C ALE N D AR ( COMMUNITY SPORTS ARTS FILM MUSIC) L I S TINGS GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST THE HURT LOCKER D: Kathryn Bigelow; IMAGINE THAT D: Karey Kirkpatrick; with D: Mark Waters; with Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer wwith Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Eddie Murphy, Yara Shahidi, Thomas Haden Church, Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly, Vanessa Williams, Nicole Ari Parker, Ronny Cox, Martin Robert Forster, Anne Archer, Emma Stone. (PG-13, 100 min.) Christopher Sayegh. (R, 131 min.) Sheen. (PG, 107 min.) Ghosts indeed: This romantic comedy by name The hybridization of arthouse and action doesn’t Imagine That, at times charming and frequently alone attempts to make funny – not to mention cultur- happen all that often, but it should, if mashing the two sweet, is a family film with engaging performances, ally relevant – the kind of swinging-dick misogyny that genres makes for film as riveting and rattling as The a straightforward moral for parents everywhere, and went out of fashion years ago. Celebrity photographer Hurt Locker. Bigelow’s film tells the story of an elite enough giggles to keep both parents and their young Connor Mead (McConaughey) is a quantity-over-quality bomb-dismantling squad winding down a tour of duty charges amused – all without a single fart joke. kind of guy. Love, he argues, is nothing more than in Iraq. “Story” is perhaps misleading, as The Hurt Murphy is Evan Danielson, a workaholic financial ana- “magical comfort food for the weak and uneducated,” Locker, very little interested in character backstory or lyst that has become an archetype of the separated a sentiment he lifted from his mentor, Uncle Wayne conventional plot, charts a series of missions, some dad to his 7-year-old daughter, Olivia (Shahidi), who (Douglas), who is the Marley surrogate in this A more successful than others, with only the occasional has conjured a band of imaginary friends to offset Christmas Carol reimagining. Wayne ushers Connor interlude of drunken roughhousing. There’s no moral- her lack of a caring father figure. As it happens, her through an evening of reflection and reckoning, with izing here, no monologuing about why we fight: The invisible pals have a knack for finance, and soon dad the aim of nudging him back into the arms of his Deadgirl Hurt Locker mostly restricts its focus to dramatizing and daughter are bonding over magic kingdoms and first love, Jenny (Garner, with negligible screen time). Deadgirl (2009) D: Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi the dirty work of bomb-dismantling in a war zone, and stock portfolios. All in all, Imagine That is an ami- Wayne is a quaint relic – not nearly as amusing as Harel; with Shiloh Fernandez, Noah Segan, Michael that it does brilliantly. The tension is enough to make able detour from its star’s usual penchant for toilet the filmmakers seem to think he is – but harmless Bowen, Candice Accola. (R, 101 min.) Fantastic Fest. you slightly sick, and the overall mood of the thing is humor and bad taste. Kids will empathize, parents enough. Not so with McConaughey’s wolfish Connor. When two high school misfits cut school and explore deeply dispiriting, but then, nobody ever said that war will breathe a sigh of relief, and film critics will be (Also, make-up and wardrobe have done him no an abandoned hospital, they make a gruesome dis- isn’t hell. (07/10/2009) – Kimberley Jones much relieved at not having to thumb through their favors, with his Easy-Bake tan, attack of the Crest covery in this festival hit that is gradually rolling out ★★★★ Arbor thesauri seeking another synonym for “gaseous.” Whitestrips, and too-literal interpretation of Connor’s nationally in midnight runs. Co-director Sarmiento (06/12/2009) – Marc Savlov oiliness.) (05/01/2009) – Kimberley Jones will be in attendance for a Q&A. @Alamo Ritz, Friday, ★★★ Movies 8 ★★■Movies 8 12mid; Saturday, 11:45pm. I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER D: Chris Columbus; with Hayden Panettiere, Paul Rust, Jack Carpenter, Lauren Storm, Lauren London, Shawn LAND OF THE LOST D: Brad Silberling; D: Todd Phillips; with THE HANGOVER Roberts. (PG-13, 102 min.) with Will Ferrell, Anna Friel, Danny McBride, Jorma Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin HANNAH MONTANA: THE Taccone, John Boylan. (PG-13, 93 min.) w There are so many things wrong with I Love You, Beth Bartha, Heather Graham, Ken Jeong, Mike Tyson, Mike Epps, MOVIE D: Peter Chelsom; with Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cooper – and so many missed opportunities for genu- Sid and Marty Krofft’s Land of the Lost, which Sasha Barrese, Rachael Harris, Jeffrey Tambor. (R, 99 min.) Cyrus, Emily Osment, Jason Earles, Lucas Till, Melora Hardin, ine teen-comedy greatness – that it’s difficult to know ran for three seasons beginning in 1974, chron- The Hangover instantly has the feel of one