About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2011)
Some releases may not be showing locally this week. • indicates new review ARTHUR (PG-13) Let’s face it. A large chunk of today's movie watchers, largely the ones who make up British comic Russell Brand’s fanbase, don't know who Arthur Bach, Dudley Moore or Sir John Gielgud are, and they probably only know Christopher Cross’ Oscar-winning song “Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" in passing. For those unfortunates, the new Arthur will serve its disposable, comedic pur pose. Laugh today, forgotten tomorrow. BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (PG-13) Battle: LA offers nothing new to either the war or science fiction genres it mashes together, but the action movie manages to engage for its near-two- hour running time without being particularly interesting or entertaining. Strangely, this needlessly cacopho nous, visually unintelligible movie is better during its quiet, still moments as opposed to its textbook sacrifices and acts of cowboy bravado. BRIDESMAIDS (R) Considering its competition, calling Bridesmaids the funniest movie of 2011 may be as much an insult as a compliment to this hilarious comedy, written by and star ring Kristen Wiig. This female-driven flick needs to be judged and compared to its raunchy, hearty brothers, all raised under the banner of the House of Apatow. These bridesmaids prove to be just as funny and dirty as the groomsmen of The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, etc. When Lillian (Maya Rudolph) gets engaged, crazy, broken best friend Annie (Wiig) takes on the task of Maid of Honor and screws it up with uproarious results. THE CONCERT (PG-13) 2009. A for mer superstar conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra, Andrei Simoniovich Filipov (Aleksei Guskov) was removed from his position for ignoring Brezhnev's order to fire all Jewish musicians. Now a janitor at the Bolshoi, he plots to create a group that can impersonate the renowned orchestra in Paris, so he can conduct the Tchaikovsky concert he never finished. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES (PG) I really enjoyed the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie, and its sequel, Rodrick Rules, is no different. Middle schooler Greg Hefftey (Zachary Gordon, who could be a lost Savage brother) must contend with brotherly abuse from his mean older sibling, Rodrick/Devon Bostick). Fortunately, Greg still has best bud. Rowley (Robert Capron), by his side. FAST FIVE (PG-13) As the "plot" goes, Dorn (Vin Diesel), Brian (Paul Walker) and Dorn's sister/ Brians squeeze, Mia (Jordana Brewster), are on the lam after a daring, non-fatal prison break. In Rio, the trio runs afoul of super drug lord, Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). They also have to outwit federal bounty hunter Hobbs (a more gigantic than usual Dwayne Johnson). Other stuff goes on to set up the “Oceanls 11 on wheels’ heist that cre ates the climax. THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD (PG-13) Super Size Me docu- mentarian and Oscar nominee Morgan Spurlock returns to explain the process of product placement with a film com pletely financed by product placement. I enjoyed his debut but have grown fonder of Spurlock through the three seasons of his FX show, “30 Days." His last teature, Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?, didn't seem to get a proper release. Hopefully, we'll be able to view his latest feature at the local multiplex. THE HANGOVER PART II (R) The Wolfpack—Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zack Galifianakis)—-makes its way to Thailand for this highly anticipated sequel. On the eve of Stu^s wedding, the gang must piece together another lost evening if they are to find the brother of Stu’is fiancee. All of the major players, including director-cowriter Todd Phillips and Ken Jeong's Mr. Chow, are back, which is a very good thing. HOP (PG) I’m still a sucker for a grand holiday fantasy factory sequence, and Hop opens with a spectacular one, detailing how all the marshmallow * chicks and hollow chocolate bunnies are produced. Unfortunately, the family film goes creatively downhill from that high point. IN A BETTER WORLD (R)Two families are intertwined thanks to the actions of their young sons. Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) is a doctor who splits time between his Danish home town and the African refugee camp where he practices. His son Elias (Markus Rygaard) is being bullied until the new kid, London transplant MOVIE LISTINGS Schedules often change after our deadline. Please call ahead. ACC LIBRARY (706-613-3650) Waiting for Superman (NR) 6:30 (Th. 5/26) CINi (706-353-3343) The Concert (PG-13) 7:00 (W. 5/25 & Th. 5/26), 4:30 (starts F. 5/27) The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (PG-13) 5:15, 7:30, 9:30 (starts F. 5/27) (no 9:30 show Su. 5/29) Jane Eyre (PG-13) 4:30, 7:15, 9:45 (W. 5/25 & ih. 5/26), 7:15 (starts F. 5/27), 2:15 (Sa. 5/28 & Su. 5/29) ' Mia and the Migeo (PG) 5:00 (W. 5/25 & Th. 5/26), 2:30 (Sa. 5/28 & Su. 5/29) Super (NR) 9:30 (W. 5/25 & Th. 5/26), 9:45 (starts F. 5/27) (no 9:45 show Su. 5/29) Accurate movie times for the CARMIKf 12 (706-354-0016), BIECHWOOD STADIUM 11 (706-546-1011) and GEORGIA SQUARE 5 (706-548-3426) cinemas are not available by press time. Visit www.flagpole.com for updated times. Christian, comes to his aid. But when Christian (William Johnk Nielsen) involves Elias in a possibly tragic act of vengeance, the two families must confront the consequences. JANE EYRE (PG-13) Charlotte Bronte's classic novel (just ask any high schooler) is brought to the big screen yet again, this time by an intriguing filmmaker, Sin Nombre's Cary Fukunaga. The titular, mousy gov erness (Mia Wasikowska, who is every where right now) falls for her employer, Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender), only to discover he harbors a horrible secret. Screenwriter Moira Buffini also wrote last year's Tamara Drewe. JUMPING THE BROOM (PG-13) Jumping the Broom has all the familial melodrama of a Tyler Perry production without Madea's tonal aggression. When uptown girl Sabrina (Paula Patton) meets downtown boy Jason (Laz Alonso), they quickly get engaged. The wedding on Martha's Vineyard highlights the divide between the two families, led by tough-verging-on- unlikable matriarchs played by Angela Bassett and Loretta Devine. KUNG FU PANDA 2 (PG) Kung fu master Po (v. Jack Black), Master Shifu (v. Dustin Hoffman), the Furious Five—Tigress (v. Angelina Jolie), Mantis (v. Seth P.ogen), Monkey (v. Jackie Chan), Crane (v. David Cross) and Viper (v. Lucy Liu)—and some new friends— Thundering Rhino (v. Victor Garber), Soothsayer (v. Michelle Yeoh), Croc (v. Jean-Claude Van Damme)—must battle an old enemy, Lord Shen (v. Gary Oldman), who is armed with a deadly new weapon. LIMITLESS (PG-13) Limitless, the new film from Illusionist director Neil Burger, is pretty much about star Bradley Cooper's career. He goes from being “Alias’^ Will Tippin to “The A-Team's’ Face in the course of two hours. Writer Eddie Morra stumbles upon a designer drug that opens up the limitless potential of the human brain. Nicely adapted from the Allan Glynn novel by Leslie Dixon and stylishly directed by Burger, Limitless needs a better advertising campaign. It’s a lot better than you think it’s going to be. MADEA'S BIG HAPPY FAMILY (PG-13) Having written, directed, produced and/or starred in 11 movies since 2005, Tyler Perry has become predictable. The broad, slapstick antics of mad matriarch Madea (Perry) are jarringly meshed with a faith-based melodramatic family drama. The family in Perry’s newest movie belongs to sweet Shirley (Loretta Devine), who is dying of cancer. Not that her awful brood seems to care. MARS NEEDS MOMS (PG) Mars Needs Moms is a fairly tepid animated kids movie of the most average kind. Milo (not voiced by credited star,, 37-year-old Seth Green, who did the motion capture performance) doesn't appreciate his mother (v. Joan Cusack). When aliens in need of mothering take her away, he sets out to save her with the help of an overweighi earthling, Gribble (v. Dan Fogler), and a martian rebel, Ki (v. Elizabeth Harnois). MIA AND THE MIGOO (PG) 2008 Impressively created from 500,000 hand-painted frames of animation, French Animator Jacques-Remy Girerd's second feature (Raining Cats and Frogs was his first), Mia and the Migoo calls to mind the modern classics of Hayao Miyazaki. Led by a premonition, young Mia goes on a wild adventure to save her father, who is trapped by a mudslide at a construc tion site. Winner of the European Film Award for Best Animated Feature. • PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (PG-13) The fourth adventure of Captain Jack is terribly unexciting and, worst of all, boring, as he canters frantically about for no reason