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Capsule reviews of feature films |
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Written by Steven Rea and Carrie Rickey, MCT
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Friday, 02 March 2007 |
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AMAZING GRACE 3 stars. A compelling period drama about real-life anti-slavery crusader William Wilberforce, the British legislator, who, in the late 1700s, fought to abolish slavery - and changed the face of British politics in the process. 1 hr. 56 PG-13 (adult themes)
— Steven Rea
ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES 1 ½ stars. French filmmaker Luc Besson takes his Cuisinart to Lewis Carroll, Jonathan Swift, T.H. White, Frank L. Baum, and picture books featuring pretty, pointy-eared elves in this glossy, long-winded mix of live-action and animation. What a mess! 1 hr. 42 PG (cartoon violence, scary images, inappropriately attired senior citizens)
— Steven Rea
THE ASTRONAUT FARMER 2 ½ stars. Billy Bob Thornton plays an eccentric farmer and family man who's building a rocket ship in his barn so he can launch himself into space. An old-fashioned, follow-your-dream yarn, albeit one serving up a kind of Plains State brand of "Rocky"-esque hooey. 1 hr. 44 PG (adult themes)
— Steven Rea
BECAUSE I SAID SO 2 stars. This shrilly diverting piece of counterprogramming for Super Bowl weekend stars Diane Keaton as a single parent of three grown daughters who surreptitiously auditions prospective suitors for her youngest, played by Mandy Moore. 1 hr. 42 PG-13 (sexual content, profanity) — Carrie Rickey
BLOOD & CHOCOLATE 2 stars. A disappointing romance dressed up as horror, adapted from Annette Curtis Klause's young adult novel about a young American artist (Hugh Dancy) traveling in Romania who falls in love with a mysterious woman (Agnes Bruckner) who's actually a werewolf. Bruckner is terrific as the reluctant lycanthrope who is expected to marry the pack leader. Film lacks any real horror elements. It has some fascinating themes, but too much melodrama. 1 hr. 38 PG-13 (violence, sexuality, drug use, lupine behavior) — Tirdad Derakhshani
BLOOD DIAMOND 2 ½ stars. Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly chase around civil war-torn Sierra Leone in this bloody mix of action, intrigue and earnest pronouncements about Western exploitation of the Third World. 2 hrs. 23 R (violence, gore, profanity, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
BREACH 3 stars. Riveting real-life thriller starring Chris Cooper as FBI agent Robert Hanssen and Ryan Phillippe as specialist Eric O`Neill assigned to spy on the man who was a traitor selling intelligence to Moscow. 1 hr. 50 PG-13
— Carrie Rickey
BREAKING AND ENTERING 2 ½ stars. Smart, classy, over-orchestrated soap about various Londoners - some old, some newly arrived - whose paths cross after a burglary. Jude Law, Robin Wright Penn and Juliette Binoche head the cast in Anthony Minghella's meditation on the adulterous, angst-filled lives of people searching for connection - cultural and connubial. 2 hrs. R (nudity, sex, profanity, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA 3 stars. Katherine Paterson's much-loved children's novel is brought to the screen faithfully, if a little too fancily (computer effects-wise), in this tale of friendship, loss and the powers of the imagination. 1 hr. 34 PG (kids in jeopardy, fantasy violence, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
CATCH AND RELEASE 2 stars. Uneven romantic-dramedy starring Jennifer Garner as a bride whose fiance dies the day before the wedding. When she moves in with her beau`s former roommates (all of whom nurse crushes on her) she learns that he had a Big Secret. With Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Smith and Sam Jaeger. 1 hr. 51 R (sexual content, profanity, marijuana)
— Carrie Rickey
CHILDREN OF MEN 3 ½ stars. Alfonso Cuaron's stunning adaptation of P.D. James' novel is set in near-future Britain, where the government surveils all, where illegal immigrants are corraled, and where cops act like storm troopers. Clive Owen is the accidental hero, shepherding a mystery woman through this dark, terrifying but sometimes very funny film. 1 hr. 54 R (violence, profanity, nudity, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
