C ALE N D AR ( COMMUNITY SPORTS ARTS FILM MUSIC) L I S TINGS

D: Andrew Fleming; with Steve meets-Buñuel bank caper. While the authorities, the HAMLET 2 Strange Fruit & Scarred Justice: press, and the citizenry of the Big Apple were all asking Coogan, Catherine Keener, Joseph Julian Soria, Skylar why, Petit (insightfully highlighting the difference between Astin, Phoebe Strole, Melonie Diaz, David Arquette, Elisabeth The Orangeburg Massacre 1968 the French and American mindsets) could only say, by Shue, Amy Poehler. (R, 92 min.) Strange Fruit (2002) & Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg way of explanation: “There is no why. There is only the walk.” (08/08/2008) – Marc Savlov While great, sick fun, Hamlet 2 never lives up to Massacre 1968 (2008) Celluloid for Social Justice: The Legacy of Strange 1968 in Documentaries. The first film on tonight’s double bill traces the ★★★★ its titular potential. Unlike Coogan, it both goes too Fruit Dobie lineage of the song Billie Holiday made famous; the second explores the far and not quite far enough in its embrace of every- 1968 South Carolina State University protest that ended in three stu- day madness. (Although once you include a catchy dent deaths. This UT-sponsored mini film festival celebrates 40 years of MIRRORS D: Alexandre Aja; with Kiefer musical number about incest and pederasty that California Newsreel, the oldest nonprofit, social issue documentary film center in the country. For more info, Sutherland, Paula Patton, Amy Smart, Cameron Boyce, features the chorus “Raped in the face,” I’m uncer- see www.1968conf.org, and see Special Screenings, p.94. Free. @CAL 100 (on the UT campus), Monday, 7pm. tain if there is anywhere to go.) Coogan plays Dana Erica Gluck, Jason Flemyng, Mary Beth Peil, John Shrapnel. ›Marschz, a passionately committed high school (R, 110 min.) drama teacher who, upon learning that budget cuts and creatively uncorked piece of fantastic cinema since D: Fred Durst; with Ice We can only hope that something was lost in will eliminate his class, dashes off a majestically the director’s Pan’s Labyrinth netted an Oscar trifecta THE LONGSHOTS translation in this remake of the South Korean film warped sequel to Hamlet, hoping that its perfor- in 2007. Given the success of that film, del Toro’s Cube, Keke Palmer, Tasha Smith, Jill Marie Jones, Dash Into the Mirror. Although the prosthetics and special mance will raise enough money to keep the class budget is considerably larger this time, allowing him to Mihok, Matt Craven, Glenn Plummer, Garrett Morris. effects look pretty good, Mirrors’ story is ridiculous going. Coogan is an utterly fearless performer, indulge his genius for the freakish – Hellboy II is a visu- (PG, 94 min.) and wholly unbelievable. Something bad is trapped in which makes his character just unreal enough to ally breathtaking bestiary of everything that ever lurked the mirrors of the burned-out department store where I’m not exactly sure how to put this – not quite feel way too real. There is only the most nominal under your childhood bed – while fleshing out the “big former detective Ben Carson (Sutherland) works as a sure I believe it myself, honestly – but Durst, lead of lines between genius and a room at Bedlam, red one” and his pals at the Bureau for Paranormal ›night security guard. The mirrors start reflecting back singer of Limp Bizkit, isn’t half bad at making and Coogan, entirely comfortable with making his Research and Defense. Co-scripted with wild abandon wretched images of himself and cause him to have movies. Serves me right for judging a book by its audience entirely uncomfortable, straddles it with and plenty of heart by del Toro and the comic book’s horrifically realistic hallucinations. Ultimately, there’s enormous puffy jacket and backward baseball cap. manic vigor, raping it in the face for all it’s worth. creator, Mike Mignola, this second Hellboy film outing little explanation offered regarding what the evil in The Longshots is “inspired by” the story of Jasmine (08/22/2008) – Marc Savlov finds the stogie-chompin’, pussycat-lovin’, Tecate-swillin’ the mirror actually is, making for an unsatisfying tale. Plummer (Palmer), the first girl to play in the Pop ★★★ Alamo Drafthouse South, Barton Creek Square, hell spawn defending an unsympathetic-as-ever man- An effective sound design enhances several of the ›Warner youth football league. When Jasmine’s good- Dobie kind. There’s much here for longtime fans and Hellboy film’s sudden frights, and Sutherland is a predictably for-nothing uncle Curtis (Ice Cube), once a high school newcomers to enjoy, although del Toro’s film occasion- solid presence. The moment Ben wields his gun to football star, discovers she has a knack for playing ally suffers from there being almost too much to keep remove the nun who may hold the answer to the quarterback, he takes it upon himself to cultivate her HANCOCK D: Peter Berg; with Will Smith, Charlize up with. (07/11/2008) – Marc Savlov deadly mirror nonsense from her cloisters may just talent. It’s obvious from the beginning that the kind Theron, Jason Bateman, Jae Head, Johnny Galecki. ★★★★■ be worth the price of admission, however. Otherwise, Movies 8, Tinseltown South of synchronized redemption Hollywood can’t seem our No. 1 freaky man in the mirror remains Michael (PG-13, 92 min.) to get enough of awaits, but Durst deftly avoids the Jackson. (08/22/2008) – Marjorie Baumgarten From its opening shot of recalcitrant superhero traps of easy sentimentality and contrived jokiness by THE HOUSE BUNNY D: Fred Wolf; with ★ Highland, Metropolitan, Tinseltown North John Hancock (Smith) sleeping off a permanent hang- Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone, Rumer Willis, grabbing his two lead actors and holding on for dear over on a Los Angeles bench to its raggedy, barely life, knowing that the second their characters become Katharine McPhee, Sarah Wright, Dana Goodman, Kat explicable backstory, Hancock is a godforsaken caricatures is the second his movie becomes dispos- THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE mess. With its tied-in-a-bow, patently dull outcome Dennings, Christopher McDonald, Beverly D’Angelo. able. (08/22/2008) – Josh Rosenblatt and yawny midsection, it makes Smith’s 1990 sit- (PG-13, 97 min.) ★★★ Hill Country Galleria, CM Round Rock, DRAGON EMPEROR D: Rob Cohen; with com breakthrough, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, look This empty-headed comedy about a Playmate who Southpark Meadows, Tinseltown North, Tinseltown South Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li, John Hannah, Michelle positively transgressive by comparison. Berg strains finds herself a house mother to a group of misfit Yeoh, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong. (PG-13, 114 min.) toward some sort of message, but unless the mes- › sorority sisters is little more than a recycled version sage is that with great power comes vast amounts MAMMA MIA! D: Phyllida Lloyd; with Meryl It’s been seven years since husband-and-wife adven- of Legally Blonde with bunny ears. (Not surprisingly, of booze and self-loathing – a superheroic subtext turers Rick and Evelyn O’Connell (Fraser, playing Indy, both films were penned by screenwriters Karen Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, already delivered with far more pathos, thrills, and and Bello, playing Rachel Weisz, poorly) last kicked off McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith.) After being evict- Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic humor by Iron Man earlier this summer – then the wrappings of undead Egyptian Imhotep, and by golly, ›ed from the mansion, sweet but dimwitted Shelley Cooper. (PG-13, 108 min.) Hancock misses its target by a mile and leaves you they are one bone-bored couple. No more mummies Darlingson (Faris) ends up at the rundown Zeta to wonder about its protagonist’s obsession with First let me soothe the jangled nerves of any purists means no more gallivanting around the globe, so they Alpha Zeta house, which quickly becomes the most eagles; whether or not he’s a god, an angel, or an in the house: Yes, Mamma Mia! stays faithful to its can be excused for going all giddy when Her Majesty popular spot on campus once she nurtures her girls › alien; and why on earth anyone would want to waste source material. By source material, I mean, of course, requests of them one final mission. Before you can by teaching them to wear too much make-up and too a summer matinee afternoon with such vacuous the hit theatrical show that strung together a bunch of say, “Hey, didn’t Universal Home Video just release little clothing. While the female empowerment theme cineplex junk. To quote Philly’s former Freshest, “Yo ABBA chart toppers and shoehorned a pittance of plot the vastly superior 1932 original as part of its excel- is a bit muddled, the film lacks the confident pres- homes, smell ya later.” (07/04/2008) – Marc Savlov in between a giggling spectacle of song and dance. This lent bells-whistles-and-tannis-leaves Universal Legacy ence of someone like Reese Witherspoon to gloss ★★■Movies 8, Tinseltown South is astonishingly silly stuff, but it’s not like anybody’s try- Series?” the O’Connell family is up to its neck in ambu- over the mixed signals it gives about femininity and ›ing to pass this off as anything other than silly – there’s latory terra-cotta warriors, a mother-and-daughter pair of individualism. Faris’ performance grows on you, but a goddamn exclamation point in the title. Which isn’t immortal Chinese tomb guardians, and Li’s reanimated HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN the character is never given the opportunity to com- to say that there isn’t much to quibble with here. There Dragon Emperor. A confused mess of a film, Tomb of mand the silliness onscreen in the way that Elle are indignities aplenty heaped atop the cast: Welcome the Dragon Emperor is little more than a cluttered, D: Guillermo del Toro; with Ron Perlman, wARMY Woods gave Witherspoon the opportunity to shine. noisy, and unsatisfying thrill ride to nowhere, making it to Ham Town. But once you accept everything that Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, Luke Goss, John (08/29/2008) – Steve Davis exclamation