Aug. 1, 2008 - The Austin Chronicle

CALENDAR COMMUNITY SPORTS ARTS FILM MUSIC | L I S TINGSPete Seeger:The Power of SongPete Seeger: The Power of Song (2007) D: Jim Brown. (NR,93 min.) Music Monday. More than an appreciation, this documentaryportrait of the great American folksinger and activist is an inspiration.(*) @Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz, Mon., 10pm; $2.Last Year at MarienbadLast Year at Marienbad (1961) D: Alain Resnais; with DelphineSeyring, Giorgio Albertazzi. (NR, 93 min.) Summer Film Classics: AFascinating Puzzle. The timelessness of this arthouse colossus growseven more apparent with this re-released print. Certain as it ever wasto spark controversy among its defenders and deniers, the film – with ascreenplay by Alain Robbe-Grillet accompanying the studious visuals byResnais – continues its labyrinthine yet placid odyssey. @Paramount,Thu. (8/7), 7:15, 9:15pm.KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICANGIRL D: Patricia Rozema; with Abigail Breslin, Julia Ormond,Chris O’Donnell, Jane Krakowski, Wallace Shawn, Max Thieriot,Willow Smith, Zach Mills, Glenne Headly, Joan Cusack, Stanley Tucci.(G, 100 min.)This feature-length theatrical film showcases KitKittredge (Breslin), a onetime American Girl doll whohas now come to life as a washed-out blonde in cute,Depression-era hats and about whom one might lazilytoss around words like “spunk” and “pluck.” A 9-yearoldaspiring reporter, Kit spots a story – and her firstbyline – in the swelling of hobo shantytowns in hernative Cincinnati. But then the Depression hits rathernearer to her home when her parents must open theirhome to an eccentric mix of boarders. Kit Kittredgeisn’t terrible: There is a handful of supporting playerswho sparkle, and it seems rather churlish to complainabout entertainment aimed at little girls, who almostnever get big-budget movies made just for them. Butconsidering director Rozema previously made the revisionistMansfield Park, one rather hoped she mighthave been equally ingenious with the considerablyless worthy material here. Nope, Kit Kittredge is adutiful bore. (07/04/2008) – Kimberley Jones Arbor, Barton Creek SquareMAMMA MIA! D: Phyllida Lloyd; with Meryl Streep,Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Christine Baranski,Julie Walters, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper. (PG-13, 108 min.)First let me soothe the jangled nerves of any puristsin the house: Yes, Mamma Mia! stays faithful toits source material. By source material, I mean, ofcourse, the hit theatrical show that strung together abunch of ABBA chart toppers and shoehorned a pittanceof plot in between a giggling spectacle of songand dance. This is astonishingly silly stuff, but it’snot like anybody’s trying to pass this off as anythingother than silly – there’s a goddamn exclamationpoint in the title. Which isn’t to say that there isn’tmuch to quibble with here. There are indignitiesaplenty heaped atop the cast: Welcome to HamTown. But once you accept everything that exclamationpoint entails, there are fleeting pleasures tobe had. Seyfried is a lovely find; she has the mostaccomplished voice in the cast and imbues a zerocharacter with vulnerability and charm. The vets arefun to watch, too. (07/18/2008) – Kimberley JonesAlamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, Alamo DrafthouseSouth, Arbor, Barton Creek Square, CM Cedar Park, HillCountry Galleria, CM Round Rock, Southpark Meadows,Highland, Lakeline, Metropolitan, Tinseltown North,Westgate SEX AND THE CITY D: Michael PatrickKing; with Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis,Cynthia Nixon, Chris Noth, Jennifer Hudson, Candice Bergen,David Eigenberg, Evan Handler, Jason Lewis, Mario Cantone, WillieGarson. (R, 142 min.)I’m not the first to make the comparison – thatthe women of Sex and the City make for a specialThat ObscureObject of DesireThat Obscure Object of Desire (1977) D: LuisBuñuel; with Fernando Rey, Carole Bouquet, Ángela Molina.(R, 102 min.) Summer Film Classics: Sublime Surrealist.Buñuel weaves a hypnotic story about a man who is obsessedwith his much younger maid – who is played by two differentactresses, reflecting various sides of her personality. (Doublebill: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.) @Paramount, Tue.,9:10pm; Wed., 7pm.kind of superhero in American pop-culture iconography.Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha maybe larger than life, their pocketbooks and professionalhighlights a distant fantasy for most of the fanbase, but take away the tights, and they’re muddlingthrough just like the rest of us. Longtime creativeforce King (who wrote and directed) has crafted afeature that stands on its own (typically stilettoed)feet, while holding fast to the series’ singular mixof the giddily ribald and brutally confessional. Wepick up several years after the series’ finale, andthe women, individually, have undergone seismicchange. It goes without saying that any one woman’striumph or sorrow is felt collectively, and keenly. That,of course, has been Sex and the City’s abiding m.o.:that this is a love affair, primarily, between women.(05/30/2008) – Kimberley Jones Arbor, Tinseltown SouthSPACE CHIMPS D: Kirk De Micco; with the voicesof Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Patrick Warburton, Jeff Daniels,Stanley Tucci, Kristin Chenoweth. (G, 81 min.)With an insipidly generic title like Space Chimps,you might expect some sort of The Three Stoogesmeets Planet of the Apes meets Bob Ray’s Ape Sh!tgambit – anything but the frequently laugh-out-loudsnarkiness of this uneven but far from awful takeon, um, chimps in space. Tolerable G-rated films ofthe non-Pixar variety which actually offer up someintelligent criticism of the status quo and more thantwo chuckles per act are generally as rare as lifeon Mars is presumed to be, but 20th Century Fox’sSpace Chimps is endearingly ridiculous and frequentlysmart. This story of a jaded, selfish, but ultimatelyheroic circus chimp (Samberg), who is plucked fromobscurity by NASA and sent into space alongsidea pair of real chimp astronauts, has its share ofdeep-core cinematic clichés but still manages to besurprisingly unsucky. Then again, who doesn’t love ananimated, anthropomorphized-chimpanzee-starring,sci-fi romantic comedy? (07/25/2008) – Marc SavlovBarton Creek Square, CM Cedar Park, HillCountry Galleria, CM Round Rock, Southpark Meadows,Lakeline, Metropolitan, Tinseltown NorthSTEP BROTHERS D: Adam McKay; with WillFerrell, John C. Reilly, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Jenkins, AdamScott, Kathryn Hahn. (R, 100 min.)Will Ferrell’s newest is a lot like Will Ferrell’s oldest,which is to say it feels like an old-school (nopun intended) Saturday Night Live skit amped up ona heaping helping of sugar-infused Count Suckulabreakfast meth. It’s all over the place, and it willmake you laugh when you least expect it, but maybenot so much when you do. Ferrell and Reilly playBrennan and Dale, slacker layabouts with the hypercompetitivetemperaments of 12-year-olds, who reluctantlybecome stepbrothers when Brennan’s mom(Steenburgen) marries Dale’s dad (Jenkins). Hilarityensues, obstacles are overcome, and life lessons ofthe socially inept variety bubble up all over the placelike magic mushrooms after a rainstorm. But Ferrell76 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E AUGUST 1, 2008 a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o mand Reilly’s infantilism grows wearying for those ofus who’ve had our fill of dick jokes and child-men runamok. Step Brothers has comic fuel to burn, someof it unashamedly non sequitur and stupid-brilliant,but it still feels like a post-Talladega flameout.(07/25/2008) – Marc SavlovAlamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, Alamo DrafthouseVillage, Barton Creek Square, CM Cedar Park, HillCountry Galleria, CM Round Rock, Southpark Meadows,Highland, Gateway, Metropolitan, Tinseltown North,Westgate THE WACKNESS D: Jonathan Levine; withBen Kingsley, Josh Peck, Famke Janssen, Olivia Thirlby, Mary-KateOlsen, Jane Adams, Method Man, Aaron Yoo. (R, 95 min.)In the early Nineties, you couldn’t get a sweeterseasonal jam than DJ Jazzy Jeff and the FreshPrince’s “Summertime.” This coming-of-age comedy,set in New York circa the summer of ‘94, uses thesong to good effect, although its ode to fraternity,fly ladies, and family reunions couldn’t be furtherfrom the reality of Luke Shapiro (Peck). He’s a17-year-old rap-obsessed white boy, friendless andestranged from his parents, an outcast and dopedealer who trades weed for sessions with his middle-agedshrink, Dr. Squires (Kingsley). Writer/directorLevine’s modus operandi is in exalting the oddcouple of Squires and Luke, a Giuliani-era Falstaffand Hal who just want to act up in a city that’sclamping down. The Wackness never lives up to theFresh Prince’s high standards – this isn’t a “bit of abreak from the norm” – it’s standard, straight-outta-Sundance indie fare, but it’s also a crowd-pleasingportrait of boys-who-will-be-men-who-will-be-boys.