2016: OBAMA’S AMERICA (PG) Call me critically conflicted about 2016: Obama’s America. The unabashed polemic from conservative author Dinesh D’Souza is an anti-Obama sermon preached perfectly to the Fox News congregation. Quality-wise, 2016 could survive (but still lose on technical points) a punching match with Michael Moore’s mighty left much better than any other conservative doc. D’Souza pleasantly dispenses with any birther conspiracy nonsense early in the film’s occasionally insightful Obama bio section. An anti-Obama screed based on an anti-colonialist reading of the president grates much less than the typical baseless cries of “Socialist!†The final act is where D’Souza goes a little bat shit crazy (that’s a technical term) when the college president posits the extreme changes a second term, lame duck Obama will accomplish. For such a politically astute guy who spends the entire first act of his film reminding us how much he believes in America, D’Souza does not seem to place much faith in the system of checks and balances instilled by the founding fathers (who he rightfully reveres) in our Constitution. Convincing a like-minded audience that Obama needs to go is easy; I want to see D’Souza try and convince anyone that Mitt Romney is a solution.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (PG-13) Were The Amazing Spider-Man the first Spider-Man movie, critics and fans would hail it as spectacular. Following Sam Raimi’s surprisingly poorly aged films, this fourth film is the unfortunate epitome of unnecessary. Where Christopher Nolan did us an outstanding service reinterpreting the world of the Dark Knight, (500) Days of Summer’s Marc Webb and his trio of scripters rely on lazy, convenient plotting to rehash Spidey’s origins with a few cosmetically mysterious changes. No longer a simple orphan, Peter Parker’s parents abandoned him as a result of papa Parker’s top secret genetic experiments, which produce the (no longer radioactive) spider that turns Pete into a superhero and Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) into the film’s villainous Lizard. Ten years ago, mass audiences accepted the idea of a teenaged crime fighter with the powers of an arachnid. Too bad these filmmakers didn’t just jump straight into the web-head’s world as their super-blockbuster excels once it gets the mythology revising out of the way and allows new Spidey Andrew Garfield, who nails the wall-crawler’s smart-alecky, costumed persona, to use those powers to patrol the streets of NYC as your friendly neighborhood web-slinger. (UGA Tate Theater)
ARBITRAGE (R) Richard Gere stars —and hopes for a Best Actor nomination—in this dramatic economic thriller. Gere’s hedge fund mogul turns to an unlikely source after messing up big time in an attempt to sell his company. Nicholas Jarecki, brother of Andrew (Capturing the Friedmans) and Eugene (Why We Fight), makes his fictional feature directing debut. With Tim Roth, Susan Sarandon, William Friedkin (?), Laetitia Casta and the awesome Chris Eigeman (a Wilt Stillman fave). (Ciné)
THE AVENGERS (PG-13) The various Avengers—Robert Downey, Jr.’s Iron Man, Chris Evans’ Captain America, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, another new Hulk (this time Mark Ruffalo gets to unleash the beast) and the rest—have assembled, and together they are a blast. But before they can battle Thor’s mischievous brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who is intent on enslaving the world with his other-dimensional army, Earth’s mightiest heroes have to sort out a few things amongst themselves. Joss Whedon and Zak Penn capture the bickering essence of a super-group. Every single one of these heroes benefits from Whedon’s trademark snappy banter and way with ensembles. These characters thrive by not having to carry the movie on their own (the Hulk especially benefits from sharing the spotlight).
BUTTER (R) Competitive butter carving brings out the worst in some small town Iowans, including an orphan named Destiny (Yara Shahidi, Eddie Murphy’s daughter from Imagine That), who proves a butter carving natural; a vengeful stripper (Olivia Wilde, “Houseâ€) and an ambitious local woman (Jennifer Garner), whose husband (Ty Burrell, “Modern Familyâ€) is the longtime champ. Director Jim Field Smith previously sought laughs in She’s Out of My League. With Hugh Jackman, Twilight’s Ashley Greene, Alicia Silverstone and Rob Corddry.
