The Kingdom
The Game Plan
The Heartbreak Kid
Seeker: The Dark is Rising
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Michael Clayton
The Final Season (PG)
Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour (PG)
The Comebacks (PG-13)
Rendition (R)
Dan in Real Life (PG-13)
Saw IV (R)
Dan in Real Life (PG-13) is the name of a newspaper column written by Dan Burns (Steve Carell), the widowed father of three girls. During the yearly family reunion in Rhode Island, Dan unwittingly meets a perfectly lovely woman named Marie (Juliette Binoche) in a used bookstore. The trouble is, once he gets back home, he finds out that Marie is none other than "Annie," his brother Mitch's (Dane Cook) new girlfriend. The movie unfolds as you'd expect: Dan tries everything he can to keep himself from liking Marie, including going on a virtually blind double date his parents set up with childhood acquaintance Ruthie Draper (Emily Blunt). Dan ends up in the middle of a crisis: his tween and teenage daughters are up in arms, his column is being considered for syndication, and he has no idea what to do about his growing feelings for Marie.
Dan's parents, played by Dianne Wiest (lately of Law & Order) and John Mahoney (who played Frasier's father), along with the rest of his family, seem to be truculent and almost bitterly angry at Dan for most of the movie, which is puzzling, because Dan is a bit quirky but by no means below contempt. The plot itself is predictable (and if you've seen the commercials, there aren't many secrets left), but the set decorator did a fantastic job, and the scenery is lovely. Dan in Real Life is a good date movie; whether Dan's life itself is real, not so much. Rating is just for mild innuendo; there's nothing really objectionable in the movie. – Ashley Merrill
Saw IV (R) The guys behind the Saw series have really twisted minds. In the latest brain puzzler, Saw IV (R), the traps are fewer, but more involved. There's a whole lot more back story to this latest entry in the franchise, and flashbacks are a big part in keeping up with the story. The FBI gets involved, and everything turns into a bloodbath.
The detective from Saw II makes an appearance in this chapter, and ends up smashed between two ice blocks. The attorney for the original killer, Jigsaw, is involved, but he ends up shot in the head. I could go on about this movie, but I suggest that you see it and enjoy it. It's not cheesy like most sequels tend to be, when they get to part four. And yes, more are coming. -- Matt Wright
The Comebacks (PG-13) is a parody of sport movies, much like Date Movie and Epic Movie. The story is about the losingest coach in the history of sports, Coach Lambau Fields (David Koechner). He is given one more chance to take a group of college misfits and make a championship team. Most of the jokes, you can see coming, and tend to be on the crude side. The most fun is trying to figure out which sports movie they are poking fun at. The language is somewhat bad at times and there is some nudity. This is not a movie for the family but it is a good one for those that like parodies and sports movies or for people looking to enjoy two hours to kill with some mindless but fun humor. - John Joyner
Rendition (R), starring Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, gets its name from the governmental practice of extraordinary rendition, which involves transporting terrorist suspects in America to private jails in other countries for questioning.
The film also focuses on terrorism, national pride, and family. The central story involves an Egyptian man, Anwar El-Ibrahimi, who is kidnapped as a suspect in a bombing in northern Africa. He is transported to Africa for questioning, where he is tortured despite repeated proof of his innocence. Gyllenhaal stars as Douglas Freeman, an American CIA agent who begins to question government practices after observing the questioning. Meanwhile, Witherspoon portrays Isabella El-Ibrahimi, Anwar’s wife, who must fight through governmental red tape to discover what has happened to her husband.
Though the movie clearly represents a skeptical view of the government and extraordinary rendition, I was surprised by the fact that it questions more than it seeks to give definitive answers of right and wrong. Interwoven is a sub-story involving a young terrorist recruit, which balances the idea that the practice is wrong with the idea that it potentially saves thousands. At the end of the movie, there are no winners among either the terrorists or the torturers, and the viewer is left with more information to decide on his or her own the validity of the subject.
The R rating is appropriate, due to violent torture scenes and harsh language. I’d say this film is definitely adults only. - Sarah Wise
Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour (PG) is the first movie in a series, starring Rissa Walters. Sarah Landon is a seventeen-year-old who goes to stay with a friend at her late grandmother's house, in a little town called Pine Valley. Once there, Sarah learns she is to stay in the guest house; after a few nights, Sarah realizes the guest house is haunted. She digs into the town's history and uncovers a dark secret about the "paranormal hour," between midnight and 1 a.m. each night. Complications arise when she meets a local psychic and two brothers who hold the key to the mystery.
Just in time for Halloween, this is a good movie for the teen and tween market. The special effects are pretty good, and it was suspenseful enough to hold adult interest as well. Rating is for mild peril and language. It's not one for the smaller kids, but I would take my teen to see the next one in the series. All in all, it was a pretty good thriller. - Debra Malarchik
The Final Season (PG) - Norway, Iowa, a small farming community, has built a championship baseball tradition at their small high school. Their grizzled old coach (Powers Booth) has preserved and built on that heritage, but in 1990, the Iowa Legislature has mandated consolidation of small schools across the state. The old coach brings in a very young assistant coach (Sean Astin) to help him finish out a season, but when the vote comes to close the school after one more season, the old coach moves on.
The school board hires the young assistant to take the team for a token final season. With the old coach gone, some of the old players are gone and no one expects much from the Tigers in their final season, but the young assistant wins the respect of his team and takes them back to the state championship.
