THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2010
32
PG
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connection that feels unforced and very,
very real. (PG, 111 minutes) Contains brief
vulgarity and a scene of sensuality. Area theaters.
BBBKICK-ASS
This profane, ultra-violent, surprisingly winning adaptation of Mark Millar’s com- ic-book series directed by Matthew Vaughn should delight fans of the original comics and garden-variety action junkies as well. Aaron Johnson plays Dave Lizew- ski, a bespectacled, mild-mannered high school student who, after being mugged for the umpteenth time, wonders why more everyday people don’t dress up like superheroes and become vigilantes. Soon thereafter, Dave is dressing up in a green wet suit, yellow rubber gloves and work boots and . . . pretty much getting his tushie whipped. When Dave is joined by two mysterious cohorts named Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz), however, his success rate be-
gins to spike. (R, 118 minutes) Contains
brutal violence throughout, pervasive pro- fanity, sexual content, nudity and drug use, some of which involves children. At AMC Courthouse Plaza.
B LETTERS TO JULIET
Amanda Seyfried seems to be on a one- woman quest to revive the lost art of let- ter writing. Seyfried plays Sophie, a fact- checker for the New Yorker who dreams of becoming a writer. While vacationing in Italy, she wanders into the House of Ju- liet, a place where the lovelorn leave let- ters seeking advice from Shakespeare’s tragic heroine. Although Sophie hasn’t figured it out yet, she herself is among the heartbroken. Her fiance just isn’t that into her. Left on her own, Sophie naturally gravitates to the Miss Lonelyhearts at the House of Juliet. After Sophie finds an old letter written in 1957 by a British teen- ager named Claire who had fallen in love with an Italian boy named Lorenzo Barto-
— M.O.
lini, she takes it upon herself to reply. Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) soon shows up with grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan) to find Lorenzo, inspired by Sophie’s let- ter saying that when it comes to love, it’s
never too late. (PG, 105 minutes) Contains
crude language and smoking. Area theaters.
— M.O.
B1 ⁄2
MACGRUBER
— A.H.
“Saturday Night Live” cast member Will Forte brings his crime-fighting character, MacGruber, to the silver screen and takes full advantage of an R rating. At the start, we find our hero in a hide-out after the vil- lainous Dieter blew up MacGruber’s wife on their wedding day. MacGruber sur- vived but let the world think otherwise. Now, Dieter is in possession of a nuclear warhead, and the Pentagon wants Mac- Gruber to go after him. Hungry for re- venge, he agrees. After MacGruber acci- dentally blows up his team, he’s dis- missed from the case, but persuades a Pentagon newbie to reinstate him. The two join up with Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig) in a bumbling chase after Dieter, the warhead, sweet vengeance, love and sex in a graveyard. The whole package is often lamentably unsubtle. Like a kid banging pots together, it’s a little bit fun- ny, until it’s not. (R, 99 minutes) Contains
strong crude and sexual content, violence, language and some nudity. At AMC Court- house Plaza and Cinemark Egyptian 24.
— Ruth McCann
BBMOTHER AND CHILD
Rodrigo García brings his finely calibrated sense of drama to the subject of adoption in this film with characteristic restraint and insight. Annette Bening plays Karen, who gave her baby up for adoption at 15. Naomi Watts plays Elizabeth, Karen’s bio- logical daughter, now a successful law- yer. In a parallel story line, Lucy (Kerry Washington) decides to adopt and meets a potential birth mother named Ray (Sha- reeka Epps). In a series of spiky, highly charged encounters, the filmmaker cre- ates intimate, refreshingly frank portraits of women coming to grips with the joy,
THE FRIENDSHIP! THE FUN! THE FASHION!
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GRAB YOUR GIRLS AND GET TO THE THEATRE!”
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SCOTT MANTZ, ACCESS HOLLYWOOD
“INSANE IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY.”
Devin Faraci,
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“THE
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Rick Florino,
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www.splicethefilm.com
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grief, unresolved longing and ineffable mystery that make the adoption narrative such an abiding cinematic fascination. García examines Karen’s guilt, Elizabeth’s abandonment issues, the eternal ques- tion of nature vs. nurture, but too often plays into tired stereotypes about adop-
tion. (R, 125 minutes) Contains sexuality,
brief nudity and profanity. Landmark’s Bethesda Row and AMC Loews Shirlington.
— A.H.
½star A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
Jackie Earle Haley assumes the Freddy persona made iconic in eight previous “Nightmare” movies by, as this movie makes abundantly clear, the irreplaceable Robert Englund. The basic story line re- mains the same: A bunch of teens in a cozy suburb called Springwood start hav- ing simultaneous bad dreams about the same homicidal dude, dreams in which some of them are viciously murdered, and some of them wind up dead in real life. The flick spends most of its time re- slashing its way through scenes already familiar to anyone who saw Wes Craven’s original, while adding enough “modern” tweaks to make this “Nightmare” relevant
to younger audiences. (R, 95 minutes) Con-
tains strong bloody horror and violence, disturbing images, terror and language. Area theaters.
