Here are selected minireviews of films in theaters, listed alphabetically. Ratings range from zero to four stars.
“Apocalypto”
ACTION/PERIOD DRAMA|* 1/2 |R|Who knew there were so many different ways to die? Mel Gibson explores them all, in gruesome detail, in this recreation of tribal and Mayan civilization just before the Spanish arrived in Central America. A warrior’s tribe is captured for human sacrifice, but he escapes and battles his pursuers as he tries to get back to his hidden family. There is no doubt Gibson knows how to put together a heart-
pounding action film, but the killing is so relentless that sitting through the whole movie becomes a matter of will rather than enjoyment. (Michael Booth)|128 minutes
“Blood Diamond”
MUSCULAR MESSAGE MOVIE|***|R
|This movie about Africa’s illicit and brutal diamond trade is not a perfect gem, but it is an involving Hollywood treatment of a serious topic: the horrors of a civil war financed by “conflict diamonds.” It’s 1999, and Leonardo DiCaprio’s gem-smuggling, arms-dealing character tells Jennifer Connelly’s American journalist at a bar in Sierra Leone, “In America it’s bling-bling. Here it’s bling-bang.” Djimon Hounsou brings moral ballast as a father searching for his son, conscripted by rebel forces. The movie’s most haunting images are those of boys being turned into remorseless, rampaging soldiers. Director Edward Zwick has become heir to “message movie” great Stanley Kramer. DiCaprio and Hounsou’s characters feel like an update of the two in Kramer’s “The Defiant Ones.” Only these men are bound not by chains but by a colonial past and a place where cynics explain away mayhem with the quip “This Is Africa.” (Lisa Kennedy)|138 minutes
“Borat”
COMEDY|*** 1/2|R |What’s the word somewhere between outrageous and unredeemable? Sacha Baron Cohen takes his fake-Kazakhstan journalist character so deep into racism, sexism, any kind of -ism, you have to follow wholeheartedly or give up and walk out. Using comic confrontations with real people, Cohen gives narrow-minded Americans just enough rope to hang themselves with. Parents should know it’s one of the crudest movies released in years – it often makes “Jackass” look erudite – though this reviewer found it irresistibly hilarious. (Booth)|77 minutes
“Casino Royale”
JAMES BOND RETURNS|***|PG-13
|His name is Craig, ahem, Daniel Craig. And as promised, in director Martin Campbell’s movie based on the Ian Fleming novel that introduced the Brit agent, his Bond is a rougher bit of business than all but one of the 007s that came before him. Craig survived the slings and arrows of many a fan to inhabit this role – and dig in he does in this satisfying, globe-trotting story about a high-stakes game of Texas hold ’em played against terror-funding creep Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelson). Eva Green plays Vesper Lynd, the accountant sent to keep an eye on the Treasury’s sizable stake. A chilly killer, Bond hasn’t a prayer where Vesper’s concerned. But you’d be a dope to imagine a happily-ever-after romp. After a particularly hard go of it, a bartender ask Bond if he wants his martini shaken or stirred. “Do I look like I give a damn?” he says. That reply serves us well this first outing with Craig. We don’t care that “Casino Royale” isn’t a brand new cocktail. We care only that it’s a very tasty one. (Kennedy)|125 minutes
“Charlotte’s Web”
CLASSIC PIG’S TALE |** 1/2|G|You’re not likely to walk out of the live-action version of E.B. White’s classic marveling “Some movie.” Though there are enough moment s in director Gary Winick’s G-rated film to keep the kids smiling. Dakota Fanning plays Fern Arable, the farmgirl who saves a runty piglet from the axe. Julia Roberts provides the voice of Charlotte, the computer-generated gray spider that continues the task by weaving her web with messages. But it’s Dominic Scott Kay as the stuffy-nosed, impossibly dear voice of Wilbur that keeps you smiling. (Kennedy)|84 minutes
“Deck the Halls”
HOLIDAY COMEDY|*|PG|Another leaden slice of fruitcake, with about as much nutritional value. An over-organized optometrist (Matthew Broderick) organizes his annual “Christmas traditions” for his family of four in his idealized, postcard-pretty town, Cloverdale, Mass. Then, a burned-out car salesman (Danny DeVito) and his trashy brood move in across the street. Buddy Hall resolves to decorate the daylights out of his house until it’s visible “from outer space.” But this is a mean-spirited Christmas comedy without the guts to be mean. (Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel)|95 minutes
“Dèjá Vu”
