American Teen
Director Nanette Burstein spent the 2005-06 school year roaming the hallways of Warsaw High School in Indiana. Consciously evoking the archetypes and fearsomely divisive cliques of a John Hughes screenplay, Burstein’s film lets the reality-TV vibe creep in, and suddenly everyone appears to be playing herself or himself, rather than just being. Yet it’s hard not to be pulled into the day-to-day crises and machinations of the five students we meet here. Rated PG-13 (some strong language, sexual material, some drinking and brief smoking--all involving teens). At Mayan. — Michael Phillips

Brideshead Revival
In some scenes, Laurence Olivier took more time sipping his tea in the 1981 British TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited than it takes to watch all of this brisk, disheveled film version of the Evelyn Waugh novel. Matthew Goode plays Charles Ryder, religious skeptic and Oxford student. He befriends Sebastian (Ben Whishaw), disreputable son of the aristocratic Marchmain household. The film heightens the relationship between Charles and Sebastian’s younger sister (Hayley Atwell). It also positions the fearsome Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson) front and center. Rated PG-13 (some sexual content). At Esquire and Chez Artiste. — Michael Phillips

The Dark Knight
Sensational, grandly sinister and not for the kids, The Dark Knight elevates pulp to a very high level. Heath Ledger’s Joker takes it higher still, and the actor’s death earlier this year of an accidental overdose lends the film an air of a funeral and a rollicking, out-of-control wake mixed together. The film, which improves upon the solemn authority director Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne brought to Batman Begins, has an atmospheric shimmer all its own. It’s a brooding crime saga with some spectacular action sequences. Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of violence and some menace). At Flatiron, Century, Twin Peaks and Colony Square. — Michael Phillips

Encounters at the End of the World
Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Rescue Dawn) confirms his standing as poet laureate of men in extreme situations with Encounters At The End Of The World. In this visually stunning exploration, Herzog travels to the Antarctic community of McMurdo Station, headquarters of the National Science Foundation and home to eleven hundred people during the austral summer (October to February). Over the course of his journey, Herzog examines human nature and Mother Nature, juxtaposing breathtaking locations with the profound, surreal, and sometimes absurd experiences of the marine biologists, physicists, plumbers and truck drivers who choose to form a society as far away from society as one can get. Not rated. At Starz. — Denver Film Society

Get Smart
If director Peter Segal’s dutiful, heavy-spirited comedy clicks with fans of the old TV series as well as with those too young to give a rip about the original — it’ll be a case of the right cast winning out over the wrong material, material that is immaterial regarding what made the show so popular in its spy-infested, James Bonded, Man From U.N.C.L.E. era. Rated PG-13 (some rude humor, action violence and language). At Colony Square. — Michael Phillips


The Graduate (1967)
A young man who is unsure of his future after graduating from college becomes involved in a love triangle with an older woman and her daughter. Rated PG. At Boulder Outdoor Cinema.



Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Narrated by Johnny Depp, this biopic lays out a history of Thompson’s work and his legacy, leaning heavily on his “gonzo” image, the hard-boozing, hard-drugging, larger-than-life persona that dominated his writing, and sometimes outshone it. The film is informative and a little titillating, but like Thompson’s work itself, it sometimes feels like a smoke screen, a colorful but distracting set of pretenses hiding as much as they reveal. Rated R (language and brief nudity). At Starz. — Tasha Robinson

Hancock
The idea sounds ripe: Will Smith, one of the screen’s most engaging stars, playing a surly wino of a superhero, making a mess of Los Angeles as he comes to the occasional aid of those in need. Enter a PR whiz (Jason Bateman), who takes on Hancock as his latest project and helps him see the value in soft, non-destructive landings and the odd kind word. Not even Smith’s charisma can mitigate the chaos that is Hancock. The violence and the general abrasiveness are a genuine drag. Rated PG-13 (some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language). At Century and Flatiron. — Michael Phillips

