“Shut Up & Sing”
*** 1/2 The Dixie Chicks, the top-selling female band in history and big Grammy winners earlier this month, were shooting video for Internet fans when lead singer Natalie Maines made her infamous comment in Europe that she was “ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck saw the brewing firestorm and immediately asked if they could begin making a documentary about the Chicks, the political overreaction to the comment, and the effect on their careers and family lives. The results are entertaining out of all proportion to the subject. The Chicks are dedicated, smart, musical, humble in the right places, and charming family women, not to mention tough business planners. The fact they are gorgeous and prone to saying exactly what’s on their minds doesn’t hurt. If you didn’t hate corporate radio before this, you certainly will afterward. Featuring moving versions of classic Chicks songs like “Lullaby,” “Travelin’ Soldier” and “Long Time Gone.”|R|93 minutes|Released today|Michael Booth
“Flushed Away”
***“Flushed Away” may
have a bathroom-humor title, but the characters’ dental work gives it away. This is Aardman territory (the Wallace & Gromit folks) with the oomph of DreamWorks CG muscle. When Roddy St. James (voiced by Hugh Jackman) takes an unexpected porcelain ride into London’s sewer system, he lands in a rat-infested metropolis full of characters and mischief. Toad (Ian McKellen) is trying to retrieve from scavenger rat Rita (Kate Winslet) a goodie he needs to carry out a very bad deed. Indeed. Written with the snap and pop of wet towel in a locker room, “Flushed Away” has fine banter for adults and plenty of inventive action – and serenading slugs – for the kids.|PG|84 minutes|Released today|Lisa Kennedy
“For Your Consideration”
*** 1/2 Christopher Guest gently takes on Hollywood itself in his latest almost-real feature film. We join the cast of an uproariously awful indie movie called “Home for Purim,” as some evil Oscar buzz descends on the set. With their usual cast of stellar comedians, Guest and co-writer Eugene Levy explore the particular egotism of actors, and how a little awards hysteria threatens to drive them all thoroughly nuts. Not quite as drop- dead funny as “Waiting for Guffman” or “Best in Show,” this one nevertheless preserves Guest’s reputation as an American comedy original.|PG-13|83 minutes|Released today|Michael Booth
“The Prestige”
*** 1/2 The “prestige” is the third part of an elaborate magic trick that surprises the audience and reveals the omniscient power of the illusionist. Christopher and Jonathan Nolan have built their entire film as such a trick, requiring at least two viewings to understand all the twists and turns. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale are feuding magicians during the golden era of magic at the dawn of the 20th century, and their disputes lead to sequential violence and revenge. Christopher Nolan (“Memento”) is the master of unfolding a story like an origami, revealing slightly less than you need to know, and only just after it’s driving you crazy not to know. A grand entertainment.|PG-13|120 minutes|Released today|Michael Booth
TV ON DVD
“Emergency! Season Three”|The 1970s rescue drama is back for more adventures involving a team of paramedics and the staff at a hospital. Twenty-two episodes are packed in a five-disc set.|$39.98|
Released Feb. 13|
David Germain, The Associated Press
