MOVIES
Movies are rated on a letter-grade scale, from A to F. Opinions by R-J movie critic Carol Cling (C.C.) are indicated by initials. Other opinions are from wire service critics.
Motion Picture Association of America ratings:
G - General audiences, all ages.
PG - Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
PG-13 - Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children under 13.
R - Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or guardian.
NC-17 - No one under 17 admitted.
NR - Not rated.
AWAY FROM HER
(A-) An Alzheimer's patient (an exquisitely subtle Julie Christie) goes into a nursing home and transfers her affections to an even more fragile patient (Michael Murphy), prompting an emotional crisis for her forgotten husband (craggy Gordon Pinsent), in actress-turned-filmmaker Sarah Polley's heart-piercingly poignant adaptation of Alice Munro's short story "The Bear Went Over the Mountain." Despite the wrenching subject matter, it's far from depressing -- at times downright exhilarating -- to watch a movie so quietly precise and emotionally insightful. (110 min.) PG-13; profanity, sexual references. (C.C.)
BECOMING JANE
(B) This charming period tale speculates, "Shakespeare in Love"-style, about the romance between aspiring author Jane Austen (feisty, dreamy Anne Hathaway) and a dashing Irish law student ("Last King of Scotland's" James McAvoy) -- and how it inspired Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." The movie's implication that Austen might never have achieved literary immortality without love seems downright heretical, but the movie's many pleasures (including a sterling supporting cast led by Julie Walters, Maggie Smith and James Cromwell) help atone for such blasphemy. (120 min.) PG; brief nudity, mild profanity and sexual references. (C.C.)
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
(B+) You can't go home again, but amnesiac spy guy Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) keeps trying, racing from London to Paris, Moscow to Madrid, Turin to Tangier to uncover the final clues to his past -- in New York, where it all began. In a summer of underwhelming threequels, this one more than lives up to its predecessors, thanks to a top-chop cast (including David Strathairn and Joan Allen) and director Paul Greengrass' ability to combine exhilarating action with a weighty sense of dread that gives "Bourne" a gravity -- and a humanity -- most action workouts lack. (114 min.) PG-13; violence, intense action sequences. (C.C.)
BRATZ
(D-) You go, girlz -- go away. The teenage dolls with a "passion for fashion" make their big-screen debut in a live-action adventure that finds best-friends-forever Yasmin (Nathalia Ramos), Jade (Janel Parrish), Sasha (Logan Browning) and Cloe (Skyler Shaye) heading to high school -- and battling peer pressure -- in a movie so noisy, cloying and hysterically adolescent it may create its own cult of the perverse. (110 min.) PG; thematic elements.
DADDY DAY CAMP
(D) In this who-asked-for-it sequel to 2003's "Daddy Day Care," Charlie (a flailing Cuba Gooding Jr., taking over from Eddie Murphy) and Phil (Paul Rae, replacing Jeff Garlin) take on operation of the run-down title camp, which they attended as kids, facing off against an old nemesis (Lochlyn Munro). Disney Channel veteran Fred Savage (who's come a long way from "The Wonder Years") calls the shots in a movie that, at its artificial heart, is just your below-average story of grown-ups behaving like kids and kids acting like movie kids. (93 min.) PG; mild bodily humor and profanity.
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
(C+) Dying is easy, comedy is hard -- and this mechanical Britcom set at an upscale funeral can't always bring the laughs to life, despite the best efforts of director Frank Oz, who keeps the dominoes tumbling during the funeral from hell as a dutiful son ("Pride & Prejudice's" Matthew MacFadyen) tries to give his father a dignified farewell. Rupert Graves, Alan Tudyk, Peter Dinklage and "Millions' " Daisy Donovan are among the sterling cast, all of whom have to work too hard to manufacture laughs and make sure this isn't dead on arrival. (90 min.) R; nudity, profanity, drug use. (C.C.)
EL CANTANTE
(C-) The rise -- and demise -- of '70s salsa pioneer Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony, in solid voice), as witnessed by his mutually destructive wife (played by Anthony's real-life wife, Jennifer Lopez). The music may be vibrant, but it ultimately takes a back seat to the cacophonous lady at the movie's misplaced center, making this one downer of a musical biopic that leaves no cliché unturned. (116 min.) R; drug use, pervasive profanity, sexual situations.
FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER
(C+) It's clobberin' time! But maybe yawnin' would be a more appropriate response to the Marvel-ous foursome's second big-screen adventure, as a new metallic menace (played by Doug Jones, voiced by Laurence Fishburne), plus returning nemesis Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), give the title quartet (Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis) trouble. Between the special effects and multiple villains, this movie doesn't have much time for, or interest in, its title characters. As a result, neither do we. (89 min.) PG; action violence, mild profanity and innuendo. (C.C.)
