originally published October 25, 2006

AMERICAN BLACKOUT

(NR) 2006. The newly founded UGA Green Party is hosting this screening of the Sundance award-winning documentary about the systemic disenfranchisement of America’s minorities. Director Ian Inaba focuses on the high profile ousting of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, whose dissenting opinions and unpredictable behavior earned her a vote of no confidence from several “cross over” Republicans, as he catalogues the electoral woes of African Americans. Other interviewees include U.S. Representative John Lewis. The Greens hope to have some congressional speakers lined up for this event. Shows Wednesday, 11/1 (Tate)

BARNYARD

(PG) Otis (Kevin James), a carefree young Holstein, refuses to settle down until his pops Ben (Sam Elliott), gets offed by a pack of coyotes. Pretty creepy to behold and a bit more serious than the preview lets on, Barnyard is the slightest animated kiddie flick of the season. (Georgia Square 5)

CATCH A FIRE

(PG-13) Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke of Glory Road and Friday Night Lights) joins the African National Congress and the anti-apartheid movement after he and his wife (Bonnie Mbuli) are wrongfully imprisoned and tortured for an act of terrorism. Tim Robbins is Nic Vos, the policeman investigating Chamusso. Directed by Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American, Rabbit-Proof Fence) and written by Shawn Slovo (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin), the reality-based Catch a Fire should be the latest Oscar nominee from Focus Features, the distributor of Brokeback Mountain and The Constant Gardener. Opens Friday (Beechwood)

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

(R) 1971. Legendary late filmmaker Stanley Kubrick received his third Oscar nomination for Best Director and second for Best Picture with this visceral adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ futuristic novel. Malcolm McDowell is Alex, “a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven.” Thanks to a new government program of “aversion therapy,” Alex finds himself cured of his hooliganism through an experimental form of brainwashing. Shows Tuesday, 10/31 (Tate)

THE COVENANT

(PG-13) By golly, The Covenant - imagine The Craft recast with pretty dudes - is like cubic zirconium in the rough. Though pitiably acted and FXed, The Covenant puts a fun new spin on the Salem Witch Trials. Apparently, four families survived the infamous witch hunt with unholy powers. Hundreds of years later, the descendant of a fifth family shows up to take his rightful place with the elite prep school magic set. The ultra-cheesy concept behind The Covenant would make a great show, a sort of “Charmed Tree Hill.” The Covenant does for witches what Underworld did for vamps and werewolves (i.e. nothing good). Starts Friday (Georgia Square 5)

THE DEPARTED

(R) The Departed probably won’t earn Martin Scorsese his long-awaited Oscar, but the tough film could whip up on The Gangs of New York and give Goodfellas at least as good a beating as it would take. Adapted from the Hong Kong actioner Infernal Affairs, The Departed straddles the law with the parallel lives of mob mole Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) and police rat Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio). Though Colin and Billy’s intense game of rat-and-mouse dominates the film, Jack Nicholson rules it. In all his kooky finery, Captain Jack lords over his minions (DiCaprio, Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, and lone female, Vera Farmiga - all of whom deliver career best performances) as the volatile Frank Costello. Intelligent and taut, The Departed is Scorsese’s most purely entertaining film. He captures the frenetic furtiveness of duplicity with jump cuts, abrupt sound edits, and a constantly shifting camera, thus ensuring the viewer rests as little as Colin and Billy (it’s tiring living two lives). A collision of ripened filmmaking, colossal acting and a muscular screenplay, The Departed is the first sign of cinematic life in the desolate wasteland of early fall. (Beechwood, Carmike)

EVERYONE’S HERO

(G)Young Yankee Irving (Jake T. Austin) and his talking ball, Screwie (Rob Reiner), set out to find the The Babe's stolen bat and get Yankee’s pop’s janitorial job back. For childish morality plays about persevering against all odds, Hero has one too many strikes against it. Casting Reiner in the showcase role of Screwie makes little sense; when was the last time he tried to act professionally funny? Ends Thursday (Georgia Square 5)

