Short Subjectives December 14 2005

Opening Friday

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· BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN 5 stars. (R) See review.

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· BROOKLYN LOBSTER (NR) Writer/director Kevin Jordan presents this family-vs.-business parable about a longtime family lobster farm, starring Danny Aiello and Jane Curtin.

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· THE FAMILY STONE 3 stars. (PG-13) See review.

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· MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (PG-13) Chicago director Rob Marshall helms Arthur Golden’s best-selling novel about the life of Japan’s most famous geisha. The fact that three non-Japanese movie stars (Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh) play geishas — while speaking English — has earned the film a little controversy.

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· PULSE 3 stars. (NR) See review.

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Opening Wednesday

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· CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2 (PG) This sequel to the Steve Martin vehicle about a family teeming with 12 kids involves a rivalry between a similarly crowded brood, led by Eugene Levy.

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· FUN WITH DICK AND JANE (PG-13) Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni play cash-poor yuppies who resort to grand larceny to make ends meet. The 40 Year-Old Virgin’s director Judd Apatow co-wrote the screenplay based on the 1977 Jane Fonda/George Segal comedy.

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Duly Noted

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· IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000) 4 stars. (PG) Like an achingly beautiful Chekhov short story of unrequited longing, Wong Kar-Wai’s uneventful yet hypnotic cult film cultivates an atmosphere of desire and melancholy between two would-be lovers (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung) married to cheating spouses. On a double-bill with its follow-up, 2046. Thurs., Dec. 15. Cinefest, GSU University Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5 ($3 until 5 p.m.). 404-651-3565. www2.gsu.edu/~wwwcft. — Curt Holman

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· NAILED (NR) This short film depicts the changing cultural demographic of urban Atlanta through the experience of an illegal Brazilian immigrant and two con artists trying to swindle her. Fri., Dec. 16, 8 p.m. Eyedrum, 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. $4. 404-522-0655. www.eyedrum.org.

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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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· ROSE PARADE (NR) Atlanta filmmaker Karla Jean Davis’ documentary on the indie singer/songwriter Elliott Smith, who killed himself in 2003, focuses on the impact of his music and death on his Atlanta fans and includes interviews with the staff of WRAS-FM (88.5). Also featured, a music video shot by Davis accompanied by Smith’s music and full of Atlanta landmarks and iconic graffiti. Free. Fri., Dec. 16, 6 and 8 p.m. Cinefest, GSU University Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. 404-651-3565. www2.gsu.edu/~wwwcft.

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· 2046 4 stars. (R) Wong Kar-Wai’s spellbinding sort-of sequel to In the Mood for Love is an even more voluptuous mood piece about a disillusioned writer (Tony Leung) and his love affairs (including Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li). Kar-Wai creates moments of such lushness that they provide their own justification, although you wonder if the director or his antihero is lost in his own illusions. On a double-bill with In the Mood for Love. Thurs., Dec. 15. Cinefest, GSU University Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5 ($3 until 5 p.m.). 404-651-3565. www2.gsu.edu/~wwwcft. — Holman

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· WALKING THE LINE (NR) This harrowing documentary depicts the chaos and absurdity along the U.S.-Mexico border in southern Arizona, where illegal immigrants cross a deadly desert, only to face volatile civilian militias upon arrival. Thurs., Dec. 15, 7:30 p.m., Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, 450 Auburn Ave. Free. 404-352-4225. www.imagefv.org.

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Continuing

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· AEON FLUX (PG-13) Oscar-winner Charlize Theron fleshes out (and how) MTV’s ass-kicking animated commando Aeon Flux in this incoherently structured, futuristic action flick. Though the film features some clever visual motifs and high-tech gadgets (Flux’s explosive marbles, a four-handed sidekick), the bad acting and confused themes evoke such hippy-dippy sci-fi throwbacks as Zardoz and Barbarella. — Holman

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· CAPOTE 5 stars. (R) It’s hard to take your eyes off Philip Seymour Hoffman as the vain, brilliant, manipulative and also haunted writer Truman Capote. Shrugging off the limitations of the usual biopic story arc, Bennett Miller’s absorbing, thought-provoking, extremely well-crafted first fiction film (he directed the documentary The Cruise) focuses on a small but significant portion of Capote’s life during the researching of his groundbreaking work of true crime nonfiction In Cold Blood, and the unhealthy mutual dependency that develops between the writer and one of the killers (Clifton Collins) of a Kansas farm family. — Felicia Feaster

