Here are selected minireviews of films in theaters, listed alphabetically. Ratings range from zero to four stars.
“16 Blocks”
ACTION|** 1/2|PG-13|There are two reasons to see director Richard Donner’s “16 Blocks” Bruce Willis and Mos Def play Jack Mosley and Eddie Bunker, a run-down detective and a petty criminal turned grand jury witness. When the rookie task of getting Eddie from jail to court turns lethal, the two become prey to a wolf pack of corrupt detectives led by Jack’s former partner (David Morse). Mos Def takes Eddie’s nonstop chattering to nasal heights. Willis wears Jack’s 20-plus years in the NYPD with a slump, a receding hairline and a swelled belly. This isn’t a vanity role. But the cops gone bad plot is over-the-top. Too often the action clamor and weak script (by Richard Wenk) make “16 Blocks” feel like a flatfoot trying to chase down a better movie. (Lisa Kennedy)|97 minutes
“Aquamarine”
COMING-OF-AGE STORY|** 1/2|PG| The adventures begin when Claire and Hailey find a mermaid in the pool. Which means they have to deal with the mermaid, the moving-away thing and a cute lifeguard named Ray. There’s nothing original about “Aquamarine,” which owes a fish-out-of-water debt to “Splash.” But there’s a sense that the script understands how tween girls think and what interests them (or maybe it’s just what we hope interests tween girls): romance, not sex. Their innocent crush on Ray, for instance, is adorable, as are their not-quite-successful attempts to pick up dating techniques from the sages at Seventeen. (Chris Hewitt, Knight Ridder Newspapers)|107 minutes
“Ask the Dust”
PERIOD DRAMA|***|R|Writer-director Robert Towne wanted to make “Ask the Dust” for more than 30 years. He read John Fante’s novel about a young Italian-American writer who finds his muses in the dust-choked, sun-bleached environs of 1930s Los Angeles while writing “Chinatown.” With Colin Farrell’s muscularly delicate performance, Towne has created a moody, emotionally elegant drama. Salma Hayek plays Camilla, Arturo Bandini’s love and nemesis. “Rent’s” Idina Menzel repels then mesmerizes as the other handmaiden to Arturo’s growth, Vera Rifkin. There’s a blues played here for a kind of bygone storytelling. “Ask the Dust” mourns a city long ago lost even as it celebrates an old-school belief in “the writer.” (Kennedy)|117 minutes
“Brokeback Mountain”
LOVE STORY|****|R|From Stetson to boot tip, director Ang Lee has remained true to the vigor, the elements-roughened characters of Annie Proulx’s short story (adapted by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana). Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal master their roles as Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, two cowboys who meet in 1963 wrangling sheep in Wyoming and begin a 20-year relationship. As their wives, Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway bring even more hurting truths to the tale. Yet as much as “Brokeback” resonates with contemporary battles about love and marriage, Lee’s film remains hushed like Ennis and full of desire like Jack. (Kennedy)| 134 minutes
“CSA: The Confederate States of America”
FAKE DOCUMENTARY|*** 1/2|NOT RATED|Writer-director Kevin Willmott’s fake documentary imagines a nation after the South wins the Civil War, and the results are brutally hilarious. Willmott is unflinchingly offensive to all parties, even noting how Lincoln never really wanted to free slaves. His modern “America” spreads slaveholding to the North as part of reconstruction, and eventually welcomes Hitler as a kindred spirit in racial purity. At once homage to Ken Burns and parody of the patented PBS style, Willmott’s low-budget effort is a revelation. (Michael Booth)|88 minutes
“Caché (Hidden)”
THRILLER|***|R |Georges Laurent (Daniel Auteuil) hosts a successful TV gabfest about books. Wife Anne (Juliette Binoche) works for an accomplished publisher. They have a mop-headed teenage son. Michael Haneke’s “Caché (Hidden)” opens with an unblinking gaze focused on the Laurent’s home. The well-heeled couple watch the scene unfold on a videotape delivered anonymously. More tapes come. Stalkerlike clues and unsettling dreams eventually lead Georges to his childhood home, then to the apartment of an Algerian man. In May, Haneke won the Cannes film fest award for this methodical, subdued thriller. “Caché” poses razor-sharp questions about France and its North African citizens, as well as personal and national guilt. (Kennedy)|121 minutes
“Capote”
BIOPIC|*** 1/2|R|On Truman Capote’s first visit to Holcomb, Kan., the famed author experiences some awkward encounters. In a gesture at once superior and defensive, the flamboyant writer of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” touches his scarf and says to a cop he thinks is staring too hard, “Bergdorf’s.” A few beats later, a lead investigator tips his hat to the author and says, “Sears, Roebuck.” This is one of the many fine moments in Bennett Miller’s “Capote,” which depicts with exquisite balance the tension between the urbane and the rural. The film follows Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman in a disquietingly human performance) as he reports what became his greatest book, “In Cold Blood.” Catherine Keener as Nelle Harper Lee provides moral ballast in a tale about art, journalism and ambition. (Kennedy)| 114 minutes
