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March 19-25, 2009
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A Secret
Adapted from Philippe Grimbert’s best selling novel, A Secret (Un Secret) is a story of passion and guilt in troubled times, which unfolds as a young teenager uncovers the truth about his parents’ past. He finds out that before the war, his father Maxime (Patrick Bruel — The Comedy of Power, O Jerusalem) was married to Hannah (Ludivine Sagnier — 8 Women, Swimming Pool, A Girl Cut in Two, Love Songs) when he fell madly in love with his mother Tania (Cécile de France — The Russian Dolls, Avenue Montaigne). As a young Jewish couple living in Nazi-occupied France, Maxime and Tania had to make difficult choices to survive the war and the Holocaust. Not rated. At Starz. — Denve Film Society
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
In this final chapter of his marriage trilogy which includes Faces and Husbands, director Cassavetes explores the life of a woman who dissipates herself pleasing her family and friends to the extent that she loses her sense of self. While her husband tries to force her into normal behavior, she gets closer to a nervous breakdown. The film poses questions regarding the consequences of love and marriage, without offering answers or resolutions. Not rated. At Boulder Public Library. — BPL Film Program
Absurdistan
Welcome to Absurdistan, a small village in the high desert mountains, just on the outskirts of reality, where magical visions and bizarre events fuse together, but the sexes are divided. The village is facing a water shortage, but the men are too lazy to fix a rickety pipeline and the women are getting fed up with their good-for-nothing husbands. Led by young Aya (Kristyna Malérová), the women make a simple vow: “No water, no sex.” The men’s only hope is Temelko (Maximilian Mauff), whose long-promised wedding with Aya is put on hold until he finds a solution to the water problem. From the wild imagination of Veit Helmer, the award-winning director of Tuvalu, comes this perfectly pitched lyrical comedy that is romantic, surreal and boundlessly poetic. Not rated. At Starz. — Denver Film Society
The Class
This fantastic film takes place in a working-class, multi-ethnic Parisian middle school, where an unruly world of conflict, frustration and joy comes to life. Francois Begaudeau plays a version of himself; he taught in a Paris middle school and wrote a book about it, and The Class distills that book into a year in the life of a teacher and his combative, highly stimulating students. A documentary approach is the key to the film’s success, with real students playing characters, some based on themselves, some not. In French, with English subtitles. Rated PG-13 (language). At Century and Esquire. — Michael Phillips
 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
This is a tall tale of a man aging in reverse while bobbing serenely on life’s unpredictable seas. The colorful supporting characters spill their guts to the wonder of nature played by Brad Pitt, as he begins his life a very old man, ages into late-middle age, ripens into... well, Brad Pitt, then embarks on the big fade into childhood, infancy and check-out time. It’s worth seeing because the sights are truly something. As with his earlier Zodiac, director David Fincher applies the right technology in the right way. Rated PG-13 (brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking). At Flatiron. — Michael Phillips
Coraline
An intelligent preteen (Dakota Fanning) discovers a tiny door in the wall of her immense home that leads to a parallel universe offering a brighter, more inviting version of the same house, and her same parents. Coraline may not be for all tastes, and it’s certainly not for all kids, given its macabre premise. But Henry Selick’s film advances the stop-motion animation genre through that most heartening of attributes: quality. It pulls audiences into a meticulously detailed universe, familiar in many respects, menacing in others. Rated PG (thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor). At Century. — Michael Phillips
Fuel
Fuel is an insightful portrait of America’s addiction to oil and an uplifting testament to the immediacy of new energy solutions. Director, Josh Tickell, a young activist, shuttles us on a whirlwind journey to track the rising domination of the petrochemical industry from Rockefeller’s strategy to halt Ford’s first ethanol cars to Vice President Cheney’s petrochemical company sponsored energy legislation — and reveals a gamut of available solutions to “repower America” from vertical farms that occupy skyscrapers to algae facilities that turn wastewater into fuel. Tickell and a surprising array of environmentalists, policy makers, and entertainment notables take us through America’s complicated, often ignominious energy past and illuminate a hopeful, achievable future, where decentralized, sustainable living is not only possible, it’s imperative. Not rated. At Starz. — Denver Film Society
Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood plays a reclusive Korean War veteran toughing it out in a sketchy Detroit-area neighborhood. After the vet’s young neighbor (Bee Vang) breaks into his garage to steal the car for which this film is named, our hero sets out to teach the boy how to stand up to his venal gangsta cousins. Some of this is affecting and painful in the right way; a lot of it is just cheap. Rated R (language throughout and some violence). At Flatiron and Colony Square. — Michael Phillips
He’s Just Not That Into You
The film adaptation of Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo’s 2004 relationship-advice book is a sprawling, many-threaded series of stories, most of which contradict the book’s advice about moving on when facing a lack of commitment. Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore and Ben Affleck head the cast of this romantic comedy, which has some fun with its bubble-gum tone until a rash of ridiculous happy endings takes all the bite out of the premise. Rated PG-13 (sexual content and brief strong language). At Century, Flatiron and Colony Square. — Tasha Robinson
Ink
As the light fades and the city goes to sleep, two forces emerge. They are invisible except for the power they exert over us in our sleep. These two groups battle for our souls in our dreams. Through good dreams one force supports our hopes and gives us strength. Through nightmares the other force leads us toward desperation.
