originally published March 19, 2008

10,000 B.C.

(PG-13) 10,000 B.C. isn’t epic enough to overcome its grievous historical inaccuracies. The greatest flaw of 10,000 B.C. may be in its geography. I could suspend my disbelief to allow for the general abuse of time, but the lack of any geographical cohesion troubled me to no end. Without an engaging story or characters to cling to, 10,000 B.C. left me with far too much time to struggle to make a whole out of the ill-fitting pieces of this shattered lost world. (Beechwood, Carmike)

27 DRESSES

(PG-13) If only the romantic comedy clichés here were more likable or dynamic, this flick, starring Katherine Heigl as an eternal bridesmaid in love with her boss (Edward Burns) who is engaged to her selfish little sister (Malin Ackerman), might have been more than cute. Ends Thursday (Georgia Square 5)

ALICE NEEL

(NR) 2007. One of America’s greatest portraitists, Alice Neel painted a vast and varied group of sitters that included Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, Communist Party Leaders, and Neel’s own neighbors in Spanish Harlem. Professor Bill Paul introduces the film at this screening sponsored by the Georgia Museum of Art and the UGA Parents and Families Association. Shows Wednesday, 3/26 (GMOA)

ALL MY BABIES

(NR) 1953. Writer-director George C. Stoney’s documentary about Mary Frances Hill Coley was used to educate midwives in the south. Dr. Juanita Johnson-Bailey, Professor of Lifelong Education, will lead a discussion after the film. Sponsored by the Institute for Women’s Studies as part of the Women’s History Month Film Festival. Shows Monday, 3/24 (SLC)

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. (George Square 5)

THE BANK JOB

(R) The Bank Job, based on the infamous 1971 robbery of a London bank, doesn’t stray far from the heist movie formula, yet the film milks that staid old M.O. for all it’s excitingly worth and then some. The Bank Job ranks right up there on the shortlist of 2008’s great films. (Beechwood, Carmike)

BLACKBOARDS

(NR) 2000. Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf’s drama follows itinerant Kurdish teachers who travel the hills with blackboards strapped to their backs as they search for students on Iran’s border with Iraq. The UGA Library continues its Women’s Vision Film Series, a celebration of women filmmakers for Women’s History Month. Shows Tuesday, 3/25 (UGA Library)

THE BREAKFAST CLUB

(R) 1985. John Hughes’s '80s ode to Saturday detention. All your high school clichés are present - the jock (Emilio Estevez), the princess (Molly Ringwald), the brain (Anthony Michael Hall), the outcast (Ally Sheedy), and the rebel (Judd Nelson) - and ready to learn they have more in common than they’d ever have imagined. Shows Tuesday, 3/25 (SLC)

CINEMA PARADISO

(PG) 1988. Filmmaker Salvatore “Toto” Di Vita recalls his first loves - Maria and the movies - and the deep friendship he formed with the cinema projectionist, Alfredo. Italian filmmaker Guiseppe Tornatore’s charming film won audiences’ hearts as well as the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. Shows Thursday, 3/20 (Ciné)

CLOVERFIELD

(PG-13) More experience than movie, Cloverfield immerses you in a fake attack on New York City. It's a lean, mean monster movie. Shot on handheld digital cameras, the entire film sustains the illusion that everything is happening right then and there to the small band of 20-somethings. (Georgia Square 5)

COLLEGE ROAD TRIP

(G) Martin Lawrence returns to the big screen for the second time in a month. Lawrence is Chief James Porter, the overprotective policeman father who decides to accompany - and mortify - his daughter, high school senior Rachel (Raven-Symoné), on a cross-country trip to pick a college. (Beechwood, Carmike)

DOOMSDAY

(R) See Movie Pick and Flick Skinny. (Beechwood, Carmike)

DRILLBIT TAYLOR

(PG-13) Judd Apatow is back - in a producing capacity at least. With a script worked on by Seth Rogen and former teen king John Hughes, Drillbit Taylor features the silly antics of Owen Wilson as a low-budget bodyguard to three freshmen being tormented by the school bully (Alex Frost). Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike)

