Due to the ever-changing nature of the movie biz, showtimes as they appear in ANY and ALL newspapers should always be double-checked with the theaters before setting off for a night at the flicks.
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OPENS FRIDAY
Failure to Launch
Those of you who consult the Screener regularly know how we feel about double-entendre film titles; you may as well call your movie
We Want to Lose Money
. In addition, ever since we first suffered the presence of Matthew McConaughey in
Amistad
, followed by his groan-inducing turn as Palmer Joss in
Contact
, we've been at a complete loss as to why any woman in her right mind would want to go out with him. Perhaps the
What the Bleep
sequel will shed some light. In the meantime, Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw play the frustrated parents of "boomeranger" Trip. Enter Sarah Jessica Parker, whom they hire in order to seduce their son and thus dislodge him from the family dole. Aren't there cheaper ways to get your thirtysomething to move out of the house? Whatever happened to good old-fashioned nagging? If nothing else, Zooey Deschanel plays Sarah Jessica Parker's best friend; she's pretty.
DreamCatcher, UA North, PG-13, 97 min.
The Hills Have Eyes
Someday development executives will run out of Wes Craven plots to remake, but don't count on it happening any time soon since the guy's made 30 movies and is still going. He wrote and directed
The Hills Have Eyes
in 1977, but it's still fresh, eerie and dead tense; a WASPy family roadtripping through the California desert decide to ignore the crazy old gas station man's warnings (People! Never ignore the crazy old gas station man!) and their car breaks down in the Middle of Nowhere. Fortunately they're rescued. By psychotic mutant cannibals, that is.
DreamCatcher, UA North, R, 105 min.
***image4***The Libertine
When this film made its way from Europe to the US, ***image2***its makers had a little struggle on their hands to cut enough so as to earn an R rating for this dark Johnny Depp vehicle-as its subject, the notoriously naughty 17th century poet John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, merrily drank and debauched his way to an early grave. Samantha Morton plays one of his many, many female conquests, and John Malkovich is King Charles II, which of course should have been acknowledged long ago anyway.
UA DeVargas, R, 130 min.
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Marebito
Apparently someone who works at the DeVargas theater is quite the J-horror fan, because we're stunned this 2004 experimental film of Takashi Shimizu's (shot in eight days during a break from work on his fourth
Ju-On
movie) would ever be screened in Santa Fe. Like Chiaki Konaka's novel of the same name,
Marebito
tells the story of a morbid, Prozac-popping photojournalist (Shinya Tsukamoto) who wonders if there's anything in Tokyo so frightening it can make people want to die. In the subterranean subway caverns of the city, he finds a barely human girl with suspiciously pointy eyeteeth (Tomomi Miyashita) and of course he does what anyone would do: He takes her home.
UA DeVargas, R, 92 min.
The Shaggy Dog
In groping for words to describe the umpteenth remake of the last two years, we're reminded of an exhausted Boston roommate screaming out of her window at 3 am partygoers, "It's got to stop!" But it doesn't stop, and Tim Allen plays the unfortunate lycanthropic professor this time, with Kristin Davis as the longsuffering mistress, um, missus. (Bit young for Mr. Allen, ain't she?) Danny Glover costars, and so does Robert Downey, Jr.; he's pretty.
DreamCatcher, UA South, PG, 98 min.
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Stay Until Tomorrow
Eleanor Hutchins and Barney Cheng prove themselves to be two young indie actors to watch in Laura Colella's pungent, energetic comedy with a lyrical underbelly. The footloose, tactless Nina (Hutchins) drops out of her career as soap-opera heroine to go to college, and then drops out of college to travel the world-which turns into sponging off her friend, quiet librarian Jim (Cheng), while exploring the sexual possibilities of Providence. But Jim has another personality-"the Actor Playing Jim," who's everything Jim isn't: extroverted, an ambitious filmmaker and a closet sensualist.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 92 min.
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Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
Read any Laurence Sterne lately? No? Yeah, us neither. That's because
Tristram Shandy
is more unreadable than the worst of William Gaddis-why, all the better to adapt for the screen! Michael ***image3***Winterbottom should know: In 1996 he directed an appallingly earnest adaptation of
Jude the Obscure
, and it's perhaps based on that experience that he co-wrote this hodgepodge, combining a period piece and that marvel of cinema-a movie about making a movie. In the spirit of
Living in Oblivion
or perhaps
Noises Off
comes
A Cock and Bull Story
, filled with offscreen rivalry, direct addresses to the camera and, playing himself playing the hero, Steve Coogan (who has also been Samuel Pepys, as well as Winterbottom's lead in
24 Hour Party People
). Also playing themselves are Rob Bryson and Gillian Anderson, who gleefully takes the mick out of her own
House of Mirth
performance.
