Movie Guide
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Staff * Growing up under the LAX glide path has resulted in Nashawn (Hart) being so enamored of planes that when he wins a huge lawsuit award, he can't wait to start an airline that the African-American community can call its own. Intermittent hilarity, courtesy of pilot Snoop Dogg and a host of comedic all-stars, almost gets the film off the runway, but excess baggage - profanity and vulgarities - drags it down. By M.K. Terrell
Sex/Nudity: 20 instances of innuendo, 2 instances of nudity, 3 sex scenes. Violence: 5 scenes. Profanity: 230 expressions, half of them harsh. Drugs: 6 instances of drinking, 2 of smoking, 3 of drugs.
Directors: Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falomi. With Janchiv Ayurzana, Chimed Ohin, Zeveljamz Nyam. (93 min.)
Sterritt **** Blurring all the lines between fiction and documentary, this gentle and amusing movie blends real, unrehearsed material with delightful storytelling scenes focusing on a Mongolian family that faces a problem when a camel in its herd takes a dislike to a newborn calf and refuses to nurse it. The action takes place in Gobi Desert locations, which provide a striking background for drama involving humans, animals, and nature itself. In Mongolian with subtitles
Director: Wolfgang Petersen. With Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eric Bana, Peter O'Toole, Orlando Bloom. (162 min.)
Sterritt *** Paris spirits his lover Helen from Sparta to Troy, sparking a decade-long war in which heroes like Achilles and Hector play leading roles. Pitt sports enough new musculature to make a credible Achilles, and O'Toole is just right as Priam, a dignified and melancholy monarch. The screenplay leaves out the fate-deciding Olympian gods and never quite decides whether war is glorious or not. Aside from these questionable aspects, the movie is old-fashioned fun in the venerable sword-and-sandal tradition.
Staff *1/2 Handsome but hollow, macho, unsophisticated.
Sex/Nudity: 4 scenes with innuendo/implied sex, 4 with nudity. Violence: 18 scenes, mostly graphic. Profanity: 2 expressions. Drugs: 3 instances of drinking.
Director: Alejandro Agresti. With Rodrigo Noya, Carmen Maura, Julieta Cardinali. (86 min.)
Staff ** Valentin, a cross-eyed 8-year-old version of Woody Allen, lives in Buenos Aires in the 1960s with a stern grandmother. Desperately in need of familial love and a spaceship, Valentin patrols the house in a clumsy homemade spacesuit and walks the sidewalk with "zero gravity" weights tied to his shoes. The movie explores some serious life issues but primarily waxes nostalgic about a boy who seems too lovable not to fall for. By Sheera Frenkel
Staff ***1/2 Modest, charming, realistic, poignant.
Sex/Nudity: 2 instances of innuendo. Violence: None. Profanity: 2 expressions. Drugs: 4 counts of smoking, 3 of drinking.
Director: Clint Eastwood. With Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden. (138 min.)
Staff *** Shakespeare meets "Law and Order" in "Mystic River," director Eastwood's fine adaptation of the tragic thriller by Dennis Lehane. A murder in working-class Boston reunites three childhood friends who have each chosen very different paths in life after a tragic incident during their youth. The DVD's bonus features include two overlapping making-of featurettes, as well as a listless commentary track by Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon. Fortunately, the film's laconic director offers interesting insights in a Charlie Rose Show interview. By Stephen Humphries
