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.
Click here for movie theaters and showtimes
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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. Stone has been quoted as saying "it's not political," but we'll take a wait-and-see approach on that. With Maggie Gyllenhaal and Maria Bello as the significant others of Will and John.
UA DeVargas, UA South, PG-13, 125 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, NR, 80 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.
Dreamcatcher, UA North, PG-13, 90 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.
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.
Dreamcatcher, UA South, PG, 95 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.
Fallen Angels
A documentary with rare footage tracing the development of California country rock, featuring Emmylou Harris, Chris Hillman, Peter Buck, Keith Richards and Dwight Yoakam.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 94 min.
Kids First! Film Club: Jay Jay the Jet Plane: Sensational Mystery
The exciting adventures of a perky and curious six year old jet plane. In this installment, Jay Jay has a new friend, the Spanish speaking Lina. Free for kids.
Santa Fe Film Center, G, 90 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. A discussion follows each showing: Look for men in black planted in the audience, posing as maté drinkin', unshaven, wild-eyed vegan holy men.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 60 min.
Love Life
Damion Dietz's first feature tells the tale of a couple who married for convenience, who both have gay relationships outside the marriage. The husband is a professional baseball player who needed a beard and has managed to maintain his clandestine, closeted anonymous sexual adventures. His wife had to marry to get access to a trust fund. Inevitably, things fall apart.
Santa Fe Film Center, R, 72 min.
Mother Theresa
This biopic portrays the life of visionary, Nobel Peace Prize-winner and human being extraordinaire Mother Theresa. A focus on the power of love emphasizes the ways in which Mother Theresa was unique, particularly her willingness to believe that anything is possible. From everyday miracles to diplomatic negotiations, this film illuminates Mother Theresa's incredible perseverance. With Golden Globe winner Olivia Hussey in the title role.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 90 min.
Noche Delicious Film Festival
See
.
Queen of the Mountain
A divorced, Jewish, hearing impaired female archeologist, working with Muslims is quite the recipe for success. Theresa Goell persists despite these obstacles and leads pioneering excavations at Nemrud Dagh, a site in southwestern Turkey that had eluded archeologists for centuries.
Santa Fe Film Center, NR, 103 min.
Slow Food's Big Italian Adventure
This October, roughly 6,500 farmers, chefs and food producers of all sorts with gather in Turin, Italy, for the Slow Food International's TERRA MADRE conference to discuss traditional food production, among other things. To send 12 delegates from Santa Fe, and as an excuse to have a party, this Saturday the CCA is hosting Slow Food. The evening kicks off with seven short films from seven countries from the Slow Food film festival. This is followed by champagne and desserts, as well as a food-oriented silent auction (think Heritage turkeys, local cookbooks and dinners for four).
CCA, NR, various run times
Stolen
When 13 paintings were stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, the walls remained bare. Garnder'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.
The Ant Bully
Following in the footsteps of 1998's
A Bug's Life
and
Antz
, this is the latest animated feature centered around the lives of insects. Lucas (voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen) is an elementary-school-aged suburban boy who is bullied at school and takes out his subsequent anger on the ant colony in his backyard. To show him the error of his ways, an Ant Wizard (Nicholas Cage) decides to shrink Lucas to insect-size. With Meryl Streep as the voice of the all-powerful Ant Queen, Lily Tomlin as a senile (human) grandmother and Julia Roberts as an Ant Nurse.
Dreamcatcher, UA North, PG, 88 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.
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.
Brick
Writer/Director Rian Johnson's debut outing has been garnering strong reactions, ranging from purple prose accolades to trashings. The film itself reaches ambitiously by combining two long-standing genres-the schoolyard drama and the film noir detective story. What makes it work is unassailable confidence, a canny sense of style and expert timing. Using stylish but not too showy dissolves, jump cuts and wide angle shots, the director evokes John Huston, Jean-Luc Godard and John Hughes without resorting to slavish imitation. With Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lukas Haas, Nora Zehetner, Noah Segan, Noah Fleiss, Emilie de Ravin and Meagan Good.
CCA, 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.
District B-13
Luc Besson helped to pen the screenplay for this French action sci-fi comedy directed by Pierre Morel. Set in the Paris ghettos of 2010, a cop and an ex-thug try to defuse a neutron bomb. Plot takes a back seat to some of the best stunt work around, with actors flying (without the use of strings or CGI) over Parisian rooftops.
The Screen, R, 85 min.
John Tucker Must Die
In the deluded world that is high school in the movies, several pretty, popular cheerleaders discover that their boyfriend (John Tucker, portrayed by Jesse Metcalfe) has been triple-timing them all. In order to orchestrate revenge, the girls set up John to fall for a new cheerleader, thereby embarrassing him by getting him to wear women's underwear and climb around on hotel balconies. With teen-flick standbys Brittany Snow, Ashanti and Sophia Bush as some of John Tucker's girlfriends in question and Jenny McCarthy as a "cool mom." The Reel.Com review: "Burn the negative."
UA South, PG-13, 87 min.
