New: ’Sin City’

08/15/2005

Bruce Willis as Hartigan in ’Sin City.’ (Dimension Films)

JUST RELEASED AUG. 16

Sin City **** (R; 2:06): In an astonishing black-and-white adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novels, Bruce Willis, Clive Owen and Mickey Rourke are fallen men avenging the women who represent their redemption (Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy and Jamie King, respectively). Beware: The neo-noir action sequences are outrageously violent. But no movie has ever captured the look and logic of comic books as well as this CGI marvel. Co-directed by Miller and Robert Rodriguez, with a hand from Quentin Tarantino. (Dimension) (JW)

The Brown Bunny ** (NR; 1:32): A motorcycle racer (director Vincent Gallo) sets out on a cross-country road trip to reunite with his lost love (Chloe Sevigny). Along the way he has fleeting encounters with some lonely women. This notorious film is a slow and mostly silent exercise in capturing existential emptiness on celluloid - until it ends with an X-rated sex act that’s as shocking as the rest of the film is dull. (Columbia Tristar) (Joe Williams)

The Wedding Date ** (PG-13; 1:30): In a romantic comedy that’s occasionally funny and somewhat charming, Debra Messing plays a bridesmaid who hires sensitive gigolo Dermot Mulroney to pretend to be her boyfriend. They make an appealing couple, but like a wedding guest who’s had too much alcohol, the film quickly wears out its welcome. (Universal) (CW)

8/9/2005

Because of Winn-Dixie ** 1/2 (PG; 1:48): Young AnnaSophia Robb makes a winning lead-role debut as a lonely 10-year-old girl in a small Southern town who befriends a shaggy dog, a musical handyman (Dave Matthews) and assorted amusing stock characters. Entertaining, somewhat formulaic, not overly sentimental. (Fox) (Harper Barnes)

Kung Fu Hustle *** (R; 1:35): In this slapstick serving of karate-chop suey, some deceptively ordinary Hong Kong slum dwellers repel a takeover bid by top-hatted, tap-dancing cutthroats. Actor and director Stephen Chow has made a martial-arts movie with the tempo and absurdity of a Roadrunner cartoon. It’s deliriously entertaining, but more than a little rude. (Columbia Tristar) (Joe Williams)

Look at Me *** 1/2 (PG-13; 1:50): In the most shrewdly funny film of the year, the plain and mopey Lolita (Marilou Berry) tries to win the attention of her arrogant novelist father (Jean-Pierre Bacri). Writer and director Agnes Jaoui, who plays one of the novelist’s sycophantic fans, holds up a Parisian mirror to the kinds of cruel intellectuals we’ve met in Woody Allen’s Manhattan, but her gaze is uniquely penetrating. In French with English subtitles. (Sony) (JW)

The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz (NR; 2:00): In the zany, musical Jim Henson version of the kids classic, Ashanti plays Dorothy, an apsiring singer in a Kansas trailer park. After a tornado sweeps Dorothy and her sidekick Pepe the Shrimp to the other side of the rainbow, they meet a scarecrow (Kermit the Frog), a cowardly lion (Fozzie), the Tin Thing (Gonzo), a wicked witch (Miss Piggy) and the wish-granting Wizard of Oz (Jeffrey Tambor). Also starring Quentin Tarantino as himself (honest.) Not reviewed. (Disney)

Off the Map *** 1/2 (PG-13, 1:52): In a wistful, bittersweet and quirkily funny independent film, an odd family in rural New Mexico survives the depression of patriarch Sam Elliott with considerable help from a bright 11-year-old girl. Co-starring Joan Allen and Amy Brenneman. (Sony) (Harper Barnes)

8/2/2005

Alexander ** 1/2 (R; 2:53): Like its hero, "Alexander" is bold and ambitious, but it’s also deeply flawed. While the film conquered many overseas markets, American audiences found that Oliver Stone’s opulent, erotically charged biography of the Greek warrior-king (Colin Farrell) had too much talk and manipulative music between the spectacular battle sequences. So for the DVD release, Stone has added nine minutes of footage and four new scenes, much of it battle action, and removed 17 minutes of other footage, largely the bisexual content that distracted attention from the larger themes of imperial conquest. Those themes, along with Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer as Alexander’s volcanic parents, make it a film worth watching and debating. (Warner) (Joe Williams)

Downfall *** 1/2 (R; 2:30): Bruno Ganz gives a courageously human performance as Adolf Hitler in this searing drama about the dictator’s last days. Brilliantly directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel of "Das Experiment." (Columbia Tristar) (Calvin Wilson)

