June 2010

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (PG) Fantasy/Adventure
As the story opens, Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) is seven and a half and admits to her father that she thinks she's gone around the bend because she keeps dreaming about falling down a rabbit hole into another world. Thirteen years later, a now fatherless 19-year-old Alice finds herself being publicly proposed to until she excuses herself to run away and winds up following a white rabbit (Stephen Fry) down a hole that leads to Underland, a magical place where she's asked again and again if she's THE Alice. She encounters the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), a chain-smoking caterpillar (Alan Rickman), and roly poly twins Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (Matt Lucas). They reveal that if she IS the "right" Alice, she's destined to slay the evil Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee), defeat the bloodthirsty, big-headed Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), and restore the peace-loving White Queen (Anne Hathaway) to power. Based on the Lewis Carroll tale. 109 min.

Shutter Island (R: m, bgd, l, bgn, bgv) Suspense/Thriller
In 1954, U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are assigned to investigate the escape of a murderess named Rachel (Emily Mortimer) from her cell on Shutter Island, a mysterious hospital for the criminally insane. The facility is run by a cabal of secretive men, including Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) and Dr. Naehring (Max Von Sydow), who block Teddy and Chuck's investigation seemingly at all turns. A hurricane strands them there, with no ability to communicate with the mainland. Eventually, we come to learn that Teddy volunteered for this assignment. Haunted by visions of his military service in World War II and the loss of his wife (Michelle Williams) two years earlier in an apartment building fire, he suspects that the man who was responsible for the blaze is a patient in the hospital's infamous Ward C. What he finds there, though, is more than he bargained for. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Based on Dennis Lehane's novel. With Jackie Earle Haley and Patricia Clarkson. 138 min.

The Book of Eli (R: m, bd, l, gv) Action/Sci-Fi
In the not-too-distant future, some 30 years after the final war, a solitary man walks across the wasteland that was once America. Empty cities, broken highways, seared earth--all around him. There is no civilization and no law. The roads belong to gangs that would murder a man for his shoes, an ounce of water... or for nothing at all. A warrior not by choice but necessity, Eli (Denzel Washington) seeks only peace but, if challenged, will cut his attackers down before they realize their fatal mistake. He's the protector of a sacred book that may hold the key to saving humanity. Carnegie (Gary Oldman), the self-appointed despot of a makeshift town of thieves and gunmen, knows of the book and sets out to get it. Meanwhile, Carnegie's adopted daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) is fascinated by Eli for another reason: the glimpse he offers of what may exist beyond her stepfather's domain. With Jennifer Beals. 118 min.

The Wolfman (R: m, gv) Horror/Thriller
In 1891, Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) is a famous stage actor, based in New York City. Summoned back home to England when his brother disappears, he arrives at the family estate after his brother's corpse has been discovered... mangled almost beyond recognition. Lawrence and his father, Sir John (Anthony Hopkins), do not get along, but Lawrence is drawn to his brother Ben's fiancée, Gwen (Emily Blunt), who asks him to stay on and discover how Ben died, as the local police believe the killer was either a terrible beast or a very powerful, insane man. His investigation leads Lawrence to a gypsy camp, where the mysterious Maleva (Geraldine Chaplin) warns him about the legend of the beast. When he tries to shoot the werewolf that attacks the gypsy camp, Lawrence is bitten, resulting in him becoming a monster. The hallucinations that follow combine his childhood memories and nightmares induced by his new monstrosity. Inspired by the classic film. 102 min.

Hot Tub Time Machine (R: a, gd, gl, n, s) Comedy/Fantasy
Three best friends have become bored with their adult lives. Adam (John Cusack) has been dumped by his girlfriend; Lou (Rob Corddry) is a party guy who can’t find the party; and Nick’s (Craig Robinson) wife controls his every move. A fun stay at the ski resort where the gang made some of their best memories seems like just the thing to cheer everyone up. They are accompanied by Adam's nephew, Jacob (Clark Duke) , a video game-obsessed 20-year-old who won’t leave his basement. But after a crazy night of drinking in a ski resort hot tub, the men wake upin the year 1986. Determined not to make the same mistakes twice, the three men decide to take full advantage of the unique opportunity presented to them, and create the lives they've always wanted... and Jacob will need to make sure he still exists! With Chevy Chase, Crispin Glover, and Lizzy Caplan. 100 min.

The Crazies (R: m, l, gv) Horror/Thriller
David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) is sheriff of the quiet town of Ogden Marsh. But one night, a man comes to a school baseball game with a loaded shotgun, ready to kill. Another man burns down his own house after locking his wife and young son in a closet inside. Within days, the town has transformed into a sickening asylum... depraved, blood-thirsty killers, hiding in the darkness with guns and knives. In an effort to keep the madness contained, the government uses deadly force to close off all access and won't let anyone in or out... even those uninfected. The few still sane find themselves trapped: Sheriff Dutton; his pregnant wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell); Becca (Danielle Panabaker), an assistant at the medical center; and Russell (Joe Anderson), Dutton's deputy and right-hand man. Forced to band together, an ordinary night becomes a horrifying struggle for survival as they do their best to get out of town alive. A reinvention of the George A. Romero classic. 101 min.

Green Zone (R: m, l, gv) Suspense/Thriller
It's 2003. A month after the U.S. military invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Army Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) is in charge of a team assigned to find the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) that lead to the attack and current occupation. The only problem is that every site they're sent to turns up empty, and Miller wants to know why they're getting bad intel. Few of his superiors want to hear about any of that, especially Pentagon official Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) who's in the country to coordinate bringing democracy to Iraq. But CIA agent Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson), confirms Miller's suspicions that something isn't right. Things become more complicated when Miller and his team encounter "Freddy" (Khalid Abdalla), a local Iraqi who claims he's seen the gathering of a clandestine meeting of Hussein's Baathist supporters. When Miller meets Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan), who's been writing extensively about WMD, he soon realizes he's stumbled upon a cover-up of epic proportions. 115 min.

