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.
Designates items highlighted in this week's issue.
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Drawing Restraint 9
Björk and Matthew Barney join forces and, guess what? The results are bizarre and inscrutable, yet oddly appealing and visually stunning. Barney and Björk play two "ordinary" folks who accidentally wind up on a Japanese whaling ship. There's something about wedding clothes, a giant lozenge-shaped symbolic sculpture made out of petroleum sludge and the Japanese ship captain regaling the audience with the detailed history of the ship (see
).
CCA, NR, 135 min.
Army of Shadows
Universally acclaimed and long awaited, this classic French noir, never before released in the US, finally makes an unmissable appearance. Jean-Pierre Melville's tale of French freedom fighters during World War II and their efforts to undermine Nazi rule during the German occupation, originally released in 1969, combines razor-sharp performances from Lino Ventura and Simone Signoret with a suspenseful script and legendary imagery. Remarkable for its relentless unsentimentality and its refusal to romanticize the resistance, especially considering (or perhaps because of) Melville's personal experiences in the movement.
The Screen, NR, 145 min.
Crank
Imagine you're one of those hitmen who wants to get out of the glamorous lifestyle of killing people for money, but you only have an hour to live, because you've been poisoned and the only way you can keep yourself alive is to keep adrenaline levels high in your blood, because adrenaline is the only antidote to the poison you've been given. It's like
Speed
meets
Grosse Point Blank
meets...what exactly? Our guess is someone out there in Tinseltown is really talented at pitching scripts. With Jason Statham and Amy Smart.
Dreamcatcher, R, 83 min.
The Illusionist
Based on a short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steven Millhauser. A magician, Eisenheim (Edward Norton), uses
his unusual talents to woo his ill-fated childhood sweetheart,
Duchess Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel), and derail the class system in Victorian Vienna. Upon returning from exploring the world, Eisenheim finds that Sophie, with whom he's still in love, is engaged to the crown prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). Eisenheim strikes up an unlikely friendship with Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) in his quest to win back his lady love.
UA DeVargas, PG-13, 109 min.
The Quiet
It might spell trouble when the single paragraph plot snapshot for a film provided by the film's own creators makes about as much sense and has about as much resonance as TV Book's soap opera summaries. A deaf girl moves in with her godparents after her widowed father dies and endures the torments of her hostile stepsister. Variety calls this film "a Lifetime movie on crack" and, indeed, one of the better reviews found, from Film Threat, allows "it's best for cheap laughs for jaded moviegoers with nothing better to do with their time."
UA DeVargas, R, 92 min.
The Wicker Man
Nick Cage (who also produced this remake of the 1973 British effort) plays a hardboiled hero lawman who travels to a freaky island in search of a missing girl only to find strange sexual rituals, a "possible" human sacrifice (in the words of press materials) and, the real shocker, a "harvest festival." These are some hardcore neo-pagans, folks.
Dreamcatcher, PG-13, 93 min.
Cats of Mirikitani
Jimmy Mirikitani isn't your typical crotchety old man. Sure the 85-year-old artist has been through a lot: losing family in WWII, homelessness in New York City, being followed around for a documentary…The artist brushes all this aside with a smile and a motto, "Make art not war."
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 74 min.
Creatures from the Pink Lagoon
Libidinous gay men have been turned into ravenous flesh-eating zombies by toxic mosquitoes and are on the move in the direction of a clutch of (living) gay friends who have gathered at a beach house for a birthday celebration. A sort of "Stonewall of the Dead" meets
Peter's Friends
campfest, hailed by film critic Star C Foster as "good fun, a broadly painted, tongue in
cheek revisiting of old-school monster movies."
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 95 min.
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul
An engaging documentary exploring Turkish music, a lesser-known form of so-called world music. We like Istanbul, which was Constantinople. I mean, even Old New York was once New Amsterdam.
The Screen, NR, 90 min.
Darshan: The Embrace
A documentary exploring the life and spirit of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi. You can call her "Amma." Have you been hugged today? If not, check out the life of the world's best hugger. Directed by Jan Kounen, with "startlingly beautiful cinematography" by Sebastien Pentecouteau (see
).
The Screen, NR, 93 min.
Kids First! Film Club: Akeelah and the Bee
Writer/director Doug Atchison crafted this tale of a smart kid from South Central who wants to compete in spelling bees, whose father was the victim of a random shooting and whose mother (Angela Bassett) is a tad harried, raising four children on her own. Enter Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), who provides the needed wisdom and orthographical righteousness. Free for kids accompanied by an adult.
