Bride Wars
– This cliched comedy tosses out stereotypes about female
materialism and cattiness with all the giddy gusto of a newly
married woman flinging the bouquet at her single girlfriends.
Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway star as Liv and Emma, lifelong
best friends who’ve obsessively fantasized about the ideal wedding
since they were children in small-town New Jersey. Because that’s
what all girls do, right? Lavish nuptials represent the zenith to
which we all aspire.
Anyway, when Liv and Emma both get engaged within days of each
other, they accidentally book their weddings at New York’s Plaza
Hotel on the same date. The conflict is the result of a snafu at
the office of wedding planner extraordinaire Marion St. Claire (a
tart Candice Bergen), whom Liv and Emma gush over during their
first appointment as if they were 12-year-olds at a Jonas Brothers
concert.
Despite promising to be each other’s maid of honor, neither will
budge, which leads to an increasingly destructive game of sabotage
and one-upmanship. The speed and ease with which they turn on each
other is dizzying, and more painful to sit through than Hathaway’s
rehearsal-dinner toast in
”
Rachel Getting Married.
”
Comedy, PG.
Hitting the theater
Movies playing Jan. 9 – 15
By the Associated press
Bedtime Stories – Adam Sandler returns to the familiar man-child of yore with this desperate family friendly comedy about wild nighttime fantasies that magically come true. Sandler seemed to have moved beyond the goofy persona he forged for himself with movies like “Billy Madison” and “Little Nicky” with surprising vulnerability and nuance in “Punch-Drunk Love” and “Spanglish.” Although “Bedtime Stories” represents a first for Sandler – a comedy that’s appropriate for all ages – it still feels like a giant leap backward.
Forced to look after his young niece (Laura Ann Kesling) and nephew (Jonathan Morgan Heit) for a week while his sister (Courteney Cox) is out of town, Sandler’s hotel handyman Skeeter Bronson finds the only way to connect with the kids, and get them to sleep, is by telling them bedtime stories. Soon, the kids are chiming in with ideas about what the tales should include – gum balls falling from the sky, violent midgets – and in no time, those details start creeping into Skeeter’s life. It’s a whimsical and not-too-shabby idea, but the result is too often flat, crass and disjointed. British comic Russell Brand gets the few funny lines in the script, but the always lovely Keri Russell goes to waste in the straight-woman role as Skeeter’s would-be love interest. Comedy, PG.
Bride Wars – This cliched comedy tosses out stereotypes about female materialism and cattiness with all the giddy gusto of a newly married woman flinging the bouquet at her single girlfriends.
Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway star as Liv and Emma, lifelong best friends who’ve obsessively fantasized about the ideal wedding since they were children in small-town New Jersey. Because that’s what all girls do, right? Lavish nuptials represent the zenith to which we all aspire.
Anyway, when Liv and Emma both get engaged within days of each other, they accidentally book their weddings at New York’s Plaza Hotel on the same date. The conflict is the result of a snafu at the office of wedding planner extraordinaire Marion St. Claire (a tart Candice Bergen), whom Liv and Emma gush over during their first appointment as if they were 12-year-olds at a Jonas Brothers concert.
Despite promising to be each other’s maid of honor, neither will budge, which leads to an increasingly destructive game of sabotage and one-upmanship. The speed and ease with which they turn on each other is dizzying, and more painful to sit through than Hathaway’s rehearsal-dinner toast in “Rachel Getting Married.” Comedy, PG.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – It’s the damnedest thing. You look into the elderly man’s blue eyes behind a pair of old-fashioned spectacles, look at the sweet smile ringed by wrinkles, and you know that’s Brad Pitt under there. But the special effects are so dazzling, and Pitt’s performance is so gracefully convincing, that you can’t help but be repeatedly wowed.
