The X-Files: I Want to Believe

This borderline sci-fi soap opera could have benefited from a more visionary treatment from a director like David Lynch or William Friedkin instead of from the film's writer/producer/director Chris Carter. Carter's rote script requires Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny to call each other Scully and Mulder so many times that you’ll wish the writer had ever paid attention to screenwriting laws laid down by John Cassavetes or David Mamet. A missing female FBI agent is cause for the Government organization to call in former agents Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) to help solve the case with the dubious aid of Father Joseph (Billy Connolly), a psychic former pedophile priest in search of redemption. Severed body parts buried in snowy parts of Virginia and West Virginia give clues to a black-market organ transplant operation responsible for the serial killings of many people. For all of the fan hullabaloo around its plotline, "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" is little more than an extended if atmospheric version of the former television show. One particular false-bottom death scene after a routine chase sequence corrupts any suspension of disbelief. Nevertheless, there is some pleasure to be had in seeing Duchovny and Anderson reprise their best-loved roles, even if shrill performances from Amanda Peet and "Xzibit" drag down the movie.

Rated PG-13, 104 mins. (C) (Two Stars)

The Dark Knight

Gone are the days that "Spider-Man 2" held the title for representing the high watermark of the comic book movie genre. "The Dark Knight" packs in at least two films worth of action, suspense, spectacle, horror, and nuanced social commentary. Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman give muscular ensemble performances that support the late Heath Ledger’s undeniably finest acting achievement as the film’s suicidal anarchist villain The Joker. From its furious opening bank robbery sequence to its closing seconds of conflicted gravitas, "The Dark Knight" sustains an exhausting intensity with perfectly layered dramatic sub-plots that make it an adult action film unlike any other. Writer/director Chris Nolan and co-screenwriter Jonathan Nolan have corrected the diluted tone of "Batman Begins" that veered too far into flights of action fantasy. The result is a movie that should only be viewed on an IMAX screen to fully savor its thick narrative structure and visual virtuosity. This is that very rare movie you’ll want to see more than twice.

Rated PG-13, 150 mins. (A+)

Felon

Former stuntman Rick Waugh turns writer/director to make a compelling and gritty drama that is as much a commentary on America's failed justice/prison system as it is about the devastation suffered by an honest family man imprisoned for killing a burglar at his New Mexico home. Stephen Dorf plays Wade Porter, the owner of contracting business whose looming wedding plans to his pregnant fiancée are shattered when he chases an intruder into his front yard before killing him with a single blow from a baseball bat. Unfamiliar with conflicting prison and inmate codes of behavior, Wade becomes a doomed scapegoat in a culture of violence exacerbated by corrupt prison guards. Although the film strains on its forcibly optimistic third act resolution, it makes a convincing case against a prison system that flatly doesn’t work on any level for a civilized society. Val Kilmer gives a strong performance as Wade’s stoic cellmate John Smith, and Sam Shepherd adds charisma in a supporting role as John’s longtime friend.

Rated R, 104 mins. (B) (Three Stars)

The Doorman

"The Doorman" is a thinly written indie comedy--it's only 79 minutes long--that will have you kicking yourself for wasting whatever time and money you spent to watch it. Newcomer Lucas Akoskin plays Eurotrash Trevor, a narcissistic Manhattan doorman wallowing in the only somewhat glamorous lifestyle of serving as judge to who will or won't get in to the chic nightspots where he stands guard. Designed as a mockumentary, a film crew follow Trevor to capture his constant gab about how great he is and what it takes to be such a successful object of desire—he fancies himself a fashion model as well. Travor makes Kathy Griffin look like the Queen of England by comparison. The movie never finds a story, and its would-be humor falls flat as an amateur comic doing his first stand-up performance.

