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Opens Friday
DATE MOVIE
A bookend to Scary Movie, perhaps? Such titles border on Newspeak; when they start marketing Sucky Movie, Gross Movie, Hilarious Movie and maybe even Just Another Movie, we'll pay close attention. In the meantime Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Alyson Hannigan stars as Julia, a romantic at heart who meets the British man of her dreams (Adam Campbell as Grant Fonckyerdoder)-but there are parental obstacles (as well as every other conceivable kind) to their blissful union.
DreamCatcher, UA North, PG-13,
80 min.
EIGHT BELOW
Those of us addicted to the Reader's Digest "Drama in Real Life" feature and who watched all five thousand hours of Shackleton will probably find this Disney tale of a team of sled dogs left behind in the Antarctic by their devoted humans (Paul Walker, Bruce Greenwood and Jason Biggs, playing the three researchers) riveting, if only because it's true. The dogs survive for more than six months in indescribably awful conditions, and they don't have to eat Chilean football players to do it.
UA South, PG, 112 min.
FREEDOMLAND
In one of those you've-seen-it-all-in-the-trailer-already errors of judgment, the makers of this thriller (in which Julianne Moore plays yet another distraught mother who's misplaced her child via a carjacking and Samuel L Jackson reprises his compassionate police detective) blew it all in a two-minute spot. It's clear that the lady's elevator doesn't go all the way to the top, if you know what we mean; and casting Edie Falco as a police psychic is another dead (sorry) giveaway.
DreamCatcher, UA North, R, 113 min.
THE HUNTER
Sergei Aprimov's 2004 Okhotnik did well at the Santa Fe Film Festival, and returns to give viewers another look at life in the director's native Kazakhstan. Gape-worthy cinematography combined with the skillful use of non-actors brings us into the Kazakh culture, especially their close relationships with horses-a mutually beneficial coevolution.
The Screen, NR, 93 min.
THE WHITE COUNTESS
We maintain a healthy skepticism when it comes to the concept of director James Ivory without producer Ismael Merchant, fearing the result will be gorgeous but bloodless (as their partnership often was anyway-Howard's End being but one example-though they could also evince real passion and energy, e.g. Heat and Dust, Maurice). In 1930s Shanghai, blind US diplomat Jackson (Ralph Fiennes, trotting out the endearingly wonky accent he displayed in Quiz Show) falls in love with an aristocratic Russian refugee (Natasha Richardson) reduced to cab-driving and turning tricks to support her family (real-life relatives the Redgrave clan), with a script by Kazuo Ishiguro (Remains of the Day).
UA DeVargas, PG-13, 138 min.
PARADISE NOW
.
CCA, PG-13, 90 min.
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Short Runs
BALLETS RUSSES
Balletomanes can sigh happily while watching some of the greatest dancers of the 20th century, both in priceless archival footage and as their present-day elderly, still-impassioned selves. Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine's bravura documentary illuminates the fanaticism audiences once felt by unearthing the story of Ballets Russes, who never played in Russia and who were actually two rival companies. It's all here-the steps, the pain, the jealous choreographers, the adulation, the glamour, the poverty, the ground glass in the toe shoes-told by the dancers themselves, including Irina Baronova, Nathalie Krassovska, Alicia Markova, Tatiana Stepanova and Maria Tallchief.
The Screen, NR, 118 min.
BALLOONHAT
AG Vermouth's slight but eminently watchable documentary about a New York photographer (Charlie Eckert) and Silicon Valley slacker (Addi Somekh) who decide to travel the world from Rio to Sarajevo making those twisty balloon-animal hats and seeking to spread goodwill in the wake of 9.11. No word as to whether they whistle far and wee.
The Screen, NR, 88 min.
BREAKFAST ON PLUTO
Cillian Murphy's really pretty. And that's a good thing when you're in a Neil Jordan film (The Crying Game, Interview with a Vampire), because you'll inevitably be wearing eyeliner. Jordan teams up again with novelist Pat McCabe (The Butcher Boy) to adapt and direct the heartwrenching story of Kitten Brady, born Patrick, who leaves small-town Ireland for London to find his mum-and a more exciting life as a transvestite singer in the swinging '60s and '70s. Jordan stalwarts Liam Neeson (Michael Collins) and Stephen Rea (The End of the Affair) costar; flawless period details and a spot-on performance from the ever-astounding Murphy make Pluto unmissable.
