Friday, November 14, 2008
'Changeling'
Drama, R, 140 minutes
Clint Eastwood's film made me feel sympathy, then anger and then back again. It's the factual account of a mother whose boy disappeared and of a corrupt LAPD running wild. Angelina Jolie stars as the mother, John Malkovich as a crusading reformer, and Jason Butler Harner is riveting as the serial killer.
Rating: ''''
'Soul Men'
Comedy, R, 103 minutes
Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac play onetime song-and-dance stars whose partner has died. Now they're desperately needed to appear in a memorial concert at the Apollo in Harlem. They're not even speaking to each other. There is a fight about a woman.
Lots of good music and dance, and touching tributes at the end to Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes.
Rating: '''
'Role Models'
Comedy, R, 99 minutes
This is a comedy that is actually funny. Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott play teammates who drive a super truck from school to school, touting a Jolt-like energy drink. They get into trouble, are sentenced to community service, and are assigned two problem kids.
Rating: '''
"Madagascar:
Escape 2 Africa"
Animated, PG, 88 minutes
Same characters, same challenge: Can wild animals survive in the wild? Our heroes tape together a crashed airplane and try to fly it home, but end up dealing with volcanos and drought. Brighter and funnier than the original.
Rating: '''
'Zack and Miri
Make a Porno'
Comedy, R, 101 minutes
Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks play poverty-row roommates who face eviction and ruin. They become unwitting superstars on YouTube and have a brilliant idea: They'll cash in on their fame by making a porn film. Rogen and Banks make a lovable couple; she's pretty and goes one for one on the bleep language, and Rogen, how can I say this, is growing on me, the big lug.
Rating: '''
'Body of Lies'
Action, R, 129 minutes
A James Bond plot inserted into today's headlines with expertise about modern spy craft, terrorism, the CIA and Middle East politics. Its hero (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a lone ranger who operates in three countries, fabricates a fictitious terrorist organization, and survives explosions, gunfights and brutal torture. Some elements you can believe, but too much is sensationally implausible. Co-starring Russell Crowe.
Rating: '''
- Roger Ebert
'The Haunting
of Molly Hartley'
Horror, PG-13, 83 minutes
"The Haunting of Molly Hartley" manages about a dozen "gotcha" moments, each cheaper than the one before. But it's still more novel than your average "Saw" installment, a chiller of modest ambition if unskilled execution. Haley Bennett plays Molly, the new kid in a fancy prep school, a girl running from her past, disturbed by her dreams.
Rating: ''
'Beverly Hills Chihuahua'
Family, PG, 89 minutes
"Beverly Hills Chihuahua" takes one of the little bug-eyed rats on an "Incredible Journey," from her chic life in Beverly Hills to the dog fights of Mexico, with a side trip into the land of Chihuahua, where wild lap dogs yap and dance, never to tremble in fear of being stepped on again.
Rating: ''
-Roger Moore, MCT