Not Rated. 86 mins. (D) (One Star)

Mamma Mia! The Movie

Once it gets past its high-pitched squeals of estrogen-fueled excitement in the opening sequences, director Phyllida Lloyd’s screen adaptation of the popular Broadway play based on Abba songs, settles into a harmonically pleasing musical comedy set amid the extraordinary beauty of the Greek isle of Skopelos. Former 80s’ girl-trio singer Donna (exquisitely played by the ever-surprising Meryl Streep) has single-handedly raised her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) on the island where the two operate a hotel villa. On the eve of her marriage to local hunk Sky (Dominic Cooper), Sophie has used information she culled from her mom’s old diary to invite Donna’s three former boyfriends to the wedding in the hope of discovering her unknown father. Stellan Skarsgard, Pierce Brosnan, and Colin Firth do the honors as the trio of possible dads, and their arrival times well with that of Donna’s cherished band pals Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski). "Mamma Mia! The Movie" is tilted toward the play’s target of middle aged to elderly audience members, but that’s not to say there isn’t plenty of entertainment to be had for everyone else in this pop-tinged travelogue of Grecian opulence.

Rated PG-13, 108 mins. (B+) (Four Stars)

The Exiles

Director Brent MacKenzie’s black-and-white documentary/narrative genre blender about urbanized Native Americans in 1961 Los Angeles is a cold glass of cinematic water drawn from the same well as Joseph Strick’s "The Savage Eye" (1960). MacKenzie uses editorial voice-over narration to elaborate on his reckless characters’ existential lifestyle during a night of carousing amid LA’s impoverished Bunker Hill neighborhood where the steeply inclined "Angel’s Flight" trolley car delivered passengers into the thick of its immigrant community. Bold in its visionary attempt to capture an essence of American Indian reality that is evermore significant today for its strangled condemnation of America’s betrayal of a people it murdered and displaced before such war crimes became articulated in our common vernacular, "The Exiles" is a one-of-a-kind film.

Not Rated, 72 mins. (A) (Five Stars)

Death Defying Acts

Guy Pierce is miscast as Harry Houdini in this ill-conceived melodrama that takes too much dramatic license in concocting a ritualistic romance that Houdini develops with Mary (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a vaudeville psychic interested in winning a $10,000 prize Houdini offers for his deceased mother’s last words. Mary and her scrappy daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan) share little chemistry as Houdini wines and dines Mary, who physically resembles his mother. Historic facts of Houdini’s life are sprinkled throughout the story to pad the fictional speculation about the entertainer’s inner demons. Guy Pierce’s performance is perhaps the worst researched role of the year, and Catherine Zeta-Jones never connects to her character’s lower class milieu. Even the usually believable Timothy Spall ("Secrets and Lies") chokes as Houdini’s rudderless manager.

Not Rated, 97 mins. (C) (Two Stars)

Harold

Spencer Breslin ("The Cat In the Hat") plays Harold, a 13-year-old boy whose very early male pattern baldness does little to stem his deeply-held sense of dignity and maturity even when his clueless mom (Alley Sheedy) moves Harold and his snotty sister to a new town. Harold finds a helpful ally in Cromer (Cuba Gooding Jr.) a junior high school janitor ready to help protect the dorky bald kid from some of the obvious abuses hurled his way. Breslin is the best thing about this myopic comedy that doesn't even get any humorous traction from the stereotypes it presses through its low-fidelity independent film filter. Most aggravating is the hackneyed character the Oscar-winning Cuba Gooding Jr. plays. It's a painful thing to witness.

Rated PG-13, 105 mins. (C-) (Two Stars)

The Last Mistress

Paris, 1835--On the eve of his marriage to frigid French aristocrat Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida), Ryno do Marigny (Fu-ad Ait Aatou) tells his fiancé’s grandmother, Marquise de Flers (Claude Sarraute), the sordid details of his ten-year relationship with his fiery Spanish mistress Vellini (Asia Argento), a woman of unquenchable desire. Fraught with leaden exposition, melodramatic outbursts of billowy emotion, and dispassionate sex scenes, the movie ultimately fails because of its lack empathetic characters, and because their situation remains stagnate regardless of the objectively tumultuous episodes they endure. Lush cinematic compositions, locations, and costumes compensate for some of the story's lacking impact, but not enough to recommend it as anything more than a guilty pleasure.

