On local screens this week

Movie showtimes and reviews July 24 - 31
Posted: Jul 24, 2008 by Volcano Staff

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN: A solid second film, based on the legendary C.S. Lewis books, Prince Caspian provides good action and excellent special effects, though the storytelling is a bit muddy in the opening sequences, especially for those unfamiliar with either the Lewis novels or the first Narnia film released in 2005. (PG) Three stars – BZ

THE DARK KNIGHT: Batman isn’t a comic book anymore.  Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is a haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy.  It creates characters we come to care about.  That’s because of the performances, because of the direction, because of the writing, and because of the superlative technical quality of the entire production.  The key performance in the movie is by the late Heath Ledger, as the Joker.  Directed by Christopher Nolan. (PG-13) Fours stars – RE

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD: Werner Herzog’s wondrous documentary about the people who inhabit the McMurdo Research Station at the South Pole and the world that surrounds them.  Breathtaking underwater photography, philosophical eccentrics, and visionary musings about the end of our civilization.  A compellingly watchable film, by one of the great filmmakers of our time. (NR) Four stars – RE

FREE FAMILY FILM FESTIVAL MOVIES: Tues-Wed only, 10 a.m., first come, first served.

FRENCH THEATER: Check out these films on Fort Lewis: Speed Racer (PG) Thurs 7. You Don’t Mess With The Zohan (PG-13) Fri 7, 9:30. Sat-Sun 2. The Happening (R) Fri 9:30. Sat-Sun 7.

GET SMART: Steve Carell makes an ideal Maxwell Smart, the bumbling but ambitious and unreasonably self-confident agent for CONTROL, a secret U.S. agency.  Anne Hathaway is his sidekick, Dwayne Johnson is their fellow agent, Terence Stamp is the Russian villain and Alan Arkin heads the agency.  It’s funny, exciting, preposterous, great to look at, and made with the same level of technical expertise we’d expect from a new Bond movie. (PG-13) Three and a half stars -– RE

HANCOCK: Will Smith plays a Skid Row drunk with super powers and a super hangover, Jason Bateman is the PR man who wants to give him a new image, and Charlize Theron is the PR man’s wife, who starts looking at Hancock oddly the moment she sets eyes on him.  And no wonder, as we discover the origins of this most confused of superheroes, who may save a man from being hit by a train, but ends up causing a train wreck.  Sounds like slapstick comedy, but has an unexpected serious turn. (PG-13) Three stars – RE

HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY: Imagine the forges of hell crossed with the extraterrestrial saloon on Tatooine and you have a notion of Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army.  In every way the equal of his original Hellboy (2004), although perhaps a little noisier, it’s another celebration of his love for bizarre fantasy and diabolical machines.  Ron Perlman is strong again in the title role, and del Toro’s imagination provides a new array of fantastical creatures, and a Troll Market that reminded me of the saloon on Tatooine. (PG-13) Three and a half stars -– RE

THE INCREDIBLE HULK: Less psychology and more action than the 2003 Ang Lee version, and not to its advantage: The movie sidesteps the fictional dilemma that when Bruce Banner (Ed Norton) becomes the Hulk, he doesn’t much know who he is, and thus his actions are simply anarchic.  Lots and lots of CGI-generated action sequences, but a flimsy story.  With Liv Tyler as Banner’s love interest, William Hurt as her father the general, Tim Roth as a Hulk clone, and Tim Blake Nelson as a scientist.  Directed by Louis Leterrier. (PG-13) Two and a half stars – RE

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL: Nineteen years after the previous Indy adventure, a film in the same tradition, involving man-eating ants, sword fights between two people balanced on the backs of speeding jeeps, subterranean caverns of gold, vicious femme fatales, plunges down three waterfalls in a row, and the explanation for flying saucers.  Harrison Ford holds up well as Indy, Cate Blanchett is a sublime femme fatale, Karen Allen is back as Indy’s first love, Shia LaBeouf is the boxer with the ducktail.  “Same old same old,” Indy says, but that’s why I liked it. (PG-13) Three and a half stars – RE

IRON MAN: Robert Downey Jr. is absolutely terrific as Tony Stark/Iron Man, delivering a performance that is both comedic and poignant.  This is an outstanding superhero action adventure that is well-directed and features strong supporting performances — especially from Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges. (PG-13) Four stars – BZ

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH: There is a world inside our own, populated by glowing birds, man-eating plants, giant-fanged fish and a T-Rex.  Reaching it via a series of dizzying falls, a geologist, his nephew and an Icelandic babe realize Jules Verne must have seen it before writing his novel.  With Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem.  In 3-D in some theaters, but the process underwhelms me. (PG) Two stars – RE