more dramatically press ing than box office booty. Pirates of the Caribbean is a needlessly extended series: I haven’t cared about since the Black Pearl’s initial outing. Depp does what Depp does as Captain Jack battles the Spanish, Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and a beau tiful lady pirate (Penelope Cruz) for the Fountain of Youth. The cinematic equivalent of stale popcorn and flat soda, On Stranger Tides is missing the key component that set the unlikely first blockbuster apart from its peers: fun. PRIEST (PG-13) An aggressively boring movie, /Y/es/doesn't bring one original idea to its tale of a warrior man of the cloth battling an army of vampires in the cities of Blade Runner and the desert wastelands of Mad Max. The graphic novel series, upon which the second unimpressive movie directed Scott Charles Stewart and starring Paul Bettany is based, may be acclaimed, but I cannot see why from its filmed version. In a world ruled by the Church, man lives in the aftermath of a brutal war fought to extinguish the vampire threat. When the Priest’s (Bettany) family is attacked by the very vampires he helped eradicate, he must break his vows to save his only living relative, an 18-year-old girl named Lucy (Lily Collins). RANGO (PG) Boasting a cute trailer, this animated feature from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski stars his lead pirate, Johnny Depp, as the voice of a chameleon that wants to be a gunslinging hero. Rango must put his skills, if he has any, to the test to protect a Western town from bandits. RIO (G) After Rango. 2011 s animated output has some minor big, quirky boots to fill. Rio isn’t quirky. It mashes together several popular cartoon plotlines. A pet out of water—Blu, a domesticated macaw, must negotiate the wide world in order to finds its owner, Linda (v. Leslie Mann) again. But what will he learn on the way? SOMETHING BORROWED (PG- 13) Something Borrowed, something blew. In an in-spirit, if not in-name sequel to Bride Wars, another greater, more appealing actress withers when matched with the poisonous Kale Hudson. I love Ginnifer Goodwin, but she is no match for KHud, whose career continues to spawn entries on my personal worst movies list. SUPER (NR) Regular guy Frank D'Arbo (Rainn “Dwight Schrute" Wilson) becomes a superhero named the Crimson Bolt after his wife leaves him for a drug dealer, Jacques (Kevin Bacon). Along with his teen sidekick (Ellen Page), the Crimson Bolt vows to take down Jacques’s criminal empire THOR (PG-13) After a raid on the Frost Giants goes awry, a petulant Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is put in timeout by his Allfather, Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Until he learns to use his godlike pow ers selflessly, he is forced to exist as one seriously cut, regular dude who gets to woo Natalie Portman as astro physicist Jane Foster. When Odin goes down for the Odinsleep. Thor's trick ster brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), assumes the throne THE TREE OF LIFE (PG-13) Terrence Malick’s long-delayed fifth film, starring Brad Pitt no less, is here! (Granted, the delay isn’t that long in Malick-time.)The life of Jack O'Brien (Sean Penn) is tracked from his 1950s Midwest upbringing with his dad (Pitt) and mom (Jessica Chastain, Jolene) to modern adulthood. The initial word from Cannes was mixed (lots of boos) but early reviews have been effusive. WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN’’ (PG) In Waiting for ‘Superman' An Inconvenient Truth Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim simplistically outlines simple solutions to solve our devastat- ingly important education problem. Have higher standards. Be more rigorous. Most importantly, hire better teachers, and fire incompetent ones. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (NR) Jacob Jankowski (Robert Patti nson) hops a train carrying the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth to its next stop. Soon, he con vinces ringmaster August Rosenbluth (an absolutely terrifying Christoph Waltz) to hire him as the circus’ vet. And when Benzini Brothers gets a new star attraction, Rosie the elephant. Jacob becomes the all-important bull man (i.e., elephant trainer). Drew Wheeler 'iPirotooftljf.(S-'ariBBcan 4 A iA|/£i/myv l r * ON STRANGER TIDES FLICK^lCINN T ’ CliV* FHCfcStttNNT.COM 0^ (jOociy t (wH'er 0/I&. 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