(07/25/2008) – Kimberley Jones Arbor WALL-E D: Andrew Stanton; with Fred Willard;with the voices of Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, JohnRatzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver. (G, 97 min.)What would Stanley Kubrick – or for that matter,Arthur C. Clarke or even Isaac Asimov – have madeof Pixar’s WALL-E? It’s the story of the last functioningrobot, who leads a lonely existence cleaning upan ecologically devastated Earth, some 700 yearsafter the last human being abandoned the dyingplanet. When, without warning, a vessel lands inhis back yard and deposits EVE (Knight), a femalerobot who has been sent to discover if any life hasblossomed on the home world, WALL-E (Burtt) isimmediately smitten. While the film eventually takesboth the ’droids off-world, the story remains focusedon their blossoming romance. This is Pixar’s finestand most emotionally powerful film yet, by turns sad,hilarious, exciting, and, ultimately, hopeful. Thosepast science-fictioneers Kubrick, Clarke, and Asimovwould’ve loved it, I think, and I’d wager my first editionof The Martian Chronicles that Ray Bradbury, too,will recognize a kindred soul in WALL-E’s life-affirmingquest for love. (06/27/2008) – Marc Savlov Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, AlamoDrafthouse South, Alamo Drafthouse Village, BartonCreek Square, CM Cedar Park, Hill Country Galleria, CMRound Rock, Southpark Meadows, Gateway, Lakeline,Tinseltown North, Tinseltown South, WestgateWANTED D: Timur Bekmambetov; with James McAvoy,Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Terence Stamp, ThomasKretschmann, Common, Kristen Hager. (R, 110 min.)If Maxim magazine ever decides to branch out intofilmmaking, Wanted is just the kind of ear-throttlingnonsense it’s bound to produce. Plot? Characters?Meaning? Who cares about those trifles when you’vegot Jolie easing herself languidly out of a bathtubafter an evening spent killing perfect strangers?Wanted’s hero, Wesley (McAvoy), who could’ve swornhe was just an ordinary nebbish, is apparently theson of the world’s greatest assassin and can makebullets bend in midflight. He’s snatched up by themysterious Fox (Jolie) and taken to a man namedSloan (Freeman), who informs our hero that it’shis destiny to join a group of assassins called theFraternity (perfect!), who are descended from medievalweavers. I know what you’re thinking: Why, exactly,would weavers become assassins? And why isWesley capable of throwing curveballs with bullets?And what the hell is Freeman doing in this movie?The answer to these questions is simple: There is noanswer. (06/27/2008)– Josh Rosenblatt Gateway, Metropolitan, Tinseltown Northalso playing*Full-length reviews available online ataustinchronicle.com.BABY MAMA Movies 8THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA:PRINCE CASPIAN Movies 8GET SMART Gateway, WestgateTHE INCREDIBLE HULK Movies8, Tinseltown SouthIRON MAN Movies 8, MetropolitanKUNG FU PANDA Tinseltown NorthMEET DAVE Paths of GloryPaths of Glory (1957) D: Stanley Kubrick; with Kirk Douglas, RalphMeeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready. (NR, 86 min.) Stanley KubrickRetrospective. Douglas fights the military system in this grim depictionof French army politics during World War I. Kubrick’s film vividly depictsthe harsh realities of war and remains a great antiwar drama. (*) @AlamoDrafthouse Lake Creek, Wed., 7:30pm.Tinseltown SouthNIM’S ISLAND Movies 8SPEED RACER Movies 8Metropolitan,Check Film Listings online for full-length reviews,up-to-date showtimes, archives, and more!austinchronicle.com/film