originally published November 1, 2006

AMERICAN BLACKOUT

(NR) 2006. The newly founded UGA Green Party is hosting this screening of the 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)

BORAT

(R) Kazakhstani TV personality Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) packed a mile-long subtitle, Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, for his government-sponsored trip to the “U.S. and A.” If you’ve seen "Da Ali G Show," you know how uncomfortably hilarious Borat can be as he pokes America in its hypocritical eye. Directed by Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm alum Larry Charles. Opens Friday (Beechwood)

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S

(NR) 1961. Audrey Hepburn’s sweet, sweet talent was never on display as prominently as it was in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. As Holly Golightly, a high-priced New York escort, Hepburn practically bottles beauty, along with the disappointment of living that shatters the fragile container. Holly is in the market for a sugar daddy, but instead she meets the intriguing Paul Varjak (a complementary George Peppard, better known to men my age as Hannibal), a writer and kept man who’s just moved into her apartment building. The deceptively heavy, light touch director Blake Edwards (The Pink Panther series) brings to Academy Award nominee George Axelrod’s script, adapted from the Truman Capote novella, assures the film to be equally entertaining as it is heartfelt. With a supporting cast including Oscar winner Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam and Mickey Rooney in a torturously caricaturish portrayal of Holly’s Japanese neighbor, Mr. Yunioshi, Breakfast at Tiffany’s remains the most deservedly beloved film in Audrey Hepburn’s body of work. Showing at the Library is a "described video" for the sight-impaired. Shows Thursday, 11/2 (ACC Library & Tate)

CATCH A FIRE

(PG-13) Catch a Fire’s spotty Australian director Phillip Noyce (his filmography boasts The Quiet American and Rabbit-Proof Fence, but Sliver’s hiding in there, too) shows some amazing pluck, sparking its query - “How is a terrorist made?” - in today’s political climate. For father, soccer coach and oil refinery foreman Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke), his terrorist activities are borne from torture and abuse at the hands of South Africa’s apartheid regime. After Patrick is cleared of suspicion by Colonel Nic Vos (a subdued Tim Robbins), the black African travels to Mozambique to join the African National Congress (ANC). Scripter Shawn Slovo - the daughter of Joe Slovo, the late head of ANC Special Ops - doesn’t paint the real-life players with the flat stroke of activism. The adulterous Patrick is flawed; Vos is indecipherable and never one-dimensional. Like any message movie, Fire can be haughty (especially its final interrogative, “What will your children say about you?”). Noyce pushes Fire to the max, especially ladling on the tension during the film’s tremendous climax. Catch a Fire is one small, well-told fraction of an important historical story. (Beechwood)

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. Ends Thursday (Georgia Square 5)

CRANK

(R) Unapologetically offensive - it’s flippantly homophobic, racist and ageist, though strangely not misogynistic - and graphically violent, Crank is an illegal celluloid substance. You know what you’re doing is not good for you, but it feels so good to do it. I should hate this Jason Statham actioner. Instead, I sort of hate myself for liking poisoned professional hitman Chev Chelios, who’s prepared to do anything to keep his adrenaline pumping (if he stops, he dies). Starts Friday (Georgia Square 5)

THE DEPARTED

(R) 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 Martin Scorsese’s most purely entertaining film, a collision of ripened filmmaking, colossal acting and a muscular screenplay. (Beechwood, Carmike)

FACING THE GIANTS

(PG) A film 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. He 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. Considering the box office power of evangelicals, will Hollywood ever treat them as serious filmgoers, supplying a polished proselytizer? (Beechwood, Carmike)

