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 October 17, 2008


BIG BUDGET FILMS

Max Payne (PG-13 for profanity, sexuality, intense violence and drug use) Mark Wahlberg stars in the title role of this revenge thriller about a DEA agent and an assassin (Mila Kunis) who join forces to find the killers responsible for the murder of his family and her sister. Cast includes Ludacris, Beau Bridges, Nelly Furtado, Chris O’Donnell, Donal Logue and Kate Burton (Richard’s daughter).

The Secret Life of Bees (PG-13 for violence and mature themes) Dakota Fanning stars in this Southern saga, set in the Sixties at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, about a motherless teen who runs away with her surrogate mom (Jennifer Hudson) from her abusive father (Paul Bettany) to a tiny South Carolina town where they are taken in by an eccentric trio of beekeeping sisters (Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo and Alicia Keys).

Sex Drive (R for crude humor, sexuality, nudity, and drug and alcohol use, all involving teens) Raunchy road comedy about an 18 year-old virgin (Josh Zuckerman) who steals his big brother’s (James Marsden) classic Pontiac GTO in order to drive with a couple of friends (Amanda Crew and Clark Duke) from Chicago to Knoxville where he expects to rendezvous with a temptress (Katrina Bowden) he met over the internet.

W. (PG-13 for profanity, sexual references, smoking, alcohol abuse and disturbing war images) Josh Brolin plays the President in this bio-pic directed by Oliver Stone recounting the checkered career of George W. Bush. With Elizabeth Banks as his wife, Laura, Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice, Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell, Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney and Toby Jones as Karl Rove.


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Azur & Asmar (Unrated) Animated fairytale about a couple of boys raised like brothers in a castle, one, a motherless, young aristocrat (Cyril Mourali), the other, the son (Karim M’Ruba) of the family nanny (Hiam Abbass), who grow up to find themselves rivals in a race to find a princess (Thissa d’Avila Bensalah) in a magical, faraway fantasyland. (In French and Arabic with subtitles)

The Elephant King (R for drug use, violence, profanity and sexual content) Intervention drama about a young introvert (Tate Ellington), sent by his domineering mother (Ellen Burstyn) to Thailand to bring his decadent brother (Jonno Roberts) back to America, who finds himself falling in love for the first time with a local girl (Florence Faivre) while wondering whether he’s arrived too late to save his self-destructive sibling. (In English and Thai with subtitles)

Filth and Wisdom (Unrated) Madonna makes her directorial debut with this “Three’s Company” sitcom about the misadventures of a cross-dressing Russian immigrant (Eugene Hutz) who shares a London flat with two roommates: a ballerina-turned-stripper (Holly Weston) and a drug store clerk (Vicky McClure) with a bleeding heart. (In English and Russian with subtitles)

Frontrunners (Unrated) Egghead documentary chronicles the campaign for student body president at Stuyvesant High School, the most competitive public high school, academically, in New York City.

Morning Light (PG for mild epithets and crude dialogue) Seafaring documentary about 15 intrepid young men and women who undergo a rigorous training regimen in order to race a 52-foot sloop across the ocean in a 2,300-mile sailing competition against some of the world’s top professional sailors.

Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie (Unrated) Missing Link documentary about the effort of a couple of best friends, Dallas Gilbert and Wayne Burton, to flush the ever-elusive Bigfoot from his hideout in the Appalachian Mountains near their Rust Belt hometown located in rural Ohio.

Tru Loved (Unrated) Homoerotic coming-of-age drama about the difficult adjustment a gay 16 year-old (Najarra Townsend) makes to her new school and surroundings after moving with her lesbian parents from San Francisco to a conservative, Southern California community. With Jasmine Guy, Bruce Vilanch, Nichelle Nichols, Jake Abel, Matthew Thompson and Alexandra Paul.

What Just Happened? (R for profanity, sexuality, violence and drug use) Barry Levinson directs this ensemble comedy about two weeks in the life of an unhappily-married movie producer (Robert De Niro) who’s desperate to get his next picture made. With Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Catherine Keener, Robin Wright Penn and Kristen Stewart, and also Sean Penn and Bruce Willis as themselves.

Who Does She Think She Is? (Unrated) Female empowerment documentary focusing on the lives of five women determined to balance motherhood, career and a host of other concerns on their own terms.