“The Life Before Her Eyes”
Director Vadim Perelman returns with his second feature. His first was “House of Sand and Fog.” Like that film, this tale of the before and 15 years after of a high school massacre doesn’t shun the darkness. Unlike that sorrowful wonder, this drama based on Laura Kasischke’ novel and starring Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood as the older and younger Diana, never earns the rights to the trauma it inflicts. Eva Amurri provides beckoning light as Diana’s best friend and nicely drawn teen Christian. Meanwhile the film’s distributor must make peace with its suspect decision to open this tangled drama near the anniversaries of Columbine and Virginia Tech. PG-13. 1 hour, 42 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
“Street Kings”
Keanu Reeves’ Tom Ludlow is a gunslinging undercover detective driven but also dulled by grief. When he becomes a suspect in the killing of a good cop (his one-time partner), he plunges into the murk of this volatile yet bland neo-noir about corruption and compromised honor in the LAPD. With Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie and Chris Evans. Cedric the Entertainer makes an amusing cameo in an orange Eldorado.PG-13. I hour, 47 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
“Prom Night”
Johnathon Schaech plays Fenton, the obsessed, psychotic teacher pursuing his dream-girl/student in this slow, obvious and pulse-deadening thriller. Brittany Snow is Donna, the girl who survived the day Teacher went nuts three years before. He killed her family. And now, on her prom night, Fenton has busted out of prison. He’s made his way to Bridgeport High’s prom at the Pacific Grand Hotel. And he’s patient enough to work his way through Donna’s pals and assorted hotel employees until he gets his chance with the girl who didn’t fight back. The script is a C paper in high school composition class, an illogical plot full of bloody bodies. Prom is a night you’re supposed to treasure, or at least remember “forever.” This one is forgotten by the time you throw your empty popcorn bucket into the trash cans conveniently located near the exits on your way out. PG-13. 1 hour, 32 minutes. Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