Gate of Flesh *** 1/2 (NR;1;30): Seijun Suzuki’s luridly beautiful 1964 film about the prostitutes who work among the American GIs and bombed-out rubble of post-war Tokyo is brassy and theatrical, but it’s also a compelling fable about the hunger to survive. In Japanese, with English subtitles. (Criterion Collection) (JW)

Guess Who *** (PG-13; 1:37): Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher are hilarious competitors in this entertaining, if not particularly edgy, variation on "Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner." Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan, who made the most of "Barbershop 2." (Columbia Tristar) (CW)

7/26/2005

XXX: State of the Union ** 1/2 (PG-13; 1:40): Ice Cube and Samuel L. Jackson turn in effective performances in this action flick about a right-wing plot to take over the White House. But director Lee Tamahori ("Once Were Warriors") can’t overcome the script’s lack of ambition. (CW)

Eating Out ** (NR; 1:30): A straight man who can’t find the right woman poses as a fence-sitting gay to attract a girl with a missionary complex. This sex farce is cliched and technically inept, but the unashamedly rude humor could make it the next "Showgirls." (Ariztical Entertainment) (Joe Williams)

Steamboy *** (PG-13; 1:44): In 1866 England, a boy who’s entrusted with a spherical steam valve that could unleash a world war is caught between his anti-science grandfather and mad-scientist father. From the director of the acclaimed "Akira," this feature-length anime has spectacular backgrounds and contraptions that outshine the familiar man-vs.-machine theme. (Columbia Tristar) (JW)

The Upside of Anger **** (R; 1:58): Joan Allen and Kevin Costner are brilliant - and terrifically funny - in a sophisticated, grown-up comedy about love and insecurity in modern America. Allen is a tart alcoholic whose husband has disappeared; Costner is the slovenly ex-baseball star who becomes smitten with her. Co-starring Keri Russell, Erika Christenson, Evan Rachel Wood and Alicia Witt as the daughters who broker the romance. (New Line) (Calvin Wilson)

Released 7/19/2005

Constantine *** (R; 1:57): Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz are terrific in this highly entertaining and visually imaginative action flick about a cynical exorcist-detective (Reeves) who goes to hell and back with a grieving cop (Weisz). (Calvin Wilson)

Blast (R; 1:31): A terrorist posing as an environmental protester (Vinnie Jones) takes control of an oil rig, and the only man who can stop him from detonating it is a heroic tugboat captain (Eddie Griffin). (First Look) (Not reviewed)

The Crow: Wicked Prayer (R; 1:39): When a reformed ex-convict (Edward Furlong) and his girlfriend (Emmanuelle Chriqui) are murdered by a gang, he comes back as an immortal vigilante. Talk about a pulpy cast: The fourth installment in the Crow franchise also stars David Boreanaz of TV’s "Angel." (Not reviewed)

Ice Princess ** 1/2 (G; 1:32): Given a choice between a physics scholarship to Harvard and training as a competitive ice skater, high school student Casey Carlyle feels torn between her mother’s wishes and her own passion. But Disney’s latest real-life princess movie has an appealing star (Michelle Trachtenberg), and, although formulaic, the story will charm younger girls. (Disney) (Jane Henderson)

Man of the House (PG-13; 1:37): Tommy Lee Jones is a Texas Ranger who’s assigned to protect the only witnesses to a mob execution: a house full of giggling, jiggling cheerleaders. Co-starring Cedric the Entertainer. We can’t imagine why this film was not screened for critics. (Sony)

Up and Down *** (R; 1:48): A foundling baby who is sold at a Prague pawnshop is the centerpiece of an absurdist comedy that’s a colorful but incomplete tapestry of the new Czech Republic. The Prague we visit is not the hip hangout that’s so beloved by backpackers but a provincial capital where black-market profiteers, migrant workers and soccer hooligans feed off the scraps of the new globalism. In Czech with English subtitles. (Sony) (Joe Williams)

7/11/2005

Million Dollar Baby ** 1/2 (PG-13; 2:17): In an old-fashioned melodrama that is arguably a religious allegory (think father, son and holy spirit), plucky pugilist Hilary Swank enlists the help of aging trainers Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman on an implausible ascent to a big-money championship. After a tragic twist, what started as a poignant thaw turns into a tearjerker. The ending sparked a heated debate, but the Oscar-worthy performances of Swank and Freeman, along with Eastwood’s measured direction, flattened the opposition and earned the film the Academy Award for best picture. (Warner) (JW)