THE CAMPAIGN (R) One expects big laughs from a Will Ferrell-Zack Galifianakis political comedy, but one merely hopes for a sharp enough satirical framework to build upon. Austin Powers director Jay Roach has honed his political teeth on HBO’s “Recount†and “Game Change†and provides the proper support for Ferrell/Galifianakis’s silly showdown as North Carolina congressional candidates. Ferrell’s helmet-haired Democratic incumbent Cam Brady, loosely based on John Edwards, peddles to the “America, Jesus and freedom†crowd as he takes on Galifianakis’s oddball Republican challenger, Marty Huggins (His pants! His sweaters! His run!). Both comics are at their recent best; Ferrell had time to hone his Southern shtick on “Eastbound & Down,†and Galifianakis was born in NC. But the real meat of this comedy is how serious it is about campaign finance reform. As the Motch Brothers, Dan Ackroyd and John Lithgow are a not even thinly veiled shot at the Koch Bros. Dylan McDermott enjoys his rare comedic turn as the Motch’s hired gun. The rather rancorously funny movie ends with a surprisingly optimistic view of American politics that might not be tonally consistent with the previous acts, but is certainly pleasingly patriotic.
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (PG-13) Fanboy expectations of all-time greatness aside, The Dark Knight Rises concludes filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy as satisfyingly as one can hope. Having taken the fall for the murder of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, Batman is no longer welcome in Gotham City, which is all right with shut-in Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), the eccentric billionaire who continues to mourn the death of his love, Rachel. (Interestingly, The Joker is never mentioned.) But a new evil, the muscle-and-respirator-clad Bane (Tom Hardy, finally doing the great Bat-breaker justice), has risen, requiring Batman to return to action. Meanwhile, a pretty cat burglar named Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway, making audiences forget both Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry) has targeted Gotham’s elite. Nolan delivers the dense blockbuster we expect after TDK and Inception. He plays a masterful game of cinematic chess, knowing how to perfectly place every component—script, actors, action set pieces—on the board. A brilliant blockbuster, TDKR cannot best its immediate predecessor; the three-quel lacks the Ledger zeitgeist and shockingly needs more Batman. Still, The Dark Knight Rises darkly comic-bookends the movie summer that blissfully began with Joss Whedon’s candy coated Avengers. I’m sad Nolan’s time in Gotham is over.
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS (PG) The formula still entertains but has grown increasingly worn in the third installation of the unlikely Wimpy Kid franchise, based on the bestselling books by Jeff Kinney. As the school year gives way to summer, Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) again proves a poor son—though not as bad as older bro, Rodrick (Devon Bostick)—and an even poorer friend to the series’ best character, Rowley (Robert Capron), who invites Greg on daily trips to the country club and his family’s big vacation. The movie, as a whole, is not as good as its predecessors. After three movies (covering four books), Greg should have learned at least a rudimentary lesson about lying (a fake summer job?), and the humor, gags and performances remain as broad as ever. (However, any vehicle that delivers Steve Zahn on a regular basis starts with a leg up.) Nevertheless, Greg’s adventures are infinitely more appealing than the average, uninspired kiddie movie.
DREDD (R) A huge improvement over the 1995, Sylvester Stallone-starring version of Carlos Ezquerra and John Wagner’s judge, jury and executioner, this Dredd (showing in two and three dimensions) stars The Lord of the Rings’ Karl Urban, who must have been exhausted from holding that perma-frown, as the futuristic lawman. Teamed with a rookie partner (the surprisingly capable Olivia Thirlby), Judge Dredd must escape from a high rise apartment building controlled by a gang led by the brutal Ma-Ma (Lena Headey, who is getting good at playing mean, powerful women a la “Game of Thronesâ€â€™ Cersei Lannister). Dredd calls to mind the violent, satirical future of Robocop (minus the fun), the environment-driven narrative of The Raid: Redemption and the best of John Carpenter’s tightly controlled thrillers Assault on Precinct 13 and Escape from New York (not to mention JC’s classic, minimalist themes from those great films). Props to scripter Alex Garland (the frequent Danny Boyle collaborator wrote 28 Days Later… and Sunshine); he provides questionable directing choice Pete Travis (Vanishing Point) with a brilliant blueprint for a new ultraviolent, sci-fi cult classic. Who needs a remake of Robocop when the Judge is protecting the streets?
