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50/50 ;Ri Cancer is scary and
depressing It's even scarier and more
depressing when it happens to a young
person So how is Jonathan Levine's
second film so dam funny and uplift
ing’ Joseph Gordon-tevitt (the only
young actor who can compete with
Ryan Gosling m a battle of control and
nuance). Seth Rogen (he excels in
these sweet, supporting, puerile roles),
Anna Kendrick (proving her Oscar
nominated performance in Up in the
Air was no duke) and screenwriter Will
Reiser are how Adam Lerner works
for NPR. he works out. he doesn t
smoke or drink, he recycles, he has a
beautiful artist girlf'iend (Bryce Dallas
Howard) a potty-moulhed BFF (Rogen)
and an overbearing mother (Angelica
Huston) he avoids He also has cancer
Don't be tooled by its mild-mannered
"Disease ol the Week" appearance,
this film, loosely based on screen
writer Reiser s own struggles to beat
cancer, is like Terms ol Endearment lor
20-somethmgs
ABDUCTION (PG-13) Taylor Lautner,
whose apparent acting idol was Derek
Zoolander, has translated his however-
many-pack into a Taylor made bomb
Abduction attempts to force moviego
ers fo recognize Lautner as a superstar
at gunpoint, and it's as terrible a movie
as you suspect it to be
BEATS RHYMES & LIFE: THE
TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED
QUEST (R)
Called Guest is charted Irom their first
appearance in the 1980s through their
90s peak as alternative hip-hop inno
vators to the troubled 2006 reunion
and beyond (where will Tribe go trom
here’) Would you have guessed this
doc was directed by actor Michael
Rapaport’ I would not have, but he
uses his actoriy connections to snag
interviews with seemingly everybody
including the Beastie Boys. Mary J
Blige, Common, etc
THE DIG YEAR i PG) Sieve Martin
Jack Black and Owen Wilson star as
three bird- watching pals compet
ing to see the most species ol North
American fowl in a year Director David
Frankel has hit it big before ( The Devil
Wears Prada a nd Mar ley and Me), but
this movie teels like a big Christmas
release So why is it coming out in
October’
BIUTIFUL (R) Bnitiful, the latest
loughly literate him from Alejandro
Gonzalez Innantu <s much like his other
films (Amores Petros 21 Grams and
Babef) I! is hard to like but easy lo
appreciate All 147 minutes are spent
in the sometimes painful, rarely peace-
lul life of Uxbal (Academy Award nomi
nee Javier Bardem), a Barcelona street
agent tor African and Chinese immi
grants who also dabbles in the spirit
world Part of the Hispanic Heritage
Month Film Festival, the film will be
introduced by Dr Catherine Simpson,
lecturer trom Romance Languages, and
followed by a Q&A
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST
AVENGER i PG-13) Director Joe
Johnston smartly gives Captain
Amenca The Firs! Avengei a sort ot
Saturday matinee serial feel Ninety-
pound weakling Steve Rogers (Chris
Evans) wants to do his part in WWII.
but army doctors keep 4Fmg him until
Dr Abraham Erskme (the ever wonder
ful Stanley Tucci) approaches with
his super soldier serum Soon. Steve
Rogers turns into a muscled up super
hero called Captain America, who must
stop rogue Nazi, the Red Skull (Hugo
Weaving) trom devastating the world
CARS 2 (G) Cars 2 is an above-aver
age childrens cartoon Unfortunately,
an above-average children's cartoon
is wav below Pixars capabilities Any
other animation house can make a Cars
or a Cars 2, Pixar should leave the
kiddie entertainment to DreamWorks/
Sony and concentrate on singular mas
terpieces like WALL-Fand Up
CONTAGION (PG-13) Steven
Soderberghs new "What it ’ epi
demic chiller is an excellent feature-
length Twilight Zone" What it a deadly
new. highly communicable virus
entered the population’ How quickly
and effectively would the world's
governments and health agencies
(represented by Laurence Fishburne,
Kate Winslet. Bryan Cranston and
Marion Cotillard) respond 0 What sort
ot wildfire would spread via the blogo-
sphere (Itianks, Jude I aw)’ How would
the rest of us respond as loved ones
(like Gwyneth Paltrow) quickly and
mysteriously tall ill’ Screenwriter Scott
Z Burns (The Informant0 answers all
these queries as Soderbergh depicts
this possible apocalyptic scenario
COURAGEOUS iPG-f 3) On a
completely technical level, you'd
never know you were not watching a
Hollywood production about lour law
enforcement officers forced to face
themselves as men and fathers alter a
tragedy I've seen several Hollywood
hits that looked worse (direction
cinematography, editing, etc) Now the
bad The talent in front ot the camera
still reeks ot amateurism Awkward
reaction shots and line deliveries ol
stilted homilies and forced proverbs
mar the professional Hollywood slick
production values. At least there's
no "big" name bible beater, a la Kirk
Cameron in Sherwood's previous
release, Fireproof, to really show up the
down home actors
CRAZY. STUPID. LOVE. (PG-13)
Whal a crazy, stupid idea! 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’ Only almost
I just invented stem cell smoothies.
