Short Subjectives November 09 2005

Opening Friday

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· DERAILED (R) An ad exec and loyal family man (Clive Owen) becomes embroiled in a fling with a sexy stranger (Jennifer Aniston). The tryst, however, turns deadly when a criminal pulls them into a dangerous plot.

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· KISS KISS, BANG BANG (R) Robert Downey Jr. stars as a thief posing as an actor who finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with a detective (Val Kilmer) — who’s been training him for an upcoming acting gig — and old high-school crush (Michelle Monaghan).

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· PARADISE NOW See review p. 69.

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· PRIDE & PREJUDICE (PG) Jane Austen’s classic tale of love and values returns to the big screen with stars Keira Knightley and Donald Sutherland, among others.

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· THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE OHIO (PG-13) Julianne Moore confirms that she’s cornered the market on roles as oppressed 1950s housewives in her latest film, in which she makes ends meet by writing award-winning jingles. It’s written and directed by Jane Anderson, scripter of The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom. Landmark Midtown Art Cinema.

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· THE SQUID AND THE WHALE (R) See review p. 68.

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· ZATHURA (PG) Jumanji is back! Well, sort of. Instead of subjecting children to crazed animals and Robin Williams’ hairy back, Zathura — a film that supposedly comes “from the world of Jumanji” — terrorizes two young brothers with meteors and giant robots.

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Duly Noted

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· BEST OF THE FEST (NR) The Savannah College of Art and Design presents an evening of award-winning selections — including animated shorts, a documentary and a feature film — from the 2005 Savannah Film Festival. Thurs., Nov. 10, 7 p.m. SCAD-Atlanta, 1600 Peachtree St. Free. www.scad.edu/scadatlanta.

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· CLV PRODUCTIONS FIRST AMATEUR FILM SCREENING Def Poet and five-time “Showtime at the Apollo” winner Jessica Care Moore hosts a night of film, spoken-word poetry and hip-hop dance performances. Sat., Nov. 12, 6 p.m. Red Light Café, 553 Amsterdam Ave. $7. 404-874-7828. www.redlightcafe.com.

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· LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN FILM FESTIVAL With a lineup of films like Plan Colombia: Cashing in on the Drug War Failure and Rights on the Line: Vigilantes at the Border, organizers behind the Latin American and Caribbean Film Festival are on a mission to increase “educational, cultural and political awareness in order to build sustainable Latin American and Caribbean communities at a local and international level.” Full festival schedule on www.lacccenter.org. Fri.-Sun., Nov. 11-13, Times and venues vary. $5-$7. 770-577 7359.

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· MARY STUART (1982) (NR) England’s Queen Elizabeth wrestles with the decision whether or not to execute Mary, Queen of Scots, in this adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s historical drama. Wed., Nov. 16, 7 p.m. Goethe Institut Atlanta, 1197 Peachtree St. $3-$4. 404-892-2388. www.goethe.de/ins/us/atl/enindex.

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· MURDERBALL **** (R) Eschewing the usual pity party of films about disability, this award-winning Sundance documentary about Team USA quadriplegic rugby players preparing for the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, conveys the sport’s violent, rough-and-tumble nature. The testosterone feeding frenzy of the rugby matches where Team USA and their bitter rivals Team Canada duke it out is rendered with a ripping, stylish fury. But it’s when directors Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro probe deeper into these men’s lives that you see how much of their fighting spirit and determination occurs far beyond the extreme sports battleground. Thurs., Nov. 10, Cinefest, GSU University Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5 ($3 until 5 p.m.). 404-651-3565. www2.gsu.edu/~wwwcft. -- Felicia Feaster

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· OUT ON FILM FESTIVAL (NR) See review p. 67.

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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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· SEOUL TRAIN *** (NR) This documentary examines the dilemma of North Korean refugees in China, where they risk arrest, deportation and execution if returned home. The film offers compelling footage, clearly caught on the fly, of brutal arrests and high-tension escape attempts, but faces the limitations of profiling heroic individuals who are always on the run. Thurs., Nov. 10, 7 p.m. Hands on Atlanta, 600 Means St. Free. www.handsonatlanta.org. — Holman

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· WAL-MART: THE HIGH PRICE OF LOW PRICE (NR) This controversial documentary on the ubiquitous discount retailer promises to take viewers into the real lives of Wal-Mart workers and their families in a tale that will “challenge the way you think, feel ... and shop.” A discussion featuring Richard Ray, president of the Georgia AFL-CIO, and state Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, among others, follows the film. Mon., Nov. 14, 7 p.m. Rialto Center for the Performing Arts, 80 Forsyth St. 404-651-4727. Free. www.rialtocenter.org.

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Continuing

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· THE ARISTOCRATS **** (NR) George Carlin, Gilbert Gottfried, Sarah Silverman, John Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg and scores of other comedians take turns telling — or commenting on — an old, notoriously offensive joke usually reserved for other comedians instead of their audiences. Depending on your tolerance for humor based on every imaginable human depravity, you might not always find The Aristocrats a funny gag, but this documentary (from Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette) earns some honest laughs while offering fascinating — and uncomfortable — insights into the minds of professional jokemeisters. -- Curt Holman

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· CAPOTE ***** (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. -- Feaster

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· CATERINA IN THE BIG CITY (NR) When her father receives a transfer to Rome, a small-town schoolgirl (Alice Teghil) gets a crash course in political and social cliques in this Italian comedy.