END OF WATCH (R) Writer-director David Ayer has had enough practice at the tough cop thriller; he wrote Training Day, Dark Blue and S.W.A.T. before directing Harsh Times (which he also wrote) and Street Kings. It was about time he got one perfect, and End of Watch may be as close as he ever gets. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña vividly play Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala, two hotshot cops partnered on the violent streets of South Central Los Angeles. The partners’ genuine love for each other drives this film from open to close and makes the otherwise rote gangs and gunplay narrative so much more affecting. Gyllenhaal’s talent never seems to plateau, Pena’s bro-bocop is sublime and their chemistry is genuine. I haven’t been this surprisingly moved since Warrior. Ayer puts some rousing, beautiful monologues in the mouths of his uniformed characters. Fortunately, his choice of handheld, first-person shooter camera trickery works; End of Watch is the rare videogame influenced movie that I’d rather have watched than played. Generic cop dramas are rarely crafted so skillfully and with such authentic danger and frank sentiment that they transcend genre. The lonely French Connection needed some peers with which to hang out.
ESCAPE FIRE: THE FIGHT TO RESCUE AMERICAN HEALTHCARE (PG-13) This investigative documentary purports to uncover the American healthcare system’s true design. A Grand Jury Prize nominee for best documentary at Sundance, Escape Fire won the Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights at the Full Frame Documentary Festival and an Achievement Award from the Newport Film Festival.
THE EXPENDABLES 2 (R) This sequel sharpens its blunt bludgeon of a predecessor by promoting Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis (who, let’s be honest, knows he does not belong in these movies) to slightly more than glorified cameos and adding Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme. The title is honest; the main team of Expendables—save Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham—is expendable, slowing the brisk flick whenever tasked with doing more than blowing the heads off a nameless opposing army. The nominal plot involves a mission of vengeance after JCVD’s Eurotrash villain, Vilain (yep, that’s how it’s spelled), kills the youngest, prettiest, newest Expendable. For no narrative reason, fellow mercs Trench (Ah-nuld, who still has that unfathomable screen appeal) and Booker (Norris) show up along the way to assist the Expendables when they’re in trouble and wind up brightening the movie with more personality and wit, despite their witless dialogue, than regulars Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews or Randy Couture. With a climactic mano-a-mano showdown between Sly and JCVD that is the absolute apotheosis of mindless action, this sequel is the superior guilty pleasure in every way except one. No Eric Roberts.
FINDING NEMO (G) 2003. I came late to the Finding Nemo party and have not taken to it like other Pixar greats. Maybe the addition of a third dimension will help. Clownfish Marlin (v. Albert Brooks) goes searching for his son, Nemo (v. Alexander Gould), who is lost in the big, scary ocean. Fortunately, Marlin has pal Dory (v. Ellen Degeneres), a blue tang fish, to help him out. Director Andrew Stanton went on to make Wall-E. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
FRANKENWEENIE (PG) One of my favorite Tim Burton films is this early Disney short about young Victor’s experiment to reanimate his recently deceased pet dog. For the feature version, Burton’s going completely animated, via stop motion. The terrific voice cast includes Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Conchata Ferrell (you’d know her if you saw her), Robert Capron (Diary of a Wimpy Kid’s Rowley). I can’t think of an animated feature I’ve been this excited for in some time.
• HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA (PG) Unlike the superior Paranorman, which was a genuinely, safely frightening family horror flick, Hotel Transylvania is an amusing, run-of-the-mill animated family movie where the main characters are harmless monsters. (The lesson that monsters aren’t dangerous is a terrible, hazardous message to teach children.) To protect monsters and his daughter, Mavis, from their dreaded enemies, humans, Dracula (genially voiced by Adam Sandler) sets up a hotel in the safe confines of Transylvania. On the eve of Mavis’ 118th birthday, a human named Jonathan (v. Andy Samberg) discovers Drac’s hideaway. Thank goodness director Genndy Tartakovsky (“Dexter’s Laboratory,†“The Powerpuff Girls†and “Samurai Jackâ€) brings his visual creativity to this rather rote tale of prejudice and cross-cultural romance. The sequences that work best are the ones that have fun with the conventions of Universal’s classic movie monsters. Samberg’s saddled with a rather boring character, but Selena Gomez’s Mavis has spunk. The adults—Kevin James as Frankenstein, Steve Buscemi as the Wolfman, David Spade as the Invisible Man and CeeLo Green as the Mummy—are even better as cartoon monsters than their usual human cartoons. Horror movie fans will prefer Paranorman, but the kids will love checking into Hotel Transylvania.
HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET (PG-13) Another soporific, unscary PG-13 horror movie that will draw in the teens and tweenies, House at the End of the Street stars The Hunger Games’ Jennifer Lawrence as Elissa, who moves to a new town with her divorced mom (Elisabeth Shue). Soon Elissa is smitten with her cute new neighbor, Ryan (Max Theriot, a horror vet from My Soul to Take), the town bogeyman whose parents were murdered by his younger sister, Carrie Anne. Despite an overactive, handheld camera, director Mark Tonderai does little of note with the script from David Loucka, who wrote the even less frightening Dream House. (Too bad story contributor Jonathan Mostow didn’t direct; his Breakdown was much more chilling.) Pleasantly, the movie’s costumer chose to clothe the beautiful Lawrence in tank tops. Besides that sartorial diversion, HATES proves that little potential yields little disappointment. The only intriguing gambit is how the movie’s twist is perpetuated, not spoiled, by the trailer. However, that twist isn’t worth a theatrical viewing of this pedestrianly average horror flick.
THE HOUSE I LIVE IN (NR) Why We Fight’s Eugene Jarecki examines a more domestic American conflict, the War on Drugs. He takes us through the criminal justice system, examining everyone from the dealer to the narcotics officer to the inmate to the judge. An appearance by David Simon, who dramatized and criticized the war on drugs in the sublime five seasons of HBO’s “The Wire†does not hurt the film’s credibility. The House I Live In won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for top documentary and received the React to Film Social Issue Award from the Silverdocs Documentary Festival.
ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT (PG) Manny (v. Ray Romano), Diego (v. Denis Leary) and Sid (v. John Leguizamo) return in a fourth adventure, which is good news for the millions not waiting for this fatigued franchise to go extinct. The trio get separated from the herd, which includes Manny’s wife, Ellie (v. Queen Latifah), and daughter, Peaches (v. Keke Palmer), and meet a pirate crew led by Captain Gutt (exceptionally voiced by “Games of Thrones†Emmy winner Peter Dinklage). Nothing unpredictable happens (Sid messes things up, no one cares), and the suspense is even less harrowing than your typical television cartoon. The rest of the celebrity voices are a mixed bag as well. Wanda Sykes brings the funny as Sid’s toothless granny, but Drake and Nicki Minaj are non-starters. Aziz Ansari is wasted and J-Lo is present. This kiddie flick is only for children not interested in Frankenweenie or Paranorman.
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (PG) 2000. This 60’s era film centers on a Chinese man and woman, neighbors in an apartment building who each think their spouses are unfaithful. The two neighbors become business partners and friends, eventually building a relationship that cannot live freely in the conservative world of mid-century Hong Kong. (UGA Tate Theater)
LAWLESS (R) Despite what works in John Hillcoat’s follow-up to The Road, the main characters of Lawless—a family of bootlegging brothers played by Tom Hardy, Shia LeBeouf and Jason Clarke—don’t quite welcome viewing visitors to Franklin County, VA, “the Wettest County in the World.†Facing off against a perfumed dandy of a sheriff, Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce, as if he’s auditioning to play the new Dick Tracy villain, No Brows), the legendary Bondurant Brothers survive sure death time and again, but the story never makes their continued existence the viewer’s imperative outside of “If the bros die, the film ends.†West Central Georgia does a fine job of portraying early 20th-century Virginia; the below the line crew does a phenomenal job. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ soundtrack gives the film a jauntier energy than either its writing or performances. The muscular, sturdy Hardy croaks his lines without changing his facial expression once, and still, the prospect of him leaving the film early, forcing viewers to spend even more time with LeBeouf’s yippy littlest Bondurant, Jack, chills. Gary Oldman barely peeks in as gangster Floyd Banner. Lawless has loads of potential, but the resulting film fails to arrest.