CCA, R, 135 min
CRIMEN FERPECTO
Consummate salesman Rafael (Guillermo Toledo) manages Ladies' clothing-and the ladies-for a flossy department store. When his ambition to make floor manager lands Rafael in serious trouble, he's unexpectedly saved by homely Lourdes (Mónica Cervera). And don't think Lourdes won't seize the opportunity to do a little corporate climbing of her own. The script for Ferpecto gleams razor-edged, savage and laugh-out-loud funny. You can't really root for either misogynist Rafael or psychopathic Lourdes in their battle of wits; writer-director Álex de la Iglesias settles happily for amused, amoral panache, served up by whippet-smart actors. The whole concoction's topped with Spanish delirium straight out of Dalí, lysergic and pungent.
The Screen, NR, 105 min.
LUBBOCK LIGHTS
This eye-catching doc is filmmaker (and former homecoming queen) Amy Maner's love song to what initially seems to be one of the most boring cities in the world. If you're from Texas, you're familiar with the sarcastic bumpersticker ("Ski Lubbock"); Maner doesn't hide the fact that the West Texas town is, among other things, totally flat, laid out on a perfect grid like a Lite-Brite and unrelievedly dusty and drab-but it also gave rise to musical powers like Bob Wills, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, to name but a few. Five years of photography with a keen eye for particulars (e.g., lightning storms) results in a film repaying our attention.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 88 min.
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: LOST IN TIME
The little rhomboidal yella fella travels back to the medieval land of Bikini Bottom with its attendant entertainments: "fair maidens, evil knights, jousting matches and fire-breathing jellyfish." Just like in Thomas Malory!
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 77 min.
STAR DREAMS
A Santa Fe fave, Robert L Nichol's documentary returns in an updated edition which now includes new footage of the most recent crop circles spotted, as well as more interviews with researchers, scientists and believers. Apparently more than 11,000 of the inexplicable ovoids have appeared since 1980, which even skeptics must to admit boils down to a lot of college students waving 2x4s around cornfields. Wouldn't it be nice, though, if intergalactic intelligence would bend its mighty powers toward demanifesting a few missile silos, or something more useful than creating befuddling agricultural performance-art pieces. What do they want, an NEA grant?
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 93 min.
THE SYRIAN BRIDE
Hiam Abbass and Clara Khoury lead a strong ensemble cast in Eran Riklis's family drama, which conveys some of the tension along the Syrian/Israeli border as well as that between fathers and their progeny.
The Screen, NR, 105 min.
USHPIZIN
Writer (and lead actor) Shuli Rand presents a quirky, heartfelt and autobiographical take on modern Orthodox life in Israel with this story of Moshe and Malli, a newly devout couple (played by Rand and his real-life spouse Michal Bat-Sheva Rand) who pray on Sukkot for a holiday miracle: money to pay debts, and a baby. As their miracle begins to unfold, they're surprised by two guests from Moshe's former secular life, Eliyahu (Shaul Mizrahi) and Yossef (Ilan Ganani), who carry a secret which could jeopardize everything.
CCA, PG, 90 min.
VISIONS OF THE REAL
The series of "Documentaries on the Cutting Edge" continues with Beth Bird in person to present Everyone Her Grain of Sand, following a border town's struggles to survive corporate exploitation.
The Screen, NR, 87 min.
ZEN AND THE ASTEROID
What's not to love about a "Taoist sci-fi comedy for all ages?" Director (as well as writer and star) Dan Otero filmed his feature entirely in New Mexico and mostly in Española, using local production and acting talent (including costars Andrea Marcus and Joe Vigil).
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 110 min.
