Movies
OPENING THIS WEEK
MAX PAYNE
Yet another video game hits the big screen as Mark Wahlberg takes on the title role in this crime thriller, about a DEA agent (Wahlberg), who lost his family to conspiracy killers, teaming up with an assassin (Mila Kunis) out to avenge her sister's death -- assuming the cops, the mob and a ruthless corporation don't get them first. Beau Bridges, Ludacris, Chris O'Donnell and Donal Logue lead the supporting cast. At multiple locations. (100 min.) PG-13; violence, including intense shooting sequences, drug content, sexuality, brief profanity.
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES
In 1964 South Carolina, 14-year-old Lily Owens flees her abusive father (Paul Bettany), accompanied by Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), her caregiver and only friend, finding a haven with small-town sisters (Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo) in this adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's novel from writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood ("Love & Basketball"). At multiple locations. (110 min.) PG-13; violence, mature themes.
SEX DRIVE
Daunted by the prospect of starting college as a virgin, beleaguered high school senior ("Kyle XY's" Josh Zuckerman) drives cross-country to hook up with an Internet hottie (Katrina Bowden) -- behind the wheel of his brother's vintage Pontiac GTO. Amanda Crew and Clark Duke play his friends and shotgun riders; James Marsden co-stars as the cocky older brother. At multiple locations. (109 min.) R; strong crude and sexual content, nudity, profanity, drug and alcohol use -- all involving teens.
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ALREADY IN THEATERS
Movies are rated on a letter-grade scale, from A to F. Opinions by R-J movie critic Carol Cling (C.C.) are indicated by initials. Other opinions are from wire service critics.
AN AMERICAN CAROL
(F) Right is wrong: "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun" co-conspirator David Zucker co-writes and directs this "Christmas Carol"-meets-Michael Moore spoof about a rabble-rousing filmmaker (Kevin P. Farley, brother of the late Chris Farley) who wants to abolish the Fourth of July -- until the ghosts of, among others, George Washington (Jon Voight) and George S. Patton (Kelsey Grammer) try to change his mind. Alas, it's another tiresome political comedy that mistakes self-righteousness for humor. (83 min.) PG-13; rude and irreverent content, profanity, brief drug material.
APPALOOSA
(B) Home on the range: City fathers of the titular town hire seasoned saddle pals Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen (both terrific) to stop a ruthless rancher (Jeremy Irons), but a winsome, new-to-town widow (Renée Zellweger) proves a definite distraction. Harris also co-writes and directs a refreshingly old-fangled Western (based on "Spenser" creator Robert B. Parker's novel) that respects its genre, consciously echoing classic oaters, yet serves up interesting twists on time-honored themes, riding tall in the saddle as it rides into the sunset. (114 min.) R; violence, profanity. (C.C.)
BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA
(C) To the dogs: Vacationing in Mexico, the pampered title pooch (voiced by Drew Barrymore) finds herself lost -- and needs the help of the local canine contingent to get home. Andy Garcia, George Lopez, Paul Rodriguez, Edward James Olmos, Luis Guzman, radio's Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo and (believe it or not) Placido Domingo round out the vocal cast of this Disney canine comedy. It's not the apocalypse-signaling cultural abomination its trailers make it out to be, but that's pretty much the best thing you can say about it. (91 min.) PG; mild thematic elements.
BODY OF LIES
(C+) Russell Crowe reunites with "Gladiator" director Ridley Scott -- and "Quick and the Dead" co-star Leonardo DiCaprio -- for this timely yet tedious thriller about a CIA operative who's sent to Jordan to track a terrorist leader and forms an uneasy alliance with Jordan's covert operations chief (Mark Strong). It's all razzmatazz from expert razzle-dazzler Scott, meant to distract you from a script whose basic formula has seen more wear than an Abrams tank. (128 min.) R; strong violence including torture, profanity.
BURN AFTER READING
(B-) After the towering achievement of last year's Oscar-winning "No Country for Old Men," filmmaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen lower their expectations with this off-kilter black comedy about two dim-bulb gym employees (Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt) who find a computer disc belonging to a disgruntled, drunken CIA agent (John Malkovich) -- and launch a doomed-to-fail blackmail scheme. "Michael Clayton" teammates George Clooney and Tilda Swinton join the spyjinks (he's a goofball serial philanderer, she's an adulterous ice queen) and they're all swell, but not even the dream-team cast can make this anything more than a fitfully amusing diversion. It's a cosmic joke, all right, but not a particularly funny one. (96 min.) R; violence, sexual situations, profanity. (C.C.)