Director David Fincher has always proven himself a virtuoso visual stylist – to the point of seeming like a shameless showoff at times – with films like “Fight Club,” “Panic Room” and “Zodiac.” But here, he’s truly outdone himself: He’s made a grand, old-fashioned epic that takes mind-boggling advantage of the most modern moviemaking technology. Fincher’s film, based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages in reverse, is rambling and gorgeous – perhaps a bit overlong and gooey in the midsection – but still, one that leaves you with a lingering wistfulness. Pitt, as the title character, travels the world and lives a life that’s adventurous and full, but he can never truly be with the woman he loves, Daisy (Cate Blanchett), whom he met when she was just a little girl and he was a boy trapped in an old man’s body. Eric Roth’s script may seem naggingly similar to that of “Forrest Gump” – which he also happened to write – but it seems more concerned with the transformational power of true love than the gimmickry of an unusual existence. Drama, PG-13.
The Day the Earth Stood Still – While the original 1951 sci-fi classic was a simple story of deep ideas, Keanu Reeves’ remake is an overblown, puny-minded tale featuring extraterrestrials too stupid or lazy to do a background check on the species they condemn. Alien Klaatu (Reeves) arrives, makes a halfhearted request for humanity to take better care of the Earth, then decides our species isn’t worth the bother. After targeting humankind for extermination, he abruptly flip-flops and realizes we have our good points, too, and rushes around to reverse cataclysmic events he’s set in motion. Jennifer Connelly’s hard to buy as an astro-biologist who befriends the alien, and Kathy Bates is horribly miscast as the U.S. defense secretary. The stiff and stony Reeves scores a new high on his own personal Zen-meter, coming across as so aloof and lifeless that he might as well have played Klaatu’s inscrutable robot pal, Gort. Action, PG-13.PG-13
Gran Torino – Considering that Clint Eastwood’s most iconic roles have been serious ones, it’s easy to forget that he can be funny – that he possesses terrific timing with his sly sense of humor. He grumbles and growls his way through his most entertaining performance in years as Walt Kowalski, a Korean War veteran and lifelong auto worker who’s disgusted with the changes in his blue-collar, suburban Detroit neighborhood. There are unshakable shades of Dirty Harry here, as well as Frankie Dunn, his curmudgeonly character in 2004’s “Million Dollar Baby,” his most recent screen appearance.
At 78, he combines both the tough and playful sides of his personality – in front of and behind the camera as star and director – with “Gran Torino,” which begins in broadly entertaining fashion but ultimately reveals that it has weightier matters on its mind. Having just buried his saintly wife, all the retired Walt wants to do is be left alone with his dog, his guns and his beer. A vocal bigot, he certainly doesn’t want to be bothered by the growing Asian population all around him, and especially not the Hmong family living next door. Despite hurling every imaginable epithet at these people – Nick Schenk’s script is unabashed in its political incorrectness – Walt can’t seem to avoid them. Sure, the premise is predictable. You know from the beginning that Walt’s contact with his neighbors will soften him. And maybe the performances are a bit stiff from his young actors, all untrained first-timers. But “Gran Torino” becomes more intriguing as the journey its takes us on evolves and grows darker. Drama, R.
Marley & Me – Aww, look at that cute, fluffy puppy in those “Marley & Me” ads. It almost makes you think you’re in for a feel-good comedy about a rambunctious yellow Lab and the family who loves him no matter what chaos he causes. Well, “Marley & Me” is all that, but if you’ve read the best-selling memoir by John Grogan that inspired the movie, you also know that it has more than its share of hanky moments. Watching all those heart-tugging stories play out on a giant screen, though, we’re not talking about just a tear or two welling up – we’re talking grown men and women snuffling and sobbing uncontrollably. So yes, it’s effective in its ability to evoke emotion – having said that, it’s not a particularly good movie. Director David Frankel (“The Devil Wears Prada”) leaps back and forth in blandly episodic fashion between the incorrigible Marley doing wacky, destructive things and his owners, journalists John (Owen Wilson) and Jenny (Jennifer Aniston), furthering their lives as a married couple and, ultimately, as parents. There’s no great momentum, just a long, flat arc toward the inevitable. Comedy, PG.
