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30 MINUTES OR LESS (R) 30
Minutes or Less, the second movie
!rom Zombieiand director Ruben
Fleischer, starts oil pretty poorly
thanks to bad writing and a locus on
its two least appealing characters,
unfortunately played by the top-billed
Jesse Eisenberg and Danny McBride. A
slacker who drives like Mario Andretti.
Nick (Eisenberg) is forced by two Hedg
ing criminals. Dwayne (McBride) and
Travis (Nick Swardson), to rob a bank
alter they strap a bomb to his chest.
ABETTER LIFE (PG-13) After The
Twilight Saga. New Moon, director
Chris Weit7 leaves gigantic fantasy
universes behind for a small, family
drama Carlos Galindo (Demian Bichir).
a gardener from East L A, struggles to
keep his son away from gangs and the
INS. while manicuring the lawns of the.
city's wealthiest homeowners.
BEGINNERS iR) Thumbsuckerwutei-
director Mike Mills (not to be confused
with the R E M bassist) returns for
his first fictional feature since 2005
with this family dynamic drama
about 75-year-old Hal (Christopher
Plummer), who decides to confess two
secrets to his grown son. Oliver (Ewan
McGregor), who then embarks on his
own new romance.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST
AVENGER (PG-13) Director Joe
Johnston smartly gives Captain
America The First Avenger (talk about
unnecessary subtitles) the same sort
of Saturday matinee serial leel. Ninety-
pound weakling Sieve Rogers (Chris
Evans) wants to do his part in WWII.
but army doctors keep 4Fing him until
Dr Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci)
approaches with his super soldier
serum Soon. Steve Rogers turns into
a muscled up superhero, who must
the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), from
devastating the world
CIRCUMSTANCE (R) A wealthy
Iranian couple (Soheil Parsa and Nasin
Pakkho) tight to contain their daughter
Atafehs (Nikohl Boosheri) sexual
rebellion and their son's dangerous
obsession All the plot synopses for
director Maryam Keshavarz’s award
winning drama are so mysterious that
I've been trying to glean more info
withoul spoiling it
COLOMBIANA (PG 13) A top-tier
assassin. Cataleya Restrepo (Zoe
Saldana), raised in the U S by her
uncle, seeks revenge against the drug
lord who left her an orphan at the
age of 10. Famed Gallic actioner Luc
Besson remains behind in the camera
as writer-producer, while his protege.
Olivier Megaton (Transporters),
handles directing duties. Will this be
another surprise hit, £ la Taken, or lank
like From Paris with Lov&
• CONAN THE BARBARIAN (R)
Conan (Momoa) seeks revenge against
the baddie. Khalar Zym (Avatar's
Stephen Lang), that murdered his lov
ing barbarian papa (a heavily hirsute
Ron Perlman) Fortunately, Conan gets
an assist from his Malcolm Jamal-
Warnerbe pal. a pretty priestess (Rachel
Nichols) and a thief (Said Taghmaoui).
Conan might be content with living,
loving and slaying, but a movie needs
more than buckets ol CGI blood and
topless extras
COWBOYS & ALIENS (PG-13) Jon
Favreau sure knows how to make an
above-average blockbuster. The Iron
Man director's latest is a tun mashup
of Western and science fiction tropes
that should satisfyingly cap the sum
mer proper
CRAZY. STUPID. LOVE. (PG-13)
What a crazy, stupid idea 1 Write a
mature comedy script. Cast pretty, tal
ented, appropriately aged stars. Direct
them with care, humanity and simplic
ity Who would ever think those actions
would develop into the summer's most
charming wide release 7 Only almost
everyone who doesn't greenlight studio
projects Steve Carell stars as Cal
Weaver, whose wile, Emily (Julianne
Moore), suddenly bombs him with a
divorce pronouncement that leads him
to a local bar where Cal meets inveter
ate womanizer Jacob (Ryan Gosling).
While Cal the nice guy is learning to
objectify women, Jacob the man-whore
is falling for Hannah (Emma Stone)
DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK
(R) I don't know a lot about the TV
movie that captured Guillermo Del
Toro's imagination enough to write and
produce this chiller, but the trailer is
awesomely frightening A young girl
(Bailee Madison) goes to live with her
dad (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend
(Mrs Tom Cruise. Katie Holmes) where
creatures living in the house wish to
make her one of them.