ENCHANTED

(PG) Disney's Enchanted is a sometimes clever, other times irritating mix of live-action and animation. A lollypop of a movie, this airy fairy-tale is set in contemporary New York. Although it has the makings of a sugarcoated hit, and Amy Adams is utterly adorable, you may feel your sweet tooth begin to ache. [Cotter] Ends Thursday (Georgia Square 5)

FARGO

(R) 1996. The Coen Brothers scored big with No Country for Old Men, but their bloody, blackly funny crime drama, about an inept kidnapping masterminded by Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) being foiled by persistent, pregnant policewoman Marge Gunderson (McDormand), won almost as many Oscars. Shows Monday, 3/24 (SLC)

FILM ABOUT A WOMAN WHO...

(NR) 1974. Director Yvonne Rainer’s film, considered a landmark text by feminist theorists, plays with the conventions of soap opera and clichés to unmask the enormous anger fed by one woman’s sexual dissatisfaction. Dr. Antje Ascheid, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Drama and Theatre who specializes in film history and criticism, will lead a discussion after the film. Shows Wednesday, 3/26 (SLC)

FIRST SUNDAY

(PG-13) An odd, not unsuccessful mix of church and booty humor. Starts Friday (Georgia Square 5)

FOOL'S GOLD

(PG-13) Fool’s Gold is as lazy and dumb as its cartoonish main character, treasure salvager Finn (Matthew McConaughey). A dud in every way. Ends Thursday (Beechwood)

GREAT WORLD OF SOUND

(R) 2007. Nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, Great World of Sound won the Atlanta Film Festival and Newport International Film Festival’s award for Best Actor, as well as the Sarasota Film Festival’s Independent Visions Award. Athens-based director Craig Zobel will be present during the opening weekend (3/21-3/23) to discuss his award winning film. Shows Friday, 3/21–Tuesday, 3/25 (Ciné)

GRILL POINT

(NR) 2002. Director Andreas Dresen’s film revolves around an affair in a small East German town. The 7:00 p.m. screening on 3/26 will be introduced by Dresen. Part of the Andreas Dresen German Film Festival presented in collaboration with Ciné and in conjunction with the German Studies Conference at UGA. See box on p. 16. Shows Wednesday, 3/26 (Ciné)

HORTON HEARS A WHO!

(G) The 1954 children’s classic about Horton the Elephant (v. Jim Carrey), whose giant ears allow him to communicate with the tiny speck that is the town of Whoville is one of the good doctor’s most beloved tales, right behind Green Eggs and Ham. The laughs in Horton are never cheap or juvenile (a plus for the adult Seuss lovers in the crowd), yet they are perfectly pitched for little ones’ ears. (Beechwood, Carmike)

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. Will Smith plays Robert Neville, a military scientist haunted by his past and his failure to stop a mutating 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. [Alex Moore] (Georgia Square 5)

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 (Georgia Square 5)

IN BRUGES

(R) Two hitmen (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) cool their heels in the capital of West Flanders, Belgium’s Flemish region, after botching a job. This film was chosen to open the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. With Ralph Fiennes, who made news while filming for cavorting naked with a quartet of cuties in his hotel’s pool. Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike)

JUMPER

(PG-13) The good aspects of Jumper are few and include Hayden Christensen’s hotness (or so I’ve been told) and a neat idea about teleportation powers. The rest of the movie was pure two-dimensional fluff. [Alex Moore] Starts Friday (Georgia Square 5)

JUNO

(PG-13) A frank, funny discussion of family, teenage sexuality and parenting without a hint of the cool irony that typically detaches independent comedies, Juno lives up to all its hype. Shows Friday, 3/21–Tuesday, 3/25 (Ciné)

JURASSIC PARK

(PG-13) 1993. This once fantastic adventure from Steven Spielberg has not aged as well as some of the filmmaker’s earlier fare. The dinosaur effects, deemed state-of-the-art in the early '90s, look dated, nowhere near as integrated into the frame of action as those of 2006’s King Kong. Shows Monday, 3/24 (SLC)

