NewDVDs
CAIRO TIME PG, DVD $24.98; Blu-ray $29.98
The basics: Patricia Clarkson plays Juliette, who comes to Egypt to meet her husband. Unexpectedly delayed, he sends his pal Tareq to be her guide.While taking in the exotic city, romantic feelings awaken in—and perhaps awaken—both of them. The lowdown: Clarkson is at her absolute best in this incredibly pretty film. Viewers will fall in love with the trifecta: Cairo, Clarkson and Alexander Siddig (Tareq) and may want to book tickets to Egypt immediately. The extras: Interviews clue us in to the interesting ways of filming in Cairo—the extras, for instance, were pulled right off the street as filming was happening. There are also several short films by the director.
THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE PG, DVD $29.99; Blu-ray/DVD combo $39.99
The basics: Nicolas Cage plays Balthazar Blake, an ancient wizard in modern-day New York, in this live-action film based loosely on Disney’s animated “Fantasia.” Jay Baruchel (“She’s Out of My League”) is Cage’s geeky wizard-in-training. The lowdown: This fantasy film probably won’t be winning any Oscars, but it’s campy and fun, with some great special effects. The extras: An in-depth making-of featurette is quite entertaining and packed with details about the special effects, the sets and the stunts. It’s particularly interesting to see how they filmed the mop scene in homage to “Fantasia.” —Amy Hitt and Amy Joyce
5 TOP
WhatWashington is watching
TheExpendables 1 GrownUps The LastAirbender Sex andtheCity2 ROBERT ZUCKERMAN/DISNEY ENTERPRISES AND JERRY BRUCKHEIMER
Nicolas Cage, above, left, and Jay Baruchel in “The Sorcerer's Apprentice,” which is based loosely on “Fantasia.” Patricia Clarkson, left, and Alexander Siddig (as well as the backdrop of Egypt) star in the beautiful “Cairo Time.”
DUETUESDAY: Inceptionl Restrepol Shrek Forever AfterlThe Twilight Saga: Eclipse ToyStory3
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SOURCE: Redbox, for the week ended Nov. 28
43 EZ
AlsoPlaying
Capsule reviews of recent releases playing in area theaters. Movies not reviewed by The Post are marked “NR” for not rated. For older movies, see the Movie Directory.
rrr½127 HOURS
“127 Hours” tells the true story of Aron Ralston, a climber who in 2003 became trapped in a slot canyon in Utah, his right arm pinned under a falling boulder. Most of the buzz about the movie, which stars James Franco as Ralston, centers on the film’s climax, when Ralston breaks and then amputates his own arm in order to escape certain death. Although Ralston’s act of desperation is difficult to watch, viewers who might avoid the film out of squeamishness would be depriving themselves of a most exhilarating cinematic experiences. British filmmaker Danny Boyle is helped enormously in his endeavor by Franco, who as Ralston embodies the intrepid outdoorsman’s exuberance and charm, but also his darker flip side of isolation and arrogance.When Ralston sets out for Utah’s Blue John Canyon, he’s told no one where he’s going; his belief in his own physical and mental superiority makes him feel above safety rules. That exceptionalism will prove pivotal once he’s trapped in a narrow sandstone crevice for five days. (R, 90 minutes) Contains profanity and some disturbing violent content and bloody images. Area theaters. —Ann Hornaday
rr½BURLESQUE
The first genuine showstopper in the musical “Burlesque” is a brassy, bawdy anthem called “Welcome to Burlesque,” a valentine to pure camp made all the more exhilarating in that it marks Cher’s return to the big screen after a too-long seven-year hiatus. Granted, this uneven but infectiously cheery movie is clearly designed around Cher’s co-star, pop star Christina Aguilera, who in her feature film debut bumps and grinds and shimmies and belts her way to certain stardom. But “Burlesque” also offers a case study in what has made the 64-year- old Cher such a captivating and enduring presence, a star of the glitzy old school. This
corny guilty pleasure of a movie is a fitting two-hander for these seasoned pros. Aguilera plays the young, ambitious singer- dancer Ali Rose, who teeters out of her Iowa trailer park to make it big in Hollywood. While roaming the Sunset Strip, she comes under the wise tutelage of Cher’s Tess, who runs the Burlesque Lounge, a fading temple of rococo excess and tatty retro glamour. (PG-13, 100 minutes) Contains sexual content, including several suggestive dance routines, partial nudity, profanity and thematic material. Area theaters.
—A.H.
rrrDESPICABLEME The nasty streak that animates its protagonist, a hollow-eyed supervillain named Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), is so deep and wide as to seem insurmountable. But the film turns into an improbably heartwarming, not to mention visually delightful, diversion. After another evildoer impresses the world by stealing the Great Pyramid of Giza, Gru looks for his big comeback and hits on the idea of stealing the moon. He adopts three sweet girls from an orphanage run by a sadistic Southern belle (KristenWiig), and, along with an army of tiny yellow “minions,” begins to bring his plan into action. Carell’s expert timing is in full force as his character tries mightily to resist the parental tug of his three young charges. The film features some ace voice talent, including Russell Brand as Gru’s elderly henchman, Dr. Nefario, Jason Segel as Gru rival Vector andWill Arnett as the president of the Bank of Evil. (PG, 95 minutes) Contains rude humor and mild action. At University Mall Theatres.
