Little Screen
This week's new releases, by Jay Bobbin of Zap2it, are rated on a scale of one to four, with * equivalent to a poor rating and *** meaning excellent.
VANTAGE POINT
***
The formula of the Japanese classic "Rashomon" gets a very contemporary spin in director Pete Travis' melodrama, which looks at the same event from various characters' differing points of view. An assassination attempt on the U.S. president (played by William Hurt) is witnessed by Secret Service agents (Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Richard T. Jones), a news producer (Sigourney Weaver) and an amateur videographer (Forest Whitaker). The trick is to keep the details consistent while steadily advancing the story, and Travis achieves that neatly. DVD extras: "making-of" documentary; audio commentary by Travis; deleted scene; interview with screenwriter Barry Levy.
DRILLBIT TAYLOR
***
Basically "My Bodyguard" for the present day, this Judd Apatow-produced comedy casts Owen Wilson in the title role of a drifter who agrees to play protector for several extremely harassed high-schoolers. Initially, he intends to scam the kids by fleeing with the monetary retainer they've scraped together, but he ultimately decides to stay and fulfill his promise. His interest in a teacher (Leslie Mann, Apatow's wife) helps influence his plan. Seth Rogen ("Knocked Up") co-wrote the script.
MEET THE BROWNS
***
Actor-writer-director Tyler Perry ("Madea's Family Reunion," "Diary of a Mad Black Woman") makes a notable addition to his stock company by casting Angela Bassett ("Waiting to Exhale") in the central role of this comedy-drama. She plays a Chicago resident who takes her children to Georgia to meet her relatives at the funeral of the father she never knew. Jenifer Lewis, Frankie Faison and Margaret Avery play some of the other family members, and Perry turns up as Madea again. DVD extras: four "making-of" documentaries.
MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS
***
Singer Norah Jones turns actress, and acquits herself quite well opposite some estimable co-stars, in this drama from Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai. Jones plays a romantically devastated woman who embarks on a cross-country trek and encounters various characters in the locales where she stops; they include Natalie Portman as a card shark, Jude Law as a cafe owner, and Rachel Weisz and David Strathairn as a discontented couple. It's to Jones' credit that she holds the story's threads together, as she must for it to work.
CITY OF MEN
***
The acclaimed feature-film version of a Brazilian television series, this drama finds two men (Douglas Silva and Darlan Cunha, who also appeared together in the earlier, thematically related "City of God") struggling with personal problems as gang violence erupts around them.
They try to resist getting directly involved, but eventually, they come to believe they have no other option. DVD extra: "making-of" documentary.
THE AMERICAN FILM THEATRE: THE COMPLETE 14 FILM COLLECTION
***
A mid-1970s effort to commit many great plays to film, with top-flight casts and directors, this set draws all of those works together. Among those included: Lee Marvin and Jeff Bridges in Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh," directed by John Frankenheimer; Laurence Olivier as director and star of Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters"; Katharine Hepburn and Paul Scofield in Edward Albee's "A Delicate Balance," directed by Tony Richardson; Maximilian Schell in director Arthur Hiller's version of Robert Shaw's "The Man in the Glass Booth"; and Topol and John Gielgud in Bertolt Brecht's "Galileo," directed by Joseph Losey.
Coming soon:
SUPERHERO MOVIE
July 8
A young man (Drake Bell) is turned into a crime fighter known as Dragonfly in this spoof of the genre. Leslie Nielsen and Tracy Morgan also star.
THE BANK JOB
July 15
A woman (Saffron Burrows) organizes a heist of safe-deposit boxes, not realizing the secrets they contain. Jason Statham also stars.
COLLEGE ROAD TRIP
July 15
A high-school student (Raven-Symone), on a hunt to find the right college for herself, is less than thrilled to have her policeman father (Martin Lawrence) along.
PENELOPE
July 15
A young woman (Christina Ricci) with the nose of a pig seeks true love. Reese Witherspoon, who also produced the film, and James McAvoy co-star.
STEP UP 2: THE STREETS
July 15
In the tradition of the first "Step Up," two young people (Briana Evigan, Robert Hoffman) from different backgrounds connect through dance.
DOOMSDAY
July 29
The title is what all of humanity faces, unless a virus can be contained, in this thriller. Rhona Mitra plays the military scientist leading the search for a cure.
Oldies but goodies -- If your local video store is fresh out of the newest titles, give these attractions a try:
DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN
2005
***
Tyler Perry started to show his potency at the box office with this comedy-drama about a wife (Kimberly Elise) stunned by her spouse's (Steve Harris) sudden divorce plans.
EYEWITNESS
1981
***
A janitor (William Hurt) pretends he knows more about a murder case than he does, in order to get close to a television reporter (Sigourney Weaver) who's covering the crime.
SHANE
1953
***
One of the all-time-great Westerns, casting Alan Ladd in the title role of a gunslinger trying to leave his past behind, is now packaged with John Wayne and James Stewart in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."
* Little Screen appears in Life & Times each Friday.
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