DADDY'S LITTLE GIRLS 2 ½ stars. Idris Elba stars as the humble single dad and Gabrielle Union as the snooty lawyer in this Tyler Perry film that weds an uplift-of-the-downtrodden narrative with Harlequin Romance storytelling. 1 hr. 36 PG-13 (drug and sexual content, profanity, violence)
— Carrie Rickey
DREAMGIRLS 3 ½ stars. This dazzling and energizing adaptation of the Broadway musical rockets at warp speed from Detroit to the stratosphere, boosted by the performances of Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson as singers left behind in soul`s crossover to the pop charts. With Jamie Foxx and Beyonce Knowles as figures inspired by Motown Records' Berry Gordy Jr. and Diane Ross. 2 hrs. 11 PG-13 (sexual candor, profanity, drugs)
— Carrie Rickey
EPIC MOVIE 1 ½ stars. A breezy and brainless mockup of "The Chronicles of Narnia," with side trips to a dozen other movies. It's drive-by satire for those who find "Family Guy" too cerebral. 1 hr. 26 PG-13 (crude humor, profanity, cartoonish violence)
— David Hiltbrand
FACTORY GIRL 2 ½ stars. Sienna Miller shines as meteoric `60s It Girl Edie Sedgwick in this exploitative biopic that suggests she is important mostly because she inspired artist Andy Warhol and troubadour Bob Dylan. 1 hr.30 R (nudity, sex, drugs, profanity)
— Carrie Rickey
THE GOOD SHEPHERD 3 stars. Matt Damon stars as a career CIA man in this decades-spanning thriller, and deft character study, tracing the evolution of America's foreign espionage bureaucracy. Robert De Niro directs, and gives himself a key small role, in this very fine film. With Angelina Jolie, Tammy Blanchard, Alec Baldwin, William Hurt and John Turturro. 2 hrs. 47 R (violence, profanity, sex, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
HANNIBAL RISING 2 stars. A marvelously risible prequel that explains the origins of Thomas Harris' celebrated sociopath Hannibal Lecter, scarred by war and orphanage bullies, who starts on his road of dismemberment and cannibalism in the company of a lovely Japanese aunt-in-law (Gong Li) and a gang of nasty men who once did a very bad thing to his sister. 2 hrs. 01 R (violence, gore, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
HAPPILY N`EVER AFTER 1 star. Garish and shrill revisionist retelling of Cinderella, beneath the standards of Saturday-morning cartoons. 1 hr. 27 PG
— Carrie Rickey
THE ITALIAN 3 stars. A powerful indictment of Russia's illegal adoption industry - and a story of pipsqueak resolve and resilience - this mostly clear-eyed, tough little tale follows a 6-year-old foundling as he makes a run from his orphanage and goes looking for his real mom. 1 hr. 37 PG-13 (violence, profanity, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND 3 stars. A Scottish doctor (James McAvoy) on a mission in Uganda is chosen as Idi Amin's (Forest Whitaker) personal physician. Forest Whitaker is brilliant as the dictator whose brutality stuns his new doctor. 2 hrs. 01 R (intense violence, gruesome images, nudity, sex, profanity)
— Carrie Rickey
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA 4 stars. Clint Eastwood's companion piece to" Flags of Our Fathers looks at the battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese side. With its simple structure, and superb performances, this unflinching and bloody take on the historic World War II battle is one of the great war movies - or anti-war movies - of all time. 2 hrs. 21 R (violence, profanity, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
THE LIVES OF OTHERS 4 stars. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck`s astonishing debut feature, a duet for a bohemian and bureaucrat who never meet but whose lives decisively intersect in 1984 East Berlin, is illuminated by Ulrich Muhe's performance as the functionary. 2 hrs. 17 R (sex, violence, profanity)
— Carrie Rickey
THE MESSENGERS 2 stars. An unfortunate family moves to a sunflower farm where lots of scary and generally bad things happen. Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott and Penelope Ann Miller star. 1 hr. 24 PG-13 (mature themes, disturbing terror, creepy ghosts)
—Tirdad Derakhshani
MUSIC AND LYRICS 3 stars. Frothy rom-com starring Hugh Grant as a has-been popster and Drew Barrymore a never-was poet who collaborate on a hit love song for a pop tart. Irresistible. 1 hr. 36 PG-13 (profanity, sexual candor)
— Carrie Rickey