• LOOPER (R) Whoa! Ever since Brick, I have waited for Rian Johnson to make good on that coolly stylish teen-noir’s immense promise. Johnson might still have better films to come, but this tricksy, time travel, sci-fi noir ensures Brick’s promise has been fulfilled. In a future where time travel is an illegal reality, hitmen called loopers wait in the past for gangsters to send them their targets. Armed with a blunderbuss, Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) awaits his marks, knowing one day he will have to “close the loop,†meaning kill his older self. When Old Joe (Bruce Willis) finally shows, the showdown doesn’t go as smoothly as planned. Had The Terminator mated with a film noir, Looper would be the exciting result. Don’t expect any lengthy scientific discussions of time travel (that doesn’t mean the film doesn’t have a lot to say; one flaw is a too-wordy middle act). Do expect lots of violence, a bit of a mind trip and the best Bruce Willis movie in years. Willis might still be the top draw, but the talented Gordon-Levitt as a young Bruno keeps the movie moving. Looper is certainly 2012’s best science fiction and is shortlisted for the year’s best.
LOST BOYS OF PARADISE (NR) Athens native Phillip Blume presents his producing-directing debut, Lost Boys of Paradise. The documentary follows UGA alum and red-haired native Guatemalan Nathan Hardeman as he helps several boys struggle to survive in one of the world’s most dangerous neighborhoods, “Paradise†in Guatemala City’s Zone 18. Ninety-five percent of the innumerable teenagers who enter gang life die by violence or drugs before the age of 23. Filmmaker Blume will attend these special screenings, whose proceeds will benefit Engadi Ministries. (Ciné)
THE MASTER (R) Auteur Paul Thomas Anderson’s tremendous, flawless cinematic masterpieces can be pompous, emotionally distant and inscrutable to a fault. The Master proves no less perfectly composed and no less difficult to process. Volatile, World War II vet Freddie Quill (Joaquin Phoenix) is struggling to adjust to post-war life when he meets author Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the founder of a spiritual movement called The Cause. Despite Anderson’s basing Dodd on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, don’t expect an evisceration of the controversial religion; you’ll leave disappointed. Instead, revel in the never mundane, constantly homoerotic study of two vastly different, wonderfully deep characters. Phoenix powers Quill with explosive animalistic instinct (it’s the sort of performance audiences have come to expect from the seemingly crazed thespian), while Hoffman duels his fiery costar with Dodd’s cool, intellectual restraint. Like indispensable cogs, removing either man would stop Anderson’s precise cinematic engine. Other films will rival The Master for cinematic excellence this year. These films will engage audiences on a simpler level and probably waltz off with next year’s top prizes. But audiences up for the challenge will likely find no more enriching a work this year than Anderson’s latest gem.
THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN (PG) From an odd, sweet place, Frank Zappa’s son Ahmet, comes The Odd Life of Timothy Green. The locale is familiar, though, to screenwriter-director Peter Hedges, who adapted his own novel What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? for director Lasse Hallstrom, who must have been busy as this project seems tailor-made for his sentimental modern fairy tales. Before finally accepting their barren existence, Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) put all their wishes for a child in a box and bury them in their fertile garden. After a freak storm, the Greens have a new arrival, 10-year-old, leaf-legged Timothy (CJ Adams). Desiring to right all the wrongs of their own childhoods, Cindy and Jim attempt to give Timothy the perfect adolescence. The Odd Life of Timothy Green might appeal more to kind-hearted, older kids, thanks to Adams’ cute but not cutesy Timothy, despite its being an above average parenting fable. As for these parents, Garner’s appeal chills the further “Alias†recedes, though Edgerton works hard to warm her. It’s a good thing they have David Morse, Dianne Wiest, Common, Ron Livingstone, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Rosemarie DeWitt and the always excellent M. Emmet Walsh on which to rely.
