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QPIB=Lna)Pdaoeo “God Is Angry” QPQj`ancn]`q]pa “That’s Not Funny” ]j`PdaoeoBehio PdaoeoBehio

UT MFA Pre-Thesis and Thesis Films (2008) UT Undergraduate Thesis Films (2008) D: Various. D: Various. (NR, 180 min.) The University of Texas pre-thesis (NR, 180 min.) This end-of-the-semester program of University film program includes “Encounter” by Rhituparna Basu, “God Is of Texas undergraduate films includes “Popsicle” by Lucas Angry” by Daniel Stuyck, “The Heater” by Brian Schwarz, “Sunday Amann, “And of Course, There Was the Day We Died” by Clayton Afternoon” by Alexandra Thomas, “The Sea and the Gulls” by Boyd, “Lo Que Daria Por Volver” by Sergio Carvajal, “Le Grand Ying Liu, “What Comes Next” by Jessica Dorfman, “Little Girl” by Voyage De Giovanni” by Gabe Evans, “That’s Not Funny” by Molly Green, “No Name Actress” by Su-Yeon Kim, Jessica Keath, “Moloch’s Lullaby” by Nicholas Siegenthaler, “Alley “Deconstructing Paisley” by Mike Mazella, “The Couple” by Ruwan Perera, “Untitled” by Sergio Rabczuk, “King of Hidden Dangers!” by Tim Tsai, and “Fire in the Hole” by Jeehhyun Dong. The list of the thesis films in the of the Streets” by Meena Ramamurthy, and “A-” by Daniel Veliz. @Alamo Ritz, Saturday, noon; free. program was not available at press time. @Alamo Drafthouse South, Sunday, 6pm; free.

*PRICELESS SHUTTER Moss. It’s a tangled, gritty story full of gunfire, ingly vague on plot specifics. But most egregious D: Pierre Salvadori; with Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, D: Masayuki Ochiai; with Joshua Jackson, Rachael blood, and vicious men (both on the side of the of all is the insurmountable fact that this film is law and against it), and, for the most part, it’s an just plain dumb. (03/14/2008) – Marc Savlov Marie-Christine Adam, Vernon Dobtcheff, Jacques Taylor, Megumi Okina, David Denman, John Hensley, absorbing policier. Curiously, the often affectless Movies 8, Tinseltown South Spiesser, Annelise Hesme. (PG-13, 104 min., subtitled) James Kyson Lee, Maya Hazen. (PG-13, 85 min.) Shutter is Japanese director Ochiai’s Reeves is well-cast as a vice detective whose Priceless is a supremely satisfying confection – placid exterior cloaks a volatile temper that his a French romantic comedy of the sort that leaves Americanized-yet-shot-in-Tokyo do-over of Thai film- 21 makers Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom captain (Whitaker) puts to good use whenever D: Robert Luketic; with Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, you with a dopey grin on your face. And how could he needs a mad dog to take care of business it be otherwise, with Amélie’s Tautou at her most Wongpoom’s sublime, melancholy, and ultimately Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Liza Lapira, Josh ghastly (and identically titled) 2004 T-horror using methods best kept under cover from the Gad, Aaron Yoo, Sam Golzari, Jacob Pitts, Jack McGee. lash-battingly doe-eyed, and whippet-thin Moroccan public eye. Director Ayer brings a tactile feel to take on Franco Zeffirelli’s Endless Love by way of (PG-13, 123 min.) comic Elmaleh as sweet and refreshing as a sum- the urban grit he portrays, even though some of Antonioni’s Blow-Up. Ochiai’s “photo-montage” (a One might think that characters who have the mer breeze blowing in off the French Riviera? his imagery is rather worn. Despite its limitations, couple sees mysterious images in photographs) mental quickness to count cards and take the Salvadori (Après Vous) knows his way around the Street Kings is a solid contemporary crime drama. suffers from the presence of everyone but the Vegas blackjack tables for tens of thousands of French sex comedy, to be sure, but this is some- (04/18/2008) – Marjorie Baumgarten ghostly Okina (also seen stateside in The Grudge dollars would also have the acumen to notice that thing else altogether, at once lighter and denser, ★★★ Tinseltown South a soufflé de l’amour whose closest American lite) and some shivery camerawork from the mas- some aspects of their caper just don’t add up. equivalent – tonally, at least – is Dirty Rotten terful eye of director of cinematography Katsumi The filmmakers take a pass on character develop- Scoundrels by way of Lubitsch. Tautou plays Irene, Yanagijima – a favorite of both Takeshi “Beat” SUPERHERO MOVIE ment in favor of fluttery Vegas montages of cards, a gold-digging gamine on the make in Biarritz. The Kitano and Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale). But the D: Craig Mazin; with Drake Bell, Leslie Nielsen, Sara lights, money, and pretty, young faces in thrall perfectly cast Tautou and Elmaleh are so ingratiat- very Thai-specific charms that made the original Paxton, Christopher McDonald, Marion Ross, Kevin Hart, to the gods of self-made fortunes and striking it ing that what by all rights should be