December Boys (PG-13) !!
Who’s in it: Daniel Radcliffe, Teresa Palmer, Lee Cormie
What it’s about: Four Australian orphans spend a summer at a seaside resort, where the oldest (Radcliffe) is sexually initiated by a sultry blond teen named Lucy (Palmer) and the youngest (Cormie) schemes to become adopted by a childless couple.
Worth watching? “[Radcliffe’s] grown into a commanding, even complex presence. … The movie earns its right to sentiment through its performances and gentle solicitousness toward its young heroes.” [ GENE SEYMOUR, NEWSDAY ]
The King of California (PG-13) !!
Who’s in it: Michael Douglas, Evan Rachel Wood
What it’s about: A lovable but deranged dad (Douglas, right) drags his teen daughter (Wood) on a hunt for treasure buried under a Santa Clarita Costco.
Worth watching? “All about madness, family and suburban sprawl, the movie is too cute and superficial to say much about the first two subjects and sporadically amusing when addressing the third. It’s also a caper comedy whose simple plot is, I think intentionally, not very suspenseful.” [ BOB STRAUSS, L.A. DAILY NEWS ]
Dedication (R) !!!
Who’s in it: Billy Crudup, Mandy Moore, Tom Wilkinson
What it’s about: Misanthropic children’s book writer Henry Roth (Crudup) has a talent for alienating women and meets his match in the illustrator he’s paired with named Lucy (Moore).
Worth watching? “Crudup chomps into his character’s barbed observations with the singlemindedness of a caged lion at feeding time while Moore seems to delight in subverting the cotton-candy pop star image of her teen career.” [ JAN STUART, NEWSDAY ]
