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.
Reviewers include: A.B. = Allison Benedikt; R.E. = Robert K. Elder; M.E. = Michael Esposito; M.P. = Michael Phillips; J.R. = Jessica Reaves; M.W. = Michael Wilmington.
The 40 Year-Old Virgin (star)(star)(star)1/2
“Daily Show” alum Steve Carell is Andy Stitzer, the titular protagonist who drinks Fanta, meticulously assembles egg salad sandwiches, and frames Asia concert posters. When he outs himself to his work pals, it becomes their mission in life to get him, umm, some. But then Andy meets Trish (Catherine Keener), and the sex comedy becomes a very sweet love story. R. 1:56.–A.B.
Bee Season (star)1/2
Adapted from Myla Goldberg’s less serious, more emotional book of the same name, “Bee Season” follows the Naumann family–Eliza, brother Aaron and parents Saul and Miriam–as each member’s life is thrown into spiritual turmoil at exactly the same time through, respectively, spelling, Hare Krishna, robbery and Kabbalah. Starring a miscast Richard Gere, it’s a movie about spirituality without an ounce of spirit. PG-13. 1:44.–A.B.
Capote (star)(star)(star)(star)
A terrific film biography, without a speck of sanctimony. It neither lionizes nor smears Truman Capote, and what the celebrated writer did to see his masterwork “In Cold Blood” to completion. The story behind the story of the Clutter family killings takes over, bringing Capote and one of the murderers, Perry Smith, into a complex web of mutual self-interest. R. 1:55.–M.P.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (star)(star)(star)(star)
Tim Burton’s scrumptious version of writer Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s classic trumps the ’71 Gene Wilder movie. It’s a treat-tray full of witty, awesome scenes and delicious characters, with cracked genius candymaker Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) guiding Charlie (Freddie Highmore) through his incredible, magical and perversely just-sweets factory. With Helena Bonham Carter, David Kelly and Christopher Lee. PG. 1:56.–M.W.
Chicken Little (star)(star)1/2
When Chicken Little (voiced by Zach Braff) is conked on the noggin by a “piece of the sky,” Chicken and friends must stop an alien invasion that no one believes is coming. Disney’s first 3-D animated film outside Pixar (“Finding Nemo”), can be funny and innovative, but struggles for consistency. G. 1:18.–R.E.
Domino (star)(star)
Tony Scott’s dramatic rendition of the life of Domino Harvey, the privileged daughter of a model and actor who became an L.A. bounty hunter, lets itself off the hook, proclaiming: “Based on a true story–sort of.” Which is too bad, because even with strong performances from Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke and Christopher Walken, it’s the fantasy that weighs down what could have been a fascinating biopic. R. 2:00.–A.B.
Doom (star)(star)
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson ishead of the Rapid Response Tactical Squad, which storms a futuristic Mars-based experiment facility where science has gone ka-blewy. Despite some solid moves against viewer expectations, the ambitious “Doom” ultimately embraces the cliched doom of all video game movies. R. 1:44.–R.E.
Dreamer (star)(star)(star)
Adorable horse? Check. Adorable humans? Check. Dakota Fanning plays Cale Crane, the eerily mature daughter of Ben and Lilly Crane (Kurt Russell and Elisabeth Shue) and granddaughter of Pop Crane (Kris Kristofferson). When a prize filly, Sonador (Spanish for “Dreamer), breaks its leg, Cale takes on the task of getting her back into racing shape. You can see where this is going. PG. 1:45.–J.R.
Elizabethtown (star)
A romantic comedy for the smug bastard in all of us, writer-director Cameron Crowe’s blob of a picaresque sends a hotshot athletic-shoe designer (Orlando Bloom) into a downward spiral. Following a suicide attempt, en route to his father’s funeral, he meets a flight attendant (Kirsten Dunst) meant to be a chipper sort of charmer. As written and acted, she’s more terrifying than anything in “Flightplan.” PG-13. 1:57.–M.P.
Everything is Illuminated (star)(star)1/2
Liev Schreiber’s well-intentioned but surprisingly thin go at Jonathan Safran Foer’s century-hopping Holocaust-themed novel stars Elijah Wood as a young American Jew who travels to Ukraine looking for the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. PG-13. 1:42.–A.B.
