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Some releases may not be showing locally this week.
21 (PG-13) Based on the true life-story
ol card-counting MIT kids who bilked
some Las Vegas casinos for millions.
21 is a crowd pleasing slice of instantly
forgettable entertainment. 21 isn't a bad
story, but it deals some clichCd cards
A better director and a more challeng
ing script could have turned 2Ts true
tale into something more significant.
4 MONTHS. 3 WEEKS. AND 2
DAYS (R) See Movie Pick
88 MINUTES (R) Al Pacino stars as
college professor and forensic expert.
Dr Jack Gramm, who. according to a
death threat, has 88 minutes to live and
must solve a string o! murders linked
to a killer he put on death row This
rote-looking thriller looks pretty famil
iar; maybe that's why it's been gathering
dust on the shelf for a couple ol years.
With Alicia Witt. Leelee Sobieski.
Benjamin McKenzie. Amy Brenneman.
William Forsythe. Deborah Kara Unger
and Neal McDonough
ARRANGED (NR) Two young women.
Orthodox Jew Rochel (Zoe Lister
Jones) and Muslim Nasira (Francis
Benhamou). look to one another to sur
vive their first year teaching at a public
school in Brooklyn and to prepare for
the arranged marriages botn will soon
be going through Arranged won two
Chameleons from the Brooklyn Film
Festival and Audience Awards from
the Washington Jewish Film Festival,
the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival
and the Berkshire International Film
Festival. Part of the ACC Library's
iFitms series.
AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR (NR)
This film examines the use of the death
penalty in Texas, focusing on the story
ol Carlos De Luna, a wrongly exectuted
convict. From award-winning directors
Steve James (Hoop Dreams) and Peter
Gilbert (Vietnam: Long Time Coming).
THE BAND’S VISIT (PG-13) Tackling
one of the world's most pressing
issues—Arab-lsraeli relations— The
Band's Visit does not resort to preach
ing, it simply shows us at our best, giv
ing to those in need despite prejudices
imposed by culture and religion. A film
can still say a lot without bludgeoning
the audience into agreement If The
Band's Visit reminds us of anything,
it is that the most well-received mes
sages are often those delivered softly,
through subtlety and humor.
THE BUCKET LIST (PG-13) If not lor
the magnetic allure of Jack Nicholson
and Morgan Freeman, director Rob
Reiner might finally have tumbled to
the bottom of moviemakings own pit
of despair Hampered by its schmaltzy
script. The Bucket List is a road movie
for the terminally ill.
THE COUNTERFEITERS (R) 2007
This Academy Awardwinning German
film was written and directed by
Stephan Ruzowitzky It fictionalizes a
secret plan by the Nazis during WWli
to destabilize the U K by flooding its
economy with foreign currency
DRILLBIT TAYLOR PG-13) Go
into Drillbtt 7ay/oz realizing that it s
Superbad for the preteens whose
parents wouldn't let them see Superbad
(and probably won't let them see this
movie due to its kinship with last year's
surprise smash hit), and one shouldnt
be disappointed
EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE
ALLOWED (PG) This controversial
documentary claims that educators and
scientists are being persecuted for their
belief in “intelligent design." Hosted by
Ben Stein.
THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM
(PG-13) A kung fu obsessed teenager
(Michael Angarano, Sky High) gets
transported to ancient China, where he
must help a band of warriors tree the
imprisoned Monkey King It feels a lit
tle late in the game for a first-time pair
ing of martial arts legends Jackie Chan
and Jet Li. but if I were the producers.
I'd be promoting the hell out of it as
well Knowing the flick was directed by
the guy behind The Haunted Mansion.
gives me a better idea of how little to
expect.
FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
(R) The Apatow crew is back, and
after the somewhat disappointing
performances of Walk Hard anti Drillbit
Taylor, they need to regain their block
buster momentum I don't know that
this bawdy comedy, written by How I
Met Your Mother's Jason Segei. about
a poor schmo (Segei) who goes to
Hawaii to get over a bad breakup with
his TV star girlfriend (Kristin Bell of
Veronica Mars') only to end up in the ’
same hotel as her and her new boy
friend Expect plenty ol appearances
from the typical gaggle of Apatow
familiars.
A FOUR LETTER WORD (NR) A
romantic comedy set in Manhattan that
explores gay relationships with campy
panache [Cotter]
HORTON HEARS A WHO! (G) The
1954 children s classic about Horton
the Elephant (v. Jim Carrey), whose
MOVIE LISTINGS
Theater schedules often change after our deadline. Please call ahead.
