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ALL THE KING’S MEN (PG-13)
Writer-director Steven Zaillian uses
Warrens Shakespearean Willie Stark
(Sean Penn), based on real-life politi
cian Huey 'Kingfish* Long, to portray
a man of the people, drunk with power
but sober enough to use it properly.
Zaillian's stylistic decision to fashion
a '50s melodrama undermines the
seriousness of this message (Georgia
Square 5)
BABEL (R) See Movie Pick.
(Beechwood)
BARNYARD (PG) Otis (Kevin James),
a carefree young Holstein, refuses
to settle down until his pops Ben
(Sam Elliott), gets oiled by a pack of
coyotes Pretty creepy to behold and a
tv! more serious than the preview lets
on. Barnyardis the slightest animated
kiddie Hick of the season; (Georgia
Square 5)
BORAT (R) Armed to the teeth with
uncomfortable malapropisms and
anti-Semitism. Kazakhstan television
personality Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha
3aron Cohen) travels across the
United States unmasking inner bigotry
wherever he goes Bout: Cultural
Learnings ot America lor Make Benefit
Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan plays
its conceit to the hill. II comedy earned
any respect from the Academy. Cohen
would be this year's Oscar frontrunner.
No comedian has so totally created a
three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood
character since Peter Sellers in Being
There Watching Borat must be like
reading the giant antics of Rabelais in
culturally' relevant French or swapping
baby recipes with Jonathan Swift ’t s
hilariously textbook satire. Or is it?
The film lacks a corrective purpose,
the Cambridge-educated Cohen serves
a stinkingly hilarious plate of mean-
spirited. elitist anli-populism. While I
can josh about the moral depravity of
my' American family. I ll be damned if
I need a supercilious Brit calling Lady
Liberty a whore With Borat. Cohen
isn’t laughing with the us. he's lo-jghing
al the us. a distinction too line for an
America as stupid as the one he ex
poses to make. (Beechwood. Carmike)
BORN INTO BROTHELS (R) 2004
In Born Into Brothels: Calcutta$ Red
Light Kids, documentary filmmakers
Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman inspire
the children of prostitutes to look at
life through a new lens. Could these
kids' newlound photographic talents be
their way out of the devastating poverty
into which they were born? Bom Into
Brothels was the Academy Award
winner for Best Feature Documentary
Briski and Kauffmans tilm also won an
Audience Award at Sundance. Part of
the ACC Library's iFilms series Shows
Thursday. 11/16 (ACC Library)
► CASINO ROYALE (PG-13) I
used to spend the weeks before a
new Bond lilm rewatching all of 007s
old adventures, starting at Dr No.
Unfortunately, that plan has been
truncated by a real job and a Iclevision
renaissance The debut of Bond Six.
Daniel Crarg (Layer Cake. Munich),
revisits Ian Fleming's lirsl novel, in
which the British secret agent tussles
with baddie Le Chiffre over baccarat.
Director Martin Campbell, who already
resuscitated Bond in Goldeneye. and
a trio ol screenwriters that includes
Oscar w.nner Paul Haggis (Crash)
have not only updated the card game
to poker but have upped the emotional
ante lor a film that serves to lell how
'James Became Bond ’ With Eva Green
as Vesper lynd. Jeffrey Wright as yet
another Felix Leiter, and Dame Judi
Dench returning as M Opens Friday
(Carmike)
THE DEPARTED (R) Adapted from
the Hong Kong actioner Infernal Adairs,
The Departed straddles the law with
the parallel lives of mob mole Colin
Sullivan (Malt Damon) and police rat
Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio).
Though Colin and Billy's intense game
of rat-and-mouse dominates the lilm.
Jack Nicholson rules il. The Departed
is Martin Scorsese's most purely enter
taining lilm, a collision of ripened film-
making. colossal acting and a muscular
screenplay. (Beechwood. Carmike)
FACING THE GIANTS (PG) A film
Irom ihe media ministry at Albany’s
Sherwood Baptist Church. Sherwood
media minister Alex Kendrick directed,
cowrote, co-produced, edited, com
posed the pompous score, and stars as
head football coach Grant Taylor, who
turns to the Lord to conquer the "giants
ol fear and failure.’ With an entirely
volunteer cast (and a cameo by UGA's
Mark Richt). Giants looks and sounds
as homemade as it is. (Beechwood)
FLUSHED AWAY (PG) Flushed Away
looks like, sounds and even jokes
like Wallace and Gromit. But sadly,
it's not Wallace and Gromit Expecting
Aardman Animations’ first fully-CGI
feature to be as emotionally engaging
and stupendously entertaining as their
llagship creations is unfair. It's still way
better than most ol 2006^ cartoons,
though. Alter being flushed frorp his
plush home, ’society mouse* Roddy
(v. Hugh Jackman) enters an ingenious
under-London world, which he and pal
Rita (v. Kate Winslet) battle the villain
ous Toad (v. Ian McKellan). The story
is as original as that of any children's
film (which is to say not very original at
all), but directors Sam Fell and David
Bowers and their live screenwriters
are a clever bunch, creatively using
household llushables to power life in
rodent city Yet it's the amphibious bad
dies who steal this tale McKellan and
Jean Reno's pleasantly gruff tones lend
themselves well to animated voicework.
