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OPENING THIS WEEK: Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
For movies opening April 28, 2006
(April 27, 2006)
BIG BUDGET FILMS
Akeelah and the Bee (PG for mild epithets) Keke Palmer stars in the title role in this inspirational tale about the efforts of a precocious 11 year-old from L.A.’s South Central ghetto to make it to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. with the help of a mysterious mentor (Laurence Fishburne) and over the objections of her mother (Angela Bassett).
R.V. (PG for crude humor, sexual innuendo and off-color language) Robin Williams and Cheryl Hines star in this road comedy about a dysfunctional family whose cross-country trip to Colorado in a camper turns out to be the summer vacation from Hell.
Stick It (PG-13 for crude language) Missy Peregrym stars in this sports flick as a 17 year-old reformed rebel who returns to gymnastics with the help of a mentor (Jeff Bridges) after a run-in with the law.
United 93 (R for profanity, violence and intense terror) Dramatic, real-time recreation of the 90-minute flight of the plane hijacked by terrorists on 9-11 which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to retake the airliner before it could be flown into a target in Washington, D.C. With David Alan Basche as Todd “Let’s Roll!” Beamer.
INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS
Brooklyn Rules (R for sex, violence and pervasive profanity) Alec Baldwin, Scott Caan and Freddie Prinze, Jr. co-star in this Mafia drama, set in 1985, about the fallout for a trio of boyhood friends when one of them gets mixed up with the mob.
Clean (R for drug use, profanity and brief nudity) Cross-cultural melodrama, set in San Francisco, London, Paris and Canada about an unfit mother’s (Maggie Cheung) obsession with getting custody of her son (James Dennis) from her late husband’s parents (Nick Nolte and Martha Henry), despite her having done time for a narcotics conviction and still harboring dreams of making it as a singer. (In Cantonese, French and English with subtitles)
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (R for nudity and profanity) Dark comedy about a lonely, 63 year-old man (Ion Fiscuteanu) who falls ill and calls for an ambulance only to be shuttled from hospital around Bucharest without ever being admitted due to each new doctor’s arriving at a different diagnosis. (In Romanian with subtitles)
Guys and Balls (R for sex, expletives and nudity) Bend over like Beckham.
Overcoming the odds adventure about a baker (Leon Breitenborn), kicked out of a soccer club after being outed, who proceeds to lead an all-gay squad in a showdown with his formidable former teammates, while finding romance with a blond nurse (David Rott) along the way. (In German with subtitles)
Overcoming the odds adventure about a baker (Leon Breitenborn), kicked out of a soccer club after being outed, who proceeds to lead an all-gay squad in a showdown with his formidable former teammates, while finding romance with a blond nurse (David Rott) along the way. (In German with subtitles)
Killer Diller (PG-13 for profanity) Musical melodrama about a guitar player/car thief (William Lee Scott) who teams up with a hallucinatory, autistic piano player (Lucas Black) to transform their halfway house’s gospel group of ex-cons into a rip-roaring band of blues brothers. With Taj Majal, Fred Willard and Mary Kay Place.
Police Beat (Unrated) Slice-of-life saga, based on actual incidents reported in Seattle’s crime blotter, about a city bicycle cop (Pape Sidy Niang), born in Senegal, who is more concerned with whether his girlfriend is faithful than with fighting crime. (In English and Wolof with subtitles)
Suite Habana (Unrated) Impressionist documentary paints a surreal picture of life in present-day Cuba via intimate portraits of ten ordinary people: a 97 year-old senior citizen caring for her handicapped grandson, a railway maintenance worker, a factory assembly line supervisor, a doctor/clown, a day laborer/drag queen, a peanut street vendor, a construction worker/ballet dancer, etcetera. (In Spanish with subtitles)
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (R for sexuality and graphic violence, including against children) Final installment in revenge-oriented trilogy about an ex-con’s (Yeong-ae Lee) efforts to even the score with the accomplice (Min-sik Choi) whose betrayal led to her serving 13 years in prison. (In Korean, English and Japanese with subtitles)
Three Times (Unrated) Minimalist reincarnation drama comprised of three separate tales of love, set in 1911, 1966, and 2005, and each starring Chang Chen and Shu Qi as a couple with second and third chance at romance. (In Mandarin and Taiwanese with subtitles)
Water (Unrated) Feminist Deepa Mehta’s long overdue final installment of her elemental trilogy, also including Fire (1996) and Earth (1998), flicks which triggered riots and theater burnings before being banned for exploring incendiary political and religious themes like lesbianism and Hindu-Muslim romance. This film, set in the Thirties during the rise of resistance to British rule, revolves around the relationship between a woman raised in an ashram after being widowed at the age of eight and a suitor from a lower caste who’s a devout follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
The Whore’s Son (Unrated) Oedipal melodrama, set in Vienna, about the tortured relationship of a Yugoslavian refugee (Chulpan Khamatova) surviving as a streetwalker and her troubled, 16 year-old son (Stanislav Lisnic) who thinks his mom is really a waitress. (In German with
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