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21 JUMP STREET (R) Another
update of an '80s TV show, 21 Jump
Street stars Jonah Hitt and Channing
Tatum as two cops assigned to go
undercover at a high school to bfeak
up a synthetic dnjg ring. Series star
Johnny Depp allegedly drops by for a
cameo. Directors Chris Miller and Phil
Lord previously wowed audiences with
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, but
Hill, who cowrote (with Scott Pilgrim*
Michael Bacall) and produced, is the
driving creative force. With Ice Cube.
ACT OF VALOR (R) At times. Act of
Va/or betrays its humble origins as a
military recruiting too! (think of the
National Guard/Three Doors Down
video for "Citizen Soldier" expanded to
feature length), but at its high-octane
best, this action experiment rivals its
bigger-budgeted, star-laden competi
tors. What realty sets Act of Valor apart
from its action brethren is its non-pro
fessional acting troupe, an elite team of
active duty Navy SEALs playing an elite
team of Navy SEALs. Understanding
the soldiers' dramatic limitations, the
movie tends to focus on the military
tasks et which they excel, and it is rare
for an action movie to feel as real.
ALVIN AMD THE CHIPMUNKS:
CHIPWRECKED (G) Come on, Fox!
If you're going to keep releasing new
Chipmunks entries each holiday
season, the least you can do is make
a Christmas-themed movie featuring
the furry trio's classic holiday tunes.
Instead, Alvin, Simon, Theodore, the
Chipettes and Dave (poor, paycheck
cashing Jason Lee) start out on a
cruise ship and wind up on a deserted
island.
THE ARTIST (PG-13) Films today
do not come as precious or charming
of Forestry and Natural Resources.
Anthropology, and Geography. Part of
the 2012 EcoFocus Film Festival.
BUCK (PG) 2011. Real horse
■ whisperer Buck Brannaman gets the
documentary treatment in this film from
Cindy Meehl. Even foe cinematic horse
whisperer, Robert Bedford, appears to
talk about this Zen cowboy's way with
equine anirrals. The film has been a hit
with festival audiences and opens foe
fourth annual EcoFocus Film Festival
alongside short film, Anna, Emma and
the Condors about two sisters and
their birds of prey. Filmmakers Toby
Shimin and Joy Reed {Buck) and Katja
Tomeman (Condors) will host a Q&A.
THE CITY DARK (NR)'2011. In his
award winning documentary, filmmaker
Ian Cheney asks the question, "Do we
need the dark?" The City Dark com-
peted at foe 2011 South by Southwest
Film Festival where it won the prize for
Best Score/Music. The screening will
be folio-wed by a discussion with local
. scientists and night sky advocates.
Screening with The City Dark Is Our
Tomorrow, Sarah Jackson's partially
animated attempt to understand
whether or not we are living in "The
End Times." Part of foe 2012 EcoFocus
Film Festival.
THE CLEAN BIN PROJECT (NR)
2010. The Athens-Clarke County
Recycling Division is sponsoring a free
screening of Grant Baldwin^ The Clean
Bin Project, in which partners Jen and
Grant compete to answer the question,
"Is it possible to live completely waste
free?" Watch the film and see who
produces foe least garbage in an entire
year. Screening alongside The Clean
Bin Project is Song of the Spindle,
Drew Christiels animated conversation
to Rudy, On the Beat—Scala {No
Baque—Soati), Papiroflexia, Ride of
the Mergansers, Shark Riddle, The Last
Sun and Timber. The EcoKids Short
Films are appropriate for kids 4 and up.
Stick around for a snack and hands-on
EcoKids activities. Kids get in free!
What better way is there to spend a
Sunday afternoon? Part of the 2012
EcoFocus Film Festival.
AN EVENING OF BIKE FILMS (NR)
Do you like to ride? If so, An Evening
of Bike Films is for you. The three films
screening are Riding Bikes with the
Dutch, The Okra Planter (O Piantador
de Quiabod) and With My Own Two
Wheels. After foe movies, stick around
for a discussion with Riding Bikes
with the Dutch filmmaker Michael
Bauch, Mary Fortson Harwell and
Davis Harwell of Bicycles for Humanity,
Brent Buice of Georgia Bikes!, Jean
Crow Crowttier of globafbike and
Anna Gore of Bike Athens. Your ticket
will also get you in free to an after
party at Little Kings featuring Hope
for Agotdensummer. Part of the 2012
EcoFocus Rim Festival.
Despite its near perfection, this 3D
family film—Martin Scorsese’s first-
may be foe loveliest wide release to
struggle to find its audience this year.
