Town Topics — Princeton's Weekly Community Newspaper Since 1946.
Vol. LXIV, No. 40
 
Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Kam’s Kapsules by Kam Williams

Alpha and Omega (PG for crude humor and mild action). Animated 3D road adventure about a wily female wolf (Hayden Panettiere) forced to embark on a perilous cross-country trek home with a trash-talking member of the pack (Justin Long) after they’re both trapped and shipped 1,000 miles away by park rangers. Voice cast includes Danny Glover, Christina Ricci, Larry Miller, and the late Dennis Hopper.

Case 39 (R for violence, terror, and disturbing images). Renée Zellweger stars in this psychological thriller about a naïve social worker who rescues an abused 10-year-old (Jodelle Ferland) from her parents (Callum Keith Rennie and Kerry O’Malley) only to discover that the girl isn’t as innocent as she looks.

The Concert (Unrated). Bittersweet comedy about a former conductor of the Bolshoi, fired 30 years earlier for hiring Jews, who decides to try to reassemble musicians purged from the orchestra for a Paris concert. With Melanie Laurent, Dmitry Nazarov, and Valeriy Barinov. In French and Russian with subtitles.

Devil (PG-13 for profanity, sexual references, violence, disturbing images, and mature themes). Horror film about five strangers (Bojana Novakovic, Logan Marshall-Green, Bokeem Woodbine, Jenny O’Hara, and Geoffrey Arend) trapped in an elevator who turn against each other when they realize that one of them is Satan. With Chris Messina, Matt Craven and Kim Roberts.

Easy A (PG-13 for profanity, mature themes, drug use, and teen sexuality). Romantic comedy loosely based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, about a pretty high school girl (Emma Stone) who develops a bad reputation when she starts charging classmates for letting them pretend she’s slept with them. With Amanda Bynes, Lisa Kudrow, Patricia Clarkson, Fred Armisen, Thomas Haden Church, Stanley Tucci, and Malcolm McDowell.

Get Low (PG-13 for mature themes and brief violence). True tale which transpired in Tennessee in the 30s when a reclusive hermit (Robert Duvall) came out of the woods to throw himself a funeral party so he could attend his own wake while still alive. Cast includes Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek, Lucas Black, Gerald McRaney, and Bill Cobbs.

Hatchet II (Unrated). Horror sequel features Danielle Harris reprising her lead role of Marybeth with the survivor returning to the swamps of Louisiana assisted by an army of hunters in the search for the bayou butcher (Kane Hodder) who is behind the slaughter of her family. Cast includes Tony Todd, John Carl Buechler and Tom Holland.

Heartbreaker (Unrated). French farce, set in Monaco, where we find a strapping young handsome man (Romain Duris) being hired by a meddling father (Jacques Frantz) to sabotage his daughter’s (Vanessa Paradis) impending wedding to a well-heeled British gent (Andrew Lincoln). With Julie Ferrier, Helena Noguerra, Jean-Yves Lafesse and Francois Damiens. In French, English, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story (PG-13 for sexuality, drug use, profanity, and mature themes). Comedy based on Ned Vizzini’s novel of the same name about a clinically depressed, 16-year-old (Keir Gilchrist) who gets a new lease on life after checking himself into a mental health clinic. Cast includes Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts, Viola Davis, Zoe Kravitz, and Lauren Graham.

Jack Goes Boating (R for profanity, sexuality, and drug use). Philip Seymour Hoffman makes his directorial debut and stars in the title role of this romantic comedy revolving around two working-class New York City couples, one (Hoffman and Amy Ryan) in a budding relationship, the other (John Ortiz and Daphne Rubin-Vega) struggling to save their crumbling marriage.

Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (PG for scary action sequences). Animated adventure about an intrepid barn owl (Jim Sturgess) who leads an escape of kidnapped owlets from an orphanage where they were being brainwashed to join an army led by their evil captors. Voice cast includes Helen Mirren, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving, and Abbie Cornish.