Santa Fe Film Center, PG, 107 min.
Lady Vengeance
Park Chanwook's revenge trilogy (
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
and
Oldboy
) comes to completion in the story of Lee Geum-Ja, a 19-year-old "fall girl" arrested for a kidnapping and sent to prison for 13 years. She forms solid alliances with her fellow inmates and hatches a revenge plan which unfolds after her release. Steven Rea writes, "The violence, while less over the top and orgiastic than Park's two previous installments, is still hard and crackling. The sex is grim and graphic. And deadpan nihilism permeates the air." The perfect date movie!
The Screen, R, 112 min.
Loose Change: Second Edition
"The question for all of us to ask ourselves is how did American Airlines Flight 77 with a 124-foot wing span and a 44-foot tall tail stabilizer fit into the 16-foot diameter hole in the Pentagon as stated by the government?" That's a long question, and we'd be willing to bet there's a short answer provided at this screening.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 60 min.
Shoujyo: An Adolescent
A love story of sorts: Tomokawa (Eiji Okuda) is a 43-year-old policeman who initiates a relationship with Yoko, (Mayu Ozawa) who happens to be 15. Uffe Stegmann writes in Asian Cinema, "In Japan it was not a big success. Maybe the subject was too controversial, even for Japan."
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 132 min.
Stairways to Heaven: The Practical Magic of Sacred Spaces
A documentary exploring the space between the worlds: as in, ours and the next. Using ancient monuments (like Stonehenge, presumably actual size, not 18 inches tall or made of refrigerators), great Gothic cathedrals (with secret Templar messages hidden in them) and the fairly recent advent of crop circles, the "spiritual technology" of the ancients is revealed. Could there be a better complement to
Loose Change: Second Edition
? We humbly predict this film will play in Santa Fe well into the next ice age.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 54 min.
Stolen
When 13 paintings were stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, the walls remained bare. Gardner's will stated that nothing be changed after her death and the blank spaces and frames that once housed Rembrandt, Degas and Manet are almost as powerful as the missing paintings. Blythe Danner and Campbell Scott help tell the story of the hunt for these missing treasures.
The Screen, NR, 85 min.
Accepted
It's every high school senior's dream: Screw higher education and make up a college where students can study what they like, someone's crackpot uncle poses as the dean, and your main facility is an abandoned psychiatric hospital. When Bartelby B Gaines (Justin Long-the guy from the new Apple commercials) is rejected from all of the schools to which he applies, he creates the fictitious South Harmon Institute of Technology in order to placate his parents. Soon, college-app-rejects from all over are showing up at South Harmon, ready to take classes. Or maybe just major in hanging by the pool and perfecting the art of the wet T-shirt contest. With Blake Lively as Monica, the girl of Bartelby's dreams, and Lewis Black as the uncle who masquerades as administration.
Dreamcatcher, UA North, PG-13, 90 min.
An Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore in all of his earnest glory, post-Presidential hopes, touring the country and exhorting anyone who will listen to take global warming seriously. Gore's screen persona turns out to be "disarming, funny and animated," according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, and that goes a long way toward sustaining the hour-and-a-half litany of urgency and unfolding environmental catastrophe.
UA DeVargas, PG, 95 min.
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals
In this animated story of epic times at the farm, Otis (voiced by Kevin James) is a carefree jokester of a bovine (who enjoys activities like cow-tipping) until his father, the patriarch of the farm (Sam Elliott) is attacked by coyotes and Otis is forced to become a more responsible member of the barnyard community. Courtney Cox's vocal talents make an appearance as Daisy, Otis' lady love, and Danny Glover is Miles, the sidekick mule.
Dreamcatcher, UA South, PG, 83 min.
Beerfest
Beer is hilarious. Dumb guys are hilarious. Germans can, of course, be very funny too. Dumb guys who drink lots of beer competing with evil Germans in an underground beer drinking contest that has sinister echoes of
Fight Club
are maybe not so funny. But who knows? Jay Chandrasekhar (
The Dukes of Hazzard
,
Super Troopers
) directs. Featuring Paul Soter, writer of
Club Dread
, with cameos from Cloris Leachman and Jürgen Prochnow.
Dreamcatcher, UA North, R, 110 min.
The Descent
After a tragic accident, six friends decide that the next logical step is to go spelunking together. It all begins innocently enough: The girls, despite their tragedy, are fairly carefree and ready to enjoy their caving adventure. However, things begin to go awry before too long: Someone gets stuck, they bicker, and oh, the tunnel caves in. Suddenly our heroines are trapped, there may or may not be someone else in the cave with them, unusual predators emerge and headlamp batteries only last for so long. In true thriller style, when you're trying to survive deep in the depths of the earth, the worst part of fear is fear itself. Directed by Neil Marshall.