ACTION|* 1/2|PG-13|Whether or not you get that nagging sensation that you’ve seen “Dèjá Vu” before, your brain will seriously hurt trying to figure out whether its central gimmick works. (It doesn’t.) There are the obligatory explosions and car chases, even a little tease of nudity, everything you’d expect in a big, mindless action movie. Only “Dèjá Vu” has its mind on far more ambitious, complicated subjects: The possibility of going back in time and saving hundreds of people from dying in the bombing of a New Orleans ferry. Denzel Washington endures all the physical demands of director Tony Scott’s film with his typical aplomb and even gets a few laughs as Doug Carlin, the no-nonsense Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent investigating the attack. (Christy Lemire, Associated Press)|125 minutes
“Eragon”
FANTASY|**|PG for fantasy violence and some frightening images|A faithful adaptation of the book that few middle-school 11- or 13-year-old boys will find disappointing, this medieval fantasy fills in all the paint by numbers without adding a lot of spirit. Eragon (Ed Speleers) is an adolescent in a time when good villagers are tormented by the evil king’s soldiers; he stumbles across a dragon’s egg, only to discover he’s part of a prophesy where the famed and noble dragon riders will fly again to free the oppressed. Much sword-fighting, mentoring, deep-woods chasing and school of hard-knocks teaching ensues, under the auspices of Brom (Jeremy Irons). Fans of Christopher Paolini’s novel should be satisfied, if not exactly overjoyed, by this adaptation. (Booth)|102 minutes
“Happy Feet”
MUSICAL TOON|***|PG|It’s the lockstep of the penguins versus the soft- shoe of an outcast in “Happy Feet,” the hard-to-resist animated musical about Mumble, an emperor penguin who can’t carry the necessary mating song, but can tap dance like the amazing Savion Glover. Elijiah Wood provides the voice of adolescent Mumble. Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman play his flustered folks. Director and co-writer George Miller – the man who brought us Mad Max but also Babe “the talking pig” – uses this tale of Mumble’s difference and his gift to craft a sweet, if incomplete, lesson about conformity, individuality and community. Robin William outdoes himself giving voice to both Ramon, one of the slang-tossing Adelie Amigos and the “preach it penquin, preach it” Lovelace. (Kennedy)|96 minutes
“The History Boys”
DRAMA/COMEDY|** 1/2|R for language and suggestive sexual content|My own take is that it must have made a better play, but Anglophiles and fans of whip-smart British schoolboys trading epigrams will love every moment of “History Boys.” Eight friends at a mid-level British high school have a shot at Oxford-Cambridge scholarships, and the movie follows their efforts to cram, with an old master and a new one. Richard Griffiths is winning as the literature teacher who wants the boys to become well-rounded adults without pandering to admissions committees. Too many lines feel stagy and rehearsed, but there’s no denying the witty writing. (Booth)|104 minutes
“The Holiday”
ROMANTIC COMEDY|***|PG-13
|Like the gooiest, sweetest cup of eggnog, “The Holiday” doesn’t have a whole lot of nutritional value, and you’ll probably hate yourself afterward for giving in to it, but it is rich and yummy and irresistible. Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet star as bright, talented women simultaneously suffering from man troubles who swap homes for the holidays through a website to get away from it all. Diaz’s Amanda Woods, whose company creates movie trailers (a very clever job to give a character), ends up in a cozy cottage outside London after discovering that her longtime live-in boyfriend (Edward Burns) has cheated on her. Winslet, as London Daily Telegraph wedding columnist Iris Simpkins, finds herself luxuriating in a modern L.A. mansion after the colleague with whom she’s had an on-again, off-again romance (Rufus Sewell) announces his engagement to another woman. (Christy Lemire, Associated Press)|91 minutes
“The Nativity Story”
BIBLICAL DRAMA|***|PG|Hard to believe the story of Jesus and the manger hasn’t been told dozens of times, but Hollywood finally gives the biblical centerpiece a respectful rendering. Keisha Castle-Hughes is perfect as Mary, a young innocent bewildered by the demands of the annunciation. Director Catherine Hardwicke adds human touches as Mary and Joseph (Oscar Isaac) get to know each other on the long journey toward Bethlehem. The jokey handling of the three wise men is a bit much, but most families will find a moving and artfully handled presentation of the most beloved story in Christianity. (Booth)
|95 minutes
“Le Petit Lieutenant”