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· CHICKEN LITTLE * (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 CONFORMIST (1971) (R) The restored, reissued version of Bernardo Bertolucci’s breakthrough film follows a closeted homosexual (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who finds acceptance among Italian fascists, until circumstances turn him into a murderer.

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· THE CONSTANT GARDENER **** (R) In this flashy, faithful adaptation of John Le Carré’s espionage best-seller, Ralph Fiennes plays impressively against type as a meek diplomat in Africa investigating the murder of his activist wife (Rachel Weisz). Director Fernando Mereilles brings a similar intensity and eye for telling detail that marked the sizzling City of God and makes The Constant Gardener one of the rare political thriller’s that’s actually about politics. -- Holman

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· DOOM ** (R) Stating that Doom is probably the best of the numerous flicks based on a video game ranks as the feeblest praise imaginable, akin to noting that benign genital herpes is the best sexually transmitted disease to acquire. Still, in a sub-sub-genre that has subjected us to the likes of Super Mario Bros. and Resident Evil, we’ll take our favors where we can get them. For a good while, director Andrzej Bartkowiak actually attempts to make a real movie rather than just a video game simulation, though he loses control toward the end. -- Matt Brunson

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· DREAMER: INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY *** (G) Taking a well-worn formula and adding some flavor through a pair of rich characterizations, Dreamer centers on horse trainer (Kurt Russell) and his daughter (Dakota Fanning) nursing an injured race horse back to health. Many child stars are either sloppily sentimental or coldly calculating, and while Fanning has occasionally veered toward the latter, she delivers her warmest and most natural performance in this picture. There’s a heartwarming family dynamic between father and daughter, and the scenes between Russell and Fanning are so good, they almost make us forget that we’ve seen all this before. -- Brunson

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· ELIZABETHTOWN ** (PG-13) Kirsten Dunst’s quirky flight attendant inspires Orlando Bloom’s disgraced athletic shoe designer during a visit to Kentucky for his father’s funeral. Writer/director Cameron Crowe revisits similar themes from Jerry Maguire, but the mix of mannered love story, corporate satire and family comedy never hangs together. The great music makes Elizabethtown feel like Crowe’s latest awesome mix tape, with a movie around it. -- Holman

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· FLIGHTPLAN ** (PG-13) On the heels of Red Eye comes this month’s aerial thriller. This one, about a widow (Jodie Foster) whose daughter disappears during an intercontinental flight, quickly begins its narrative descent and eventually explodes on contact, creating fireballs of flaws so massive, they obliterate entire theater auditoriums and even singe the concession stands. Foster’s performance deserves a better showcase — instead, she’s much like the lone suitcase that’s left on the baggage claim belt, circling wearily while surrounded by an atmosphere of indifference. -- Brunson

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· THE FOG (PG-13) From the department of unnecessary remakes comes this retread of John Carpenter’s modestly entertaining 1980 thriller about a coastal town menaced by sea-going spooks wreathed in fog. It stars Clark Kent from “Smallville” and the bitchy blonde from “Lost.”

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· FORTY SHADES OF BLUE **** (NR) Russian actress Dina Korzun is mesmerizing as the lonely trophy wife of a significantly older, megalomaniacal Memphis music producer Alan (Rip Torn). Her solitude seems momentarily lifted with the arrival of Alan’s estranged son (Darren Burrows), also locked into an unhappy marriage. But this being a film centered on a Russian, Ira Sachs’ serene, below the surface character study uncoils into the kind of tragedy that seems Korzun’s cultural destiny. -- Feaster

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· G (R) The Hamptons provides the backdrop for a hip-hop romance inspired by The Great Gatsby and starring Richard T. Jones, Chenoa Maxwell and Blair Underwood. Don’t mistake the title for the MPAA rating.

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· GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’ (R) Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan and “Sopranos” scripter Terence Winter stand behind this fictionalized biopic of drug-dealer-turned-rap-star Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent. Hustle & Flow star Terrence Howard has a role, presumably to invite comparisons to the earlier film.

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· GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK ***** (PG) In the early 1950s, Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) used his CBS show “See It Now” to take on 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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· THE GOSPEL ** (PG-13) Atlanta filmmaker Rob Hardy wrote and directed this heavy-handed tale of an R&B star who returns to his estranged father’s church seeking redemption. Some soaring numbers from some of gospel music’s biggest stars and a charismatic performance from “The Wire’s” Idris Elba as an ambitious, media-savvy pastor provide the brightest spots in this unsubtle retelling of the prodigal son parable. -- Holman

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· HELLBENT (NR) A killer stalks buff gay men in West Hollywood in writer/director Paul Etheredge-Ouzts’ variation on a Scream-style ironic slasher flick.