THE ORANGES (R) The Wallings and the Ostroffs have been friends for a while, but the return of the Ostroff’s prodigal daughter, Nina (Leighton Meester), after a five year absence and her subsequent affair with Walling patriarch, David (Hugh Laurie), really threatens the ties that bind. The cast—Laurie, Meester, Catherine Keener, Alison Janney, Alia Shawkat, Adam Brody and Oliver Platt—is stronger than helmer Julian Farino’s TV-heavy resume (which includes “Entourage†and “How to Make It in Americaâ€).
THE PAPERBOY (R) Precious director Lee Daniels returns with an exploitation-y flick starring Matthew McConaughey (who’s already spent some NC-17 time this year in Killer Joe), Nicole Kidman, John Cusack and Zac Efron. Based on the novel by Pete Dexter, The Paperboy stars McConaughey as a reporter who returns to his hometown to exonerate death row inmate Hillary Van Wetter (Cusack) at the urging of Wetter’s epistolary girlfriend, Charlotte Bless (Kidman). Efron plays McConaughey’s kid brother. I’m thoroughly intrigued by this Cannes’ Palme d’Or nominee.
PARANORMAN (PG) This marvelous, family horror flick is the writing-directing debut of Corpse Bride/Coraline storyboard artist Chris Butler, whose time apprenticing under Tim Burton and Henry Selick was well-spent. For my genre-tainted money, it bests Pixar’s Brave as the year’s best animated feature. I was smitten from its Grindhouse opening well through the closing credits scored to The White Stripes’ “Little Ghost.†This hip, stop-motion animated feature pulls no punches like ’80s kiddie adventure and horror movies like Goonies and Something Wicked This Way Comes; the tale of a sweet, 11-year-old, oddball named Norman (v. Cody Smit-McPhee, The Road) is a perfect first scary movie for the son or daughter of a diehard horror fan. Norman’s battle to stop a 300-year-old witch from destroying his town (which climaxes in the bravest act I’ve witnessed in recent animation) is filled with real scares (of the PG variety), smart nods to slasher classics like Halloween and Friday the 13th, atypical character design (Norman’s features are more than a tad asymmetrical) and suffers from a trailer that unfortunately undersells that it’s an honest-to-god horror flick that should frighten and delight kids of all ages.
PITCH PERFECT (PG-13) At its best, Pitch Perfect could be Bring It On for the college singing group set; at its worst, I’m assuming a “Gleeâ€-less knockoff. Anna Kendrick is a college freshman who invigorates the campus girls’ singing group, The Bellas, and takes them up against the big boys. I’m hoping for the former with Avenue Q director Jason Moore and “30 Rock†writer Kay Cannon. With Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow and Adam Devine from the deviantly hilarious “Workaholics.â€
THE POSSESSION (PG-13) After an opening attack that is neither intriguing or chilling, The Possession settles into a suitable, if soporific groove. This Exorcist-wannabe, naturally based on a true story, benefits from Jeffrey Dean Morgan (looking particularly Javier Bardem-ish) as the basketball coach father of a young girl (played by Natalie Calis with more depth than the usual horror movie moppet in danger) that starts exhibiting strange behavior after picking up an antique box at a yard sale of the lady from the movie’s opening scene. The box, a Dibbuk (demon) box of Hebrew lore, leads to more Judaic horror a la The Unborn (Catholicism being so five minutes ago as the go-to faith for the horror genre). Director Ole Bornedal knows how to adequately craft a small horror flick (the original Nightwatch, not to be confused with the Russian Night Watch, deserves viewing; skip the American remake), but he can’t get much terror out of Boogeyman writers Juliet Snowden and Stiles White’s script. The Possession best take advantage of an anemic horror market, as aware genre fans know there are better flicks on the way (V/H/S, Sinister).
