At the Movies

Opening

Pulse
This remake of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Japanese horror hit "Kairo" follows a group of college friends (including "Veronica Mars' " Kristen Bell and Ian Somerhalder, late of "Lost") who discover the dead are crossing over to our world through electronic devices. (PG-13)

Step Up
A rebel in trouble with the law becomes the dance partner of a beautiful ballet student at a prestigious performing arts school in Baltimore. (PG-13)

Sukob
Also known as "The Wedding Curse" in English, this film from Philippine horror director Chito Roño is about a ghostly flower girl that manifests before a young newlywed and is apparently causing the deaths of the people around her. (NR)

Who Killed the Electric Car?

A documentary that investigates the birth and death of the electric car, as well as the role of renewable energy and sustainable living in the future. (PG)

Zoom
A retired superhero is called back to work to transform an unlikely group of ragtag kids into new heroes at a private academy. Tim Allen plays Captain Zoom, and Courtney Cox Arquette and Spencer Breslin co-star. (PG)

Now Playing

G - General audiences.

Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties
1/2
On a trip to England, the beloved comic strip fat cat (voiced by Bill Murray) is mistaken for another tabby who inherited a castle.

Over the Hedge

A group of woodland animals visit the strange new world of suburbia with the prompting of an opportunistic raccoon (voiced by Bruce Willis).

The Wild

The computer-animated film is about a New York City zoo lion (voiced by Keifer Sutherland) who enlists his animal friends to search for his cub, who was mistakenly shipped to the wild.

PG - Parental guidance suggested.

Akeelah and the Bee
1/2
The innate talent of an 11-year-old inner-city girl makes her a surprise contender for the national spelling bee.

The Ant Bully

After a 10-year-old boy terrorizes an ant hill in his yard, the tiny insects use a magic potion to shrink him to their size and make him live and work in their colony in order for him to earn his freedom.

Barnyard: The Original Party Animals
1/2
A CGI-animated movie about a free-wheeling cow named Otis and his misfit farm animals who live the high life when humans aren't looking. But when a pack of coyotes attack, sending the entire farm into fear and turmoil, Otis must reluctantly step up to the grown-up role he's been avoiding his whole life. This movie actually has a clever concept and handles such sensitive topics as birth and death with unexpected grace.

An Inconvenient Truth

A documentary about former Vice President Al Gore's touring multimedia talk about the moral challenge of global warming.

The Lake House
1/2
Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves star in this remake of a Korean film about a doctor who trades love letters with one of her home's previous owners -- and discover that they are living two years apart of each other. You either surrender to this sort of conceit from the beginning, or you don't.

Monster House

A group of kids suspect a creepy old house is really alive and dangerous. Can they save their neighborhood in time? This movie features the same blend of motion-capture and CG animation previously used in co-producer Robert Zemeckis' "The Polar Express," and has lots of fun to deliver. It makes for a great, scary film for youngsters.

Wordplay

A fantastic documentary that uses the nerdy, impish personality of New York Times puzzlemaster Will Shortz, celebrity crossword fanatics, and the annual tourney in Connecticut to illuminate the universe of box-letter freaks.

PG-13 - Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate from children under age 13.

The Break-Up

Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn play a couple who call it quits but refuse to move out of their jointly owned condo. This anti-romantic comedy is pretty much a watered-down remake of "The War of the Roses." Supporting performances from Vincent D'Onofrio, Judy Davis and Jon Favreau enliven the movie a bit.

The Da Vinci Code

Based on the best-selling novel, the murder of a curator at the Louvre reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected since the days of Christ.

The Devil Wears Prada
1/2
A hapless young woman becomes the assistant to a demanding editor who oversees the fashion bible of New York.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
1/2
A young American street racer, living in Japan, gets caught up in the underworld arena of drift racing. Trouble ensues when he falls for the girlfriend of the Drift King, a local champ with Yakuza ties. This is the perfect movie for adolescent boys. The thin story and thinner characters are just setups for the race sequences.

John Tucker Must Die

When three popular girls from different cliques discover they've all been dating the school stud, they band together to seek revenge.

