originally published January 9, 2008

300

(R) The titular 300 are the hulked-out citizen-soldiers led by King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), who smash and grab glory from defeat at the arrowheads of the million-man Persian army. Stunning to behold, director Zack Snyder painstakingly renders Frank Miller’s graphic novel in three dimensions. Panel discussion follows screening. Shows Wednesday, 11/16 (UGA SLC)

30 DAYS OF NIGHT

(R) If only the passing horrific exhilarations of the uneven big-screen adaptation of Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith’s simple, eerie graphic novel could be sustained, the film could be the vampire genre’s new gold standard. As Barrow, AK, is plunged into its annual month of darkness, Eben and Stella Oleson (Josh Hartnett and Melissa George) lead an ever-shrinking roster of survivors against a horde of ravenous vampires. Starts Friday (Georgia Square 5)

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

(PG-13) Director Julie Taymor's latest film follows a group of young people finding their way during the turmoil of the late 1960s. This film is Hair (same basic story, even) where all the hippies are cleaner and more attractive - and only sing Beatles songs. [Margaret Moore] Friday, 1/11–Sunday, 11/13 (Tate)

ALIEN VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM

(R) That’s right, it’s time again for another chest-popping, all-star showdown between the slim Alien brood and the ridiculously well-equipped Predators, and this time it's personal. Requiem is exactly what you would expect, a face-sucking, rib cage-exploding gore fest with enough brain splatter and acid blood to cure anyone’s hankering for a good old-fashioned slasher flick. The movie begins exactly where the first Alien vs. Predator left off, with the Predator vessel overrun by Aliens and crashing to Earth in a small American town that looks suspiciously like Vancouver. However, Requiem is a vast improvement over the first AVP, due in large part to the elimination of any pesky plot and the appearance of only one, lone super-bad-ass Predator. [Alex Moore] Ends Thursday (Beechwood, Carmike)

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS

(PG) My nostalgic love for the Chipmunks lowered my expectations for the their live-action/ CGI debut, which was a good thing. Alvin and the Chipmunks didn’t live down to my preconceived disappointment and pleased the parents and children in attendance, mostly due to the tiny stars ringing true despite contemporization. At least this family flick is certainly better than those atrocious Garfield movies.(Beechwood, Carmike)

ATONEMENT

(R) See Movie Pick. (Beechwood, Carmike)

BEE MOVIE

(PG) Steadily buzzing with amusement, Bee Movie shouldn’t disappoint fans of Jerry Seinfeld. He particularizes the minutiae of bee life as Barry B. Benson (v. Seinfeld) leaves the hive for the human world where he sues the honey industry on behalf of bees everywhere. (Georgia Square 5)

BLOOD DINER

(NR) 1987. An unofficial sequel to legendary goremeister Herschell Gordon Lewis’ 1963 classic, Blood Diner serves up a hearty helping of blood, gore, laughs and nudity. Two cannibalistic brothers, the Tutmans (Rick Burks and Carl Crew), sacrifice young women for a special dish at their rundown restaurant and to awaken a sleeping Egyptian goddess. Shows Tuesday, 1/15 (Flicker)

THE BUCKET LIST

(PG-13) Billionaire Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) have two things in common: a terminal illness and a desire to live life before they “kick the bucket.” Together, they go on the road trip of a lifetime, checking things off their “bucket list.” Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike)

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR

(R) Films like Charlie Wilson’s War - mature comedies starring adults - are increasingly rare these days. The untold true story of U.S. involvement in the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, recounted in George Crile’s bestseller, tells us so much more about our government’s missteps in the Middle East than all of the year’s bombs about the Iraq war. In Afghanistan, we won the war and “fucked up the endgame,” according to the real-life Texas congressman portrayed in the film by Tom Hanks. Along with an irascible CIA agent (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and a Houston socialite (Julia Roberts), Wilson waged a covert war on the U.S.S.R. that contributed to the eventual collapse of the Iron Curtain. (Beechwood, Carmike)

CONTROL

(R) 2007. Joy Division’s popular, enigmatic, suicidal singer, Ian Curtis (Sam Riley), gets his own biopic as photographer and music video director Anton Corbijn jumps to features. Corbijn picked up a Golden Camera - Special Mention at this past year’s Cannes Film Festival and best film prizes from Edinburgh and Melbourne. With two-time Academy Award nominee Samantha Morton (Sweet and Lowdown and In America). Starts Friday (Ciné)