and who doesnt love a frog mime’
(Beechwood, Carmike, Highway 17
Theatres)
AGOuu YEAR (PG-13) The latest
vintage from Academy Award winning
vintners Ridley Scott and Russell
Crowe coats the palate with forced,
disingenuous sweetness that masks
its sour grapes Like a British Gordon
Gekko. Max Skinner (Russell Ciowe)
believes greed to be very good You
can practically see the cartoon dollar
signs in Max's eyes after he learns
beloved yet estranged Uncle Henry
(Albert Finney) has left him his vine
yard A Good Year is Scott, a filmmaker
I hold in high esteem (he basically
invented Ihe art of modern science
fiction with Alien and Blade Runner), at
his worst, it's so photographically slick
Ihe emotions have nothing to cling to
Screenwriter Marc Klein says nothing
original with the film's staid structure
and gives Max little profundity The
workaholic protagonist, is a self-
proclaimed ass who drops witticisms
like they were scripted before being
disingenuously transformed by the
slow pace ol life in the country He's
a crappy kid (Freddie Highmore of
Finding Neverland shows some guts
next to old pro Finney) that grows up to
be a crappy man. Crowe may excel a!
many genres, but light comedy is not
one of them Don't bother uncorking
this astringent blush (Beechwood.
Carmike)
HALF NELSON (R) Critical darling
Ryan Gosling (The Notebook) has
garnered some of his best notices as
Dan Dunne, a junior high teacher with
a drug problem Dunne's life changes
when he Urns an unlikely friendship
with one ol his young charges, Drey
(Shareeka Epps), alter she discov
ers his secret Hall Nelson, directed
by Ryan Fleck and written by Fleck
and Anna Boden, has won 10 awards
and a Grand Jury Prize nomination
from Sundance. This is Half Nelsons
Athens premiere Shows Friday.
11/17-Sunday. 11/19 (Tate)
HAPPY FEET (PG) Every Emperor
Penguin has a song in its heart That's
the premise ol the big holiday cartoon
Irom Warner Bros. in which Mumble
(v. Elijah Wood) searches for accep
tance as a dancer in a singer's world
The story sounds Rudolph-esque. with
Mumble falling in with some misfits
(led by the Robin Williams-voiced
RamOn. one of three characters given
life by the hyperactive comedian) and
battling an abominable predator before
reuniting with his soulmate Gloria (v.