Let Me In (Unrated). Remake of Let the Right One In, the Swedish horror film about a bullied 12-year-old boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who discovers that his new friend (Chloe Moretz) and her mute father (Richard Jenkins) are hiding a big secret. With Elias Koteas, Cara Buono, and Seth Adkins.

Life as We Know It (PG-13 for profanity, drug use, and sexuality). Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel co-star in this romantic comedy about two acquaintances who can’t stand each other until they have to live under the same roof to care for their suddenly orphaned goddaughter (Alexis Clagett) after her parents perish in an untimely accident. Cast includes Josh Lucas, Hayes MacArthur, and Christina Hendricks.

Mao’s Last Dancer (Unrated). Biopic recounts the acrobatic exploits of Li Cunxin (Chi Cao), a peasant plucked from poverty at the age of 11 to train at the prestigious Beijing Ballet Academy and who blossomed into one of the world’s elite dancers. With Joan Chen, Bruce Greenwood, and Suzie Steen. In English and Mandarin with subtitles.

My Soul to Take (R for sexual references, profanity, and graphic violence). Wes Craven directs this grisly slasher film about a serial killer (Christopher Place) who returns to his hometown to stalk seven teenagers born on the night he was thought to have died. Ensemble includes Max Thieriot, Frank Grillo, Emily Meade, Denzel Whitaker, Shareeka Epps, and Zena Grey.

Resident Evil: Afterlife (R for profanity and graphic violence). Milla Jovovich reprises the lead role in the fourth installment of the grisly zombie series now set in Los Angeles, that is ravaged by the virus infection, where she must again lead a hardy band of survivors in a battle against legions of the undead. Cast includes Boris Kodjoe, Ali Larter, and Kim Coates.

Secretariat (PG for mild epithets). Horseracing movie, reminiscent of Seabiscuit, recounting how the inexperienced owner (Diane Lane) of a cash strapped stable somehow miraculously raised the first Triple Crown-winner in a quarter century with the help of a wily horse whisperer (John Malkovich) and a jockey (Otto Thorwarth) in need of redemption. With James Cromwell, Scott Glenn, and Fred Thompson.

The Social Network (PG-13 for sexuality, profanity, and drug and alcohol use). David Fincher directs this biopic about billionaire Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) who founded Facebook in 2004 while still a student at Harvard. Ensemble cast includes Justin Timberlake, Rashida Jones, Max Minghella, Andrew Garfield, Brenda Song, Mara Rooney and Joseph Mazzello.

Takers (PG-13 for profanity, sexuality, partial nudity, and intense violence). Crime caper about a very successful gang of bank robbers (Chris Brown T.I., Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Michael Ealy, and Hayden Christensen) who decide to pull off one last heist before retiring only to come up against a hard-boiled detective (Matt Dillon) intent on cracking the case. With Zoe Saldana, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Jay Hernandez.

The Town (R for sexuality, drug use, graphic violence and pervasive profanity) Ben Affleck directs and stars in this Beantown crime caper, based on Chuck Hogan’s best seller Prince of Thieves, about the mastermind of a bank heist who finds himself falling for the pretty teller (Rebecca Hall) his gang took hostage during a recent robbery. With Jeremy Renner, Chris Cooper and Pete Postlethwaite.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (PG-13 for brief profanity and mature themes). Oliver Stone reunites with Michael Douglas who reprises his Oscar-winning role as Gordon Gekko. Here, the disgraced corporate raider teams with his estranged daughter’s (Carey Milligan) fiancé (Shia LaBeouf) to take revenge on the hedge fund manager (Josh Brolin) responsible for the death of the young man’s mentor (Frank Langella). With Charlie Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Donald Trump and Eli Wallach.

You Again (PG for rude behavior and brief mild epithets). Comedy about a young woman (Kristen Bell) who decides to sabotage her brother’s (James Wolk) impending wedding after she realizes he’s about to marry the girl (Odette Yustman) who bullied her back in high school. With Betty White, Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Cloris Leachman.

Return to Top | Return to Cinema Review | Go to Music and Theater Reviews