Flightplan (star)(star)
In terms of airline customer satisfaction, “Red Eye,” August’s planebound thriller, was a lot more fun than this respectable but dullish number featuring Jodie Foster and her icy blue glare. She plays a grieving widow whose 6-year-old daughter vanishes on a state-of-the-art jumbo jet. No one believes her. Is it a kidnapping, or a case of an unstable parent cracking up? PG-13. 1:33.–M.P.
The Fog (no star rating)
The fog looks cheesy, as do the revenge-seeking, zombie-like mariners who inhabit it, and the script suffers typical horror-flick lines that overstate the obvious (“That guy gives me the creeps,” for example)–necessary evils of the genre. But director Rupert Wainwright manages to create some genuine intensity and suspense, doing the basic horror stuff right–even if he’s overly fond of loud, false scares. PG-13. 1:43.–Associated Press
G (star)1/2
This Lizzie Grubman-era variation on “The Great Gatsby” takes place in a hip-hopified Hamptons, where a love triangle between Diddyesque rap mogul Summer G, his college sweetheart Sky and her husband Chip Hightower heats up. Produced by Ralph Lauren’s son Andrew, who was sure to make star Blair Underwood look dapper in daddy’s Purple Label suits. Everything else feels cheap. R. 1:37.–A.B.
Good Night, and Good Luck (star)(star)(star)
David Strathairn plays Edward R. Murrow–the voice of authority that took on Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist crusading–in director George Clooney’s absorbing film, a broadcast journalism procedural more than a probing portrait of Murrow. “Good Night” reminds audiences that once upon a time the best journalists with the biggest megaphones used to know no fear, even when the times were utterly paranoia-inducing. PG. 1:30.–M.P.
A History of Violence (star)(star)(star)
Part action, part thriller, part western, part comedy, part horror, part family drama, David Cronenberg’s latest and most palatable foray into the dark side focuses on how an idyllic small-town Indiana family reacts when violence comes to town, especially patriarch Viggo Mortensen. R. 1:36.–A.B.
In Her Shoes (star)(star)1/2
Director Curtis Hanson’s film version of the Jennifer Weiner novel stars Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette as, respectively, Maggie, a trashed-out drunk, and Maggie’s sister Rose, a proper attorney. Their thorny relationship is changed forever once Maggie, caught in bed with Rose’s horndog of a boyfriend, leaves Philadelphia for a visit to their estranged grandmother, played by Shirley MacLaine. PG-13. 2:10.–M.P.
Jarhead (star)(star)1/2
Sam Mendes’ impressionistic adaptation of Anthony Swofford’s Desert Storm memoir is a war movie without combat, as Marine sniper Swoff (a buff Jake Gyllenhaal) waits for the enemy on the ground, burning for a fight that never comes. Mendes is so faithful to the marine’s frustration that he never puts his own mark on “Jarhead.” R. 2:02.–A.B.
Just Like Heaven (star)1/2
Reese Witherspoon plays a perky doctor who, after getting hit by a truck, haunts her old apartment, where Mark Ruffalo’s David now resides. He’s depressed, she’s cheerful. He’s unsteady, she’s unwavering. He’s alive but dead inside; she might be dead but wants to live! From such fine actors and a pretty good director (Mark Waters), this romantic comedy’s a big disappointment. PG-13. 1:41.–A.B.
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (star)(star)(star)1/2
Harry (Robert Downey Jr.) is as inept a thief as he is a narrator in “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,” a rich, pulpy meta-movie that’s a guilty pleasure you don’t have to feel guilty about. Val Kilmer co-stars in this dime-store novel gone awry, with enough twists to tie you in knots. R 1:42.–R.E.
The Legend of Zorro (star)1/2
After the rousing and nicely burnished 1998 picture “The Mask of Zorro,” teaming Antonio Banderas with Catherine Zeta-Jones, this calamity-minded and often brutish sequel marks a huge comedown. The 1850-set screenplay, alternately static and frenzied, brings them back together while bringing Zorro up against a web of California villains intent on destroying America. PG. 2:10.–M.P.
Magnificent Desolation (star)(star)(star)
It’s time we went back to the moon. That’s the thesis of this Tom Hanks-produced IMAX-3D movie, the title coming from astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s description of the look and feel of being on the moon. The movie tries to capture that sensation with 3D re-enactments and speculative adventures. No MPAA rating (suitable for most audiences). 0:40.–M.E.
