originally published February 21, 2007

AMAZING GRACE

(PG) Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter, The World is Not Enough), this film about William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd, Fantastic Four), his push to end slavery in the British empire, and John Newton’s (Albert Finney) writing the hymn “Amazing Grace” sounds swell until you see the trailer, which exposes the film as a bloody bore. (Granted, I have yet to see Amazing Grace, but the trailer is that bad.) With Michael “Dumbledore II” Gambon, Toby “Truman Capote II” Jones, and Rufus Sewell. Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike)

THE ASTRONAUT FARMER

(PG) Twins Mark and Michael Polish (Twin Falls Idaho) tell the quirky story of Charles Farmer (Billy Bob Thornton), a former NASA astronaut who is forced to retire and build his own rocket. Virginia Madsen plays Farmer’s supportive, long-suffering wife. The Astronaut Farmer looks to be one of those mildly well-reviewed winter pariahs that will never find an audience because one doesn’t actually exist. Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike)

BABEL

(R) In Babel, the director and writer of Amores perros and 21 Grams look again at the mystery of the human condition. As a couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) ventures through desolate Morocco, their two children have been left in the care of their Mexican housekeeper. Concurrently, a Japanese businessman and his rebellious deaf-mute daughter are reeling from the aftershocks of a wife and mother’s death. Soon these lives will be touched by one reckless act committed by two young boys. The bloody, painful collaborations of director Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga are exhausting - emotionally and mentally - to watch, but ambitiously well-intentioned is not synonymous with well-conceived. Though each of its tales could occupy its own two-hour film, they combine for a didactic slap in the face. The further we get from the stories’ centers, the less gravity Babel retains. It may all perfectly piece back together, but you need to decide for yourself whether or not the slight payoff is worth the arduous two and a half hours that precede it. Starts Friday (Georgia Square 5)

BECAUSE I SAID SO

(PG-13) You can call this flick Demeaning Diane, considering Diane Keaton had to endure two cakes in the face, two Internet sex searches, laryngitis-induced tomfoolery, and a squeamish fake orgasm with Rev. Cam of “7th Heaven.” Keaton is 60-year-old single mom Daphne, who wants so badly to see her youngest, Milly (Mandy Moore), find happiness. Because I Said So’s wasting of Keaton’s immense talents is more than disappointing; it’s heartbreaking. (Beechwood); Ends Thursday (Carmike)

BREACH

(PG-13) Based on the true story of the greatest security breach in U.S. history, the film traces the career of young FBI agent-wannabe Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe) after he is handpicked to clerk for über-agent Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper), who has been tagged as a sexual deviant. At first, O'Neill is perplexed; Hanssen appears to be a devoutly religious patriot and family man and the agent to whom O'Neill must report (Laura Linney) appears cagey, cold and calculating. But Hanssen's facade begins to unravel after O'Neill discovers the real reason he has been assigned to keep tabs on the soon-to-retire agent - the Bureau's top Soviet analyst may be a spy. Strong performances here from the world-weary Cooper and the always understated Linney, and the ex-Mr. Reese Witherspoon is game, but is acted right off the screen by his older, more-experienced, more-talented colleagues. Breach is a competent, engaging (only because it is a true story) character study-cum-spy movie, that nevertheless seems dated by its musty Cold War-aroma. [Margaret Moore] (Beechwood, Carmike)

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA

(PG) Real magic lies at the heart of Bridge to Terabithia. To combat the school bullies, Jess (Josh Hutcherson, Zathura) and new girl Leslie (AnnaSophia Robb, Because of Winn-Dixie) forge an idyllic childhood friendship by creating a kingdom across the river running behind their homes. The land of Terabithia may only exist in Jess and Leslie’s minds, but the film brings their fantastical creatures to life with well-crafted CGI and the power of the audience’s own imagination. Director Gabor Csupo seamlessly transitions between depressing reality and the liberating land of make-believe. Hutcherson and Robb ably assist in the move with remarkably assured performances. Anyone familiar with the book knows life’s darkness streaks Bridge’s innocence, and the film does not shy away from this (parents, be warned). But anyone, families especially, willing to watch this film with, as Leslie says, a “mind wide open,” will be justly rewarded. (Beechwood, Carmike)

