Short Subjectives March 23 2005

OPening THursday

MISS CONGENIALITY 2: ARMED AND FABULOUS (PG-13) Sandra Bullock reprises her role as once-butch, now-fabulous FBI agent Gracie Hart. With her cover blown after saving the Miss United States Pageant, the bureau reassigns Hart to a PR campaign and partners her with tough, young agent Sam Fuller (Regina King).

Opening Friday

D.E.B.S. (PG-13) See review.

GUESS WHO (PG-13) See review.

UP AND DOWN (NR) See review.

Opening Wednesday

BEAUTY SHOP (PG-13) This spin-off of Ice Cube’s Barbershop franchise stars Queen Latifah as the fledgling manager of her own Atlanta beauty parlor and features Alicia Silverstone, Alfre Woodard, Andie MacDowell, Sherri Shepherd and Kevin Bacon as a mean boss.

Duly Noted

DISTANT LIGHTS (2003) (NR) Five bittersweet episodes set on both sides of the German-Polish border dramatize the efforts of Eastern Europeans to seek better lives in “the Golden West.” Wed., March 30, 7 p.m. Goethe Institute Inter Nationes, 1197 Peachtree St., Colony Square. $4. 404-892-2388.

FAMILY PORTRAITS: A TRILOGY IN AMERICA (NR) Douglas Buck’s films (“Cutting Moments,” “Home” and “Prologue”) could be described as equal parts Ingmar Bergman chamber piece, psychological jigsaw and B-movie exploitation gorefest. Not for the squeamish. Wed., March 30. Cinefest, GSU University Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5. 404-352-4225. www.imagefv.org.

FILM LOVE 4: ACT UP FIGHT BACK (NR) Subtitled “Art and Activism in the Time of AIDS,” this selection of short film and video presents various artists’ personal responses to the AIDS epidemic. Wed., March 30, 8 p.m. Eyedrum, 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Suite 8. Free. 404-522-0655. www.eyedrum.org.

HAROLD LLOYD TRILOGY (NR) See preview on p. 51.

LAGAAN (2001) (PG) Subtitled Once Upon a Time in India, this Bollywood sports-musical depicts a village in Victorian India who stake their future on a cricket match against their British rules. Despite a running time of more than three hours, Lagaan is reputed to provide one of the easier introductions to Bollywood-style filmmaking. Thurs., March 24. Cinefest, GSU University Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5 ($3 until 5 p.m.). 404-651-3565.

LOST FILM FEST (NR) This “traveling multimedia spectacle” presents radical, anti-globalist politics via narrative shorts, video pranks, amateur protest footage and video remixes. Sat., March 26, 8 p.m. Little Five Points Community Center, 1083 Austin Ave. $5. www.lostfilmfest.org.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) (R) The cult classic of cult classics, the musical horror spoof follows an all-American couple (Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick) to the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a drag-queen/mad scientist from another galaxy. It’s all fun and games until Meat Loaf gets killed. Dress as your favorite character and participate in this musical on acid. Midnight Fri. at Lefont Plaza Theatre and Sat. at Peachtree Cinema & Games, Norcross.

THE YES MEN (2004) (R) A pair of brainy, tech-savvy artists/activists who call themselves Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno created a series of brilliant pranks. Most recently they masqueraded as World Trade Organization representatives at international conferences, where their madcap speeches legitimizing human slavery and human waste fashioned into Third World hamburgers solicit an unexpected response from businessmen. While the activism is uproarious and spot-on, the film can feel like an incomplete homage - a laborious vivisection of methods that work best as whisperings of dissent and hit-and-run satire. March 25-31. Cinefest, GSU University Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5 ($3 until 5 p.m.). 404-651-3565. -Felicia Feaster