for Vanessa Williams, Margo Martindale. (G, 92 min.) where to begin. But, hey, let’s start with the miscasting icled the adventures of the Marshall family, who the ages. It is deliciously darker than Phillips’ pre- I won’t pretend to understand the Miley Cyrus/ of Rust, who, as high school übernerd and valedictorian became trapped in an alternate universe where vious comedies, Old School and Road Trip, but it Hannah Montana phenomenon; it surely boils down Dennis Cooverman, sets the plot in motion when he ill- stop-motion dinosaurs battled it out with a race of isn’t as thick with malice as those credits suggest. to some combination of commercial savvy: Cyrus’ advisedly rhapsodizes about his leggy blonde inamorata lizard-men dubbed the Sleestak, and a furry little “Bromance” is too dopey of a word for what goes on sweet, uncomplicated charisma and a tween mar- (Panettiere) during his sweaty, nervous commencement primate named Chaka pulled double duty as comic here; The Hangover honors the significance of male ket hungering for a happy compromise between address. His performance is something of a juggling relief and narrative linchpin. The show was wildly friendship without insisting on its primacy. The occa- relatability and wish fulfillment. In any case, for act – the uneven script was adapted by comedian and imaginative, gamely acted, decidedly low-tech, and sion here is the Vegas-set bachelor party for Doug this, the first nonconcert feature outing for the sometime New Yorker writer Larry Doyle from his novel above all cool. So what to make of this bloated, (Bartha), organized by his three groomsmen: Phil – and one that unfortunately collapses under too many noisy, and decidedly uncool remake by avowed Montana juggernaut, there was never any doubt (Cooper), straitlaced Stu (Helms), and Doug’s non- that the audience would come. More surprising clichés. We’re meant to feel sympathy with this geeky Land of the Lost fan Silberling? I blame both pop- sequitur-spouting future brother-in-law, Alan (the sub- is the fact that some attention (if not an exhaus- protagonist, but he is such a self-defeating, meek little culture creep (what was once strange and vaguely lime Galifianakis, so outré he’s toeing performance tive amount) has been put into the thing: Hannah dweeb that it’s often easier to root for his archenemy subversive is now old hat) and Ferrell, who stars art here). They wake the next morning, surrounded Montana: The Movie is not the nakedly consumerist (Roberts). Ultimately, and like many depressed teenag- here as the dullish, food-obsessed, Matt Lauer- by the spoils of the party (a scorched hotel suite, a vehicle cynics like me have come to expect. In fact, ers, Beth Cooper lives, loves, and dies by its own hand. hating inventor Dr. Rick Marshall. Ferrell has been missing tooth, a tiger in the bathroom), but with zero it’s a broad-stroked, agreeable-enough lark about (07/17/2009) – Marc Savlov spinning his comedic wheels for what seems like recollection of how it all happened. An edgier film Miley putting Hannah aside to reconnect with her ★★■Barton Creek Square ages now, and his once-entertaining schtick is now, could have been carved out of that premise, but you’d Tennessee roots – and make eyes at that farm- officially, entering into the land of the lost career. be hard-pressed to find one as consistently, relent- fresh horse wrangler from her childhood. Cornpone (06/05/2009) – Marc Savlov lessly funny. (06/05/2009) – Kimberley Jones caricatures abound, but so do worthy messages ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE ★ Movies 8 ★★★★■Alamo Ritz, Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, about responsibility – to family, community, even DINOSAURS D: Carlos Saldanha; with the voices Alamo Drafthouse Village, Barton Creek Square, CM Mother Earth. (04/17/2009) – Kimberley Jones of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, MONSTERS VS. ALIENS D: Rob Cedar Park, Hill Country Galleria, CM Round Rock, ★★★■Movies 8 Simon Pegg, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck. (PG, 93 min.) Letterman, Conrad Vernon; with the voices of Reese Southpark Meadows, Dobie, Gateway, Lakeline, Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Paul Metropolitan, Tinseltown North, Westgate 3-D has finally found a home to call its own. HARRY POTTER AND THE Animated fare such as this third outing in the prehis- Rudd, Rainn Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland. (PG, 94 min.) toric, non-nuclear-family franchise use the stereoscop- wHALF-BLOOD PRINCE D: David Yates; In the animated Monsters vs. Aliens, Susan ic fad to good effect, offering vertiginously dizzying (voiced by Witherspoon) is struck by an errant with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena flights with pterodactyls and toothy battles with the meteor on the morning of her wedding and morphs Bonham Carter, Jim Broadbent, Robbie Coltrane, Michael saurians of the title.