Sunday, November 4, 2007

Kam's Kapsules: Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun

OPENING THIS WEEK
Kam's Kapsules:
Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
by Kam Williams
For movies opening November 9, 2007


BIG BUDGET FILMS

Fred Claus (PG for mild epithets and crude humor) Holiday comedy about the zany antics which unfold after Santa Claus’ (Paul Giamatti) bails his down-on-his-luck big brother, Fred (Vince Vaughn), out of jail and gives him a job at the North Pole making toys with the elves. Cast includes Kevin Spacey, Miranda Richardson, Kathy Bates, Ludacris and Elizabeth Banks.

I Could Never Be Your Woman (PG-13 for sex and expletives) Romantic comedy about a single-mom (Michelle Pfeiffer) who falls for a younger man (Paul Rudd) at the same time that her teenage daughter (Saoirse Ronan) starts to date for the first time in her life. Cast includes Tracey Ullman, Fred Willard, Henry Winkler and Jon Lovitz.

Lions for Lambs (R for profanity and violence) Robert Redford directs and co-stars in this political potboiler as an idealistic college professor who inspires two of his students (Derek Luke and Michael Pena) to abandon the comfort of campus for Afghanistan where their fates will be affected by a presidential hopeful (Tom Cruise) who gives a scoop to a television journalist (Meryl Streep). With Andrew Garfield and Peter Berg.

No Country for Old Men (R for profanity and graphic violence) Coen Brothers adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s modern-day Western stars about a Vietnam vet (Josh Brolin) on the run after stumbling upon several corpses, a stash of heroin and $2 million left at the scene of a grisly gun battle near the Rio Grande. Cast includes Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald and Stephen Root.

INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Cocalero (Unrated) Class-conscious documentary chronicles the presidential campaign of Bolivian populist Evo Morales in the wake of his having organized fellow farmers to resist governmental pressure to destroy their coca crops at the behest of the U.S. (In Quechua and Spanish with subtitles)

Glass Lips (Unrated) Experimental silent film from Polish director Lech Majewsli, essentially 33 shorts strung together, centers on the bizarre flashbacks of a patient (Patryk Czajka) in a mental institution.

Holly (Unrated) Sex trafficking is the theme of this drama about the efforts of a 40 year-old businessman (Ron Livingston) to save a 12 year-old Vietnamese virgin (Thuy Nguyen) sold by her parents into child prostitution across the border in Cambodia. With Udo Kier, Virginie Ledoyen and the late Chris Penn. (In Khmer, Vietnamese and English with subtitles)

My Name Is Albert Ayler (Unrated) Chronological bio-pic about avant-garde tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler (1936-1970) weaves concert footage of the iconoclastic proponent of free jazz with remembrances by colleagues, friends and relatives.

Note by Note (Unrated) Documentary details the elaborate, low-tech process still involved in the making of a Steinway piano, each of which contains 12,000 parts and is handcrafted with contributions by 450 artisans the old-fashioned way over the course of a year.

P2 (R for profanity, gore, graphic violence, and terror) Horror flick about a businesswoman (Rachel Nichols) trying to survive after finding herself locked on the second level of a parking garage on Christmas Eve by a psychopathic killer (Wes Bentley).

Saawariya (PG for mature themes, brief nudity, smoking and profanity) Based on the Dostoevsky short story “White Knights,” this Sony-produced Bollywood musical revolves around the serendipitous meeting of two strangers (Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor) who fall in love at first sight and proceed to spend the next four nights together. With Salman Khan. (In Hindi and Urdu with subtitles)

Steal a Pencil for Me (Unrated) Holocaust documentary about the adulterous love affair between Jack Polak and his mistress, Ina Soep, which miraculously survived despite their being interned at the same concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen, as his disapproving wife.

War/Dance (PG-13 for mature themes involving war atrocities) Uganda’s 20 year civil war provides the backdrop for this displacement documentary examining the efforts of three children living in a refugee camp to travel across the country to compete in a national dance contest.

No comments: