Saturday, July 15, 2006
"AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH" (A): Al Gore, once a robot among presidential candidates, proves himself a rock star among environmental activists. Armed with information on strategic energy reserves and a PowerPoint presentation in which he comes off as DJ of an eco-mashup, Gore declares that "political will is a renewable resource." He proves it by delivering a presentation as electrifying as it is unsettling. 1 hour, 40 mins.; PG (mild thematic elements).
"ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL" (C): Director Terry Zwigoff and writer Daniel Clowes ("Ghost World") grab the collegiate art scene by the turtleneck and give it a hilariously rude spanking. 1 hour, 42 mins.; R (strong language and art-class nudity).
"THE BREAK-UP" (C): Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston play characters who are so different, it's hard to believe they ever got together. So when they break up, which happens pretty early in this self-professed "anti-romantic comedy," it doesn't seem tragic. And their subsequent attempts to drive one another from the condo play like an anemic version of the much meaner "War of the Roses." 1 hour, 45 mins.; PG-13 (sexual content, some nudity and language).
"CARS" (B-): "Cars" rolls along like an animated, automotive version of "Doc Hollywood," the 1991 Michael J. Fox gem, from its basic plot points to its feel-good conclusion. What sets it apart is that it's yet another stunningly beautiful Pixar production. 1 hour, 44 mins.; G.
"CLICK" (B): As an overworked family man who's given a remote control that magically allows him to take command of his messy home and office life, Adam Sandler spends much of the movie engaging in mean-spirited, Three Stooges-like mayhem. But as tiresomely sub-moronic as the first half of the movie often is, Sandler and director Frank Coraci manage to craft genuine pathos toward the end out of a character who comes to regret taking the easy way out as the remote leaves his life in ruins. 1 hour, 47 mins.; PG-13 (language, crude and sex-related humor and some drug references).
"THE DA VINCI CODE" (C-): Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou run around Europe, delving into dark churches and darker secrets while being chased by French cops and an albino killer monk in this unfortunately plodding adaptation of the mega-selling Dan Brown theological thriller. It may be controversial and blasphemous, but worse still, it's deathly dull. 2 hrs., 29 mins.; PG-13 (violence, profanity, religious mumbo-jumbo, adult themes).
"THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA" (C): Meryl Streep steals the entire film away from young Anne Hathaway and reminds us that, when given the chance, she's a master of subtle, biting comedy. But then the film staggers toward its protracted ending, which is different from that of the book but is needlessly convoluted. 1 hour, 49 mins.; PG-13 (some sexuality).
"THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT" (C-): This sequel in name and speed only is an expensive cinematic equivalent of boys playing rough with their Hot Wheels cars -- while gorgeous, underdressed girls look on. The film is set in an infantile world where teens drive garish cars with reckless impunity while adults barely exist save for the occasional moment where the filmmakers want to show their young anti-heroes rebelling against authority. Lucas Black leads the cast as a speed freak sent to live with his dad in Japan. 1 hour, 44 mins.; PG-13 (reckless and illegal behavior involving teens, violence, language and sexual content).
"GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES" (C-): Bill Murray is back in this part-animated, part-live action sequel to 2004's "Garfield," again providing the voice of America's best-known overfed cat. Despite his droll delivery, Murray can't wring many laughs out of the mostly lame script from returning writers Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow. 1 hour, 30 mins.; PG (some off-color elements).
"THE LAKE HOUSE" (C-): Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock star as the successive inhabitants of a cozy, cool-looking lake house hidden along a quiet section of coastline outside Chicago. Reeves (as architect Alex Wyler) moves in after Bullock (as doctor Kate Forster) moves out. They drop perfunctory letters in the mailbox for each other about forwarding mail, some items left in the attic, etc. Soon they realize, though, that Alex is writing from 2004 and Kate is writing from 2006 -- exactly two years apart from each other, to the day. 1 hour, 38 mins.; PG (some language and a disturbing image).
"LITTLE MAN" (D): Size does matter. This lame comedy is big on gross-out humor and slapsticky sight gags that appeal to the lowest common denominator, but small on genuinely clever laughs. Marlon Wayans, technologically manipulated to play a pint-size jewel thief who pretends to be a baby, looks ridiculous in his onesies and matching beanies, which is good for a guffaw here and there. But you can only get so much mileage out of that image. Marlon and his brother/co-star, Shawn, co-wrote the script with brother Keenen Ivory Wayans, who also directs. 87 min. PG-13 for crude and sexual humor throughout, language and brief drug references.
"NACHO LIBRE" (B-): He could be the long-lost cousin south of the border that Napoleon Dynamite never knew he had. As a monastery cook who raises money by secretly competing as a Mexican wrestler, Jack Black's Nacho Libre is just as committed to his aspirations as the dorky hero of the 2004 cult favorite "Napoleon Dynamite," and just as delusional about his talent. 1 hour, 31 mins.; PG (some rough action and crude humor including dialogue).
"OVER THE HEDGE" (C): This cheeky family comedy, from the people behind "Antz" and "Chicken Run," wags its finger at all of us humans for contributing to the destruction of the very environment the cuddly creatures call home. 1 hour, 23 mins.; PG (some rude humor and mild comic action).
"PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST" (B): The sequel has more of everything: more fights, more spectacle and more Johnny Depp. This time around, Depp's Capt. Jack Sparrow has another price on his head and another deal with devil payment due. It's too long and the plot is too complex, but it's a lot of fun. 2 hours, 34 minutes; PG-13 (intense sequences of adventure violence, including frightening images).
"PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION" (B+): This is Robert Altman at his most Altmanesque: meandering tracking shots, a big, bizarre ensemble and a story that seems to drift on the winds of the hot air blown from the characters' overlapping dialogue. Altman applies all of the above with his masterfully ironic and curmudgeonly eye to a whimsy-filled fantasy about the last night of Garrison Keillor's venerable radio program. 1 hour, 45 mins.; PG-13 (risqu & eacute; humor)."SUPERMAN RETURNS" (B): The hype is justified. "Superman Returns" is everything you'd want it to be. It's reverential of the source material, yet a unique film all its own. It's joyous with the possibility of discovery, yet deeply moving in its melancholy. It should satisfy purists and attract new converts. 2 hours, 37 mins.; PG-13 (intense action violence).
"UNITED 93" (A): Paul Greengrass ("Bloody Sunday") wrote and directed this account of the plane that crashed in southwestern Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001. R (language, intense scenes of violence).
"WAIST DEEP" (C-): Tyrese Gibson stars as O2, an ex-con who goes on a bank-robbing spree with hottie hustler Coco (Meagan Good) to raise the $100,000 in ransom money to get his young son back. Ghetto clich & eacute;s and unintentional hilarity ensue. 1 hour, 38 mins.; R (strong violence and pervasive language).
"YOU, ME AND DUPREE" (C-): Everyone has someone like Dupree in their lives -- a friend who's a little too needy, a little too clingy, a bit of a social misfit who always says the wrong thing and doesn't know when to call it a night. But no one could possibly know someone who's as outlandish in his clueless cloddishness as Owen Wilson's titular third-wheel character because he's just too unrealistic, even for the sake of comedy. The guy could not exist -- and if he did, his friends wouldn't keep him around as long as Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson do. 108 min; PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity, crude humor, language and a drug reference.
Combined dispatches