CINEMA
At The Movies
Opening
Apocalypto
Mel Gibson follows up "The Passion of the Christ" with an epic adventure set 600 years ago during the decline of the Mayan civilization and before Spanish colonization. A man goes on a perilous journey to save his way of life from an invading force. Review on Page 26. (R)
Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio stars a South African mercenary who joins a Mende fisherman (Djimon Housou) on a quest to recover a rare pink diamond that can transform their lives, all amidst the chaos of 1990s Sierra Leone. Jennifer Connelly co-stars. Review on Page 18. (R)
The Holiday 1/2
Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet star as women with similar man troubles who meet online and impulsively switch homes for the holiday. Jude Law and Jack Black co-star. Review on Page 27. (PG-13)
Shut Up & Sing 1/2
A sympathetic documentary about how the lives of the female country trio the Dixie Chicks changed dramatically in the aftermath of an off-the-cuff remark singer Natalie Maines made on stage at a 2003 London concert critical of President Bush on the eve of the American invasion of Iraq. Review on Friday's Entertainment page.
Unaccompanied Minors
This comedy centers on five very different kids who get snowed in at the airport together on Christmas Eve -- and not a parent in sight. Review on Thursday's Entertainment page. (PG)
Now Playing
G
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause 1/2
Suiting up again as the title character, Tim Allen seems bored with his own franchise. This new sequel centers mainly on St. Nick's rivalry with Jack Frost (Martin Short), who plans to turn the North Pole into a tacky theme park. The movie panders to every demographic with a fail-safe yuletide mix of puns and platitudes.
PG
Deck the Halls 1/2
A well-organized Christmas enthusiast is challenged by a new neighbor who wants to create the biggest holiday display in the world. While the comedic talents of Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito are too considerable for the movie to pass without some legitimately funny scenes, they're just too good for the mediocre material given to them here.
Flushed Away 1/2
A pampered British rat (voiced by Hugh Jackman) finds himself in an elaborate sewer-city recreation of a miniature London filled with rats, toads and slugs of varying caste. His attempt to return to the surface world with a self-sufficient lady rat (Kate Winslet) is blocked by a royalist toad and his hench-rats. This CGI movie (with the help of the Aardman studio of "Wallace and Gromit" fame) is only hampered by a constant hyperkinetic pace.
Happy Feet 1/2
The best animated film of the year. A young penguin named Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood), searches for his mate. Unfortunately, he's incapable of belting out his own unique song to attract one ... but, boy, can he tap dance! The movie follows Mumble on a journey of discovery, of himself and the world. The visuals can be both intimate and breathtakingly grand, and they support a story that has real meaning.
The Nativity Story
The Biblical story chronicles the two-year period in the lives of Mary and Joseph that culminated in their leaving Nazareth and journeying 100 miles to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. Director Catherine Hardwicke has created a strikingly gritty but lifeless movie -- suffocatingly earnest with a didactic tone, and just downright boring.
PG-13
Casino Royale 1/2
Daniel Craig takes over the iconic role of James Bond, in a movie about the secret agent's very first mission. While a bit lighter in action scenes, what the movie has is riveting, clever and well-choreographed. The appeal this time lays much heavier on Bond as a person, on his development as one of cinema's deadliest killers and most heartless womanizers. Craig delivers one of the finest performances ever in a 007 flick.
Déjà Vu 1/2
Denzel Washington and director Tony Scott have made a smart and complex movie with powerful emotions and riveting suspense. Washington is superb as a battle-weary federal agent who suspects foul play behind a fatal accident in New Orleans.
Flyboys
A tribute to the Lafayette Escadrille, American volunteers who flew for the French during World War I. While the high-altitude combat should satisfy aviation buffs, the characters are corny and the situations clichéd.
A Good Year
The "Gladiator" team of actor Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott reunite for this gentle pastoral comedy. A soulless banker travels to Provence following the death of the uncle who raised him there. The movie often feels strained in its whimsy, and as it morphs from travelogue to slapsticky French farce to shameless chick flick, it grows nauseating in its romantic dialogue.
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 is relentless in his attempts to inspire the audience. Instead, the result 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 scares, but we've seen this all before.
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 as mentor to a hotshot swimmer (Ashton Kutcher) training for his elite military unit.
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).
Marie Antoinette 1/2
Kirsten Dunst plays the title role of the young queen of 18th-century France who became a symbol for the wanton extravagance of the monarchy that incited a revolution. Director Sofia Coppola has created a mash-up of classical opera and early-'80s New Wave, and knowing self-reference and careless anachronism. The silly, self-pitying film staggers from moment to mood.
