“Employee of the Month”
* 1/2 In fact, except for stand-up comic Dane Cook, who manages to come off as likable enough in the dreadful workplace tale “Employee of the Month,” everyone else involved belongs in the unemployment line. In a perfect world, this miserably idiotic movie would put an end to Jessica Simpson’s alleged acting career (since last year’s woeful “The Dukes of Hazzard” has not already done the trick). Simpson’s so flat and vacuous, it’s an insult to all the equally untalented yet unknown pretty faces looking for a break in Hollywood that she got the role. But she’s lovely to just sit and stare at, and she’s a pop star whose celebrity makes movie marketers’ chores that much easier. |PG-13|108 minutes|Released today|David Germain, Associated Press
“Gridiron Gang”
** 1/2 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.|PG-13| 105 minutes|Released today|Gannett News Service
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning”
* 1/2 This prequel aims to shed a little light on the tormented past and fragile psyche of Leatherface, film’s most famous chainsaw-wielding madman. It focuses on the Hewitt clan, a Texas family of soulless cannibals who lure tourists to their deaths. Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski) is 30 years old, but the movies isn’t so much about Leatherface as it is about Uncle Hoyt, who becomes Sheriff Hoyt when he kills a lawman. Then again, with R. Lee Ermey in the role, the movie couldn’t belong to anyone else. Ermey does his eloquently abusive drill-sergeant shtick, which made him famous in “Full Metal Jacket.” He encounters four travelers, but what happens to them is irrelevant, as the killers are the focus. So there’s no suspense, no fear, just an endless stream of blood.|R|84 minutes| Released today|Christy Lemire, Associated Press
“The Illusionist”
*** 1/2 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.|PG-13|110 minutes|Released Jan. 9|Michael Booth
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING | Top DVDs
SALES
1. Jackass: Number Two
2. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
3. The Descent
4. Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
5. Invincible
RENTALS
1. Jackass: Number Two
2. The Devil Wears Prada
3. The Descent
4. Invincible
5. Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
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