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 April 16, 2010

 

 

BIG BUDGET FILMS

 

Death at a Funeral (R for profanity and drug use) Blackface remake of the 2007 dark comedy about the mayhem which breaks out when skeletons come out of the family closet while the clan convenes to bury the family patriarch. Director Neil LaBute assembled an ensemble cast featuring Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Tracy Morgan, Danny Glover, Loretta Devine, Luke Wilson, Regina Hall and James Marsden.

 

Kick Ass (R for pervasive profanity and graphic violence, nudity, sexuality and drug use by children) Action flick about a social zero (Aaron Johnson) who turns his obsession with comic books into something productive by not only becoming a crime-fighting superhero but by inspiring a number of copycat kids to follow suit. With Christopher Mintz-Passe, Sophie Wu and Evan Peters.

 

 

INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

 

The Cartel (Unrated) Chilling children left behind expose’, directed by investigative journalist Bob Bowdon, chronicling the corruption and cronyism crippling the State of New Jersey’s public education system, a den off iniquity marked by excessive administration pay and perks coming at the expense mostly of its underachieving, inner-city students.

 

The City of Your Final Destination (PG-13 for a sexual situation with partial nudity) Bittersweet road drama about an Iranian grad student (Omar Metwally), hoping to write an authorized biography of a late, Latin American novelist, who travels from Colorado to Uruguay to get the cooperation in the project of the suicide victim’s widow (Laura Linney), mistress (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and disconsolate brother (Anthony Hopkins). The first production by James Ivory since the passing of his longtime collaborator, Ismail Merchant. (In English and Spanish with subtitles)

 

Exit Through the Gift Shop (R for profanity) Guerilla-style documentary, narrated by Rhys Ifans, recounting the often-comical efforts of French immigrant Thierry Guetta, a shopkeeper-turned-amateur filmmaker, to capture the famous but elusive graffiti artist Bansky on camera as he plies his trade on walls around the City of Los Angeles.

 

Handsome Harry (Unrated) Ugly, redemption drama about a Vietnam veteran’s (James Sheridan) effort to fulfill a guilt-ridden, terminally-ill, war buddy’s (Steve Buscemi) last request to seek forgiveness from a pal (Campbell Scott) they’d betrayed many years earlier. With Aidan Quinn, John Savage and Titus Welliver.

 

Have You Heard from Johannesburg? (Unrated) Historical documentary retracing the rise of the global, anti-apartheid movement which eventually toppled South Africa’s brutally-oppressive and racist regime.

 

The Joneses (R for sexuality, profanity, teen drinking and drug use) Conspicuous consumption comedy about a filthy-rich, faux family of four (David Duchovny, Demi Moore, Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth) which is strategically moved into an upscale, gated community by corporate marketing executives in order to make their neighbors crave the same luxury possessions. With Gary Cole, Lauren Hutton and Glenne Headly.

 

No One Knows about Persian Cats (Unrated) Musical comedy about a couple of Iranian musicians’ (Ashkan Koshanejad and Negar Shaghaghi) desperate search for sidemen to accompany them on a concert tour taking them from Teheran to London. (In Persian with subtitles)

 

The Perfect Game (PG for mature themes) Overcoming-the-odds, sports saga recounting the real-life triumph of a team of 12 year-olds from Monterrey, Mexico who in 1957 became the first foreign squad to win the Little League World Series. Cast includes Cheech Marin, Clifton Collins, Jr. and Moises Arias.

 

Pornography: A Thriller (Unrated) Graphic, homoerotic whodunit about a gay porn star (Jared Grey) whose mysterious disappearance after making a snuff film becomes the obsession of both an investigative journalist (Matthew Montgmery) and an actor (Peter Scherer) eager to portray the missing adult entertainer in a planned bio-pic.

 

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead (Unrated) Horror comedy about a stage director (Jake Hoffman) who hires his ex (Devon Aoki) and best friend (Kris Lemche) to co-star in an offbeat adaptation of Hamlet only to find the production plagued by the arrival of some sexy, 2,000 year-old vampires.

 

The Secret in Their Eyes (R for profanity, violent images, graphic nudity and rape) Flashback flick, set in the Seventies in Buenos Aires, where a federal agent (Ricardo Darin) becomes consumed with cracking the case of a young married woman (Carla Quevodo) who was raped and brutally murdered inside her own home while her husband (Pablo Rago) was at work. (In Spanish with subtitles)