Ratings are based on the opinions of Gannett News Service, Associated Press and Courier-Post revi... Movie capsules...
THE BREAK-UP -- (PG-13 -- language, brief nudity and sexuality) This anti-romantic comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston never spins off the cliff, but you do spend a lot of time scraping up against the guardrails. They play a couple who split up but don't leave their condo because nobody wants to give up their half of it -- it's sort of The War of the Roses minus a marriage certificate. Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Bateman, Judy Davis, Jon Favreau, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Ann-Margret co-star for director Peyton Reed. 106 minutes. **.
CARS -- (G) This Pixar saga about a world of cars is what a good animated feature should be -- great fun for all ages, inventive imagery and ideas, a clever script, and an evocative cast of all-star voices. John Lasseter directs and Paul Newman is among the voices, which also include Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Richard Petty, Cheech Marin and George Carlin. 116 minutes. ****.
CLICK (PG-13 -- profanity and innuendo, and some drug references) An inconsistent Adam Sandler comedy about a guy who discovers a magical remote control that allows him to zoom or freeze-frame life. Ah, but at what cost? Christopher Walken co-stars for director Frank Coraci. 98 minutes. **.
THE DA VINCI CODE -- (PG-13 -- disturbing images, violence, some nudity thematic material, brief drug references and sexual content) Christians are outraged and albinos are offended and people around the world who haven't even seen the film are angry simply, it seems, in preparation for being angry. But everyone can just take a deep breath and calm down. Because the The Da Vinci Code is in theaters, and its biggest sin has nothing to do with the supposedly blasphemous nature of the source material, Dan Brown's blockbuster page turner. Rather, its sin is of omission. Director Ron Howard's adaptation feels cursory and rushed. As played by longtime Howard favorite Tom Hanks and French actress Audrey Tautou, the novel's heroes Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu proceed from one puzzle to the next with such speed and ease, it's as if they're high-school kids on a scavenger hunt, looking for a stop sign and a No. 2 pencil. 148 minutes. **.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA -- (PG-13 -- some sensuality) Meryl Streep gives a scenery-chewing performance as a boss from hell who makes co-star (and also wonderful) Anne Hathaway's life miserable in this funny and vibrant adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's best-seller about the fashion business. Also stars Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier and Emily Blunt. Directed by David Frankel. 106 minutes. ***1/2.
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT -- (PG-13 -- reckless and illegal behavior involving teens, violence, language and sexual content) This sequel in name and speed only is an expensive cinematic equivalent of boys playing rough with their Hot Wheels cars -- while gorgeous, underdressed girls look on. The first two installments, The Fast and the Furious with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker and 2 Fast 2 Furious with just Walker, had a few shreds of adult gravitas to go along with the racing engines, perhaps just because the actors were older. Tokyo Drift is set in an infantile world where teens drive garish cars with reckless impunity, while adults barely exist save for the occasional moment where the filmmakers want to show their young anti-heroes rebelling against authority. Lucas Black leads the all-new cast as a speed freak sent to live with his dad in Japan, where he's caught up in a perilous world of illegal racing. Bow Wow, Nathalie Kelley, Sung Kang and Brian Tee co-star in the film from director Justin Lin. 104 minutes. *1/2.
GARFIELD: A TALE OF TWO KITTIES -- (PG -- some off-color elements) A sequel to the 2004 film about the newspaper comic fat cat, Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties feels perfunctory, as if everyone involved did the project for a quick paycheck. Even the actors providing the voice work -- including Bill Murray, who does the voice of Garfield again -- sound bored. Also stars Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Billy Connolly and the voices of Tim Curry and Bob Hoskins. 75 minutes. *1/2.
THE LAKE HOUSE -- (PG -- some language and a disturbing image) Kleenex won't be necessary for watching this wannabe weepy, but some sort of pain reliever is essential -- because trying to determine whether this time-travel romance functions logically will seriously make your head hurt. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock star as the successive inhabitants of a cozy, cool-looking lake house hidden along a quiet little section of coastline outside Chicago. Reeves (as architect Alex Wyler) moves in after Bullock (as doctor Kate Forster) moves out. They drop perfunctory letters in the mailbox for each other about forwarding mail, some items left in the attic, etc. Soon they realize, though, that Alex is writing from 2004 and Kate is writing from 2006 -- exactly two years apart from each other, to the day. Regardless of whether you can go with this, Alex and Kate can -- easily. In no time the letters turn flirty, then intimate, until both realize they're falling in love. Theoretically, part of the allure lies in watching the stars of Speed team up again in a totally different way. But in reality, all it does is make you wish a bus would come barreling through the production at 50 mph. 108 minutes. *1/2.
NACHO LIBRE (PG -- profanity, comic violence and innuendo) Jack Black enthusiastically sells this wacky, highly original comic satire about the cult of Mexican wrestling. Jared Hess directs. 91 minutes. ***.
THE OMEN (R -- violence, graphic images and some language) In the increasingly growing list of unnecessary horror-film remakes, The Omen doesn't rank among the worst examples of the trend, but there's still no reason to plop down your hard-earned money to see the 2006 version of the film. Stars Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis. Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick is in his first major film role as Damien. Directed by John Moore. 109 minutes. **.
