CINEMA
At The Movies
Opening
Flags of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood directs this ensemble drama about the six soldiers who planted a U.S. flag atop the island of Iwo Jima in the midst of World War II's bloodiest Pacific-theater campaigns. The inspiring photo capturing that moment became a symbol of victory to the nation and made instant heroes of the soldiers. Review and feature on Pages 6 and 7. (R)
Flicka
In this adaptation of the classic novel "My Friend Flicka," Alison Lohman stars a feisty teenager who sets out to tame a wild mustang into a riding horse. Review on Page 15. (PG)
Marie Antoinette 1/2
Director Sofia Coppola presents a distinctly stylized and punkish adaptation of the story of the young queen of 18th-century France who became a symbol for the wanton extravagance of the monarchy that incited a revolution. Kirsten Dunst stars. Review on Page 27. (PG-13)
The Prestige
A mystery-drama about the rivalry between two turn-of-the-20th-century stage magicians, one a brilliant showman (Hugh Jackman), the other a brilliant technician (Christian Bale), and the beautiful assistant (Scarlett Johansson) they both desire. Review on Page 26. (PG-13)
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in Disney Digital 3D
The re-release of the 1993 classic that tells the tale of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town and his discovery of Christmas Town. Now with added 3-D effects. (PG)
Now Playing
Rated G
Everyone's Hero
A CGI-animated story about a boy who crosses the country to return a very special baseball bat to his hero, Babe Ruth, on the eve of the 1932 World Series. It's a sweet, inspirational kids' movie tailormade for family viewing.
Rated PG
The Ant Bully
After a boy terrorizes an ant hill, the tiny insects shrink him and make him live and work in their colony in order for him to earn his freedom.
Material Girls
Hilary and Haylie Duff play heiress sisters whose family cosmetics company folds and leaves them penniless. (PG)
Monster House
A group of kids suspect a creepy old house is really alive and dangerous. Can they save the neighborhood in time? This blend of motion-capture and CG animation has lots of fun to deliver.
One Night With the King 1/2
This rather turgid epic is a retelling of the life of Esther, known to Christians as one of the many Old Testament tales about ancient court intrigue, and to Jews as the triumphant heart of Purim.
Open Season 1/2
An animated feature about a domesticated grizzly bear (voiced by Martin Lawrence) who gets deposited in the woods during hunting season. The bear and his pal, a scrawny, one-antlered mule deer (Ashton Kutcher), rally all the other forest animals to turn the tables on an evil poacher (Gary Sinise).
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. It's a thoroughly formulaic but mildly enjoyable dance movie.
Rated PG-13
Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under age 13.
Accepted 1/2
Justin Long plays a guy rejected from every college he's applied to, so he and his friends start their own fake and functioning university. The movie has a certain subversive élan -- the banter is snappy and the pacing is brisk -- that keeps it light on its feet until the very end, when it turns self-righteous.
The Covenant
It's studly teenage warlocks trying to destroy each other at an elite New England boarding school! Hack director Renny Harlin serves up a dreary movie that lacks genuine supernatural thrills.
Crossover
Two friends with different goals in life team up to compete in a high-stakes underground street basketball game. The charismatic actor Anthony Mackie is, unfortunately, drained of all his natural magnetism thanks to flat writing and the movie's low-budget look.
Employee of the Month 1/2
Standup superstar Dane Cook and Dax Shepard face off as stock boy slackers at a Costco-style store who compete for the love of a new checkout girl, played by Jessica Simpson. Except for the likable Cook, everyone else involved belongs in the unemployment line.
Gridiron Gang
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars as a true-life probation officer who coaches a football team made up of rival gangbangers in a youth detention camp. Director Phil Joanou's relentless attempts to inspire the audience is just overbearing and redundant.
The Grudge 2 1/2
In this sequel to the popular remake of the Japanese horror hit, the curse of the haunted travels worldwide. There are a couple of good jumps here and there, but we've seen this all before. Amber Tamblyn takes over as the plucky young heroine in distress.
The Guardian
Kevin Costner plays a Coast Guard rescue swimmer who's struggling with life on the water after losing his squad in an accident. He ends up being the mentor of a hotshot swimmer (Ashton Kutcher) training for his elite military unit. Though the movie has its potent action moments, it basically drags on like a slow boat ride.
The Illusionist
While fine technical wizardry went into this period film set in early 20th-century Austria, it lacks the magic of romance, drama, longing and faith you think would be generated in a tale about a love triangle involving a magician (Edward Norton), a noblewoman (Jessica Biel) and the heir to the throne (Rufus Sewell).
Jet Li's Fearless
Billed as Li's final martial arts movie, it's an underwhelming farewell. While filled with impressive fight choreography by Yuen Wo Ping, it's still a pretentious biopic about Chinese fighting legend Huo Yuanjia, who emerged as a populist hero challenging foreign rivals during the early 20th century.
Man of the Year 1/2
Robin Williams plays a political comedian who decides to run for president as a joke, but the gag gets out of hand when he ends up winning due to a voting-machine error. Director Barry Levinson and his cast deliver well enough to keep the movie in the race.