Hell Ride
In this biker thriller starring Dennis Hopper, three men confront the deadly, unfinished business between them. Rated R. At Mayan.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
I can barely keep up with the mythology put forth by the Hellboy series, but I enjoyed the first film, and I enjoyed the new one. The movie, directed by the inventive Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) is engaging, though it’s more cavalier regarding story and relentless in its action than its predecessor. Ron Perlman is great to have around as Hellboy; as before, his oaky, mellow voice belies all manner of freakish rage and loner angst. Rated PG-13 (sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and some language). At Flatiron. — Michael Phillips

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
This eagerly anticipated sequel, which comes 19 years after Harrison Ford last donned the Indiana Jones fedora, doesn’t know when to quit. Nor does it extract much fun from a cockamamie story involving aliens, the lost city of El Dorado, the Red Menace and the kid (Shia LaBeouf) Indy never knew he had. Director Steven Spielberg delivers the usual frenetic action scenes, but a lot of this disappointingly humorless picture veers uneasily between solemnity and slapstick and 47 different genres. Rated PG-13 (adventure violence and scary images).  At Flatiron. — Michael Phillips

Journey to the Center of the Earth
This reassuringly cheesy and wholly enjoyable new version of the Jules Verne tale features Brendan Fraser and a lot of stuff aimed directly at your head. Fraser, his nephew (Josh Hutcherson) and another companion (Anita Briem) make their way down an Icelandic volcano, and soon they fall down, down, down, intrepidly braving one new green-screen and soundstage challenge after another, The new Journey moves along, and it has a fairly lighthearted spirit, considering all the flying fishy carnivores and the T. rex attack. Rated PG (intense adventure action and some scary moments). At Century and Flatiron. — Michael Phillips


Juno
A star is born. Ellen Page is a wonder, sweet and tart and perfectly in tune with screenwriter Diablo Cody’s disarming comic fable about a hyperverbal, emotionally guarded 16-year-old who has sex with her sort-of boyfriend (Michael Cera, who’s great, too) and comes up pregnant. The prospective adoptive parents are played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. Rated PG-13. At Boulder Outdoor Cinema. — Michael Phillips

L’origine de la Tendresse
The World According to Shorts presents a program of six notable French short films, featuring a broad range of styles and genres, from animation to fiction to documentary, reflecting the diversity of both the visions of contemporary French filmmakers and the people of France — from foundry workers in Brest to Algerian immigrants transplanted to Paris; from the malaise of la vie quotidienne for an upper-class married couple to flirtatious youths in the capital’s Metro system. Not rated. At Starz. — Denver Film Society

Mamma Mia!
It’s funny what you buy completely onstage and resist on-screen. Case in point: Mamma Mia! — the ABBA-fueled stage phenomenon that is now a movie. Meryl Streep handles the ABBA tunes with aplomb, but it’s disappointing to see the film version turn out this way — not lousy, but pushy. Free spirit Donna (Streep) lives with her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) on a Greek island. Sophie, about to marry, learns her father, whom she never knew, is one of three possible candidates (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard), and all are coming to the wedding. Rated PG-13 (some sex-related comments).  At Century, Flatiron, Twin Peaks and Colony Square. — Michael Phillips


Man on Wire
A documentary that follows Philippe Petit’s 1974 high-wire routine performed between the World Twin Center’s twin towers in New York City. The act was hailed as the “artistic crime of the century.” Rated PG-13. At Chez Artiste.

Mongol
A grandly kitschy rendering of Genghis Khan’s early years, Mongol might as well be called Braveheart in a Yurt. Director Sergei Bodrov isn’t trying to get anyone to look at the historical figure’s tactical wiles, or the cost of all that bloodshed, in a challenging way. Mainly Mongol is out for pretty pictures and epic photogenic mythmaking. Rated R (sequences of bloody warfare). At Starz. — Michael Phillips

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
See full screen review on page 52. Rated PG-13. At Flatiron, Century and Colony Square.