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· CHICKEN LITTLE 1 star. (G) In this computer-animated catastrophe, Chicken Little (Zach Braff) of nursery-rhyme fame warns the cuddly critters of Oaky Oaks of an imminent alien invasion. Disney Animation flailingly emulates the pop references of the Shrek movies and, after about five minutes, stomps all over its promising jokes. In the spirit of such monickers as Foxy Loxy and Turkey Lurkey, Chicken Little would be better named Sucky Clucky. — Holman

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· THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE 2 stars. (PG) Four plucky English youngsters step through an enchanted wardrobe and take sides in a magical kingdom’s war between good and evil. Initially charming, the lavish adaptation of the C.S. Lewis book struggles to balance the source material’s blend of English whimsy, epic violence and Christian allegory (complete with a cameo appearance from Father Christmas). Despite plenty of elaborately memorable images, Narnia feels more sterile than spiritual. — Holman

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· DERAILED 1 star. (R) The inaugural feature from the Weinstein Company recalls the formation of TriStar Pictures back in the ’80s, when the quality of its initial slate was so dreadful that one critic suggested the company should change its name to OneStar. The film features Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston as unhappily married business drones whose attempt at an affair gets interrupted by a French thug (Vincent Cassel) with blackmail on his mind. I figured out the major plot twist even before stepping into the theater, yet this movie is so fundamentally brain-dead on so many levels that predictability turns out to be the least of its problems. — Matt Brunson

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· FIRST DESCENT (PG-13) From the press release: “First Descent chronicles the rebellious, inspiring and sometimes controversial rise of snowboarding.” One can assume this documentary will be “extreme” — but just how extreme will it get?

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· GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’ 2 stars. (R) Rapper 50 Cent may have set the music world on fire, but as a movie star, he’s as relevant as a dead mic. His starring vehicle, about a drug dealer trying to make it as a rap star, is yet one more uninspired crime pic. Yet the movie it most resembles — coincidentally, given the proximity of the release dates — is this past summer’s Hustle & Flow (in which a pimp tried to make it as a rapper). It’s fascinating to place both films side by side and see how one succeeds while the other doesn’t. With its rich characterizations and pungent atmosphere, Hustle flows, while Get Rich or Die Tryin’, with its frayed theatrics and stiff performance by 50 Cent, isn’t worth a plugged nickel. — Brunson

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· GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK 5 stars. (PG) In the early 1950s, Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) used his CBS show “See It Now” to take on U.S. Sen. Joe McCarthy’s “witch hunt” tactics. Every creative decision pays off in George Clooney’s second film, a black-and-white homage to the “greatest generation” of broadcast journalists, whose courage in the face of enormous pressures makes the Bush administration press corps look timid by comparison. The film succeeds enormously well at getting you under the skin of Murrow’s reporters and anticipating the increasing influence of entertainment on broadcast news. See it now. — Holman

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· HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE 4 stars. (PG-13) Love and death are in the air at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the fourth Harry Potter film. Director Mike Newell presents the grandest, scariest spectacle in the franchise so far, featuring an exciting dragon chase and the worth-the-wait appearance of Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). In bringing a novel of more than 700 pages to the screen, Newell can resemble a frantic vaudeville plate-spinner: He revs up one subplot, and the others slow down. But Goblet proves an exciting and mature chapter in a (seemingly) never-ending story. — Holman

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· THE ICE HARVEST 2 stars. (R) John Cusack’s sleazy lawyer and Billy Bob Thornton’s smut peddler skim $2 million from a Wichita mob boss (Randy Quaid), but bad weather, double-crosses and Christmas Eve festivities thwart a clean getaway. The slick adaptation of Scott Phillips’ noir novel feels more like a vehicle for 61-year-old director Harold Ramis and his screenwriters (director Robert Benton, 73, and novelist Richard Russo, 56) to work out their macho midlife crises. For all the film’s soul-searching, its misogyny and lack of big laughs put a likable cast on thin Ice. — Holman

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· IMAX THEATER — Mystery of the Nile (NR): This IMAX adventure follows a small group of reporters and filmmakers as they travel 3,000 miles up the Nile River. Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets (NR): This exploration of one of America’s greatest natural wonders retraces the canyon’s history, from Native Americans to modern-day whitewater rafters. Fernbank Museum of Natural History IMAX Theater, 767 Clifton Road. 404-929-6300. www.fernbank.edu.