Manna From Heaven (PG; 1:50): You want heartwarming? A comedic fable about a nun who tries to pay back to God the money that landed on a doorstep decades earlier, "Manna From Heaven" was produced by five sisters from a script by their mother. The Burton sisters of Buffalo, N.Y., were able to recruit a cast that includes Shirley Jones, Cloris Leachman, Louise Fletcher, Shelley Duvall, Jill Eikenberry, Wendie Malick and the late Frank Gorshin. (MGM) (Not reviewed)

Living in Missouri *** (NR: 1:30): Directed by Shaun Peterson, a 1993 Wentzville High grad, this bittersweet comedy stars writer and co-producer Connor Ratliff as an unhappy dad in mid-Missouri who neglects his wife (Christina Puzzo) to go to movies with sad-sack pal (Ian McConnel). Like a Jefferson City "Jules and Jim" (another love triangle new on DVD), it turns a friendship between perpetual adolescents into a bittersweet parable about growing up. (www.livinginmissouri.com) (Joe Williams)

Mondovino *** (PG-13; 2:10): An information-packed, sometimes polemical look at the American-led globalization of the wine business, and at a few wine growers in France and Italy who resist the changes. (ThinkFilm) (Harper Barnes)

A Very Long Engagement **** (R; 2:14): In director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s ode to the absurdity of war, Audrey Tautou ("Amelie") turns in a heartbreaking performance as a young woman who searches Europe for the lover who vanished in the trenches during World War I. Among the best films of 2004. In French with English subtitles. (Warner) (Calvin Wilson)

7/5/2005

Bride & Prejudice ** 1/2 (PG; 1:51): Director Gurinder Chadha adapts the Jane Austen novel to a romance between an arrogant American (the bland Martin Henderson) and a provincial Indian (Asian superstar Aishwarya Rai). Although this marriage of Hollywood comedy and Bollywood musical doesn’t dig as deeply into multiculturalism and gender politics as Chadha’s "Bend It Like Beckham," the surface is bubbly and colorful enough to entertain. (Joe Williams)

Dear Frankie *** (PG-13; 1:45): A strong cast that includes Emily Mortimer and Gerard Butler overcomes some moments of sentimentality in a touching Scottish film about a 9-year-old deaf boy who writes letters to a father who may not exist. Voted best feature at last year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. (Disney) (Harper Barnes)

Hide and Seek ** (R; 1:41): Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning star in this slick, empty supernatural thriller about strange goings-on in a country home. Directed by John Polson (Swimfan), it is diverting but unsatisfying. (Fox) (Calvin Wilson)

In My Country *** (R; 1:44): A strong international cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche stars in a potent if sometimes melodramatic film about the reconciliation hearings at which South African victims of apartheid faced down the men who had tortured and murdered thousands of blacks. (Columbia) (HB)

Prozac Nation (R; 1:39): Christina Ricci stars in an adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel’s best-selling book about an Ivy League drama queen and wannabe writer with chemical imbalances. (Miramax) (Not reviewed)

6/28/2005

Diary of a Mad Black Woman ** (PG-13; 1:56): In this word-of-mouth sensation, Helen (Kimberly Elise) turns to smart-mouthed grandma Madea (writer-producer Tyler Perry’s trademark character) after her wealthy husband (Steve Harris) boots her from their mansion. Helen’s earnest journey toward a new life, with the help of a hunk played by soap star Shemar Moore, alternates with slapstick antics and heavy-handed religious messages, creating constant shifts in tone. (Kevin C. Johnson)

Gunner Palace *** (PG-13; 1:25): Documentarian Michael Tucker bunks in a Baghdad palace with 400 U.S. soldiers who don’t know what they’re fighting for. Because the movie gives us the grunt’s-eye view that we ought to be getting from network newscasts, it provides a public service; but the cacophonous footage doesn’t constitute a coherent film or make a discernible argument. (Joe Williams)

The Pacifier * (PG; 1:31): Vin Diesel stars as a Navy SEAL who takes on a new assignment: baby sitter. But the film is so lame that it only gives you a new appreciation for Kindergarten Cop and the comic talents of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not even the gifted Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls) can make this flick float. Directed - if you want to call it that - by Adam Shankman. (Calvin Wilson)

6/21/2005

Coach Carter *** (PG-13; 1:45): Samuel L. Jackson is excellent in an inspiring and gritty film about a demanding inner-city high school basketball coach who cancels games when his players fail to do well in class. (Paramount) (Harper Barnes)

Hostage *** (R; 1:53): Bruce Willis is effective in this thriller about a former hostage negotiator who must infiltrate a kidnapping scene to save his family. With Kevin Pollak as a shady accountant and Ben Foster as a creepy thug. Exuberantly directed by Florent Siri. (Miramax) (Calvin Wilson)

