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.
***image3***Designates items highlighted in this week's issue.
Click here for movie theaters and showtimes
OPENS FRIDAY
Akeelah and the Bee
Keke Palmer stars as the wee title orthographer in this Starbucks-approved pro-literacy movie, which may just amount to another adaptation (after
Bee Season
) of 2002's surprise hit documentary
Spellbound
. Writer-director Doug Atchison (he who gave us
The Pornographer
) might not be the first guy on your list to helm a family film, but he's wisely cast Angela Bassett as Akeelah's mom and Laurence Fishburne as her mentor Dr. Joshua Larabee, which should go a long way toward rendering watchable this story of a South LA girl with dreams of making it to nationals.
UA South, PG, 112 min.
Don't Come Knocking
There are just three things to say about this one: Wim Wenders directs, Sam Shepard wrote and stars and an unsettling number of critics allege it to be a total schnorrer. Washed-up Western movie star Howard (Shepard), once famed for playing cowboy heroes, now drowns his sorrows in a bottle, until one day he up and rides off into the sunset. À la Jarmusch's
Broken Flowers
, though, after a visit with his mum (Eva Marie Saint) it turns out he may have more family members than he realized.
UA DeVargas, R, 122 min.
Joyeux Noël
Last year's French nominee for Best Foreign Film is…well, it's just plain awful, according to our Paris correspondent Jon Frosch. It's also kind of strange to finally screen it in April, since it's set on Christmas Eve of 1914 during World War I, when the German, French and Scots soldiers pledge temporary armistice and take a break from murdering one another to play a collegial game of footie and bury their dead-true story! Marred by its facile new-EU sentimentality, the three-hankie weepie reminds us instead of
South Park
's Mr. Hankey, he of the "Why can't we all just get along?" philosophy. The moral? Nothing, not even shooting each other, matters to European males as much as football.
UA DeVargas, PG-13, 116 min.
***image2***Kekexili
Inspired by a true story, this beautifully photographed epic (filmed in the Tibetan Himalayas) takes us along for the ride as a Beijing journalist investigates the disappearance of volunteers committed to protect the Tibetan antelope from poachers-even if it means they themselves have to bend the laws.
Kekexili
(which means
Mountain Patrol
) has allegedly become a phenomenon in China, where it has led to new efforts to protect endangered Tibetan species-but beyond any redeeming ethical and political value, it's a harshly lovely story.
CCA, NR, 90 min.
RV
Sometimes Robin Williams is a total cipher. Like Bill Cosby before him, and Eddie Murphy alongside him, he's capable of creating indecently funny stand-up of the most adult variety, to say nothing of his unnerving work in films like
One Hour Photo
-and then suddenly you've got
Jumanji
or
Flubber
all over you. Barry Sonnenfeld (
Men in Black
) directs the odyssey of Bob Munro (Williams), who decides his dysfunctional family would benefit from an extended RV trip in the Rockies. They encounter a predictably "weird" NASCAR-lovin', beer-drinkin' collection of fellow campers, chief among them the Gornickes (Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth). Cheryl Hines (
Curb Your Enthusiasm
) plays Bob's wife, with JoJo and Josh Hutcherson as the surly kids.
DreamCatcher, UA North, PG, 99 min.
***image3***Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
See
.
The Screen, NR, 108 min.
Stick It
Gymnast-turned-model-turned-screenwriter Jessica Bendiger also directs this sports-girl movie in which tough chica Haley
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Graham (Missy Peregrym) is court-ordered to return to competitive gymnastics after a run-in with the law. Ookaay, whatever you say…. Jeff Bridges co-stars as a legendary but non-Romanian instructor; expect at least one catfight and a scene in which the tough girl finally breaks down.
DreamCatcher, UA North, PG-13, 105 min.
United 93
Bourne Supremacy
filmmaker (Paul Greengrass) has written and directed the first (non-TV) movie about 9.11, casting little-known actors and letting the story unfold in real time-two essential moves, which might enable us to enter the imaginative horror of what must have happened aboard the one hijacked airplane that never reached its target. Since its crash in Shankesville, Penn. left no survivors, it's hard to know what really happened aboard 93, but this much is true: When its stunned passengers discovered the fate of the other hijacked aircraft, they banded together to retake the plane. It almost doesn't matter whether this film is well-made; it's sure to hit like a punch to the gut.
UA South, R, 111 min.
