Here are selected capsule reviews of movies in current release. Information is based on the most up-to-date theater schedules available and subject to change.
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (star)1/2
To get back the kiddie magic, Robert Rodriguez turned to his 7-year-old son, who dreamed up a host of characters for dad to sell to Bob Weinstein at Dimension. They include Sharkboy, half man/half shark, and Lavagirl, a flaming hot goddess, who, together with a regular boy, must save Planet Drool from evil. But the 3-D is flat and the story a bore. PG. 1:34.–A.B.
Another Road Home (star)(star)(star)
Danae Elon insists she is making an apolitical film. As the lone daughter of Amos Elon, the famous Israeli author, perhaps she’s tired of the questions, the conflicts that exist inside the liberal Israeli’s heart. But politics hovers over every moment of “Another Road Home,” Elon’s layered, loving and deeply personal documentary about her quest to find the Palestinian caregiver who raised her, Musa Obeidallah. No MPAA rating (adult content). 1:19.–A.B.
Cinderella Man (star)(star)
Ron Howard throws his hat–and Russell Crowe–into summer’s squared-circle with a Depression-era boxing drama. “Cinderella Man” casts itself in the “Seabiscuit” mold as one man gives a nation hope in hard times. It was too much for a stubby-legged horse, and it’s too much for Crowe and Howard. PG-13. 2:24.–R.E.
Crash (star)(star)(star)1/2
The feature directorial debut of “Million Dollar Baby” screenwriter Paul Haggis is an intricate, explosive ensemble crime drama set in a modern urban L.A. pressure-cooker of racial and class hatreds. Well-written and acted by a superb cast (Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton), it’s a moving street mural seen through grit-covered glasses. R. 1:47.–M.W.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (star)(star)(star)1/2
Director Alex Gibney’s film on the collapse of the high-flying Houston energy company, based on the book by Fortune reporters (and here, interviewees) Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind is a powerhouse documentary: a gripping, funny non-fiction movie that pulls scads of high drama and dark comedy out of the rise and fall of Enron, one of the decade’s major corporate crimes. No MPAA rating (adult for language). 1:53.–M.W.
High Tension (star)(star)(star)
When Alexia (Maiwenn) brings her college classmate and best friend Marie (Cecile de France) to a remote country house, they find themselves stalked by a homicidal maniac. “High Tension” is a jigsaw puzzle that inverts the genre in a bloody confection of violence and girls running around in sweat-caked T-shirts. R. 1:25.–R.E.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (star)(star)(star)
Taming author Douglas Adams’ silly sci-fi novels into movie form is like training wild schnauzers in petticoats to water ski. It’s impossible. Even so, Garth Jennings’ lovingly designed and high-spirited comic adaptation still makes you want to catch a ride–even if it can’t always channel Adams’ loony prose. PG. 1:50.–R.E.
The Honeymooners (star)1/2
Up in TV Valhalla, the ghosts of Jackie Gleason and Art Carney can rest easy; they won’t be dislodged by this movie, which takes Gleason’s greatest creations–explosive Ralph Kramden and dumb crony Ed Norton–and drowns them into the usual TV series knockoff movie mush. A waste of talent for Cedric the Entertainer (Ralph), Mike Epps (Norton) and Gabrielle Union (Alice). PG-13. 1:29.–M.W.
Howl’s Moving Castle (Hauru No Ugoku Shiro) (star)(star)(star)(star)
A great animated feature from Japan’s whimsical anime genius Hayao Miyazaki (“Spirited Away”), shepherded by Pixar. Based on Diana Wynne Jones’ period British book about teenager Sophie–in love with wizard Howl and transformed by a witch into an old grandma–it’s a wondrous movie, richly and lovingly done. With Jean Simmons, Emily Mortimer, Christian Bale and Lauren Bacall. PG. 1:59.–M.W.
The Interpreter (star)(star)(star)1/2
Sydney Pollack’s new political thriller, shot largely in and around New York’s UN headquarters, is a polished, exciting treat, with beyond-duty’s-call work by stars Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn as a UN interpreter who may have stumbled on an assassination plot and the tormented federal agent protecting her. A full-throttle suspense film that’s also an affecting psychological piece. PG-13. 2:08.–M.W.
Kicking & Screaming (star)(star)1/2
To call “Kicking & Screaming” a Will Ferrell comedy vehicle gives too much credit to its wafer-thin, comedy-by-the-numbers script. It’s Ferrell who is the vehicle, and everyone else is just along for the ride in this marginally effective, but starkly unoriginal “Bad News Bears” on the soccer field. PG. 1:35.– R.E.
Kingdom of Heaven (star)(star)(star)1/2
A movie that dares the heavens and almost wins. Based on a lesser-known episode of the Crusades, Ridley Scott’s revisionist epic treads through a minefield of cultural-political controversies to craft a gargantuan, technologically stunning film: a historical adventure-drama of overwhelming visual grandeur. With Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons. R. 2:25.–M.W.
Kontroll (star)(star)(star)1/2
In this macabre and exciting fantasy-thriller, shot in the Budapest subway system (the world’s second oldest), debuting Hungarian filmmaker Nimrod Antal brilliantly creates a subterranean world of cops, killers and fare cheats, policed by the beleaguered “controllers” or ticket supervisors, overseen by a world-weary Brandoesque malcontent (Sandor Csanyi). A big festival prize-winner from Cannes to Chicago (Grand Prize). In Hungarian, with English subtitles. R. 1:46.–M.W.