In this high-concept visual thriller, part It’s a Wonderful Life and Sin City, John and his daughter Emma are thrust into a fantastical dreamworld battle between good and evil where the most precious elements — love, loss and redemption — are at stake. At Starz. — Denver Film Society
The International
Director Tom Tykwer’s thriller is all over the place, both geographically and in terms of audience satisfaction. Clive Owen plays an Interpol agent working with his ally in the New York DA’s office (Naomi Watts) to bust a nefarious bank. Some of the set pieces are terrific, particularly the opening scene in Berlin and a shootout at the Guggenheim Museum, but getting in and out of such sequences is not the film’s strong suit. Tykwer (Run Lola Run) has a way with complex cinematic mayhem, but International is tripped up by klutzy, formulaic dialogue. Rated R (some sequences of violence and language). At Century. — Michael Phillips
The Last House on the Left
See full screen review on page 46. Rated R. At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks
Milk
The story of Harvey Milk is a tragedy, but not since Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High has Sean Penn played such a serenely happy individual. Penn is superb as the martyred San Francisco city supervisor, America’s first widely acknowledged openly gay elected official. He was killed by Milk’s former colleague, Dan White (Josh Brolin, also excellent), minutes after White’s fatal shooting of Mayor George Moscone in 1978. Rated R (language, some sexual content and brief violence). At Starz. — Michael Phillips
Miss March
See full screen review on page 46.Rated R. At Flatiron and Century.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Kevin James plays a mall security guard trying to stop a Black Friday robbery scheme. Underneath all the cartoonish mall mayhem and silly slapstick lies a comedy that aspires to be the sort of gentle crowd-pleaser John Hughes used to make, had the filmmakers been more willing to sacrifice some of James’ rolling-and-tumbling time. Rated PG (some violence, mild crude and suggestive humor and language). At Flatiron and Twin Peaks. — Glenn Whipp
Pink Panther 2
This disposable Pink Panther sequel follows the 2006 remake and once again features Steve Martin as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. The cast (which also includes Emily Mortimer, Andy Garcia, John Cleese and Lily Tomlin) sprints way out ahead of the material. Most of it would work twice as well if the filmmakers had eased up and allowed the performers to interact — to do their thing in medium shot, without a lot of pushy close-ups and overemphasis, so that their bodies might inform what their faces are up to. Rated PG (some suggestive humor, brief mild language and action). At Flatiron. — Michael Phillips
Race to Witch Mountain
Benign yet assaultive PG mayhem — it’s a neat trick if you can pull it off. The Walt Disney Co., determined to remake every live-action feature in its canon, brings us a frenetic update of Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) in which Dwayne Johnson reunites with The Game Plan director Andy Fickman. The premise — alien kids with special powers try to get back home — echoes the original, but this hopped-up remake lays on the X-Files paranoia. The charismatic Johnson helps make it work. Rated PG (sequences of action and violence, frightening and dangerous situations, and some thematic elements). At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Michael Phillips
The Reader
Kate Winslet stars in the film version of Bernhard Schlink’s 1995 novel about a 15-year-old West German boy who, in 1958, embarks on an affair with a 36-year-old trolley conductor with more on her mind, and in her past, than she admits. The novel was hugely popular as well as controversial worldwide and an Oprah’s Book Club selection besides. However, it needed a different set of interpreters to make any emotional sense of it on screen. Even in the scenes dominated by Winslet, you never quite believe the way anything unfolds. Rated R (some scenes of sexuality and nudity). At Chez Artiste and Colony Square. — Michael Phillips
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire, winner of this year’s Academy Award for best picture and seven other Oscars, is a ruthlessly effective paean to destiny, leaving nothing to chance. Every arrow plucked from director Danny Boyle’s quiver takes aim at the same objective: to leave you exhausted but wowed. An 18-year-old (Dev Patel) in the former Bombay, India, is suspected of cheating his way to national fame on the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? Rated R (some violence, disturbing images and some language). At Century, Flatiron, Esquire, Colony Square and Chez Artiste. — Michael Phillips
Taken
Liam Neeson plays a former CIA spook whose clandestine career bled into his home and led to a divorce. After sex traffickers kidnap his daughter in Europe, our hero has 96 hours to save her, and he wastes no time karate-chopping his way through every mime and baguette peddler in France. The movie overheats quickly, but Neeson and the filmmakers manage to make the Charles Bronson-style simplicity work. Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of violence, disturbing thematic material, sexual content, some drug references and language). At Century, Flatiron, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Christopher Borrelli
Waltz with Bashir
An extraordinary achievement and a true visual feast, Ari Folman’s animated Waltz With Bashir is a detective story as well as an moral inquiry into the specific horrors of one war (the 1982 Lebanon War), and one man’s buried memories of it. It’s personal filmmaking of the highest order, recognized with an Academy Award nomination for best foreign film. Rated R (some disturbing images of atrocities, strong violence, brief nudity and a scene of graphic sexual content). Rated R. At Colony Square. — Michael Phillips
The Watchmen
A group of forcibly retired masked crimefighters are uneasily reunited to save the world, and to save themselves from the unknown predator targeting them for extinction. Director Zack Snyder’s bloated screen adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel is marked by slavish fidelity to the source material. But the brutality is pretty numbing in Watchmen, and while the graphic novel poured it on as well, Snyder is a lunkhead when it comes to using that violence for storytelling purposes. Rated R (strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language). At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Michael Phillips
Wendy and Lucy
Wendy is a young woman on the road to Alaska with her only friend in the world, her dog Lucy. When her car breaks down in a small Oregon town, her carefully financed trek toward a new life suddenly ends. She tries to shoplift food for Lucy but is caught and briefly arrested. When she returns to the store, the dog is gone. Beginning the search to find her, Wendy is alternately befriended and betrayed by the locals. With the pieces of her once middle-class life (to judge by her now-defunct Honda Accord) falling away, she finds herself sinking into homelessness — as an early scene, in which Wendy encounters a troop of young vagabonds, foreshadows. Her reticence in the face of their off-kilter looseness indicates she’s still clinging to a way of life that may no longer be within her means. Rated R. At Starz. — Denver Film Society
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