Continuing

THE ANIMATION SHOW 2005 (NR) This fascinating assortment of cartoon shorts offers flashes of delight while confirming that life is nasty, brutish and short. Highlights include the melancholy “When the Day Breaks,” in which animal-headed ordinary people weigh their daily routines against thoughts of mortality, and Poland’s “Fallen Art,” in which military leaders sacrifice soldiers to literally create works of art. The stop-motion “Ward 13” and the computer animated “Rockfish” prove entertainingly fluent in the vocabulary of action films but aim for our adrenal glands, not our hearts. - Curt Holman

THE AVIATOR (PG-13) It’s not perfect, but Martin Scorsese’s biopic of ingenious, mentally unbalanced billionaire, aviator and film director Howard Hughes is as entertaining as all get-out, capturing both his nearly supernatural creativity and his debilitating, obsessive manias. DiCaprio proves up to the task of embodying this wildly contradictory man, adding both pathos and perversity to Scorsese’s portrait of a deeply flawed but iconoclastic American. This meaty epic provides the added bonus, for Scorsese fans, of shedding light on his career-long propensity for obsessive, charismatic film anti-heroes, and for illuminating the many connections the director undoubtedly sees between Hughes and his own creative pursuits always endangered by human fallibility and even madness. - FF

BE COOL (PG-13) John Travolta resurrected from the hack shoals of Look Who’s Talking to play self-referential cool in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction was a gas. Director F. Gary Gray assumes that cool is a bottomless resource that anyone can tap. But more than anything, Be Cool may prove that Travolta’s second generation hip has finally run its course. This sequel to Get Shorty finds Elmore Leonard’s loan shark hero Chili Palmer (Travolta) again confronting L.A. malfeasance in the form of an outsize music industry filled with gun-toting gangsters and sleazy pimp wannabes who keep their acts locked in artistic slavery. There are funny bits from Vince Vaughn and Andr&233; 3000, drawing laughs from goofy characters dying to play the thug’s game, but for the most part, Be Cool is just lame, shameless retread of Tarantino’s greatest moments. - FF

BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE (PG) A kid’s movie about a girl and her dog set in the dying Southern town of Naomi, Fla., this film by Wayne Wang based on Kate DiCamillo’s bestseller mixes cornball pratfalls aimed at the Nickelodeon set with a surprisingly substantive statements about maternal abandonment and how the collapse of Naomi’s industry trickles down to infect its despairing population. Like The Apostle crossed with Lassie, the film marks yet another bizarre but compelling entry in Wang’s schizophrenic career that has encompassed brainy eros (The Center of the World), Hollywood product (Maid in Manhattan) and indie fare (Smoke). - FF

BOOGEYMAN (PG-13) Get boogie fever in this horror film about a man, traumatized by mysterious events from his childhood, who must face his demons when he returns to the old homestead. Lucy Lawless of “Xena: Warrior Princess” has a supporting role.

BORN INTO BROTHELS (R) In Calcutta’s red light district hundreds of children grow up in a shadowy labyrinthine world of prostitution, drug abuse and hopelessness. Photographer Zana Briski uses photography to offer these children of prostitutes a window out of the city’s rank brothels. The results can be poignant, with the children offering - considering their age - shockingly perceptive, eloquent insight into their situations, and some exquisite photographs to boot. But perhaps due to Briski’s unflappable British reserve, the film is a surprisingly emotionless, distanced view of these children’s lives, which is not always a good thing. The camera allows them to establish their personhood, but it’s also a camera that separates us from them. - FF

BRIDE AND PREJUDICE (PG-13) Bend it Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha switches from phys ed to Eng lit to offer a Bollywood musical-style version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, transplanted to contemporary India, England and America.

CONSTANTINE (R) Chain-smoking, foul-mouthed exorcist John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) matches wits with demons and angels to help a Los Angeles cop (Rachel Weisz) investigate her twin sister’s death. This loose, flashy adaptation of DC Comics’ Hellblazer Americanizes the character nearly out of existence, and Reeves lacks the presence to credibly play a ghostbusting Dirty Harry. The film provides some exciting visual flourishes and fresh perspectives on redemption and damnation, but mostly Constantine lacks soul. - CH

CURSED (PG-13) Scream director Wes Craven and scripter Kevin Williamson reunite for this troubled production about young Los Angelenos (including Christina Ricci) who might be turning into werewolves. In Los Angeles they should fit right in.

