At the Movies
By Catholic News Service
Deception
Dull, sometimes obvious thriller about a lonely accountant (Ewan McGregor) who's
befriended by a charismatic corporate lawyer (Hugh Jackman), who introduces
him to a sex club offering "intimacy without intricacy" where he
falls for one of the other members (Michelle Williams) and soon becomes a blackmail
victim. Director Marcel Langenegger's feature debut -- nocturnal and claustrophobic
-- glamorizes its main character's anonymous encounters before endorsing his
more substantial relationship.
Watch out for: Graphic nonmarital sexual activity, rear and upper-female nudity,
scanty costuming, much rough and crude and some crass and profane language, sexual
discussion, and drug use.
Rated: USCCB: L; MPAA: R
Fugitive Pieces
Quietly reflective and affecting story about a small Jewish boy (Robbie Kay)
in Poland, separated from his family during the Holocaust, who is adopted by
a gentle Greek archaeologist (Rade Sherbedgia), and how the events of those years
mold his adulthood as a writer in Canada (where he's played by Stephen Dillane)
and his relationships (with Rosamund Pike and Ayelet Zurer). Directed with a
measured pace by Jeremy Podeswa, who also wrote the adaptation of Anne Michaels'
1996 novel, the film is especially touching in the tender scenes with Sherbedgia
and young Kay who morphs seamlessly into the excellent Dillane, who beautifully
conveys how his character comes to terms with the ghosts and guilt of the past.
Watch out for: Some nonmarital sexuality with partial and rear nudity,
a shooting death, and other brief nongraphic violence, a suicide reference and
a couple of mild expletives.
Rated: USCCB: A-III; MPAA: R
Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
Potentially acute satirical adventure, overwhelmed by sophomoric excess, in which
a drug-addled slacker (Kal Penn) and his slightly more motivated friend (John
Cho) are mistaken for terrorists, escape from the titular detention camp, and
embark on a road trip to Texas where the former's ex-girlfriend (Danneel Harris)
and her politically connected fiance (Eric Winter) may help clear their names.
Co-writers and directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg's buddy sequel revels
in the salacious and the scatological while glorifying drug use.
Watch out for: Graphic and frequent rear, upper-female and full-frontal nudity;
sexual activity; some aberrant, pervasive rough, crude and crass language, including
at least 100 uses of the f-word, seven uses of profanity, sexual and graphically
scatological humor; drug use and references; a prostitution theme; and a pornography
reference.
Rated: USCCB: O; MPAA: R
Iron Man
Sleekly effective science-fiction tale about a devil-may-care playboy weapons
manufacturer (Robert Downey Jr.) who, after being captured by an ambitious Afghanistan-based
warlord (Faran Tahir) and ordered to build a replica of his most advanced product,
with the help of another captive and scientist (Shaun Toub), instead constructs
an impregnable suit of armor, escapes and begins to re-evaluate his life, with
the support of his loyal girl Friday (Gwyneth Paltrow) and despite the doubts
of his junior partner (Jeff Bridges) and military liaison (Terrence Howard).
In between the impressive special effects, executive producer-director Jon Favreau's
screen adaptation of this popular comic-book series charts its main character's
conversion from callous genius to dedicated defender.
Watch out for: Nongraphic sexual activity, torture, a graphic medical procedure,
sci-fi violence, occasional crude language, a brief profanity, sexual humor and
innuendo.
Rated: USCCB: A-III; MPAA: PG-13
Made of Honor
A callous playboy (a charming Patrick Dempsey) comes to realize he loves his
longtime best friend (Michelle Monaghan) just when she announces she's engaged
to a Scottish lord (Kevin McKidd), and he agrees to be her "maid of honor" in
the hopes of dissuading her from the marriage. Paul Welland's formulaic but ultimately
winning film starts with some highly problematic elements having to do with the
playboy's unbridled love life, but settles into a sentimental story about the
hero learning the true meaning of love, while generally promoting an acceptable
moral worldview.
Watch out for: Nongraphic encounters, divorce, alcohol use, innuendo, and some
crude words and expressions.
Rated: USCCB: A-III; MPAA: PG-13
Son of Rambow
Rollicking but also touching chronicle, set in 1980s Britain, of the unlikely
friendship between a reserved schoolboy (Bill Milner), who's being raised by
his puritanically religious widowed mother (Jessica Stevenson), and a rambunctious
fellow student (Will Poulter) who's been left in the care of his dictatorial
older brother (Ed Westwick), as they collaborate on a frenetic sequel to one
of Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo" movies with the aid of a charismatically
cool French exchange student (Jules Sitruk). Writer-director Garth Jennings'
warmly humorous, semi-autobiographical film portrays the Amish-like sect as stifling
enough to justify its main character's conflicted resistance, but ends by affirming
faith as well as friendship.
Watch out for: Shoplifting, underage smoking, a painful accident, occasional
crude and profane and some crass language.
Rated: USCCB: A-III; MPAA: PG-13
The Fall
Exceedingly strange but fitfully affecting tale set in a Los Angeles hospital
circa 1915 about the unlikely relationship between two patients: a spunky 5-year-old
girl (adorable Catinca Untaru with, alas, an often impenetrable accent), and
an embittered movie stuntman (Lee Pace) who keeps her enthralled with a story
of bandits mirroring his devastating real-life breakup with his girlfriend. Director
Tarsem's film — imaginative in many ways — goes on far too long and
its elaborate fantasy sequences (alternately sophomoric and serious) are more
wearying than illuminating, while the redemptive ending fails to compensate for
a pervasively heavy and lachrymose tone.
Watch out for: Action violence with bloodshed, a suicide attempt and a couple
of instances of profanity.
Rated: USCCB: A-III; MPAA: R
Speed Racer
Overly long and only so-so live-action adventure yarn — based on the 1960s
Japanese animated TV series — about a young race car driver (Emile Hirsch)
who, with the loving support of his parents (John Goodman and Susan Sarandon)
and girlfriend (Christina Ricci), stands up to the corrupt race sponsor (Roger
Allam) and other baddies to compete in the race that killed his big brother.
The Wachowski brothers, co-writers and directors, employ colorful animated backgrounds,
and the positive family values and nice performances are added pluses, but the
alternately chaotic and sentimental plotline will be of most interest to diehard
fans of the cartoon, while some of the violence and language are a tad strong
for those youngest viewers who might appreciate it most. Imax and conventional.
Watch out for: Some intense, but not graphic, action violence, some crass language
and expressions, and mild profanity.
Rated: USCCB: A-II; MPAA: PG
What Happens in Vegas
An inebriated couple — a commodities trader (Cameron Diaz), dumped by her
longtime boyfriend, and a womanizing slacker (Ashton Kutcher), fired from his
closet-building job — get married in Las Vegas, much to their later regret,
and must live with the consequences when they return to New York and a judge
orders them to try to make the marriage work for six months, if they are to decide
who keeps the $3 million jackpot they won at the slots. Director Tom Vaughan's
romantic comedy is lame, tasteless and unfunny, despite a premise that could
work in better hands, while the warm-if-predictable ending fails to erase the
sophomoric ineptitude of what has come before it.
Watch out for: Pervasive vulgar humor, implied premarital cohabitation, scatological
elements, some skimpy costuming, much crude language and brief profanity.
Rated: USCCB: O; MPAA: PG-13
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