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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 HER SHOES *** (PG-13) An initially acrid look at sibling rivalry, this film stars Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette as Maggie and Rose, two sisters who have nothing in common except their shoe size. After a falling out, irresponsible Maggie heads to Florida to meet the grandmother (Shirley MacLaine) she never knew, while insecure Rose remains in Philadelphia in an effort to get her own life back on track. It isn’t hard to guess how it will all play out, but the pleasures rest in the journey more than the destination. Diaz and Collette are both excellent, though they’re effortlessly matched by MacLaine. Even when the movie surrounding her turns soft, this wily veteran remains its pillar of strength: Espousing tough love at every turn, MacLaine provides In Her Shoes with its own hard-won terms of endearment. -- Brunson

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· JARHEAD *** (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. 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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· THE LEGEND OF ZORRO ** (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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· NINE LIVES **** (R) An Altmanesque anthology loaded with famous faces from Sissy Spacek to Glenn Close, director Rodrigo Garcia’s film about the turbulent events in nine different Los Angeles women’s lives has the feel of a collection of well-crafted short stories. (Garcia’s father is novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez.) Each story is shot in one continuous take, and if they’re not all great, the film offers enough food for thought and stellar performances to elevate the lesser material. -- Feaster

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· NORTH COUNTRY **** (R) Charlize Theron is a mother of two who escapes an abusive marriage only to find more brutality when she takes a job at a mine where women are viewed as unwanted intruders in a male domain. Though the film comes with a conventional stand-up-and-cheer courtroom denouement, its portrait of the pervasive cruelty of both men and women who conspire to keep women in their place should inspire some soul-searching about both the good and the bad that society supports. -- Feaster

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· PRIME (PG-13) Ben Younger, the writer/director of Boiler Room, tries his hand at romantic comedy in this tale of a New York businesswoman (Uma Thurman) who falls for a younger man — who happens to be the son of her therapist (Meryl Streep).

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· ROLL BOUNCE (PG-13) The artist known as Bow Wow stars in this coming-of-age comedy set primarily in a 1970s roller rink. If you’ve been longing for a throwback to the era of Roller Boogie, this is your chance.

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· SAW 2 (R) “Parts is parts” in this sequel to last year’s hit low-budget dismemberment thriller, as the sadistic “Jigsaw Killer” traps his latest victims in a booby-trapped shelter.

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· SEPARATE LIES (R) Emily Watson and In the Bedroom’s Tom Wilkinson star in this English marital drama about secrets and passions that erupt following a car accident. It’s directed by Gosford Park’s Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes.

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· SHOPGIRL ** (R) With two shallow characters and a blandly gloomy story line, this adaptation of Steve Martin’s novella feels like Pretty Woman putting on airs: a wistful, therapy-culture fairy tale for the New Yorker crowd. Martin, who is 60, plays a wealthy man who sweeps a pretty Saks Fifth Avenue clerk (Claire Danes, age 26) off her feet — a lingering mystery considering Martin’s performance as a corpse-like, unctuous moneybags. The only pleasure comes from Jason Schwartzman as a clueless slacker who vies with Mr. Big for the shopgirl’s affection. -- Feaster

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· STAY *** (R) Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) is a director with a singular, fascinating obsession: death. His distinguished film career is defined by an appreciation for the glory days of 1960s and ’70s filmmaking and the sense that every day of his life is steeped in grief and longing. Ewan McGregor stars as a psychiatrist with a patient (Ryan Gosling) who plans to kill himself in several days despite McGregor’s ceaseless efforts to stop him. Forster operates within the conventions of the thriller, but that slick, superficial genre does not suit his penetrating treatment of grief. Despite the film’s flaws, the final scene is worth waiting for. -- Feaster

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· WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT *** (G) Inane inventor Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and his silent, sensible dog, Gromit, take on an oversized rabbit-monster before their town’s beloved vegetable competition. Compared to Chicken Run and the claymation duo’s short films, Were-Rabbit’s script feels thin and puns feel forced, but the film’s brilliant set-pieces wittily lampoon horror-film clichés. -- Holman

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· THE WEATHER MAN *** (R) Divorced, depressed TV weatherman David Spritz clings to career advancement as the key to improving his relationship with his ailing father (Michael Caine) and unhappy children. Despite outbursts of humor — including a funny running joke involving Spritz being pelted with junk food — the film maintains a surprisingly quiet tone as it examines the weather man’s life of unquiet desperation. -- Holman

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· WHERE THE TRUTH LIES *** (NR) An ambitious young writer (Alison Lohman) tries to uncover the secret behind the breakup of a hugely popular, Martin-and-Lewis-esque comedy team (Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon). Switching from the fizzy ’50s to the jaded ’70s, Atom Egoyan’s showbiz mystery drips with mood and features a pair of canny performances from Firth and Bacon as troubled stars. Lohman’s sequences, unfortunately, drag down the rest of the film, which proves mannered and self-conscious despite its insightful (and steamy) portrayal of the risky relationship between celebrity and fan. -- Holman