SHORT RUNS
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Academy Award-Nominated Shorts
Each of these 10 tiny masterpieces is so immediately, precisely realized that it's almost a shame most of them are now being "developed" into "full-length" feature. Whether live-action or animated, each short gem unpacks the morsel at its heart with techniques all the more eloquent for being compact, causing us to wonder if some of those bloated, two-hour-long studio dirigibles wouldn't be greatly improved by being cut to 25 minutes or fewer.
CCA, NR; animated program, 80 min., live-action program, 99 min.
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All-Film LISP
For the first time ever, the monthly queer/trans cabaret goes celluloid (or anyway Super-8) with an assortment of short films from filmmakers local and otherwise, including Shalimar Krebs, Ian Wolfley, Bill Basquin, Rosie Jablonski, Sheila Wilson, Edward Lucas Gonzales ("Ed") and Ethan Bach, with Cooper Lee Bombardier hosting.
8 pm Friday, April 28. Suggested $3-$10 donation; no one turned away for lack of funds. Backroad Pizza, 1807 Second St., 955-9055.
***image2***The Beauty Academy of Kabul
Liz Mermin's affecting 2004 documentary accompanies American women (some of whom emigrated from Afghanistan in the early 1980s) as they return to the capital city to open a school for beauticians. Among their apt pupils are women who ran underground beauty salons under the Taliban (and we thought Prohibition was bad). Forget driving cars or civil rights; maybe it's Maybelline eyeliner that truly has the power to change the world.
The Screen, NR, 74 min.
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Coachella
This documentary puts you right in the middle of the music as bands and artists-including The Arcade Fire, Belle & Sebastian, Björk, Bright Eyes, The Flaming Lips, Morrissey, Radiohead and more-play the polo grounds in Indio, Calif., where the Coachella Music Festival is held every year.
Santa Fe Film Center, R, 120 min.
Dr. Doolittle 3
Kyla Pratt plays the good doctor's similarly gifted daughter Maya, exiled to a dude ranch in this live-action sequel.
Santa Fe Film Center, PG, 90 min.
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Duma
White South African Xan (Alex Michaeletos) adopts an orphaned cheetah cub who enjoys living on the Kenyan family farm, but eventually Duma must be returned to the wild. On the way, Xan and Duma encounter a young African traveler, Ripkuna (the talented Eamonn Walker), and the two young men form a bond which-like Xan's with Duma-winds up far exceeding ordinary expectations of friendship.
CCA, PG, 100 min.
Escape in Time
Meet co-writer and co-producer (as well as Capital High instructor) Ron Hagg, who'll be on hand to introduce his
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indie feature. Gary Sommers plays Jon, a laconic, lonely janitor who pushes the mop at
Humboldt State. Trapped in his anomie, Jon has vivid, violent nightmares detailing crimes which took place over 40 years in the past; as the dreams increase in frequency and intensity, Jon's life becomes juxtaposed with that of bank robber John Anglin, infamous for his escape from Alcatraz. Blending California noir with time-travel sci-fi,
Escape
keeps you guessing right up until the last minute.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 100 min.
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The Keeper: The Leged of Omar Khayyam
Writer-director Kayvan Mashayekh makes a strong debut with this story of 12-year-old Kamran (Adam Echahly), whose family tells him an important secret: that he's descended from the 11th century poet and astronomer. Flashbacks to ancient Persia explore the relationship between Khayyam (Bruno Lastra) and his best friend Hassan Sabbah (founder of the original assassins), with scenes shot on location in Samarkand and Uzbekistan.
Santa Fe Film Center, PG, 95 min.
Mr. Leather
This week's Fabulous Thursday documentary
offers a peek into the world of leathermen as nine cow-clad contestants vie for the 2003 LA title.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 70 min.
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont Hotel
Imagine the
Ladies in Lavender
encountering
Harold and Maude
, and you'll have the right idea. Mrs. Palfrey (Joan Plowright), elegant and doddery, moves from Scotland to London to be near her grandson and stays at the Claremont Hotel, where a chance encounter with young writer Ludo (
Pride and Prejudice
's Rupert Friend) changes everything.
The Screen, NR, 108 min.
One: The Movie
This documentary, filmed by a group of suburban dads, asks a gaggle of spiritual luminaries (such as Deepak Chopra, Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hahn, Riane Eisler, Father Thomas Keating, Robert Thurman and His Holiness the Dalai Lama) for their answers to life's biggest unsolved questions.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 79 min.