When in Rome (PG-13: bd) Comedy/Romance
Beth (Kristen Bell) is an ambitious modern-art curator at New York's Guggenheim Museum who puts work above all else. On a trip to Rome for her sister's wedding, she hits it off with dashing best man Nick (Josh Duhamel)... until she sees him kissing another woman. Drunk and angry, Beth steps into a "fountain of love" and starts grabbing coins, which sparks a spell causing all of the men who threw the coins to instantly fall in love with her. Somehow, the men: street magician (Jon Heder); sausage tycoon (Danny DeVito); self-absorbed model (Dax Shepard); and an aspiring artist (Will Arnett). follow Beth back to New York, while an equally smitten Nick tries to convince her to go out with him. Beth reluctantly starts believing in the spell and fears that Nick, the only suitor whose feelings she returns, isn't truly in love with her. Is his affection based on the fountain's powers, or just the magic of true love? 91 min.

She's Out of My League (R: m, gd, gl, s) Comedy/Romance
Molly (Alice Eve) is a sexy event planner who is delayed by a sleazy airport security guard. Another security guard, nerdy Kirk (Jay Baruchel) comes to her rescue, and passes her through to catch her plane. Luckily, Kirk finds Molly's phone that she left behind. From the plane Molly calls her phone and invites Kirk to a party to return her phone. Kirk is smitten by Molly, but his friends (T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence) point out to him that he doesn't have a chance. However, Molly has something else in mind, because she has found that Kirk is sweet, amusing, honest, and different from the men she has been dating. Kirk, on the other hand, has one big insecurity problem; Kirk believes Molly will dump him as soon as she realizes her mistake. Under these circumstances, and everything working against Kirk and Molly, is it possible for them to build a relationship that will bloom and flourish? 104 min.

From Paris with Love (R: m, bd, gl, bs, gv) Action/Thriller
A personal aide to the U.S. Ambassador in France, James Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) has an enviable life in Paris and a beautiful French girlfriend (Kasia Smutniak), but his real passion is his side job as a low-level operative for the CIA. All James wants is to become a bona fide agent and see some real action. So when he’s offered his first senior-level assignment, he can’t believe his good luck... until he meets his new partner, special agent Charlie Wax (John Travolta). A trigger-happy, wisecracking, loose cannon who’s been sent to Paris to stop a terrorist attack, Wax leads James on a white-knuckle shooting spree through the Parisian underworld that has James praying for his desk job. But when James discovers he’s a target of the same crime ring they’re trying to bust, he realizes there’s no turning back…and that Wax himself might be his only hope for making it through the next forty-eight hours alive. Directed by Pierre Morel (“Taken” and “District B13” ). 95 min.

Remember Me (pG-13: m, bl, bd, bs, bv) Drama/Romance
Tyer (Robert Pattinson) is nearly 22, but he has no idea what he wants to do with his life. He audits classes at New York University, works part-time at a bookstore, regards his successful father (Pierce Brosnan) with contempt, and spends time nearly every day grieving his brother's suicide by writing letters to him in a leather-bound journal. After Tyler intercedes in a nasty street fight by pummeling the guys responsible, he ends up mouthing off to an NYPD detective (Chris Cooper), who roughs him up and arrests him. Tyler's superficial roommate Aidan (Tate Ellington) realizes the offending officer's daughter Ally (Emilie de Ravin) goes to NYU with them, and convinces him to attempt to seduce her as karmic payback for the beat-down. Instead, Tyler starts to fall for Ally, who like him, still grieves over the violent death of a loved one. As their romantic relationship deepens, hidden secrets are revealed that threaten to tear them apart. 113 min.

Youth in Revolt (R: m, gd, gl, bs) Comedy/Romance
Living in Oakland with his slutty mother (Jean Smart) and her latest boyfriend Jerry (Zach Galifianakis), shy, nerdy teenager Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) is afraid he will never lose his virginity. But when he meets Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) at a trailer park in Ukiah, California, his heart beats faster, and he is determined to do what it takes to win her. She likes him, but tells him that he needs to be more of a rebel, throw caution to the winds, and do some bad stuff. Taking on the alter ego of a mustached François Dillinger, Nick does just that, and as a result becomes wanted by the police. Leaving his mom and her new policeman boyfriend (Ray Liotta), he goes to live with his dad (Steve Buscemi) in Ukiah, but finds that Sheeni has now been sent to a school in Santa Cruz, where her boyfriend is. François now really takes over, and the real trouble begins. 90 min.

The Last Station (R: m, bd, bn, bs) Drama
In 1910, the great Russian author Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) is in the final year of his life, and he is being pulled from all sides as to whether he will leave the publication rights to such great works as "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" to his wife, Sofya (Helen Mirren), or to the Russian people. As leader of the organization that preserves and distributes Tolstoy's books and philosophies, Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) pushes hard for the latter as it would secure the Tolstoyan Movement's finances for decades. Chertkov, though, must deal with Sofya who of course, is angling for the publication rights to secure her and her children's futures. She does not adhere to Tolstoy's central beliefs that wealth should be distributed and material possessions and financial security are inherently evil and corrupting. So Chertkov places Valentin (James McAvoy), a member of the movement, in Sofya and Leo's house as a spy. With Kerry Condon and Anne-Marie Duff). 110 min.