DAN IN REAL LIFE

(PG-13) While advice columnist Dan Burns (Steve Carell) has all the answers for his readers, the widower can’t quite get the hang of raising three daughters - teen Jane (Alison Pill), tween Cara (Brittany Robertson) and lovely little Lilly (Marlene Lawston) - and himself. Carell’s subtle talent for turning inner pathos into hilarious outer pain saves this film. (Georgia Square Five)

ENCHANTED

(PG) I could just go with one of those blurby, exclamatory reviews you see in all the television and print ads. “Enchanting!” or “Enchanted is enchanting!” Such hyperbole befits Giselle (Amy Adams), Disney’s winning poke at its popular Princess brand. Ends Thursday (Carmike)

FANTASTIC PLANET

(NR) 1973. An animated, French and Czechoslovakian sci-fi film based on the novel Oms en Série by Stefan Wul, the film depicts a future where humans, or Oms, are kept as the pets of the Draags, giant blue humanoid aliens. Confusing though it may be at times, it's familiar story of political and social inequality that is answered by mass education and overthrowing the ruling class. The surreal imagery and unusual creatures of the Draag planet are visually stunning, while the soundtrack's funky psychedelic quality is a perfect complement to the animation. [Nicole Haysler] Shows Monday, 1/14 (Flicker)

FIRST SUNDAY

(PG-13) Two scheming buddies and bumbling petty thieves, Durell and LeeJohn (Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan), attempt to rob a church in order to raise the $17,000 needed to keep Durell’s son in-state. The previews, which smartly feature Morgan, don’t look terrible. Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike)

FRED CLAUS

(PG) Mucking with the right jolly old elf’s mythology, Fred Claus introduces Saint Nick’s (Paul Giamatti) estranged older brother, Fred (Vince Vaughn). While amusing, Fred Claus’ dramatic arc is awfully predictable. (Georgia Square Five); Ends Thursday (Highway 17 Theatres)

THE GAME PLAN

(PG) Professional football player Joe Kingman (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) has only one thing in mind - winning a championship ring - until his daughter, sweet little Peyton (Madison Pettis), is left on his doorstep. Kids will love The Game Plan for two hours and promptly forget it; parents could do worse. (Georgia Square 5)

THE GREAT DEBATERS

(PG-13) You pretty much know whether or not you’ll enjoy The Great Debaters, the new film directed by and starring Denzel Washington, by your reaction to the following: Produced by Oprah Winfrey. If you’re part of the Great O’s cult, this inspirational drama about the 1935 Wiley College Debate Team that went on to become the first African-American school to compete against the white championship team from Harvard is for you. Ends Thursday (Beechwood, Carmike)

HER NAME IS SABINE

(NR) 2007. Elle s’appelle Sabine is an insightful, poignant portrait of Sabine Bonnaire, the 38-year-old autistic sister of award-winning French actress Sandrine Bonnaire, who compiled 25 years of revealing personal footage to show Sabine’s development crushed by institutionalization. An official selection of the Chicago and Pusan International Film Festivals, Her Name Is Sabine won the FIPRESCI award at the Cannes Film Festival Director’s Fortnight. Part of the ACC Library’s iFilms series. Shows Thursday, 1/10 (ACC Library)

HEIMA: A FILM BY SIGUR RÓS

(NR) 2007. Iceland’s Sigur Rós can be seen in all their live glory. See The Calendar! for all the details. Shows Thursday, 1/10 (Ciné)

I AM LEGEND

(PG-13) I Am Legend is another addition to one of my all-time favorite movie sub-genres: the post-apocalyptic survival story. The film begins three years after the apocalyptic near-extinction of mankind. We soon discover that nearly all of humanity has been killed by a mutating virus and most of the remaining humans have been turned into super-strong vampire-zombies. Will Smith plays Robert Neville, a military scientist haunted by his past and his failure to stop the virus. The story was adapted from a 1954 novel by Richard Matheson which has already been turned into two movies. This adaptation wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t very good, either. Early suspense dwindles as, toward the end, the film devolves into a lame monster movie. [Alex Moore] (Beechwood, Carmike)