March of the Penguins (star)(star)(star)
Luc Jacquet’s documentary, with narration by Morgan Freeman, tells the unfathomable story of the emperor penguin whose Antarctica breeding cycle puts us mere humans to shame. Part of the film’s cachet is in those “how’d they get that” moments. But mostly it’s an incredible tale of ritual and perseverance, both for the emperor and the untouched land. And the baby penguins are adorable. G. 1:20.–A.B.
Must Love Dogs (star)(star)(star)
Diane Lane and John Cusack meld into one of those eloquently sexy old-style Hollywood romantic comedy couples in “Must Love Dogs,” which is all about Internet dating. Based on Claire Cook’s novel, the film itself is less seductive, though Christopher Plummer, Stockard Channing and Dermot Mulroney offer witty support. Directed and scripted by Gary David Goldberg (“Dad”). PG-13. 1:38.–M.W.
North Country (star)(star)1/2
All bluster and no subtlety, this would-be Oscar contender is a well-intentioned but ultimately disappointing trip back to the bad old days in Minnesota’s Iron Range. Director Niki Caro takes on the landmark 1988 Jenson vs. Eveleth sexual harassment suit with admirable energy. What she doesn’t do so well is tell the story with nuance. With Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Sissy Spacek. R. 2:03.–J.R.
Paradise Now (Al-Jenna-An) (star)(star)(star)
Director Hany Abu-Assad tries to give us an exciting thriller that’s also an even-handed, psychologically acute drama about two Palestinian suicide bombers on a murderous Tel Aviv mission gone wrong. The movie starts well–with a sharp portrayal of quiet fanaticism and the deadly preparations–then indulges in a bit too much wild melodrama and ideological debate. In Arabic with English subtitles. PG-13. 1:30.–M.W.
Pride & Prejudice (star)(star)(star)1/2
Exuberant adaptation of Jane Austen’s three-volume novel is a costume picture with real charisma–lively, coltish, imaginatively conceived for a fluid camera. Director Joe Wright makes the romantic plights of the Bennet girls a matter of no little atmospheric urgency and sparkle. Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen play the enchanting Lizzie and the moneyed, snarling, sweetie-down-deep Darcy, engaged in Austen’s dance of misperceptions. PG. 2:07.–M.P.
Prime (star)(star)
In this Manhattan romantic comedy, Uma Thurman plays a knockout fashion photographer who has fallen for a younger man (Bryan Greenberg), and Meryl Streep plays her psychiatrist–and the lover’s mother. The actresses and writer-director Ben Younger (“Boiler Room”) have fun with this for a while, but the movie suffers from spotty comedy and an “Annie Hall” complex. PG-13. 1:45.–M.W.
Proof (star)(star)
Most of the humor has been sucked clean out of this earnest but plodding adaptation of the David Auburn play about a tortured mathematics whiz (Gwyneth Paltrow) wondering if she’s going bughouse like her genius old man (Anthony Hopkins). Director John Madden and screenwriters Auburn and Rebecca Miller take the unpretentious source material very seriously–and the material can’t quite handle it. PG-13. 1:40.–M.P.
SAW II (star)
The serial killer from the first “Saw,” a cancer patient with a grudge, traps a multiethnic yet interchangeably dull group of victims in an old dark house booby-trapped to the nines. Director and co-writer Darren Lynn Bousman throws heaps of spazzy cinematic noise at this grinding premise, but all the smash cutting becomes a tic by reel two. R. 1:31.–M.P.
Separate Lies (star)(star)(star)
Tom Wilkinson potently plays an upper class British lawyer whose perfect provincial life is shattered when he discovers that his perfect wife (Emily Watson) is involved in both adultery and murder. For his mixed but effective writer-director debut, Julian Fellowes (“Gosford Park”) adds crime and cover-up to Nigel Balchin’s novel “A Way through the Wood.” The brilliant cast includes Rupert Everett and John Neville. R. 1:27.–M.W.
Serenity (star)(star)(star)1/2
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon rockets into space with “Serenity,” an intimate epic in a brash, funny, action-packed bit of sci-fi ecstasy. The original cast of Whedon’s canceled “Firefly” TV series returns a giant raspberry to the execs who let “Firefly” fall out of the sky. PG-13. 1:59.–R.E.