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· IN THE MIX (PG-13) Haven’t seen an usher in a cinema in a while? That changes when singer Usher plays a DJ who saves a Mafia princess and becomes her de facto bodyguard.

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· JARHEAD 3 stars. (R) In Sam Mendes’ adaptation of Anthony Swofford’s memoir, a Marine sniper (Jake Gyllenhaal) flirts with madness as he awaits combat in the Gulf War. Jarhead presents snappy bits of barracks humor and some haunting images (Kuwait’s burning oil fields look like hell itself), but inevitably feels anticlimactic: The “jarheads” suffer a kind of existential dilemma as they long to kill but never see combat. Admirably sympathetic to the pressures brought upon the modern military, Jarhead still proves disappointingly evasive in its lack of opinion on the current Iraq War. — Holman

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· JUST FRIENDS (PG-13) Rejected by his high-school crush, Ryan Reynolds grows up to be an incorrigible Don Juan — until he encounters the same woman (Anna Faris) as an adult.

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· KING KONG (PG-13) See review.

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· KISS KISS, BANG BANG 3 stars. (R) Scripter Shane Black, best known for penning Lethal Weapon, makes his directorial debut with this fast and furious yarn that isn’t a buddy/action movie as much as a send-up of a buddy/action movie. Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer are both in top form, respectively playing a none-too-bright thief who gets mistaken for an actor and the gay private eye assigned to prepare him for his screen test. The murder-mystery plot becomes needlessly complicated and doesn’t hang together, causing the picture to move forward in fits and starts. But for the most part, this is sharp entertainment, as numerous Hollywood clichés are gleefully turned inside out. As scathing indictments of Tinseltown go, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang may not be The Player, but it’s a player nonetheless. — Brunson

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· THE LEGEND OF ZORRO 2 stars. (PG) Mr. and Mrs. Zorro (Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones) divorce after 10 years of marital smoldering and squabbling, but can their oh-so-cute son (Adrian Alonso) — and a lot of obvious computerized special effects — help them thwart a conspiracy that threatens the future of America? Despite reuniting the director and stars of 1998’s rousing The Mask of Zorro, this belated sequel proves so sloppy, silly and overacted, it contaminates your memories of the prior film. — Holman

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· PARADISE NOW 3 stars. (PG-13) The kind of incendiary film that will vindicate some and infuriate others, Hany Abu-Assad’s non-sequitur mix of dark comedy and thriller follows two hopeless young Palestinian men (Kais Nashef and Ali Suliman) who have decided to become suicide bombers and travel with bombs strapped to their bodies, from the West Bank to Tel Aviv. Too didactic and structurally rambling to be a great film, Abu-Assad’s is instead a smaller, imperfect human drama that dares to humanize people that others would prefer to write off as terrorists. — Feaster

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· PRIDE & PREJUDICE 3 stars. (PG) Director Joe Wright and screenwriter Deborah Moggach have done an exemplary job of making us care all over again about the plight of the Bennet sisters, whose busybody mom (Brenda Blethyn) sets about finding them suitable husbands against the backdrop of 19th-century England. The oldest daughter, Jane (Rosamund Pike), immediately lands a suitor, but the independent Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) finds herself embroiled in a grudge match with the brooding Mr. Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen). Romanticists who fell hard for Colin Firth’s Darcy in the 1995 BBC miniseries may or may not warm to MacFadyen (who’s fine in the role), but there’s no quibbling over Knightley’s intuitive, note-perfect work as Elizabeth. — Brunson

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· RENT 3 stars. (PG-13) In Chris Columbus’ adaptation of the Broadway musical, a group of twentysomething artists (played mostly by the now-thirtysomething original cast) wrestle with AIDS, drug addiction and creative compromise in Manhattan. At best, numbers like “La Vie Boheme” capture the same intoxication of creative urban youth in the film Fame; at worst, the overwrought, operatic romance plays like a long-form Bon Jovi video. Unlike the Oscar-winning Chicago, it seldom finds the right scale to play on the big screen, but it hits enough high notes to justify renting a theater seat for a couple of hours. — Holman