The Marine 1/2
WWE star John Cena plays a former jarheard back from Iraq who finds himself returning to action stateside when his wife is kidnapped by a gang. In keeping with the orchestrated mayhem of professional wrestling, there is much noise and violence, and little else.
School for Scoundrels 1/2
A beleaguered New York City meter maid tries to overcome his feeling of inadequacy by enrolling in an unorthodox and top-secret confidence-building class. Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder basically play weaker versions of their "Bad Santa" and "Napoleon Dynamite" characters.
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. Bryan Singer's big-budget movie is reverential to the source material, yet moving in its melancholy.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Will Ferrell plays 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 (Sacha Baron Cohen).
The U.S. vs. John Lennon 1/2
Yoko Ono helped with this project, so it should come as no surprise that this documentary deifies her late husband for his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, which famously made him a target of the federal government's scrutiny.
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. For a lightning rod like Stone, this movie stays grounded in facts and fight to remain even-handed. It stays smartly rooted in the day-to-day, going between the trapped men (Nicolas Cage and Michael Peña) and the women at home (powerfully played by Maggie Gyllenhaal and Maria Bello).
Rated R
Beerfest
The comedy troupe Broken Lizard's latest movie is about a couple of American buddies who stumble upon a secret beer-drinking championship in Germany. When they assemble a team of top drinkers to try to win the title the following year, the training takes a toll on all of them. It's all the fun you want -- without the hangover.
The Departed
Leonardo DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese team up again in this remake of the 2002 Hong Kong police thriller "Infernal Affairs." DiCaprio plays an undercover cop who infiltrates a mob syndicate, while at the same time a criminal (Matt Damon) has infiltrated the police department. When it becomes clear to both the gangsters and the police that there's a mole in their midst, each informant must race to uncover the other's identity.
Infamous
This film tells the same tale told by the Oscar-winning "Capote." The diminuitive Toby Jones looks and sounds more eerily like the author than Philip Seymour Hoffman. And while it doesn't match the former's bleak mood and subtle insight, "Infamous" is much more celebratory of Capote's unequaled, larger-than-life spirit, which can be a joy to watch. Sandra Bullock is good as friend Nelle Harper Lee.
Jackass: Number Two 1/2
Johnny Knoxville and his original crew of reprobates return for another round of pointlessly dangerous and disgusting stunts. But because of the gleeful attitude amongst the guys, all of this bawdy, earthy, puerile humor is shamelessly entertaining.
Little Miss Sunshine
A hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival, the film follows an oddball clan as they race across three states to get their youngster to a beauty pageant.
The Protector
Martial arts superstar Tony Jaa plays a Thai fighter who must battle his way across Australia to recover stolen elephants, and in doing so protect a traditional way of life that has been ruined by outsiders.
The Science of Sleep
A shy graphic designer (Gael Garcia Bernal) caught in a mundane job at a calendar publisher has his dreams of a perfect life constantly invade his waking life.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
In this prequel to the 1974 horror classic, we find out how the psychopath murderer Leatherface was manipulated by a crooked sheriff into being a tool for evil. There's no character, no commentary. Just slice and dice, pare and scare, scream and run, fall and die.
Not Rated
No Motion Picture Association of America rating.
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
Dame Joan Plowright and newcomer Rupert Friend star in the story of a lonely London retiree who befriends a struggling young writer who conspires with her to act as her grandson.
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):
Half Nelson
At 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19, 23, 24 and 25.
At 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20, 22 and 27.
At 1 p.m. Oct. 26 and 27.
Heading South (Vers Le Sud)
At 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Oct. 28 and 29.
At 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 and 31.
The War Tapes
At 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 and 29.
MOVIE MUSEUM
3566 Harding Ave.; $5, $4 members; reservations recommended due to limited seating (735-8771):
Bird of Paradise
At 12:30, 2:30, 4:30, 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Oct. 20.
The Warrior
At 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m. Oct. 21.
Hard Candy
At 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Oct. 22.
6IXTY NIN9
At 12:30, 3, 5:30 and 8 p.m. Oct. 23 and Oct. 27.
The Goddess of 1967
At 12:30, 3, 5:30 and 8 p.m. Oct. 26.
Shaun of the Dead plus Land of the Dead
At 12:30, 4, and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 and Oct. 30.
Castle of the Blood plus Raw Meat a.k.a. Death Line
At 12:30, 4, and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29.
UH CINEMA SERIES
BEYOND OIL: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOLUTIONS
Spalding Hall Auditorium,
University of Hawaii at Manoa; $5 general and $3 UH students/faculry:
Power for Change
At 7 p.m. Oct. 25.
An Inconvienent Truth
At 7 p.m. Nov. 1.
Who Killed the Electric Car
At 7 p.m. Nov. 8.
Turning Down the Heat: The New Energy Revolution and Renewable Power: Earth's Clean Energy Destiny
At 7 p.m. Nov. 15.