little more Shutter such an unforeseen, unpredictable delight Brent Spiner, Jeffrey Tambor. (PG-13, 85 min.) rich. Adapted from Ben Mezrich’s true account than a frothy screenful of screwball comedy clichés are almost entirely absent here, eclipsed by the Mazin’s feature debut, The Specials, is a super- of similar events, Bringing Down the House: The ends up transcending its own innate limitations annoying blond highlights of Taylor, ex-Transform- hero satire that affectionately winks and nods at Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas and becomes, in the end, a booster shot for the ers babe and forever, as the Thai say, farang. New the whole concept of what superheroes do, if any- for Millions, the film shows little interest in the lovesick. (05/02/2008) – Marc Savlov rule: No more Asian-horror remakes until everyone thing, on their days off. That said, his new parody, honest reasons why a Harvard Medical School ★★★★■Arbor outside of Asia has seen the originals. I’m not Superhero Movie, blows harder than Storm from admittee, who professes that he’s only in it for kidding. (03/28/2008) – Marc Savlov X-Men. It’s a tonally confused comedy, which, for the $300,000 needed to finance his education, PROM NIGHT ★ Tinseltown South once, doesn’t go far enough comedically. Featuring just doesn’t apply for a student loan like every- D: Nelson McCormick; with Brittany Snow, Scott Porter, an earnest performance from Bell – whose riff body else. 21 shares with the Las Vegas mythos on Peter Parker/Spider-Man is very nearly note- Jessica Stroup, Dana Davis, Collins Pennie, Johnathon SMART PEOPLE the same stale temptations: empty glitz and little D: Noam Murro; with Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, perfect – and an appropriately scenery-devouring substance. (03/28/2008) – Marjorie Baumgarten Schaech, Idris Elba, James Ransone. (PG-13, 88 min.) Thomas Haden Church, Ellen Page, Ashton Holmes. (NR, McDonald (voice of The Iron Giant’s G-man, Kent ★★ CM Round Rock, Tinseltown South This do-over of the 1980 Prom Night isn’t so Mansley) as the supervillian Hourglass, Superhero much an improvement over the original as lousy in 95 min.) Lawrence Wetherhold (Quaid), a widowed profes- Movie plays like a real (albeit really cheap) TYLER PERRY’S MEET THE BROWNS a whole new direction, a nearly bloodless slasher Marvel Universe knockoff that was shanghaied film with fewer surprises than a broken jack-in- sor at Carnegie Mellon University, is a guy who D: Tyler Perry; with Tyler Perry, Angela Bassett, David would be able to spell “dysfunctional” with ease by the Wayans gang and then minimalized by Mann, Tamela J. Mann, Rick Fox, Lance Gross, Frankie the-box. It’s blandly scripted by J.S. Cardone, who Reducto from Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. adds nothing new to a genre that has already but never recognize the word as a description of Faison, Margaret Avery, Jenifer Lewis, Sofía Vergara, himself and his family. Lawrence is acerbic and Even cameos from Airplane!-er Robert Hays and expired and been resurrected more times than Forbidden Planeteer-cum-comedy-stalwart Nielson Irma P. Hall, Chloe Bailey, Mariana Tolbert. (PG-13, Jason Voorhees. Hairspray’s Snow plays high demanding yet wholly disinterested in his students, 100 min.) family, and career. His daughter Vanessa (Page) can’t supersize the yuks on what turns out to be school senior Donna, whose entire family was gut- a mere annoyance of a spoof. Bah, puny insect! You know what you’re signing up for when ted three years earlier by maniac teacher Richard is a high-school senior whose character traits are attending a “Tyler Perry film”: crass but wholesome even worse than her old man’s. The film is the first (04/04/2008) – Marc Savlov Fenton (Schaech), who has since been locked ★ Tinseltown South stories about modern black family life that mesh away, presumably, in the same inescapable mad- feature effort for commercials director Murro and comedy, melodrama, and Christian uplift – and house Michael Myers keeps escaping from. Now, novelist-turned-screenwriter Mark Jude Poirier, who include his name in the title. Meet the Browns also with the big night at hand, Donna, dull beau Bobby make a distinctive, if not entirely successful debut. 