“Curious George”
ANIMATED FAMILY FILM|***|G|An amiable and amusing animated film that brings the beloved children’s character to the big screen for the first time. While it doesn’t reach the same heights as the Pixar or DreamWorks animated films, it should please both youngsters and their parents. Starring the voices of Will Ferrell, Dick Van Dyke, and Drew Barrymore. (James Ward, Visalia Times-Delta)|87 minutes
“Date Movie”
SPOOF|** 1/2|PG-13|From the makers of “Scary Movie” and “Spy Hard” comes a nonstop spoof on romantic comedies. Don’t expect enlightenment, but it’s fair to expect a good number of crude laughs at the expense of an overworked genre. Alyson Hannigan manages to keep it all sweet, and there are plenty of “I can’t believe they did that” moments. (Booth)|70 minutes
“Dave Chappelle’s Block Party”
CONCERT DOCUMENTARY|***|R| Michel Gondry’s documentary “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” is as deceptively rough-hewn as the Comedy Central variety show Chappelle so famously walked away from. The engaging moments come when the comic heads to the Ohio town he calls home to invite his fellow denizens to a hip-hop shindig he’s throwing in New York’s Bedford-Stuyvesant. The concert features heavy hitters Kanye West, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and the Fugees. Paired with Chappelle’s recent Actors Studio appearance, “Block Party” offers a portrait of a man intent on entertaining but also driven to stay connected. (Kennedy)|103 minutes
“Eight Below”
FAMILY ADVENTURE|** 1/2|PG|When readying your family for a trek to Disney’s “Eight Below,” be sure to tuck away some Kleenex. This PG tale of a sled-dog team left to face a winter alone in Antarctica can be rough going. Paul Walker stars as guide who does everything he can to get back to the pack he was forced by a storm to leave. The real stars and more expressive performers, however, are the 16 dogs that play Maya, Max and their teammates. When the drama of the dogs gets too real, the movie cuts to Jerry’s melancholy quest. Yet as unbearable as it can feel, we yearn for time with the four-legged cast. If you thought imperiled emperor penguins were heart-wrenching, beware of these dogs. (Kennedy)|120 minutes
“Failure to Launch”
Y-CHROMOSOME ROMANTIC COMEDY|
** 1/2|PG-13|Matthew McConaughey
and Sarah Jessica Parker star in this romantic comedy – directed by “Shanghai Noon’s” Tom Dey – that hopes to wrench the guy demographic away from its Game Boys – girlfriends in tow. Manly yes, but she’ll like it too. Tripp (McConaughey) and friends Demo and Ace are grown men still living comfortably with their folks. During a visit with friends who rediscovered their friskiness once their son was out of the house, Tripp’s parents (Kathy Bates and football great Terry Bradshaw) hire consultant Paula (Parker) to coax their big bird from the too cozy nest they’ve provided him. Zooey Deschanel, Justin Bartha and Bradley Cooper make good friend foils to Tripp and Paula’s main attraction fireworks. (Kennedy)|105 minutes
“Find Me Guilty”
MAFIA LIFE|* 1/2|R|Vin Diesel is in danger of becoming the new Sylvester Stallone, endearing in small and early doses and increasingly annoying as he exploits the rewards of initial success. Here he stretches too far to play a kindhearted New Jersey mob goombah who serves as his own lawyer to protect himself and 20 “family members” in a courtroom. Allegedly true, but that doesn’t make it great. (Booth)|125 minutes
“Firewall”
THRILLER|** 1/2|PG-13|This is the bank security system that Jack Stanfield built. This is the system that Jack built that cyberrobber Bill Cox (Paul Bettany) plans to steal millions from. This is the wife (Virginia Madsen) and kids Bill will use as leverage to break into the system that Jack built. If “Firewall” feels familiar, its because star Harrison Ford infuses this sometimes tense, more often routine, thriller with his brand of emotion. Security, vulnerability and the American family under siege are themes that might have earned additional thought. But “Firewall,” directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Joe Forte, gives us little reason to bestow deeper meaning on what is basically a pre-owned Ford vehicle. (Kennedy)|105 minutes
“Gay Sex in the 70s”
DOCUMENTARY|** 1/2|NOT RATED|
Thirty years ago, Manhattan’s West Village was a fun house for anonymous trysts between men in short shorts and big bushy mustaches. “Gay Sex in the 70s,” recaps who did what with whom on which drug how many times a day. Sex, then, was an intramural sport, and the film manages to look back on all the play-by-plays with fondness and pride. The message is unmistakable: Use a condom. (Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe)|67 minutes