FACING THE GIANTS

(PG) You probably haven’t heard of Facing the Giants, the second movie from the media ministry at Albany’s Sherwood Baptist Church. Sherwood media minister Alex Kendrick directed, cowrote, co-produced, edited, composed the pompous score, and stars as head football coach Grant Taylor, who has yet to have a winning season in six years. With his job and manhood in question (he can’t even knock up his wife), Taylor turns to the Lord to conquer the “giants of fear and failure.” With an entirely volunteer cast (and a cameo by UGA’s Mark Richt), Giants looks and sounds as homemade as it is (it’s a good thing tape of high school football looks amateurish). Considering the box office power of evangelicals, will Hollywood ever treat them as serious filmgoers, supplying a polished proselytizer? Even if Hollywood gets some God, will the faithful show up, knowing they are supporting a modern Sodom (or is it Gomorrah)? (Beechwood, Carmike)

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS

(R) See Movie Pick. (Beechwood, Carmike)

FLICKA

(PG) This isn’t your grandpappy’s My Friend Flicka. The classic novel by Mary O’Hara has undergone a sex change. Ken McLaughlin, played by Roddy McDowell in the original, now goes by Katie (Alison Lohman, who makes a pretty good teenager for a 27-year-old). Swapping the main character’s gender provides the film with two nice modern conflicts: one sexual, one economic. Headstrong Katie’s bucking for her chance to one day take over the family ranch, assuming it’s still viable. Katie hopes breaking wild mustang Flicka can prove her ranch handiness to daddy, Rob (Tim McGraw). Flicka, its awe-inspiring scenery reminiscent of Brokeback Mountain, has a fine stable of actors working hard to make this family film a winner. Lohman is always impressive, even if her career choices oddly seesaw between adult and innocent. McGraw, who showed some chops - and a beer gut - in Friday Night Lights, isn’t Dwight Yoakum or Kris Kristofferson, but he has the comfy durability of a flannel shirt from Sears & Roebuck. Maria Bello’s streak of strong support should continue well into next year. Flicka’s no stud, but sometimes all a family needs is a steady workhorse. (Beechwood, Carmike)

THE FOREST FOR THE TREES

(NR) 2003. It is nice to know teaching is no easier in Germany than it is here in the States. Idealistic Melanie Pröschle (Eva Löbau) knew her first year at a rough city school was going to be challenging, but she wasn’t quite prepared for just how many things, personal and professional, could go wrong. Writer/Director Maren Ade won a Special Jury Prize from the Sundance Film Festival. Part of the ACC Library’s iFilms series. Shows Thursday, 10/26 (ACC Library)

GOOD MORNING, NIGHT

(NR) 2003. This dramatization of the 55-day captivity of Italian president Aldo Moro, whose life was ended when his Red Brigade captors assassinated him, was nominated for seven Davids, Italy’s major national film prize (we’ve got Oscar, they’ve got David). Good Morning, Night looks at the 1978 Italian political nightmare through the eyes of the only female kidnapper, a conflicted young woman named Chiara. Writer/ director Marco Bellochio is a five-time nominee for Cannes’ Palme d’Or. Part of the Italian Film Series sponsored by the UGA Libraries Media Department. Shows Monday, 10/30 (UGA SLC)

THE GRUDGE 2

(PG-13) It’s official. Horror is doomed. Yes, the PG-13 rating has relegated horror fans to de-gored borefests perfectly packaged to terrify middle schoolers. The second Americanized Grudge from director Takashi Shimizu redirects the arbitrary anger of Kayako, the croaking, coal-eyed ghost who was murdered - along with son Toshio - by a jealous hubby, from Sarah Michelle Gellar, the heroine of the original Grudge (I guess you could describe Gellar’s passive Karen that way), to her sister, Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn, looking more and more like Marcia Gay Harden). Shimizu stages some tricky shots (the mirror murder is nice), channels some milky Miike, and healthily favors the slow reveal to the jump scare. Still, this Grudge is his sixth, and writer Stephen Susco does a pathetic job freshening up the concept. Susco’s Western desire to explain Kayako’s supernatural ability with some exorcism mumbo-jumbo leaves a distasteful Ringu 2 around the collar. It’s time the talented Shimizu let his Grudge go. (Beechwood, Carmike); Ends Thursday (Highway 17 Theatres)

THE GUARDIAN

(PG-13) “No one appreciates us until they need us,” says Ben Randall (Kevin Costner), the highly decorated Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer of The Guardian. Too physically damaged and mentally scarred to return to the water, the gallant Randall is transferred to the extremely elite “A” School, where the attrition rate of potential Rescue Swimmers, like cocky Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher), is over 50 percent. The legend challenges the pantywaist methods of his fellow instructors with real-life scenarios. Sela Ward is wasted as Randall’s estranged wife, a thankless role considering the only love that can lift Randall or Fischer up where they belong is the macho camaraderie shared between men who daily risk their lives. As a by-the-numbers military training flick, The Guardian doesn’t dissatisfy, though it would’ve been more intriguing had it broken ranks. The sober adventure cannot save this shallow film whose fictional heroic nobodies with their 200 saves are much less remarkable than the fragile champions of the real-world Coast Guard. Ends Thursday (Beechwood, Carmike)

INVINCIBLE

(PG) Welcome to Walt Disney World, where sports dreams come true. In 1976, new head Philadelphia Eagle coach Dick Vermeil (Greg Kinnear) held open tryouts and hundreds turned out for this unprecedented chance to be in the NFL. One man, substitute teacher and part-time bartender Vince Papale (Mark Wahlberg), made the cut. As depicted in this uplifting film, bicentennial Philly, beaten down by strikes and job cuts, needs a hometown hero - someone no different than the average barfly - to succeed. Vince is that guy, and his extraordinary breakthrough is the shot in the arm for the City of Brotherly Love. Starts Friday (Georgia Square 5)

MAN OF THE YEAR

(PG-13) Who hasn’t considered the blissful prospect of a Jon Stewart-delivered State of the Union Address? Writer-director Barry Levinson wastes that peach of an idea on a weak campaign that is completely undermined by its star candidate. Robin Williams’ toothlessly accessible brand of “wild” humor barely generates a chuckle. Levinson has severely miscalculated his star’s appeal to Stewart’s demographic, the fashionably disenfranchised. This film is aimed squarely at the parents and grandparents of Stewart’s fans. Man doesn’t just lack yuks; it goes horrendously off-message with a thriller subplot about an electronic voting glitch to ensure Levinson has a narratively legal means to oust Dobbs from office. Vigorously arguing for a viable third (or fourth) party candidate capable of shaking up the system and forcing the candidates to work for the people, not the party, Levinson limply concludes that it’s only partly possible. The film tries to maintain an enlightened state of non-partisan objectivity, but bleeds elite, liberal, Hollywood blueblood all over the screen. Though ultimately not as disappointing as Chris Rock’s Head of State, which somehow contained only one minute of acerbic insight in its 95 minutes of wasted opportunity, Man of the Year doesn’t deserve my vote. (Beechwood, Carmike)

MARIE ANTOINETTE

(PG-13) See Movie Pick and Flick Skinny. (Beechwood)

THE MARINE

(PG-13) What made Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s '80s output so entertaining? Either I’ve misjudged the power of the Gubernator’s engaging personality or underestimated the shrewdness with which he chose collaborators (James Cameron, John McTiernan, Paul Verhoeven). Not even a visionary like Cameron could get the movie career of popular wrestler/ pretender John Cena to the action throne. Amidst a horde of humdrum fights and explosions, Cena’s John Triton cheats death twice as often as those Final Destination teens while attempting to rescue his wife (Kelly Carlson) from murderous thief Rome (Robert Patrick) and his gang of meatheads and strippers. Was director John Bonito paid by the explosion? I wouldn’t put it past executive producer, WWE impresario Vince McMahon, to have tied salary to number of things that go boom. The screenplay - cowritten, against the action movie grain, by a woman (Michell Gallagher) - calls for a simple succession of reversals, takedowns and finishing moves. Remember that long brawl in They Live; The Marine is 90 minutes of that. A weekly installment of Smackdown! packs more humor and excitement than this frozen slab of beef. Ends Thursday (Beechwood, Carmike)

MONSTER HOUSE

(PG) The animated Monster House perches on the adolescent precipice between too scary for little kids and not scary enough for teens. Heroes DJ, Chowder and Jenny face the same difficulty - not quite kids, not yet teenagers - on a fateful Halloween when the house next-door comes to life and tries to eat them. Frightening in that haunted house kind of way, Monster House should have been held for an October release. (Georgia Square 5)

ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING

(PG) Oh, how the biblical epic has fallen. Hollywood’s biggest directors and actors used to carve larger-than-life spectacles from the greatest stories ever told. The best cast and crew we can muster these days is headed by the DP of Hot Shots! and Hot Shots! Part Deux, Peter O’Toole (remember, Pete was also in Larry Flynt’s Caligula and Supergirl) and Omar Sharif. One Night with the King recounts how a young Jewish girl (Tiffany Dupont, "The Bedford Diaries") becomes Esther, queen to the great conqueror Xerxes (Luke Goss). The $20 million feature from the producers of The Omega Code achieves some grandeur with John Rhys-Davies’ voiceover, a stringy orchestral score and exotic location shooting, but quickly pays it back with contemporary dialogue (Esther might as well canoe over to Dawson’s house) and small-screen acting (the pickings behind O’Toole and Sharif are pretty slim). One Night with the King’s scale is much too large for its niche scope. (Carmike); Ends Thursday (Beechwood)

OPEN SEASON

(PG) As the voice of Elliot, an obnoxious mule deer exiled from his herd, Ashton Kutcher goofs around the woods for an hour and a half, making up silly songs about flatulent elves that pee a lot. Elliot and his reluctant pal, a grizzly bear named Boog (v. Martin Lawrence), must do battle with poacher Shaw (v. Gary Sinise) after being released into the wild by Boog’s keeper, a moon-faced park ranger (v. Debra Messing). Elliot and Boog quickly learn every animal must fend for himself after running into an army of acorn-armed squirrels led by Scot-flavored McSquizzy (voiced by a charming Billy Connolly), a beaver construction gang overseen by Reilly (v. Jon Favreau), and the herd - commanded by militaristic Ian (v. Patrick Warburton) - from which Elliot was expelled. Soon, the film’s true intentions become clear. Open Season, with its paranoid nutter of a hunter and anthropomorphically emotive animals, is rabidly anti-hunting. Unappealing voicework and animation as alluring as a strip mine mar Sony Pictures Animation’s first full-length feature. (Beechwood, Carmike, Highway 17 Theatres)

THE PRESTIGE

(PG-13) Feuding magicians make for terribly intriguing drama in Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to Batman Begins. After his wife dies on-stage in the harrowing Water Escape trick, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), who performs under the stage name the Great Danton, blames rival magician Albert “The Professor” Borden (Nolan’s Batman, Christian Bale) and begins a personal/ professional rivalry that can only end in blood. Structurally, Nolan’s twisty tale of vengeance and its illusory curative properties is bloody confusing. Its split chronology can be tougher to follow than Memento’s backward timeline, yet the magical tit-for-tat is novel and anti-heroic. Serious magician Albert vanishes from everyone - his wife and his mistress, Danton’s former assistant/ lover, Olivia (Scarlett Johansson) - save his mysterious illusion engineer; Jackman magnetizes Robert with his perfect plastered showman’s grin and its polar opposite, a steely obsession with settling a score. Hanging around backstage as Robert’s illusion engineer, Cutter (Michael Caine) accentuates the film’s turn-of-the-century Britishness, and David Bowie’s superstar cameo as the quietly creepy Nikola Tesla isn’t that distracting (though it is very Pierce Brosnan-y). In his fifth masterful mystery, Nolan, a premier teller of dark, stormy drama, nails all three parts of a magic trick (as outlined by Cutter in the film): The Pledge, The Turn and The Prestige. (Beechwood, Carmike)

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS

(R) "Nip/Tuck"’s Ryan Murphy seems to have chosen the right material - Augusten Burroughs’ first memoir - to debut his creepy-funny surgical skills on the big screen. Augusten (Joseph Cross), the son of an alcoholic father (Alec Baldwin) and an unstable mother (Annette Bening, still gunning hard for that first Oscar), is sent to live with his mother’s shrink, Dr. Finch (my favorite character actor, Brian Cox), and Finch’s nutty family. With Evan Rachel Wood, Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes as Bookman the pedophile. Opens Friday (Carmike)