CACHÉ

(R) 2005. The sixth annual University of Georgia French Film Festival continues with Michael Haneke’s Cannes Award-winning thriller about a married couple (Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil) receiving haunting videotapes of their private lives. Introduced by Dr. Richard Neupert. Shows Monday, 2/26 (Tate)

CASINO ROYALE

(PG-13) How well does new 007 Daniel Craig wear the famed tux? Pretty damn well. Chronicling Bond’s first assignment as a Double O, Casino Royale charts very highly, and so does its new Bond. (Georgia Square 5); Shows Friday, 2/23–Sunday, 2/25 (Tate)

DADDY’S LITTLE GIRLS

(PG-13) Tyler Perry's latest, Daddy’s Little Girls, sorely misses his flagship character Madea. We could certainly use some of Madea’s broadly comic antics to relieve just an ounce of the tension from the ultra-dramatic struggles of single father Monty (Idris Elba, “The Wire”) to keep his three cute, non-actor kids out of the hands of his horrid ex-wife and her drug dealer boyfriend. Gabrielle Union tries to assist Monty as the high-powered lawyer who needs a little lovin’ from the right blue collar guy. The laughs are either forced or nonsensical. Daddy’s Little Girls felt like 95 minutes of non-anesthetized surgery to rip the heart strings straight from my chest. (Beechwood, Carmike)

DARK WATER RISING

(PG-13) 2006. Dark Water Rising: Survival Stories of Hurricane Katrina Animal Rescues pretty much sums up the second film from writer-director Mike Shiley (Inside Iraq: The Untold Stories). Dark Water Rising will be accompanied by a discussion led by Mary Miller. Part of the 2nd Annual Film Festival on Animals and Society, sponsored by UGA’s Speak Out for Species. Shows Monday, 2/26 (UGA SLC)

THE DEPARTED

(R) Adapted from the Hong Kong actioner Infernal Affairs, The Departed straddles the law with the parallel lives of mob mole Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) and police rat Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio). Though Colin and Billy’s intense game of rat-and-mouse dominates the film, Jack Nicholson rules it. Intelligent and taut. Nominated for five Academy Awards. (Georgia Square 5)

EPIC MOVIE

(PG-13) Epic Movie is a new pile of stinking poo that stinks of everything but the sweat of actual hard, creative labor. A game cast can’t find a single laugh in these blunt stabs at The Chronicles of Narnia, Snakes on a Plane and Harry Potter. This crap’s not amusing; it’s depressing. Ends Thursday (Highway 17 Theatres)

FACTORY GIRL

(R) Director George Hickenlooper spends a good portion of Factory Girl, a movie about Andy Warhol’s “it”-girl, socialite-turned-drug-addled pseudo-porn star Edie Sedgewick (Sienna Miller), obsessively contemplating style versus substance. Odd then that the movie itself seems so detrimentally oblivious to it. Much works quite well: Guy Pearce’s ineffably vaporous, dead-man pale Svengali of a Warhol is perhaps the best portrayal of the man ever committed to celluloid; Hayden Christiansen’s nearly lawsuit-spawning Dylan-but-not is nuanced and mesmerizingly accurate; and the Factory oozes underground tres chic. While the faux-meaningful, slapdash cinematography dutifully evokes the "films" constantly churned out during the period by Warhol’s crew, the unbearably inane dialogue, repetitive and dragging narration, and über-high contrast characters smack of too much evocation of an admittedly cool scene and far too little actual pathos for the frightened, abused little girl supposedly haunting the story’s center. None of the tragic moments is given space enough for sufficient follow-through and so the emotional hits rarely land. What a shame that the most coherent and lasting sympathy the movie ever conjures for Edie occurs during snippets of interviews of those who knew the original played alongside the closing credits. [Brandon Waddell] Ends Thursday (Beechwood)

