“Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” ** 1/2 With its Southern twang, the title of Will Ferrell’s comedy is tantalizingly clever. Mildly crude yet oddly tame, this NASCAR spoof (co-written by Ferrell and director Adam McKay) runs on underinflated tires. Too many of the scattered laughs are muted, though Ferrell’s Ricky stays likable. The iffy edge captured by the Blue Collar Comedy Tour’s trash-talking good ol’ boys isn’t just absent, it’s hankered for. John C. Reilly stars as Ricky’s best friend. Sacha Baron Cohen plays race car ace Jean Girard. Oh yeah, he’s French and gay.|PG-13|108 minutes|Released today|Lisa Kennedy
“Barnyard”** Politically correct, anatomically incorrect and ugly to look at, the only thing that saves “Barnyard” is the writer/director’s gift for gags and almost-edgy humor. This silly parable about the responsibilities of leadership is about a barnyard looked over by Big Ben, the head cow, voiced by Sam Elliott. Ben lives by a stern credo. His son, Otis (Kevin James), is meant to inherit daddy’s protect-us-from-coyotes duties. But Otis is a party animal. PG|83 minutes |Released today|Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
“The Devil Wears Prada”*** 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 magazine. Hers is a job “that millions of girls would kill for.” 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 wise man Nigel (Stanley Tucci), the movie becomes interesting about ambition, power and fashion . |PG-13|106 minutes|Released today|Lisa Kennedy
“House of Sand”*** This sublime exercise in landscape shooting is worth your time. There’s even a melodramatic story thrown in, nearly as an extra, a half-century saga whose towering emotions are suited to the scenery. A beautiful young wife (Fernanda Torres) is torn away from the city in 1910, dragged into the dunes wilderness by a half-mad pioneer husband. The woman’s character, Aurea, has her own mother in tow for this doomed trek to a mythically fertile land. Beneath the plot is a constant yearning to escape. Her crazy husband dies soon after the trek, and his fellow settlers abandon the camp. Aurea and her mother, and the soon-to- be-born Maria, are stuck miles from even the next lean-to, with no resources to get back to civilization. Cinematographer Ricardo Della Rosa must take equal, if not greater, credit for his haunting shots. |Not rated|108 minutes |Released today|Michael Booth
TV ON DVD
Saturday Night Live: Season 1|This is where modern late-night comedy began. An eight-disc set packs the first 24 episodes of the show, accompanied by screen tests for the original cast – Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner. The set also has a 1975 cast interview and a photo booklet.|$69.98|Released Dec. 5|David Germain, Associated Press
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James Bond Ultimate Editions
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