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS

(R) Clint Eastwood’s elegiac reenactment of the Battle of Iwo Jima and its famous flag raising is strategically camped between Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line. Flag’s true story of WWII’s most lasting image emotionally overpowers Ryan’s made for Hollywood rescue mission. The men who raised the flag - John “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and Native American Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) - survived to become heroic ammunition in the government’s financial war. Flags questions heroism, good and evil, and what effect war has on good men without answering flippantly or jingoistically. Rather, Flags tries to explain why so many of a generation’s finest young men sacrificed themselves to secure the freedom of the lucky many. Eastwood’s direction gets better with age, his and mine, and Flags is his crowning achievement. A filmmaker of images - a soldier framed by a cavern opening, an ocean filled with vessels, a bloody desert - Eastwood composes the washed-out Flags with the eye of a photographer and a slow, steady pace that allows the heavy implications of each and every scene to sink in. The haunting combat photography of the end credits only serves to prove how accurate Eastwood’s award-worthy rendering is. (Beechwood, Carmike)

FLICKA

(PG) This isn’t your grandpappy’s My Friend Flicka. 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). 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 (Tim McGraw). Lohman is always impressive, even if her career choices oddly seesaw between adult and innocent. McGraw 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)

FLUSHED AWAY

(PG) When “society mouse” Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman) gets flushed from his plush apartment, he enters a whole new underworld in the sewers of London. Though there’s no clay, Aardman Animations, the gents behind Wallace and Gromit, will find a way to make their first fully-CGI feature stand out from the cartoon pack. With the voices of Kate Winslet, Ian McKellan, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy and Jean Reno. Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike, Highway 17 Theatres)

GRIDIRON GANG

(PG-13) A prison apologist’s dream, Gridiron Gang puts to bed all that silly talk about the inability of the U.S. penal system to rehabilitate criminals, adult and juvenile. At a detention center in Los Angeles, officer Sean Porter (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) starts a football team to combat the power of the city’s gangs. Shot with the gritty realism of Friday Night Lights, Gang’s heart is all mushy motivation. You could have a grand day surfing the flick’s constant, giant music swells. Fortunately, The Rock rocks. With casual charm and coachly intensity, the former wrestler’s cooking with more smarts than your average lunkhead action star. Starts Friday (Georgia Square 5)

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, to her sister, Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn). 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. (Carmike); Ends Thursday (Beechwood)

INVINCIBLE

(PG) In 1976, new head Philadelphia Eagle coach Dick Vermeil (Greg Kinnear) held open tryouts and 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 to succeed. Welcome to Walt Disney World, where dreams come true. (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. (Carmike); Ends Thursday (Beechwood)

MARIE ANTOINETTE

(PG-13) Vive la Révolution! Academy Award winner Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) assaults the haughty sensibilities of the historical epic with her vivacious account of the young Austrian girl who grew up to become France’s Madame Deficit. The demure young Austrian adapts quickly to the irresponsible rock star life of French royalty. Coppola wisely entrusts her modern Marie to the definitively contemporary Kirsten Dunst. Her transformation from huggy, giggly teen to adulterous extravagantress occurs with ease, yet her Marie is sympathetic, a sweet kid flying down life’s fast lane. Louis XVI (a silently superb Jason Schwartzman) and Marie are ill-prepared to rule, and Coppola smartly finds the humor (there’s a lot of it) in France’s majestic mismanagement. The brash Coppola, who also wrote Marie, directs the film as an indi-epic. Wide establishing shots of Versailles bounce along to New Order and The Cure, while jumpcuts and frenetically edited montages of specially designed Manolo Blahniks create a kineticism that would’ve nauseated David Lean. Though it rushes the French Revolution, this modish Marie Antoinette captures the chi of the times. I have one response for the film’s detractors: Eat cake. (Beechwood)

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. (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). (Carmike)

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. 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. (Carmike); Ends Thursday (Beechwood, Highway 17 Theatres)

PEACEFUL WARRIOR

(PG-13) 2006. Powder director Victor Salva returns with this inspirational true-life story of college gymnast Dan Millman (Scott Mechlowicz, EuroTrip), who finds his way back from the accident that wrecked his life with lessons in non-Western ways from Socrates (the increasingly nutty, if underrated, Nick Nolte). Writer Kevin Bernhardt (Rambo IV) adapted from Millman’s novel, Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Also starring Amy Smart (Just Friends) and Ashton Holmes (A History of Violence). Shows Friday, 11/3 & Saturday, 11/4 (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Athens)