THE FIRST AMENDMENT PROJECT

(NR) 2004. The Sundance Channel and Court TV look at the most important amendment of all in this innovative, entertaining anthology. Utilizing the wide-ranging talents of Mario Van Peebles, Chris Hegedus (co-director of The War Room) and Bob Balaban ensures The First Amendment Project will span the dramatic continuum. Subjects include Al Franken’s use of “fair and balanced,” New Jersey Poet Laureate Amira Biraka’s “Who Blew Up America,” and the 2004 Republican National Convention protests. Part of the ACC Library’s iFilms series. Shows Thursday, 2/22 (ACC Library)

FLUSHED AWAY

(PG) Expecting Aardman Animations’ first fully-CGI feature to be as good as Wallace and Gromit is unfair, it's still better than most cartoons, though. After being flushed from his plush home, “society mouse” Roddy (v. Hugh Jackman) enters an under-London world, which he and pal Rita (v. Kate Winslet) battle the villainous Toad (v. Ian McKellan). (Georgia Square 5)

GHOST RIDER

(PG-13) See Movie Pick and Flick Skinny. (Beechwood, Carmike, Highway 17 Theatres)

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

(R) Robert De Niro’s Good Shepherd, a shadowy look at the beginnings of the C.I.A., is the best Cold War-era spy movie in years, and the best gangster movie since Goodfellas. Starring Matt Damon. Ends Thursday (Georgia Square 5)

HANNIBAL RISING

(R) Author Thomas Harris’ promise to reveal what occurrences could be so horrific as to birth the seductive monster that is Hannibal Lecter proves far too mesmeric to neither read nor watch, but no origin story could horrifyingly justify the cannibalism, barbarism and sympathy as well as that which we fans imagine. Harris could have done a worse job in his screenwriting debut, but the film is barely buoyed by obvious expository exchanges and unclear motivations. Lecter has replaced Freddy Krueger as the modern boogeyman America loves to love, and Harris will pimp him out like any old franchise whore. Gaspard Ulliel (A Very Long Engagement) makes Hannibal the Cannibal far too obviously evil. Director Peter Webber (Girl with a Peal Earring) only abets in the robbery of Lecter’s menace. He ladles the scary sauce on too thick, coating the film in heavy, glutenous scenes that overwhelm any residual tension. This film can’t even touch the hem of The Silence of the Lambs’ ladyskin garment. (Carmike, Highway 17 Theatres); Ends Thursday (Beechwood)

LA DOLCE VITA

(NR) 1960. This classic of Italian cinema from Federico Fellini outlines a week in the life of a journalist who is torn between an empty, decadent lifestyle and being a serious writer. Also known for contributing the word "paparazzi" to the world lexicon, after the main character's friend Paparazzo. Shows Monday, 2/26 (Flicker)

THE LAST SIN EATER

(PG-13) Directed by Michael Landon Jr. from the bestseller by Francine Rivers, The Last Sin Eater is the latest Christian-themed release from FoxFaith Movies. In 1850s Appalachia, 10-year-old Cadi Forbes (Liana Liberato), feeling responsible for the death of her little sister, seeks out her town’s Sin Eater (Soren Fulton), a mythical figure who can absolve a person of their transgressions by literally devouring sins. Until FoxFaith stops bilking folks of their hard-earned eight bucks with made-for-TV quality flicks, I refuse to acknowledge their high-minded profession of purpose. Ends Thursday(Carmike)

LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA

(R) See Movie Pick. (Carmike)

THE MESSENGERS

(PG-13) The Pang Brothers made their mark on Japanese horror back in 2002 with The Eye. Now they’ve come to Hollywood with The Messengers, an obvious yet foreboding ghost story. The Solomons (Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller, Kristen Stewart) have just moved to North Dakota to escape cinematic familial drama. The idyllic escape doesn’t last long as teenage daughter Jess (Stewart) begins sensing the creepiness that lurks inside the most clearly haunted house ever. With its limp climactic twist, the flick finishes most unsatisfyingly. Still, for about an hour there, Hollywood properly translates the illogical, scary language of J-horror. Ends Thursday (Beechwood, Carmike)

