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Monsters vs. Aliens / **1/2 (PG)
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"Monsters vs. Aliens" (PG, 95 minutes). Monsters from the 1950s are released from a secret federal prison to join the 49' 11" Ginormica (voice by Reese Witherspoon) in saving Earth from hostile aliens. Probably fun for younger kids, but lacks the humor and personality of earlier DreamWorks films like "Shrek." The 3-D, not as bright as 2-D, is more a distraction than enhancement. Rating: Two and a half stars.
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Goodbye Solo / **** (No MPAA rating)
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"Goodbye Solo" (Unrated, 91 minutes). In Winston-Salem, NC, a white man around 70 gets into the taxi of an African immigrant. He offers $1,000, paid immediately, he wants him to drive him in 10 days to the top of a mountain so windy that the snow falls up. The driver is not happy about this fare. Magnificent performances by Red West and Souleymane Sy Savané. A great, stirring, heartbreaking film by Ramin Bahrani. One of the year's best. Rating: Four stars.
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The Haunting in Connecticut / ** (PG-13)
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"The Haunting in Connecticut" (PG-13, 92 minutes). Ghost story. Family moves into a big old mansion that hasn't been inhabited since the 1920s, for what turn out to be excellent reasons. Good acting and technical credits, but so many scares they threaten to become monotonous. With Virginia Madsen, Martin Donovan and Elias Koteas. Rating: Two stars.
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12 / ***1/2 (PG-13)
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"12" (PG-13, 1563 minutes). A Russian version of the story in the great American film "12 Angry Men," with the same structure and outcome, yet entirely original and with a power of its own. Each of the actors is given a key scene growing out of his own life, and the effect is new and powerful. Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov Rating: Three and a half stars.
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Valentino: The Last Emperor / *** (No MPAA rating)
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"Valentino: The Last Emperor"(Unrated, 96 minutes) A fly-on-the wall documentary about Valentino, nearly last of the legendary designers, as he presents his final Paris show, presides over an imperial Roman celebration of his 45th year in fashion, rules unchallenged, and yet seems strangely dissatisfied. If you care nothing about haute couture, the movie is nonetheless a fascinating study of a complex man. Rating: Three stars.
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Knowing / **** (PG-13)
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"Knowing" (PG-13, 122 minutes). Among the best science fiction films I've seen--frightening, suspenseful, intelligent, and, when it needs to be, rather awesome. Nicholas Cage plays an MIT astrophysicist whose son brings home a sheet of paper after a 50-year-old time capsule is opened at his grade school. The sheet is covered with numbers, which the scientist, despite all his training, becomes convinced mean something. Pluck this movie, and it vibrates. Rating: Four stars.
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I Love You, Man / ***1/2 (R)
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"I Love You, Man" (R, 104 minutes). Paul Rudd plays a clueless realtor engaged to Rashida Jones. He gets along fine with women, but lacks a male friend to be his best man. He stumbles upon Jason Segel, who plays a best friend a lot of guys would like to have -- thoroughly comfortable within his own skin, an unapologetic hedonist uses his intelligence as a comic weapon. A very funny movie. Rating: Three and a half stars.
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Duplicity / *** (PG-13)
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"Duplicity" (PG-13, 125 minutes). Julie Roberts and Clive Owen star as CISA and M16 spies who go private, working for enemy soap companies. Their secret is, they're in love. Or do they each only think they're in love? Or that the other is? Romance and intrigue in a plot so complex they could end up double-crossing themselves. Written and directed by Tony Gilroy ("Michael Clayton). Rating: Three stars.
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Silent Light / **** (No MPAA rating)
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"Silent Light" (Unrated, 136 minutes). A profound meditation on the pain that true love can bring, set among a Mennonite community in Mexico with deep values. Awesome photography, rock-solid performances, a deep emotional impact. Slow paced, but not emotionally slow. Jury Prize, Cannes 2007. Gold Hugo, Chicago 2007. Directed by Carlos Reygadas. Rating: Four stars.