“The Hills Have Eyes”
HORROR REDUX|** 1/2|R|The Carter family meets misery when it runs into a clan of mutated miners and their spawn with a craving for flesh and revenge on their tormented minds. A-bomb tests and the sins of eminent domain figure heavily in Alexandre Aja’s remake of Wes Craven’s family showdown in the desert. After a season of horror flicks more interested in inflicting maximum mayhem on their characters, “The Hills Have Eyes” seems ambitious. Almost. You don’t have to buy into the “why do they hate us” agonies and the embittered answer to know co-writers Aja and Gregory Levasseur wanted to express something about victims, terror, payback and middle Americans. (Kennedy)|107 minutes
“Joyeux Noel”
PERIOD DRAMA|*** 1/2|PG-13|”Merry Christmas” (in French, with subtitles) tells the true legend of a pause during the trench warfare of World War I, in which soldiers of the multinational fighting put down their arms to exchange small gifts of chocolate and cigarettes, and renew their humanity during the violence of conflict. An effecting movie, nominated for this year’s foreign-language Oscar. (Roger Ebert)|110 minutes
“The Libertine”
PERIOD DRAMA|**|R|There is a willful muck and murk to “The Libertine,” starring Johnny Deep as John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester. But the visual language director Laurence Dunmore use doesn’t merely evoke the grime of Restoration-period England, it provides an apt metaphor for the movie. Written by Stephen Jeffreys, based on his play, “The Libertine” is a shadowy affair that throws weak light on a little-known historical figure. Rochester may have been a cultural visionary, but the film reduces this notion to a parable of bad-boy celebrity hitched to an uninteresting love story (featuring Samantha Morton as famed actress Elizabeth Barry). Still, in the midst of much mud are two alluring pearls: Depp and John Malkovich as the loose cannon earl and his on-again, put-off-again patron Charles II. (Kennedy)|110 minutes
“Mrs. Henderson Presents”
PERIOD COMEDY|***|R for nudity, language and adult subject matter| Stephen Frears presents a light version of dark days in London, when the plucky Brits tried to keep their mind off the horrible bombing blitz. Judi Dench plays a rich widow who buys a West End theater to launch a vaudeville revue; Bob Hoskins is the equally stubborn and charming theater manager. They break taboo by showing nude women onstage, tastefully of course; the attraction of this period piece is the charisma of both Dench and Hoskins, two grand lions of British acting. (Booth)|102 minutes
“Munich”
DRAMA|** 1/2|R|Director Steven Spielberg attempts to capture the horror and futility of terrorism, whether carried out by political factions or the Israeli government. Yet he can’t resist making the hunt for the 1972 Olympic murderers a thriller, which undermines his commentary on violence. And he never asks the PLO to answer the same tough moral questions he poses for Jewish assassins. Once again, Spielberg gives in to caution. (Booth)| 160 minutes
“Nanny McPhee”
FAMILY FUN|*** 1/2|PG|Long ago, Nanny McPhee would have been played by Julie Andrews. But screenwriter-star Emma Thompson plies her own exquisite magic. As the mysterious nanny who comes to the aid of the seven very naughty Brown children, she has an odd walk and an amusing way of tilting her head. And Thompson and Colin Firth (as Mr. Brown, a widower) know how to keep a good gag running. As Aunt Adelaide, Angela Lansbury has wicked fun delivering unkind observations and crueler ultimatums. Her latest forces Mr. Brown to seek a wife. Upon her arrival, McPhee cautions the children, “When you need me, but do not want me, then I must stay. When you want me, but no longer need me, then I have to go.” “Nanny McPhee” is such a marvel that, in the end, the children aren’t the only ones who’ll regret her departure. (Kennedy)|98 minutes
“Neil Young: Heart of Gold”
MUSIC DOCUMENTARY|***|PG| Jonathan Demme captures with unadorned beauty two concerts the legendary troubadour Neil Young performed in Nashville, not long after he underwent brain surgery. New songs from Young’s latest “Prairie Wind” have the expansive intimacy and deceptively simple melodies of the best of his older work. At 60, Young isn’t, well, young. Neither are many of us first moved by his strange, awesome voice. Yet, Demme, Young and the talented friends who join him onstage have made a film that should lure anyone compelled by the power of American roots music to heal and rend all at once. Even if it comes from a guy born in Canada. (Kennedy)|103 minutes
“The Pink Panther”
COMEDY REMAKE|** 1/2|PG|Steve Martin attempts to revive the classic Blake Edwards-Peter Sellers collaboration about the idiot inspector Clouseau, and his unlikely success in solving international crimes. The humor is shallow, but funny enough in places to entertain 8- to 11-year-olds, and some of their parents. (Booth)|92 minutes
“The Shaggy Dog”