Seven Pounds – After Tim Thomas (Will Smith) cause a car accident that leads to the deaths of seven people, he decides to help seven other people to make up for the lives he destroyed. To find people who are worthy, he assumes his brother’s identity since his brother is an IRS agent who has access to a database of information about people. PG-13
The Tale of Despereaux – In this tale of three unlikely heroes, a mouse who enjoys reading, a rat who doesn’t like dark dungeons and a clumsy servant girl work together to save the day. Characters voiced by Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman and Emma Watson. Animated, G
The Unborn – A young woman who finds a spirit taking possession of her discovers she had a twin was not born. Starring Gary Oldman, Odette Yustman and Meagan Good. Horror, PG-13.
Valkyrie – Much ado has been made about this film, starring Tom Cruise as would-be Hitler assassin Col. Claus von Stauffenberg. There is the release date, which has been moved around several times until finally being set for Christmas, the perfect time for a feel-good movie about killing Nazis. There’s the marketing of the film: Is it a historical thriller featuring Cruise in an eye patch, or is it a straight-up action picture full of explosions? And then, of course, there is the Cruise factor itself – the fact that his very presence adds a layer of tabloid-friendly fascination. Turns out Cruise is both the central figure in “Valkyrie” and its weakest link. He’s distractingly bad, the iconography of his celebrity so strongly overshadowing his performance.
With his hard, flat American accent, he stands out in every single scene. (Then again, if he had affected a German accent – or a British one to blend in among his co-stars – he would have invited derision for that, too. Maybe the guy just can’t win.) It’s too bad, too, because “Valkyrie” looks great. With its impeccable production design and German locations, it feels substantial and moves fluidly. No one ever doubted the ability of Bryan Singer, director of the first two “X-Men” movies, to make a solid, energetic actioner. But Cruise is outclassed and outmatched by every member of the strong supporting cast, any of whom would have been more believable as Stauffenberg: Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp and Eddie Izzard. Drama, PG-13. PG-13
Yes Man – Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) challenges himself to say yes to everything for one year. Also starring Zooey Deschanel and Bradley Cooper. PG-13.
Hitting the couch
Movies out on DVD and Blu-Ray Jan. 13
Appaloosa – Two friends are hired to sherriff a western town, but things are complicated when a widow shows up in town. Drama, R. DVD and Blu-Ray.
Brideshead Revisited – Brideshead Revisited – The film is based on an Evelyn Waugh novel about Captain Charles Ryder, a soldier stationed at Brideshead Castle during World War II. In it Ryder recalls his involvement with the owners of the estate, the Flyte family. Starring Matthew Goode, Hayley Atwell and Patrick Malahide. Drama, R. DVD.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona – Vicky Cristina Barcelona – In this Woody Allen film, two friends visit Spain on a summer holiday where they fall for the same painter. Little do they know his ex-wife is about to return. The film stars Allen’s protege Scarlett Johansson as well as Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. DVD and Blu-Ray.
Swing Vote – Swing vote – What would happen if the fate of the United States rested in the hands of one man? Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner) doesn’t care about much until he realizes that his vote is the only one that counts in the presidential election. The candidates try to woe him as his precocious 12-year-old daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll) urges him to make an informed decision. Comedy, PG-13. DVD and Blu-Ray.
Tyler Perry’s Family That Preys – Though Alice Pratt (Alfre Woodard) works for socialite Charlotte Cartwright (Kathy Bates) the two have always been friends. That is until their adult children draw them into scandal that will test their friendship and family ties. Also starring Sanaa Lathan, Cole Hauser and Kadee Strickland. Comedy, PG-13. DVD.
My Best Friend’s Girl – My Best Friend’s Girl – Dustin (Jason Biggs) thinks he’s found the perfect girl in Alexis (Kate Hudson) but she dumps him before their relationship really starts. Dustin hires his best friend Tank (Dane Cook) who has a knack for treating girls badly to drive them back into the arms of ex-boyfriends. But Tank starts to fall for Alexis before too long and struggles to stay away from his best friend’s girl. Comedy, R. DVD and Blu-Ray.
Television shows out Jan. 13
Skins Vol. 1
Reba Season 5