The Screen, R, 94 min.
SHORT RUNS
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Cape of Good Hope
A warm-hearted film that found its audience during CCA's African film festival last week,
Cape of Good Hope
is a complicated yet sweet romantic comedy with an entirely African cast, reminiscent of some of Richard Curtis' work (
Love Actually
)-if, since
Christmas in the Clouds
, you've been jonesing for authentic, winsome rom-com with characters and relationships that aren't plastic (to say nothing of the faces of the actors), try this story of the intersecting love lives of three South African women, set during the age of apartheid.
CCA, PG-13, 107 min.
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Crimen Ferpecto
Consummate salesman Rafael (Guillermo Toledo) manages Ladies' clothing-and the ladies-for a flossy department store. When Rafael's ambition lands him in serious trouble, he's unexpectedly saved by homely Lourdes (Mónica Cervera)-who seizes the opportunity to do a little corporate climbing of her own. The script for
Ferpecto
gleams razor-edged 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 amoral panache, served up by whippet-smart actors.
The Screen, NR, 105 min.
Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story
Dakota Fanning outacts both Kurt Russell and Kris Kristofferson in this Kids First! Film Club matinee about a horse with a broken leg, a burnt-out jockey (Russell) and a girl stubbornly determined to bring them together.
Santa Fe Film Center, PG, 102 min.
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Edvard Munch
A spiffy new 35mm print of director Peter Watkins' 1976 made-for-television biopic-but don't let the "TV" word stop you, because film hasn't ever again succeeded in capturing the subjective experience of painting with such freaky, sharply visual accuracy. Watkins also wrote the film, which stars Geir Westby as the Norwegian expressionist and covers his life from 1884 to 1894, a decade during which Munch painted his infamous "The Scream."
The Screen, NR, 117 min.
First International Women in Film Festival
See
.
Santa Fe Film Center, ratings and runtimes vary
The Great Caruso
Through a collaboration of the Santa Fe Opera and the Film Center comes this 1951 biopic, the first in a series of movies about opera. Before there were three tenors, or three mo' tenors, or the threat of Luciano Pavarotti singing "It's Hard out Here (For a Pimp)" at the Oscars (close shave on that one)-there were great tenors, and not just Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). There was also Mario Lanza, who plays the Metropolitan Opera singer in his luxuriantly tragic life story, fairly dripping with other Met stars and gorgeous music.
Santa Fe Film Center, G, 109 min.
In Memory of My Father
Carried over from the film festival last year is this finicky, fun, faux-
Hamlet
look at the lives (and deaths) of Hollywood royalty, as three brothers from a moviemaking dynasty (Jeremy Sisto, Christopher Jaymes and Matt Keeslar) film the death of their patriarch and its family aftermath-acerbic, irreverent and as abruptly moving.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 96 min.
One: The Movie
The final screenings of this documentary filmed by a group of suburban dads, in which all manner of people from all faiths-including a gaggle of spiritual luminaries such as Deepak Chopra, Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hahn, Riane Eisler, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Father Thomas Keating, Robert Thurman and His Holiness the Dalai Lama-are asked for their answers to life's biggest questions and in the process discuss the common beliefs of spirituality through human history; allegedly, "it's more than a film, it's an experience."
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 79 min.
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Paradise Now
Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) are two average Palestinian guys, the Wayne and Garth of Nablus. They can't get visas for Israeli-occupied areas with better jobs so, like most ghettoized young men, they wind up turning to the underworld for reassurance and financing-whether through dealing drugs or, in this case, death. They've been chosen for a suicide mission; but in the meantime, Said has fallen for Suha (Lubna Azabal), beautiful, educated and vehemently opposed to the resistance's violent tactics. The tension thusly generated-Will Said and Khaled go through with it?-fairly blisters the screen until the last frame.
CCA, PG-13, 90 min.
Totally Confused
Stars Greg Pritikin and Gary Rosen also co-wrote and -directed Fabulous Thursday's 1998 comedy of bewildered love; set in the Chicago neighborhood of Wicker Park, the title refers to two best friends-one a virgin with an expansive library of gay porn, one an allegedly straight guy, both restless.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 88 min.
