Short Subjectives May 30 2007

Opening Friday

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DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT 3 stars (NR) See review.

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EVEN MONEY (R) A crime drama starring Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito, featuring a group of nine unconnected individuals whose gambling addictions bring them together in unexpected ways.

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GRACIE (PG-13) Directed by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth). Gracie is a teenage girl who struggles to overcome the death of her older brother by trying out for the boy’s varsity soccer team at her high school.

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JINDABYNE 3 stars (R) A ghost story for adults based in the Australian town of Jindabyne, starring Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne. See review.

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KNOCKED UP 4 stars (R) See review.

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MR. BROOKS 3 stars (R) See review.

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PARIS JE T’AIME (R) Twenty filmmakers, including Alfonso Cuarón, the Coen brothers and Gérard Depardieu, each bring their own personal touches to the film, which features 20 interconnected narratives set in Paris.

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SNOW CAKE 2 stars (NR) A drama about a friendship between Linda Freeman (Sigourney Weaver), an autistic woman, and Alex Hughes (Alan Rickman), a man who has been traumatized after a near-fatal car accident. See review.

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Duly Noted

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CASABLANCA (1942) 5 stars (NR) Arguably the most atmospheric and cleverly written romance Hollywood ever made, with delightful supporting players and superb musical choices. Humphrey Bogart plays a cynical nightclub owner torn between love and idealism when his long-lost soulmate (Ingrid Bergman) turns up married to a resistance fighter (Paul Henreid). Round up the usual suspects and see it again. Directed by Michael Curtiz. Screen on the Green. May 31 at dusk. Piedmont Park meadow near 10th Street and Monroe Drive. Free. 404-878-2600. -- Curt Holman

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FACTORY GIRL (R) Starring Sienna Miller as ’60s pixie Edie Sedgwick, this film follows Edie’s journey from boring trust fund baby to Andy Warhol-approved superstar. June 1-14. Cinefest, Georgia State University, University Center, Suite 240, Courtland St. $3-$5. 404-651-3565. www.gsu.edu/cinefest.

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ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL The High Museum partners with the Miami Italian Film Festival to present the best of Italian cinema, featuring the films Manual of Love, The Cruelest Day, The Second Wedding Night, Come Into the Light, Kiss Me First, My Best Enemy and The Truth About Love. See website for showtimes. June 1-3. $10. Woodruff Arts Center, Rich Theatre. 1280 Peachtree St. 404-733-4570. www.high.org.

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THE WOMAN’S ANGLE Spotlighting up-and-coming Atlanta-area female filmmakers, the Woman’s Angle film project premieres nine short films, directed by Angela Harvey, Kimberly Jurgen, Kathleen Kelly, Tracy Martin, Shandra McDonald, Cara Price, Krista Rivas, Avril Speaks and Deirdre Walsh. Ranging in form from drama to documentary, comedy to crime, traditional to experimental, the nine films offer radically different views of sexual politics, and dispel the notion that women filmmakers are inclined to make the stereotypical “chick flick.” June 1, 8 p.m.; June 2, 5 and 8 p.m.; and June 3, 5 p.m. Sketchworks Theater, 3041 N. Decatur Road. $10. www.cinemaweb.com/womansangle.

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THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) (R) The cult classic of cult classics, the musical horror spoof follows an all-American couple (Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick) to the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a drag queen/mad scientist from another galaxy. It’s all fun and games until Meat Loaf gets killed. Dress as your favorite character and participate in this musical on acid. Midnight Fri. at Lefont Plaza Theatre and Sat. at Peachtree Cinema & Games, Norcross.