KENNY: The 2006 film Kenny brings to the surface a subject we normally cringe at: poop and pee. Its eponymous hero installs and cleans public waste receptacles for a living.  Already having garnered multiple awards and won fans Down Under, Kenny smartly avoids the easy raunchiness of its premise, instead painting an enjoyable and sympathetic picture of a man — and occupation — that society ignores. (PG-13) – CW

KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL: Inspired by one of the American Girl dolls, and just about perfect for its target audience, with a great look, engaging performances, real substance and even a few whispers of political ideas, all surrounding the freshness and charm of Abigail Breslin.  Director Patricia Rozema’s intelligent treatment doesn’t condescend, and her first-rate cast includes Julia Ormond, Stanley Tucci, Max Thieriot, Chris O’Donnell, Willow Smith, Glenne Headley, Joan Cusack and Wallace Shawn as the snarly local newspaper editor. (G) Three and a half stars – RE

KUNG FU PANDA: A fat, fuzzy panda competes to become the Dragon Master and face the archenemy of the Valley of Peace, in a cute but not compelling animated adventure.  The characters are one-dimensional, except for the wise old master voiced by Dustin Hoffman.  Entertaining for younger audiences. (PG) Three stars – RE

MAMMA MIA!: Movie version of the hit stage musical, with Meryl Streep as the villa owner on a Greek isle and Amanda Seyfried as her about-to-be married daughter.  The girl doesn’t know who her father is, but finds an old diary and invites three likely candidates to her wedding: Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard.  Wall-to-wall with ABBA songs, of course, and energetic dancing.  I was underwhelmed and don’t much like ABBA, but this movie wasn’t made for me.  It was made for the people who will love it, of which there may be a multitude.  You know who you are. (PG-13) Two stars – RE

MEET DAVE: Eddie Murphy’s latest endeavor in which he plays the dual roles of a very small alien and that of a human shaped space craft. (PG) – BW

MONGOL: A ferocious film, blood-soaked, pausing occasionally for passionate romance and more frequently for torture.  As a visual spectacle, it is all but overwhelming, putting to shame some of the recent historical epics from Hollywood.  If it has a flaw, and it does, it is expressed succinctly by the wife of its hero: “All Mongols do is kill and steal.”  At the end of two hours, its hero, not yet known as Genghis Khan, has two more movies to go.  Awesome, if you go for nonstop carnage. (R) Three and a half stars – RE

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW: Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Brad and Janet are dancing the “Time Warp” at the Proctor District’s cozy Blue Mouse which features a stage for the movie’s loyal following to perform.  Not for the kiddies. – BW

ROMAN DE GARE: The intriguing character actor Dominique Pinon, who looks like an insect when he’s chewing gum, can do a lot of things at the same time.  According to the labyrinthine plot of this movie, he is perhaps an escaped serial killer, a ghost writer or a runaway husband.  He meets the heroine (Audrey Dana) at 3 a.m. at a highway cafe, where she has been dumped by a jealous boyfriend.  And in Claude Lelouch’s twister, which is too clever by half, various possibilities of his possible identities loop back upon themselves.  Also starring Fanny Ardant, Francois Truffaut’s widow, as an elegant best-selling novelist. (R) Two and a half stars – RE

SPACE CHIMPS: is a goofy animated space opera that sends three U.S. chimpanzee astronauts rocketing to a galaxy, as they say, far, far away.  There they encounter strange life forms and the evil Zartog, who has captured an earlier space probe.  Not in the same science fiction league as Wall-E, but successful, with lots of whiz-bang action and some witty dialogue. (G) Three stars – RE

UP THE YANGTZE:  A dramatic documentary on life inside modern china as the Yangtze river is about to be transformed by the world’s largest hydroelectric dam. (NR) – BW

THE WACKNESS: See review click here

WALL-E: The animated story of the last surviving solar-powered robot, in a world so filled with garbage that humans have escaped into orbiting spaceships.  Directed by Andrew Stanton, who wrote and directed Finding Nemo, it shares that film’s ability to appeal to the whole family, in a story that’s original, ingenious and touching. (G) Three and a half stars – RE

WANTED: Slams the pedal to the metal and never slows down.  Here’s an action picture that’s exhausting in its relentless violence and its ingenuity in inventing new ways to attack, defend, ambush and annihilate.  Stars James McAvoy a meek office worker initiated into The Fraternity, a secret society of assassins.  Mindless, heartless, preposterous, and very well done as a high-tech action thriller.  With Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp. (R) Three stars – RE

WARGAMES 25th ANNIVERSARY: 1983 thriller starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy is still as effective, 25 years later.  Shot many scenes in Steilacoom. (PG) – BW

THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE: See review click here.