Rang de Basanti
Bollywood meets post-colonial Blighty in this tale of a young British woman whose grandfather served in the police force in India during that country's struggle for independence. Discovering his diaries, she hits on the idea of making a film about the revolutionaries her grandfather knew. Unfortunately the young people she encounters in India are banghra-ed out, 24-hour-party people who think the past is for squares and want no part of her noble project.
CCA, NR, 157 min.
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
Part fiction, part documentary and all entertaining, Taggart Siegel's strange portrait stars John Peterson as himself, a Midwestern farmer (and former UW-Madison hippie) who becomes increasingly unpopular in his hometown as he refuses to sell out to agribusiness.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 82 min.
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The Santa Fe Reporter Three-Minute Film Festival
Ninety minutes, 33 films; for those of us with short attention spans, what's not to love? Here's your final two chances to catch this evening of three-minute meisterwerks, ranging from parodic animated hilarity to evocative narrated tone-poems.
The Screen, NR, 90 min.
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The Spirit of the Beehive
The 1973 Spanish-language classic tells the poignant story of two little girls and their search for Frankenstein's monster after they see James Whale's 1931 movie in their Castillian village, ravaged by the Spanish Civil War.
The Screen, NR, 97 min.
Ushpizin
Shuli Rand wrote and stars as Moshe, an Orthodox Jew who, on the Succot holiday, prays with his wife (Rand's real-life partner Michal Bat-Sehva) for a child. Their prayers are answered in the most unexpected of ways with the arrival of two strange guests from Moshe's past, in this unorthodox comedy presented by the Santa Fe Jewish Women's Circle.
Santa Fe Film Center, PG, 90 min.
NOW SHOWING
American Dreamz
Directed by Paul Weitz (
In Good Company
,
About a Boy
), Dreamz lurches between high satirical silliness and just plain silly. Hugh Grant, so much more charming when he's sleazy, plays burned-out talent/reality-show host Martin Tweed, groping for ratings by casting Omer, an singer of show tunes (Sam Golzari). But Omer's also a terrorist-and daffy US president Dennis Quaid is scheduled to appear on the show's final episode. Can Omer successfully perform the medley from
Phantom
whilst pulling the pin on a hand grenade? The script's unevenness makes it hard to care, although you'll probably laugh (and grimace) more than once along the way.
UA DeVargas, PG-13, 107 min.
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ATL
In this hip-hop-roller-skating-movie-that-can't-be-marketed-as-such-
because-of-the-dismal-failure-of-
Roll-Bounce
, "ATL" stands for Atlanta, as in Georgia, as in the city where working-class teens Tip Harris, Evan Ross, Jackie Long, Jason Weaver and Albert Daniels are coming of age. With a story by Antwone Fisher, this unexpectedly cut-above film has fresh performances and an intensely cool soundtrack.
UA South, PG-13, 105 min.
The Benchwarmers
Trust us, it's even worse than it sounds: David Spade, Jon Heder and Rob Schneider play three friends who form a baseball team to revenge themselves on their traumatic childhood memories of Little League, with agonizingly unfunny results.
DreamCatcher, UA South, PG-13, 87 min.
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Friends with Money
See
.
UA DeVargas, R, 88 min.
Ice Age: The Meltdown
This somewhat disappointing sequel to 2002's animated delight immediately turns disaster-movie as Manny, Diego and Sid discover that behind a tremulous wall of melting ice looms a
Deep Impact
quantity of water threatening to submerge their valley. Their escape is interrupted by an attractive lady mammoth (Queen Latifah) who thinks she's an opossum; another subplot involves saber-toothed Diego's fear of water, while the film as a whole benefits from regular appearances from proto-squirrel Scrat, still scrabbling after his elusive acorn-by far the most amusing thing in the movie, which only occasionally takes off into choreographed flights of glee.
DreamCatcher, UA DeVargas, UA North, PG, 90 min.
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Inside Man
Spike Lee (
25th Hour
,
Malcolm X
) does the lucrative thing with a big-box-office heist flick starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen (
Closer
) and Jodie Foster as three opponents in a pitched battle of wits-a bank robber (Owen), his hostage negotiator (Washington) and a mysterious power broker (Foster). Chiwetel Ejiofor is entertaining as Denzel's partner, as are Christopher Plummer and William Dafoe; compulsively watchable, if a guilty pleasure.
UA North, R, 129 min.
Lucky Number Slevin
Even the combined powerhouse talents of Sir Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman, with Stanley Tucci and Bruce Willis thrown in, can't save this thriller. Josh Hartnett plays the title character, mistaken for someone less law-abiding and thus drawn into the conflict between New York's most powerful crime bosses. In this
Memento
wanna-be, we can see the twist coming a mile away, and in the meantime begin to resent everything keeping us from it.