point entails, there are fleeting pleasures abundantly clear that this is one franchise that is dead Alexander, James Dodd, Anna Walton. (PG-13, 110 min.) ★★ Barton Creek Square, CM Cedar Park, Hill Country to be had. Seyfried is a lovely find; she has the most in all but name. (08/01/2008) – Marc Savlov It’s not perfect – thank Satan! – but Hellboy II: The Galleria, CM Round Rock, Southpark Meadows, Gateway, accomplished voice in the cast and imbues a zero char- ★■Movies 8, Metropolitan, Millennium, Tinseltown North Golden Army is by far the most splendidly imaginative Lakeline, Metropolitan, Tinseltown North, Westgate acter with vulnerability and charm. The vets are fun to watch, too. (07/18/2008) – Kimberley Jones D: David Gordon ★★★■ PINEAPPLE EXPRESS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF Arbor, Hill Country Galleria, CM Round Rock, Green; with Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, Westgate w “The Women’s THE EARTH D: Eric Brevig; with Brendan Fraser, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, Amber Heard, Craig Robinson, Kevin Anita Briem, Josh Hutcherson, Seth Meyers. (PG, 92 min.) MAMMA MIA!: THE SING- Corrigan, James Remar. (R, 105 min.) Kingdom” & “Nu Shu: Make sure to catch this latest iteration of the This stoner action-comedy is an affectionate bid at Jules Verne novel on a screen projecting it in 3-D ALONG EDITION D: Phyllida Lloyd; with the buddy pics of the Seventies and Eighties. Rogen A Hidden Language of format (some prints are 3-D, others regular 2-D), Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, (who co-wrote the script with partner Evan Goldberg) Women in China” because without all the fun visual effects of stuff Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic plays a process server named Dale Denton, who acci- “comin’ right at ya,” this journey’s center will not Cooper. (PG-13, 108 min.) dentally witnesses a murder and must go on the lam “The Women’s Kingdom” “Nu Shu” hold. Seemingly created to whet the audience with his dealer, the sweet, half-lidded Saul (Franco). (2006) & “Nu Shu: A appetite for a new age of digital 3-D, the filmmak- Karaoke for dancing queens everywhere. The action follows the pair almost exclusively, and Hidden Language of ers have paid little attention to character devel- (08/29/2008) – Marjorie Baumgarten Rogen and Franco – who previously worked together Women in China” (1999) ›opment or the screenplay, trusting Verne’s far- Barton Creek Square on Freaks and Geeks and are part of überproducer UT Center for Women’s and fetched fantasia about the inner-Earth biosphere Judd Apatow’s rotating roster – have a comfortable, Gender Studies Film Series. to carry the day. And for the most part, it does. MAN ON WIRE D: James Marsh. (PG-13, 90 min.) freewheeling chemistry. Strip away the guys with guns Part of a symposium on global When the action is in the foreground, the film’s › chasing after them, and what you have are two lon- feminism, these two short doc- visual thrills provide fun gasps and the feeling w This documentary tells an impossible story about a ers stumbling onto a soulmate – or another hilarious, umentaries tap into the state of a genuinely collective moviegoing experience. man who walked – danced, really – on a tightrope strung heartfelt ode to fraternal love in the same vein as of feminism in China. Xiaoli But the backgrounds generally look like 2-D matte between the tops of the two then-new World Trade Rogen and Goldberg’s breakout from last summer, Zhou’s film (“The Women’s paintings, and when combined with the hellzapop- Center buildings. Philippe Petit’s inspired and altogether Superbad. Franco, who too often gravitates toward Kingdom”) profiles the matriarchal society – one of pin’ happenings in the foregrounds, the finished unauthorized bit of daredeviltry is the subject of Marsh’s wet-blanket roles, is a revelation as kindhearted idiot the last – of the Mosuo tribe, while Yue-Qing Yang’s look appears dull and desaturated. But the quick equally exhilarating film. The notion of “le coup,” as Petit savant Saul. (08/08/2008) – Kimberley Jones film investigates the age-old secret language used by 92-minute running time keeps the action mov- and his cadre of assistants and friends referred to the ★★★★■Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, Alamo peasant women in the Hunan province. There will be a ing chockablock forward to every new set-piece. WTC walk, was born even before the towers were fully Drafthouse South, Alamo Drafthouse Village, Southpark post-screening discussion led by UT faculty. For more (07/11/2008) – Marjorie Baumgarten erected, and Petit’s impossibly complex and detailed info, visit www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/cwgs. Free. @PAR Meadows, Gateway, Tinseltown North, Tinseltown ★★ Gateway, Metropolitan, Tinseltown North planning went on for years before finally becoming a South, Westgate 201 (on the UT campus), Thursday (9/18), 7pm. reality that, seen here, resembles some sort of Godard- 90 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E SEPTEMBER 12, 2008 a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m