startingfriday AMELIA
Take an iconic historical figure, Amelia Earhart, cast Hilary Swank in the lead, surround her with a solid cast — Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston, Joe Anderson — and a respected director, Mira Nair, and what have you got? The season’s first obvious bit of Oscar bait. The question then is just how much interest there is in a PG-rated biopic on Amelia Earhart. It doesn’t help that the only reviewers to see the film at this point are the trades — Variety and Hollywood Reporter — and they’re at opposite ends of the stick. (PG) Early review samples: • “To say that Amelia never gets off the ground would be an understatement; it barely makes it out of the hangar.â€? (Justin Chang, Variety) • “The classically structured bio will appeal to grown-ups, history buffs and lovers of aeronautics, but in showing how the flier was one of the most lauded celebrities of her time, it also might appeal to youngsters.â€? (Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter)
ASTRO BOY
David Bowers’ (Flushed Away) sophomore effort is this first big-screen version of the venerable Japanese cartoon series Astro Boy. The voice casting is high quality — Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Bill Nighy, Charlize Theron, Samuel L. Jackson — and both the trades were favorably impressed. The general run of reviews from Australia (where the movie opened last week) has also been positive. While this is enticing and the nostalgia factor should be high, how much clout does Astro Boy have with the very young viewers at whom it’s aimed? (PG) Early review samples: • “Appropriately for a film about robots, efficiency is the primary virtue of Astro Boy, a well-oiled CG-animated superhero pic that makes up in competence and vitality what it lacks in originality.â€? (Andrew Barker, Variety)
rattling off stories of drunken frat-boy debauchery and sexual escapades. Now, three years after his novel I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell hit bookstores, the film adaptation has hit theaters. And it’s nothing more than your usual attempt at an R-rated raunch fest, but tarted up with some phony sentiment and recycled insight. The film’s point is unfettered offensiveness and rampant un-PC-ness, something that’s theoretically supposed to be shocking and thought-provoking at the same time. In practice, however, it’s neither. While Max’s ideas of women are either sexist or misogynistic (under the guise of trying to rattle the cages of the square haircuts), he still manages to be unrepentantly dull. Max—who cowrote the screenplay with first-time screenwriter Nils Parker—thinks he has a knack for dialogue, but really, it all ends up as a mishmash between the worst aspects of Kevin Smith with a smattering of Dennis Miller. This is unfortunate on any number of levels, especially since all anyone does the entire film is talk incessantly. None of it’s terribly clever, and all of Max’s insight seems to be
• “Finally going the big-screen, computergenerated route, the iconic Japanese hero manages to keep his innate lovability intact in a visually dynamic if overly eager-to-please family feature cobbled together with parts reclaimed from various animated classics.â€? (Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter)
CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE’S ASSISTANT
What is it with the Weitz Brothers? Chris Weitz will soon offer us New Moon, the Twilight sequel, and here’s brother Paul with another vampire yarn, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant. At least this one looks like it intends to be funny — in part anyway. It’s based on a series of books (there appear to be 12 of them to date) by one Darren Shan, which is also, it seems, the name of the film’s main character played by Chris Massoglia (TV’s Wanted). The main draw — apart from vampires and werewolves — seems to lie in the supporting cast of folks like Salma Hayek, Ken Watanabe, Willem Dafoe, Frankie Faison etc. Early reviews are mixed, but limited mostly to horror sites. (PG-13)
IT MIGHT GET LOUD
See review in “Cranky Hanke.�
SAW VI
Of course, this latest Saw entry hasn’t been screened. Lionsgate doesn’t need to. It’s Halloween and that means it’s time for another entry in this apparently endless franchise. Somehow Tobin Bell is back as Jigsaw. There’s also a persistent rumor that Cary Elwes (from the first film) will be back. Presumably we’ll find out what was in the mysterious box from the last film — not that it really matters. The trailer makes it look like the six lucky victims this round are taking a ride on the whirligig of death. Well, why not? (R)
culled from bad stand-up routines. Occasionally there are people drinking booze, some boobs or a gross-out gag (including an incredibly vile, disgusting diarrhea gag), none of which is as racy or offensive as the movie thinks, because all these things have been done before in movies that are just as bad. Then there’s the sense of self-congratulatory smugness that permeates the film. Since Max has written a movie about himself, the cinematic version of Tucker Max (TV actor Matt Czurchy) is, of course, a quick-witted, irresistibly charming scallywag. In this version of the film’s “based on a true storyâ€? events, Tucker convinces his best friend Dan (Geoff Stults, The Express) to lie to his fiancĂŠ (TV actress Keri Lynn Pratt) and take a two-hour drive to a far-off strip club for his bachelor party. Reluctantly, Dan agrees, and—along with their bitter, women-hating, recently dumped buddy Drew (Jesse Bradford, showing that there are fates worse than Swimfan)—they head out, only to have everything go wrong. All of this is supposed to lead to Tucker learning the true
meaning of friendship, but Tucker’s such a vile, unlikable person that it comes across as forced and phony. The technical side of things fares no better, as the whole movie looks like it was shot for a couple of fat nickels with a borrowed camcorder. I’m not even sure anyone understood this stuff is theoretically supposed to be in focus. There’s not much to recommend here, unless you’re the type that finds the exploits of dwarf strippers or bouts of violent diarrhea uproariously funny. And in that case, have at it. Rated R for nudity, strong sexual content, including graphic dialogue throughout, language and some crude material. reviewed by Justin Souther Playing at United Artists Beaucatcher Cinema 7.
It Might Get Loud JJJJ
Director: Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) Players: Jimmy Page, The Edge, Jack White
Music Documentary Rated PG
The Story: Three rock guitar masters— Jimmy Page, The Edge, Jack White—discuss their beginnings and get together to discuss their art. The Lowdown: A simple concept that works because the film at least offers the feeling that you’re seeing its subjects at their most unguarded. It might not snag Davis Guggenheim another Best Documentary Oscar, but his It Might Get Loud proves that Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White make for livelier viewing than Al Gore. Of course, that probably wasn’t open to serious question in the first place. What was open to question in my mind was just how well this documentary on three guitarists from different eras and with different styles would play out. The idea of putting the three of them in the same setting had merit. And Jack White’s claim early in the film that he plans on tricking them into showing him all their secrets sounded promising. It also sounded just a little bit ominous, since it would have been easy for the proceedings to quickly devolve into three guitarists talking shop and jamming. From a non-musician standpoint, that could have proved deadly. Thankfully, that never happens. Guggenheim’s film is cleverly structured to cut back and forth among the three—without emphasizing their time together till later in the film—allowing each to tell his own story of how he came to be who he is and where he is. It’s interesting, and in some cases, it’s telling. Even in the case of a performer you likely think you know pretty well—like Jimmy Page—you get a new sense of the man and his history. I had no idea, for example, that during his session-musician days Page was on the recording of “Goldfinger�—not that you’d ever be able to tell in the midst of all those horns and Shirley Bassey. In Page’s case, it’s also something of a relief to find that the man has finally stopped dyeing his white hair an improbable jet black. The film serves as a history of each guitarist and offers a platform for each to espouse his own aesthetic notions about music and the guitar. This is interesting in ways you might not imagine, since the degree to which each is intent on making
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