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Continuing

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28 WEEKS LATER 3 stars (R) Following the outbreak of the “rage” virus in Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later that turned most of the population of mainland Britain into crazed berserkers, this sequel takes up after the crisis has passed — or so it seems. Under U.S. military control, English civilians such as a haunted father (Robert Carlyle) and his two children (Imogen Poots and Mackintosh Muggleton) move back to a London safe zone until all hell breaks loose again. Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo may surpass Boyle’s ability to craft jittery, unnerving thrill scenes, but the script’s harsh anti-U.S. sensibility relies on plot points too nonsensical to be easily ignored in the film’s last half-hour. -- Holman

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AFTER THE WEDDING 3 stars (R) One of this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Language film, this Danish drama depicts a schoolteacher in India (Casino Royale’s bad guy Mads Mikkelsen) who returns to his native Denmark to woo a potential philanthropist and discovers family ties he didn’t know he had at a wedding. Thanks to the cast’s realistic responses to some melodramatic plot points and Susanne Bier’s energetic storytelling, After the Wedding combines fish-out-of-water humor and heated family conflicts without feeling like a Danish soap opera. -- Holman

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ARE WE DONE YET? 2 stars (PG) In this modern interpretation of the 1948 postwar classic Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House family man Nick Persons (Ice Cube) moves from a city apartment to a drool-worthy country mansion but finds himself and his house wrapped around the finger of an outlandish local contractor (a genuinely uproarious John C. McGinley). The laughs are few and far between — mostly courtesy of McGinley — though Ice Cube’s scowl and introverted, impacted emotions come in handy in expressing homeowner building angst. -- Felicia Feaster

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AWAY FROM HER 5 stars (PG-13) An exceptionally accomplished and thoughtful directorial debut feature from the actress Sarah Polley. An absolutely luminous Julie Christie delivers one of the best performances of her career as a Canadian woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, who along with her husband (Gordon Pinsent) makes the difficult decision to enter a nursing home. What happens after she does is unpredictable, emotionally harrowing and an incredibly moving statement about marriage, old age, death and dying. Not to be missed. -- Feaster

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BLACK BOOK 4 stars (R) In the Netherlands in 1944, a Jewish fugitive (Carice van Houten) turns femme fatale as an anti-Nazi resistance fighter, only to discover that things aren’t as black-and-white as it seems. Dutch director Paul Verhoeven returns to his homeland after making such lurid, visceral Hollywood product as Basic Instinct, Showgirls and Starship Troopers, with results that can be both thrilling and ridiculously melodramatic. Instead of coming across as a caricature of femininity, Van Houten’s star-making performance always feel credible and anchors the film despite its borderline-ludicrous plot twists. -- Holman

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BOY CULTURE (NR) A successful Seattle-based male escort describes his tangled relationships with his two roommates and an older male client. Directed by Q. Allen Brocka.

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BUG 3 stars (R) William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) adapts a gritty Off-Broadway script by Tracy Letts in this ambitious, if uneven, film about two dead-end types (Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon) holed up in an Oklahoma motel who believe they are infested by bugs implanted by the government. -- Feaster

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DELTA FARCE (PG-13) Starring Blue Collar Comics Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall, the film follows three inept Iraq-bound soldiers who are accidently dropped in Mexico. Directed by C.B. Harding.

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DISTURBIA 3 stars (PG-13) A likable but troubled teen (Shia LaBeouf) under house arrest turns self-appointed neighborhood watch and suspects the guy next door (David Morse) of being a murderer. Director D.J. Caruso proves interested in the voyeuristic POV shots of the premise, at least as a technical exercise, and LaBeouf and Morse lend snap to their roles. Despite being a transparent Hitchcock imitation, Disturbia persuasively argues that the time may be ripe to revisit Rear Window’s themes, thanks to advances in picture phones, digital cameras and other gadgets of the YouTube generation. -- Holman

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THE EX (PG-13) From director Jesse Peretz, this comedy stars Zach Braff and Amanda Peet as newlyweds Tom and Sophia. When Sophia decides the family should return to Ohio so she can be a stay-at-home mom and Tom can work for her father, life as a new family unit gets a bit more complicated when an old flame of Sophia’s (Jason Bateman) threatens to break up their love nest.