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2 stars. Everyone's heard the line about the exhibition where history comes alive. Ben Stiller headlines this special-effects extravaganza based on the 1993 children's book by Milan Trenc, where it's not just a boast. If the script were half as good as the computer-generated imagery, it would be captivating. 1 hr. 48 PG (rude body noises, cartoon violence)
— Carrie Rickey
NORBIT 2 stars. Eddie Murphy can do anything. The question is, why he would want to make a movie as squirmingly unfunny as this one in which he plays the title character, a nerdy orphan, a politically-incorrect Chinese/American restaurateur and a morbidly obese woman who marries Norbit and manhandles him. 1 hr. 42 PG-13 (sexual situations, profanity, crude humor)
— Carrie Rickey
NOTES ON A SCANDAL 2 ½ stars. Juicy, high-class trash full of sex, blackmail and betrayal, with Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett as colleagues at a London secondary school - and actors who never really find the heart of their roles. But it's fun watching them look. 1 hr. 38 R (sex, profanity, violence, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
THE NUMBER 23 1 ½ stars. Jim Carrey stars in this numeroligical, super-dumb-ological thriller, about a dog catcher who reads a mystery novel and quickly loses his hold on reality, making a big deal about the number 23 and how it's showing up in every aspect of his life. Virginia Madsen co-stars, and almost everybody gets double roles - in the "real" world and the cartoonishly noir world of the book. 1 hr. 35 R (violence, sex, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
THE PAINTED VEIL 3 ½ stars. Edward Norton and Naomi Watts star as a mismatched British couple in 1920s China in this quiet but roiling melodrama, where marital infidelity and a cholera epidemic collide with profound results. Rich with history and heartbreak, it's stirring stuff. 2 hrs. 05 PG-13 (violence, sex, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
PAN'S LABYRINTH 4 stars. Against the repressive backdrop of Franco's post-civil-war Spain, a young girl delves into a fantasy world. Spanish with subtitles. 1 hr. 59 R (fairytale grotesquerie, war violence and torture)
— Carrie Rickey
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS 3 ½ stars. Will Smith stars in this based-on-a-true-story tale about a man struggling with poverty and despair, homelessness and humiliation, and who enters a stock brokerage internship program as a last-ditch move to prove himself, and provide for his young son. Thandie Newton and Smith's real-life son costar. 1 hr. 57 PG-13 (profanity, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
THE QUEEN 4 stars. Compassionate as it is critical, satirical as it is serious, "The Queen" is less a docudrama about British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Elizabeth II in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death than it is a political romantic comedy. Its concern is how the Labor leader and the wary wife of Windsor change each other, as people and as leaders. 1 hr. 43 PG-13 (profanity)
— Carrie Rickey
SMOKIN' ACES 2 ½ stars. All pumped up with no place to go, this super-crazed, super-violent crime pic stars Jeremy Piven as a Vegas showman that everyone - the FBI, hired killers, bail bondsmen and neo-Nazi maniacs - are out to get. For a while it's a rush, and then just exhausting. R (violence, drugs, profanity, nudity, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
VENUS 3 ½ stars. Peter O'Toole gives a sly and touching performance as a fading British thespian who strikes up an improbable friendship - and courtship - with a foul-mouthed 19-year-old (Jodie Whittaker). Sounds smarmy, but it's not. The film, full of wisdom, sadness and raunchy humor, is really about the deep need for connections, for intimacy, for understanding. 1 hr. 34 R (sex, profanity, nudity, adult themes)
— Steven Rea
VOLVER 3 ½ stars. After being overhyped and underutilized in a series of American films, Penelope Cruz returns to form in this magnificent performance that in any other year would have been an Oscar lock. 2 hrs. 01 R (sexual content, profanity) — Carrie Rickey
WE ARE MARSHALL 2 ½ stars. Matthew McConaughey stars in this true story of a young coach determined to rebuild the Marshall University football program after a plane crash wipes out the entire team. 2 hrs. 04 PG (mild profanity, crash scene)
— Carrie Rickey
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