HAIRSPRAY
(B+) You can't stop the beat in this wigged-out blast from the past, an adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway musical starring John Travolta (in fat-suit drag) as a super-size '60s housewife whose bubbly daughter (winning newcomer Nikki Blonsky) integrates a 1962 Baltimore TV dance party. More mainstream than the 1988 John Waters satire that inspired it, but an all-star cast (including Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, James Marsden, Michelle Pfeiffer, a dynamite Elijah Kelly and "High School Musical's" Zac Efron) packs irresistible punch. (117 min.) PG; profanity, mild sexual references, teen smoking. (C.C.)
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
(B-) Familiarity breeds contentment, not contempt, in the bleak fifth chapter of J.K. Rowling's beloved tales, which finds an authoritarian bureaucrat (smilingly sinister Imelda Staunton) seizing power at Hogwarts magic academy -- and casting a suspicious eye on Harry (quietly intense Daniel Radcliffe), who rebels when the powers-that-be doubt that villainous Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has returned. Not great or wildly imaginative, but good enough to get the job done. (138 min.) PG-13; fantasy violence, frightening images. (C.C.)
HOSTEL: PART II
(C) Talk about hostile: there's more gore in store at writer-director Eli Roth's sinister Slovakian hotel, where three American exchange students (Lauren German, Bijou Phillips, Heather Matarazzo) join a model from one of their art classes (Vera Jordanova) for a getaway stay that threatens to slay them -- literally. Sure, it's graphic (and gratuitous), but that's the point. And Roth is darn good at making it -- repeatedly. (93 min.) R; sadistic scenes of torture and bloody violence, terror, nudity, sexual content, profanity, drug use.
HOT ROD
(D) Crash and burn: A bumbling amateur stuntman ("Saturday Night Live's" Andy Samberg) tries to survive multiple stunt jumps -- to raise money for a heart transplant for his abusive stepfather ("Deadwood's" Ian McShane) in a super-stupid mashup of Adam Sandler's random violence and Will Ferrell's dim wattage. Every pratfall lands with a splat and every punchline lands without so much as a chortle. (83 min.) PG-13; crude humor, profanity, comic drug-related and violent content.
I KNOW WHO KILLED ME
(F) Lindsay Lohan risks life, two limbs and career credibility with a grotesquely hilarious horror tale -- about a kidnap and torture victim who claims she's someone else, raising questions of post-traumatic stress -- that promises unspeakable tortures for star and audience alike. The first truly great bad movie of 2007. (105 min.) R; grisly violence including torture, disturbing gory images, sexuality, nudity, profanity.
I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY
(C-) I now pronounce you a comic misfire: Straight, single Brooklyn firefighters (Adam Sandler, Kevin James) pretend to be a gay couple so they can claim domestic partner benefits. One of those movies that wants it both ways, indulging in rude, crude, homophobic hijinks inevitably followed by not-that-there-anything- wrong-with-that reminders. Until then, it's OK to laugh. Unless you're too busy wincing at the strained comedy -- and the strained logic. (115 min.) PG-13; crude sexual content, nudity, profanity, drug references. (C.C.)
INTERVIEW
(B) A jaded reporter (Steve Buscemi) and a self-centered actress (Sienna Miller) engage in a theatrical game of cat-and-mouse written and directed by Buscemi -- and inspired by murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh's corrosive 2003 chamber piece. Two-character dramas may be the riskiest endeavors to be put on film, because the material had better be good -- and the actors had better be great. In this Brains-vs.-Beauty smackdown, they are. (83 min.) R; profanity, drug use.
THE INVASION
(C+) The latest, and lamest, version of the aliens-on-the-loose classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" stars Nicole Kidman as a psychiatrist fighting to stay awake (she's not the only one) after being infected with a space-spawn virus that turns people into numb, soulless beings. Despite the best efforts of co-stars Daniel Craig, Jeffrey Wright and Jeremy Northam, this movie -- with its shiny surfaces, nouveau-chic grittiness and button-pushing sentimentality -- feels as though it were made by the kind of pod people the first three "Body Snatchers" movies warned us against. (109 min.) PG-13; violence, disturbing images, terror.
LA VIE EN ROSE
(B+) Back in Las Vegas following its debut at June's CineVegas film festival, writer-director Olivier Dahan's impressively impressionistic portrait of iconic French singer Edith Piaf showcases a knockout performance by Marion Cotillard as the star-crossed chanteuse -- but ultimately suffers from the avalanche of suffering the plucky Piaf endures during her hard-knock life. And why does it ignore Piaf's work with the French Resistance during World War II? In French with English subtitles. (140 min.) PG-13; substance abuse, sexual content, brief nudity, profanity, mature themes. (C.C.)