The Jacket * 1/2 (PG-13; 1:42): Like something from a bad "Twilight Zone" episode, mental patient Adrien Brody shuttles into the future to solve his own death, with help from coffee-shop waitress Keira Knightley. Stitched from pieces of "Identity," "The Butterfly Effect," "12 Monkeys" and "Jacob’s Ladder," this ragged mess of a movie is a factory reject. (Warner Bros.) (Joe Williams)

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous * (PG-13; 1:55): Three weeks after going undercover at a beauty pageant, FBI agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock in full cutesy mode) becomes the PR spokesperson for the agency. But when the pageant winner is kidnapped, the movie devolves into the most idiotic, lazily scripted comedy of recent years. With William Shatner as the pageant host and Regina King doing penance as Gracie’s sidekick. (Warner Bros.) (JW)

6/14/2005

Hitch ** 1/2 (PG-13; 1:55): Will Smith and Eva Mendes star in this uneven but charming romantic comedy. He’s a consultant to lovelorn guys; she’s a cynical gossip columnist. Do they fall in love, or what? With Kevin James ("The King of Queens") as Smith’s hilariously awkward client. Directed with occasional verve by Andy Tennant. (Sony) (CW)

Brother to Brother *** (NR; 1:34): Anthony Mackie and Roger Robinson are outstanding in writer-director Rodney Evans’ tale of a gay art student (Mackie) and his relationship with an intriguing homeless man (Robinson). Imperfect, but impassioned. (Wolfe Video) (Calvin Wilson)

A Dirty Shame * (NC-17; 1:29): A bump on the head turns Baltimore housewife Tracey Ullman into a sex maniac. Despite the NC-17 rating, this shrill, amateurish and unfunny film from cult director John Waters ("Hairspray") is a shock-free bore. (New Line) (Joe Williams)

The Nomi Song *** (NR; 1:38): A bittersweet documentary about Klaus Nomi, the aspiring German singer who moved to Manhattan in the late ’70s and reinvented himself as an opera diva from Mars. Nomi was an enigma and one of the first celebrities to die of AIDS, so the movie substitutes light artifice and new-wave nostalgia for deep insight. (Universal Music Video) (JW)

6/7/2005

Be Cool * 1/2 (PG-13; 1:54): In a laughless, punchless sequel to the excellent "Get Shorty," ex-mobster Chili Palmer (John Travolta) goes into the music biz, promoting singer Christina Milian for widowed label boss Uma Thurman. Only Andre Benjamin as a trigger-happy rapper and the Rock as the gay bodyguard of hip-hop doofus Vince Vaughn escape this train wreck intact. And Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, who plays himself, has hell to pay. (MGM) (Joe Williams)

Beyond the Sea ** 1/2 (PG-13: 2:01): Kevin Spacey directs, stars and sings in a cracked-mirror biography of entertainer Bobby Darin. As a character analysis and narrative experiment, it’s waterlogged, but Spacey’s verve and the breezy glide of the music keep it afloat. (Lions Gate) (JW)

Imaginary Heroes *** (R; 1:52): Sigourney Weaver turns in a stunningly nuanced performance in writer-director Dan Harris’ flawed drama about suburban ennui. The film meanders, but Weaver makes it worth seeing. It’s her best work since "The Ice Storm." With Emile Hirsch and Jeff Daniels. (Sony) (Calvin Wilson)

The Machinist *** (R;1:42): Christian Bale gives a shocking performance, for which he lost 60 pounds, in director Brad Anderson’s thriller about an insomniac factory worker who thinks he’s the target of a murder conspiracy. It’s a predictable psychological thriller, but Bale and the sickly visuals will hook you. With Jennifer Jason Leigh as a sympathetic call girl. (Paramount) (CW)

Other new releases

The Agronomist: This lively, moving and informative documentary tells the histories of Haiti and radio journalist Jean Dominique. Director Jonathan Demme, who infuses his documentaries with the same vividness as his best features ("Something Wild," "Melvin and Howard"), has a long-term interest in the island nation, co-directing the 1987 "Haiti: Dreams of Democracy." The film follows the good-humored, charismatic Dominique over many years, covering exiles; attacks on his Radio Haiti headquarters; the death of tyrannical "Papa Doc" Duvalier; the deposing of equally despotic heir "Baby Doc"; and the election, overthrow and return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. This film serves as a tribute to an inspiring figure. (New Line) (Cliff Froehlich)