There is a sub-plot of a troubled youth who moves in with his grandparents and finds acceptance with the team, and there are a bunch of recognizable character actors, but somehow the team never connected for me. I never really cared about Norway, and I wanted to.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (PG-13) stars Cate Blanchett and Clive Owen. During the movie's time frame, 1585-88, the Spanish attempt to dethrone Elizabeth (Blanchett) and establish Mary, Queen of Scots on England's throne, thus reestablishing the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, Sir Walter Raleigh (Owen) rises in esteem, and carries on an affair with one of the Queen's Ladies-in-Waiting.
The plot has a lot of intrigue, so you have to pay close attention at times. The climactic battle between the English and Spanish is pretty good, but not very long. Although there are several historical inaccuracies in the movie, none were really that glaring. The only really bad violence was during the torture scenes, when the English try to find out what the Spanish are up to. Elizabeth: The Golden Age is a pretty good movie, and a good retelling of the attempted conquest of the Spanish Armada. I'd recommend it, but it's not really meant for kids. – John JoynerMichael Clayton (R) stars George Clooney as an in-house "fixer," an attorney kept as a sort of pet by his law firm because of his fantastic skill at cleaning up messy situations. Clayton is the logical choice to send in when his friend and fellow hotshot attorney Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) has an apparent mental breakdown during a routine deposition for his six-year-plus big case with UNorth. For six years, Arthur has been obsessed with this class-action lawsuit against a chemical manufacturer. When he snaps, Karen Crowder, UNorth's in-house counsel (played by Tilda Swinton) steps in to make sure he doesn't reveal all the dangerous secrets he knows. Sydney Pollack also stars as Clayton's understanding boss.
Clooney is credible as Clayton, the worn-out fixer, semi-reformed gambler, deep in debt from a venture gone bad with his black-sheep brother. He wants out of his life, what Edens calls a "janitorial" existence, and his desperation and concern over his friend fuel his investigation into UNorth's shady dealings. He doesn't come across as overly insightful until the very end of the movie, and that was predictable. Michael Clayton is a good movie, just not as great as I was expecting. Rating for violence, narcotics, and language. - Marilyn Merrill
The Heartbreak Kid (R) - Eddie (Ben Stiller) is on the rebound. His father (Jerry Stiller) is constantly on his case about finding a woman.
Eddie runs into a woman named Lila and just knows it’s true love, until he gets on his honeymoon. Then he realizes he might have made a huge mistake.
I haven’t laughed that much at a movie in a really long time.
It was rated R for nudity, strong sexual content, language, and brief drug references. I would recommend this movie to any adult as long as they are not easily embarrassed. -- Jerrie Barbato
The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (PG) is full of excitement and mystery. A young man named Will Stanton (Alexander Ludwig) finds out he is the chosen one, or the Seeker, dedicated to fighting evil dark forces. As he travels back and forth through time, Will must find a series of clues to keep the evil at bay, and in the process he becomes stronger and begins to develop unimaginable powers. Those powers will lead him to a showdown with the forces of darkness. The movie is based on the first book in the Dark is Rising series for young adults, by Susan Cooper.
I thought this movie was very interesting. It shows contrast between good and evil, and that what might look appealing to the eye might be deceitful. Rating is for fantasy violence and some scary images. – Mary Wadsworth
The Kingdom (R) of Saudi Arabia, major oil producer for the United States, suffers a terrorist attack at an American oil-company community, during which one of the FBI's own is killed. Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) lobbies his government to allow an American investigation into the attack, but everyone who has any say in the matter says to mount such an investigation would be foolish. Fleury manages to sneak a small team of forensic investigators into the country, including Grant (Chris Cooper), Mayes (Jennifer Garner), and Leavitt (Jason Bateman). The Saudi Prince in charge has tapped a soldier to lead the investigation, but when Fleury and his team arrive, they see that he has no idea what he's doing. With some help from the "investigator's" second-in-command, Fleury and his team set out tracking down the evidence and finding the man who is responsible for such violence. Jeremy Piven also makes a few brief appearances as Damon Schmidt, a State Department suit who makes sure the FBI agents keep to the script and out of trouble.
While I did enjoy this movie, I have to start out by saying that the camera never stops moving. Director Peter Berg, who also is responsible for "Friday Night Lights," must really like the shaky look of hand-held cameras. As such, about halfway through the movie, I started feeling nauseated. Otherwise, I liked it. It wasn't perfect, and it didn't have the labyrinthine plot of a Tom Clancy novel, but it was entertaining. Rating is for graphic bloody violence and language. – Ashley Merrill
The Game Plan (PG) stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a self-absorbed, narcissistic football star, Joe Kingman, who is shocked by the appearance of a daughter, Peyton (Madison Pettis), he never knew he had. His sudden adjustment to fatherhood is full of mishaps and humor. On the field Joe thought he “starred” as a one-man team; as a father of a ballet student, Joe learned the value of being a “team player.” Roselyn Sanchez played the part of Monique Vasquez, a ballet instructor who taught Joe about considering others. The ending made the movie. If you like a good family movie this is one to see. A little humor, a little lesson, a little sentiment, and a lot of values clarification make this reel entertaining. It’s a move the whole family can see. Rating is just for some mild thematic elements. - Steve Ruberg