POSTALES DE LENINGRADO (NR) 2007. The 2012 Latin American Film Festival, Latin American Women Behind the Camera, continues with Postales de Leningrado. Mariana Rondon directed this drama about guerrilla groups in 1960s Venezuela and the children that grew up amid the violence. As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, screenings take place every Thursday through Oct. 18. Each film will be introduced by a faculty member or graduate student, who will also lead a post-film discussion; Film Studies Ph.D. student Lorraine Anne Lynch is this week’s host. (Georgia Museum of Art)
RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION (R) Well, the lesser breed of Resident Evil—movie rather than video game—returns with a fifth entry that is the (relative) best yet. Writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson finally (sort of) embraces the series’ video game origins, even favoring franchise favorite characters over actors in the opening credits (we know from the get-go that the movie features Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine, Johann Urb as Leon S. Kennedy, Kevin Durand as Barry Burton, Bingbing Li as Ava Wong and Shawn Roberts as the series’ big bad, Albert Wesker) and tossing Las Plagas into the T-virus mix. Monotonous B-grade action dominates the C-grade, cosplay acting and writing for the next hour and a half. Fans will find it hard to believe the acting—mostly stiff, strange action poses filmed for minimal 3D effect—is worse than the original Resident Evil’s poor voice acting. Still, this fan of every canonical entry in Capcom’s flagship series would respect the movies much more were this relatively more faithful film the initial entry.
ROBOT & FRANK (PG-13) I’m sold by the title and the logline. Aging jewel thief Frank (Frank Langella) and the robot butler (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard) given to him by his son plot a heist. This sci-fi dramedy’s director Jake Schreier won Sundance’s Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Award for his feature debut. Maybe the film will end up playing a bit silly or sappy, but I’m willing to give this unique pic a shot. With James Marsden, Liv Tyler, Susan Sarandon, Ana Gasteyer and Jeremy Sisto. (Ciné)
SLEEPWALK WITH ME (NR) Standup comic Mike Birbiglia cowrote, codirected and starred in this comedy about life as a sleepwalking standup comic whose career and relationship are stuck in neutral. The trailer is one of the best I’ve recently seen at Ciné. “This American Life†fans take note that the popular radio show and this film share producers. Winner of the Best of Next! Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and the Writer/Director Award at the Nantucket Film Festival. With Lauren Ambrose (“Six Feet Underâ€) and James Rebhorn. (Ciné)
SPARKLE (PG-13) This good old-fashioned movie musical retells a very familiar tale (that’s honestly not too far removed from Dreamgirls) but does so with toe-tapping music and solid performances from “American Idol†champ Jordin Sparks and Derek Luke (among others). Three sisters from Detroit—Sparkle (Sparks), Sister (Carmen Ejogo) and Dee (Tika Sumpter)—find success as a musical act, but drugs and abusive relationships (does Mike Epps even know what nuance means?) tear them apart, pretty much like their holier than thou mother (Whitney Houston, in her final performance, which also marks her first time on screen since 1996’s The Preacher’s Wife), a failed singer, told them it would. The original, seemingly forgotten Sparkle starred Irene Cara (better known for Fame and the Oscar winning “Flashdance…What a Feelingâ€), was cowritten by Joel Schumacher (?!) and featured future En Vogue hits, “(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel†and “Hooked on Your Love.†Not as ambitious as Dreamgirls, the new Sparkle hits the right, albeit imitative notes (kind of like the “American Idol†competitor it stars), but will probably only be remembered as Whitney’s last appearance.
SPIRITED AWAY (PG) 2001. Spirited Away, Miyazaki’s Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature, constantly crops up in the blogged recommendations of any hip fan of mature cartoons. While moving to the suburbs with her family, 10-year-old Chihiro discovers a strange new world filled with gods and spirits where she must labor to find the means to return the original world. Winner of 35 awards from various worldwide sources. (Ciné)
TAKEN 2 (PG-13) Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Miller, a retired CIA agent again called upon to ignite his impossibly impressive martial arts and strategic skills after his ex-wife is taken hostage by the father of a man Bryan killed while rescuing his daughter from the kidnapper’s prostitution ring in Paris a year earlier.