—A.H. rr½DUE DATE
With “Due Date,” director Todd Phillips perfects the particular brand of comic alchemy. Like “The Hangover,” this film features mismatched guys who don’t know each other very well on a road trip punctuated by ever-more-outrageous and physically painful mishaps. Of course, the main thing the film has in common with “The Hangover” is Zach Galifianakis, the portly comedian who betrays uncommon grace despite his heavy frame. He’s a hirsute, gloriously unself-conscious man- child, unfettered by the laws that govern the rest of us, including those of good taste, social interaction and gravity itself. That
pretty much sums up Ethan Tremblay, Galifianakis’s character who meets architect Peter Highman (Robert Downey, Jr.) at the Atlanta airport. The two embark on a cross-country car trip so that Peter can attend the birth of his first child. It’s a concept that was no doubt pitched to studio executives in one elevator ride, and most likely that’s why it works so efficiently. (R, 95 minutes) Contains profanity, drug use and sexual content. Area theaters.
—A.H. rrrFAIR GAME
NaomiWatts delivers an uncanny portrayal of former CIA operative Valerie Plame in “Fair Game,” a crackling political thriller that deftly navigates the knife edge between all- too-familiar recent history and more universal personal drama. For the most part, director Doug Liman steers clear of re- litigating the leak of Plame’s name to the media during the Bush administration, instead focusing on how her being a spy, and then being outed, affected the Plame’s marriage to JoeWilson (Sean Penn). The film begins in Kuala Lumpur, where Plame works for the CIA under cover of being an energy executive. After a dicey situation in which she persuades a local contact to become an informer, she returns home, whereWilson is starting a freelance consulting career and
caring for the couple’s young twins. Soon, Plame is reassigned to work on a task force studying whether Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and is told by higher-ups that the orders are coming from “across the river.” (PG-13, 104 minutes) Contains profanity. Area theaters.
—Michael O’Sullivan r½FASTER
To appreciate this sun-baked revenge flick directed by George Tillman Jr., it helps to have a healthy respect for the movie’s charismatic star. “Faster” works best as an ode to its main character, the Chevrolet Chevelle SS. Dwayne Johnson plays a not- unimpressive side of beef who, in his first days out of prison, is gunning for the backstabbing crooks who killed his brother. He’s identified, fittingly, only as Driver. As an actor playing a surgeon might spend time observing a hospital, so Johnson appears to have modeled his performance on the bulls of Pamplona.We first see him pacing his cell, gleaming with sweat and snorting with rage as guards approach to lead him to freedom. Driver leaves jail at a dead run and doesn’t stop until he finds the Chevelle, inside which an accomplice has placed a gun and directions to his first revengee. In a matter of moments, he has driven across town, stalked across six lanes of traffic and
shot a man in the head without a word. (R, 98 minutes) Contains strong violence, drug use and language. Area theaters. —Dan Kois
rFOR COLORED GIRLS
At first glance, this film seems aimed squarely at the audience the “woman good, man bad” melodramas. The men in Tyler Perry’s adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s stage play include a rapist (Khalil Kain), a child murderer/wife beater (Michael Ealy), a serial cheater (Richard Lawson) and a closeted gay man (Omari Hardwick) who has been dipping into his wife’s bank account. And that’s not even counting the minor jerks from this dated relic of the women’s empowerment movement, written in 1975 as a series of free-verse monologues with dance, but rewritten by Perry to fit a more traditional narrative structure. But rather than portraying strong, successful women, the film presents its female characters primarily as helpless victims and dupes. Janet Jackson’s Jo may have been betrayed by a husband, but she’s also an unpleasant shrew. Thandie Newton’s Tangie is a foul- mouthed and even more foul-tempered tramp; her pregnant teenage sister, Nyla (Tessa Thompson), is the victim of a back- alley abortionist (Macy Gray). (R, 120 minutes) Contains violence, obscenity, sensuality, drug use, partial nudity and smoking. Area theaters.
—M.O.
rrrTHE GIRLWHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST
DAVID JAMES/20TH CENTURY FOX VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jake Gyllenhaal and AnneHathaway are both afraid of commitment in “Love and Other Drugs.”
The final, deeply satisfying conclusion to the trilogy of Swedish thrillers based on Stieg Larsson’s bestselling novels follows Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), the series’s computer-hacker heroine and titular hornet’s nest kicker, after movie No. 2 left her shot in three places and barely breathing. Lisbeth spends the entire first half of “Hornet’s Nest” merely recuperating from her injuries and preparing to face a charge of attempted murder in the axing of her father (Georgi Staykov). Yes, he’s a bad man. He has also been protected by many other bad men—members of what’s known as the Section, a secret government cabal that will resort to threats and murder to protect Lisbeth’s daddy, who has been
movies continued on 44
the washington post friday, december 3, 2010 l
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