OVER THE HEDGE -- (PG -- some rude humor and mild comic action) The cheeky family comedy, from the people behind Antz and Chicken Run, wags its finger at all of us humans for buying more food then we need -- fast food, junk food, food we have delivered because we're too lazy to leave the comfort of our cookie-cutter houses and drive to the grocery store in our gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles, which, like the ever-growing encroachment of suburbia, are contributing to the destruction of the very environment the cuddly Over the Hedge creatures call home. Bruce Willis, Steve Carell, Garry Shandling and Wanda Sykes are among the vocal cast. 83 minutes. **.
POSEIDON -- (PG-13 -- extended action violence, profanity) Despite a silly plot and the fact that viewers must suspend disbelief as characters perform a series of impossible stunts, this Poseidon remake is a solid popcorn flick for this burgeoning summer season. Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss are among the stars for director Wolfgang Petersen. 99 minutes. ***.
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (PG-13 -- profanity and innuendo) Writer and star Garrison Keillor and director Robert Altman are a match made in a particularly warm and genial heaven. In a cozy blend of two artistic attitudes that were both born and developed in the American heartland, they've created this ode to the glories of radio wraps a backstage fable around the reality of Public Broadcasting's most popular radio show. Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline co-star. 105 minutes. ***1/2.
THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO (R -- language and disturbing violent content) Part documentary, part dramatization, this chronicle of three British Muslims held without charges for two years at the U.S. military prison in Cuba will make some Americans ashamed to be Americans, or at least ashamed of things the three young men say were done in America's name. Yet it's one that Americans should see, a story that puts sympathetic faces on the bystanders caught in the unyielding war on terror. Directors Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross skillfully mix interviews by the three -- Asif Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul -- with narrative segments using actors to re-create the men's journey from Britain to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where they were captured and eventually shipped to Guantanamo Bay. Told from the victims' point of view, it's a one-sided affair, but given the news accounts of prisoner abuse and recent suicides at the Cuban prison, it's difficult to accuse the filmmakers of overstating the hardship, maltreatment and degradation the film depicts. 95 minutes. ***1/2.
RV -- (PG -- gross humor, innuendo, language) The slapstick bits play best in this Robin Williams vehicle about a henpecked husband and father who takes the family on a disastrous road trip to Colorado. Jeff Daniels steals the film as a scary-friendly RV park neighbor. 98 minutes. **.
STRANGERS WITH CANDY -- (R -- sexual content, language and some drug material) A prequel to the Comedy Central TV series that was canceled in 2000 after three seasons, the film finds Amy Sedaris reprising her starring role as Jerri Blank, the fortysomething ex-con, ex-junkie, bisexual prostitute. Fresh out of prison, Jerri returns to her childhood home and finds her father (Dan Hedaya) in a coma, so she goes back to high school to "become the good girl I never was and never had any desire to be," in hopes that it will revive him. Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello also star. 85 minutes. **1/2.
SUPERMAN RETURNS -- (PG-13 -- action violence) Nothing like an old friend to save a lackluster summer movie season, especially if that friend is the dependable Man of Steel. Yes, Superman returns in a movie called, uh, Superman Returns. He's still faster than a speeding bullet, he can still leap a building in a single bound, and he couldn't be more welcome. Brandon Routh stars for director Bryan Singer. Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey also star. 147 minutes. ***.
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (PG-13 -- profanity, action violence, sexuality) Credit X-Men: The Last Stand for taking risks, most of which pay off in an installment that brims with wall-to-wall superhero action, as well as resounding dramatic touchstones about xenophobia. Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Rebecca Romijn and Kelsey Grammer co-star for director Brett Ratner. 104 minutes. ***.
WAIST DEEP (R -- strong violence and pervasive language) It seemed impossible that Vondie Curtis Hall could make a movie as bad as Glitter, but here it is, and Mariah Carey is nowhere in sight. This time our recording-artist-turned-actor is rapper The Game, who wears the same sneer on his tattooed face the whole time. But he's not even the worst part; even though he plays the Los Angeles gang leader who orders the carjacking/kidnapping that fuels the film's . . . er . . . plot, he barely registers. No, the culprit here is the script by Hall and Darin Scott, from a story by Michael Mahern, which steals from Bonnie & Clyde, Thelma & Louise, The Shawshank Redemption and pretty much every rap video ever made. Tyrese Gibson stars as O2, an ex-con who goes on a bank-robbing spree with hottie hustler Coco (Meagan Good) to raise the $100,000 in ransom money to get his young son back. Ghetto cliches and unintentional hilarity ensue. Waist Deep is so much more concerned with its fantastic-looking actors than with story or character development, it should have been called Skin Deep. 98 minutes. *1/2.
WORDPLAY (PG -- language and mild thematic elements) Partly focused on a national crossword competition, director Patrick Creadon's film has all the thrill-of-victory moments of such recent documentary hits as Spellbound, Murderball and Mad Hot Ballroom. Wordplay also offers a marvelous lineup of celebrity enthusiasts, including former President Clinton, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, filmmaker Ken Burns, New York Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina and the Indigo Girls (Emily Saliers and Amy Ray). At the center of it all: Will Shortz, editor of The New York Times crossword puzzle and star of the puzzle-master segment that airs Sunday mornings on NPR. 90 minutes. ***.
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