The Pineapple Express
In this new Seth Rogen flick, a stoner and his dealer go into hiding after they witness a cop commit murder. Rated R. At Century, Flatiron, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

Re-Cycle
With ace visuals, great scares, and clever concepts, Re-Cycle, propels the Pang Brothers to the forefront of New Asian Horror with a highbrow horror film. The central performance by Lee Sinje (aka Angelica Lee) outshines her work in the Pang Brothers 2002 film The Eye.There is an alternate plane of reality parallel to our own, one that serves as a dumping ground for discarded and forgotten hopes, dreams, and desires.Ting-yin (Lee Sinje) suffers from writer’s block while working on her second novel. To help her overcome this problem, her agent announces at a press conference that the author is working on a story about the supernatural. Ting-yin, a skeptic who knows nothing about the ghost world, decides to explore it first hand — and gets drawn into this alternate reality. She writes a draft based upon this experience, then discards it — only to find it back upon her desk. She then writes another draft, discards it — and is soon sucked into a surreal wasteland. Not sure if she’s trapped in her novel, or is actually lost within the underworld, she has the unique horror of being confronted with everything she has every thrown away in her life. Like a post-apocalyptic Alice in Wonderland, Re-Cycle is a horror-fantasy-thriller that leaves you reeling long after the credits roll. Not rated. At Starz. — Denver Film Society

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
A coming-of-age tale in which four friends unite through a pair of jeans. Rated PG-13. At Century, Flatiron, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

Step Brothers
This movie is stupid, predictable and fairly funny, though even its bigger laughs make you wonder if the whole arrested-adolescent streak in contemporary screen comedy may be running its course. Will Ferrell plays Brennan, 39 and living with mom (Mary Steenburgen). John C. Reilly plays Dale, 40, still at home with dad (Richard Jenkins). The parents meet, fall in love, and suddenly you have a blended-family situation of extreme volatility followed by extreme bonding. Rated R (crude and sexual content and pervasive language). At Century, Flatiron, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Michael Phillips

Swing Vote
See full screen review on page 52. Rated PG-13. At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

Tell No One
This French thriller focuses in on Alexander, a pediatrician wrongfully accused but never prosecuted for the death of his wife, Margot. Eight years after the incident, two bodies are found near Margot’s former resting spot and the case reopens. Things get stickier when Alexander receives an e-mail, showing his wife alive and older. Not rated. At Mayan.

Up the Yangtze
Young men and women take up employment with a cruise ship at the edge of the Yangtze River, where they confront rising waters and a radically changing China. Not rated. At Esquire.

The Visitor
A reclusive widower (Richard Jenkins) visiting New York City for an economics conference forges an unexpected friendship with a Syrian drummer (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend (Danai Gurira) in writer-director Tom McCarthy’s simple, moving story about connections and goodbyes. It’s a pleasure to see veteran character actor Jenkins step up to a leading role. Rated PG-13 (brief strong language). At Chez Artiste. — Michael Phillips

Wall-E
A hunk of metal with binoculars for eyes — can this be the screen’s latest true hero? Yes. In Pixar’s marvelous new feature, set 700 years from now, planet Earth has become an uninhabitable garbage dump, whose last resident (besides a roach) is the title robot. How he saves the planet is the subject of director Andrew Stanton’s story, beautifully realized. Rated G. At Flatiron, Century and Colony Square. — Michael Phillips

The X-Files: I Want to Believe
This second X-Files film, based on the paranoiac TV series, is both a muddle and a drag, having to do with stem cell research and regeneration and missing limbs and a fraught psychic. Reuniting David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, the film will work about the same with die-hard series fans as it does with newbies: Fans and newcomers alike will find it just OK. Rated PG-13 (violent and disturbing content and thematic material).  At Century, Flatiron and Twin Peaks. — Michael Phillips

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