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the right guy between the reliable
friend (Zach Gilford of “Friday Night
Lights’) and the bespectacled neighbor
(Rodrigo Santoro). With Carol Burnett
as the grandmother.
PUBLIC ENEMIES (R) Filmmaker
Michael Mann’s latest crime drama.
Public Enemies, is the biggest cin
ematic disappointment of 2009 to date.
Starring Johnny Depp as infamous
bank robber John Dillinger and
Christian Bale as pioneering G-Man
Melvin Purvis, this film musters less
intrigue about a fascinating period
of American history than a History
Channel documentary. The film isn’t
a massive epic about the ’30s crime
spree that led to the creation of the FBI.
It could be. All of the pieces have been
placed on the board, but the gangland
games never begin.
STAR TREK (PG-13) Director J.J.
Abrams brings Gene Roddenberry's
idyllic, stodgy creation to warp speed.
Abrams and writers Roberto Orci and
Alex Kurtzman revive the franchise
with a breezy, action-packed matinee
abandon never before seen in this
often sober universe. Abrams, Orci and
Kurtzman make the Enterprise’s tricky,
high-profile refitting—not to mention
the successful construction of a sum
mer blockbuster—look easy.
SHORTS (PG) Robert Rodriguez's new
feature, Shorts, continues the film
maker’s kiddie movie mania. It’s easily
his worst yet, even by childish stan
dards. A town is thrown upside-down
with the discovery of a rainbow-hued
wishing rock. Kids make dumb wishes.
Adults make worse ones that can only
be corrected by their kids. Respectable
adult stars—William H. Macy, James
Spader, Leslie Mann, Jon Cryer and Kat
Dennings—cash paychecks for dis
reputable work. The child performers,
including Star Treks Jimmy Bennett
and Rodriguez’s own brood, give worse
performances.
TAKING WOODSTOCK (R) This
slight Ang Lee historical comedy, his
first American language film since
Brokeback Mountain, grew on me
as I watched it. it’s nowhere near as
funny as it thinks it is, and the ’60s
clich6s (the awesome Emile Hirsch
gets saddled with the post-traumatic
stressed Vietnam vet) abound. Still, the
story of how Woodstock came to be
thanks to the help of interior designer
Elliot Teichberg (writer-comedian
Demetri Martin, who grows as an actor
right there on the screen). Living with
his parents for the summer at their
Catskills motel, Elliot brings together
concert promoter Mitchell Lang (a very
cool Jonathan Groff) and dairy farmer
Max Yasgur (the always loveable
Eugene Levy) to save what becomes
the most important music festival of all
time. Lee might disappoint some view
ers by withholding Woodstock's key
ingredient, the music, but most people
know it by heart. What they don't know
(if they, like me, haven't seen Michael
Wadleigh's Oscar-winning 1970
documentary) is how the music festival
came to be.
THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE (PG-
13) I won’t speak for fans of Aubrey
Niffenegger’s beloved bestseller; I
have no clue as to whether or not it’s
a good (i.e., faithful) adaptation of
the love story of Henry (Eric Bana), a
regular guy with a genetic predisposi
tion tor'time travel, and Claire (Rachel
McAdams), the lovely lady who falls in
love with grown-up naked him at the
age of six. As critics and sci-fi nuts
love to point out. Niffenegger’s time
travel premise is flawed, paradoxical
and perfect for her passionate story.
Bana and McAdams are pretty. Tears
will be shed. The Time Traveler's Wife
should please romance junkies pining
for their next chance to pine.
TYSON (R) Controversial filmmaker
James Toback (Black and White)
returns to documentaries for the first
time in a decade with this chronicle
of his pal, former heavyweight boxing
champion Mike Tyson. Tyson’s leg
endary infamy ever increases; maybe
Toback, who’s known him since the
late ‘80s, can shed actual illuminat
ing light on one of modern sports’
most mercurial figures. With Tyson's
recent cameo in June's smash hit, The
Hangover, what better time to reflect
than the present? Winner of the Regard
Knockout Award at Cannes.
UP (PG) Pixar doesn't make kids
movies anymore (if in fact they ever
did); they make family films. While kid-
friendly, the latest Disney-Pixar film,
Up. deals with some serious issues
upfront (infertility, old age, death)
before unleashing a most fantastic,
fantastical adventure film. Seventy-
eight-year-old Carl Fredricksen (v.
Edward Asner) and his late wife, Ellie,
always dreamed of traveling to South
America. After Elbe's eventual death,
Carl floats his house to the fabled
Paradise Falls with the help of several
thousand helium balloons. Carl and
a young stowaway, lonely Wilderness
Explorer Russell (v. Jordan Nagai),
confront the wilderness for the first
time, encountering a mythical bird,
a talking dog named Dug (voiced
by co-director and screenwriter Bob
Peterson), and even Carl’s childhood
hero, lost adventurer Charles Muntz
(v. Christopher Plummer). With its
odd old protagonist (Carl’s in better
shape than Jack LaLanne), Up is bound
to be the year’s most unconventional
blockbuster. Every minute of the film,
co-directed by Pete Docter (Monsters,
Inc.) and Peterson, bursts with creativ
ity and ingenuity. In Dug, the worn-out
anthropomorphic animal sidekick is
imaginatively reinvented to produce the
film's freshest, biggest laughs.
Drew Wheeler
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