THE KITE RUNNER

(PG-13) Never fear, lovers of Khaled Hosseini’s powerful novel. The Kite Runner does cinematic justice to your beloved book. The Kite Runner follows the book’s recipe to the letter, tossing massive concepts of friendship, disloyalty, forgiveness and, ultimately, redemption. Ends Thursday (Georgia Square 5)

MAD MONEY

(PG-13) Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes rob the Federal Reserve. The leads are game, and interweaving a heist movie with themes of female empowerment gone awry, and the corporate downsizing of white upper-middle class America is intriguing. Too bad the direction stinks. (Highway 17 Theatres)

THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN

(R) 1979. Winner of the Berlin International Film Festival and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, Fassbinder’s film follows the titular character, played by Silver Berlin Bear winner Hanna Schygulla, as she negotiates life in Germany in the waning days of WWII. Part of the Andreas Dresen German Film Festival. See box on p. 16. Shows Wednesday, 3/26 (Ciné)

MEET THE BROWNS

(PG-13) Mega-hyphenate Tyler Perry returns with another faith-driven, heartfelt, tonally wild family dramedy. Single mother, Brenda (Angela Bassett), takes her three kids to Georgia for the funeral of the father she never knew. While down south, Brenda finds the familial support, and love interest (former Laker Rick Fox), she’d been missing in Chicago. Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike)

MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY

(PG-13) London governess Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) takes a job with lively American singer and actress Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams). Soon Miss Pettigrew is plunged into the dizzying glamour of high society. Based on a popular novel of the 1930s written by Winifred Watson. Ends Thursday (Beechwood, Carmike)

NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS

(PG) A not-awful throwback to matinee serials a la Indiana Jones, National Treasure was a feature-length commercial for American historical tourism. What National Treasure was not - a lobotomized counterfeiter of thrills - happens to be everything its follow-up, Book of Secrets, is. Starts Friday (Georgia Square 5)

NEVER BACK DOWN

(PG-13) You see every one of Never Back Down’s moves coming; this teen fight flick is no sucker punch. Great film if you want to watch a bunch of 20-something dudes act like 17-year-olds and beat the crap out of one another. (Beechwood, Carmike)

THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL

(PG-13) The Other Boleyn Girl watches like a TV network’s World Premiere Movie Event, yet Showtime’s “The Tudors” easily out-acts, out-sexes and outclasses this boring bodice-ripper based on Philippa Gregory’s bestseller. Ends Thursday (Beechwood, Carmike)

PARAGRAPH 175

(NR) 2000. Narrated by Rupert Everett, Paragraph 175, directed by The Celluloid Closet’s Rob and Jeffrey Friedman, refers to the sodomy provision of the German Penal Code of 1871, a law which the Nazis used to persecute 100,000 homosexuals. Winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s Directing Award and the Teddy for Best Documentary Film from the Berlin International Film Festival. Part of the ACC Library’s iFilms series. Shows Thursday, 3/20 (ACC Library)

THE POLICEWOMAN

(NR) 2000. Andreas Dresen’s The Policewoman, or Die Polizistin, follows Anne, a recent Police Academy graduate who is hoping for a new life - and hopefully a new man - but winds up in the bleak criminal confines of Rostock. Director Dresen will discuss the film following the 9:15 p.m. screening on 3/26. Part of the Andreas Dresen German Film Festival presented in conjunction with the German Studies Conference at UGA. See box on p. 16. Shows Wednesday, 3/26 (Ciné)

ROMEO + JULIET

(PG-13) 1996. I run hot and cold regarding filmmaker Baz Luhrmann’s strange adaptation of the play by William Shakespeare. Certain scenes - the aquarium meet-cute, the midnight swim that stands in for the famed balcony courting - are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen; other decisions work out less well. Shows Tuesday, 3/25 (SLC)

SEMI-PRO

(R) Where Blades of Glory was simply an amusing ice skating flick, Semi-Pro steals from the annals of sports films to be the closest we may get to a new Slap Shot. (Carmike) Ends Thursday (Beechwood)