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FAY GRIM 1 star (R) Indie-precious auteur Hal Hartley returns with a sequel to his 1998 Henry Fool starring Parker Posey as a Queens housewife (as if), strapped with a delinquent teenage son (Liam Aiken) and a brother (James Urbaniak) in prison, who finds out the husband Henry Fool (Thomas Jay Ryan) she thought was dead may actually be alive and wanted by the CIA for his subversive international activities. Hartley’s usual droll, mannered comic style does not mix well with his feeble attempts at Syriana-style geopolitical skulduggery in this laborious, emotionally hollow affair.-- Feaster

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GEORGIA RULE (R) Never straying too far from tabloid caricature, Lindsay Lohan stars in this emotionally diarrhetic melodrama as Rachel, a sexually promiscuous hell-raising California girl parked with her earthy, sensible grandmother (Jane Fonda, a real woman in a cast of cheap imitations) in Idaho for the summer. Gary Marshall attempts to wrassle some big social issues like alcoholism (Rachel’s mom played by Felicity Huffman is a lush) and incest to the ground. But Marshall’s dingbat, superficial sensibility triumphs in the end, making even molestation seem as inconsequential as prostitution was in Pretty Woman. -- Feaster

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HOME OF THE BRAVE (R) Directed by Irwin Winkler, this war drama stars Samuel L. Jackson and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as returning Iraq war veterans adjusting to life back at home.

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HOT FUZZ 3 stars (R) A London supercop (co-writer Simon Pegg) gets transferred to a seemingly crime-free English village, which turns out to be more dangerous than it seems. Pegg and director/co-writer Edgar Wright satirize action-movie clichés with the same affection and adrenaline that they brought to their zombie romantic comedy Shaun of the Dead. Pegg and Wright pen an air-tight screenplay, charged with the vocabulary of Hollywood shoot-em-ups (tight close-ups and booming sound effects can accompany the most mundane actions). Partnered again with Nick Frost as a bumbling police officer, Pegg and Wright display a sense of humor that should be registered as a lethal weapon. To hear an exclusive podcast interview with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, visit atlanta.creativeloafing.com and click on Flicks. -- Holman

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IMAX THEATER Hurricane on the Bayou (NR) Shot before and after the unprecedented devastation of Hurricane Katrina by director Greg MacGillivray, this documentary brings into focus the startling loss of Louisiana’s rapidly disappearing coastal wetlands that are New Orleans’ first line of defense against deadly storms. Starring Meryl Streep, Allen Toussaint II and Tab Benoit. Wired to Win: Surviving the Tour de France(NR) explores the minds of cyclists training for the Tour de France and studies the effects of the race on their brains. Fernbank Museum of Natural History IMAX Theater, 767 Clifton Road. 404-929-6300. www.fernbank.edu.

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THE INVISIBLE (PG-13) High school teenager Nick (Justin Chatwin) becomes trapped in a kind of limbo between the living and dead after being mistaken for someone else and attacked by a disturbed girl (Margarita Levieva). Supernatural thriller from David S. Goyer features Marcia Gay Harden.

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LUCKY YOU (PG-13) Set in Las Vegas’ high-stakes poker world, Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) struggles with personal challenges (including a complicated relationship with his father, poker legend L.C. Cheever, played by Robert Duvall) while trying to win the World Poker Championship and the heart of Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore). From director Curtis Hanson (8 Mile, Wonder Boys).

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THE NAMESAKE 2 stars (PG-13) Mira Nair’s (Monsoon Wedding) latest foray into cross-cultural ennui is a bit of a disappointment. When her adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel is focused on recent newlyweds Ashima (Tabu) and Ashoke (Irfan Khan) as they make the difficult immigrant’s journey from bright, warm Calcutta to grim Queens in the ’70s the film succeeds beautifully. But when Nair’s attention turns to their dour teenage hatchling Gogol (Kal Penn) in this epic family drama of cultural collision between the old world and the new, the film loses some energy. Gogol’s bratty angst doesn’t carry the emotional gravitas of his parents’ loneliness and yearning; every time the attention is on the younger generation’s problems, the film suffers. -- Feaster

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NEXT (PG-13) Cris Johnson (Nicholas Cage) is able to see a few minutes into the future — a gift that sometimes causes him more trouble than it’s worth. Sick of being treated like a science project by the government, he flees to Las Vegas to see if he can make something out of always knowing what comes next. Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel also star. Directed by Lee Tamahori.