Keeping Up With the Steins

A highly entertaining, not-so-kosher comedy about a high-powered, if dysfunctional, Jewish family in Hollywood and a boy who ends up using his bar mitzvah for the unlikely purpose of actually becoming a man and reconciling his elders.

Lady in the Water

A mystical water nymph lives under the swimming pool of a drab apartment complex. It's an intriguing premise, yet the mythology director M. Night Shyamalan builds around his main characters is forced, pretentious and outright silly at times.

Mission: Impossible III

Tom Cruise's superspy series continues, this time helmed by "Lost" co-creator J.J. Abrams. Cruise's character Ethan Hunt goes against a dangerous international weapons and information dealer who places his girlfriend in peril.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend
1/2
Veteran comedy director Ivan Reitman is back with a tale of an architect (Luke Wilson) who breaks up with his clingy girlfriend (Uma Thurman), only to find out she's a superhero out for payback.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom reprise their roles in the swashbuckling sequel to the immensely popular 2003 movie. This time, Capt. Jack Sparrow discovers he owes a bloody debt to the legendary Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) of the ghostly Flying Dutchman.

Poseidon

A groaning giant of a film, it delivers disaster on an epic scale and absurdity in abundance. The action remake, about a cruise ship capsized by a freak wave, is bigger, louder and cheesier than its 1972 predecessor.

Scary Movie 4
1/2
The latest sequel has sporadic flashes of comic greatness, but is separated by draggy repetitive sketches that make this movie feel longer than it should. It's basically a cross between parodies of "The Grudge" and "War of the Worlds."

Scoop

Woody Allen's latest film is a mirror image of his more successful "Match Point" from last year, and a stale rehash of a couple of his earlier films. The performances are uniformly one-note, but leads Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman make the film pass amiably enough.

Superman Returns
1/2
The Man of Steel returns to Metropolis after a five-year absence, as he begins his life on Earth again as his alter ego Clark Kent, all the while trying to restart his romance with Lois Lane and doing battle with his arch-nemesis Lex Luthor.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

The "Anchorman" duo of Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay return with the tale of a NASCAR driver who must face his own demons and fight to retain his place at the top when he is challenged by the arrival of a flamboyant French Formula One star.

World Trade Center
1/2
Oliver Stone retells the harrowing true story of the last two first-responders to be rescued after the 9/11 attack, John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Peña). For a lightning rod like Stone, this movie stays grounded in facts, not opinions or paranoia, and fights to remain even-handed. It stays smartly rooted in the day-to-day, going between the trapped men and the women at home (powerfully played by Maggie Gyllenhaal and Maria Bello), hoping for the best.

X-Men: The Last Stand

When a cure for the genetic aberrations that grant the mutants their powers is discovered, the embattled team must choose between remaining as they are or become normal human beings.

You, Me and Dupree
1/2
Wedding crasher Owen Wilson plays a barfly who overstays his welcome sleeping on a newlywed buddy's couch.

R - Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

The Descent
1/2
Something of a low-budget retread of the "Alien" films, this bloody fright flick is still far better than most of the cliché-ridden dreck that passes for horror these days. It's the story of six women who encounter rabidly carnivorous humanoids during a trek into an Appalachian cave system.

Miami Vice

Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx star in director Michael Mann's updated version of his popular action-crime TV series of the 1980s.

The Night Listener
1/2
This psychological thriller follows a troubled radio-show host (Robin Williams) who develops an intense relationship with a young listener who supposedly has terminal AIDS.

A Scanner Darkly

Philip K. Dick's grim novel of drug addiction set in the near future.

Art House | Revival

THE DORIS DUKE THEATRE, HONOLULU ACADEMY OF ARTS

900 S. Beretania St.; $7 general; $6 seniors, students and military; $5 Academy members (532-8768):

Lower City
1/2
At 1, 4 and 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Wassup Rockers

(R) At 4 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 1, 4 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14; and 1 and 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15 to 17.

MOVIE MUSEUM

3566 Harding Ave.; $5, $4 members; reservations recommended due to limited seating (735-8771):

Death In a French Garden
At 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Friday.

The Hidden Blade
At 12:30, 3, 5:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday and Aug. 17.

The Bad and the Beautiful
At 12:30, 3, 5:30 and 8 p.m. Sunday.

Hail the Conquering Hero
At 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Aug. 14.