Kung Fu Hustle (star)(star)(star)(star)
Hong Kong wunderkind Stephen Chow (who directs, writes and stars) plays Sing, an inept hustler who stirs up trouble in an impoverished Hong Kong enclave of retired kung fu masters. Chow sets his heroes against ascending levels of absurdity and wonder in this astonishing, revolutionary action comedy. R. 1:35.–R.E.
Layer Cake (star)(star)(star)1/2
Daniel Craig plays a London businessman whose trade just happens to be cocaine in Matthew Vaughn’s slick and sophisticated one-last-job crime caper. On the cusp of retirement, Craig must track down the daughter of a crime boss and facilitate the sale of a million ecstasy pills to earn his freedom. No problemo. R. 1:40.–A.B.
The Longest Yard (star)
The Adam Sandlerized remake of the 1974 Burt Reynolds original fails all on its own, irrespective of any comparisons to the cult original. This film is unsure whether it wants to be a comedy or drama, and succeeds only in coming down firmly on the side of loud, loutish ineptitude. PG-13. 1:54.–K.W.
Lords of Dogtown (star)(star)
Penning a dramatic version of his own fabulous doc, “Dogtown and Z-Boys,” Stacy Peralta has sensationalized his own story, about the pioneering Zephyr skateboarding team. With a strong performance by Emile Hirsch, a wacky one by Heath Ledger and heavy direction from Catherine Hardwicke, whose gritty and dark style almost fools you into thinking this is a serious film. PG-13. 1:45.–A.B.
Mad Hot Ballroom (star)(star)(star)1/2
A compulsory ballroom dancing course introduced a decade ago in New York City’s public schools becomes a documentary triumph for first-time filmmakers Marilyn Agrelo and Amy Sewell. PG. 1:45.–J.R.
Madagascar (star)(star)
Unlike its pop culture proficient predecessors, DreamWorks’ latest computer animated feature shuns the winks and nods, instead relying wholly on its stars: Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith, as the voices of zoo animals cast out into the wild. But with a far too traditional story, bland humor and characters so actor-specific, there’s little room for imagination. PG. 1:26.–A.B.
Monster-in-Law (star)(star)
Jane Fonda, absent from the screen for 15 years, makes a stunning comeback of sorts, in a vehicle so shallow it seems ready to collapse under her: as a superstar TV interviewer who goes psycho over her prospective daughter-in-law (Jennifer Lopez) and tries everything to sabotage her. Directed by Robert Luketic (“Legally Blonde”), this is a bouncy movie but not a very smart one. PG-13. 1:40.–M.W.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (star)(star)
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie look as if they had a terrific time making “Mr. And Mrs. Smith”–which doesn’t mean you’ll have a good time watching it. Despite its buff cast and director (Doug Liman of “The Bourne Identity”) this romantic-action-comedy about pro assassins married to each other–but puzzlingly unaware of each other’s job until a botched hit puts them at odds–is a glossy, bombs-away, glamour-drenched fizzle. PG-13. 2:00.–M.W.
Mysterious Skin (star)(star)(star)
Gregg Araki (“The Living End”) plunges us, often movingly, into a world of homo-erotic ecstasy and danger, wrecked lives and possible redemption. Based on Scott Heim’s novel about two Kansas boys and the aftermath of their seductions by a pedophile baseball coach, it’s a striking mix of anguish and sexuality. With Brady Corbet, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Elisabeth Shue. No MPAA rating. (adult, parents cautioned for sensuality, nudity, drugs, language, violence). 1:45.–M.W.
Rock School (star)(star)(star)1/2
Don Argott’s hilarious doc follows nine months at the Paul Green School of Rock Music, focusing on Green and five students–depressed Will, prodigy C.J., Quaker Madi and 9-year-old rock god twins Asa and Tucker, while exploring the nature of talent, education and music. It’s rated R because Green can’t get through a sentence without a string of expletives. And he’s talking to your children. R. 1:33.–A.B.
Sahara (star)(star)
Adventurer Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey) searches for a Civil War-era, iron-sided Confederate ship in Africa, gets the girl and exhibits an almost genetic predisposition for repeated, serendipitous escapes. Penelope Cruz provides the love interest, and Steve Zahn the laughs, but neither keeps “Sahara’s” teetering stack of improbabilities from sinking it. PG-13. 2:04.–R.E.
Saving Face (star)(star)(star)
Writer/director Alice Wu’s film is best described as a dramedy of dueling taboos about a 48-year-old unwed mother (Joan Chen) coming to terms with her daughter’s lesbian sexuality. Sexy without being steamy, smart without being dogmatic, it’s a movie you could take your mother to without squirming too much. R. 1:31.–R.E.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (star)(star)(star)
Since real women have curves, director Ken Kwapis cast a few of them in his charming adaptation of Ann Brashares’ hugely popular teen novel of the same name, about four best friends who keep in touch over the summer by sharing a pair of used jeans. PG. 1:59.–A.B.
Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith (star)(star)(star)(star)
“Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith,” twists back on itself to end where it began, with all the players and puzzle pieces finally explained and set in motion. Even though many critics have been rough on the last two “Star Wars,” this one is a smashing success on its own terms. PG-13. 2:20.–M.W.
The Upside of Anger (star)(star)
An ambitious but unsatisfying little suburban comedy-drama, with Joan Allen and Kevin Costner enjoyable as an unconventional couple who stumble into a fortysomething affair when the woman’s husband disappears. The rest of the film, involving Allen’s four unlikely daughters, is less credible. R. 2:01.–M.W.
———-
Compiled by Regina Robinson