SAW III

(R) From the brink of death, Jigsaw (Tobin Bell, who donated his actual blood as ink for the icky marketing campaign) continues to toy with his victims through the help of a kidnapped doctor (Bahar Soomekh) and his former victim/ apprentice (Shawnee Smith). Saw II director Darren Lynn Bousman and series scripter Leigh Whannel return for what I hope to be the grisliest - and final - entry in the best slasher franchise this side of 2000. The film is dedicated to the memory of executive producer Geoff Hoffman, who died shortly after the release of Saw II. Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike, Highway 17 Theatres)

SNAKES ON A PLANE

(R) This calculatedly bad movie is a semi-packed flight of giddy performances and smirking quotables. As FBI Agent Neville Flynn, Samuel L. Jackson is enjoying a vacation from stretching his thespian muscles. With Baron Badass around, I’m afraid most people will overlook the film’s greatest performance, Todd Louiso’s herpetologist. Two other potential victims, the ever radiant Julianna Margulies and the increasingly amusing Kenan Thompson, also make this flight more comfortable. SoaP has little new to offer, and what I hadn’t seen before (extremely gruesome and body part-specific snakebites), I saw coming. Ends Thursday (Georgia Square 5)

STEP UP

(PG-13) After a run-in with the law, surly street dancer and all-around bad dude Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum, She’s the Man) finds himself sweeping the floors of an exclusive ballet school. Soon, he’s sweeping senior Nora (Jenna Dewan) off her feet, after agreeing to partner with her for the mandatory “Big Show.” Expect lots of dancing and a romantic two-step before the big finale. Will they or won’t they is less the question than how long will it take (approximately 98 minutes). Tatum has that natural something that keeps all eyes focused on him. With former P. Diddy dancer Dewan’s harsh fragility meshing well with Tatum’s sensitive intensity, Step Up has the rhythm to get those looking to be gotten. Ends Thursday (Georgia Square 5)

TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY

(PG-13) Using the basic three-act race movie structure popularized by Days of Thunder, Ricky (Will Ferrell) goes from pit crew to victory lane in less than 200 frames. As riotous as Talladega Nights is, the film speeds toward a satirical checkered flag. I remain surprised NASCAR so easily and fully gave its blessing to this good-natured parody that surmises a homosexual French Formula One driver (Sacha Baron Cohen, AKA Ali G) could win at stock car racing. Talladega Nights is poised to take this year’s Comedy Cup. (Georgia Square 5)

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING

(R) I thought I’d be easier on the sequel to the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. After all, the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was no bone chip off the original block. The remakers, Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes, learned nothing from their initial encounter with hulkish icon Leatherface. Tobe Hooper’s 1974 masterpiece was unnervingly raw and real, the epitome of exploitation cinema. The film, from its screaming industrial soundtrack to its black-as-dried-blood humor, was art, not entertainment. TXCM: TB trades pulp art for high gloss entertainment, making even this gorehound a little queasy - and not in the good way - with its ho-hum approach to sadism. Director Jonathan Liebesman artlessly shoots the further untrue exploits of the Hewitt clan. Most insulting, Andrew Bryniarski inflates Leatherface with machismo; the abused, inbred simpleton exhibits none of the twisted sexual confusion that used to fuel the monster’s rage. Here, he’s a Jason stand-in controlled by a wisecracking redneck Freddy (R. Lee Ermey, back as Sheriff Hoyt) straight out of Nightmares 4–6 (i.e. the not scary ones). Borne of political and social disillusionment, Leatherface has become just another unkillable, masked psycho in a franchise that should’ve passed long ago. (Carmike, Highway 17 Theatres); Ends Thursday (Beechwood)

THE WICKER MAN

(PG-13) Writer-director Neil LaBute’s first stab at horror barely grazes the flesh. The playwright known for his scathing misanthropy brings little of what made In the Company of Men and Your Friends & Neighbors achingly immoral romances and everything that makes a generic thriller. Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage), a policeman whose hunt for a missing girl leads him to the mysterious island, suffers from nightmares inside of nightmares (the laziest of scares). LaBute leaves much of Anthony Schaeffer’s original foundation; he just weakens it through renovation. Starts Friday (Georgia Square 5)