CHOKE
(B-) Back in Las Vegas following its CineVegas showcase in June, this aggressively transgressive black comedy (based on a novel by punk-lit "Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk) focuses on a sex-addicted con artist (Sam Rockwell, oddly touching) who finances the care of his deranged mother (the terrific Anjelica Huston) by pretending to choke to death -- and playing on the sympathies of his rescuers. Kelly Macdonald, Bijou Phillips and director Clark Gregg co-star in an uneven, fitfully funny movie marked by nonstop weirdness. (89 min.) R; strong sexual content, nudity, profanity.
CITY OF EMBER
(C+) "Monster House" director Gil Kenan goes live-action with this family-friendly fantasy, based on Jeanne Duprau's novel, about an amazing world of glittering lights -- and the two teens ("Atonement's" Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway) racing against time to solve the mystery of Ember's existence, before the lights fade forever. Kenan's inventive imagery provides flashes of energy and enchantment, but the characters (played by, among others, Bill Murray, Tim Robbins and Martin Landau) aren't nearly as intriguing. Neither, ultimately, is the movie. (95 min.) PG; mild peril, thematic elements.
THE DUCHESS
(B-) The toast of 18th-century London, the aristocratic Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (Keira Knightley) turns heads with her outrageous fashions, her political activism -- and a loveless marriage that prompts her to turn to a rising politician (Dominic Cooper of "Mamma Mia!"). Any similarities to Georgiana's celebrated descendant, Princess Diana, are anything but coincidental in a handsome, if superficial drama; only the dependably subtle Ralph Fiennes (as Georgiana's dour duke, a prisoner of his own exalted station) manages to suggest the emotional eddies churning beneath his stiff, still exterior. (110 min.) PG-13; sexual content, brief nudity, thematic material. (C.C.)
EAGLE EYE
(C+) Thrown together by a phone call from a mystery woman they don't know, two strangers (Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan) run for their lives -- and try to figure out why they've been targeted as the country's most wanted fugitives -- in another wrong man (and wrong woman) on-the-run action thriller with a political message and a warehouse worth of high-tech gadgetry. This wants to be "Marathon Man," or "Enemy of the State," only with a post-9/11 overlay and a plot device lifted straight from "2001: A Space Odyssey." Even with Billy Bob Thornton and Rosario Dawson on the case, this is still one overstuffed, yet relatively empty, chase. (118 min.) PG-13; intense sequences of action and violence, profanity.
THE EXPRESS
(B-) Stand up and cheer: Before Ernie Davis ("Finding Forrester's" Rob Brown) can become the first black player to win college football's coveted Heisman Trophy in 1961, he must deal with deeply ingrained racism -- as embodied by his Syracuse University coach, Ben Schwartzwalder (a crusty yet tender Dennis Quaid). This fact-based drama follows a familiar playbook but packs a punch with its reminders of a time, not so long ago, when America's racial divide was out in the open -- and perfectly acceptable to plenty of folks who considered themselves upstanding, patriotic citizens. (124 min.) PG-13; thematic content, violence and profanity involving racism, brief sexual references. (C.C.)
THE FAMILY THAT PREYS
(B-) Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard star as the matriarchs of two very different Atlanta families -- one wealthy, the other working class -- who find their long friendship threatened by scandal in this undeniably entertaining melodrama from writer-director Tyler Perry, which features Sanaa Lathan, Cole Hauser, Taraji P. Henson, Robin Givens -- and Perry himself, this time out of drag as a true-blue hard hat. Defiantly old-school, this shiny, two-timing throwback to 1950s melodramas (and prime-time TV soaps) proves Perry can whip up the suds with the best of 'em. (111 min.) PG-13; thematic material, sexual references, brief violence.
FIREPROOF
(B-) A firefighter (a genuinely compelling Kirk Cameron) and his publicist wife (Erin Bethea) are on the verge of divorce, until his father challenges him to "The Love Dare" -- 40 days of spiritual effort to work his way back into his wife's heart. This religious drama from writer-director Alex Kendrick ("Facing the Giants") may be a bit gimmicky, with dramatic firefighter rescues that have little to do with the plot, but it also features the rarest of cinematic creatures: characters with a strong, conservative Christian faith who don't sound crazy. (122 min.) PG; thematic material, peril.
FLASH OF GENIUS
(C+) A college professor (Greg Kinnear) who comes up with a design for intermittent windshield wipers wages a quixotic legal battle against the Detroit automakers he claims stole his idea in this fact-based drama co-starring Alan Alda, Lauren Graham and Dermot Mulroney. If only the movie were more than intermittently interesting; Kinnear's strong performance as its not entirely likable hero helps it rise slightly above convention, but that's not quite enough. (119 min.) PG-13; brief profanity.