Not Rated, 115 mins. (C-)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy sequel is a simultaneously exhilarating and underwhelming experience due to the laid-back attitude of its characters, and nebulous sub-plot elements that contrast blankly against del Toro’s trademark of baroquely drawn details. Hopelessly macho lug Hellboy (exquisitely played by the one and only Ron Perlman) lives a clandestine existence with his newly-pregnant pyrokinetic squeeze Liz (played by Selma Blair) in the guarded confines of New York’s Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Dark Prince Nuada (played by Luke Goss) escalates from his saber rattling practice routine to go on a violent rampage to obtain the missing part to a crown that will awaken an army of indestructible clockwork soldiers and enable him to rule the world. Hellboy and his fighting team, that includes a creature-from-the-black-lagoon-styled pal Abe Sapien and a not-so-welcome German gas-bag named Johann, do battle with Nuada’s weird creatures when they aren’t concerned with more mundane chores of romance and marriage. The super-hero battles aren’t choreographed and edited with enough pizzazz to meet heightened audience expectations raised with every new addition to the comic book movie genre. Nonetheless, this is a visually delightful movie packed with plenty of goofy character elements that keep it entertaining.

PG-13, 110 mins. (B) (Three Stars)

Journey to the Center of the Earth

This maiden feature-length Digital 3D movie is a breathtaking adaptation of Jules Verne's classic sci-fi novel, filled with eye-pleasing gags and sudden shocks of surprise that fall under the spell of strong performances from its terrific three-person cast. Icelandic newcomer Anita Briem makes an impressive debut as Hannah, the strong-willed guide who takes scientist Trevor Anderson (played by Brendan Fraser) and his nephew Sean (played by Josh Hutcherson) deep inside the planet. "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is a memorable kid's action/adventure movie that has as much respect for its young audience as it does for its exciting sense of spectacle. Giant flying prehistoric piranhas, enormous Venus fly traps, and ancient dinosaurs are just some of the discoveries our trio of fearless explorers find even if they never sweat in the scorching conditions at the Earth’s core.

 

Rated PG, 97 mins. (B)

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

For all of its illumination of one of the most enigmatic figures in American literature, "Gonzo" mistakenly paints Hunter S. Thompson as a writer whose star burned out decades before his long foreshadowed suicide in 2005. Director Alex Gibney taps Thompson’s longtime friend Johnny Depp for narration duties, but fails to interview the actor for his insights into the film’s subject. The documentary is frontloaded to a fault, covering Thompson’s early career that produced such milestones as Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga" "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Although billed as a definitive film biography of the fearless interloper who invented "Gonzo" journalism, the movie falls short on covering large swaths of Thomposn’s later career. Absent is the ‘80s period when he wrote as the San Francisco Examiner’s media critic while doing research for an unpublished novel called Polo is My Life. As an introduction to the life and ideas of one of America’s last truly original literary voices, the movie does an adequate job, but there is nothing "definitive" about it.

Rated R, 95 mins. (B-)

The Wackness

Screenwriter/director Jonathan Levine makes a remarkable sophomore film with a deceptively simple story of urban romance set in Manhattan's final pot-friendly days of the mid-‘90s before Rudolph Giuliani’s Disneyfication took its stranglehold on the city. Newcomer Josh Peck plays high-school senior Luke Shapiro, a charismatic pot dealer with the hots for his therapist’s step-daughter Stephanie (played by Olivia Thirlby). Ben Kingsley is Luke’s developmentally-challenged therapist Dr. Squires who trades sessions for pot, and is only too happy to advise the young man on how to extract the most joy from his fiery youth. Hip Hop music of the era from such artists as Notorious B.I.G and R. Kelly feature prominently in underscoring a last gasp of freedom in America. At once sophisticated and naïve, "The Wackness" is a nuanced period piece about achieving happiness at a time when the rug was being pulled out from under urban society. Ben Kingsley’s performance is nothing short of mesmerizing, and supports his resurgence as a renaissance actor along with his other impressive effort in "Elegy."