FINAL DESTINATION 5 (R) Do you
enjoy watching creatively gory death
scenes? How about creatively gory
death scenes in 3D 7 If you answered
yes. Final Destination 5 is handcrafted
from the dismembered limbs of
hundreds of previous slasher victims
just f or you Otherwise, FD5 is a ser
viceable entry in the most consistent
modern slasher series since Friday
the 13th.
• FRIGHT NIGHT (R) This remake
of the 1980s horror comedy classic
is good It's better than good even
Former geek Charley Brewster (Anton
Yelchin). who is dating lithe hottie.
Amy (Imogen Poots). has hit the high
school lottery until his old friend “Evil"
Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) confides
that Charley's strapping new neighbor.
Jerry (Colin Farreil), is a vampire.
When Ed disappears, Charley starts
investigating
GENERAL ORDERS NO. 9 (NR)
First-time writer-director Robert
Persons has blazed a hot trail across
the him festival landscape with this
experimental documentary about loss
and change in the American South.
General Orders No 9 is entirely told
through images, poetry and music. Its
trailer alone is a thing of beauty
GLEE: THE 3D CONCERT MOVIE
(NR) Fox's musical hit. “Glee,” comes
to the big screen. If you can t wait for
the new season, this flick is the next
best thing
GREEN LANTERN (PG-13) The
movie version of DC's second-line
superhero, a ring-equipped mterga-
lactic policeman, lacks the nostalgic
baggage checked by the big two, Supes
and Bats. Test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan
Reynolds) is chosen to join the Green
Lantern Corps just in time to battle
Parallax, a world-devouring baddie
who uses the yellow power of fear
to turn Peter Sarsgaard from a John
Carpenter doppelganger into an evil,
bloated alien John Carpenter.
THE HANGOVER PART II (R)
Sequels to hit comedies mostly suck
The Hangover Part //sidesteps the
landmines that blow away the humor
ous limbs from most comedy sequels.
Lobbing critical grenades at the movie's
lack of creativity ignores the ingenuity
that fashioned a tunny facsimile without
simply recycling wholesale gags from
the 2009 blockbuster
HARRY POTTER AND THE
DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
(PG-13) It's over. The final battle
rages over and through the hallowed
halls of Hogwarts as Harry (Daniel
Radcliffe). Hermione (Emma Watson)
and Ron (Rupert Grint) attempt to end
Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) evil reign.
The last few Horcruxes must be found
and destroyed if Harry is ever to truly
deleat You-Know-Who.
THE HELP (PG-13) An audience-
wooer a la The Blind Side, this ‘60s
Mississippi set melodramedy will draw
raves from your mother, grandmother,
aunt, the ladies of the church, etc., but
the whitewashed world ot The Help
lacks the proper depth to feel real.
HIGHER GROUND (NR) Actress Vera
Farmiga (The Departed) tries her hand
at directing with this religious drama
based on Carolyn Briggs' memoir, This
Dark World Cormne's (Farmiga) crisis
ot faith throws a tight-knit, evangeli
cal Christian community into turmoil.
Farmiga did good to get “Deadwood”'s
John Hawkes. who received a well-
deserved Oscar nom for Winter's Bone.
as a costar.
INSIDIOUS (PG-13) A family (headed
by Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne)
suspect their home is haunted, only
to discover it is actually their bedrid
den. comatose son who is the target of
some frightful, malevolent spirits. The
best horror movie since Paranormal
Activity 2.
KUNG FU PANDA 2 (PG) However
much I dug the first Kung Fu Panda,
the second adventure of Dragon
Warrior Po (v. Jack Black, who is better
heard than seen) and the Furious Five
has more visual inventiveness than it
does comic or narrative combined
LIFE IN A DAY (PG-13) The story of a
single day—July 24.2010—on planet
Earth. Lite in a Day ms produced by
Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin
McDonald (The Last King of Scotland)
from more than 80,000 user-submitted
videos to YouTube Over 4500 hours
of footage shot across the globe was
culled down to the best 90 minutes
ol the beautiful, horrific, humorous
human experience.
MONTE CARLO (PG) While on
a n jt-so-dream vacation to Paris,
three young women—Grace, Meg
and Emma (Selena Gomez. Leighton
Meester and Katie Cassidy)—live the
Princess Diaries experience (paparazzi.
MOVIE LISTINGS
Schedules often change after our deadline. Please call ahead.