THE LAST LEGION
(C+) Toss a little Arthurian legend, a few stalks of "I, Claudius," some sliced "Star Wars" and a pinch of "Harry Potter" in a vegetable spinner and you get this Caesar salad, which wastes an impressive cast (led by Ben Kingsley, Colin Firth, Peter Mullan and Aishwarya Rai in a tale of fifth-century Rome's overthrown young emperor, Romulus Augustus Caesar ("Nanny McPhee's" Thomas Sangster), who discovers Julius Caesar's legendary sword Excaliburnus -- and leads a daring expedition to Brittania. Despite the occasional gleam of wit, very little is to be taken seriously -- not the story, not the acting and certainly not the history. (110 min.) PG-13; intense action violence.
LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD
(C+) Yippie-ki-yay, y'all! After 12 years, the unstoppable John McClane (Bruce Willis) is once again tossed into a maelstrom of exploding machinery and impending disaster, this time from various corners of cyberspace as Internet terrorists plot to shut down the U.S. economy. Nothing more (or less) than a three-ring festival of intricate stunts and pyrotechnic effects, punctuated with clown routines and wisecracks that fly around almost as much as the shrapnel; you might not even mind that it's too long. (130 min.) PG-13; violence, profanity.
NO RESERVATIONS
(C) Break out the Alka-Seltzer: An uptight chef (Catherine Zeta-Jones) finds child care on the menu when she becomes guardian of her niece ("Little Miss Sunshine's" Abigail Breslin) in a bland translation of the delightful 2002 German comedy "Mostly Martha." Aaron Eckhart co-stars -- as the resident free spirit -- in a movie that doesn't really leave a bad taste; it doesn't leave much taste at all, save perhaps for the cloying echoes of Velveeta cheese. (103 min.) PG; sexual references, profanity.
OCEAN'S THIRTEEN
(B-) Honor among thieves: When a megalomaniacal casino mogul (Al Pacino) double-crosses Reuben (Elliott Gould) before the opening of the Strip's latest megaresort, Danny (George Clooney) and the gang (including Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Carl Reiner, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle and Andy Garcia) reunite for revenge in Neon Nirvana. This second sequel to the 2001 remake of the original 1960 Rat Pack romp (whew!) cruises along on the easy camaraderie and roguish charm of its all-star cast. (122 min.) PG-13; brief sexual references. (C.C.)
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END
(B-) Yo ho-hum -- and then some -- as this rollicking buccaneer band gets a few new hands on deck (including Chow Yun-Fat as a Singapore pirate lord) and resurrects some old friends -- notably Geoffrey Rush as the scoundrelly Barbossa and, inevitably, the deliriously swishbuckling Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), who'd never let a little thing like being trapped in Davy Jones' Locker interrupt his (or our) fun. This could use a lot more Depp (what movie couldn't?), but delivers enough rib-tickling hijinks to power through occasional rough seas. (168 min.) PG-13; intense action/adventure sequences, frightening images. (C.C.)
RATATOUILLE
(B+) Bon appetit: "Incredibles" writer-director Brad Bird serves up the summer's tastiest animated treat as Remy, a rat with gourmet sensibilities, teams with a hapless kitchen helper to restore an on-the-skids Paris restaurant to glory. With its all-star vocal cast (including Ian Holm, Janeane Garofalo and, as the restaurant critic from hell, Peter O'Toole) and inventive slapstick routines that recall legendary silent clowns Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, "Ratatouille" ranks as a cinematic feast for kids of all ages. (110 min.) G; mild cartoon violence. (C.C.)
RUSH HOUR 3
(C-) After taking Las Vegas by storm in 2001's "Rush Hour 2," detectives Lee (Jackie Chan) and Carter (Chris Tucker) head to Paris, where they tangle with Chinese Triads in another formulaic odd-couple-cop-buddy romp that's equal parts dinner-theater revue and live-action Saturday-morning cartoon -- a whirring, soulless pop product for those who don't expect much more from a movie beyond cheap laughs and frantic diversion. (91 min.) PG-13 for sequences of action violence, sexual content, nudity and language.
SHREK THE THIRD
(C+) Talk about your middle-aged spread: the latest installment in the fractured fairy-tale franchise proves it's tough to generate laughs when we already know the joke. This time around, the title ogre (once again voiced by Mike Myers) and pals Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) search for an heir to the throne of Far, Far Away, while Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) plots to seize power with a little help from his villainous f(r)iends. (93 min.) PG; crude humor, suggestive content, swashbuckling action. (C.C.)
