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. Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4
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
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
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
Dead Silence (R) From James Wan, the writer/director of Saw, comes this old-fashioned but entertaining ghost story. A widower (Ryan Kwanten, “Summerland”) returns to his small hometown to solve his wife’s murder. Wouldn’t you know it, the ghost of a crazy female ventriloquist is haunting the place, using her possessed puppets to hunt down and cut out the tongues of any victims unfortunate enough to scream in fright. I hate it when that happens. The film isn’t as gory as Saw, but it’s got some decent jump-out-of-your-seat moments. Coming Friday; check local listings
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
I Think I Love My Wife (R, 94 minutes) In a somewhat belated remake of Eric Rohmer’s classic 1972 film, Chloe in the Afternoon, writer/director/star Chris Rock plays a slightly unhappily married man who finds his morals tested after he’s visited by the ex-mistress of an old friend. Certainly a more mature effort on the part of folks who gave us Pootie Tang. Coming Friday; check local listings
Little Children (R, 130 minutes) From the director of In the Bedroom comes this dark domestic drama about the intersecting lives of several young suburban couples. Kate Winslet headlines as a stay-at-home mother who feels out of place amid the minivan set and has an affair with a married man. The stand-out performance, though, comes from Jackie Earle Haley (Kelly Leak from The Bad News Bears) as a registered sex offender being harassed out of the community by misguided family types. Think American Beauty with a sardonic edge. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre
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 Downtown Mall 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
Premonition (PG-13, 110 minutes) Sandra Bullock follows up her alternate timeline romance, The Lake House, with an alternate timeline thriller. Sandy plays a suburban housewife who wakes up one day to find out her husband (Rosie O’Donnell’s man-crush Julian McMahon) is dead. She wakes up the next day to find out he’s alive. Is she having premonitions of his imminent death or is she somehow randomly traveling through time for reasons largely unexplained? It takes Bullock’s character most of the movie to figure out what viewers will have latched onto in the first 10 minutes. The film is one huge plot hole, and Bullock seems bored by it all. Coming Friday; check local listings
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.
The Ultimate Gift (PG, 114 minutes)
From busy beaver distributors FoxFaith comes another Truly Moving Picture. Instead of leaving his spoiled grandson Jason (Drew Fuller, “Charmed”) a bunch of money, rich dead dude James Garner bequeaths a series of “tasks” in his will, each designed to impart a crash course in Life (working at a cattle ranch, living as a homeless man, giving away money). Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) shows up as a cutesy-poo cancer patient who explains how God hand-paints all the pretty butterflies in the world. In the end our protagonist learns…wait for it…money doesn’t equal happiness! The film means well, but its naive concept of good and bad and its blatantly obvious moralizing are appropriate only for audiences who read “Love Is…” every day in the newspaper. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
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