Rated R, 95 mins. (B+)

Wall-E

Drawing on science fiction epics like "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Star Wars" "Wall-E" may be the first truly dystopian animated movie for kids. The movie starts out with a stunning 16 minutes of dialogue-free set up that establishes solar-powered robot trash compactor Wall-E and his cockroach pal as inheritors of a post-apocalyptic earth covered in garbage. 700 years after humans have abandoned the planet, happy-go-lucky Wall-E goes about his daily chores of collecting, compacting, and stacking trash into enormous but neat towers. Every night the good-natured little bot returns to his industrial abode where he mimes along with a video copy of Hello Dolly. Wall-E’s lonely existence takes a romantic turn when a super-modern robot named EVE is dispatched to the planet to retrieve a piece of vegetation to take back to her mother ship. The smitten Wall-E follows EVE onto the intergalactic craft which houses a colony of grotesquely obese humans who serve as mindless consumer masses to the dubious "B&L" corporation that controls their every waking hour of inaction. A powerful musical score from Thomas Newman embellishes this surprisingly downbeat computer-animated comedy.

 

Rated PG, 97 mins. (A)

Trumbo

Blacklisted screenwriter and freedom-fighter Dalton Trumbo is revealed in this touching documentary that utilizes talking-head interviews along with Trumbo's letters to people and institutions to flesh out the man responsible for such film classics as "Johnny Got His Gun," "Spartacus," "Roman Holiday," and "Papillon." Joan Allen, Michael Douglas, David Strathairn, and Donald Sutherland are some of the actors that vicariously channel Trumbo by reading his letters as monologues mixed with dramatic and comic inflection. Trumbo was named as one of the House on un-American Activities Committee's list of 10 blacklisted screenwriters indicted by Congress for contempt for refusing to confirm or deny membership in the Communist Party. The hugely successful Hollywood writer served a year in prison before taking his family into exile in Mexico along with some of his Hollywood Ten peers. Upon returning to the states penniless a year later, Trumbo began writing a plethora of blackmarket screenplays under a variety of different names. He was never able to collect the Oscar he won for "Roman Holiday." "Trumbo" is a passionate depiction of a fiercely ethical, grouchy, prodigious, articulate and loving individual.
Rated PG-13, 96 mins. (B+)

Gunnin' for That #1 Spot

Harlem's legendary Rucker Park at 155^th Street and Frederick Douglas Boulevard, is a place where basketball greats like Dr. J and Wilt Chamberlain first proved their skills. The public institution is at the center of this vibrant documentary about 8 of the highest ranked high school basketball players of 2006. Beastie Boy member Adam Yauch uses clever baseball-card-style graphics to brand high school B-ball phenoms Jerryd Bayles, Michael Beasley, Tyreke Evans, Donte Greene, Brandon Jennings, Kevin Love, Kyle Singler, and Lance Stephenson as basketball's next NBA hotshots. Although much of its archive footage from high school games shows up blurry, pixleated or in an otherwise raw form, it nonetheless clarifies the abilities of thoroughly committed young players executing their most impressive basketball skills. The picture inevitably hits its stride during the Rucker Park Tournament were nicknames like "Wireless" or "Kevlar" can only be awarded to the players by the loquacious courtside announcer calling the game. It’s the intelligent and gifted players that make the biggest impact derived from their respect for the opportunity before them.

Rated PG-13, 80 mins. (B-)

Boy A

Based on Jonathan Trigell's novel, this dramatically charged sophomore film from British director John Crowley ("Intermission") follows the erratic trajectory of "Boy A," (well played by Andrew Garfield) after his release from a juvenile incarceration facility for the murder of a child. Under the protection of his parole officer (Peter Mullan), Boy A is given a new identity as Jack Burridge and moved to Manchester where he's placed into a job and strikes up a romance with the company's receptionist Michelle (Katie Lyons). In spite of all attempts to keep his troubled past secret from co-workers, Jack is unable to keep history at bay. Well-acted, atmospheric, and gripping, "Boy-A" nevertheless negates much of its dramatic force with an ending that woefully attempts to shoehorn novelistic precedent into cinematic form.