BBOCEANS
This French-made Disneynaturemovie that was released on Earth Day, is 87 minutes of gorgeous visuals of curious sea creatures set to soaring orchestral music. But for all it does to please the eyes and ears, it does nothing to engage the brain. The narrator, Pierce Brosnan, rarely tells viewers about the wildlife’s mating rituals, hunting tricks or even which ocean they live in. Instead, he says such things as “Big fish eat little fish.” Wow, thanks for clearing that up, 007! There’s neither a narrative arc nor orga- nizing principles of any kind. It’s not like the film starts in the Pacific and travels to the Indian or starts in shallow water and plunges deeper as it goes on. Instead, it
flits from creature to creature with no
transitions in between. (G, 87 minutes)
Contains wildlife violence. At AMC Court- house Plaza and University Mall Theatres.
— Rachel Saslow
BBB1
⁄2
PLEASE GIVE
Writer-director Nicole Holofcener’s singu- lar brand of observant wit and aching ten- derness pours forth in this film, a wry, wistful portrait of contemporary urban manners. Catherine Keener plays Kate, who owns an upscale vintage home fur- nishings store. Kate spends her days scavenging the homes of the deceased, looking for mid-century pieces to sell in her shop. Kate and her husband plan to expand their home to the apartment next door once its tenant passes away. The tenant, an unpleasant elderly lady named Andra (Ann Guilbert), is tended by her de- voted granddaughter and, once in a while, her sister. The interactions of these fami- lies, filled with envy, resentment, guilt and impending death, highlight Holofcen- er’s sharp humor and disarming pathos. “Please Give” can be enjoyed simply for its portraits of human foibles and fum- bling grasps at intimacy — but is also de-
ceivingly profound. (R, 90 minutes) Con-
tains sexual content, nudity and profanity. Area theaters.
— Jen Chaney
BBPRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME
In this adventure based on the popular video game, the focus of Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a special dagger he has stumbled upon. When a jewel is pressed on its hilt, releasing the few thimblefuls of sand inside, it has the abili- ty to rewind time, but only for one min- ute. Not just any sand will work, either. Hidden underground is a giant glass ves- sel filled with the right kind. Only the dag- ger can break the glass. Once broken, the sand gives its user unlimited ability to travel back in time. The problem is that Dastan’s not the only one who knows about it. Someone else wants it and has set Dastan up for the murder of his adop-
“A POTENT AND PROVOCATIVE THRILLER.
SEXY AND SCARY IN EQUAL DOSES!”
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
“ASTONISHING.”
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
tive father, King Sharaman (Ronald Pick- up). Whoever killed Sharaman wants Das- tan out of the way so that he can find the source of the charmed sand himself. With the assistance of the dagger’s official custodian, Princess Tamina (Gemma Ar- terton), Dastan must stop that from hap-
pening. (PG-13, 103 minutes) Contains
sword and arrow violence and some risque dialogue. Area theaters.
BB ROBIN HOOD
— A.H.
Dark and polemic, Ridley Scott’s film is less about a band of merry men than a whole country of angry ones. Set in an England bankrupted by war, Robin Long- stride (Russell Crowe) is a bowman under King Richard the Lionheart. When Richard is killed, Robin carries his crown back to England and into the hands the treacher- ous Prince John (Oscar Isaac). But Robin must also return the sword of slain noble- man Sir Robert Loxley (Douglas Hodge) to his family. To avoid accusations of theft, Robin temporarily assumes Loxley’s iden- tity. However, he is asked to stay by Rob- ert’s father and to continue the imperson- ation and live as husband to Robert’s wid- ow, Marion (Cate Blanchett). The bad guy is Sir Godfrey (Mark Strong), King John’s chief tax enforcer and a spy for the French, who hope to take advantage of the civil unrest he’s sowing. The film shows little of the Robin Hood we know, suggesting you may have to wait for “Robin Hood II” for that story. (PG-13, 140
minutes) Contains plentiful violence, sensu- ality and some sexual humor. Area theaters.
— M.O.
BBBTHE SECRET IN THEIR EYES
This absorbing story of the unlikely inter- section of an unrequited love affair and an unresolved crime opens in the present day. Former prosecution investigator Ben- jamin Esposito (Ricardo Darín), now re- tired, begins work on a novel about a case that has been haunting him since 1974, when a young woman was brutally raped and killed and the legal system failed to bring her killer to justice. When Benjamin takes a draft of his book to his former boss, Irene (Soledad Villamil), they begin to reminisce about their own relationship, professional and otherwise. If the film’s climactic twist borders on the luridly out- landish, director Juan José Campanella deserves credit for staging it with re- straint and for assembling a first-rate cast of seasoned actors. (R, 129 minutes)
Contains a rape scene, violent images, graphic nudity and profanity. In Spanish with subtitles. Area theaters.
BSEX AND THE CITY 2
This movie picks up the story of Carrie
“A POWERHOUSE!”-Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE
motherandchild
written and directed by rodrigo garcia
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