UA North, R, 109 min.
Phat Girlz
Mo'Nique (aka Jasmine Biltmore) plays a plus-size fashion designer looking for love in anti-zaftig America. Fortunately, the Nigerian brother of her dreams doesn't share our anorectic American aesthetic; a ditzily cute but overly long outing for debuting director Nnegest Likké.
UA South, PG-13, 99 min.
Scary Movie 4
Bring on the summer titles with the numbers in 'em! Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) must save the world from giant homicidal iPods-while also lampooning everything from
Saw I
I to Tom jumping the couch.
DreamCatcher, UA DeVargas, UA North, PG-13
The Sentinel
Michael Douglas pulls a Harrison as tough-bird Secret Serviceman Pete Garrison, relieved of his FLOTUS duties when someone frames him for the murder of another agent. Garrison's certain that a neo-Nazi bent on presidential assassination has infiltrated security-but no one will believe him, especially now that his protégé, Kiefer Sutherland (
24
) has seized the reins. One wouldn't think all this could be quite so flabby and uninteresting; but one would be wrong.
DreamCatcher, UA North, R, 108 min.
Silent Hill
Originally a genuinely scary video game, this bewildering movie version stars Radha Mitchell (
High Art
,
Finding Neverland
) as young mother Rose, seeking her sick child in the misty, über-eerie streets of the titular abandoned town, forced to make a pact with the dark side in order to escape. Director Christophe Gann (
Brotherhood of the Wolf
) has provided an appropriate number and variety of shrouded ghoulish beings emerging suddenly from the CGI fog, but ultimately the effort to figure out what's going on is too tiresome, and
Silent Hill
becomes an elaborately designed set without any particular reason to exist.
DreamCatcher, UA South, R, 126 min.
Take the Lead
The tepid
Take the Lead
is indeed based on a true story, and for that matter is an infinitely more watchable film:
Mad Hot Ballroom
. Antonio Banderas stars as real-life Pierre Dulaine, a dance instructor who decides to volunteer in the NYC public school system, only to find that his classical methods run counter to his students' hip-hop passions. From this culture clash, an entirely new dance form emerges, which the film manages to render completely uninspiring.
DreamCatcher, UA North, PG-13, 108 min.
***image2***Thank You for Smoking
Jason Reitman has adroitly adapted Christopher Buckley's already wickedly funny novel and the result is a lucid skewering of the way we deal in what the film's hero affably terms "moral flexibility." Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is a lobbyist for Big Tobacco; blonde, square-jawed, charming and guileless, the so-called "Sultan of Spin" is a master of manipulation. But with Nick's son Joey (Cameron Bright) idolizing his infamous dad, Nick begins to feel less certain of the ethical validity of his profession. Eckhart's Ken-doll features lend hilarious affect to dry dialogue and pointy political satire in the spirit of
Wag the Dog
.
UA DeVargas, R, 92 min.
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Tsotsi
South African actor Gavin Hood, veteran of movies with titles like
Operation Delta Force 3
and
Kickboxer 5
, breaks out as a director with this surprisingly fierce and pungent look at South African politics. It's an urban crime drama set in the township of Soweto, scored with driving Kwaito beats and featuring a potentially career-making performance by Presley Chweneyagae, playing the young thug at the crossroads.
UA DeVargas, R, 94 min.
V for Vendetta
Part of the problem with
Vendetta
could be the fact that its title character, the avenging V (Hugo Weaving) wears a mask and a black pageboy wig in his capacity as a terrorist who dolls up like Guy Fawkes (though he more resembles Prince Valiant) to commit acts of violence against a futuristic totalitarian British state. Some truly maudlin dialogue is to blame, as is Natalie Portman as his protégé-but the fact that its hero is forcibly rendered wooden doesn't help
Vendetta
achieve entertainment escape velocity.
UA DeVargas, UA South, R, 132 min.
The Wild
Disney pays homage to DreamWorks' summer hit
Madagascar
by ripping it off shamelessly:
The Wild
tells the tale of a lion teenager, born in captivity in New York, who's accidentally transported to Africa. A posse of friends sets out for the rescue (a squirrel, giraffe and koala and played by Jim Belushi, Janeane Garofalo and Eddie Izzard, respectively). Perhaps entertaining for small children, but you'll want to bring your knitting.
DreamCatcher, UA South, G, 94 min.