DEAR FRANKIE (PG-13) Emily Mortimer plays a Scottish single mom who enlists a likable stranger to pretend to be the father her young, hearing-impaired son (Jack McElhone) has never met in this critically acclaimed sentimental drama.

DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN (PG-13) This adaptation of Tyler Perry’s successful play is set (and shot) in an Atlanta defined by economic and moral extremes. On one hand is the moneyed high life represented by Steve Harris’ attorney. On the other is the “ghetto” warmth and family togetherness of matriarch Madea’s (Tyler Perry) world, where the attorney’s wife (Kimberly Elise) escapes when her husband turns her out of their McMansion. Perry and first time director Darren Grant manage some genuinely funny moments and even some tender ones, but for the most part, Diary’s combination of raunchy comedy, syrupy romance and God-talk just feels ADD, as the film tries desperately - and futilely - to be all things to all people. - FF

DOWNFALL (R) The surreal horrors of war alternate with intimate, documentary-style close-ups of the final days of the Third Reich’s high command in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s powerful film. Bruno Ganz provides a terrifying yet humanizing portrayal of an aging Hitler, capable of both monstrous cruelty and unexpected tenderness. The scrupulously researched film offers eyewitness accounts of the chaotic collapse of Berlin’s defenses and, within Hitler’s bunker, the destruction of Nazi illusions of greatness. - CH

FINDING NEVERLAND (PG) Director Marc Forster finds a connection between Scottish author J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) and his most famous creation, Peter Pan. Both desire to avoid the bitter realities of death and growing up by escaping to a Neverland of perpetual childhood. Depp gives a magical performance in this wonderfully bittersweet, loose adaptation of Barrie’s life, which imagines how his friendship with four young boys and their widowed mother (Kate Winslet) - and their shared experience of death - might have inspired him to create Peter Pan. - FF

GUNNER PALACE (R) Though directors Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker have been clearly influenced by the ironic juxtapositions and pop music-inflected soundtrack of Michael Moore, their eye-opening documentary about soldiers stationed in Iraq has a more humane agenda. By following the soldiers on their nightly raids of possible insurgents’ houses and as they are pelted with rocks by children, the filmmakers show the daily danger faced by these often heartbreakingly young men and women who grapple with the feeling that America has forgotten them. - FF

HEAD ON (NR) Winner of many German Academy Awards, this film directed by Fatih Akin explores a marriage of convenience between two Turks in Hamburg, Germany. Young Sibel seeks to escape the ways of her traditional family with older and self-destructive Cahit.

HIDE AND SEEK (R) Robert De Niro follows up last fall’s creepy-kid movie Godsend with another creepy-kid movie as the father of Dakota Fanning, whose imaginary friend seems to be disturbingly real.

HITCH (PG-13) It’s a rare director and actor who can handle the contrapuntal demands of romantic comedy. As inoffensively lovable as Will Smith is, he makes a far better class clown than a love-burned romantic lead. “Hitch” is a Manhattan matchmaker schooling nerdy guys to romance their dream girls who must learn to love again from a newspaper gossip columnist (a brittle Eva Mendes). When Hitch coasts on factory-assembled comic convention (black guy teaches white guy how to play it coooool) the film is on firm ground. When it asks Mendes and Smith to summon up some chemistry, and heads toward a canned matrimonial denouement, the fun turns into grueling ordeal. - FF

HOSTAGE (R) Hostage negotiator Jeff Talley (Bruce Willis) experiences a work-related tragedy, and packs up his family to take a low-profile job in a low-crime county. Despite the sleepy town, Talley finds himself in an escalating hostage situation that endangers both his professional and personal life. So it’s kinda like Die Hard.

