On local screens this week

Movie showtimes and reviews Dec. 13-20
Posted: Dec 13, 2007 by Bill White

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: See review page 21.

AMERICAN GANGSTER: Denzel Washington in a story inspired by the real-life Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas, who flew to Thailand to secure a steady supply, and drove out competition with higher quality and lower prices.  Russell Crowe stars as Det. Richie Roberts, who doggedly pursues him for years, despite opposition within his own department.  Director Ridley Scott moves the story smoothly and relentlessly, as a collaboration between drug addiction and sound business practices. (R) Four stars – RE

AUGUST RUSH: Drenched in sentimentality, but it’s supposed to be.  Freddie Highmore plays a boy who runs away from an orphanage to find his parents.  He has learned that they (Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers) were musicians, and believes that through his own music he can find them.  The movie is sincere and good-hearted, and really loves music.  Yes, it depicts an impossibly sentimental world, but younger viewers will really like it, I suspect, and it has the courage to go all the way with its affectionate updating of “Oliver Twist.”  With Robin Williams, Terrence Howard. (PG) Three stars – RE

AWAKE: Hayden Christensen as a rich kid dominated by his mother (Lena Olin), in love with Jessica Alba, and undergoing heart transplant surgery — during which, to his horror, he finds he can hear and feel everything going on.  Don’t even glance at the poster, which reveals a crucial twist.  The medical procedures are preposterous, but for me, the suspense worked. (R) Three stars – RE

BEE MOVIE: Jerry Seinfeld does the voice for a rebel bee who refuses to settle down to a lifetime of drudgery before he explores outside the hive.  That leads to a lawsuit against the human race for exploiting honey.  We learn at the outset of the movie that bees theoretically cannot fly.  Unfortunately, in the movie, that applies only to the screenplay.  It is really, really, really hard to care much about a platonic romantic relationship between Renee Zellweger and a bee. (PG) Two stars – RE

BELLA: The story of two people who fall in love because of an unborn child.  Winner of the Audience Award at Toronto 2006, it is a heart-tugger with the confidence not to tug too hard.  Starring charismatic newcomer Eduardo Verastegui, who is the chef of his brother’s Mexican restaurant in New York, until his life changes one day when his brother fires a waitress named Nina (Tammy Blanchard) for being late.  He discovers she is pregnant and has good reasons for wanting her to have the child, in a movie sweet, warm and funny. (PG-13) Three stars – RE

BEOWULF: A titanic epic battle between the monster Grendel and the hero Beowulf, shown by director Robert Zemeckis with rip-roaring gusto by using the same technology as his “Polar Express,” so that animated characters look almost real.  With the voices (and sometimes the appearances) of Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson and Crispin Glover (who however doesn’t look anything like Grendel).  Lots of nudity and yet a PG-13 rating because, you see, Jolie “isn’t really there,” although she’s there enough that she says she won’t be taking her own kids.  Absurd violent action in the Monty Python spirit. (PG-13) Three stars – RE

DAN IN REAL LIFE: Steve Carell (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin”) is a widower with three girls who goes home to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving and meets a woman (Juliette Binoche) in a bookstore; they fall into the early stages of love, but it turns out she’s the girlfriend of his brother (Dane Cook).  Makes for an awkward weekend.  With John Mahoney and Dianne Wiest as the parents.  Sweet, low-key, a good time. (PG-13) Three stars – RE

ENCHANTED: Amy Adams, Oscar-nominated for “Junebug,” is effortlessly charming as Giselle, a young girl from a fairy-tale world who is transported to modern New York City by a jealous queen (Susan Sarandon).  The film starts as animation, then becomes live action but still plays by fantasy rules, in a winning musical romance also starring Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden and Timothy Spall. (PG) Three stars – RE

FRED CLAUS: Vince Vaughn plays Santa’s older brother in a case of sibling rivalry.  When he hits up Santa (Paul Giamatti) for a $50,000 loan to finance an off-track betting parlor, he walks into a crisis at the North Pole, and is just in time to save the day.  With Rachel Weisz as Fred’s meter-maid girlfriend, Kevin Spacey as a mean accountant, and Ludacris as the elves’ favorite deejay.  Oh, and Miranda Richardson as Santa’s wife. (PG) Two stars – RE

FRENCH THEATER: Check out these films on Fort Lewis: Fred Claus (PG) Fri 7. Sat 2. Martian Child (PG) Fri 9:30. Sun 7. Bee Movie (PG) Sat 7. Sun 2. Thurs, Dec. 20 7.