everyone who doesn't greenlight studio
projects Steve Carell stars as Cal
Weaver, whose wife, 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 tailing lor law student Hannah
(Emma Stone)
DOLPHIN TALE (PG) A lonely
12-year-old. Sawyer (Nathan Gamble),
fescues a dolphin (real tail-less dol
phin. Winter, as herself) caught in a
crab trap With the help of a marine vet
(Harry Connick Jr), his daughter (Cozi
Zuehlsdorf!) and a doctor who special
izes in prosthetics (Morgan Freeman).
Sawyer helps save the dolphin by
fashioning a take appendage
DREAM HOUSE (PG-13) I'm not
sure how Dream House happened
It's hard to imagine this script having
attracted so much A-list talent—Oscar
winners J»tn Sheridan and Rachel
Weisz, plus Daniel Craig arid Naomi
Watts seeing as the frozen thriller
corpse they dumped into the cinematic
wasteland ol September is DOA A fam
ily (headed by Craig and Weisz) moves
into a new home only to discover the
last family was murdered there When
tne young daughters claim to have a
seen a s»’ange man around the house
papa Wifi (Craifli believes ill be the
DRIVE (R) Drive slides through the
alleys and sidestreets of its criminal
Los Angeles with the precision, skill
and style ol its nameless Driver (Ryan
Gosling) called Ihe Kid by his boss/
handler. Shannon (Bryan Cranston,
BTW why aren't you watching
Breaking Bad" yet?) Stuntman by
day, getaway man lor hire by night, the
driver slides his leather driving gloves
on and gets his bumpers bloody when
a cute neighbor (Carey Mulligan) with
a little tyke runs atoul ol some local
toughs Gosling must hail Irom an
alien world tilled with cool because
he's certainly more so than any other
actor working today (besides maybe
George Clooney maybe) His near
silent Driver says all he needs to with
a single look that says whatever the
recipient needs to hear
FOOTLOOSE (PG) Any child ol the
‘80s or watcher ol basic cable is famil
iar with the Kevin Bacon-John Lithgcw
hit about a rebellious youth who brings
Kenny Loggins and dancing back to
a small Baptist-run town. Newcomer
Kenny Wormald was the producer's
third choice (behind Zack Efron and
Chace Crawford), but I'm interested in
seeing Hustle & Flow filmmaker Craig
Brewer s New South lake on this tale
Dennis Quaid should make an adequate
replacement tor Lithgow, but half the
appeal of the original came from the
soundtrack. Can any new tunes live
up’ With Julianne Hough and Adele
native. Ray McKinnon
FRIENDS WITH 3ENEFITS (R)
No. you didn t like this movie better
when it starred Natalie Portman and
Ashton Kutcher Just act like No Strings
Attached doesn't exist, and enjoy the
tar superior genre stylings of Friends
with Benefits
THE FUTURE (R) Popular indepen
dent filmmaker. Miranda July (her
debut. Me and You and Everyone
We Know, was all the rage in 2005),
returns with her second feature
Adopting a stray cal changes the
course ol time and space tor a couple
(July and Hamish Linklatef) The film,
narrated by the cat Paw-Paw (v July),
sounds a bit more intriguing and ’
original than much of the indie fare
that emerges from the festival scene
Nominated lor the Golden Bear at the
Berlin Internalional Film Festival
HARRY POTTER AND THE
OEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
(PG-13) By now everyone knows what
i tiij'T) the Pjjtfe! universe -is
connived by director David Yates
ii pt npfrrwd rhe final !• ■ r Pnivrs i art
MOVIE LISTINGS
Schedules often change after our deadline Please call ahead
CINE ! 706-353-3343) checV #ebiite lor show times
Beats, Rhymes & life (R) 9:30 (starts F. 10/14) (no 9:30 show Su.