Yet ifc no wonder Scorsese, himself
a film historian as well as a film lover,
decided to adapt Brian Selznick’s The
Invention of Hugo Cabret, whose
central mystery revolves around an
early cinematic master. Parisian orphan
Hugo (Asa ButterfielcO. who lives
inside the clocktower of the train sta
tion, seeks foe answer to a mysterious
automaton, left unsolved by his late
father anddockmaker (Jude Law), with
the help of a toymaker named Georges
(Ben Kingsley) and his charge, Isabelle
(Chloe Grace Moretz).
Y THE HUNGER GAMES (PG-13)
Let the Games begin! Suzanne Collins’
age-defying Young Adult series is
poised to be foe next Harry Potter (how
many times have we said that?), but
can Seabiscuits Ga7 Ross deliver? Is
Jennifer Lawrence the right gal to play
series heroine Katnlss Everdeen? Are
Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth
foe right Peeta and Gale to make
people who enjoyed its 2008 forebear.
Journey to the Center of the Earth,
might have outgrown the Brendan
Fraser/Dwayne The Rock" Johnson
brand of famify adventure movie.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—GHOST
PROTOCOL (PG-13) Mission:
Impossible is that rare franchise that
has actually gotten better with each
new installment and in inverse propor
tion to its megastar's popularity. Tom
Cruise had few peers in 1996 when the
weak, original M:l opened; now he's
more often a punchline, albeit a badass
punchline who does many of his own
death-defying stunts, like climbing the
outside of foe world’s tallest building
MISS REPRESENTATION (NR)
2011. Director Jennifer Siebel
Newsom’s documentary looks at
America^ failure to allow women the
equal opportunity to attain influential,
powerful positions and the media's
misrepresentation of powerful women.
Interviewees include Margaret Cho,
Katie Couric, Geena Davis, Rosario
Dawson, Dianne Feinstein, Jane Fcnda.
Lisa Ling. Rachel Maddow, Nancy
Pelosi, Condoteezza Rice, Gloria
Steinem and Catherine Hardwicke,
foe director of Twilight Part of the
Womens History Month film festival
sponsored by the Institute for Women’s
Studies at UGA.
PARADISE SAVED (NR) 1982.
For the first time, foe EcoFocus Film
Festival reaches into the George F.
Peabody Awards Collection housed at
foe UGA Special Collections Library to
screen this documentary produced by
WAGA-TV in Atlanta. Should allowed
attendance at the Cumberland Island
National Seashore be increased? What
could happen as a result? The post
screening discussion with Dr. Gary
Green, associate professor of Natural
Resources, Recreation, and Tourism in
as Michel Hazanavicius’ Best Picture
winner A silent film that is all about
talking, The Artist of title refers to
matinee idol George Valentin (Academy
Award winner Jean Dujardin, who
absolutely must be a silent film star
Hazanivicius recently thawed from ice),
who finds it difficult to transition from
silent films to talkies, unlike rising star
Peppy Miller {Academy Award nominee
Bdtenice Bejo). But Miller has a crush
on Valentin that predates her stardom
and will do everything she can to help
the despondent, one-time star.
BENVENUTl AL SUD (NR) 2010.
Director Luca MinieroS award winning
comedy, Benvenuti al sud (Welcome to
the Souttfj, remakes foe French f ilm,
Bienvenue chez les Chlis. A northern
Italian postal worker (Claudio Bisio) is
assigned to the south, where he soon
finds his prejudices may not be all that
accurate. Nominated for 10 Davids,
including Best Film, Best Director, Best
Actor, Best Actress, Beet Supporting
Actor and Best Supporting Actress
(the only award the film won) Part of
Cinecitta 4, the Italian film series spon
sored by'UGA Romance Languages.
BLOOD IN THE MOBILE (NR) 2010:
Apparently, foe materials used to build
that mobile phone in your pocket.
come from foe Eastern Congo, a place
ravaged by civil war that has claimed
more than five million lives. Filmmaker
Frank Piaseckl Pouson reveals that
there is Wood In all our mobiles; now
what can we do about it? The screening
will be followed by a discussion wifo
professors from foe UGA Departments
between a man and a sperm whale. Part
of the 2012 EcoFocus Film Festival.
DECLARATION OF WAR (NR) 2011.
A young couple copes with each other
and tries to keep hope when their infant
son is diagnosed with brain cancer..
Part of the French Film Series.
THE DESCENDANTS (R) Is The
Descendants foe best film of 2011?
If not, the bittersweet dramedy star
ring Academy Award nominee George
Clooney is among the top two or three.