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· SARAH SILVERMAN: JESUS IS MAGIC 3 stars. (NR) In a kind of unofficial follow-up to The Aristocrats, gorgeous — and outrageously profane — comedienne Sarah Silverman violates nearly every racial, sexual and religious taboo imaginable in her persona as a ditzy narcissist. There’s about 40 minutes of terrific concert footage interspersed with hit-and-miss song satires and sketches, making Jesus Is Magic an imperfect showcase for a hilarious, invaluable talent. — Holman

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· THE SQUID AND THE WHALE 3 stars. (R) It’s a hard fact of life whether crowed by Tammy Wynette or Park Slope eggheads: Breaking up is hard to do. Filmmaker Noah Baumbach offers a semi-autobiographical remembrance of divorce’s toll on the kids. The year is 1986, two bookish Brooklyn intellectuals (Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels) — based on Baumbach’s film critic mother and novelist father — split, shuttling their two sons (Owen Kline and Jesse Eisenberg) between their homes and unleashing some major anguish and anxieties. Often darkly funny in charting the effects of D-I-V-O-R-C-E for the over-analytical set not supposed to experience such mundane traumas, the film is too emotionally distant and too inconclusive to offer more than that age-old assertion that divorce sucks. — Feaster

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· SYRIANA 4 stars. (R) Brutally intelligent and often profoundly difficult to follow, Academy Award-winning screenwriter (Traffic) Stephen Gaghan’s second directing effort replaces Traffic’s drug war with the contemporary battle for oil. This engrossing, closely observed thriller concerns the interconnected lives of people touched by the international oil trade, including a CIA operative in the Middle East (George Clooney), a Geneva-based American energy analyst (Matt Damon) and a rising D.C. lawyer (Jeffrey Wright) who all have something to gain or lose from events in the oil-rich Middle East. — Feaster

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· TOUCH THE SOUND 2 stars. (NR) Documentary filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheimer (Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time) takes on another iconoclastic Scottish artist in his film about avant garde percussionist Evelyn Glennie. Diagnosed as deaf as a child, Glennie uses her entire body rather than just her ear to, in essence, “touch the sound” she plays. The implied lesson about experiencing life through our entire range of senses is a powerful one, but Riedelsheimer’s film becomes increasingly bogged down with touchy-feely explorations of Glennie’s world and a repetitiveness that transforms insight into an endurance test. — Feaster

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· USHPIZIN (PG) The appealingly named Giddi Dar directs this realistic comedy about an ultra-orthodox Jewish couple in Israel.

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· WALK THE LINE 3 stars. (PG-13) This biopic of legendary but troubled country music star Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) focuses on his decades-long relationship with singer and muse June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). Witherspoon offers a fresh, original portrayal of a weary celebrity in a vastly different era of pop culture from our own, but James Mangold’s film reveals little of Cash’s inner life beyond his drug problems and crush on June, so Phoenix often comes across as merely sullen. The cast impressively sings their own songs, and the early rockabilly tours (with Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis) convey the excitement of rock’s early days. — Holman

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· YOURS, MINE AND OURS 1 star. (PG) A descent into the pits of hell disguised as a motion picture, Yours, Mine and Ours is the sort of broad, insincere schmaltz that movie-goers seem to eat up at this time of year (see: Cheaper by the Dozen in 2003 and Christmas With the Kranks in 2004). A widower (Dennis Quaid) with eight kids bumps into his former high school sweetheart, now a widow (Rene Russo) with 10 children. On a whim, they decide to get married, but managing a household comprised of 18 minors proves to be a formidable challenge. A remake of a pleasant 1968 film with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, this jettisons all semblance of wit for the sake of one noisy, overwrought sequence after another. Somebody please kill this before it breeds again. — Brunson

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· ZATHURA 3 stars. (PG) Like Jumanji, this is based on a children’s picture book by Chris Van Allsburg. Despite both involving a magical board game, this film differs in that it’s set in outer space, showcases better visual effects, and replaces Jumanji’s Robin Williams with a manic, defective robot (on second thought, that last point might not qualify as a difference). Imaginative without being particularly exciting, Zathura will appeal immensely to young viewers while causing adults to be the ones to occasionally fidget in their seats. Grown-ups, however, will be the ones who benefit from the script’s funniest quip, a throwaway line involving the indie flick Thirteen. — Brunson