November 19 - 25, 2009
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Herzog were born to work together. Rating: Four stars.
T Mini Movie Reviews OPENING IN THEATERS
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AD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS (Drama, R, 122 minutes). Werner Herzog stars Nicolas Cage in a dire portrait of a rapist, murderer, drug addict, corrupt cop and degen-
erate paranoid who is apprehensive about iguanas. It places this man in a devastated New Orleans not long after Hurricane Katrina. It makes no attempt to show that city of legends in a flattering light. And it gradually reveals itself as a sly comedy about a rather courageous man. Cage and
“BOTH FUNNY AND UPLIFTING,
‘The Blind Side’ is truly one of the best films of the year.” – Phil Boatwright,
PREVIEW ONLINE
“This is the
BEST PERFORMANCE
of Sandra Bullock’s career.” – Pete Hammond,
BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE
A SCENE FROM TriStar Pictures’ “Planet 51”. (© TRISTAR
“THE MVP OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON!”
“A TRUE STORY THAT’S SO GOOD, IT SEEMS LIKE FICTION.” – Jim Ferguson, ABC-TV
– Megan Basham,
PICTURES)
WORLD MAGAZINE
Rover, possibly intended to stay and look around, who is a cross between a Mars lander, WALL-E and a friendly dog, and he loves to scamper around and collect rocks, as all good Rovers do. Apparently there is no way a family animated cartoon can avoid ending in action scenes, and Gen. Grawl leads his troops against the menacing Chuck. At least the battle is slapstick and not very violent. And all ends happily. Oops, was that a spoiler? The movie was written by Joe
Stillman, who wrote “Shrek.” It was beautifully animated in Spain, and also uses the voice talents of Jessica Biel, Seann William Scott and John Cleese. It’s perfectly pleasant as kiddie entertainment, although wall-towall with pop references to the American 1950s. I believe there may be millions of kiddies who, hard as this is to conceive, have never heard of Elvis. As that decade recedes in our rearview mirror, it more and more seems to signify something big and enduring. What, I am not sure.
“ITS IMPORTANCE LIES IN THE HEARTS, THE SOULS AND THE SPIRITS OF EVERYONE INVOLVED.”
HE MESSENGER (Drama, R, 107 minutes). Two Army officers draw the hard duty of notifying the next of kin of a death in combat. Woody Harrelson plays the old hand at breaking the news. Ben Foster plays the new man, wounded in combat in Iraq. He has a tendency to care about the people he’s informing. Not Army policy, the veteran explains. You’ll lose it if you let yourself care. With Samantha Morton as a new widow and Steve Buscemi as a father whose grief turns to anger. Directed by Oren Moverman, himself a combat veteran in the Israeli army. Rating: Three and a half stars.
NEW ON VIDEO & DVD
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NGELS AND DEMONS (Thriller, PG-13, 138 m., 2009). Professor Tom Hanks is back on the trail again, racing through Rome against a ticking time bomb to save four kidnapped cardinals and reach a vial of anti-matter that could vaporize the Vatican. Meanwhile, intrigue within the College of Cardinals and evidence the previous pope was murdered. This kind of thriller requires us to accept the preposterous, and if we do, it promises to entertain. “Angels and Demons” succeeds. Rating: Three stars.
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OUR CHRISTMASES (Comedy, PG-13, 82 m., 2008). Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon get trapped having to visit the households of their four divorced parents, which are so dysfunctional, this feels more like a Thanksgiving picture, where the families are always miserable. Rating: Two stars.
– Jake Hamilton,
FOX-TV
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Kids don’t get enough art these days. For Ten Simple Ways to get more art in kids’ lives, visit AmericansForTheArts.org.
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ALCON ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS A GILCO-NETTER PRODUCTION A JOHN LEE HANCOCK FILM EXECUTIVE SANDRA BULLOCK “THE BLIND SIDE” TIM MCGRAW QUINTONPRODUCED AARON AND KATHY BATES PRODUCERS YOLANDA T. COCHRAN STEVENBASEDP. WEGNER PRODUCERS MOLLY SMITH TIMOTHY M. BOURNE ERWIN STOFF ON BY GIL NETTER ANDREW A. KOSOVE BRODERICK JOHNSON THE BOOK THE BLIND SIDE: EVOLUTION OF A GAME BY MICHAEL LEWIS WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY JOHN LEE HANCOCK
UNNY PEOPLE (Comedy/ drama, R, 146 m., 2009). This is a different Adam Sandler, deeper, more thoughtful, in a comedy with thoughtful undertones about a show biz superstar told he has weeks to live. Writer-director Judd Apatow joins him with fine supporting work by Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann, avoids more than a few obvious cliches, and deals not just with mortality but with the cutthroat world of stand-up comedians. Eric Bana plays an outsize Aussie heavy, and look for Torsten Voges as a peculiarly chilling doctor. Rating: Three and a half stars.
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MOBILE USERS: For Showtimes, Text Message BLIND and Your ZIP CODE to 43KIX (43549)
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