Little Man
The boys who brought you 2004's
White Chicks
, the Wayans Brothers, are back with this film about an escaped criminal, Calvin (Marlon Wayans), who is able to pose as an orphaned baby because of his short stature. Finding refuge with a childless suburban couple, Marlon struggles to convincingly pose as a toddler. Expect lots of little-person jokes and bathroom humor. Quite literally, in fact: One critical scene revolves around Marlon trying to avoid taking a bath with his new foster father. With Shawn Wayans and Kerry Washington.
Dreamcatcher, PG-13, 90 min.
The Lost City
The Lost City
is mired with one-dimensional characters and a
storyline that slogs along like a humid island afternoon. Andy Garcia plays Fico Fellove, the proprietor of El Tropico, a top Havana nightclub in the days before the revolution. Unlike his two brothers (Enrique Murciano, Nestor Carbonell), who are both active participants in the growing revolutionary movement, Fico calls to mind
Casablanca
's Rick, whose nightspot aimed to be a late-night DMZ where the politics of the day gave way to the blur of the night. Overlong by a good half-hour to 45 minutes,
The Lost City
gets sidetracked with a fruitless love story and Fico's indecision about what to do once his nightclub is removed from his ownership. The movie is as languid as its tropical setting, and even Dustin Hoffman's brief turn as the gangster Meyer Lansky doesn't usher in a fresh breeze.
CCA, R, 143 min.
Miami Vice
Crockett and Tubbs make a long awaited reappearance. How have we managed to do without them in this world chock full of swarthy psychopathic coke dealers and heroin-addled pimps? Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx and Gong Li mix it up under the supervision of original television series creator and writer/director Michael Mann (
Collateral
,
Heat
,
The Insider
,
Last of the Mohicans
). Perhaps it's merely cheeky deconstructionist ironic Lacanian postmodern metaphysics, but surely all this talent can't be wasted on a lame retro nostalgic homage to a male-fantasy cultural artifact. The plot involves elements of drug dealing, murder and ill-advised romance. Go figure. A quote from Farrell's Crockett: "Do you understand the meaning of the word 'foreboding,' as in badness is happening right now?"
Dreamcatcher, UA North, R, 113 min.
Monster House
Steve Buscemi and Maggie Gyllenhall lend their vocal talents to this story about kids from next door who take on a different sort of haunted house. This one gobbles things up from the street, eating even cop cars alive. It also grumbles, groans and moves at will. When mom and dad go out of town, three neighborhood kids (including an ambitious Girl Scout) take on the house with the usual daring-do supplies: flashlights and bed-sheet capes.
Dreamcatcher, UA North, PG, 91 min.
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Uma Thurman kicks some serious ass (again) as Jenny, a clingy, neurotic, insecure ex-girlfriend who just happens to have super powers. Part romantic comedy and part action flick,
Ex-Girlfriend
starts predictably enough with the usual jealous-girl jokes, then takes a turn for the bizarre when Jenny drops her ex-boyfriend's (Luke Wilson) car in the middle of the road and attacks him with a great white shark in his apartment. Brought to you by Ivan Reitman, who directed the Luke Wilson picture
Old School
, as well as classics like
Ghostbusters
and
Kindergarten Cop
.
UA South, PG-13, 95 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.
Only Human
"The ghost of Billy Wilder clearly hovers behind an agile, rapidly paced script. A sharp yet compassionate observation of human failings," raves Variety about this romantic comedy. The elements for non sequitur are all there: a Spanish TV personality brings her Palestinian boyfriend home to her dysfunctional Jewish family. With Terese Peligri and Dominic Harari.
CCA, NR, 89 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.
Dreamcatcher, UA DeVargas, UA North, PG-13, 145 min.
A Prairie Home Companion
Robert Altman's newest, with a screenplay by Garrison Keillor, imagines what would happen if the small radio station producing "Prairie Home Companion" were purchased by a major media outlet. The film follows a fictional cast and crew as they prepare for their last broadcast. Features the usual Altman stellar cast including Kevin Kline, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin.
The Screen, PG-13, 105 min.
The Proposition
See
.
The Screen, R, 104 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.
Sketches of Frank Gehry
Some buildings are stark, square and tall, others look like aliens dropped them onto the landscape at some unknown point in history but manage to stand out and fit in simultaneously. Frank Gehry's buildings are the latter. From his line drawings, which in no way resemble anything but scribbles, to models of paper and clay of different scales, he's made a name a living creating some of the most bizarre places on the planet. Director Sidney Pollack follows Gehry through his process and into a few of these structures with the eye of an admirer, offering only a touch of criticism, in a documentary filled with personality, art and unusual shapes. (Patricia Sauthoff)
CCA, PG-13, 83 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.
Talladega Nights
See
.
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.
Wordplay
This essentially harmless documentary follows a group of veteran competitors as they prepare for, arrive at and finally contend in the Olympics of crosswording, the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, Conn. The filmmaker, Patrick Creadon, doesn't quite trust these nerds to hold our attention, so he introduces two other threads: the making of New York Times crossword puzzles, which is fairly interesting, and the crossword-related reflections of a handful of notables, which are kind of a drag.
The Screen, PG, 94 min.
You, Me and Dupree
Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon star as an unlikely trio living together in the suburbs. Wilson relies on slapstick and physical comedy in his familiar role, Hudson pulls out her dimples and plays adorable and Dillon's Carl is trying desperately to be a grownup.
UA South, PG-13, 108 min.
