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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. 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. |l Superior sx:~M * x J?/itpc * liy* " iP" 6-month CD 5.75 °* * Rates an subject to change without notice. Annual Rnentagr Yield (APT) is accurate as of the date of this advertisement. Some restrictions may apply. Minimum deposit amount S 1,000. An early withdrawal penalty may be imposed. {fol THE BANK OF PERRY 1006 Main Street, Perry • 478-987-2554 www.bankofperry.com Member For your convenience, our bank’s lobby is open from 9:00 a.m.- Noon each Saturday. ~~ FDIC '’l iff Will. \ I*'^^ \ ■ <r ~ 1 ~ ' ’ \ > ■ /}, I ;« vggprr * '*'**' - £Sf¥ Hsr Robins Williams, right, stars in ‘Man of the Year.’ ‘Man of the Year’ an uneven hodgepodge By MATT SOERGEL Morris News Service Man of the Year isn’t the shiny happy movie that’s promised in the trailer. In other words, it’s not just Robin Williams running for president and mining goofy laughs from it. Instead, writer-director Barry Levinson mixes in a conspiracy thriller, some social commentary and a political satire as well. It’s ambitious yes, especially if the thought of Robin Williams as a wacky candi date for two straight hours gives you a headache. The trouble is, what results is just a so-so come dy, a not quite so-so thriller, a blindingly obvious social commentary - and a par ticularly toothless satire. Here’s what passes for insight: Big-spending spe cial interest groups are bad. Crooked lobbyists are bad. The little guy gets trampled. The public can’t distinguish between entertainment and reality. But war? Terrorism? Never mentioned. The real political nitty-gritty, the real dirty tricks and win ner-takes-all warfare of campaigning? Glossed over. There’s nothing in this uneven hodgepodge to rile anyone, anywhere. In retrospect, Williams going manic and goofy for two hours wouldn’t have been so bad. He plays Tom Dobbs, a TV comedian who’s sup posed to remind you of Jon Stewart. One bad sign comes early on, though: We see several .chunks of his show, and there’s not a single moment of it that approaches the atti- entertainment At A Glance Man of the Year 11/2 stars out of 4 Who’s it for? Robin Williams’ diehard fans, per haps: He isn’t bad here, but the movie leaves him strand ed. Credits: Starring Robin Williams, Laura Linney and Christopher Walken. Written and directed by Barry Levinson. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes. Family guide: PG-13. Profanity, off-color jokes, a little violence. tude and humor you’ll find in any random minute of Stewart’s. Oh well. Even so, his fans adore him, and soon a joke about running for president has spiraled into an Internet campaign for Dobbs as pres ident- and three or four minutes into the movie, he’s in a bus going from one campaign speech after another. His manager (Christopher URGENT INFO Pandemic Flu Planning Thursday October 26 at 6:30 pm St Christophers Episcopal Church, Macon Road, Perry, GA. Presenter is 4b from, office of ryj | Emergency *• Preparedness Call the Church at 987-2190 to leave the number of people attending. Walken) and writer (Lewis Black) are dismayed because he’s suddenly boring and serious. Lincoln got more laughs with the Gettysburg Address, says Walken (cue the rimshot). But then Dobbs eventu ally does cut loose during a presidential debate, in the film’s spiciest scene. And soon he’s speaking his mind, to the press and the public. Yes, he inhaled. Yes, he has a sex life: “When I was 21,1 went to a prosti tute. I was so bad, she gave me a refund.” (Cue another rimshot.) He even admits that had an episode of flatu lence, just a few seconds ago. That gets him to 17 per cent or so in the polls as an independent candidate. But on election night, he comes out on top. Hmm: Do you think it had anything to do with the big company whose computerized vot ing system - no paper trail there - was used by voters in all 50 states? An employee there (Laura Linney) thinks so, and wants to get the news to put Yen Drum/ In Mono* GEORGIA OCTOBER 6-15, 2006 - r c pAV '7,Av'Ues October tO, Dobbs. But she dithers on and on about it, as darker forces try to stop her, inef fectually. Levinson’s earlier polit ical satire, Wag the Dog, struck you as just plausi ble enough. But not this one: Man of the Year never passes the “hmm, this could happen” test. That’s crucial here because, unlike another political satire from this year, the far more enjoyable American Dreamz, it wants to be taken seriously. Just one example: If Dobbs had a vice presiden tial candidate, he or she is never actually seen or intro duced. Kind of an important thing to overlook, don’t you think? It distracts. Christmas is Coming, and we have gift certificates! o- dOie Xjijfitinj Store <> >1 A Division of SouHiea »i Flu. I Supply 926 Carroll St. • Perry, GA 31069 478-224-8888 T-F 9am-spm SAT 10am-2pm |OOOJJ2I ■outh Activities ily Entertainment^ Home <S Fine Arts Competitions Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter Perry • 1-75 at Exits 134 & 135 478/987-3247 • 800/987-3247 (Georgia only) I www.georgianationalfair.cofn SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2006 ♦ Web Watch By RICH RAY Morris News Service Quotations Although there are many quote-related sites on the Web, here’s one that’s definitely worth a look. Search with ease for quotes from literature, speeches and various forms of media. Register for free to rate, collect and submit quotes. Review the history and context of several famous quotes and learn and share infor mation about authors via mini biographies. Click to top-rated, most-popu lar and recently-added quotes, www.quotiki.com Car community Billed as the Web’s first online garage, this easy to-navigate online com munity for car enthusi asts enables users to cre ate profiles of their vehi cles and to share pictures, tuning tips and even car humor with other mem bers. Instead of compet ing on the open road, click the “battles” tab to pit your ride head-to-head with other cars on the site.www.boompa.com NetSmartz This interactive and informative safety resource teaches kids and teens how to stay safe online. The information provided here can help youth recognize dangers on the Web, discourage interaction with potential predators, report possible victimization to a trusted adult, and more. Parents, guardians, educators and law enforcement person nel can also benefit from the information pre sented at this site. www. netsmartz.org Home buying help Looking for help mak ing your way through the home-buying minefield? The articles here can help you avoid making mis takes when buying or See WEB, page SA I’niversal Pictures 7A (HKK3HX92 ?s*i.