WITH OR WITHOUT CREAM?: Miri (Elizabeth Banks) and Zack (Seth Rogen) play, respectively, a coffeehouse employee and a delivery man in the adult feature they're filming in Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
Page 4 of 4
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES This adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's novel is the sort of Southern-spun, honey-soaked confection that in the wrong hands could have turned out dreadful. Yet writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball) largely stays away from grandiloquent gestures designed to manipulate audience emotions, relying instead on sound storytelling and accomplished performers to punch across the story's humanist appeal. Set in 1964 South Carolina, this centers on young Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning), who's haunted by memories of her late mother (Hilarie Burton) and ill-treated by her unfeeling father (Paul Bettany). Hoping to learn more about a mom she barely remembers, she runs away from home, dragging her caregiver Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) along with her. They end up taking shelter in the home of the Boatwright sisters: patient August (Queen Latifah), suspicious June (Alicia Keys) and sentient (if simple-minded) May (Sophie Okonedo). There, Lily not only finds the answers she seeks but also the family she never had. It's only been two years since I last saw Fanning (in Charlotte's Web), yet she seems to have passed that vaguely defined mark between adorable moppet and self-assured teen. No longer able to count on the safety net of precociousness (not that she ever really did), the 14-year-old is expected to deliver a full-bodied performance here, and she handles the task like a seasoned pro. Her co-stars prove to be equally memorable, and it's especially nice to see Hudson handed a role somewhat more substantial than the discarded-tissue part she had in Sex and the City. ***
W. Love him or hate him, there's no denying that George W. Bush is a remarkably controversial figure. So how is it possible that Oliver Stone has managed to make a biopic that's about as incendiary as Kung Fu Panda? The leftist Stone has been down this road before, when he tried to inject sympathy and dignity into the tale of Tricky Dick in his 1995 effort, Nixon. Yet that feature looks as hard-hitting as All the President's Men when compared to W., which suggests that Dubya's only real character flaw is that he isn't always the sharpest tack in the box. Are we talking about the same president? So much damning evidence has been stacked against Bush that the movie's narrow focus on precious few incidents in his life hardly makes the production of this picture seem worth the effort. The film flashes back and forth between the decades, but it never manages to find time for any mention of, for starters, his ineptitude in the face of Katrina or his paralyzed state during those first fateful moments of 9/11. Stone further decides that every move Dubya makes in his life is to seek approval from a perpetually disappointed father (James Cromwell), thereby reducing this man to a Pop Psychology 101 test subject. As W., Josh Brolin's performance can't be faulted: He tackles the part as conceived by screenwriter Stanley Weiser, providing the proper mix of swagger and insecurity. Playing loose with history is one thing, but when you make Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss) and Karl Rove (Toby Jones), two of the most vile politicians ever to set foot in D.C., appear almost as cuddly as newborn kittens, then something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. **
OPENS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31:
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL: Documentary; Paris Hilton, Martin Short.
CHANGELING: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich.
A GIRL CUT IN TWO: Ludivine Sagnier, Benoit Magimel.
I.O.U.S.A.: Documentary.
THE OTHER END OF THE LINE: Jesse Metcalfe, Shriya Saran.
ROCKNROLLA: Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson.
ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks.
« previous 1 2 3 4
Mobile
