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 June 20, 2008


BIG BUDGET FILMS

Get Smart (PG-13 for violence, profanity and crude humor) Screen adaptation of the Sixties spy sitcom stars Steve Carrell as Maxwell Smart, aka Secret Agent 86. Gadget-driven, slapstick adventure pits the bumbling Smart and fellow CONTROL agents against Kaos, an evil crime syndicate masterminded by Siegfried (Terrence Stamp) and bent on world domination. Cast includes Anne Hathaway as 99, Alan Arkin as the Chief, David Koechner as Larabee, The Rock as Agent 23 and Bill Murray as Agent 13.

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (G) Depression Era drama, inspired by the illustrated children’s novel of the same name by Valerie Tripp, stars Abigail Breslin as a spunky nine year-old who, with the help of her friends, sets out to solve the string of robberies around Cincinnati which has left her already cash-strapped family facing foreclosure. With Joan Cusack, Julia Ormond, Jane Krakowski, Stanley Tucci, and Willow Smith (Will and Jada’s daughter)

The Love Guru (PG-13 for sexuality, profanity, slapstick violence, crude humor and drug references) Mike Myers comedy vehicle about an orphan abandoned at an ashram in India who employs some unorthodox therapeutic methods upon his return to the U.S. as a relationship advice expert. Cast includes Jessica Alba, Jessica Simpson, Jessica Barrow, Meagan Good, Sir Ben Kingsley, Vern “Mini-Me” Troyer and Justin Timberlake.


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Brick Lane (PG-13 for profanity and sexuality) Cross-cultural drama, set in the Eighties, about an obedient Bangladeshi woman (Tannishtha Chatterjee) who emigrates to London where she ends up trapped in a soul-strangling, arranged marriage with a middle-aged Muslim (Satish Kaushik) twenty years her senior.

Expired (Unrated) Romantic comedy revolving around the dysfunctional relationship of a mellow meter maid (Samantha Morton) who hates her job and her short-fused colleague (Jason Patric) who delights in writing up parking tickets. With Teri Garr, Illeana Douglas and Jonny Mack.

Quid Pro Quo (R for sexuality and profanity) Psychological thriller about a wheelchair-bound, public radio reporter (Nick Stahl) who finds himself drawn into a surreal subculture of kinky fetishes by a weirdo (Vera Farmiga) with an erotic compulsion to become a paraplegic. Cast includes James Frain and Kate Burton (Richard’s daughter).