The Troubles We've Seen
The Screen's series "Visions of the Real: Documentaries on the Cutting Edge" brings Marcel Ophüls'
Veillées d'armes
to our shores; the interview-dense chronicle of the filmmaker's two journeys to Sarajevo in 1993 is desperately grim but demands to be watched.
The Screen, NR, 224 min.
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Why We Fight
Even if you aren't drawn to Eugene Jarecki's award-winning documentary exploring the underpinning rationale behind armed conflict, with interviews from the likes of Ken Adelman, John SD Eisenhower, William Kristol, John McCain, Richard Perle, Dan Rather and Gore Vidal you'll find it hard to stay away from the lineup of panelists discussing the film after its 7 pm Saturday screening: Operation Iraqi Freedom II combat veteran Col. Richard Rael, journalists William Morgan Stewart and SFR stringer Zelie Pollon, the New Mexico Green Party's 2002 gubernatorial candidate David Bacon and UNM professor Alex Lubin. A reception follows the panel and, even more enticingly, the proceeds benefit Veterans for Peace.
CCA, PG-13, 98 min.
NOW SHOWING
16 Blocks
Mos Def's also attending
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
right now, much more diverting than this Reagan-Era throwback of a Bruce Willis vehicle. Willis sports a moustache, one clue that this isn't a rip-off of Clint Eastwood's 1977
The Gauntlet
-though the setup is otherwise uncannily redolent. Washed-up alcoholic cop Jack (Willis) draws a suitably brainless assignment: transport an inmate to his court date; but the crooked po-po (the wonderfully villainous David Morse) has other, less law-abiding, plans.
DreamCatcher, UA North, PG-13, 102 min.
Aquamarine
As one indicator of a nation's economic success is the average number of years of education per woman, so perhaps we could measure our economic might by how many teenaged-girl films studios produce annually (not that many, because even white girls don't have the discretionary income of the almighty dollars generated by the male 15-25 age bracket). Emma Roberts and JoJo are Claire and Hailey, two young ladies who come across the title character (Sara Paxton) in their club's swimming pool, splish splash, taking a bath-with a long finned tail, à la Daryl Hannah.
DreamCatcher, UA South, PG, 109 min.
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Brokeback Mountain
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (adapting Annie Proulx's story) have actually succeeded in making something new under Hollywood's world-weary sun. Add the lyrical direction of Ang Lee and you get an old-fashioned big-screen romance which happens to be between two men. Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis (Heath Ledger, recalling Brando or Dean) meet one summer when they pair up to herd sheep in Montana. Eventually, the agonizing repercussions of one's fearful renunciation of the other reverberate through the remainder of the film, a tragic denial of self.
UA DeVargas, R, 134 min.
Caché
See
.
Jean Cocteau, R, 117 min.
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Capote
Philip Seymour Hoffman has found the role of his career as the New Yorker author, who persuades his editor to let him write about a gruesome murder case. Truman heads for the dark interior of the Midwest with friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), where he began researching what was to become
In Cold Blood
. Director Bennett Miller, writer Dan Futterman and Hoffman don't seek to whitewash Capote's self-serving; the result is an uncannily accomplished character assassination turned ode to its gifted, ambiguous subject.
UA DeVargas, R, 98 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 and also features the vocal talents of Drew Barrymore, David Cross, Eugene Levy and Dick Van Dyke.
DreamCatcher, UA South, G, 82 min.
Date Movie
This alleged rom-com parody almost has to be seen to be believed-though not if you're ever hoping to see your date again.
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 obstacles to their blissful union, not least perhaps that their film will surely close in a matter of days.
UA North, PG-13, 80 min.
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ave Chappelle's Block Party
Michel Gondry (
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
) directs something that's almost impossible not to enjoy-after all, imagine
you
were invited to the risible Mr. Chappelle's very own Brooklyn neighborhood to spend the day and night hanging with Kanye West, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, The Fugees, Andre 3000, and Cody Chestnutt? Inspired by 1973's
Wattstax
, but with its own laid-back, we-the-people heart, this block party ("a jubilant, civic-minded lollapalooza," après the Boston Globe) is noisy, distracting fun-like yelling at dear friends during a deafening concert.
UA South, R, 100 min.
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Eight Below
Those of us addicted to the Reader's Digest "Drama in Real Life" feature and who watched all 5,000 hours of
Shackleton
will find this Disney tale of a team of sled dogs who must be left behind in the Antarctic riveting, if only because it's true. When weather conditions force researchers Paul Walker, Bruce Greenwood and Jason Biggs to go home poochless, the dogs survive for more than six months-and they don't have to eat Chilean football players to do it. Parents beware: You yourselves may not be old enough to handle the scary leopard-seal attack.