I'M NOT THERE

(R) Oscar-nominated filmmaker Todd Haynes’ high-concept Bob Dylan biopic casts six different actors in the role of the American musical bard. I’m Not There was nominated for the Golden Lion and won three other awards. Ends Thursday (Ciné)

IN THE NAME OF THE KING: A DUNGEON SIEGE TALE

(PG-13) Uwe Boll (House of the Dead, BloodRayne) is back with another videogame adaptation. Farmer (Jason Statham) must rescue his kidnapped wife and avenge his son’s death at the hands of an animal warrior race controlled by the evil Gallian (Ray Liotta). Opens Friday (Carmike, Highway 17)

INTO THE WILD

(R) Sean Penn’s fourth feature, adapted by Penn from Jon Krakauer’s bestseller, may be overindulgent, but it is stylishly confident. Penn identifies with kindred spirit Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch), the Emory graduate who gave up everything to travel to Alaska, where he eventually died of starvation and exposure. With a haunting folk rock soundscape provided by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Into the Wild walks and talks with the free-spirited, countercultural vigor of the 1960s. (Ciné)

JUNO

(PG-13) See Movie Pick. (Beechwood)

THE KITE RUNNER

(PG-13) Khaled Hosseini’s wonderful, excruciating, bestselling novel of growing up in (and escaping from) Afghanistan comes to the big screen under the watchful direction of Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Stranger Than Fiction). After decades in California, Amir (Khalid Abdalla) returns to his homeland to rescue the son of the childhood friend he abandoned years ago. Opens Friday (Beechwood)

THE MIST

(R) The day after a massive storm rocks a small Maine community, a strange mist engulfs the town, trapping artist David Drayton (Thomas Jane) inside the local supermarket with a mixed bag of locals and out-of-towners. An atmospheric film about the terror that resides within mankind, The Mist is a misanthropic new horror landmark. (Highway 17 Theatres)

MOULIN ROUGE!

(PG-13) 2001. Baz Luhrmann’s reinvention of the musical proved the ancient genre could change its tune for an ironic postmodern world. A boy (Ewan McGregor) falls in love with a girl (Nicole Kidman) who happens to be dying. Luhrmann’s inspired use of 20th-century pop hits sets the entire staid genre on its ear. Shows Thursday, 1/10 (Tate)

MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM

(G) Edward Magorium (Hoffman), the proprietor of the Wonder Emporium, has decided it’s time to retire, and he hopes the store will profit on under the watchful eye of store manager Molly Mahoney (Portman). In his feature debut, writer-director Zach Helm strives to build a less dark Chocolate Factory, but ends up reminding me more of the visually stunning, professionally disastrous toy making coup of 1992, Barry Levinson’s Toys. (Georgia Square Five)

NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS

(PG) The first National Treasure surprised everyone. A not-awful throwback to matinee serials a la Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark !í Tiffany’s :: National Treasure !í Wal-Mart), National Treasure was a feature-length commercial for American historical tourism; a patriotic, nonreligious substitution for The Da Vinci Code; a mild film preapproved for classroom use, etc. What National Treasure was not - a lobotomized counterfeiter of thrills - happens to be everything its follow-up, Book of Secrets, is. Professional treasure hunter Benjamin Gates (Nicolas Cage) must clear his great-grandfather of suspicion in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by finding the legendary golden city of Cibola. There are dumb movies and then there are movies that assume the audience to be dumb; Book of Secrets, which actually fonts a shot of the Capitol with a locator, is offensively anti-intellectual, treating its audience to pedantic lecturing before scoffing at its triviality. (Beechwood, Carmike)

ONE MISSED CALL

(PG-13) See Flick Skinny. Based on an unremarkable 2003 film by Takashi Miike, the audacious Japanese director of Audition, Ichi the Killer and other films overflowing with violent imagination, One Missed Call is a Final Destination/ Ringu mashup that’s actually more solidly constructed, narratively speaking, than many of its peers. A cluster of pretty college coeds, including Shannyn Sossamon, Ana Claudia Talancón (Love in the Time of Cholera), Meagan Good (Stomp the Yard) and Azura Skye, begins receiving phone calls from their dying future selves. A police detective (Edward Burns) starts to investigate the mysterious deaths after learning his sister was the deadly chain’s first link. More cogent and scarier than fellow J-Horror remakes, Pulse or The Grudge 2, One Missed Call tells a decent little ghost story on the way to its suspense-filled climax in a burnt-out shell of a hospital. (Carmike)

