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 February 22, 2008


BIG BUDGET FILMS

Be Kind, Rewind (PG-13 for sexual references) Buddy comedy about best a couple of friends who decide to try to re-shoot every movie a loyal customer (Mia Farrow) wants to rent after one (Jack Black) of them accidentally erases all the tapes at the video rental store where the other (Mos Def) works. With Danny Glover, Melonie Diaz and Sigourney Weaver.

Charlie Bartlett (R for profanity, drug use and brief nudity) Romantic comedy about a rich kid (Anton Yelchin) who finds himself falling in love with the principal’s (Robert Downey, Jr.) pretty daughter (Kat Dennings) at his new high school, while playing shrink in the boys’ room where he diagnoses patients and dispenses medication. Cast includes Hope Davis, Tyler Hilton and Megan Park.

Vantage Point (PG-13 for intense violence, disturbing images and brief profanity) Political potboiler examines an attempted assassination of the President of the United States (William Hurt) from the varying perspectives of eight eyewitnesses. Ensemble cast includes Forest Whitaker, Dennis Quaid, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Matthew Fox, Eduardo Noriega, Richard T. Jones and Bruce McGill.

Witless Protection (PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor) Larry the Cable Guy stars in this mob comedy about a small-town sheriff in Mississippi who mistakenly kidnaps a woman (Jenny McCarthy) in the witness protection program from the four FBI agents assigned to guard her until trial. Supporting cast includes Joe Mantegna, Yaphet Kotto and Peter Stormare.


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

The Counterfeiters (R for sexuality, nudity, profanity and violence) True WWII tale of survival, set in a Nazi concentration camp, about a master counterfeiter (Karl Markovics) forced to ply his trade to flood the market with the currency of the countries fighting Hitler and thereby devalue their money. (In German with subtitles)

Cover (PG-13 for profanity, sexuality, violence, drug use and mature themes) Bill Duke directs this Philadelphia-based flashback flick about a photographer (Aunjanue Ellis) who finds herself accused of murder soon after catching her on the down-low husband (Raz Adoti) naked, in flagrante delicto, with another man. With Vivica A. Fox, Lou Gossett, Jr., Leon. Patti LaBelle, Paula Jai Parker, Clifton Davis, Roger Guenveur Smith and Mya.

The Duchess of Langeais (Unrated) Historical drama, based on the Balzac novel of the same name, chronicles the seduction of a French general (Guillaume Depardieu) by a married noblewoman (Jeanne Balibar) he meets in Paris during the Reformation in the 1820s. (In Feanch with subtitles)

The Signal (R for brief nudity, pervasive profanity and graphic violence) Experimental horror film, shot in three parts by three different directors, about a mysterious cell phone transmission which, on New Year’s Eve, starts turning people in the mythical city of Terminus into mad killers. Plot centers around the efforts of an adulterer (Justin Welborn) to save the woman (Anessa Ramsey) he’s cheating with from her sadistic husband (AJ Bowen).