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| U.S. OPENINGS THIS WEEK - MAY 13th | |
Title |
The Players |
The Plot |
The Buzz
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Layer Cake
[LA/NY] Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Matthew Vaughn
Stars: Daniel Craig Sienna Miller Michael Gambon ...See Full CastStudio: Sony Pictures Classics | A cocaine dealer (Craig) banking on an early retirement is lured back into business by a woman (Miller) and an international drug ring. | Craig and Miller have grabbed some headlines recently (he was reportedly offered the role of 007 in Casino Royale, she ruffled some feathers after being cast as Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl), but really everyone's been talking about Vaughn, whose apparent brilliance here landed him the job of directing X-Men 3 -- which will shoot this summer. Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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Unleashed
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Louis Leterrier
Stars: Jet Li Bob Hoskins Morgan Freeman ...See Full CastStudio: Rogue Pictures | Raised as a lethal fighting dog by his master (Hoskins), circumstance lands Danny (Li) in the care of an blind piano tuner (Freeman) and his stepdaughter (Kerry Condon), who teach him what life can be like as a human. | 4 out of 10 stars
Jet Li gets all serious and dramatic with Unleashed, a movie that could succinctly be summed up as Le Homme Jet Li, a riff on Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita that's much less sexy than its predecessor and much more, well
boring. ...more Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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Monster-in-Law
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Robert Luketic
Stars: Jennifer Lopez Michael Vartan Jane Fonda ...See Full CastStudio: New Line Cinema | The love life of Charlotte Honeywell (Jennifer Lopez) is reduced to an endless string of disastrous blind dates, until she meets the perfect man (Michael Vartan). Unfortunately, his merciless mother (Jane Fonda) will do anything to destroy their relationship. | 4 out of 10 stars
There are many words you could use to describe Jane Fonda's performance in Monster-in-Law admirable, fearless, funny, daunting, impressive but good isn't exactly one of them. ...more Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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Kicking & Screaming
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Jesse Dylan
Stars: Will Ferrell Robert Duvall Josh Hutcherson ...See Full CastStudio: Universal Pictures | Kids' soccer coach Phil Weston (Ferrell) is pitted against his father Buck's (Duvall) team, whose ace player is Bucky (Hutcherson), his son from a new marriage. | 6 out of 10 stars: There's an unwritten rule about book reviewing, "Review the book you have, not the one you wish you had." Thank God it's for book reviewing....more Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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Mindhunters
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Renny Harlin
Stars: Val Kilmer LL Cool J Christian Slater ...See Full CastStudio: Dimension Films | Trainees in the FBI's psychological profiling program must put their lessons into practice when they discover a killer among them. | We've watched this film mature from infancy to the age of three without a set release date. More evasive than a Whackamole, a date would pop up, disappear, and reemerge in an entirely new place. But seeing as how Dimension/Miramax are a bit strapped for cash, they're finally letting Harlin, master of the underperforming action film, have his day in theaters. Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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Mad Hot Ballroom
[LA/NY] Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Marilyn Agrelo
Studio: Nickelodeon Network | New York City public school children enter the world of competitive ballroom dancing. | Ballroom made its U.S. debut at this year's Slamdance Film Festival, where it generated as much buzz, if not more, than anything that was picked up at Sundance. Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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Tell Them Who You Are
[LA/NY] Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Mark Wexler
Stars: Haskell Wexler Mark Wexler Billy Crystal Norman Jewison Jane Fonda ...See Full CastStudio: ThinkFilm Inc. | The son of acclaimed cinematographer Haskell Wexler confronts his complex father by turning the camera on him. What results is a portrait of a difficult genius and a son's path out of the shadow of a famous father. | Chances are the elder Wexler has shot one of your Top 20 movies (if not Top 10). Here, the younger, conservative Wexler points his camera at his liberal father, though, just like in Me and My Matchmaker, he can't help but become a subject in his own film. Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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| CURRENT TOP TEN - IN THEATERS | |
Title |
The Players |
The Plot |
The Buzz
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Kingdom of Heaven
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Orlando Bloom Eva Green Liam Neeson ...See Full CastStudio: 20th Century Fox Pictures | During the Crusades of the 12th Century, Balian of Ibelin (Bloom), a young blacksmith in Jerusalem, rises to protect his people from foreign invaders. | 9 out of 10: Kingdom of Heaven may be director Ridley Scott's crowning achievement; that's saying a lot. It is a gorgeous film, a well-meaning film, a vast, bursting-at-the-seams-trying-to-convey-big-messages film....more Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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House of Wax
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Jaume Serra
Stars: Chad Michael Murray Paris Hilton Elisha Cuthbert ...See Full CastStudio: Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. | Car troubles sideline a group of teens in the quiet town of Athelston, Iowa. Directed to the only business that can offer assistance -- a creepy gas station owned by a suave bad boy named Bo -- the stranded kids are lured deeper and deeper into Bo's web. | What good can come from a horror remake that features some under-ripe teen stars, one overexposed celebrity, and only a single waxy encasing? House of Wax has the answer ...more Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Garth Jennings