Filmmaker Alexander Payne sure took .
his time following up his 2004 Oscar
winning smash, but foe delay was
worth it. After a tragic accident leaves
his wife in a coma, lawyer and owner of
the last parcel of virgin land in Hawaii,
Matt King (Clooney), struggles to raise
his two daughters, come to peace with
revelations about his dying wife and
decide what to do with his important
land.
DR. SEUSS' THE LORAX(PG) •
Released on Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday,
this pleasant animated adaptation of
the beloved childrens author’s envi
ronmental fable fails to utterly charm
like foe filmmakers' previous animated
smash, Despicable Me. TheLorax\s
not the years best animated feature
(imagine what Pixar could do wifo
Seuss), but foe childishly funny film
does not pander to its audience, young
and old. even Hit does preach a bit.
ECOKIDS SHORT FILMS (NR) The
list of films to screen as part pi this
yearts EcoKids Short Films indude
Amazonia, Animal Beaibox, Don't be a
Trashcanf, India Explains Solar Power
THE FATHER OF MY CHILDREN
(NR) 2009. A successful film producer
loses the comfort of his sate family life
when his career starts to falter. Part of
foe French Film Series.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON
TATTOO (R) Stieg Laisson may have
created Lisbeth Salander, but David
Fincher and the bold Rooney Mara
have made her a big-screen icon. (No
offense to Noomi RapaceS Lisbeth,
but Mara's movie is loads better.)
Fincher dangerously retains LarssonS
wicked, violent, European sexuality tor
HoliywoodS adaptation of the first book
in foe Millennium Trilogy. Journalist
Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) enlists
foe help of foe titular tattooed (and
multiply pierced) girl, a ward of foe
state who might be a psychopath but is
oertainly a genius, to solve a decades
old murder. .. '
GOOD DEEDS (PG-13) Good Deeds
Is another average melodrama from
the entertainment juggernaut foal is ji
Atlanta's Tyler Perry. Perry stars as
Wesley Deeds, foe uptight CEO of a
software company who befriends a
struggling widowed mother, Lindsey ,
Wakefield (Thandie Newton), on foe.
virtual eve of his wedding. Naturally,
hte relationship with Lindsey and her
cute daughter. Ariel, awaken foe spark .
of life thsfS been lying dormant in
Deeds tor foe bulk of his adult life, a
course-charted by his domineering
mother (Phyfida Rashad).
HUGO (PG) Oh, td be an orphan liv
ing in an earty-20tlK8ntury dock!
Katniss swoon? This we know; foe
previews are exciting. If you haven't
read the first book yet your pre-movie
opportunities are growing slim.
INTO THE ABYSS (PG-13) In foe
legendary Werner Herzog's newest film,
his 25th documentary, the German
filmmaker interviews death row Inmate
Michael Perry to understand why
people and foe government chooses to
kill. Convicted of triple homicide, Perry
was executed eight days after Herzog
conducted his interviews; his accom
plice, Jason Burkett, who was treated
to foe lesser sentence of life In prison,
is also interviewed. A festival hit Into
the Abyss won awards from foe British
Film Institute and foe National Society
of Film Critics. The preview on 3/22
features Athens native Jett Reynolds’
short documentary, Jerry, and a
teaser trailer for his upcoming feature.
Corpus: The Case of Justin Wolfe
JOHN CARTER (PG-13) Civil War
veteran John Carter ("Friday Night
Lights"’ alum Taylor Kitsch, whose
career is poised to blowup or implode
in 2012) Is transported to Mars, where
12-foot-tall barbarians rule. WALL-E
director Andrew Stanton becomes foe
latest Pixar filmmaker to make foe jump
from anMoo to live action. I’d love
to see his film be as successful as Brad
Bird’s Mission: Impossible—Ghost
Protocol
JOURNEY ?: THE MYSTERIOUS
ISLAND (PG) Journey 2: The
Mysterious Islands biggest problem
might be time. Many of foe young
UGA’s Wamell School of Forestry and
Natural Resources, should enlighten
audiences as to what has happened
since 1982. .
POINT BLANK (R) 2010. A nurse’s
assistant saves the life of a wounded
professional criminal, whose associ
ates kidnap the hospital workers
pregnant wife to ensure carte blanche
for their fallen man. Part of foe French
Film Series.
PROJECT X (R) I lament how this teen
comedy, produced by The Hangovefs
Todd Phillips, condones the Internet
era’s hedonism as teenage rite of
passage. Three unpopular high school
ers—Thomas (Thomas Mann). Costa
(Oliver Cooper) and JB (Jonathan
Daniel Brown)—throw a party so wild
(sex, drugs, alcohol, fire, a midget;
its like the boys go to Bret Easton
Ellis High) that not even the cops can
stop it. a conceit that play rights into
teenagers' already overinflated egos.