SERVING IN SILENCE

(NR) 1995. Chronicles the two year court battle the career military nurse fought and won to serve her country after revealing she was gay. Judi O'Kelley, Director of Lambda Legal, will lead a discussion after the film. Sponsored by the Institute for Women’s Studies, the Libraries Media Department, Lambda Alliance, and UGA OutLaws as part of the Women’s History Month Film Festival. Shows Wednesday, 3/19 (SLC)

SHOOT 'EM UP

(R) 2007. Shoot ‘Em Up is an inventive, comic-inspired, video game-sired bloodbath. Cartoonish and buffoonish, Shoot ‘Em Up is riddled with bullets and fun. Shows Wednesday, 3/26 (SLC)

SHUTTER

(PG-13) Nothing in the trailers for this latest Asian horror remake (the original hails from Thailand) set it apart from any of its lackluster peers. Shutter is the English language debut of Parasite Eve, Hypnosis, and Infection director Masayuki Ochiai and features the creepy eyebrows of “Nip/Tuck”’s Matt, John Hensley. Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike)

SIN CITY

(R) 2005. Robert Rodriguez slam-bangs comic book god Frank Miller’s Sin City upon the screen with bloody accuracy, staging the near transcendent violence so as to build to tremendous crescendos of decapitations, dismemberments, below-the-belt bullet wounds and cannibalism. Sin City is a sexy, überviolent, funny film is everything for which a Miller fan could hope. Shows Wednesday, 3/26 (SLC)

SOLO SUNNY

(NR) 1980. Sunny (Renate Krößner) is a factory worker who sings in a band, The Tornadoes, trying to make it in East Berlin. But Sunny wants to go solo in music and life in director Konrad Wolf and co-director Wolfgang Kohlhaase’s film. Solo Sunny won the Berlin International Film Festival’s Silver Bear and award for Best Actress and the Chicago International Film Festival’s Gold Plaque for Best Script. Part of the Andreas Dresen German Film Festival. See box on p. 16. Shows Wednesday, 3/26 (Ciné)

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES

(PG) The Spiderwick Chronicles is based on a series of bestselling books by Terry DiTerlizzi and Holly Black about the Grace siblings, twins Jared and Simon (Freddie Highmore) and sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger), who discover a fantastical world existing unseen within our own after they move into the creepy old house that belonged to their great granduncle, Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn). Ends Thursday (Carmike)

THERE WILL BE BLOOD

(R) The latest film from Paul Thomas Anderson solidifies the writer-director’s position as the most challenging auteur birthed by the 1990s. Daniel Plainview (Academy Award nominee Daniel Day-Lewis) could be any self-made, bastard, millionaire man-monster determined to make a fortune, sanity be damned. This demanding film leaves an impression as deep as the Grand Canyon. Shows Wednesday, 3/19 (Ciné)

THE UGLY AMERICAN

(NR) 1963. The Ugly American is remembered more fondly now than when it was released in 1963. The political film called into question American policy in Southeast Asia, as Harrison Carter MacWhite (Brando) adjusts to life as the new ambassador to Sarkan, where the threat of civil war looms large. Director Englund will be present between the 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. screenings to discuss the making of his film. Shows Wednesday, 3/19 (Ciné)

UNNATURAL CAUSES

(NR) Over 14,000 Athenians live without health insurance. Knowing this, Partners for a Prosperous Athens present a preview screening of PBS’s four-hour documentary series - an exploration of “America’s racial and socioeconomic inequities in health.” The 7:00 p.m. screening includes a panel discussion featuring activists from Clarke Central and Cedar Shoals High Schools. Tickets are $25 and include a catered reception and drink; proceeds will benefit the OneAthens Community Foundation. Shows Thursday, 3/20 (Ciné)

VANTAGE POINT

(PG-13) In the ever-expanding genre of action movies for old people, Dennis Quaid is like Arnold Schwarzeneggar in his ‘80s heyday. Too bad the slam-bang premise of Quaid’s latest action film for your parents, Vantage Point, gives out short of the climax. (Beechwood, Carmike)

WWE: THE GREATEST SUPERSTARS OF WRESTLEMANIA

(TV-14) Highlights more than 10 WWE matches. Ends Thursday (Carmike)

Drew Wheeler