MOJADOS: THROUGH THE NIGHT

(NR) 2004. Going five for five on the southwest film festival circuit, Mojados delivers a first-person look into illegal border crossing. Director Tommy Davis follows a family on the dangerous 120-mile trek from their small Mexican village, risking dehydration, hypothermia, and discovery by the Border Patrol, in pursuit of a better life in the United States. Shows Wednesday, 2/21 (UGA SLC)

MUSIC & LYRICS

(PG-13) Music and Lyrics had me at Hugh Grant. Alex Fletcher (Grant), once a member of popular '80s band Pop, has a week to write a hit song for eastern-influenced Britney-Xtina cyborg Cora Corman (Haley Bennett) if he wants another shot at stardom. Fletcher serendipitously hires failed poet/ plant caretaker Sophie (Drew Barrymore) to help him craft “Way Back Into Love,” which is a route the songwriting duo discover for themselves. Music and Lyrics, written and directed by Two Weeks Notice’s Marc Lawrence, is a terrific parody of catchy musical excess and bad hair. I’ve been singing the film’s fake hits, composed by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, for a week, and the video for “Pop Goes My Heart” is the funniest big-screen gag I’ve seen this year. Music and Lyrics embodies the virtues of a great pop hit - infectiousness and forgettability. (Beechwood, Carmike)

THE N-WORD

(NR) 2004. Director Todd Williams asks Chi McBride, LeVar Burton, George Carlin, Chuck D, Damon Dash, Whoopi Goldberg, Bryant Gumbel, Quincy Jones, Regina King, Wynton Marsalis, Michael Rapaport, Russell Simmons, and more about the evolution of that most inflammatory expletive. Williams will be present at the screening and will engage in a post-film discussion with the Director of the Peabody Awards Program, Dr. Horace Newcomb. Shows Tuesday, 2/27 (Tate)

A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM

(PG) A barely amusing romp due in large part to everyone but its star (Ben Stiller), showcases the comedian in all his childish unlikability. After taking a job as a night guard at the Museum of Natural History, he discovers the displays come to life when the sun goes down. (Georgia Square 5)

NORBIT

(PG-13) Applying the same Nutty Professor formula - impressive effects by Rick Baker, language and humor just below R-rated, family-unfriendly radar - will probably supply Eddie Murphy with his biggest non-Shrek hit since that other mean-spirited flick constructed completely out of fat jokes, the awful Klumps. Nice guy Norbit (Murphy) is married to Rasputia (Murphy again), a large woman as hideous on the outside as she is within. When Norbit’s soul mate, former orphan Kate (Thandie Newton), returns, the mild-mannered nebbish must find a backbone and fight for his and Kate’s happiness. After watching Murphy regain his respect with the detoxifying Dreamgirls, it’s sad to see him slumming again so soon. (Beechwood, Carmike); Starts Friday (Highway 17 Theatres)

THE NUMBER 23

(R) This high-profile thriller has so much going against it. First, big-time stars rarely do the genre justice. Rarely can they achieve the everyman underclass needed to generate the right amount of relatable tension. Second, The Number 23 is directed by Joel Schumacher (‘nuff said). Jim Carrey, who is more talented than his broad comedy resume sometimes proves, plays a guy who finds a book that seems to be based on his life, though its climactic tragedy has yet to occur. Also, the number 23 pops up a lot in the book and his life. With Virginia Madsen. Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike)