Not Rated, 100 mins. (B-)

Elegy

Based on Philip Roth’s novella "The Dying Animal," "Elegy" an impassioned cinematic adaptation from director Isabel Coixet ("The Secret Life of Worlds") that poignantly captures the hypocrisy, lust, and self-imposed torment of David Kepesh, an aging college literature professor (exquisitely played by Ben Kingsley) enslaved to youthful beauty. Mortality plays an increasingly powerful role after David seduces his former student Consuela Castillo (Penelope Cruz) and struggles to maintain their relationship in spite of his jealousy and selfishness that undermines the worshiping affection he lavishes on her. Surprising jabs of humor penetrate the drama as the time-folded narrative flips between David’s candid discussions with his like-minded womanizing poet friend George (Dennis Hopper) and his romanticized affair with Consuela that occurs beyond David's sexual relationship of 20-years with Carolyn (Patricia Clarkson). Bracing, inventive, and embellished with refreshing emotional realism, this is a modern adult movie that moves its audience closer to elemental truths about life, love, and death. It also contains some of the finest acting work of their careers from Kingsley, Cruz, and Hopper.

Rated R, 111 mins. (A)

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

"Mansfield Park" director Patricia Rozema delivers a prudently nostalgic depression-era dramedy about 11-year-old Kit Kittredge (well played by the irrepressible Abigail Breslin) of the American Girl book series. Kit wants to write editorial essays about the Great Depression from a "kid’s-eye-view" for her local Cincinnati newspaper. The dire 1934 economic crisis comes home to roost when her father (played by Chris O’Donnell) loses his car dealership and leaves his family to look for work in Chicago. Kit befriends a couple of child hobos named Will and Countee who take her on a tour of their homeless existence, while Kit’s mom (well played by Julia Ormond) opens the family’s house to boarders in order to keep up their mortgage payments. A rash of burglaries points to Kit’s friend Will as the prime suspect, and she sets out to solve the crimes with the help of her two best friends. A talented cast that includes Joan Cusack and Stanley Tucci, elevate the movie above its after-school-special limitations.

Rated G, 100 mins. (B)

Man on Wire

Filmmaker James Marsh ("Wisconsin Death Trip" and "The King") has made a brilliant love letter to the late World Trade Center that transcends the cruel fate of the twin towers via the daredevil artistry of Philipe Petit, who wire-walked between the buildings on August 7, 1974. Part biography and part suspense thriller, "Man on Wire" seamlessly unites archive footage with reenactments and interviews to give the viewer a multi-dimensional grasp of the enormous ensemble effort that allowed Philippe to perform for 45 amazing minutes, 1,350 feet over Manhattan’s dazzling skyline. The film traces the moment when a 15-year-old Philippe first read about the towers before they were built. From that moment, the skilled wirewalker street performer became obsessed with realizing his dream. With the help of close friends and some very knowledgeable associates, the crew set about penetrating the WTC’s security with the methodical precision of professional bank robbers to prepare the steel cable and rigging equipment needed for the task. No amount of description can transmit the passion and joy in this wonderful picture, assisted by a lyrical musical score by composer Michael Myman. See this movie.

Not Rated, 102 mins. (A+)

Encounters at the End of the World

Werner Herzog has embedded his logic and passionate speech patterns so deeply into his individual brand of cinema that his narrative and documentary films speak to us with a loving authority that is unavoidable. Such is the nature of his latest daredevil piece of filmmaking in which he travels to Antarctica's McMurdo scientific research station to investigate the unifying bond that connects the workers and scientists who work there under six months of never-ending daylight. Indeed, it's an eccentric lot. There's a plumber descended from Aztec royalty--you can tell by his hands, and scientists who love to sit around watching sci-fi horror movies from the '50s. "Encounters at the End of the World," is just that--an adventure documentary where our perception of nature's fierce beauty and the people who co-exist there are filtered through Herzog's mad-genius mind and inexhaustible lust for life and danger. It's cinema with gusto--damn you bet.