GHOST TOWN
(B+) He sees dead people -- and doesn't like it one bit -- when his unexpected death, and even more unexpected return from the dead seven minutes later, enable anti-social dentist Bertram Pincus ("The Office's" Ricky Gervais) to see ghosts, one of whom (Greg Kinnear) hopes he'll break up the impending marriage of his widow (Téa Leoni). This always amusing, occasionally hilarious "Topper"-style charmer proves that Ricky Gervais is to comedy what the dry martini is to alcoholism -- and that Leoni is one of our best comediennes. (102 min.) PG-13; profanity, sexual humor, drug references.
IGOR
(C) In this animated monster bash, a lowly lab assistant who dreams of becoming a scientist gets his chance when his cruel master dies a week before the annual Evil Science Fair, enabling Igor to build his own creature -- and battle an even more evil plot to destroy his world. A potentially original premise and an eager voice cast led by John Cusack and Molly Shannon are left to decay amid a clunky story vaguely reminiscent of "Monsters Inc." -- and images that resemble "Corpse Bride" rejects. (87 min.) PG; thematic elements, scary images, action, mild profanity.
LAKEVIEW TERRACE
(C+) There goes the neighborhood: In this latest variation on the venerable wacko-from-hell subgenre, a law-unto-himself cop (Samuel L. Jackson, gleefully chomping the scenery) makes life hellish for his unsuspecting new neighbors, the nice interracial couple (Kerry Washington, Patrick Wilson) next door. Despite its provocative edge, "Lakeview Terrace" degenerates from a potentially thoughtful exploration of such hot-button issues as race and power, surrendering to its basest instincts -- and emerging as just another over-the-top thriller. (110 min.) R; intense thematic material, violence, sexual situations, profanity, drug references. (C.C.)
MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA
(B) Director Spike Lee's World War II epic focuses on four members of the Army's all-black 92nd "Buffalo Soldier" Division (Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller), who become trapped behind enemy lines and must fight their way back to neutral territory. If it were a symphony, you'd think, three sublime movements, a fourth that's turgid, and what's with the wacky coda? But even at its most indulgent, it powerfully summons the courage of black soldiers in the face of discouraging racism. (160 min.) R; strong combat violence, profanity, sexual content/nudity.
NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST
(B+) A jilted hero -- high school musician Nick ("Juno's" Michael Cera) -- and a humiliated heroine ("The House Bunny's" Kat Dennings) discover that their common frenemy is their ticket to a wild Manhattan night in this on-the-town romp from "Raising Victor Vargas" director Peter Sollett. Some movies skate by fast on slick action, while others snap with crisp dialogue. This one springs high on the bounce of its hugely likable leads. (90 min.) PG-13; mature thematic material including teen drinking, sexuality, profanity and crude behavior.
NIGHTS IN RODANTHE
(D+) Richard Gere and Diane Lane (who previously teamed in "Unfaithful" and "The Cotton Club") reunite for this adaptation of "The Notebook" author Nicholas Sparks' romance about an abandoned wife overseeing a friend's beachfront inn -- and the inn's sole guest, a doctor nursing both personal and professional wounds. Paralytic direction by George C. Wolfe and a script that might have come with a box of crayons provide the always attractive Lane and Gere nothing much to do. (97 min.) PG-13; sexual references.
QUARANTINE
(C) Assigned to spend the night shift with L.A. firefighters, a TV reporter (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman (Steve Harris) respond to a routine 911 call at an apartment building, where something unknown has attacked one of the residents -- prompting the Centers for Disease Control to quarantine the building and cut off all telephone, Internet, TV and cellular access to those locked inside, who seem to be turning into rabid, homicidal zombies. Like any imitation, this remake of a 2007 Spanish thriller, isn't as good as the original. But this is really about cheap thrills -- and there aren't nearly enough. (89 min.) R; bloody, violent and disturbing content, terror, profanity.
RELIGULOUS
(C+) In this political quasi-documentary, comedian Bill Maher travels from the Vatican to Jerusalem -- and points in between -- to take on world religions, and the people who believe in them. A skilled debater, jolly jester and devout skeptic, Maher makes an irreverent host for this pageant from "Borat" director Larry Charles. It's frequently very funny, but there's something unsportsmanlike in the glee that Maher takes in baiting the fish in his barrel. And while even believers can support Maher's skepticism, when he denounces the faithful in sweeping absolutes at film's end, he sounds as absolutely certain as those he has mocked for the previous 100 minutes. (101 min.) R; profanity, sexual material.
TELL NO ONE
(A-) A pediatrician (François Cluzet) suspected of his wife's murder eight years ago becomes a suspect once again when police reopen the case -- and the doctor receives an e-mail from his presumed-dead wife. Kristin Scott-Thomas and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly's" Marie-Josée Croze and Marina Hands co-star in a terrific mystery in any language, equal parts haunting love story and nimble thriller. In French with English subtitles. (125 min.) NR; violence, profanity, nudity, adult themes.