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OFFSIDE 3 stars (NR) Director Jafar Panahi (The White Balloon, The Circle) whose films seem to play everywhere but his native Iran addresses the sad gender divisions in his country by focusing on the soccer-crazed girls who dress as boys to sneak inside male-only sports stadiums. But what begins as an examination of this gender prejudice enlarges into a portrait of the ties that bind Iranians, and a portrait of the warm and convivial relationship between its citizens. -- Feaster

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PERFECT STRANGER 1 star (R) Without big names Bruce Willis and Halle Berry, this stupidly serpentine sex thriller with an unbearably hackneyed twist ending would have been direct-to-cable fare. Like soft-core Nancy Drew, Berry is a maverick reporter who decides to use her sleuthing expertise, sex appeal and the help of a computer genius colleague (a wasted Giovanni Ribisi) to go after an advertising bigwig (Bruce Willis) she believes is behind a friend’s gruesome murder. Very little seems plausible or even especially entertaining in this crass, throwaway thriller from the wildly uneven James Foley (At Close Range, Two Bits). -- Feaster

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PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END HHHII (PG-13) Jettisoning clarity of plot and character like so much ballast, the overstuffed final film in Gore Verbinski’s swashbuckling trilogy lives up to its origins as a diverting theme park ride, particularly in a pitched battle between two ships in a whirlpool and the surreal sequence of Capt. Jack Sparrow’s (Johnny Depp) rescue from Davy Jones’ Locker. -- Holman

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SHREK THE THIRD 2 stars (PG) Slovenly ogre Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) shirks his royal duties by trying to enlist the only other heir, meek teen Arthur (de facto king of pop Justin Timberlake). Smug and self-congratulatory, Shrek the Third lacks the freshness and energy of its predecessors and takes perfunctory potshots at such cutting-edge topics as high school, dinner theater, hippies and vain, snobby princesses (although such voice actresses as Amy Sedaris offer amusingly ditzy turns). -- Holman

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SPIDER-MAN 3 4 stars (PG-13) In the third and most entertaining of director Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, the darker impulses of normally sunny superhero Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) take over thanks in part to an alien parasite that provides him with a black costume and a bad attitude. Awkwardly paced and top-heavy with new characters, Spider-Man 3 nevertheless keeps the conflicts rooted in character while improving on the spectacular special effects of the earlier films. If it’s a little tiresome to see girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) constantly in peril, the creativity and excitement of freaky, poignant villains such as the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) take up the slack in Raimi’s web. -- Holman

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VACANCY (R) Nimród Antal’s horror film stars Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale as a couple forced to spend the night in a roadside motel after their car breaks down. After finding hidden cameras in the room and a terrifying snuff film playing on the VCR, they realize they must escape before they become the stars ­-- and victims — of a real-life horror flick.

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THE VALET 3 stars (PG-13) A humble parking valet (Gad Elmaleh) must pass as the boyfriend of a supermodel (Alice Taglioni) in this thin but enjoyable farce from veteran French director Francis Veber. The English Patient’s Kristin Scott Thomas and Caché’s Daniel Auteuil) provide scene-stealing support as a mutually suspicious married couple. — Holman

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WAITRESS (PG-13) From director Adrienne Shelly comes this romantic comedy about a small town waitress who is pregnant with her abusive husband’s baby and finds love with the new doctor in town.

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YEAR OF THE DOG 4 stars (PG-13) Screenwriter Mike White’s (Chuck & Buck, School of Rock) directorial debut is a gingerly misanthropic anti-chick flick about a woman, Peggy (Molly Shannon) crazy for dogs who goes through a radical life change when her beloved beagle, Pencil, dies. Defying every expectation about where such stories are “supposed” to go, this deadpan comedy and wonderfully openhearted film is a small triumph of go-it’s-own-way indie cinema. Shannon is a revelation playing an utterly idiosyncratic and lovable woman who sees life very differently from the people around her. -- Feaster