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The Great Buck Howard / ***1/2 (PG)
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"The Great Buck Howard" (PG, 90 minutes). John Malkovich plays a magician and psychic who guested on Johnny Carson 61 times, but is now reduced to playing small theaters in smaller cities. Colin Hanks is the new kid who signs on as his road manager, and gets an education in showbiz and the Greatness of Buck Howard. Funny, observant, a little sad, and with a Malkovich performance of fascinating inscrutability. Rating: Three and a half stars.
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Serbis / **1/2 (R)
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"Serbis" (R, 91 minutes). A day in the lives of an extended family that runs a shabby Filipino porn theater. As the camera follows them up and down the stairs of the labyrinthine structure, they deal with family dramas in the midst of hardly-noticed hustlers and johns, while nobody pays much attention to what's on the screen. A portrait of lives marking time. Rating; Two and a half stars.
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Sunshine Cleaning / ** (R)
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"Sunshine Cleaning" (R, 102 minutes). Amy Adams and Emily Blunt star as sisters, desperate for income, who start a business mopping up after messy murder scenes. Steve Zahn is a faithless lover, Clifton Collins Jr. is a warm-hearted hardware store owner, and Alan Arkin is the girls' dad, hatching get-poor-quick schemes. A lot of promising material, never quite assembled into film that holds together. Rating: Two stars.
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Shuttle / * (R)
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"Shuttle" (R, 107 minutes). On a rainy night at an almost empty airport, two young women get a ride in a van, and end up at the mercy of the menacing driver. Made with competence, with a good lead performance by Peyton List, but a despairing story of utter hopelessness and evil. Rating: One star.
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Great Movie: Withnail & I (1987)
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by Roger Ebert
In my drinking days, some of us would gather around noon on Saturdays at Oxford's Pub for what we called Drunch. We would commence with shots of creme de menthe and pint glasses of real Coke, in the hope that a combination of alcohol, sugar and caffeine would restore us. Then we would laugh until the tears ran down our faces about the hilarity of the dreadful things that had happened the night before. In doing this, I would often quote "We laugh, that we may not cry," although just now I have discovered that no one originally said that. I always thought it was Shakespeare. It was me.
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Movie Answer Man: Dr. Manhattan's you-know-what:
an exercise in quantum mechanics
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Q. The Vulture blog at New York mag surveys the "Watchmen" critics who mention the size of Dr. Manhattan's you know what. You called it "discreet." Are you trying to send a message?
Ronny Barzell, Los Angeles
A. Not the one you got. I was referring to the way it blends perfectly with his blue color scheme. I don't know what Peter Travers of Rolling Stone was smoking when he wrote of Manhattan "flashing a few yards of giant blue wiener." Zack Snyder, director of the film, likens it to a "bell clacker." My own opinion? Manhattan has ceased to exist as flesh and blood, and has reconstituted himself as quantum energy. He controls every detail of his appearance, and manifests himself as a blue giant. How many men could resist the opportunity to do a little tweaking?
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Commentary: Love and hate and "Knowing"
-- or, do wings have angels?
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Either I'm wrong or most of the movie critics in America are mistaken. I persist in the conviction that Alex Proyas's "Knowing" is a splendid thriller and surprisingly thought-provoking. I saw the movie at an 8 p.m. screening on Monday, March 16, returned home and wrote my review on deadline. No other reviews existed at that time. Later in the week, I was blind-sided by the negative reaction. And I mean really negative.
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Commentary: Why do they always attack the USA?
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By Lisa Nesselson
Senior Paris Correspondent
PARIS -- Actor Stephane Freiss, who voices Hugh Laurie's mad scientist character in the French dub of "Monsters vs Aliens," took advantage of the film's Paris press conference to ask producers Jeffrey Katzenberg: "Why DO aliens in movies always attack the U.S.?"
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