CONTINUING
Here are selected minireviews of films in theaters, listed alphabetically. Ratings range from zero to four stars.
“Accepted”
COMEDY|** 1/2|PG-13|Misfits go to, um, college. So maybe “Accepted” isn’t the most original movie in the world. It’s a little like “Animal House,” a little like “Revenge of the Nerds” and a lot like “Old School.” It also calls to mind elements of “Real Genius,” “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder” and “PCU,” which starred a then-unknown Jeremy Piven and seems to be playing somewhere on cable television 24 hours a day – even though it came out in 1994. And maybe its premise isn’t the most plausible: A few of slackers and weirdos form their own college, where “liberal” doesn’t even begin to describe the liberal arts education. “Accepted” is a lot more fun than you’d expect from a comedy coming out in the dead of summer, and it’ll make you laugh out loud even though you probably know better. (Christy Lemire, Associated Press)|92 minutes
“Beerfest”
ADULT COMEDY|** 1/2|R|On a trip to Germany, the Broken Lizard troupe stumbles into an annual beer-drinking championship and goes down in humiliating defeat. They return to the States determined to set things right at next year’s championship. They recruit their old drinking buddies and start “training,” a regimen that consists mainly of drinking beer until they pass out. The Broken Lizard troupe was formed when the members were attending Colgate University. They have an atypical comedic philosophy: Most of the jokes are straight out of the gutter, but the set-ups often are quite smart. You might end up being insulted by the punch line, but you have to pay attention to get there. (Jeff Strick-
ler, McClatchy Newspapers)|87 minutes
“The Black Dahlia”
NOIR DRAMA|** 1/2|R|Brian De Palma tries to re-create the sense of classic film noir, but gets lost in his own penchant for gratuitous blood. Casting choices didn’t help, as Josh Hartnett is too boyish to play a hard-boiled cop, and Aaron Eckart’s potential nasty streak is sidetracked by poor plot development. Both men are obsessed with solving the notorious real-life case of the Dahlia; Hilary Swank goes glam here as a Dahlia imitator who catches Hartnett’s eye. (Michael Booth)|115 minutes
“Boynton Beach Club”
LIGHT DRAMA|** 1/2|NOT RATED|It’s not a great movie, or even a really good one, but “Boynton Beach Club” gets credit for depicting a neglected part of American life: Growing old with style and grace. Residents of a sunny, well-built Florida community deal with grief, romance, disappointment and insurance forms – just like the rest of us! Familiar faces like Dyan Cannon make it seem like a comfortable television movie. (Booth)|105 minutes
“The Devil Wears Prada”
DRAMA/COMEDY|***|PG-13|Instead of a gossipy comedy, “The Devil Wears Prada” is more often a fairly sage fable about the price of work. Andy
Sachs (Anne Hathaway), has the enviable position of being fashion editor, Miranda’s (Meryl Streep) newest assistant at Runway. Hers is a job “that millions of girls would kill for.” Or so Andy is told time and again. Andy starts to be changed by her job, but she never calculates. It takes her a long time to understand what working for Miranda might cost her. Around the time Andy is ready to quit and goes whining to Runway’s wiseman Nigel (Stanley Tucci), the movie becomes interesting about ambition, power and fashion – both the art and industry of it. “The Devil Wears Prada” says that fashion is that odd meeting of the seemingly trivial with the pursuit of something that resonates. (Lisa Kennedy)|106 minutes
“Everyone’s Hero”
ANIMATED COMEDY|**|G|This 3-D film is about a kid, a talking baseball, and their efforts to rescue a talking bat belonging to Babe Ruth before those nasty Chicago Cubs run away with the 1932 World Series. It’s visually playful and has nice voice casting (William H. Macy as a crooked Cub, Brian Dennehy as Babe Ruth, Richard Kind as a hobo). Raven-Symone reps the Negro League. The movie, a road trip during the Age of Hobos from New York to Chicago, makes you grin, almost all the way through its canned-corn finale. (Orlando Sentinel)
|80 minutes
“Factotum”
DRAMA|*** 1/2|R|The film opens with Chinaski (Matt Dillon) gainfully employed at one of the oddest jobs imaginable, using a jackhammer to break up sheets of ice for delivery to customers in need of cooling, one in a long line of
deadend jobs. The reason Chinaski leads such a hapless, listless, aimless life, struggling with small-time schemes and plans as he stumbles from one half-sodden situation to the next, is his full-time commitment to alcohol in quantities that would anesthetize a moose. “That may not sound noble,” is how he puts it, “but it is my choice.” As played with deadpan grace by the gifted Dillon, who is maturing into one of the most unexpectedly involving of contemporary actors, Chinaski has a remarkable dignity and self-possession. (Turan, Los Angles Times)|94 minutes