UA South, PG, 112 min.
Final Destination 3
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. James Wong wrote and directed this profoundly dumb sequel, as he did the first
Final Destination
.
DreamCatcher, R, 115 min.
Firewall
Harrison Ford, as if determined to prove to God, Calista and everyone that's he's still got it, leaps and rolls and punches guys and then does clever things with iPods in this otherwise tired, even depressingly so, action flick. Bank security specialist Jack Stanfield finds his kids have been napped 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
also costars Virginia Madsen as the spunky wife and Paul Bettany as the prototypical sneering British-accented villain.
UA North, UA South, PG-13, 105 min.
Madea's Family Reunion
Writer-director Tyler Perry ought to be a very happy playwright. He's successfully turned his stage performance as the formidable Mable "Madea" Simmons into last year's breakout success
Diary of a Mad Black Woman
-and it was such a surprise hit that within the first record-breaking week of its release, Lions Gate finagled a seven-picture deal for the remainder of his plays. Perry reprises his title character, but unfortunately, the joke's not nearly as funny this time around.
DreamCatcher, UA South, PG-13, 107 min.
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Mrs. Henderson Presents
Dame Judi scored another Best Actress nomination with this story of 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 were allowed to appear on stage as long as they didn't move.
UA DeVargas, R, 103 min.
Night Watch
Nochnoi Dozor
made an unprecedented amount of dough in its native Russia, though its hallucinogenic, relentless CGI blend of fantasy, horror and Realpolitik doesn't translate quite as effectively onto American screens. Based on Sergei Lukyanenko's hugely popular trilogy of novels,
Night Watch
is the first installment in this sprawling saga of, what else, good versus evil; in the best gnostic tradition neither has the upper hand, with the Day Watch making sure evil behaves itself reasonably well and the Night Watch keeping similar tabs on good-until the precarious balance is threatened by a new arrival.
UA DeVargas, R, 114 min.
The Pink Panther
Fierce loyalty to Peter Sellars makes it hard to understand why anyone would even try to add to the genius of Clouseau; and as it turns out, Steve Martin (who co-wrote) and Kevin Klein are not the guys to do it-though who could have done justice to Sellars' flawless embodiment of the worst investigator in all of France, or Herbert Lom's bubbling insanity as Chief Inspector Dreyfus.
UA South, PG, 92 min.
Running Scared
Good old-fashioned organized crime, violence, profanity and corruption, served up slapdash by writer-director Wayne Kramer and given a slight edge by positioning Paul Walker (
Into the Blue
) as a worthy inheritor to the tradition-which, sadly, he isn't. Chazz Palminteri tries to prop up the raving mess as a dirty cop who's all over Joey Gazelle (Walker), a low-level mob flunkie who's screwed up his job: disposing of recently employed firearms.
UA South, R, 122 min.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
See
.
UA DeVargas, R, 121 min.
Transamerica
The Academy last Sunday cruelly overlooked the astonishing performance of Felicity Huffman as pre-op M2F tranny Bree. Days before her scheduled final surgery, she finds out that she has a son from her former life somewhere out there, and embarks on a cross-country journey to reunite with her teenaged son-a gay hustler working NYC.
UA DeVargas, R, 103 min.
Ultraviolet
Since the point of
Ultraviolet
is to be artistically violent, there's very little point in discussing the rest of this truly awful movie. Milla Jovovich looks cool in latex, catwalk hair and murky blue bullet-time, showcased repeatedly during its confusing fight scenes. Violet is a Hemophage, the sexy new name for vampires after future powers-that-be have genetically modified certain humans (thus the Ultra) to be bionically puissant and "superior."
DreamCatcher, UA North, PG-13, 88 min.
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The World's Fastest Indian
Disarming-that's probably the best word to describe the hugely enjoyable story of New Zealander Burt Munro who, at the age of 68 and with barely enough money for bootlaces, set the world's landspeed record not once but umpteen times running. The title's reference is to the cherry-red 1920 Indian Scout that retiree Munro (Anthony Hopkins) rebuilt from the ground up until it was capable of tooling along in the neighborhood of 201 mph. It may be one of Sir Anthony's best performances-pulling off a seemingly effortless embodiment of the ordinary-while proving conclusively that a real man can fix anything, as long as he has enough duct tape.
UA DeVargas, PG-13, 127 min.