CINE (706-353-3343)
Beginners (R) 5:00, 7:30 9:30 (W. 8/24 & Th. 8/25), 5:15, 9:45 (starts
F. 8/26) (no 9:45 show Su. 8/28)
Das Boot (NR) 7:15 (W. 8/24)
Deadly Prey (R) 9:30 (W. 8/24)
Midnight in Paris (PG-13) 5:00, 7:15, 9:30 (starts F. 8/26) (no 9:30
show Su. 8/28)
Septien (NR) 9:30 (Th. 8/25)
Shotgun (NR) 8:00 (W. 8/24)
The Tree of Life (PG-13) 7:00, 9:45 (VV. 8/24 & Th. 8/25)
The Trip (NR) 5:00 (W. 8/24 & Th. 8/25), 7:15 (Th. 8/25). 7:30 (starts
F. 8/26). 2:45 (Sa. 8/27 & Su. 8/28)
Winnie the Pooh (G) 2:30 (Sa. 8/27 & Su. 8/28)
UGA TATE CENTER THEATER (706-542-6396)
A Clockwork Orange (R) 8:00 (Th. 8/25)
Insidious (PG-13) 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 (F. 8/26-Su. 8/28)
Accurate movie times for the CARMIKE 12 (706-354-0016),
BEECHWOOD STADIUM 1 1 (706 546 1011) and GEORGIA
SQUARE 5 (706-548-3426) cinemas are not available by press
time. Visit www.flagpole.com for updated times.
fancy dresses, fairy tale love) in Monte
Carlo after one girl is mistaken for a
British heiress.
• ONE DAY (PG-13) One Day. adapted
by author David Nicholls from his own
novel and directed by An Education's
Lone Scherfig. is a thoroughly unap
pealing romance about two Brits whose
entwined lives we see on the same
day, July 15. each year. Emma (Anne
Hathaway, wasted as yet another ugly
duckling waiting to blossom) and
Dexter (the bland Jim Sturgess) meet
on their graduation night and spend
most ot their lives engaged in an unre
quited love affair. Unfortunately, she's
boring; he's boorish
OUR IDIOT BROTHER (R) The
always great Paul Rudd is Elizabeth
Banks. Zooey Deschanel and Emily
Mortimer's idiot brother, Ned Busted
for pot. Ned loses everything—his
apartment, his girlfriend, his dog—and
ends up crashing on the couches of his
three sisters Of course, as nice a guy
as Ned is, he brings chaos in nearly
equal measure
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:
ON STRANGER TIDES IPG 13) The
fourth adventure of Captain Jack is ter
ribly unexciting and, worst of all. bor
ing, as he canters frantically about for
no reason more dramatically pressing
than box office booty.
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE
APES (PG-13) The apes return in this
remixed mash-up of Escape from the
Planet of the Apes and Conquest of the
Planet of the Apes. While Tim Burton's
damned dirty apes disappointed heav
ily, this new Apes prequel has my inner
Dr Zaius all a flutter.
SEPTIEN (NR) When Cornelius
Rawlings, the Athlete (director Michael
Tully), unexpectedly returns to his
Tennessee home 18 years after he
left, he finds his parents dead and his
brothers—Ezra, The Matriarch (Robert
Longstreet) and Amos, the Artist (Onur
Turkel)—continuing their idiosyncratic
existence. But things change when
someone from the Rawlings brothers'
past and a mysterious drifter wind up
on the family farm.
SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE
WORLD (PG) Robert Rodriguez's
family espionage franchise is reborn.
A former spy (Jessica Alba) returns
to battle the villainous Timekeeper
(Jeremy Piven) who is plotting to rule
the world.
SHOTGUN/DEADLY PREY (R)
1989/1987 First up is Shotgun, a
buddy cop flick about Ian "Shotgun"
Jones, who goes after the villain who
murdered his working girl sister. In
Deadly Prey, a group of mercenar
ies hunt the wrong victim when they
kidnap military killing machine Mike
Danton (Ted Prior).
THE SMURFS (PG) The live action/
CGI hybrid version of The Smurfs is
not as bad as its atrocious trailers
would imply, thanks largely to the
smurfish talents of Neil Patrick Harris.
THE TRIP (NR) Director Michael
Winterbottom (A Mighty Hearf) has
edited together his BBC series in which
Steve Coogan plays an exaggerated
version of himself. Asked by The
Observer to tour Northern England's
finest restaurants. Coogan plots a per
fect getaway with his girlfriend: instead,
he finds himself tortured by his friend,
Rob Brydon It’s worth seeing for the
Michael Caine impersonations alone.
Drew Whee'er
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12 FLAGPOLE.COM-AUGUST 24, 2011