami. When a terrorist attack disrupts a national police convention in Miami Beach during spring break, the rag-tag Reno cops are the only ones left to defend the city from crime. Naturally, things go very, very wrong. An absolute must for fans of the goofball “COPS” parody. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6.
Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls (PG-13, 95 minutes) Tyler Perry (Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Madea’s Family Reunion) finally ditches the unconvincing drag act to direct this melodramtic romance about a financially strapped single father (Idris Elba) who falls in love with a successful attorney (Gabrielle Union) who’s helping him protect his three kids from a vengeful ex-wife. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Venus (R, 95 minutes) Peter O’Toole (75 and counting) is nicely typecast as an aging actor and non-quite-reformed ladies man who finds himself smitten with his septuagenarian drinking pal’s 19-year-old caretaker (newcomer Jodie Whittaker). She’s a provincial layabout with a foul mouth and he’s a charming, cultured dirty old man. Though the film could have easily come off as a twee English modification of Harold and Maude, it’s smart enough to understand the many cute-‘n’-uncomfortable aspects of its May-December romance (which, to be perfectly honest, is never even consummated). In any other hands, it might have been just another easy-to-dismiss bit of British whimsy. O’Toole’s bittersweet performance lends this comedy/drama an air of gravity, however. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre
Wild Hogs (PG-13) 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
Zodiac (R) David Fincher, no stranger to serial killers (having directed 1995’s Se7en), tackles the true, unsolved case of the Zodiac killer. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards and Robert Downey Jr. star in this ensemble look into the police investigation that got close, but not close enough to the figure who terrorized San Francisco with a string of random killings in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