Stars: Martin Freeman Mos Def Sam Rockwell Zooey Deschanel Warwick Davis ...See Full CastStudio: Touchstone Pictures | Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, journeyman Arthur Dent (Freeman) is swept off the planet by his researcher friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def). On their adventure, the pair are inspired by quotes from the book The Hitchhiker's Guide and their encounters with fellow travelers Zaphod Beeblebrox (Rockwell), the two-headed president of the galaxy; Trillian (Deschanel), Zaphod's girlfriend; and Marvin (Davis), a depressed robot. | 6 out of 10: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a movie based upon a radio series, several books, a BBC television show and another radio series. It's impossible not to get the distinct impression that if it were the other way around, and the movie was first, there wouldn't have been a radio series, several books, TV shows or anything else much following on. It's amusing but I was eventually bemused, charmed but bewildered. ...more Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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Crash
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Paul Haggis
Stars: Don Cheadle Sandra Bullock Thandie Newton ...See Full CastStudio: Lions Gate Films Inc. | As a car accident brings together a group of strangers, different interpersonal frictions come to full boil. | TV writer-producer Haggis has gone on to bigger things (namely, Million Dollar Baby) since Crash, his first U.S. film, debuted at the Toronto Film Festival in 2004. His idea for the movie stemmed from his real-life carjacking incident. The story's getting ho-hum reviews, but the acting and cinematography have garnered acclaim. Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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The Interpreter
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Sydney Pollack
Stars: Nicole Kidman Sean Penn Catherine Keener ...See Full CastStudio: Universal Home Entertainment | Political intrigue and deception unfold inside the United Nations, where an interpreter overhears an assassination plot. | 8 out of 10: Director Syndney Pollack's polished The Interpreter is a welcome return to form, or, perhaps it's actually a return to an old form. ...more Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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xXx: State of the Union
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Lee Tamahori
Stars: Ice Cube Samuel L. Jackson Willem Dafoe ...See Full CastStudio: Columbia Pictures | Darius Stone (Cube), a new agent in the XXX program, is sent to Washington, D.C. to diffuse a conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government. | 2 out of 10 stars:
With a built-in audience and a bankable new agent, xXx: State of the Union should have been, at worst, a sequel-by-the-numbers success. But look out! Along comes sucky Lee Tamahori ...moreMessage Board User Comments | Reviews
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Sahara
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Breck Eisner
Stars: Matthew McConaughey Penélope Cruz Steve Zahn ...See Full CastStudio: Paramount Pictures | As he searches the Sahara desert for an elusive toxin that's killing off marine life, adventurer Dirk Pitt (McConaughey) is sidetracked by a U.N. scientist (Cruz) targeted by assassins. Teaming up, the pair learn that their respective causes both lead to a West African tyrant whose water disposal plant might be one of the biggest threats to the planet's ecosystem. | 5 out of 10 stars
If you ever wanted a lesson in anti-charisma, look no further than the solidly made but otherwise rather bland Sahara, starring two of the most high-profile blank spaces in acting, Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz. ...more Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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The Amityville Horror
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Andrew Douglas
Stars: Ryan Reynolds Melissa George Jimmy Bennett ...See Full CastStudio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | George and Kathy Lutz (Reynolds and George) move their family into what they consider to be their dream home. Soon, however, the demonic forces that resulted in a mass murder a year earlier return to influence the new residents.
| 1 out of 10 stars
The MGM lion goes out with a sad whimper with The Amityville Horror, the last movie being distributed by the legendary studio as it gets sucked up into the clutches of Sony. I would treat the moment with a certain reverence and sadness were the movie itself not so damn funny. ...more Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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A Lot Like Love
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Nigel Cole
Stars: Ashton Kutcher Amanda Peet ...See Full CastStudio: Buena Vista Pictures | On a flight from Los Angeles to New York, Oliver (Kutcher) and Emily (Peet) make a connection, only to decide that they are poorly suited to be together. Over the next seven years, however, they are reunited time and time again, they go from being acquaintances to close friends to ... lovers? | 3 out of 10 stars
Imagine the most somber Friends episode ever, where all the jokes have been replaced by mournful looks, all the farcical elements streamlined into a supposedly serious look at the life of rudderless twentysomethings, and Ross and Rachel have no sense of humor whatsoever. A Lot Like Love would be a lot like that. ...more Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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Fever Pitch
Showtimes Trailers Photos
| Director: Bobby Farrelly Peter Farrelly
Stars: Drew Barrymore Jimmy Fallon ...See Full CastStudio: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. | Lindsay (Barrymore) is stuck in the middle of her relationship with Ben (Fallon) and his passion for the Boston Red Sox.
| 9 out of 10 stars
Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly make so-so comedies, but they make very good romantic comedies or, at least, romantic comedies for guys. In Fever Pitch they take on most males' great loves, women and sports, while also making some interesting comparisons between love and obsession, infatuation and commitment, and success and failure....more Message Board User Comments | Reviews
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