The Marine 1/2
WWE star John Cena plays a former jarhead back from Iraq who finds himself returning to action stateside when his wife is kidnapped by a murderous gang led by a merciless criminal.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom reprise their roles in this swashbuckling sequel. This time, Capt. Jack Sparrow discovers he owes a bloody debt to the legendary Davy Jones. It's a darker tale than the first, but it's still a rollicking yarn.
The Queen 1/2
Helen Mirren gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Queen Elizabeth II during a turning point in recent British history, surrounding the tragic death of Princess Diana. Mirren gives the queen a restrained soulfulness and sense of duty that reinvents her.
School for Scoundrels 1/2
A beleaguered 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.
Stranger Than Fiction
Will Ferrell plays a man who hears an unseen narrator chronicling the events of his life in a voice only he can hear. A literature professor (Dustin Hoffman) helps him figure out that he's caught up in the latest work-in-progress of a British novelist (Emma Thompson). This movie is a sweetly engaging concoction, refreshing for its ability to create tension by keeping the audience guessing whether it's going to wind up as tragedy or comedy. And Ferrell gives his best performance on screen yet.
R
Babel 1/2
Alejandro González Iñárritu's latest film, with a cast featuring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael García Bernal, is a global testament to the curiously incommunicative species that is man, as four separate stories from around the world reveal their interconnectedness. But the film struggles to be as true as it is portentous.
Bobby
In telling the story of the tragic assassination of Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 at Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel, writer-director Emilio Estevez has created a large group of disparate fictional characters who populate the hotel that fateful evening. It's an innovative approach with lofty ambitions, but that's the film's downfall. So many people come and go that their separate stories become too many, feeling rushed and superficial.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan 1/2
British satirist Sacha Baron Cohen portrays an absurdly clueless Eastern European "journalist" on a real-life, culture-clashing cross-country trip across the United States. The comedy is an instant classic -- crude and confrontational -- as Cohen stays in character as he interacts with real people. He has fun with hypocrites and zealots on both sides of the political spectrum.
The Fountain
Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz star in Darren Aronofsky's densely garish fever dream on the subject of immortality. The visuals are astonishingly dreamlike and textured, while the story is seemingly fractured and skips about in time and space.
Jackass Number Two 1/2
Johnny Knoxville and his crew of reprobates return for another round of pointlessly dangerous and disgusting stunts. But because of the gleeful attitude of the guys, the puerile humor is entertaining.
Little Miss Sunshine
This hit indie film follows an oddball clan as they race across three states to get their 7-year-old daughter to a beauty pageant. It's a sunny, prefabricated charmer of a comedy, looking at the all-American obsession with winning, and chortles darkly.
National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj
Kal Penn's character arrives at a prestigious British university, not only to become the new resident advisor, but to show the uptight student body how to have a good time. The plot, which recalls a less inspired "Old School," is merely a forum for an endless parade of puns on the male anatomy, shots of women's chests and parodies of the prudish elites of the college.
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny 1/2
Only the die-hard fan of the self-proclaimed "greatest band on Earth" could love this. The rambles of Jack Black and Kyle Gass' songs occasionally enliven the movie, but their characters are so cartoonishly dumb and boorish, it's hard to relate to them as much more than flat characters in a mediocre bit of sketch comedy.
Turistas
It's "Hostel" in South America. A bus accident leaves a group of backpackers marooned in a Brazilian jungle that holds an ominous secret. This bloody exploitation flick doesn't have much going for it beyond its xenophobic subtext about trusting young Americans and crude and crafty foreigners.
NR
Samoan Wedding
A group of Samoan emigre buddies in Auckland, New Zealand, are challenged to find proper girlfriends to bring as dates to a wedding. What ensues is remarkably funny, thanks to the first-rate comedy of members of the comic troupe Naked Samoans.
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):
Global Lens Short Film Festival
At 1 and 4 p.m Friday, and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
American Hardcore: The History of American Punk Rock 1980-1986
Review on Friday's Entertainment page. (R) At 7:30 p.m. Friday, 1 and 4 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11, and 1 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12.
MOVIE MUSEUM
3566 Harding Ave.; $5, $4 members; reservations recommended due to limited seating (735-8771):
Dear Detective (Tendre Poulet)
At 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Friday.
Gosford Park
At 12:30, 3, 5:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday.
The Long Goodbye
At 12:30, 3, 5:30 and 8 p.m. Sunday.
My New Partner (Les Ripoux)
At 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Dec. 11.
The Man Who Sued God
At 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Dec. 14.