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 January 30, 2009


BIG BUDGET FILMS

New in Town (PG-13 for brief profanity) Romantic comedy about a high-powered, big-city businesswoman (Rene Zellweger) who reevaluates her life priorities after falling for a local yokel (Harry Connick, Jr.) in the rural Minnesota community where she has been ordered to close down a company factory. Cast includes J.K. Simmons, Frances Conroy and Siobhan Fallon. (In English and Spanish with subtitles)

Taken (PG-13 for profanity, violence, sexuality, disturbing themes and drug references) International action thriller about a former CIA Agent (Liam Neeson) who comes to the rescue after his 17 year-old daughter (Maggie Grace) is kidnapped in Paris by brutal sex-traffickers. With Famke Janssen and Leland Orser. (In French, Arabic, Albanian and English)

The Uninvited (PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, mature themes, profanity, sexuality and teen drinking) Remake of Korean horror flick revolving around the desperate efforts of two sisters (Emily Browning and Arielle Kebbel) to warn their father (David Strathairn) about his fiancée’s (Elizabeth Banks) sinister agenda after being visited by the ghost of their recently-deceased mother (Maya Massar).


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

As Seen through These Eyes (Unrated) Holocaust documentary, narrated by Maya Angelou, analyzes works of art created by concentration camp victims at Auschwitz.

Blessed Is the Match (Unrated) World War II resistance bio-pic chronicles the exploits of Hungarian heroine Hannah Senesh, a poet-turned-freedom fighter martyred by the Nazis while trying to rescue Jews during the Holocaust.

The Class (PG-13 for profanity) Junior high school teacher Francois Begaudeau plays himself in this uplifting drama based on his memoir about a year spent trying to inspire an ethnically-diverse class of poor kids from a rough Parisian neighborhood. (In French with subtitles)

Medicine for Melancholy (Unrated) Romance drama set in a gentrifying sector of San Francisco and revolving around an African-American couple (Wyatt Cenac and Tracey Heggins) who awake in bed after a one-night stand with no recollection of each other’s name or how they ended up sleeping together.

Serbis (Unrated) Sexplicit, intergenerational comedy highlighting the host of woes, including incest, bigamy, divorce and an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, being visited upon a dysfunctional Filipino family operating a gay porno theater in a seedy section of the City of Angeles. (In Filipino and Tagalog with subtitles)

Shadows (Unrated) Horror flick about a young doctor (Borce Nacev) who survives a devastating car accident only to have his life turn into a living Hell when he starts being tormented by restless ghosts yet to find peace in the afterlife. (In Macedonian with subtitles)

The Sky Turns (Unrated) Deliberately-paced documentary amounting to a serene meditation on the quality of life inside the quaint village of Aldealsenor located in Spain’s sparsely-populated Province of Soria. (In Spanish with subtitles)