“All the King’s Men”
** 1/2 In Steven Zaillian’s version of Robert Penn Warren’s political classic, Sean Penn finally locates the pol from Mason City standing in front of a hayseed audience drawn by the barbecue. But the spark of connection between the actor and the indelible Willie Stark feels too long in coming to make “All the King’s Men” necessary viewing. Jude Law, Mark Ruffalo and Kate Winslet, playing Jack Burden and his childhood friends, don’t cure the film’s odd malaise. Penn has a sharp moment when he recognizes he’s been played as a sap. But it’s Patricia Clarkson as Sadie Burke who burns truest. She’s not onscreen nearly enough. | PG-13 | 128 minutes | Released today | Lisa Kennedy
“Invincible”
** 1/2 Jerry Bruckheimer’s production crew is reaching a bit too deep into 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. | PG | 100 minutes | Released today | Michael Booth
“Lady in the Water”
* 1/2 Not quite a horror story and not quite a children’s fairy tale, “Lady in the Water” disappoints on nearly every front. Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan is too enamored of his own storytelling to see the silliness of what he’s doing – he even makes himself a star, and he’s not much of an actor. Bryce Dallas Howard plays a water nymph come to warn humankind to shape up, and Paul Giamatti is the humble apartment manager “chosen” to protect her. Much hokiness and bad dialogue ensues. | PG-13 | 108 minutes | Released today | Michael Booth
“A Scanner Darkly”
** 1/2 Directors for some reason insist on messing with Philip K. Dick’s distinctive science fiction. Perhaps intimidated by the depth of the material, they try gimmicks, as here with Richard Linklater’s post-filming animation of live action scenes. It makes the movie look like a graphic novel, but to what end? Dick’s take on paranoia inspired by drug use, and also by the government’s drug war, doesn’t need revision like this to make it more interesting. | R | 100 minutes | Released today | Michael Booth
TV ON DVD
“The Andy Griffith Show: Final Season” and “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Season 1” | The eighth and final year of Griffith’s sitcom classic about the wise sheriff of a small town comes to DVD, along with season one of the spinoff that sent Jim Nabors’ Gomer Pyle character into the Marine Corps. Each five-disc set has 30 episodes, with Nabors providing commentary and introductions on the “Gomer Pyle” set. | $42.99 each | Released Dec. 12 | David Germain, The Associated Press
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING | Top DVDs
SALES
1. Superman Returns
2. Ice Age:
The Meltdown
3. Cars
4 Clerks II
5. The Da Vinci Code
RENTALS
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
2. Superman Returns
3. Miami Vice
4. Ice Age: The Meltdown
5. The Da Vinci Code
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