ACC LIBRARY (706-613-3650)
Arranged (NR) 7:00 (Th. 4/17)
Shrek (PG) 3:00 (Tu. 4/22)
BEECHWOOD (706-546-1011)
Due to the production deadlines. Beechwood movie times are
only accurate through Apr 17. Visit www.Flagpole.com tor
updated times.
21 (PG-13) 4:05. 6:50. 9:35
Drillbit Taylor (PG-13) 4:00, 7:20. 9:45
Horton Hears a Who! (G) 5:25, 7:35, 9:40
Leatherheads (PG-13) 4:20. 7:05, 9:45
Meet the Browns (PG-13) 4:15, 6:55, 9:35 (no 6:55
on W. 4/16
Nim's Island (PG) 5:30, 7:45. 10:00
Persepolis (PG-13) 4:35. 7:30. 9:45
Prom Night (PG-13) 5:30. 7:40, 9:50
The Ruins (R) 4:35. 7:25. 9:50
Smart People (R) 4:30. 7:15, 9:30
Street Kings (R) 4:10, 7:00. 9:40
CARMIKE 12 (706-354-0016)
21 (PG-13) 1:30, 4:15. 7:00, 9:50
88 Minutes (R) 1:45, 4:30. 7:15. 9:50 (opens F. 4/18)
The Counterfeiters (R) 1:00, 3:15. 5:30, 7:45. 10:00
(opens F. 4/18)
Drillbit Taylor (PG-13) 1:15, 4:15. 7:15. 9:45 (ends
Th. 4/17)
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (PG) 1:00, 3:15,
5:30. 7:45. 10:00 (opens F. 4/18)
The Forbidden Kingdom (PG-13) 1:15, 4:15. 7:15.
9:50 (opens F. 4/18)
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (R) 1:30. 4:15. 7:00, 9:40
(opens F. 4/18)
Horton Hears a Who! (G) 1:00, 3:10. 5:20. 7:30, 9:40
(new times F. 4/18: 1:00, 3:10. 5:20, 7:30)
Leatherheads (PG-13) 1:45. 4:30, 7:15, 9:50
Meet the Browns (PG-13) 1:45, 4:45, 7:45. 9:45 (new
time F. 4/18: 9:45)
Nim's Island (PG) 1:00, 3:15. 5:30. 7:45, 10:00
Prom Night (PG-13) 1:10. 3:20. 5:30. 7:40, 9:50
The Ruins (R) 1:00, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30, 9:40 (ends Th.
4/17)
Shutter (PG-13) 1:00. 3:15. 5:30, 7:45. 10:00 (ends
Th. 4/17)
Smart People (R) 1:00, 3:15. 5:30, 7:45. 10:00
Stop-Loss (R) 1:45. 4:30. 7:15, 9:50 (ends Th. 4/17)
Street Kings (R) 1:30, 4:30. 7:00, 9:30 (new times F.
4/18: 1:45, 4:30. 7:00. 9:30)
CINE (706-353-3343)
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (R) 4:15, 7:15, 9:30
(ends Th. 4/17)
The Band's Visit (R) 4:00. 7:00. 9:15 (no 7:00 on W.
4/16) (ends Th. 4/17)
A Four Letter Word (NR) 9:30 (starts F. 4/18) (add'l
time F. 4/18-Sa. 4/19: 11:30)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (PG-13) 4:15. 7:15.
9:15 (starts F. 4/18)
Null's Space Student Film Nite (NR) 7:00 (Th. 4/17)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (R) midnight (F.
4/18-Sa. 4/19)
The Witnesses (R) 7:00 (W. 4/16) 4:00, 7:00 (F.
4/18-Wed. 4/23)
GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART (706 542-4662)
Willow Garden and Other Short Films (NR) 7:00 (W.
4/23)
GEORGIA SQUARE 5 (706-548-3426)
Due to the production deadlines. Georgia Square Five movie
times are only accurate through Apr 17 Visit www Flagpole
com (or updated times.