Brittany Murphy). Director George
Miller gave us MadMaxbul was last
behind the camera lor Babe Pig in the
City Featuring voicework from Hugh
Jackman. Nicole Kidman and Hugo
Weaving Opens Friday (Carmike)
HARSH TIMES (R) What a buzzkill
From Bateman to Batman, Christian
Bale could seemingly do no wrong,
As former Army Ranger Jim Davis, the
Brit is wrongfully cast to a criminal
degree Complied in the crime is
Freddy Rodriguez (*Six Feet Under*),
who plays Jim's buddy Mike Hearing
these two line actors utter the most
cringe-inducing dialogue of the year
(writer and first-time director David
Ayer punctuates every line with two
dudes, a dawg and a homie) was the
harshest part ol these particularly
Harsh Times Recast Ayer’s picture with
a couple of younger unknowns, and
his tale of a degenerate day in the life
could deliver a stout v6rit£ punch to
the head Ayer, previously unknown as
the writer of brain-dead action flicks
I ike The Fast and the Furious and
S WA T. returns to the mean streets ol
his Training Day to imitate Larry Clark
Strll, Harsh Times never breaches the
'homie code,' not even with its mor
alistic coda If a thankless role as the
bitchy lawyer girlfriend is the best Eva
Longoria's agent can procure, she'd
best not quit that weekly gig yet In Ihe
positive column. I now know how lo
cheat on a ’whizz quiz ’ (Carmike)
LET'S GO TO PRISON (R) The
preview for this comedy, starring Will
'Gob Bluth’ Arnett ana Dax Shepard
as a rich snob and career criminal
who wind up in Ihe slammer together,
places it at the top ol my holiday
hilarity list Too bad Prison is written
by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas
Lennon, a duo who have yet to write
movie (The Pacilier. Tart, to match
the comedic quality ol their television
oulput ("The State.' ’Reno911!’) Also
starring Chi McBride. David Koechncr
and Dylan Baker. Prison is directed by
'Ben Stiller Show' and 'Mr Show* vet
Bob Odenkirk Opens Friday (Carmike)
MARIE ANTOINETTE (PG-13) Vive
la Revolution! Academy Awaid winner
Solia Coppola (Lost in Translation
assaults the haughty sensibilities o1
the historical epic with her vivacious
account ot the young Austrian giri who
grew up to become France's Madame
Detail Coppola wisely entrusts her
modern Mane to the definitively
contemporary Kirsten Dunst Though
it rushes the French Revolution. th«s
modish Mine Antoinette captures the
chi ol the times I have one response
for the lilmS detractors Eat cake
(Beechwood)
THE MARINE (PG-13) Amidst a horde
of humdrum lights and explosions,
real-life wrestler John Gena'S John
MOVIE LISTINGS
Theater schedules often change after our deadline. Please call ahead.
ACC LIBRARY (706-613-3650)
Born Into Brothels (NR) 7:00 (Th. 11/16)
BEECHWOOD (706-546-1011)
Beechwood'* new schedul; was unavailable at press time
listings are only accurate through Th 11/16 Ptease visit
www (lagpoie com lor updated information
Babel (R) 5:00. 8:15
Borat (R) 5:30, 7:45. 10:00
The Departed (R) 4:50. 8:00
Facing the Giants (PG) 6:50
Flushed Away (PG) 5:10, 7:30. 9:45
A Good Year (PG-13) VOO. 7:05, 9:50
Marie Antoinette (PG-13) 4:05. 9:25
The Prestige (PG-13) 3:55. 6:55, 9:45
The Return (PG-13) 4:40. 7:25. 9:35
The Santa Claus 3: The Escape Ctaus (G) 4:15. 7:00.
9:30
Saw III (R) 4:20. 7:20, 9:50
Stranger Than Fiction (PG-13) 4:10, 7:15, 9:40
CARMIKE 12 (706-354-0016)
Borat (R) 1:05, 3:05. 5:05, 7:05. 9:25
Casino Royate (PG-13) 1:20. 4:10. 7:00. 9:50 (opens
f. 11/17)
The Departed (R) 1:00, 4:00. 7:00. 10:00
Ftushed Away (PG) 1:00. 3:00. 5:00. 7:00, 9:20
A Good Year (PG-13) 1:10. 4:10. 7:10. 9:50
Happy Feet (PG) 12:00, 2:35. 4:50, 7:15. 9:40 (opens
F. 11/17)
Harsh Times (R) 1:20. 4:20. 7:20, 9:55 (new rimes F.
11/17: 9:55)
let's Go To Prison (R) 12:30. 3:20. 5:30. 7:40. 10:00
(opens F. 11/17)
On# Night With the King (PG) 1:15. 4:10. 7:00. 9:30
(ends Th. 11/16)
The Prestige (PG-13) 1:30. 4:20, 7:10. 10:00
The Return (PG-13) 1:15. 3:15. 5:15. 7:15. 9:30 (no
9:30 show after Th. 11/16)
Running With Scissors (R) 1:20, 4:20, 7:20. 9:55
(ends Th. 11/16)
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (G) 1:00.
3:15. 5:30. 7:45. 10:00
Saw III (R) 1:05. 4:05. 7:05. 9:35
Stranger Tnan Fiction (PG-13) 1:10. 4:10. 7:10, 9:45
GEORGIA SQUARE 5 ( 706-648 3126)
Georgia Square Five s new schedule was unavailable at
press time listings arc only accurate through Th 11/16. -
Please visit www flagpole com tor updated information
All the Kirg's Men (PG-131 4:00. 7:00. 10:00
Barnyard (PG) 5:25, 9:45
The Marine (PG-13) 5:20. 7:30. 9:40
Monster House (PG) 7:35
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (PG-13)
3:40. 6:50. 10:00
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (PG-13)
4:10. 7:10. 9:55
HWY 17 DRIVE-IN THEATERS (706 213-7693)
Rushed Away (PG) 7:00
Saw III (R) 7:00
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (R)
7:00
TATI CENTER THEATER (706 642-63%)
Half Nelson (R) 3:00. 5:15, 7:30. 9:45 (F. 11/17-Su.
