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 20, 2009


BIG BUDGET FILMS

Fired Up (PG-13 for profanity, sexuality, partying, partial nudity and pervasive crude humor) Teen comedy about a couple of high school’s football stars (Eric Christian Olsen and Nicholas D’Agosto) who hatch a plan to spend the summer at a camp filled with gorgeous girls by quitting the team to try out for the cheerleading squad instead. Cast includes Sarah Roemer, Philip Baker Hall, Molly Sims and Smith Cho.

Madea Goes to Jail (PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, mature themes and drug use) Tyler Perry’s back in drag for another madcap adventure which has the sassy, pistol-packing grandmother landing behind bars for anger management after leading police on a high-speed freeway chase. Ensemble cast includes Viola Davis, Derek Luke, Keisha Knight Pulliam and David and Tamela J. Mann.


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Eleven Minutes (R for profanity) Flash-in-the-pan documentary chronicles the efforts of promising fashion designer Jay McCarroll to show his first line of clothing in New York following his win on Season One of the reality TV-show “Project Runway.”

Katyn (Unrated) World War II saga about the fallout visited upon four Polish families waiting for word of loved ones following the Soviet invasion which led to the slaughter of thousands of soldiers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940. (In Polish, Russian and German with subtitles)

Must Read after My Death (Unrated) Skeletons-out-of-the-closet documentary, directed by Morgan Mews, about his late grandparents’ miserable marriage marked by spousal abuse, infidelity and insanity. Warts-and-all bio-pic revisits dysfunctional relationship via tragic tapestry weaved courtesy of family photographs, 8mm home movies, candid audiotapes and granny’s intimate journals.

The Velveteen Rabbit (G) Screen adaptation of Margery Williams’ children’s classic features a mix of live-action and animation in a modern fairytale about a lonely little boy being who comes to grips about being raised by his strict grandfather with the help of a stuffed animal magically transformed into a real rabbit. Cast includes Jane Seymour, Tom Skerritt and Ellen Burstyn.