DRAMA|***|NOT RATED|The tough, satisfying French film “Le Petit Lieutenant” is an austere drama of the sort that rarely makes it to American screens. The title character, a young man from the provinces, Atoine (Jalil Lespert), is assigned to the busiest precinct in the city, where he meets the newly sober alcoholic who runs the criminal unit, Caroline Vaudieu (Nathalie Baye). “Le Petit Lieutenant” embraces the spectrum of human drama and comedy, and like a lot of French films it is keenly involved with the everyday pulse of work. Despite an accretion of anxious moments and Caroline’s sorrowful past, nothing in the deliberately low-key first hour prepares you for this eruption of violence or its emotional impact, which pushes the story deeper than Beauvois can finally handle. (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times)|110 minutes
“The Pursuit of Happyness”
UPLIFT DRAMA|***|PG-13|Will Smith digs deep and mines jagged moments as Chris Gardner, a devoted father whose plunge into homelessness coincides with the opportunity he’s dreamt of: a competitive (non-paying) internship at Dean Witter. Many will cheer Gardner storming the corporate ramparts. But it’s the other places Gardner and his 5-year-old son Chris (Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith in a charming debut) take us – the shelters, the church services, the public spaces made private for economic circumstance – that make this journey so heart-provoking. (Kennedy)|117 minutes “The “The “The Queen”
DRAMA|****|PG-13|This masterful insight into a remarkable week in pop-culture history should make most short lists for best picture. Helen Mirren brings all her smart charms to the role of Queen Elizabeth II, in the week after the former princess of Wales, Diana, is killed in a Parisian auto accident. Newly elected prime minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) has the unenviable task of teaching the reclusive, out-of-touch royal family how the mourning British public wants to handle the tragedy. There’s plenty of comedy at the royals’ expense, but Stephen Frears makes everyone all too human. Why did we demand such a public beatification of Diana? “The Queen” will have you questioning your own headline habits. (Booth)
|101 minutes
“Stranger Than Fiction”
TRAGICOMEDY|****|PG-13|Not since “Groundhog Day” has a tickler been so metaphysically engaging while being just as lovingly entertaining. And though this tale about Harold Crick, an IRS auditor who discovers that he’s a character in a novel and is soon to die, also stars and “SNL” alum – Will Ferrell – it achieves its abundant, generous moral with nary a smirk and maybe even a few tears. Emma Thompson is marvelously tormented as author Karen Eiffel, who can’t figure out how to kill off her protagonist. When Harold locates her, her dilemma becomes profound. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays bakery owner Ana Pascal, the subject of Harold’s audit and affections. Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah add flavor to this delight, directed by Marc Forster (“Finding Neverland”) and written by newcomer Zach Helm. (Kennedy)|113 minutes
“Sweet Land”
DRAMA|*** 1/2|PG for for brief partial nudity and mild language|”Sweet Land” is a type of American independent we don’t see often enough, a beautifully photographed film that celebrates its regional identity. The film focuses on eager hopes and complicated reality of a mail-order bride in 1920s rural Minnesota. We see Inge, the mail-order bride, first, getting off the train hanging onto an enormous, unwieldy gramophone she lugged from Europe. Her intended, Olaf, soom discovers that although Inge has come from Norway, she is in fact German, a major problem in xenophobic, post-World War I Minnesota. Minister Sorrensen (John Heard), refuses to marry them. Nonetheless, the two end up frequently in each other’s company and this film provides us the pleasure of watching perfect strangers fall in love. (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times)|94 minutes
“Unaccompanied Minors”
KID COMEDY|**|PG|How do you defang and declaw caustic stand-up comic and commentator Lewis Black? Stick him in a PG-rated holiday family movie, then stand back and watch the laughs not pile up. Black’s churlish demeanor is intact in “Unaccompanied Minors,” in which he plays a lonely, angry official at an airport where a rascally gang of kids traveling alone run wild while stranded during a Christmas Eve blizzard. But without obscenities to hurl and adult complaints to rant, Black’s just a big, boring grizzly bear, chasing after the wayward juveniles and venting tiresomely unfunny lines. (David Germain, Associated Press)|89 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
“Roving Mars”
IMAX: A documentary of the MER mission|$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 “Beavers” and “Dolphins” on its 45-by-60-
foot screen|$4.95-$7.95; free 2 and under|10035 S. Peoria St., 720-488-3300, wildlifeexperience.org|PARKER