TOTAL RECALL (PG-13) The new Total Recall won’t satisfy anyone. Fans of the original will wonder why anyone would choose to watch an ugly, uninspired action/sci-fi flick that’s one Dylan McDermott away from a Syfy special event; those unfortunates who have never seen the original will wonder why anyone would bother remaking it. When factory worker Doug Quaid (Colin Farrell) attempts to get some fake memories installed, he discovers he’s really a secret agent in the middle of a class-based struggle between working-class revolutionaries and the privileged upper class led by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston; again, if you’re not watching “Breaking Bad,†catch up immediately). The new Total Recall attempts to overcome its lack of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bewildering charisma, Paul Verhoeven’s sharp satire and the original script by Alien’s Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett by incorporating two high-profile hotties (Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale) and director Len Wiseman’s love of lens flares. As much as I love videogames, their ascension has devastated the once vibrant action/sci-fi subgenre. Filmmakers keep creating visually striking, narratively vacuous products inspired by games such as Halo and Half-Life that lack gaming’s key ingredient—interactivity. I’d much rather have played Total Recall than bothered watching it.
TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE (PG-13) You’ll have no Trouble with the Curve so long as old man jokes, spryly delivered by a grouchier than usual Clint Eastwood, can keep you entertained for two hours. As aging baseball scout Gus Lobel, Eastwood seems to be workshopping a new stand-up routine (after his speech at the Republican National Convention, who knows?). He constantly mutters one-liners to himself, be he alone or sharing a scene with one of the movie’s terrific supporting actors, including Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman, or the gaggle of familiar old faces that play Gus’ scouting rivals. When the script asks him to act, Eastwood can still make any movie fan’s day. Adams and Timberlake bring some refreshing youth to this rather aged dramedy. Director Robert Lorenz hasn’t learned as much from his longtime collaborator as you’d like (he’s been Eastwood’s assistant director since 1995’s The Bridges of Madison County and producer since 2002’s Blood Work); writer Randy Brown’s Mitch Albom-y script doesn’t help. Fortunately, the capable bunch of on-camera talent, led by Hollywood’s elder statesman, should please the hometown crowds wishing to play a game of “Spot the Shots of Athens.â€
WHERE ON EARTH IS MY BIKE? (NR) Ever donated a bicycle and wondered what happened to that bike after you gave it away? This new documentary follows several donated bikes as far as Zambia and Namibia. The special screening is sponsored by the Georgia chapter of Bicycles for Humanity, who benefit from the evening’s proceeds. B4H’s cofounder Davis Harwell contributed to the musical score for parts of the documentary. The screening will be followed by a discussion of how to do local and global good. (Ciné)
• WON’T BACK DOWN (PG) This dramatization inspired by actual events makes a fine companion piece to Waiting for “Superman,†and I cannot think of a more damning criticism. A free spirited young mother, Jamie Fitzpatrick (Maggie Gyllenhaal), sees her dyslexic daughter struggling in the failing classroom of a terrible tenured teacher in a failing school and decides to take over the school with the help of an excellent former teacher of the year, Nona Alberts (recent Academy Award nominee Viola Davis), and her new teacher boyfriend (Oscar Isaac). Daniel Barnz (Beastly, Phoebe in Wonderland) is not an incapable filmmaker, but being saddled with inspirational treacle would best many more talented directors. Unfortunately, as a co-writer, Barnz is at least half to blame for the formulaic script. Unlike its documentary cousin, Won’t Back Down places less blame on teachers and all of it on teachers’ unions; society again gets a pass. The film simplifies the complex educational issue with its pro-charter school/anti-union agenda just in time, in Georgia at least, for an extremely contentious referendum on charter schools. For that reason alone, the score reads Propaganda 1, Entertainment 0.
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