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
(B+) "An Inconvenient Truth" collides with Springfield's fun-tastic five in their raucously impudent big-screen debut, which piles up the "D'oh" as Homer faces the worst screw-up of a disaster-filled life -- and tries to save the world from suffering the consequences. Series creators James L. Brooks and Matt Groening huddle with nine co-writers to winning effect; the usual suspects (Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer) raise their voices in blissful contentiousness. (87 min.) PG-13; irreverent humor.
STARDUST
(C) "The Princess Bride" it's not. This adaptation of Neil Gaiman's fractured fantasy follows a small-town lad (Charlie Cox) who promises his beloved he'll retrieve a star that's fallen into a nearby magical realm. Claire Danes (as the star's human incarnation), Michelle Pfeiffer (as a scheming witch), Peter O'Toole (as a dying king) and Robert De Niro (as a flamboyant pirate who makes Capt. Jack Sparrow look like an "Ultimate Fighter" contestant) lead the starry cast, but this potentially entrancing storybook tale tries too hard. In a movie all about magic, the magic shouldn't seem so maddeningly elusive. (125 min.) PG-13; fantasy violence, risqué humor. (C.C.)
SUPERBAD
(C+) When their booze-soaked party plans go awry, inseparable high school seniors ("Arrested Development's" Michael Cera and "Knocked Up's" Jonah Hill) face the comic consequences in a raucous, super-raunchy celebration of teen angst and lust that tempers its arrested-development comedic approach with glimmers of genuine insight. It would have been better -- and funnier -- if you could laugh with "Superbad" as easily as you laugh at it. But most audiences will be too busy laughing to care -- especially when Christopher Mintz-Plasse shows up as the excruciatingly dweeby McLovin, who seems destined to surpass "Napoleon Dynamite's" title hero in the geek-for-the-ages cinematic sweepstakes. (112 min.) R; pervasive crude and sexual content, profanity, drinking, drug use, fantasy/comic violence -- all involving teens. (C.C.)
TALK TO ME
(A) Sound off: Outspoken ex-con Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene (Don Cheadle) talks his way onto the radio, spinning soul music and raising social consciousness as a pioneer shock jock in 1960s Washington, D.C. One of those rare movies that's both raucously entertaining and seriously thought-provoking, "Talk to Me" showcases the Oscar-caliber dream team of the incendiary Cheadle and the chameleonic Chiwetel Ejiofor (as Greene's dapper, ambitious radio colleague). A smart script, a can't-stop-the-beat soundtrack, spectacularly superfly costumes and Kasi Lemmons' deft direction add up to one of the summer's -- and maybe the year's -- best movies. (118 min.) R; pervasive profanity, sexual situations, brief violence. (C.C.)
TRANSFORMERS
(B-) Rock-'em, sock-'em robots: The mechanical title characters have more personality than the flesh-and-blood ones in a big-screen version of the '80s cartoon hit (inspired by the shape-shifting Hasbro toys), in which dueling robot aliens bring their extra-terrestrial war to Earth, where a goofy teen (adorkable Shia LaBeouf) unwittingly possesses the key to the conflict. Overlong, overblown, over-everything, but the muscle-car 'tude and eye-popping effects trigger more miles of smiles per gallon than most of this summer's rival blockbusters. (144 min.) PG-13; intense sci-fi action violence, sexual humor, profanity. (C.C.)
UNDERDOG
(C) The '60s cartoon favorite goes live-action as a lab accident zaps a canine (voiced by Jason Lee) with serious superpowers -- which he'll need if he hopes to save Capitol City from maniacal scientist Simon Barsinister (Peter Dinklage) and his henchman Cad (Patrick Warburton). Lots of cute doggy talk, good tricks, a dollop of family melodrama and corny, cheesy humor that distracts without altogether numbing, but no best in show. (84 min.) PG; rude humor, mild profanity and action.
WHO'S YOUR CADDY?
(B-) A superstar rap mogul (Antwan "Big Boi" Patton) and his niblick-wielding crew of goofballs invade an uber-exclusive country club with surprisingly funny results. (Faizon Love, Sherri Shepherd and Finesse Mitchell lead the nimble supporting cast.) Yes, it's the old racial dynamic rearing its malformed head, but this movie, which is far more indebted to "Caddyshack" than to W.E.B. DuBois, is smart enough to play for belly laughs, knowing the race issue will be out there floating anyway, like your opponent's 400-yard tee shot. (93 min.) PG-13; crude and sexual content, nudity, profanity, drug material.
