“The Astronaut Farmer”
** 1/2 The whimsical Polish brothers can’t decide if they want to make another quirky indie movie or a Disney-style family film with a lot of cheap jokes. Billy Bob Thornton plays Charles Farmer, a previously washed-out astronaut who is now building his own rocket in a barn and wants to take it into space. Faced with financial ruin and government intervention, he perseveres, threatening his close-knit family life. The movie feels stuck somewhere between profound and mundane.|PG|104 minutes |For release July 10|Michael Booth
“Shooter”
** 1/2 Hollywood takes on Stephen Hunter’s series of sniper-thrillers by reworking the novel “Point of Impact.” Mark Wahlberg does a believable turn as disgruntled super- shooter Bob Lee Swagger, called upon to serve his government once again in a double-cross assassination plot. Some of the best elements of Hunter’s novels are still here: paranoia about the corruption of power, a sense of impending doom. But director Antoine Fuqua tosses in a magazine-load of clichés, as well. A middling entertainment.|R|110 minutes |Released June 26|Michael Booth
“Black Snake Moan”
*** A black man chains a white woman to a radiator. For her own good. In Tennessee. If you’ve made it past that set-up and are still open, then see the outrageous myth-and-reconciliation tale “Black Snake Moan” Writer-director Craig Brewer’s sophomore follow-up to “Hustle & Flow” starring Samuel L. Jackson (back from the deadly parodies of himself) as Lazarus. Christina Ricci is Rae, whose neurotic plunges into sexual fits have made her the town tramp. Justin Timberlake plays her beau, Ronnie, prone to panic attacks. This movie is appalling, funny, risky – and aching with love for folk and place. Bartender, give me another shot of that Southern discomfort.|R|116 minutes |Released June 26|Lisa Kennedy
“Peaceful Warrior”
** 1/2 Nick Nolte plays the only attendant at an all-night Texaco Station that looks so old-fashioned it could be the Fatal Gas Station in a horror movie. This station, however, seems well-lighted and orderly, and Nolte’s character is always busy under the hood of a car. “This is a service station,” he says at one point. “We offer service. There’s no higher purpose.” He has veiled conversations with Dan Millman, a character based on the author of the 1980 self-help best seller that inspired the movie. The story arc of “Peaceful Warrior” is so familiar that in addition to being inspired by fact, it is inspired by at least two-thirds of all the sports movies ever made. |PG-13|121 minutes |Released June 26|Roger Ebert
More releases | Available today
4 Life
Batfink: The Complete Series
Driving Lessons
Eureka: Season 1
Funny Ha Ha
Ghostbusters: Volume 2
Ghoulies IV
How You Look to Me
Jam
Slings & Arrows: Season 3
ONVIDEO.ORG