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)

RACE TO EXECUTION

(NR) 2006. Neither promoting nor renouncing the death penalty, director Rachel Lyons (Mr. Dreyfuss Goes to Washington) looks at the race of the jury as well as the victim and accused. Spurred by the Supreme Court’s overturning death sentences in Texas and California due to racial discrimination in the jury selection, Race to Execution “traces the fate of two death row inmates - Robert Tarver in Russell County, Alabama and Madison Hobley in Chicago, Illinois.” Part of the ACC Library’s iFilms series. Shows Thursday, 11/2 (ACC Library)

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS

(R) In the film version of Augusten Burroughs’ best-selling memoir, the only guy running around with pointy, metal objects is writer-director Ryan Murphy. Murphy has stitched black comedy and ugly melodrama into four pretty, scarless seasons of "Nip/Tuck," but in adapting Scissors, he chopped, diced, sliced and shredded Burroughs’ shocking, entertaining life into a tedious, disastrously unfunny film. Adaptation is one thing; wholesale renovation is an illicit other. After Augusten's unstable mother (Annette Bening) and alcoholic father (Alec Baldwin) divorce, the young gay man (an outstanding Joseph Cross) moves in with her mother’s therapist, Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), and his bizarre family. Murphy apparently didn’t get the blithely carefree attitude Burroughs cultivated to survive a scandalous adolescence of maternal abandonment and sex with a man twice his age (Finch’s adopted son, Neil, played by Joseph Fiennes). The gifted actors struggle as well. The usually ravenous Cox leaves whole scenes on his plate (no surprise considering Finch is painted a conniving danger from scene one), and Gwyneth Paltrow is plain old miscast as the prudish Hope. No bigger travesty of literary cinema will be released this year. (Carmike)

SALÒ

(NC-17) 1975. Writer-director Pier Paolo Pasolini, who courted controversy with Mamma Roma (screened in early October as part of the Italian Film Series), exited the cinematic life with this infamous film based loosely on the Marquis de Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom. Four libertines subject nine boys and girls to 120 days of physical, mental and sexual torture. With a score by legendary The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly composer Ennio Morricone. Part of the Italian Film Series sponsored by the UGA Libraries Media Department. Shows Monday, 11/6 (UGA SLC)

THE SANTA CLAUSE 3: THE ESCAPE CLAUSE

(G) The third Clause pits Santa, AKA Scott Calvin (Tim Allen), against Jack Frost (Martin Short) in a battle for holiday domination. Also starring "Lost" newbie Elizabeth Mitchell, Ann-Margret, Alan Arkin, Spencer Breslin and Judge Reinhold. Opens Friday (Beechwood, Carmike)

SAW III

(R) See Movie Pick and Flick Skinny. (Beechwood, Carmike, Highway 17 Theatres)

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. Talladega Nights is poised to take this year’s Comedy Cup. (Georgia Square 5); Shows Friday, 11/3–Sunday, 11/5 (Tate)

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. 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. 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)

THE U.S. VS. JOHN LENNON

(PG-13) Documentary by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld about the U.S. Government's persecution of former Beatle John Lennon when he began speaking out against the Vietnam War. Terrific archival footage, music and interviews. Opens Friday (Beechwood)

THE WICKER MAN

(PG-13) Writer-director Neil LaBute’s first stab at horror barely grazes the flesh. Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) is a policeman whose hunt for a missing girl leads him to the mysterious island. LaBute leaves much of Anthony Schaeffer’s original foundation; he just weakens it through renovation. (Georgia Square 5)

THE WITNESS

(NR) 2000. What could turn a tough Brooklyn construction worker with a lifetime aversion to animals into an impassioned animal rights advocate? For Eddie Lama, all it took was the love of a good kitten. The Witness, directed by Jenny Stein (Peaceable Kingdom), won nine film festival awards including six Best Documentary statues, a Best of Festival trophy and a Best Short Film in Animal Advocacy award (Artivist Film Festival). Sponsored by Speak Out for Species. Shows Monday, 11/6 (UGA SLC)