“Gridiron Gang”
TEEN SPORTS DRAMA|** 1/2|PG-13|Troubled teens behind bars learn self-respect and responsibility in a football program created by a concerned probation officer in this modestly satisfying formula rah-rah football film. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. (Garner, Gannett News Service)|105 minutes
“Half Nelson”
REALIST DRAMA|*** 1/2|R|Up-and-
comer Ryan Gosling and first-time feature director Ryan Fleck combine to make a terrific indie movie, with the kind of grit and unrelenting realism that can be painful to watch. Gosling plays a well-intentioned history teacher in a Brooklyn middle school, struggling with a growing drug habit. He befriends a serious, promising girl named Drey (Shareeka Epps), who is dealing with drug issues of her own in a troubled family. Gosling’s performance is worthy of an Oscar nod. (Booth)|102 minutes
“How to Eat Fried Worms”
KID COMEDY|** 1/2|PG|”How to Eat Fried Worms” could be the ultimate 11-year-old boy’s movie, a little cruel, a little gross and a lot funny. The movie is about Billy, a new kid at school who runs afoul of the fearsome bully Joe Guire. Joe decrees that Billy must down 10 worms the following Saturday, with witnesses, and not throw up. If he does throw up, it’s worms in his pants at school. Billy, not much of a negotiator, fires back that if he does eat the worms, Joe has to stuff his pants. (Moore, Orlando Sentinel)|85 minutes
“Hollywoodland”
NOIR|***|R|In this atmospheric noir mystery, Ben Affleck plies the alchemy of the personal and professional to conjure a portrait of an actor whose entanglements help, then hamper, then destroy him. And who better than a man once known by the moniker “Benifer” to tussle with the tribulations of George Reeves, star who becomes vulnerable to his public’s demands with nothing but his own decisions to blame? Reeves played television’s Superman in the ’50s. Diane Lane and Bob Hoskins have fire and force as the married woman Reeves has an affair with and her movie mogul husband. Inspired by Reeves’ death in 1959, ruled a suicide, “Hollywoodland,” with Adrien Brody as a detective “Hollywoodland” does a compelling job of teasing lasting doubts into a rumination about Lalaland and celebrity. (Kennedy)|96 minutes
“The Illusionist”
PERIOD DRAMA|*** 1/2|PG-13|Neil Burger nicely adapts an evocative short story by Steven Millhauser, re-creating pre-World War I Venice and the great era of of magicians. Edward Norton plays Eisenheim, a master conjuror who has a grudge against the crown prince and a flame for the prince’s duchess girlfriend (Jessica Biel). The illusions are beautifully done, and Norton’s natural intensity makes Eisenheim as riveting as a magician is supposed to be. (Booth)|110 minutes
“Invincible”
SPORTS DRAMA|** 1/2|PG|Jerry Bruckheimer’s production crew is reaching a bit too deep in the playbook in search of inspirational sports stories. Vince Papale caught exactly one pass in the NFL and spent three years on the kickoff and punt squads. His blue-collar roots and status as the oldest NFL rookie give the story some meat, but not enough to make a whole movie. The filmmakers have taken all the loopy joy out of star Mark Wahlberg, who acts like a funeral director instead of a charismatic athlete. (Booth)|100 minutes
“The Last Kiss”
DRAMA|**|R|A romantic drama cut with guy-anxiety humor, “The Lass Kiss” ends with a twist that finally delivers on the pedigree of its makers. Zach Braff stars as Michael, an architect about to turn 30 and soon to be a dad. Paul Haggis (“Crash” and “Million Dollar Baby”) adapted Gabriele Muccino’s movie. Before Michael’s penitence, however, this tale, about four life-long buddies wrestling with love and responsibility rings too familiar. Jacinda Barrett plays Michael’s girlfriend Jenna. Rachel Bilson arrives as too young threat Kim. For all the late twentysomething angst, the real emotional traction comes from Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson as Jenna’s parents. (Kennedy)|105 minutes
“Little Miss Sunshine”
COMEDY|*** 1/2|R|Turns out brainy misfits and slightly embittered intellectuals need triumphant tales too – no matter how askew. With their debut feature, “Little Miss Sunshine,” co-directing marrieds Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris deliver an R-rated, pro-dysfunctional family road movie. Not to mention the best comedy of the summer. The title comes from the kiddie beauty pageant Olive Hoover intends to win. Abigail Breslin delights (in the most authentic way possible) as the 7-year-old who inspires her emotionally challenged kin, played by Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell and Paul Dano, to hit the road. (Kennedy)|101 minutes