UA South, R, 99 min.
The Devil Wears Prada
Anna Hathaway reprises her
Princess Diaries
ugly duckling persona in this film, based on the book of the same name, which chronicles the experiences of an assistant to the former editor of Vogue. Meryl Streep co-stars as the devil herself, Miranda Priestly, the editor of the fictional magazine Runway.
Prada
is a glamorous look inside the New York fashion scene, which most of us are too dowdy to even dream about entering-a glimpse that is resplendent with sexy clothes and peppy music montages. With Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt.
UA DeVargas, PG-13, 106 min.
I Like Killing Flies
Kenny Shopsin, a chef immortalized in a New Yorker profile by Calvin Trillin, works in a kitchen the size of a walk-in closet, yet manages to keep 900 items on his menu. Was he the inspiration for
Seinfeld
's Soup Nazi? Possibly, as he has the tendency to ban people from eating his creations for transgressing his strict codes. The Hollywood Reporter raves: "A rare, hilarious and ultimately touching look at the kind of American iconoclast that barely exists anymore."
CCA, R, 80 min.
Invincible
Mark Wahlberg plays real-life Vince Papale, an ordinary working stiff who gets a chance to be a member of the Philadelphia Eagles football team. He's 30 years old! But even more unspeakably shocking, the absolutely unimaginable truth of it: He never played college ball. We can hear the gasps spreading around Santa Fe like so many air brakes. Rest assured, Papale ended up overcoming the (almost) insurmountable handicap of never playing college ball. He played three seasons (from '76 through '78) with the Iggles as a wide receiver and has fairly respectable stats, considering that, at 30 years old, he was the oldest rookie in the history of the NFL who
never played college ball
. With Greg Kinnear and Elizabeth Banks (see
).
Dreamcatcher, UA South, PG, 128 min.
Little Miss Sunshine
A mixed bag cynical road trip that halfway morphs into a family situation comedy lovefest. While precisely stylized use of the camera evokes a boldness reminiscent of
The Graduate
or early Woody Allen, endearing moments are the glue holding this frequently cynical movie together. When the family finally arrives at its destination, the depiction of child pageant queens, at once disturbing and hilarious, is the cherry on top of this wild ride. The result is a climactic scene that is pretty near perfect: both laugh-out-loud surprising and endearingly inevitable. With Alan Arkin, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Abigail Breslin and Greg Kinnear.
UA DeVargas, R, 110 min.
Material Girls
The execrable and unaccountably popular Hilary and Haylie Duff star in this film with a
Simple Life
ripoff plot. When two rich girls (heiresses with little dogs, celebrity birthday parties on the agenda and a cosmetic company inheritance) suddenly lose it all, they must learn to live like the other half and perhaps actually do a bit of work. Of course, valuable life lessons are learned, and the girls discover that there's more to life than being really fantastically, unbelievably wealthy. This is precisely the kind of heartwarming, uplifting, inspiring yet quirky message the fantastically wealthy need to hear.
UA South, PG, 97 min.
The Night Listener
Robin Williams stars as Gabriel Noone, a popular late-night radio host who shares personal stories with his listeners, including accounts of his partner, Jess (Bobby Cannavale), who is HIV-positive. When Jess' condition improves and he bails, Gabriel becomes intrigued by the memoirs of a 14-year-old boy, Pete (Rory Culkin), who is HIV-positive as well. The memoirs include accounts of horrible abuse, and after some investigation, and a phone call from Pete which is unexpectedly cut off, Gabriel begins to doubt the truth of the stories. With Toni Collette.
UA DeVargas, R, 91 min.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Johnny Depp fully inhabits his seagoing spin on Keith Richards, wrapping his lips around florid syllables or turning drunken stumbles into something approaching graceful pirouettes. Screenwriters Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio try to give the character some tension between his cowardly nature and a sense of loyalty, but they know well enough not to mess too much with what worked the first time. Once
Dead Man's Chest
gets started, it rolls along with all the energy a summer movie should aspire to.
UA North, PG-13, 145 min.
Pulse
Technology takes a turn for the worse when a wireless connection (yes, that's right, the kind you surf the net with) between our world and the world of the dead is opened. For four college kids, this means that every time they flip open their cell phones or obsessively check their e-mail, they run the risk of death or, even better, eternal damnation. Adapted from a Japanese version by the king of modern pulp horror, Wes Craven (the
Scream
franchise).