HOTEL RWANDA (PG-13) Don Cheadle superbly portrays a middle-class Rwandan hotel manager who rescues hundreds of Tutsis during the country’s 1994 genocide. Irish filmmaker Terry George uses suspense film techniques to seize our attention for the film’s angry themes, holding the nations of the West directly responsible for their inaction during the massacres. Hotel Rwanda combines a compelling narrative with moral clarity better than any political film of the past year. - CH

ICE PRINCESS (G) A high school bookworm (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s” Michelle Trachtenberg) defies her Ivy League-obsessed mother (Joan Cusack) to pursue her dream of becoming a competitive figure skater. Kim Cattrall plays her coach.

IMAGINARY HEROES (R) The Travises, an upper-middle-class suburban family, fall apart after a tragedy. The father (Jeff Daniels) disengages from the world, the son (Emile Hirsch) drifts through life, and the mother (Sigourney Weaver) smokes pot and fights with the neighbors.

IMAX THEATER: Bugs! (NR) A praying mantis and a butterfly “star” in this documentary about the insects of the Borneo rainforest - some of whom will be magnified 250,000 times their normal size on the IMAX screen. Africa: The Serengeti (NR) An East African safari captures “the Great Migration” of more than two million wildebeests, zebras and antelope over 500 miles across the Serengeti plains, with such predators as lions and cheetahs in hot pursuit. The Greatest Places (NR) It’s location, location, location in this de facto “Best of IMAX” overview of the world’s most spectacular places. Fridays at 10 p.m. (CH) Fernbank Museum of Natural History IMAX Theater, 767 Clifton Road. 404-929-6300. www.fernbank.edu.

INSIDE DEEP THROAT (NC-17) Directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) examine the 1972 release of the X-rated Deep Throat, which brought porn to mainstream viewers and represented an important cultural watershed that unlocked the doors of America’s sexual repression while also unleashing an epic battle over obscenity waged in the nation’s courts. Interviews with the now aged and sometimes tamed makers of the film, as well as commentators on the ’70s sexual zeitgeist like Erica Jong, Norman Mailer and Helen Gurley Brown make for some interesting sound bites and the cultural moment is certainly well-worth examination. It would have just been nicer if Inside Deep Throat had wrestled some insights and not just rude snickers out of the material. - FF

THE JACKET (R) A Gulf War veteran (Adrien Brody) with massive head injuries returns stateside where he is unable to tell reality from hallucination. When he’s framed for a cop’s murder, he’s committed to an institution for the criminally insane where he becomes the lab rat of a demented Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson) who thinks he can cure criminality. John Maybury’s (Love is the Devil) tedious thriller is, in a word, a mess, its occasionally slick MTV style doing little to detract from the essentially banal work at hand. Full of absurd twists and turns, time travel and a requisite, uninspiring love story, none of it makes a lick off sense, and all of it seems a profound waste of time. - FF

MAN OF THE HOUSE (PG-13) Tommy Lee Jones’ tough Texas Ranger teams with Cedric the Entertainer’s streetwise informant to go undercover to protect five University of Texas cheerleaders who happen to be witnesses of a crime.

MILLION DOLLAR BABY (PG-13) While America’s critics are busy hurting themselves trying to come up with more accolades for this “masterpiece” by American film “genius” Clint Eastwood, the rest of us scratch our heads in utter disbelief, wondering what all the fuss is about. This clich&233;-addicted boxing drama, lacquered with a feigned working class melancholy cribbed from previous pugilist pictures, depicts a spunky blue collar boxer (Hilary Swank) who lives out her daddy fantasies when a grizzled boxing trainer (Eastwood) overcomes his aversion to girl fighters and coaches her to victory. - FF