THE GOLDEN COMPASS: A darker, deeper fantasy epic than the “Rings” trilogy, “The Chronicles of Narnia” or the Potter films, offering more complex villains and posing more intriguing questions.  As a visual experience, superb.  As an escapist fantasy, challenging.  With gifted newcomer Dakota Blue Richards, a 12-year-old who won the role in competition with 10,000 others.  Also starring Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, Sam Elliott. (PG-13) Four stars – RE

GONE BABY GONE: Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan play lovers and business partners who are private investigators specializing in tracking down deadbeats.  Approached by clients to help find a missing child, they protest that they’re just garden-variety PIs, don’t carry guns, aren’t looking for heavy lifting.  But maybe they’ll see something the cops miss.  Impressive directing debut by Ben Affleck, with a top-drawer supporting cast: Morgan Freeman, Amy Madigan, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan. (R) Three and a half stars – RE

THE GRAND CINEMA’S WEEKEND CHILDREN FILM SERIES: This week features the children’s classic Red Baloon and White Mane, Fri-Sat 2:30.

HITMAN: Timothy Olyphant plays Agent 47, a trained assassin, head shaved, with a bar code tattooed on the back of his skull.  Not low-profile, but he moves through the world with ease, is now in Russia to kill the premier.  With Dougray Scott as the Interpol man on his trail and Olga Kurylenko as the girl who follows him loyally.  Overcomes its video game origins enough to make 47 and the girl intriguing characters; I would have liked more about them. (R) Three stars – RE

I AM LEGEND: See review page 21.

INTO THE WILD: Sean Penn directed this much anticipated adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s bestselling book about a college student who drops out of society to hitchhike across America with Alaska being his final destination.  Emile Hirsh stars as the adventurous and tragic Chris.  Also stars Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Catherine Keener and Vince Vaughn. (R) – BW 

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL: Ryan Gosling plays Lars Lindstrom, a painfully shy young man who can barely stand the touch of another human being.  One day he orders a life-sized love doll through the Internet, using “Bianca” not for sex but for companionship.  He expects everyone else to treat the doll the same way, including his brother (Paul Schneider), sister-in-law (Emily Mortimer) and therapist (Patricia Clarkson).  Only after the movie is over do you realize what a balancing act it was, what risks it took, what rewards is contains.  Directed by Craig Gillespie, written by Nancy Oliver (“Six Feet Under”). (PG-13) Three and a half stars – RE

MARGOT AT THE WEDDING: Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh are sisters who haven’t spoken for years.  Then Kidman shows up for Leigh’s wedding to Jack Black, as a guy who can spend a week writing a letter to the editor.  Painful and funny verbal and emotional laceration goes on around the clock, where one-upmanship is a moral choice.  With John Turturro, Ciaran Hinds, Flora Cross, Halley Feiffer. (R) Three stars – RE

MR. MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUM: Dustin Hoffman plays the 243-year-old proprietor of a magical toy store, and Natalie Portman is the young salesclerk he hopes will take over the store when he moves on to his next adventure.  The store itself almost steals the movie; it’s a wonderful place.  Younger kids will likely love it, but the plot is a little too cut-and-dried for older audience members. (G) Three stars – RE

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN: Regards a completely evil man with wonderment, as if astonished that such a merciless creature could exist.  He is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who travels Texas and kills people with a cattle stun gun.  He is one strand in a plot involving a drug deal gone bad.  Another is a sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) and a third is a hunter (Josh Brolin), a poor man who comes across $2 million in drug money.  A masterpiece based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, written, directed and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen.  As good as their “Fargo,” which is saying something. (R) Four stars – RE

OLYMPIA FILM SOCIETY: All screenings at the Capital Theater, 206 E. 5th Ave. Olympia: The Darjeeling Limited (R) Thurs 9. Kurt Cobain About A Son (NR) Thurs & Sat 6:30. Fri 9. Sun 2:30, 7:30. Mon & Wed 6:30. Tues & Thurs, Dec. 20 9. Into the Wild (R) Fri 6:15. Sat 9. Sun 4:45. Mon & Wed 9. Tues & Thurs, Dec. 20 6:30. Grease (PG-13) Sat 2:30.

THE PERFECT HOLIDAY: See review page 23.

STEPHEN KING’S THE MIST: A mist envelops a Maine town, concealing monstrous insects that eat people.  A group of townspeople huddle inside a supermarket, divided between a reasonable leader (Thomas Jane) and a messianic nut (Marcia Gay Harden), while slimy tentacles slither under doors on the loading dock.  Based on a Stephen King story, written and directed by Frank Darabont, who made “The Shawshank Redemption,” but I’ve seen “The Shawshank Redemption,” and this is no “Shawshank Redemption.” (R) Two stars – RE

THIS CHRISTMAS: The large and rambunctious Whitfield family gathers at Christmas for the first time in four years, and in a couple of days of tightly packed comic timing, they all discover each other’s secrets and confront each other’s problems.  With Loretta Devine as the matriarch, and a strong cast including Delroy Lindo, singer Chris Brown, Columbus Short, Sharon Leal, Lauren London, Regina King and Idris Elba.  A screwball comedy with a heart. (PG-13) Three stars – RE

WHITE CHRISTMAS: The Bing Crosby classic is this month’s Can Film Festival feature.