“Monster House”
ANIMATION|**|PG|Something untoward is taking place at the house across the street from 12-year-old DJ (Mitchel Musso). Mr. Nebbercracker and his fixer-upper seem to be gobbling kids’ toys with greater frequency as Halloween approaches. What can DJ and friends Chowder and Jenny do? “Monster House” features a brief scene of marital bickering, longer instances of teenage nihilism and a troubling lesson on personal liberation. Director Gil Kenan and exec producers Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg hoped for funny-scary. But they never pull off that transit between fright to delight and back again. Voice talent includes Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jon Heder. (Kennedy)|80 minutes
“The Protector”
MARTIAL ARTS|** 1/2|R|It could be subtitled “One Thousand and One Leg Sweeps,” and if silly street fighting is what you want, then this movie is for you. Rising martial arts star Tony Jaa (“Ong-Bak: Thai Warrior”) slices his way through Thailand and Sydney, Australia, in search of the very bad men who killed his father and stole his elephant. We kid you not. One of the dumbest plots ever, but some tour de force fight scenes in long takes with a Steadicam will give the teenage boys what they want. (Booth)|95 minutes
“Step Up”
TEEN DANCE ROMANCE|**|PG-13
| Call it “Another Teen Dance Movie,” only without any of the spoofy fun. Which would have been more than fine had this story about class-crossed teens Nora Clark and Tyler Gage didn’t feel so darn routine. Directed by Anne Fletcher (the choreographer who brung it to “Bring It On”), “Step Up” enjoys some right moves when it comes to the dance numbers. There are energetic moments when the his-hers clash of free-style street dancing and ballet suggests the difference between graffiti and cursive. More often, the story of rough-hewn Tyler (Channing Tatum) and performing arts high top-girl Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan) set in Baltimore falls on its keister. (Kennedy)|98 minutes
“Superman Returns”
ACTION|***|PG-13|Turns out there’s not a lot left to say about Superman, even though he’s been gone from the big screen for nearly 20 years. Director and co-writer Bryan Singer does a serviceable job of recreating the Superman mythology for a new generation, but there’s not much spice here or personal style to revive a comic book franchise the way “Batman Begins” did last summer, or “Spider-Man” did in summers previous. Brandon Routh alternates between imitating Christopher Reeve and trying hard not to imitate him, so it’s impossible to forget Reeve’s iconic role in the franchise. (Booth)|148 minutes
“World Trade Center”
DRAMA|*** 1/2|PG-13|Chances are good that we will never be fully satisfied by any movie taking on the events of 9/11. In part, because telling one story leaves too many untold. Even so, “World Trade Center,” starring Nicolas Cage and Michael Peña as police officers pinned in the rubble when Tower Two collapsed, approaches drama’s potent promise. It digs to find in a tale of two individuals and their families’ uncommon valor and common ground at ground zero. Directed with discipline by Oliver Stone, the movie wants to reconnect us to our better selves, not our vengeful, our warrior or our too-comfy jingoistic selves. With the fine ensemble work of Cage, Peña and Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal as their wives, it often succeeds. (Kennedy)|125 minutes
GIANT SCREEN
“Greece: Secrets of the Past”
IMAX: The story of a 21st-century Greek archaeologist who is uncovering the secret history of his ancient ancestors|$8, $6 ages 3-12 and 65-plus|Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd., 303-322-7009, dmns.org
“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-plusongoing|Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd., 303-322-7009, dmns.org
Wildlife Experience
IWERKS: “Lost Worlds” and “Dolphins” |$4.95-$7.95; free 2 and under|10035 S. Peoria St., 720-488-3300, wildlife
experience.org|PARKER
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Denver Art Museum Cinema Fall 2006 Film Serires
TU|”On the cutting edge of cinema’s modernist revolution in the 1960s and 1970s.” Tuesdays through Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. Box office opens at 4 p.m. The series continues this week with “L’Avven-
tura” (1960). Series tickets are $40 and $45, singles $7-$8 |Starz FilmCenter at the Tivoli, Auraria Parkway, 720-913-0105 (series tickets and information), 303-820-3456 (single tickets), denverartmuseum.org