COMEDY|** 1/2|PG|Tim Allen was born to play a dog. He has been practicing since before he became a TV star – the growling, the panting, the crotch fixation. Disney’s remake of “The Shaggy Dog” uses Allen to great effect in a comedy about a workaholic dad who has to be bitten by a magical dog and become canine himself to find out the truth about his family and the real villains in a trial he is trying. There are also problems with pacing and tone. Robbins wastes a lot of time setting up this magical dog’s origins, complete with a jackbooted black helicopter dog-nap team, and the film’s frequent trips into the animal testing/torture lab are unpleasant and could creep out younger children. (Roger Moore, The Orlando Sentinel)|95 minutes
“She’s the Man”
ROMANTIC COMEDY|** 1/2|PG-13 |In another telling of the gender-bending Shakespeare play “Twelfth Night,” Amanda Bynes stars as a girl who poses as her brother at an elite private school. She starts to fall in love with her brother’s roommate, who has eyes for another, who in turn has eyes for the girl she thinks is a boy. It’s not a brilliant rendering, but it’s a teen-friendly movie that doesn’t push the boundaries of an R rating. (Booth)|105 minutes
“Syriana”
DRAMA|*** 1/2|R|A political movie, intelligent and very much of-the-moment, that will scorch you with its polished cynicism. Americans from the CIA to the oil companies to Congress use Middle Eastern kingdoms as their pawns, and small players like George Clooney and Matt Damon ponder where their loyalties lie. Steven Gaghan previously wrote “Traffic,” and the interweaving story lines have the same alluring, devastating effect. We’re taught a lot; the question is, did we learn anything? (Booth)|112 minutes
“The Three Burials
of Melquiades Estrada”
MYTHIC WESTERN|*** 1/2|R|When Melquiades Estrada is killed by a border patrol agent, his first burial hardly deserves the name. His second is a disgrace. Only friend and fellow cowboy Pete Perkins – Tommy Lee Jones – believes in justice and a proper burial. In his directorial debut, Jones and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga deliver a tale worthy of Greek drama. Pete kidnaps the agent, takes possession of Melquiades’ corpse and sets off into Mexico to bury his friend (Jose César Cedillo). Melquiades’ third interment is the stuff of myths remade for modern woes. “Three Burials” is a stunning visual ballad about loss and a staggeringly soulful meditation on loyalty. That would be enough. That it speaks to one of our nation’s most volatile issues makes it a remarkable achievement. (Kennedy)|121 minutes
“Tristram Shandy: A Cock
and Bull Story”
SATIRE|*** 1/2|R|A wildly inventive and consistently funny movie about filming an unfilmable 18th-century novel. Steve Coogan plays Steve Coogan trying to play Tristram Shandy, and the hall of mirrors only gets more ridiculous. Despite the satire, true moments of poignancy punctuate the humor, and the whole rich mess hangs together nicely. (Booth)|90 minutes
“V for Vendetta”
GRAPHIC NOVEL FABLE|***|R| Cheesy but true: “V for Vendetta” deserves an E for entertaining. Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving are Evey and masked avenger V, the shades-of-gray heroes in this ka-pow, ka-boom tale of fascism and resistance. Although the movie’s based on a graphic novel created during Margaret Thatcher’s stint as British prime minister, the Wachowski brothers have found plenty of resonant material. And while the movie’s set in London in the near future, the “former colonies” make disturbing cameo turns. And the brothers have a copacetic director in James McTeigue (he worked on their “Matrix” trilogy). “V” takes you on a pleasure ride all the while tossing pop-culture kernels of wisdom at you. The one sticking point: the movie’s R rating. (Kennedy)|132 minutes
GIANT SCREEN
“Wired to Win: Surviving the Tour de France”
IMAX: The true story of two elite cyclists Australian Baden Cooke and French teammate Jimmy Casper as they compete in the legendary race.|$8, $6 ages 3-12 and 65-plus|Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd., 303- 322-7009, dmns.org
“Mystic India: An Incredible Journey of Inspiration”
IMAX: The film begins in 1792 and follows an 11-year-old who left his home to begin a journey of spiritual awakening. It’s the true story of the boy’s seven-
year trip covering 8,000 miles.|$8, $6 ages 3-12 and 65-plus|Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd., 303-322-7009, dmns.org
Wildlife Experience
IWERKS: The museum presents “Dolphins,” on its 45-by-60-foot screen through February 2007.|$4.95-$7.95, free 2 and under|10035 S. Peoria St., 720- 488-3300, wildlifeexperience.org|PARKER
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
CU International Film Series
-APRIL 23|The annual festival, established in 1941, offers films, screenings, special events and programs. Times vary. Most films are $5, $4 CU-Boulder students with I.D.|Muenzinger Auditorium, CU-Boulder campus, 303-492-1531,
internationalfilmseries.com|BOULDER