Rated G, 99 mins. (A)

The Incredible Hulk

Slow pacing and a muted sound production only add to the CGI disaster inflicted on what should have been a believable superhero created with 21st century technology. Instead, this Hulk--attributed to Rhythm & Hues Studios, Soho VFX, and Image Engine--isn't enough of an improvement over Ang Lee's shoddy version to satisfy cinema audiences who know to expect better. Even Edward Norton’s workmanlike performance is scuttled in the visual ineptness of a creature that should have retained some of the actor’s identity. Pedestrian screenwriting by Zak Penn puts final insult to injury after a rushed credit sequence of exposition sets up scientist Bruce Banner as a refugee from his Jekyll and Hyde dilemma. Banner lives a stoic life in the Flavelas of Brazil where he studies with a martial arts master to control his shape-shifting anger when he isn’t working at a soft drink bottling factory as a non-paid consultant. Back in the States, baneful General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt) brings in aging badass soldier Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) to capture Banner so that the military can use his volatile blood to create a new type of military fighting machine. A love story sub-plot between General Ross’ daughter Betty (Liv Tyler) gives the movie what little narrative friction there is between battle scenes of a video-game-quality Hulk flipping cars and taking on one very souped up rival monster. "The Incredible Hulk" is a dud.

Rated PG-13, 112 mins. (C-)

Three Monkeys ("Uc Maymun")

On first sight a strong contender for the Palme d’Or, Turkish director/co-writer Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s ("Les Climats") film is about a father, mother, and son caught in a web of corruption, betrayal, and murder makes thoughtful use of its see no, hear no, speak no evil, metaphor. Troubles begin when Servet (Ercan Kesal) an ambitious politician kills a pedestrian at night with his car and bribes his regular driver Eyup (played by popular Turkish folk singer Yavuz Bingol) to take responsibility and serve the nine-month jail sentence that comes with it. Eyup’s lazy teenage son Ismael (Ahmet Rifat Sungar) talks his mother Hacer (Hatice Aslan) into requesting an advance on the bribe from Servet, and the family spirals down a self-perpetrating path of depravity. This sparsely-told story speaks volumes with a cinematic poetry that you would expect to find in Cannes.

Not Rated, 109 mins. (A)

My Winnipeg

Guy Maddin ("The Saddest Music in the World") is the most accessible and successful avant-garde filmmaker working today. In "My Winnipeg," the Canadian auteur takes the viewer on a historic tour of his childhood growing up in the small economically depressed town. Maddin’s unflattering depiction of his mother (represented by ‘40s noir icon Ann Savage) as a cruel and neglectful woman comes across, as does his father’s dislocation after losing his job at the ice hockey stadium famous for popularizing the sport. Shot in his signature black-and-white, the highly personal "docu-fantasy" sustains a dreamlike quality that freely allows non sequitur ideas, historical events, and memories to come alive. If you go into a Guy Maddin movie with an open mind the rewards can be more lasting than any other film genre. Deeply personal transformative civic thought is the name of the game here.

Not Rated, 80 mins. (B+)

Get Smart

Although it never achieves a consistent amount of momentum, and Steve Carell is under-directed by Peter Segal ("Tommy Boy"), "Get Smart" pulls off a sufficient number of goofy set pieces to earn its entertainment value. Aside from the ever-flat presence of Dwayne Johnson—here playing Agent 23, a good-guy spy with a jealousy issue—it’s Anne Hathaway who drags the comedy down due to a condescending attitude that permeates her role as sexpot spy Agent 99. Where Barbara Feldon played the television roll of Maxwell Smart’s capable partner with a knowing wink, Hathaway takes her hairstyle too seriously to be in on the joke—namely that Max is an idiot savant spy with a quick tongue. Don’t look for a story here because there isn’t one, but that’s as it should be for the post-post-cold-war treatment of Russia as an excuse for great location shooting in Moscow. Alan Arkin gives a snappy performance as the U.S. spy agency CONTROL Chief, referred to only as the Chief, and the production values are high. For a slick Hollywood summer comedy, "Get Smart" just does the trick.

Rated PG-13, 111 mins. (B-)