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Now Showing
ANNAPOLIS
We from Santa Fe can be forgiven for wondering if this isn't a film about St. John's sister campus, but in fact it is about the Naval Academy and how
hard
it is, how
difficult
and
strenuous
and
grueling
. We know these things, you see, because of the great many shots of James Franco doing pushups in the pouring rain while Tyrese Gibson and, for variety, Jordana Brewster yell at him and accuse him of not being tough enough to withstand their invective, since he's but a scrappy working-class lad from the wrong side of the tracks and without a fancy prep-school education. But we've seen
GI Jane
; we've seen
Full Metal Jacket, Tigerland
and for that matter
Stripes
and
Private Benjamin
, and we'll put money on our boy James to graduate and throw his white cap up in the air before heading out to kick some enlisted (working-class, wrong-side-of-the-tracks) Mideastern ass.
UA North, R, 103 min.
BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE 2
In this sequel to the 2000 breakout success, Martin Lawrence reprises his role-and costume-as Malcolm Turner, an FBI agent who must disguise himself as a large, older African-American woman in order to protect a federal witness. Inspired by the premise that large older African-American women are inherently funny, Lawrence must know some different women than we do…and in fact, the gags are most successful when Momma takes wide-eyed relish in smacking around stupid crooked white guys, of whom, alas, in art as in life, there are never any shortage.
DreamCatcher, PG-13, 99 min.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Screenwriting team Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (adapting Annie Proulx's story) have actually succeeded in making something new under Hollywood's world-weary sun. While Westerns have always been homoerotic (almost a tautology of the genre), never has
Lonesome Dove
merged so honestly and so meltingly with, say,
Maurice
. Add the lyrical direction of Ang Lee and you get an old-fashioned big-screen romance, which only incidentally happens to be between two men. Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger, who recalls Brando or Dean in his fluent inability to articulate himself) meet one summer when they pair up to watch a herd of sheep; Jack is a rodeo charmer, as playful and sensual as Ennis is laconic and introverted. Soon both men find themselves struggling to ignore the obvious; without putting too fine a point on it, they fall in love. Eventually, the agonizing repercussions of one's fearful renunciation of the other reverberate through the remainder of the film, a tragic denial of self. It's heartbreaking, it's beautifully filmed and it's making money hand over fist; ride 'em, cowboys. (See SFR's
.)
UA DeVargas, R, 134 min.
CAPOTE
Back for a pre-Oscar run,
Capote
stars Philip Seymour Hoffman in the role of his career as the author, who in 1959 finds himself at loose ends after the fantastic success of
Breakfast at Tiffany
's. Persuading his New Yorker editor (Bob Balaban in a great turn as William Shawn) to let him write about a gruesome murder case, Truman heads for the dark interior of the Midwest with best friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener, similarly brilliant), where he began researching what was to become
In Cold Blood
. Director Bennett Miller, writer Dan Futterman (who long ago charmingly played Gene Hackman's son in, of all things,
The Birdcage
) and Hoffman don't seek to whitewash Capote's self-serving qualities, and the result is an uncannily accomplished character assassination turned ode to its immensely gifted subject, awash in structured, complicated ambiguity and delicately terrifying. (See SFR's
.)
UA DeVargas, R, 98 min.
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
Amidst the folderol lies a film worth watching if you can manage to ignore the tug-of-war over its alleged religious content; its highlight is without a doubt Tilda Swinton in the role she was destined to inhabit from birth: that of the White Queen. Alas, that's about it in an otherwise run-of-the-mill big-budget Disney kiddie-trap (though Georgie Henley as Lucy is unsettlingly good); Aslan's being voiced by Liam Neeson renders him cuddly rather than bloodcurdling, and the battle scenes, while large and bustling, don't give you the sense of impossible odds and insanely high stakes they did in the
LOTR
trilogy. A good dose of Sir Ian or even Viggo would have gone a long way-the actors here just aren't of the same caliber, and when you combine that with some frankly silly direction, this story of four British schoolchildren who accidentally wander into a magical land at war seems neither enchanting nor believable.
DreamCatcher, UA South, PG, 140 min.