Sharks 3D (star)(star)(star)
Jean-Jacques Mantello’s conservation-minded “Sharks 3D” attempts to demystify this aquatic rock star and place it neatly in its post on the food chain. Geoffrey Bateman, who narrates via a curious, death-defying turtle, helps “Sharks” become a kid-friendly environmentalist flick full of visual poetry. No MPAA rating (family). 0:42.–R.E.
Shopgirl (star)(star)1/2
As a glove department sales clerk and budding photographer, adrift in the glittering loneliness of L.A., Claire Danes is spectacularly good in this wobbly adaptation of the Steve Martin novella. Martin plays wealthy, emotionally cool Ray Porter; Jason Schwartzman provides the scruffy third side of the triangle as Jeremy. R. 1:46.–M.P.
The Squid and the Whale (star)(star)(star)(star)
Writer-director Noah Baumbach’s semiautobiographic, moving and very funny tale of divorce in 1980s Brooklyn features Jeff Daniels as a washed-up intellectual and Laura Linney as his up-and-coming writer wife. As the seams of their tenuous marriage bust, sons Walt and Frank take sides, with Walt eventually seeing through his dad’s extroverted intellectualism and unearned grandeur. R. 1:28.–A.B.
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (star)(star)(star)1/2
“Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride”–his first animated feature since 1993’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas”–teems with life, humor and bone-rattling musical numbers when a bridegroom finds himself wed to a cadaver. If “Nightmare” was a jazzy pop number, “Bride” is a waltz, an elegant, deadly funny bit of macabre matrimony. PG. 1:16.–R.E.
The Transporter 2 (star)(star)1/2
Jason Statham returns as Superman with a driver’s license in “The Transporter 2,” a rare sequel that’s better than its original. This time Frank (Statham) protects a 6-year-old boy from kidnappers and double-barreled assassin Lola (model Kate Nauta), a femme fatale in raccoon mascara and a see-through bikini. PG-13. 1:30.–R.E.
Two for the Money (star)(star)1/2
Matthew McConaughey plays Brandon Lang, a win-picking machine and a prophet in Walter Abrams’ (Al Pacino) world of big money sports gambling in “Two for the Money.” Money starts rolling, the stakes get higher, and Brandon’s winning streak starts to cool, then collapse. Flawed but magnetic, Pacino’s bark is ultimately better than this movie’s bite. Also stars Rene Russo, Armand Assante, Jeremy Piven. R. 2:02.–R.E.
Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (star)(star)(star)
Nick Park and Steve Box’s sprightly animated feature showcases the feature-length debut of two wonderful characters, the cheese- and newfangled invention-obsessed Wallace, and his trusty, stoic and stalwart (and silent) pooch, Gromit. Designed to cure the rabbit problem of one Lady Tottington (voiced by Helena Bonham Carter), Wallace inadvertently creates a “were-rabbit” intent on ravaging the local neighborhood’s prized vegetables. “Wallace & Gromit” also features the voices of Ralph Fiennes and Peter Sallis. G. 1:25.–M.P.
The Weather Man (star)(star)(star)1/2
A rare, smart, realistic big studio drama, with one of Nicolas Cage’s deeper recent performances as a Chicago TV weather star who is the disappointing son of a famed novelist (Michael Caine) and a failed family man. “The Weather Man” is a slick-looking, technically spotless movie about the dangers of slickness and success–well-written (Steve Conrad) and sharply directed (Gore Verbinski). Also starring Hope Davis. R. 1:42.–M.W.
Wedding Crashers (star)(star)
Along with ballroom dancing and Supreme Court vacancies, “Wedding Crashers” stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as Jeremy and John, consummate Peter Pans who crash weddings to pick up women. That is, until director David Dobkin squanders his cast and hard rating by shoving everyone into an insipid romance between John and a bridesmaid. Also starring Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams, Jane Seymour. R. 1:53.–A.B.
Zathura: A Space Adventure (star)(star)
Chris Van Allsburg’s sequel to “Jumanji” has been turned into an acceptable time-waster for kids above 8 and parents who don’t mind seeing a fine Van Allsburg book turned into a conventionally bombastic picture. As in “Jumanji,” the hook here in “Zathura: A Space Adventure,” is a board game with fantastical and menacing powers, this one sending our young, squabbling heroes into deep space where they must battle lizard-creatures and gravity-kerflooeys. Starring Tim Robbins, Frank Oz. PG. 1:35.–M.P.
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Compiled by Regina Robinson
