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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL Move Picks By MATT SOERGEL Morris News Service OPEN SEASON 3 1/2 stars: A genuinely amusing computer-animated story about a domesticated griz zly (Martin Lawrence) and a wacky mule deer (Ashton Kutcher) gathering the eccentric residents of the forest to fight back against hunters -- in a non-lethal way, of course. It’s brisk, unpretentious and pleasant ly warped, bopping along on great Paul Westerberg songs. PG. THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP 3 1/2 stars: The more playful among the art house crowd should love this funny and melancholy bit of extreme whimsy from Michel (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) Gondry. Gael Garcia Bernal stars as a young man who’s hav ing a hard time distinguish ing between sleep and wake fulness, which complicates work and romance. R. THE GUARDIAN 3 stars: Kevin Costner’s a gruff, legendary instructor of rescue swimmers, while Ashton Kutcher’s a promis ing protege. You’ve seen this kind of thing before (An Officer and a Gentleman, anyone?), but it’s done well here, with less fuss and fury than you might expect. Plus it’s about time someone made a movie about the Coast Guard. PG-13. FACING THE GIANTS 2 1/2 stars: A Baptist church in Albany made this earnest, Christian-themed movie about an underdog football team. It’s pretty good, and its message should resonate quite movingly with many. PG. FLYBOYS 2 1/2 stars: A rousing yarn about Yanks who flew flimsy planes for the French before the U.S. entered World War I. It’s incredibly corny and blissful ly, stubbornly out of current fashion. That shouldn’t be a problem for many. James Franco, Jean Reno and some well-staged mid-air battle scenes star. It’s good fun. PG-13. FEARLESS 2 1/2 stars: Jet Li has said this is his last martial-arts movie. If so, it’s not a bad way to go out, as a graying, noble hero fighting a worthy opponent. Set in China 100 years ago, the film feels thoughtful and philosophical, preaching the uselessness of vengeance. But don’t worry c there’s still a good bit of fighting. PG-13. ALL THE KING’S MEN 2 stars: The grandest seem ing so-so movie you’re likely to see this year. Sean Penn throws himself into his role as a hell-raising Louisiana politician, but every time the film moves away from him c and it does that a lot c it bogs down in murky subplots. For all its period detail, it feels half-formed, never coming to sweaty, breathing life. PG -13. THE LAST KISS 3 stars: Zach Brass heads this smart ensemble look at the various ways people mess up their love lives. He’s a 29-year-old guy flirting with a college student, though he already has a perfect, pregnant girl friend. R. GRIDIRON GANG 2 1/2 stars: The Rock is a tough coach guiding a football team of teenage criminals. It’s based on a documentary about a real team and is best when it stays hard-bitten and realistic. It slips when it goes all Mighty Ducks on us. Still, it works. PG-13. HOLLYWOODLAND 2 1/2 stars: Ben Affleck gained some weight to play TV’s old Superman, Diane Lane is his older lover and Adrien Brody is a down-and-out pri vate eye looking into Supe’s mysterious death. It looks great, and it stays interest ing and often witty for a long while, though, it eventually does runs out of gas. R. *%>" w '""k “ * Jl • gjj Br \ y ' BSSmKs&I k 'HHftgL. •* AT \ Til xjm p-■'Jr’t V* i W’Asi- ' "■ ’■/ ' tj,'•O i' VJ i MV \it egf» • wmW If ->jß .jy < . N m•' * . | ■.-ppwiiA!U®• H is ■ • i wßir »• • M * S' A fjlt A js3£BE3y>. i I •■ - ! IHHIa I 'HMEglfoV' s* A v • gjH r 3 ** ‘ait,3?'*-] 4 Touchstone Pictures and Holding Pictures Distribution Co,, LLC/Ben Glass Kevin Costner, left, and Ashton Kutcher star in “Guardian’. ‘Guardian* a good showcase for males By MATT SOERGEL Morris News Service There’s a reason they make movies about gruff old heroes and the cocky upstarts who try to take their place. Done right -- and The Guardian is done right they can be fine showcases for sanctioned male bonding over adven turing, womanizing, drink ing and brawling. The Guardian also has the benefit of being set in the world of the Coast Guard, and it’s about time someone made a movie about the Coast Guard. Still, this kind of movie is only as good as its macho stars. And while they’re not quite An Officer and a Gentleman’s Lou Gossett Jr. and Richard Gere, Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher are more than just adequate. Costner is Ben Randall, a legendary Coast Guard res cue swimmer who plucks the drowning of Aaska’s icy Reel Releases Adoptions have always dotted movie landscape By STEVEN UHLES Morris News Service I’ve been thinking about adoption lately. Recently I learned that some former neighbors had the fortune to adopt a child. Before that, another family that I know adopted a daughter. Though I wasn’t privy to the process, it got me con templating the sort of emo tional leap that taking in a child as your own requires, the sort of courage and, most obviously, the