Roger Ebert Movie Review

Weekend Box Office: June 6-8, 2008

Kung Fu Panda tops the box office with $60.2 million

Daily Box Office: Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Kung Fu Panda tops Wednesday's box office with $5.7 million

"The Incredible Hulk" (PG-13, 114 minutes). 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. Rating: Two and a half stars.

The Happening / *** (R)

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live." -- Albert Einstein By Roger Ebert An alarming prospect, and all the more so because there has been a recent decline in the honeybee population. Perhaps it is comforting to know that Einstein never said any such thing -- less comforting, of course, for the bees. The quotation appears on a blackboard near the beginning of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening," a movie that I find oddly touching. It is no doubt too thoughtful for the summer action season, but I appreciate the quietly realistic way Shyamalan finds to tell a story about the possible death of man.

The Edge of Heaven / **** (No MPAA rating)

"The Edge of Heaven" (Unrated, 122 minutes). Three parents, two daughters and a son, divided between (and by) Turkey and Germany, in a wonderful, sad, touching film. An old man pays a prostitute to move in with him, her death causes his son to express repentance with her daughter, the daughter falls in love with a German girl, that girl's mother tries to act as her daughter would have wanted her to. It sounds like a "hyperlink movie" with all the strands connecting--but the characters never discover how they are connected. Writer-director Fatih Akin sees them as connected only by their common humanity. Contains a magnificent performance by the great Hanna Schygulla as the German mother. Largely in English, a common tongue of many of the characters. Rating: Four stars.

Fugitive Pieces / ***1/2 (R)

"Fugitive Pieces: (R, 108 minutes). A lovely film that glides seamlessly betwen past and present, linking a litte Polish boy who sees his family destroyed by the Nazis, with the same character (Stephen Dillane) now an adut in Toronto and obsessed with his memories. With a warm performance by Rade Sherbedgia, as a Greek who rescues him and shares his obsession with the past. But, the film argues, we must somehow seek healing or we cannot be happy. Based on the novel by Anne Michaels; written and directed by Jeremny Podeswa. Rating: Three and a half stars.

When Did You Last See Your Father? / *** (PG-13)

"When Did You Last See Your Father?" (PG-13, 92 minutes). Based on a best-selling memoir by Blake Morrison, who nursed a lifelong resentment against his father, Arthur (Jim Broadbent). Moves from the 1960s to the 1970s to 1969. The father is an outgoing philanderer, and the son hates the way his mother (Juliet Stevenson) is treated. In a way, Blake never did see his father, in a movie where the two men never talk man-to-man. There's no reconciliation or catharsis, but sometimes life happens that way. Rating: Three stars.

War, Inc. / ** (R)

"War, Inc." (R, 106 minutes). Brave and ambitious but chaotic attempt at a political satire. John Cusack stars as a hit man sent to a middle eastern country to protect the interests of an American super- corporation. Marisa Tomei is a liberal journalist, Hillary Duff is a Mideast teen idol (!), Ben Kingsley is a shadowy manipulator, Joan Cusack is a p.r. whiz, and Dan Aykroydseems uncannily like vice president Chaney. The elements are here, but the parts never come together. Still, an honorable attempt. Rating: Three stars.

Savage Grace / **1/2 (No MPAA rating)

"Savage Grace" (Unrated, 87 minutes). The sad, decadent story of Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dilane), heir to the Bakelite fortune, his wife Barbara (Julianne Moore) and their son Tony (Eddie Redmayne). They move in social circles of New York, Paris, Majorca and London from the 1940s through the 1950s, leading empty, vapid lives that sum up into overwhelming tragedy. Well directed by Tom Kalin and well acted, but living these lives must have been sad and tedious, and so is their story. Rating: Two and a half stars.

You Don't Mess With the Zohan / *** (PG-13)

"You Don't Mess With the Zohan" (PG-13, /// minutes). Adam Sandler's new comedy is shameless in its eagerness to extract laughs from every possible breach of taste or decorum, and why am I even mentioning taste and decorum in this context? He plays a Mussad counter-terrorist who sneak out of Israel to become a New York hair dresser. His superhuman abilities make him a super-warrior and lover, in a movie that's a comic hymn to vulgarity. Co-starring John Turturro, Lainie Kazan, Rob Schneider, Emmanuelle Chriqui. Three stars.