ONG-BAK: THE THAI WARRIOR (R) You may not think you want to see a subtitled movie about Thai kickboxing, but believe me, you do. Watching Tony Jaa punch, flip and propel himself through this pulpy, fast-paced tale gives you a heady thrill of discovery akin to the ground-breaking, head-breaking early work of Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan. Apart from the exotic opening scene (a kind of Extreme Capture the Flag game in a tree), the plot won’t win any prizes for originality, but with such brutal brawls and exuberant chase scenes, Ong-Bak is a kick in the head. - CH

THE PACIFIER (PG) Navy SEAL Lt. Shane Wolfe (Vin Diesel) is assigned to take care of the five out-of-control children of a missing scientist whose wife is sent on a secret mission. Every predictable single-guy-versus-child joke occurs - like changing a diaper with pliers - plus, a few twists that are just bizarre. As we learned in Kindergarten Cop, a tough guy is no match for unruly kids and unruly kids are not match for a tough guy’s discipline. - HK

THE PASSION RECUT (NR) In hopes of reaching a broader market for Easter, Mel Gibson and company have re-edited The Passion of the Christ trying to tone down some of the more extreme moments to get a PG-13 rating. The MPAA still considers the film too intense, however, so this version is unrated, which means the floggings may still be too much to comfortably consume with Cadbury Creme Eggs.

THE RING 2 (R) Naomi Watts faces more spooky goings-on surrounding a supernatural videotape with lethal ramifications to anyone who watches it. With Blockbuster no longer imposing late fees, who knows what horrors will be unleashed?

ROBOTS (PG) Robots is like the engine of a Honda Civic under the hood of a Cadillac Escalade. It offers a reliable ride in an otherwise fantastic physical world. Young Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) is a poor, small-town robot made of hand-me-down parts who dreams of becoming an inventor in the big city. The bland plot is propped up with relatively amusing pop-culture reference, but not as seamlessly as Pixar’s productions. - HK

THE SEA INSIDE (PG-13) Nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, this Spanish film depicts quadriplegic Ramon Sampedro (Javier Bardem) and the endgame of his decades-long battle with Spain’s government and legal system to end his life. Rather than rely on flashbacks or courtroom theatrics, Sea finds drama in the emotional dynamics between Ramon and the other people in his life: He’s like the sun around which every one else orbits. At times director/co-writer Alejandro Amenábar succumbs to TV-movie clich&233;s, but Bardem provides a remarkably melancholy, charismatic performance, despite barely moving a muscle. - CH

SHORT CUT TO NIRVANA (NR) This documentary attempts to convey the scope of India’s 2001 Kumbh Mela event, a Hindu festival held once every 12 years that attracts nearly 70 million guru pilgrims.

SIDEWAYS (R) A failed novelist (Paul Giamatti) takes his oldest friend, a has-been actor (Thomas Haden Church) for a pre-wedding trip through California wine country in the latest examination of American mediocrity from About Schmidt director Alexander Payne. The most highly praised film of 2004, Sideways expounds a surprisingly sincere belief in wine as a metaphor for life, and for a while unfolds as a mellow, impeccably acted idyll (with terrific supporting turns from Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh). Payne eventually sheds his merciless insights on his self-absorbed male characters, but like a fine wine, his harsh sensibilities have mellowed with age. - CH

SON OF THE MASK (PG) This sequel to Jim Carrey’s fun special-effects comedy The Mask stars neither Carrey nor Cameron Diaz, but Jamie Kennedy as a would-be cartoonist who stumbles across the magical headgear of the title. In nods to Norse mythology, Bob Hoskins and Alan Cumming play Odin and Loki, respectively.

THE UPSIDE OF ANGER (R) A suburban mother of four (Joan Allen) has anger management issues after her husband’s disappearance. This dreary dramedy from writer-director Mike Binder (HBO’s “The Mind of the Married Man”) never lets her anger reverberate thematically through the film, and proves a tepid romance like an imitation Terms of Endearment. As a former major league baseball player, Kevin Costner steals the show by displaying the comfy charisma that made him a star in the first place. - CH??