ONLY IN AMERICA: A GIFT OF WISDOM AND LOVE

(NR) Produced for the UGA Institute of Gerontology’s Spring Film Documentary Series, Only in America: A Gift of Wisdom and Love, directed by Alan Stecker, allows 95-year-old Charlie Swartz to recount his life. The son of Jewish immigrants, Swartz has lived the American Dream while negotiating the 20th century and its two world wars, the Great Depression, Anti-Semitism, and economic growth. Be sure to RSVP to 706-425-3222 by Monday, Feb. 26, as dessert will accompany the screening. Shows Wednesday, 2/28 (UGA Institute of Gerontology)

THE PAINTED VEIL

(PG-13) When Golden Globe-winning Alexandre Desplat’s haunting, piano-driven elegy to love in the time of cholera can’t even nab an Oscar nomination, the competition must be tight. Everything that visibly accompanies this adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s novel of passive-aggressive love - a young doctor (Edward Norton, who is so consistently good it’s suspicious) punishes the infidelity of his wife (Naomi Watts) with a trip to rural, infected China - is up to standard period piece specs. Norton and Watts deliver performances rife with repressed emotion, pained longing and brief bursts of passion. Though Veil gets weirdly romcom-y in its second act, director John Curran and screenwriter Ron Nyswaner pull you back in with a cholera- and revolution-packed final act. Ends Thursday (Beechwood)

PAN'S LABYRINTH

(R) In Guillermo del Toro’s gothic fairy tale set in fascist Spain, young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) discovers an old stone labyrinth and a faun who asks of her three tasks. The adventures of Ofelia - a Spanish Alice in a terrifying Wonderland, a desperate Dorothy escaping war-torn Kansas for a darkened Oz - have all the tropes of fantasy fiction, but the magic realism causes the little girl’s success to mean so very much to her and the audience. The not-remotely-for-children film broke my heart. Nominated for six Academy Awards. (Beechwood)

RENO 911!: MIAMI

(R) Typically, I’m against television shows jumping to the big screen while they’re concurrently on the air. Reno 911!: Miami is no exception. A supremely hit-or-miss improv comedy turned into a 90-minute feature seems like a dicey proposition, but this school-of-fish-out-of-water scenario should be worth a few laughs. Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike)

SIGNS OUT OF TIME

(NR) The story of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, whose work on Europe’s Neolithic cultures has uncovered an ancient, peaceful, Goddess-worshipping, woman-honoring civilization. Directed by Donna Read and Starhawk (The Burning Times), Signs Out of Time is narrated by Olympia Dukakis. Shows Sunday, 2/25 (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship)

STAIRWAYS TO HEAVEN: THE PRACTICAL MAGIC OF SACRED SPACE

(NR) This film journeys across 8,000 years to Earth’s unique locales - 200-ton rock monuments, Gothic cathedrals encoded by the Knights Templar, plant and soil-altering crop circles, magnetic field-emitting stone circles - “where the veil between worlds is thinnest.” Written, directed and produced by the best-selling author of Secrets in the Fields, Freddy Silva. Shows Sunday, 2/25 (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship)

SMOKIN’ ACES

(R) Joe Carnahan’s hipped out return to the big screen doesn’t measure up. When Las Vegas entertainer/ wannabe Mafioso Buddy “Aces” Israel (Jeremy Piven) turns stoolie, a million-dollar bounty is placed on his head and a bevy of contract killers descend on the Reno suite where Israel is holed up. Carnahan's dialogue is crisp and witty. Sadly, he mistakenly believes he can make us care for his cut-and-paste stereotypes. Ends Thursday (Carmike)

TRAINSPOTTING

(R) 1996. "Choose life… But why would I want to do a thing like that?" Rent Boy (Ewan McGregor in the role that made him a star) asks the audience in this super-hip drama/ comedy that oozes heroin chic - and vomit and piss and AIDS. With a soundtrack to die for, or would that be overdose to? Shows Thursday, 2/22. (Tate)

WE ARE MARSHALL

(PG) McG's (Charlie’s Angels) latest tells the story of the greatest tragedy in college sports history - the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 Marshall football players, coaches and fans. McG gets the football right, but the musky We Are Marshall stinks of cheap sentimentality. The cast is great, though. (Georgia Square 5)