As a former teenager, 1 wish I’d been
invited. The appeal of Project Xtruly
depends on the perspective—adult or
teen—from which you view it as the
party supplies few surprising acts of
debauchery.
SAFE HOUSE (R) For Safe House*
target fans of Denzel Washington, whiz
zing bullets and car chases, the action
flick is critically bulletproof; for me, it
was competently boring. Foimer CIA
operative turned rogue asset, Tobin
Frost (Washington), goes on foe run
wifo green agent Matt Weston (Ryan
Reynolds, In foe thankless role anyone
could have filled) hot on his heels.
12 FLAGPOLE.COM • MARCH 21,2012
Washington remains foe laziest talent
in Hollywood. What draws him to waste
his chops on these action-filled scripts
with such obvious piot trajectories?
SEMPER FI: ALWAYS FAITHFUL
(NR) 2011. Jerry was a loyal marine,
but when his world was shattered by
the death of his nine-year-old daughter,
Janey, to a rare form of leukemia, Jerry
uncovered a conspiracy lo coyer up
one of the largest water contamina
tion incidents in U.S. history. After
foe screening, meet Jerry Ensminger
and Mike Partain, whose stories are
recounted in the movie. Screening with
Semper Fi is the animated Russian
short. Leonids Story, about the
Chernobyl disaster from director Rainer
Ludwigs. Part of foe 2012 EcoFocus
Film Festival.
A SEPARATION (PG-13) This year's
Academy Award winner tor Best Picture
is also the first Academy Award winner
from Iran. A married couple faces one
of liteS toughest decisions. Should
they leave the country to improve
life for their child or should they stay
in Iran to care lor a parent suffering
from Alzheimer’s? Writer-director
Asghar Farhadi’s film won foe Berlin
International Film Festivals Golden
Bear, the Golden Globe for Best Foreign
Language Film and foe Independent
Spirit Award lor Best Internationa! Film
SILENT HOUSE (R) Elizabeth Olsen
stars in a thriller remake ol a 2010
Uruguayan film about the relationship
between psychological and physical
spaces.
SOLARTAXI (NR) 2010. In foe sum
mer of 2007, Louis Paimer attempted
to go around foe world in his solartaxi,
which is powered completely by the
sun. Showing at foe same time as foe
EcoKids Short Films. Erik Schmitt's
Solartaxi—Around the World with the
Sun is great tor older kids (10 and
up). Screening wifo Solartaxi is Daniel
Kuipers' The Last Sun. in 'which a
Norwegian girl travels by dogsled to
witness foe last sunset ol the year Part
of the 2012 EcoFocus Film Festival
SOME LIKE IT HOT (NR) 1959 Jack
Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn
Monroe star in Billy Wilder's classic,
cross-dressing comedy. (Unfortunately,
it birthed foe Wayans Brothers turd,
White Chicks ) Curtis and Lemmon
must dress as women in an all-girls
band to hide from foe mob; hilarity and
complications ensue Hollywood really
does lack respect for comedy What
is possibly foe greatest comedy ever
made may have been nominated for
six Academy Awards (including Besl
Director, Best Actor and Best Writing),
but Best Picture was not one of them
THIS MEANS WAR (PG-13) They
might as well have ponied up for foe
“Spy vs. Spy ’ license and made a
truly misguided adaptation ot foe old
"Mad* comic strip. Two of foe CIA's
top agents/besfies, FDR (Chris Pine)
and Tuck (Tom Hardy), wind up dating
the same girl, Lauren Scott (Reese
Witherspoon). You know toe drill.
THIS WAY OF LIFE (NR) 2009. Amid
foe mountains and beaches ot New
Zealand, Peter and Colleen Karena
raise six kids and fifty horses. An
official selection of several film festi
vals. This Way of Life won a Crystal
Bear from the Berlin International
Film Festival. Screening wifo Sarah
Ginsburg and Sarah Berkovich's This
Way of Life is 10,000 Trees about
eighty-five-year-old Victor KaufmannS
dream to plant a new forest in Lyle.
Washington. Part of foe 2012 EcoFocus
Film Festival.
A THOUSAND WORDS (PG-13) An
Eddie Murphy family comedy, directed
by Brian Robbins (Meet Dave and
Norbil), that’s been in the can since
2008? Nothing in this sentence implies
anything good (or funny), A literary
agent. Jack McCall (Murphy), is taught
a lesson on truth by a spiritual guru
via the Bodhi tree that appears on his