11/19)
Run Lola Run (R) 8:00 (Th. 11/16)
UGA STUDENT LEARNING OR. (706-642-7000)
Wage Slaves: Not Getting By In America (NR) 7:00
(Th. 11/16. Room 171)
Go fish.
Triton cheats death while attempting
to rescue his wile (Kelly Carlson) from
murderous thief Rome (Robert Patr ick)
A weekly installment of Smackdown!’
packs more humor and excitement
than this frozen slab of beef (Georgia
Square 5)
MONSTER HOUSE (PG) The ani
mated Monster House perches on Ihe
adolescent precipice between too scary
lor little kids and not scary enough lor
teens Heroes DJ. Chowder and Jenny
lace Ihe same difficulty—not quite
kids, nol yet teenagers—on a fateful
Halloween when the house next-door
comes to life and tries to eat them.
(Georgia Square 5)
ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING (PG)
The best cast and crew biblical epics
can muster these days is headed by the
DP ol Hoi Shots’and Hot Shots' Part
Deux, Peler OToole and Omar Sharif
One Night with the King recounts how
a young Jewish girl (Tiffany Dupont.
’The Bedford Diaries’) becomes Esther,
queen lo Ihe great conqueror Xerxes
(Luke Goss) Ends Thursday (Carmike)
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:
OEAO MAN S CHEST (PG-13) Will
Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth
Swann (Keira Knightley) must retrieve
the compass ol Captain Jack Sparrow
(Johnny Depp) for a power-hungry
noble Meanwhile, Captain Jack is pur
sued by sea demon Dav/ Jones (Bill
Nighy) Depp still slurs and swishes
across the screen, but. called upon
lo again rescue an entire film, finds
himsell a lew witty doubloons short
(Georgia Square 5)
THE PRESTIGE (PG-13) Feeding
magicians make lor terribly intriguing
drama in Christopher Nolan s follow
up lo Batman Begins After his wife
dies on-stage in the harrowing Water
Escape trick, Robert Angier (Hugh
Jackman) blames rival magician Albert
'The Prolessor’ Borden (Christian
Bale) and begins a personal/ profes
sional rivalry that can only end in
blood Structurally. Noon's twisty tale
ol vengeance and its illusory curative
properties is bloody confusing Its split
chronology can be tougher to follow
than Memento's backward timeline, yet
the magical tit-tor-tat is novel and anti
heroic. Jackman magnetizes Robert
with his perfect plastered showman's
gnn and its polar opposite, a steely
obsession with settling a score
(Beechwood. Carmike)
THE RETURN (PG 13) A creepy car
ousel. a creepy old song (Patsy Cline's
'Sweet Dreams'), and creepy phene
calls Irom Matthew McConaughey
(not really but the scary movie is set
in Texas) create a pretty creepy, near
Carpentenan atmosphere Then ihe
story gets going and I get contused,
the writer (Adam Sussman. who
brietty resurrected TVs Kolchak) gets
contused, the director (Asit Kapad a.
whose The Warrior won lots ol awards)
gets turned around, and Sarah Michelle
Gellar has really dark hair Our former
Lady ol the Butt is Joanna Mills, a
traveling saleswoman whose head 'is
filled with nightmares ot a woman's
murder Who is this woman and how is
Joanna connected to her’ Maybe ttiat
Dave Grohl/ Hugh Jackman-looking
dude (Peter 0 Bnen) hanging around
that old farmhouse has the answer,
but honestly who cares’ The Return
may look better than your average
original Sci Fi Chai.nel production,
but its plot is just as holey Characters
seemingly evaporate, and logic comes
to a virtual standslill. two lorgivable
faults it Ihe flick is scary The Return
is not Unless another late-vear. Woll
Cw*(l m talking to you. Tunstasand
Black Christmas) gem is unearthed,
this horror butt plans to nake like Rip
Van Winkle until 2007. (Beechwood,
Carmike/
RUN LOLA RUN (R) 1998 Lola
(Franka Potente. The Bourne Identity)
has 20 minutes and three chances
16 FLAGPOLE.COM • NOVEMBER 15,2006
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