sort of love. I’d like to think I have that sort of strength of character, but I believe until you find yourself in that situation, there’s no way of knowing whether you have the gen erous spirit required. Adoption is an emotional event, so it’s no wonder that it and the chosen family make such compelling mov ies. Since the earliest days of cinema, beginning with a creaking version of Anne of Green Gables in 1919, adoption has made its way to the silver screen. Here are a few favorites: STAR WARS (1977) Granted, this adoption didn’t turn out all that well, what with the stor mtroopers and all. Still, chances are that Luke Skywalker enjoyed a more stable home life than he would have found with Darth Vader. Evil plotting and Death Star-building is no way to rear a son. At A Glance The Guardian 3 stars out of 4 Who’s it for? It’s solid mainstream moviemaking, exciting and amusing - a good way to pass the time. Credits: Starring Kevin and Ashton Kutcher. Directed by Andrew Davis. Running time: 2 hours, 19 minutes. Family guide: PG-13. Action scenes, some profan ity, some sensuality. seas. But he’s getting old, and after a big tragedy, he’s sent for a spell to Louisiana, to train whippersnappers who want to be elite swim mers themselves. Enter Kutcher, as Jake Fischer, the best of the bunch, a self assured swim champ who aims to break the school records that Randall, all these years later, still holds. Costner is appropriately THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) Perhaps the most famous adoptee in history, Moses brought down some big league wrath on the royal family that exiled him. Whether it was the Red Sea crashing around the ears of Pharaoh or the plague of frogs his people would be cleaning up for weeks, Moses showed there’s noth ing quite as fearful as a brother, adopted or not, scorned. TOM JONES (1963) The story of a good son leveled by bad behavior, this adaptation of the classic novel stars Albert Finney as Tom Jones, the adopted son of a country squire. Good at heart, Jones neverthe less lets his lusty passions get the better of him. 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LIFESTYLE weathered and tough, and, without getting the least bit sentimental about it, also manages to suggest there’s a sensitive soul inside too. Kutcher looks the part, and there’s some energy in his plucky-kid performance; he’s not just cruising as, say, a Paul Walker would. There’s clearly life for him after That O7os Show. The two characters brood, bicker, banter and bond, of course, while eventually sharing the nightmare inducing Dark Secrets in their lives. You know it’s going to happen. And so does a salty bartender, played by singer Bonnie Bramlett, who has, we sus pect, a thing for Ben. She teases him: “Your wife left you, your best friend died you sound like a damn country song.” Big, scary action scenes bracket The Guardian, at beginning and end. In between there’s a long section showing all the rough training the hope and very funny, it remains a classic comedy of manners. GREYSTOKE; THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES (1984) When his parents die after a shipwreck, the infant heir to an English lordship is taken in by a communi ty of apes. You probably knew that. What makes the movie so interesting is that though the Tarzan tale has been told time and time again, this film manages to spin it in new and interest ing ways. BABE (1995) A compelling argument for nurture over nature, the lighthearted and lyri cal Babe tells the story of a pig raised by sheepdogs. Though a happy ending is ful swimmers do, along with some welcome sec tions about the amusing and believable romance between Kutcher’s Jake and a gorgeous schoolteach er (Melissa Sagemiller). You have to go with the 139-minute film’s relaxed flow, and you’re likely to. Director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) keeps a sure hand on this story, with just the right amount of strug gle and speechifying and humor. Another thing to rec ommend: The Guardian doesn’t get all mushy or rah- rah about it, but it’s clear there’s a strong appre ciation for the often over looked branch of the ser vice. Its motto “So oth ers may live” -- is displayed throughout the film, but it’s Costner’s character who gets the final word, mentor to protege: “We’re the Coast Guard, Jake. Nobody really appre ciates us until they need us.” always expected, the ways and means of little Babe finding his place in the world are imaginative and a pleasure to watch over and over again. fArir(rtf (Ary/fj/ty Nancy Mafchan & Christopher Nunn September 16 Jennifer Waldorf & Matthew Hulbert September 16 Holley Turner & Kimball Murdock September 16 Carrie Henderson & Michael Sullivan September 23 Amber Hunnicutt & Phillip Rigdort. Jr. September 30 Jill Hulbert & Eric Thigpen October 16 Victoria West & Adam Partridge October 22 Cindy Dunaway & Trey Sigmund December 16 Lauren Mason & Thomas Moore January 6 ?09 Carroll Street Downtown... 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