Kung Fu Panda / *** (PG)

By Roger Ebert "Kung Fu Panda" is a story that almost tells itself in its title. It is so hard to imagine a big, fuzzy panda performing martial-arts encounters that you intuit (and you will be right) that the panda stars in an against-all-odds formula, which dooms him to succeed. For the panda's target audience, children and younger teens, that will be just fine, and the film presents his adventures in wonderfully drawn Cinemascope animation. (It will also be showing in some IMAX venues.)

Shotgun Stories / **** (No MPAA rating)

By Roger Ebert Jeff Nichols' "Shotgun Stories" is shaped and told like a revenge tragedy, but it offers an unexpected choice: The hero of the film does not believe the future is doomed by the past. If it were, most of the key characters would be dead by the end, an outcome that seems almost inevitable. Here is a tense and sorrowful film where common sense struggles with blood lust.

The Promotion / ** (R)

By Roger Ebert "The Promotion" is a human comedy about two supermarket employees who are always ill at ease. It's their state of being. I felt a little ill at ease watching it because I was never quite sure whether I was supposed to be laughing at them or feeling sorry for them. It's one of those off-balance movies that seems searching for the right tone.

The Foot Fist Way / ** (R)

"The Foot Fist Way" (R, 87 minutes). Danny McBride stars as Fred Simmons, an offensive, ignorant owner of a Tae Kwan Do studio, who has no idea how insulting and appalling his behavior is. He idolizes Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best), who hires on for a personal appearance at the studio, and quickly seduces Fred's wife Suzie (Mary Jane Bostic). Children should not be allowed within a mile of this film, but it will appeal to "Jackass" fans and other devotees of the joyously ignorant. Rating: two stars.

The Children of Huang Shi / **1/2 (R)

"The Children of Huang Shi" (R, 125 minutes). Based on the true story of George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a British journalist who was sent to China in the 1930s to cover warfare, and became the guardian of 60 orphans. Touching, magnificently photographed, but dramatic and romantic tension never coil very tightly. Also starring Radha Mitchell, Chow Yunfat and Michelle Yeoh. Rating: Three stars.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster / ***1/2 (PG-13)

"Bigger, Stronger, Faster" (106 minutes). Chris Bell is one of three muscle-building brothers. Although he no longer uses steroids, his doc seems to establish that their evil has been much exaggerated. What is disturbing, he says, is how their use demonstrates the American obsession with physical perfection and winning. A rare doc where if you agree with one premise you are likely to disasgree with the other. Rating: Three and a half stars

Great Movie: Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

By Roger Ebert Luchino Visconti was a man of many tempers, styles and beliefs, and you can see them all, fighting for space, on the epic canvas of his masterpiece, "Rocco and His Brothers" (1960). Visconti (1906-1976) was gay, an aristocrat, a Marxist, a director of theater and opera. He was a key influence in Italian neorealism and later abandoned it to make movies of elaborate style and fantasy. He loved the subject of decadence, and yet "Rocco" is profoundly idealistic. As an aristocrat himself, he had a love of tradition that showed in his great film "The Leopard" (1962), although that film was about the slow dying of aristocracy.

Movie Answer Man: The slithery villains of 'Indy'

Q. I know it's ridiculous to think of an "Indiana Jones" movie without snakes, but can you tell me if there are a lot of snakes in the movie? My wife has a really extreme phobia of snakes, but we would like to see it. Is it loaded with snakes or is there just one part with the extremely large snake? Is there a cue I could give my wife to tell her it is time for a restroom break or should I simply sneak out and see this one on my own? Any insight you could give me would be much appreciated. Justin Keith, Statesboro, Ga. A. Not snake-heavy as "Indy" movies go. Besides, nothing a snake could do would equal the experience of being pulled alive into an anthill of giant man-eating ants.

People: Following a young beauty
down a short runway

by Roger Ebert A man from Chicago named Darryl Roberts made "America the Beautiful," a documentary that nobody wanted. It was about our obsession with being thin and beautiful and... perfect. Every distributor in the country turned him down. They told him he was black, and the 12-year-old fashion model at the center of the film was black, and blacks don't go to documentaries. He finally talked it into the American Film Institute's festival in Dallas, where it sold out four shows, "and 99 percent of the audience was white. Not that it means anything."