Pulse
promises lots of high-pitched shrieking and at least a few gory, digital deaths.
UA South, PG-13, 90 min.
The Road to Guantánamo
Set in the early days of American involvement in Afghanistan, this incendiary docudrama is a frappé of documentary interviews, dramatizations and actual news footage courtesy of Al-Jazeera. British directors Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross combine these elements to tell the story of a group of British friends-the "Tipton Three"-who wound up, through a Kafkaesque series of events, imprisoned at the American military prison. Despite its problems,
Guantánamo
functions as a wake-up call, reminding us of how we have lost sight of principles like justice and freedom and begun to see them as ours alone to define and employ.
CCA, R, 95 min.
Scoop
Watching this once-great filmmaker flounder behind the camera over the last decade is like those images of Willie Mays stumbling through the outfield at the end of his career, too stubborn to ride gracefully into the sunset with his Hall of Fame credentials.
Scoop
finds Allen attempting to return to frothy comedy with a suspense twist. His comedic touch has ossified to the point where nothing funny can grow organically out of the situations he creates.
UA DeVargas, PG-13, 96 min.
Snakes on a Plane
Like
Tremors
and
Eight Legged Freaks
before it,
Snakes on a Plane
exploits our tendency to squirm at the mere mention of creepy-crawlies. In an age of ultra-high-security air travel, it's not quite clear how a crate of fatally dangerous snakes makes it onto a jet crossing the Pacific, but it is this unusual means of assassination that mobster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson) intends to use to get rid of a key witness in a case against him. Samuel L Jackson is Neville Flynn, an FBI agent extraditing the witness. Of course, Flynn is also our foul-mouthed hero, as the passengers band together against their venomous would-be killers. Jackson reportedly took the role without reading the script, because he thought the title was hilarious. The film has gotten so much advance buzz that its title is actually an acronym on blogs and in e-mails: "SoaP," a wildfire meme basically meaning "dude, that's so lame and ridiculous that it's cool."
Dreamcatcher, UA North, R, 106 min.
Step Up
Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) is an archetypal boy from the wrong side of the tracks who lands himself a community service gig at the prestigious Maryland School for the Arts. Before long, he's busting out his mad break-dancing skills in the parking lot, and is spotted by Nora (Jenna Dewan), who recruits him to be her dance partner. This may be Tyler's chance to be upwardly mobile, if he can survive the world of competitive dance. With Rachel Griffiths as an administrator at the school, and choreographed by the acclaimed Anne Fletcher.
Dreamcatcher, UA South, PG-13, 98 min.
Talladega Nights
Even highbrow art-film snobby friends of ours are (sometimes reluctantly, as if to avoid scratching their smartypants persona) praising this Will Ferrell comedy. We wonder what diehard, poor white-trash NASCAR fans think.
Dreamcatcher, UA North, PG-13, 110 min.
Who Killed The Electric Car?
If we could all pick a washed-up actor to deliver our eulogies, most of us probably wouldn't put Ed Begley, Jr., at the top of the list. Such, however, is the fate of the electric car, at whose mock interment the former
St. Elsewhere
healer is joined by the likes of
thirtysomething
alumnus Peter Horton and
Baywatch
babe emerita Alexandra Paul. There's something almost necrophiliac about this film's obsession with its subject, which failed in part because few people really wanted a vehicle that pooped out after 60 or 70 miles.
CCA, G, 92 min.
World Trade Center
Oliver Stone's latest is a different sort of action film: Rather than chronicling political intrigue (
Nixon
,
JFK
) or colossal conquerors of the past (
Alexander
), Stone takes on the events of 9.11 in New York City. A New Yorker himself, Stone offers us the story of two Port Authority cops, John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno (Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena, respectively), who become trapped under the World Trade Center rubble when they go to evacuate the buildings. With Maggie Gyllenhaal and Maria Bello as the significant others of Will and John.
Dreamcatcher, UA DeVargas, UA South, PG-13, 125 min.
Zoom
Tim Allen seems to have a fondness for films in which he gets to ride around in spaceships. But unlike 1999's
Galaxy Quest
, (in which Allen went head-to-head with aliens and battled rock monsters) which was appealing in a campy sort of way, this film is without irony and aims to please the younger set. Four kids with superpowers have been using their talents to empty community pools and make the chili explode in the cafeteria lunch line, until they are called upon by a super-top-secret government agency to (what else) save the world. Allen is their trainer of sorts, and a former superhero himself. With Courtney Cox along for the (voiceover) ride.
UA South, PG, 95 min.