10,000 B.C. highlights another of Perry’s recurrent themes: (Porter), and a quartet of their BFFs are stalked Poirier’s language is often delicious, highlighted by D: Roland Emmerich; with Steven Strait, Camilla Belle, scorn for black men who don’t do right by their and ceremoniously exsanguinated (offscreen, no barbs and dialogue that are as well-aimed as they Cliff Curtis, Mona Hammond. (PG-13, 108 min.) families and baby mamas. The casting of Bassett less), with nary a shred of suspense or even mild are socially inappropriate, and Murro evidences Emmerich comes to the prehistoric party con- as this film’s lead presents Perry with the best annoyance as the still-statutory crush’n prof carves none of the ADD flash that often makes com- siderably late in the Hollywood timeline, and he actor he’s probably ever featured in any of his mov- a virtually goreless path toward his favorite coed. mercials directors ill-equipped to handle character arrives bearing neither the spark of creativity nor ies so far, and although she’s terrific to watch, she (04/18/2008) – Marc Savlov arcs. Yet there’s something amiss in Smart People anything resembling even the flimsiest glimmer of can’t raise Meet the Browns from the doldrums. Metropolitan, Millennium, Tinseltown North that fails to get a fire going among any of the char- originality. 10,000 B.C. is a stunningly ham-fisted The problem with the film is not really the story acters. (04/11/2008) – Marjorie Baumgarten paste job of a caveman flick, directed with all the but, rather, the slapdash mechanics of Perry’s sto- THE RUINS ★★★ Arbor subtlety of Eegah, woefully acted (those Geico rytelling. His visual style aspires to nothing more advertisements are considerably more nuanced), than rudimentary point-and-shoot blocking, and his D: Carter Smith; with Shawn Ashmore, Jena Malone, and sporting some awfully shoddy CGI effects Jonathan Tucker, Laura Ramsey, Joe Anderson. (R, 97 STREET KINGS storytelling bounces radically between low comedy D: David Ayer; with Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh (the woolly mammoths are up to par, but that min.) and high melodrama, while excising any fluidity or Laurie, Chris Evans, Martha Higareda, Terry Crews, Jay saber-toothed tiger seems like a hastily created plausibility that might bridge the two contrasts. The Ruins, based on Scott Smith’s bestselling digital afterthought). Strait is D’Leh, a (possibly) horror novel, is a riff on the perils of leaving the Mohr, Cedric the Entertainer, The Game, Naomie Harris. (03/28/2008) – Marjorie Baumgarten (R, 109 min.) Paleolithic hunter with abandonment issues who ★★■Tinseltown South main trail and venturing off on one’s own, espe- crosses continents (maybe) to rescue his blue-eyed cially if you’re young, white, and American. Medical Dirty cops are the kings of the L.A. streets, and no one knows that better than James Ellroy, beloved (Belle) after she and others of their tribe student Jeff (Tucker) gets a highly specialized are captured by an equestrian raiding party in the UNDER THE SAME MOON crash course in field surgery and why cell phones the crime novelist who wrote the story on which D: Patricia Riggen; with Kate del Castillo, Eugenio this film’s screenplay is based, and for which employ of (who knows?) some wigged-out Egyptian are fundamentally evil little diabolus ex machinas proto-pharaohs. Emmerich’s narrative is madden- Derbez, Mário Almada, Adrian Alonso, Isaac Bravo, when he and girlfriend (Malone) and their best he receives credit with Kurt Wimmer and Jamie Ernesto D’Alessio, Julie Dove, America Ferrera. (PG-13, friends (Ransey and Ashmore) end up trapped atop 109 min., subtitled) an ancient Mayan pyramid – along with a fellow With the right set of eyes, anywhere can be German tourist – which harbors a dark, sinewy heaven. Take the poor neighborhoods of East Los secret. Smith’s singularly bizarre novel managed QP@k_qiajp]nu Angeles, for example: In the mind’s eye of 9-year- what this film cannot: fear and sympathy. Stripped old Mexican Carlitos (Alonso), that concrete jungle of the novel’s horror by its own overreliance on Odks_]oa6/OdknpBehio of endless strip malls and fast-food restaurants is grisly imagery and a quartet of protagonists who a wonderland. Four years ago, his mother, Rosario you barely care about, this is not nearly as unique UT Documentary Showcase: 3 Short Films (2008) (del Castillo), left him in their small Mexican village a horror film as it thinks it is or it could have been. D: Various. (NR, 127 min.) Austin Film Society Documentary Tour. to seek work as a domestic across the border and (04/11/2008) – Marc Savlov Recent University of Texas MFA graduates present their thesis docu- hasn’t been back since. Carlitos dreams of that ★ Tinseltown South mentaries. The projects include La Voie du Nord (The Way North) La Voie Los Angeles barrio the way the Spanish conquis- tadors dreamed of El Dorado, so he resolves to (60 min.) by Shara Lange, “Road to Tlacotepec” (37 min.) by Berndt du Nord Mader, and “Girls of Don Bosco” (30 min.) by Kendra Dorty. The make the perilous journey across the border and filmmakers will be in attendance for Q&As. See “Student Travels,” p.60, for more on the program. @Alamo into America to reunite with his mother. As a work Ritz, Wednesday, 7pm; $6, $4 AFS members; reserve tickets at www.austinfilm.org online. of dramatic fiction, Under the Same Moon isn’t any-

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