THE ORPHANAGE

(R) Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy)produced this ghost story, a hit since it was released in Spain, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona. When Laura (Belén Rueda) chose to return to her childhood home, she never anticipated the strange effect the haunted building would have upon her young son, Simón (Roger Príncep). Soon Simón has an invisible friend with a burlap sack for a face. I’m intrigued by the chilling trailer and positive buzz. With Geraldine Chaplin. Opens Friday (Carmike)

THE PIRATES WHO DON'T DO ANYTHING: A VEGGIE TALES MOVIE

(G) Larry the Cucumber, Mr. Lunt and Pa Grape leave the Pirate Times Dinner Theater to have morally-correct, biblically-based adventures on the high seas of the 17th century. Opens Friday (Carmike)

P.S. I LOVE YOU

(PG-13) P.S. I Love You gives away its insidious intent in its opening scene - a contrived argument intended to sum up the love of Holly and Gerry Kennedy (Hilary Swank and 300’s Gerard Butler) in one pre-credit swoop. This romantic comedy from writer-director Richard LaGravenese (Freedom Writers) alters the moviegoing public’s expectations for their relationships as subtly all those lad mags and gossip rags foster unrealistic depictions of the female form. Every woman should hope to find a loving man, preferably one who can sing and is as ripped as a Greek warrior, who will take his undying love with him to his, preferably, early grave. From said grave, this muscled balladeer should continue to love his soulmate while selflessly encouraging her to “celebrate herself,” i.e. find another dude. With a protagonist as noxious as Holly (I felt sorry for Gerry, a genuinely likable guy who seemed smitten with a woman who didn’t deserve him), this dramedy deludes itself - and its audience - into believing her romance to be sweeter than reality actually is. (Beechwood, Carmike)

SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

(R) A dream marriage of material (Stephen Sondheim’s musical in which a serial-killing barber and his loyal landlady sing about meat pies made of man) and artists (Tim Burton and Johnny Depp), Sweeney Todd is bloody perfect. Wrongfully imprisoned by an impious moralizer, barber Benjamin Barker remakes himself as Sweeney Todd (Depp), who, along with the seriously disturbed meat pie maker, Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), embarks upon a singular mission of revenge. Burton’s gothic version of Sondheim’s horror opera paints the celluloid canvas black and white with splashes and slashes of ruby red in the visual masterpiece of his career to date. (Beechwood, Carmike)

VERTIGO

(PG) 1958. Hitch’s most beautiful film also deals with his most disturbing social taboo, necrophilia. Jimmy Stewart’s Detective Scottie Ferguson falls in love with a woman (Kim Novak) whose similitude to another dearly departed lady is uncanny. This picture, renowned for its color, birthed the legendary, oft-imitated “forward zoom, reverse tracking” shot, or the contra-zoom. Do not forget to play “Where’s Hitch?” and find the director in his characteristic cameo. Starts Friday (Ciné)

WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY

(R) John C. Reilly hits every note as the rocking, smell-blind, outlaw country and western star, a poly-blend of Johnny Cash, Elvis (whose spirit Jack White channels) and Roy Orbison. Walk Hard brilliantly satirizes those pompous, ponderous musical biopics with performances almost as award-worthy, songs equally as catchy, and melodrama twice as entertaining. Ends Thursday (Beechwood, Carmike)

THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP

(PG) Young Angus MacMorrow (Alex Etel) finds a mysterious egg that hatches what the family handyman (Ben Chaplin) classifies as a water horse, only one of which can exist in the world at a time. Angus must keep his growing pet hidden from his mother (Emily Watson), and the military men encamped around the loch. The Water Horse won’t unseat any of the classics, but it’ll sate any little film lovers jonesing for something familiar that they’ve yet to see. Ends Thursday (Beechwood, Carmike)

Drew Wheeler