10/16). 2:45 (Sa. 10/16 & Su. 10/16)
Crazy Stupid Love fPG-13) 9:45 (no 9:45 show Su. 10/16). 2:45 (Sa.
10/15 & Su. 10/16)
Drive iR) 5:00. 7:15 (starts f 10/14)
The Future R) 5:16. 7:30 (starts F. 10/14) (no 7:30 show W. 10/19)
Manhattan R) 7:30 (Tu. 10/11)
Senna (PG-13) 5:15 IW 10/12 & Th. 10/13)
The Whistleblower (R) 7:30 (W 10/12 & Th. 10/13)
UGA TATI CENTER THEATER (706 54? 6396)
Horrible Bosses (R) 3 00. 6 00. 9 00 (f. 10/14 Su, 10/16)
Singin’ in the Rain I NR) R 00 (Th. 10 13)
CARMIKE 12
BEFCHWOOD STADIUM 11 706 h il l and GEORGIA
SQUARE $
www.flagpole.com for updated tunes.
In the final journey to this magical
world. Ihe entire cast and crew deliver
an emotionally impactful, thrillmgly
magic-filled final installment lo one of
the biggest blockbuster franchises of
all time.
THE HELP (PG-13) An audience-
wooer a la The Blind Side, this '60s
Mississippi set melodramedy will draw
raves Irom your mother, grandmother,
aunt the ladies of Ihe church, etc. but
the whitewashed world of The Help
lacks the proper depth to feel real
Every black servant is a saint, every
white employer a demon
HIGHER GROUND (R) Actress Vera
Farmiga tries her hand at directing
with this religious drama based on
Carolyn Briggs' memoir, This Dark
World. Corinne’s (Farmiga) crisis of
taith throws a tight-knit, evangelical
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 Farmiga received a nomi
nation lor the Sundance Film Festival’s
Grand Jury Prize
HORRIBLE BOSSES (R) Nick (Jason
Bateman). Dale (Charlie Day of the
best sitcom on TV. ‘It s Always Sunny
in Philadelphia") and Kurt (Jason
Sudeikis) work for some horrible
bosses (Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston
and Colin Farrell). With the help ol
a murder consultant (Jamie Foxx),
these three friends decide the solution
to their employment problems is to
murder each other s boss. This dark,
dirty take on Strangers on a Train does
everything right in the most wrong
sort ol way II you don't like Bateman.
Day or Sudeikis. King ot Kong director
Seth Gordon's film will lay comically
flaccid before you, but you have better
taste than that The three leads, gifted
with immaculate chemistry, timing
and wicked tone, make this darkly silly
murdercom work
• THE IDES OF MARCH (R) George
Clooney knows how to make a good
political film In his latest direct
ing effort. Oscar-nominated director
Clooney guides Ryan Gosling through
the prickly patch of a presidential
primary election, as Governor Mike
Morris (Clooney) seeks the Democratic
nomination His strategist Stephen
Myers (Gosling) learns Ihe painful truth
that the best man tor the job might not
be the best man A well-picked cast
and the sharp script by Clooney/Grant
Heslov/playwright Beau Willimon lend
the film the air of a dark, less comedic
episode ot "The West Wing ’
KILLER ELITE (R) What seems like
another kinetic adioner in Jason
Stalham's interchangeable (besides the
two hits of Crank) is actually a pretty
solid exercise in real men (Statham,
Clive Owen, Robert De Niro and a
bunch of British toughs) playing war
Danny (Statham) is a retired inerc,
pulled back into the game to save his
mentor, Hunter (De Niro) His latest
renegade op places him in direct oppo
sition with former SAS specialist. Spike
(Owen) Gary McKendry confidently
directs the action and spying in his
feature debut, based on the non-fiction
book wutten by Ranulph Fiennes
THE LION KING
thuikirg he ki ed his father a quilt rid
den !n>>: :.ub <: ees into exiie and aban*
Jo: s his identity as the future king
MONEYBALL PG To Based on
Bennet Miller s follow-up to the Oscar
winning Capote actually makes base
ball statistics interesting Oakland As
General Manager Billy Beane (Brad
Pitt) attempts to build a championship
ballclub through On Base and Slugging
Percentage rather than traditional
scouting Does it work’ Anyone famil
iar with Major League Baseball already
knows the answer.