CURIOUS GEORGE Perfect for the very small, this Ron Howard-produced animated version of the inquisitive little primate stars Will Ferrell as the Man in the Yellow Hat (an Atticus Finch-like role model of safe, gentle paternity for those who grew up with the books) and also features the vocal talents of Drew Barrymore, David Cross, Eugene Levy and Dick Van Dyke. DreamCatcher, UA South, G, 82 min. FINAL DESTINATION III The title of this sequel doesn't bear too much cogitation; because if it's final, how can it also be…never mind. James Wong wrote and directed, as he did the first Final Destination (which apparently wasn't that final after all). A high-school senior (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has a premonition of her violent death aboard a roller-coaster; thusly warned, she saves herself and her friends from certain doom. Having once escaped the Grim Reaper, the teens embark on a campaign to continue evading him, but in the words of WH Auden, "You cannot conquer Time"-or, more colloquially, when you've gotta go, you've gotta go. DreamCatcher, UA North, R, 115 min. FIREWALL Harrison Ford's determined to prove to God, Calista and everyone that's he's still got it; he leaps and rolls and punches guys and then does clever things with iPods in this otherwise tired, even depressingly so, action flick. Ford stars as bank security specialist Jack Stanfield, whose kids are napped (along with mom Virginia Madsen, who surely was offered better roles after Sideways) and held hostage until he agrees to rob his client and set himself up for embezzlement. If you think he's going to put up with that…you're obviously not ready for Indiana Jones IV. Firewall costars Paul Bettany (Master and Commander) as an albino-pale, sneering British villain. DreamCatcher, UA North, PG-13, 105 min. GLORY ROAD Josh Lucas stars in this almost-true story as Don Haskins, former girls' high-school basketball coach who took over as head coach at Texas Western College in 1965 and did the unthinkable: He decided to recruit black players for his starting lineup, which at the time was almost unheard of. To everyone's surprise, Haskins led his team to a near-perfect season and, in what many believe was the most important college basketball game of all time, a stunning 1966 NCAA championship. UA North, PG, 106 min. HOODWINKED Cory and Todd Edwards' Hoodwinked updates the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood with multiple perspectives à la Rashomon, salted with fast and furious gags, dollops of sarcasm and the vocal talents of Glenn Close, Anne Hathaway, James Belushi, David Ogden Stiers, Chazz Palminteri and Xzibit-but its dicey animation doesn't compare well with the realization of Tim Burton or Nick Parks. UA South, PG, 80 min. IMAGINE ME & YOU Ol Parker's fairy tale concerning a bride (The Cave's Piper Perabo) who unexpectedly meets the woman of her dreams (Lena Headey)-with the unfortunate catch that it's on the day of her wedding to longtime boyfriend Matthew Goode-somehow slipped in under our radar; but it's an unexpectedly entertaining little number, mostly funny and earnestly cute (though not even of the caliber of Kissing Jessica Stein) and a decent substitute for the other allegedly romantic cinematic drivel on offer. UA DeVargas, R, 97 min.
THE MATADOR Pierce Brosnan's earned every bit of the praise he's been garnering for tackling the role of Julian, an unsavory hitman who befriends down-on-his-luck salesman Danny (Greg Kinnear) in Mexico during an inebriated evening of hotel-bar confidences. Flash-forward a few months: Julian's flubbed a couple of jobs and now the hit's out on him. What's Danny to do when his margarita friend turns up on his suburban doorstep? Writer-director Richard Shepard's deft touch lets the story teeter on the edge of contrast between Julian's seedy quotidian existence and the cosiness of Danny's homelife-throw in Brosnan striding through a hotel lobby wearing nothing but cowboy boots and a bikini, and you've got a black comedy well worth the price of admission. UA DeVargas, R, 96 min.
MATCH POINT You can't really say Woody Allen's made a comeback with his latest foray, which ventures not only out of Manhattan into London but also away from his well-worn genre turf into the arena of the romantic thriller-because it's so unlike anything we've ever seen from him that he's not come back so much as he has suddenly sprinted forward somewhere entirely new, and with astonishing success. At his service is a hungry young cast: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Scarlett Johansson (playing a bit above her game here), Emily Mortimer and Matthew Goode, none of whom even remotely resembles Woody Allen. Jean Cocteau, R, 124 min.