The Bucket List (PG-13) 4:10, 7:10, 9:55
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (PG) 4:00, 9:50
Penelope (PG) 5:25, 7:35. 9:45
The Spiderwick Chronicles (PG) 5:30, 7:45. 10:00
Step Up 2 the Streets (PG-13) 4:15. 7:15, 9:35
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (PG-13) 7:05
HWY 17 DRIVE-IN THEATERS (706-213-7693)
Mad Money (PG-13) 8:00 (F. 4/18-Su. 4/20)
UGA STUDENT LEARNING CTR. (706-542-7000)
At the Death House Door (NR) 7:00 (Tu. 4/22, Rm
275)
■■
giant ears allow him to communicate
with the tiny speck that is the town of
Whoville is one of the good doctor's
most beloved tales, right behind Green
Eggs and Ham The laughs in Horton
are never cheap or juvenile (a plus for
the adult Seuss lovers in the crowd),
yet they are perfectly pitched for little
ones' ears
LEATHERHEADS (PG-13) George
Clooneys latest film is like an ugly
throwback jersey whose days gone by
appeal makes one briefly forget how
unfashionable it is right now Director
Clooney momentarily creates a zany
Capra-Hawks-Sturges atmosphere;
he iust doesn't sustain it Like 2003 s
Down with Love (which also starred
Zellweger). Leatherheads is more
enamored with its conceit than its con
ceit is enamoring
THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES (R)
Director Vadim Perelman follows his
depressing Oscar nominated House of
Sand and Fog wi\h another adaptation
this one of award winning poet and
author Laura Kasischke's 2002 novel.
Suburban housewife and mother, Diana
(Uma Thurman), begins to question
her perfect life on the 15th anniversary
of a tragic event involving her younger
self (Evan Rachel Wood) and her best
friend. Maureen (Eva Amurri) Formerly
titled In Bloom, the Life Before Her
Eyes sounds intriguing, but the trailer
does not impress
MAD MONEY (PG-13) Diane Keaton
Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes rob the
Federal Reserve The leads are game,
and interweaving a heist movie with
themes of female empowerment gone
awry, and the corporate downsizing of
white upper-middle class America is
intriguing Too bad the direction stinks
MEET THE BROWNS PG-13) These
Browns aren t worth meeting
MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR
A DAY (PG-13) London govern
ess Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances
McDormand) takes a job with lively
American singer and actress Delysia
Lafosse (Amy Adams) Soon Miss
Pettigrew is plunged into the dizzying
glamour of high society Based on a
popular novel of the 1930s written by
Winifred Watson
NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF
SECRETS (PG) A not-awful throwback
to matinee serials a la Indiana Jones,
National Treasure was a feature-length
commercial lor American historical
tourism. What National Treasure was
not—a lobotomized counterfeiter of
thrills—happens to be everything its
follow-up, Book of Secrets, is
NIM'S ISLAND (PG) Nim's Island is
a serviceable family friendly adventure
film. Imaginative Nim (Abigail Breslm)
lives on an isolated island in the South
Pacific with her dad (Gerard Butler) and
concocts adventures mirroring those of
her favorite fictional hero, the world's
greatest adventurer Alex Rover.
NUQI’S SPACE STUDENT FILM
NITE (NR) 2nd annual student movie
screening for Depression & Suicide
Awareness Week An evening of short
films themed ‘The Many Faces of
Depression*
PATHOLOGY (R) A medical stu
dent. Ted Gray (Milo Ventimiglia of
"Heroes*) gets involved with some
scary colleagues bend on commit
ting the perfect murder. Like so many
continental directors before him. Marc
Schoelermann is making his English
language debut with a horror flick,
only notable for its script by Cranks
Neveldme/Taylor With those twisted
minds concocting the story. Pathology
might be the dirty kick in the pants this
genre needs. With Alyssa Milano and
John de Lancie (Q from "Star Trek The
Next Generation")
PENELOPE (PG) Penelope\sri\
as bad as its trailers make it look
Nonetheless, this modern fairy tale suf
fers from the overconceptualization of
all Tim Burton wannabes
PERSEPOLIS (PG-13) Marjane
Satrapi and Vincent Paronnauds film
recounts recent Iranian history through
the limited but expanding scope of a
young Iranian girl How many hundreds
of thousands of Iranians also stride
confidently through their own insur
rectionary Survivor-fueled montage 9
Persepolis proves there is at least one
PROM NIGHT (PG-13) Sharing little
more than a title, a setting, and some
dead teens with Jamie Lee Curtis's
popular 1980 slasher flick the new
Prom Night is as dreadful as the worst
of the four proms I attended
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE
SHOW (R| Interactive midnight
screening of the 1975 cult classic
Sex rock and roll, transvestism and
murder all come together in this campy
romp—the longest running release in
film history [Cotter]
THE RUINS (R) The Ruir
exhaustingly tense trek mto the
Mexican jungle with tour typical
American college kids—medical
student Jeff (Jonathan Tucker), his
girlfriend Amy (Jena Malone). Amy's
best friend Stacey (Laura Ramsey)
and Stacy's boyfrieno Eric (Shawn
Ashmore)—and their new German
friend (Joe Anderson) in search of an
ancient Mayan rum where an unex
plainable evil patiently waits to devour
them Dotted with lots of little horrors
(a broken back, amputation, self
surgery and more). The Ruins adds up
to one big. bad horror flick
SHREK (PG) 2001 The film that
started the insanely popular fractured
fairy tale franchise is still as fresh
a blast of humorous air as it was
seven years ago Family Night at the
(Described) Movies, presented by the
Special Needs Library, features a non-
inhusive narration track for visually
impaired viewers
SHUTTER (PG-13) This slice of pitiful
PG-13 horror pie tasted just fine to its
target audience. The 13 (and unders)
in the theater were scared out of their
minds by this predictable A-horror
remake; however, Shutter caused me to
barely shudder
SMART PEOPLE (R) Smart People
intrigued me with a captivating trailer
loaded with sharp dialogue spoken by
its stellar cast, but trepidation gnawed
at the back of my mind Those fears
were wrought real and large by the self-
absorbed ode to quirky self-loathing
Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (a
hunched, paunchy Dennis Quaid) hates
his colleagues, his students and the
world for not realizing how brilliant he
thinks he is. The clinical depression of
these Smart People is communicable.
THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES
(PG) The Spiderwick Chronicles is
based on a series of bestselling books
by Terry DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
about the Grace siblings, twins Jared
and Simon (Freddie Highmore) and
sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger), who
discover a fantastical world existing
unseen within our own after they move
into the creepy old house that belonged
to their great granduncle, Arthur
Spiderwick (David Strathairn).
STEP UP 2 THE STREETS (PG-13)
The limber sequel to 2006's surprise
dance smash Step Up 2 the Streets is
a step down m almost every way
STOP-LOSS (R) 81,000 of the
650.000 soldiers that saw action m
Afghanistan and Iraq have been stop-
lossed. or forcibly reenlisted The first
half of Stop-Loss impresses its anti
war. pro-sotdier message quite vividly
and would make a great companion
piece to Jarhead But once Brandon
goes on the run with his buddy Steves
fiance. Michelle (Abbie Cornish
who looks like a baby-faced Charlize
Theron). the film loses its way, mean
dering between hopeless and bleak on
the road to its preordained, pragmatic
resolution Nevertheless, the tough,
honest, showy Stop-Loss honors the
brave men and women broken on the
wheel of what many consider a vain
futile war
STREET KINGS (R) A picture of
detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves)
can be found in the screenwriters guide
next to the entry for dirty cop who is
relatively cleaner than his dirtiest col
league " Ludlow sleeps in his clothes,
drinks on the job. talks racist trash to
suspects (before shooting them) and
is an all-around no! rice guy On the
streets of writer James Ellrcy's L A
that sort ot behavior makes him a
moral beacon shining atop city hall
Street Kings isn t as morally comp'e*
as it pretends to be and it won't set
the box office on fire Still the pulpy
hard-boiled crime film is arresting for
the two hours before tne credits bail
you out
WELCOME HOME ROSCOE
JENKINS PG-13) Welcome home
patently offensive incorrect j insult
ing visions of the South particuta'iy
Georgia
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS
OSAMA BIN LADEN? (PG-13)
Morgan Spurlock the Academy Awa r d
nominated director of Super See Me
returns to features from his highly
recommended C X senes '30 Days"
with a trip to the Middle East in search
ot Osama Bin Laden I'm a big tan
of Spurlock's intelligent, humorous
documentanan style, and the trailer
showing a bearded Spurlock in survival
training in pursuit of his quarry, looks
like more ot the same But considering
the lack of buzz. I doubt he has another
Super See hit on his hands
WILLOW GARDEN AND OTHER
SHORT FILMS (NR) The Southern
Circuit Tour of Independent
Filmmakers, a sextet of independent
films to be shown at the Georgia
Museum of Art in 2007 and 2008.
returns with another screening Jim
Haverkamp. who teaches at Duke's
Center tor Documentary Studies,
shared a Festival Prize from the Tupelo
Film Festival for the murder ballad-
based Willow Garden The Southern
Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers
is a program of the Southern Arts
Federation and is sponsored by the
UGA Parents & Families Association
THE WITNESSES (NR) Six-time
Palme d Or nominee Andre TechinC
directed and co-wrote this drama about
the AIDS epidemic's first outbreak in
France. In Paris circa 1984. a group of
friends—gay. straight, and bisexual-
come to terms with the uncertainty
generated by this new disease The
Witnesses won a Best Supporting Actor
for Sami Bouajila With Michel Blanc,
Emmanuelle Bead. Julie Depardieu.
Johan LibCreau, Constance Done
and Lorenzo Balducci. Special sneak
preview on Wednesday. 4/16 for
Boybutante Movie Nite benefiting the
Boybutante AIDS Foundation
Drew Wheeler
28 FLAGPOLE.COM • APRIL 16.2008
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