MYSTERIES OF LISBON 2010
Based on the 19th-century Portuguese
navel by Camiio Caslelo Branco, the
Ibenan Peninsulas version o! Charles
Dickens. Mysteries of Lisbon follows
Joao, a bastard child of two aristocrats,
seeking the truth about his parents
From there, three decades unfold
across Spain. France, Italy and Brazil
•REAL STEEL (PG-13) Did you
ever wonder what Rocky would be
like with robots’ Me neither, but
it’s more fun than you would think
Hugh Jackman charismatically glides
through this last food family movie
as former boxer Charlie Kenton, who
gets a second chance at everything—
fatherhood, professional success,
love (with Evangeline Lilly) and the
world championship title (of Robot
League boxing)—in a kinder, gentler
preapocalypse Real Steel is pretty
much what Transformers would have
been had any of that trilogy Ird a
heart or some humanity, and it's less
headache-inducing to watch
SENNA (PG-13) The late Brazilian
Formula One racer Ayrton Senna gets
the documentary treatment in this film
from BAFTA Award winner and Cannes
Film Festival nominee Asif Kapadia
(The Warrior art the short. The Sheep
Thief) The three-time Ft champion,
revered as a saint in his native country,
died like NASCAR superstar Dale
Earnhardt, felled on live television
by the sport he loved Senna won
Sundance's Audience Award for World
Cinema Documentary
THE SMURFS (PG) The live action/
CGI hybrid vers'on of The Smurfs is
not as bad as its atrocious trailers
would imply, thanks largely to the
smurfish talents of Neil Patrick Harris
< THE THING (R) I love John
Carpenter’s The Thing, ol all his films,
I think it's his strongest (I slill person
ally preler Halloween art Big Trouble
in Little China) Perhaps against my
better judgment, I am looking forward
to this prequel detailing the events that
unfolded at the Norwegian research
facility prior to the opening of JC's
1982 Antarctic chiller Granted, the cast
lacks a Kurt Russell (or Willord Brimley
or Keith David), but The Warrior’s Joel
Edgerton is coming on strong
VERTIGO (PG) 1958 Hitch's most
beautiful lilm also deals with his most
disturbing social taboo, necrophilia.
Though Jimmy Stewart's Detective
Scottie Ferguson, suffering from the
titular affliction, does not engage in any
indiscretions with the dead, he does
tall in love with a woman (Kim Novak)
whose similitude to another dearly
departed lady is uncanny
WHAT S YOUR NUMBER? (R) I'm
pretty sure I've already mentioned this
(in several previous reviews), but Anna
Faris is a seriously valuable, misused
talent Abandoned to another flimsy
romcom, Faris amusingly tumbles from
one lame setup to another as Ally, a
young woman trying to find love before
she sleeps with her 21st guy
THE WHISTLEBLOWER iR)
Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz
(The Constant Gardener) stars as
Kathryn Bolkovat the Nebraska cop
who during a one year stint as Bosnian
peacekeeper, outed the UN's complicity
•n the cover up of cases of sex traf
ficking Director Larysa Kondrackis
feature debut Aon Audience Awards
at the Palm Springs Internal :oal Film
Festival and the Whistler Film Festival
Orew Wheeler
12
ftur
20
OCTOBFR