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS In time for Dame Judi's Best Actress nomination arrives the story of Laura Henderson, the enterprising society woman who founded the historic Windmill Theater. Thinking way outside the box, the savvy Mrs. H lured London audiences away from moving pictures and back into music halls via a clever loophole in the civic code: Nude women (and presumably men, but let's be realistic) were allowed to appear on stage as long as they didn't move. Could it be a metaphor for dwindling cinema audiences? Are naked girls the ticket to selling more tickets? The inimitable Bob Hoskins co-stars and the wryly funny entirety is helmed by Blighty's beloved Stephen Frears. UA DeVargas, R, 103 min. NANNY MCPHEE Emma Thompson should run away with all the BAFTAs the UK has to offer for making the unselfish artistic sacrifice of appearing for two hours onscreen with a big warty prosthetic nose and a single prominent snaggletooth-but in addition, she wrote the screenplay, based on Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books; too bad the film as a whole is rather boring. Em stars as the titular nanny, who proves a loving but firm governess to Colin Firth's seven extremely unruly children-and her magical gifts come in handy when the family's threatened with separation. UA South, PG, 97 min. THE NEW WORLD Colin Farrell reverts to his underdog Irish roots and it's a beautiful thing to see-as is the rest of writer-director Terrence Malick's gorgeously photographed myth. While the story is familiar (starving, smelly, violent European colonists too dumb to grow their own corn, saved by the compassionate if regrettable intervention of the Powhatan tribe), Malick turns an unseen facet toward us: an arresting, quiet romance between two people from irreconcilable cultures. UA DeVargas, PG-13, 135 min. THE PINK PANTHER Our fierce loyalty to Peter Sellars makes it hard for us to understand why anyone would want to add to the genius of his Clouseau series-and as it turns out, Steve Martin and Kevin Klein are not the guys to do it (though who could have done justice to Herbert Lom's simmering insanity as Chief Inspector Dreyfus). This installment, co-written by Martin, is meant as a prequel to the events of A Shot in the Dark; Beyoncé Knowles co-stars as the Bond girl equivalent, while Jean Reno plays Clouseau's gendarme sidekick, an inadequate substitute for Burt Kwouk's deadly-but politely so-Cato. DreamCatcher, UA South, PG, 92 min. SOMETHING NEW Well, it's certainly not (new), but it's bland enough entertainment as long as you can overlook the clunky camerawork, ham-fisted editing and some of the most painful dialogue we've ever encountered. Kenya (Sanaa Lathan) is uptight, rich and black; Brian (Simon Baker) is laid-back, working-class and white and thus we're supposed to conclude that it's biracial issues which make it so tough for them to be together-maybe when you're as dumb as these characters are forced to be. UA South, PG-13, 100 min. UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION If you loved Kate Beckinsale wearing a rubber outfit in Underworld, you'll, um, love her wearing it again, as the battle between Lycans (werewolves) and Death Dealers (vampires) toils onward with no apparent end in sight. Ms. Beckinsale, as voluptuous vampire Selene, along with her half-canine love interest Michael (Scott Speedman) must battle intra-species prejudice, gravity and murky lighting; they are aided and/or hindered by better actors, e.g. Bill Nighy and Derek Jacobi. UA South, R, 103 min.
WALK THE LINE As Oscar can attest, Walk the Line boasts outstanding performances and great music; if only its writing and direction weren't so reminiscent of a television movie. Still, Joaquin Phoenix inhabits the Man in Black with unbalanced gravity and an appropriate dark humor, while Reese Witherspoon turns in her most authoritative work to date as steely June Carter. UA North, PG-13, 136 min. WHEN A STRANGER CALLS By far the most entertaining thing about this remake of the already-silly 1979 thriller are the conversations you can have with the film's hapless babysitting heroine when you add "Jill020306" to your AIM buddy list as the movie's ads urge. Poor old Jill's not the sharpest knife in the drawer; her vocabulary seems confined to "omg, omg!" and "he can c me…what do u think I should do?" Hey, for starters, you could summon the po-po…. Camilla Belle stars as all-American teen Jill Johnson, with Scottish actor Tommy Flanagan (Sin City) as her unscary, heavy-breathing interlocutor. DreamCatcher, UA North, PG-13, 83 min. THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIANCLICK HERE for SFR's review. UA DeVargas, PG-13, 127 min.
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