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JANE HORWITZ - FAMILY FILMGOER

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April 19, 2007

``Fracture'' (R, 1 hr., 38 min.)

What begins as an exercise in superficial cinematic glitz -- all fancy camera angles, pricey real estate and snarky dialogue -- ripens into a satisfying morality tale in ``Fracture.'' A film that gets better as it goes along is a rare thing and high-schoolers can expect to be pretty transfixed by it. Rather understated compared to many of today's R-rated films, ``Fracture'' contains stylized gun violence, not graphic but with much blood. Only one scene implies lovemaking and it, too, is stylized and not graphic. The dialogue contains a lot of midrange profanity and some crude sexual language, milder sexual innuendo and toilet humor. Characters also drink.

The film's not-so-secret weapon is Anthony Hopkins as the villain, a wealthy aeronautics executive who shoots his unfaithful younger wife (Embeth Davidtz) and seems to confess, only to send the authorities on a fool's errand in which all the evidence against him melts away. Hopkins' character more than occasionally recalls his signature film psychopath, Hannibal Lecter, but is less clever and more human. The film's protagonist is Assistant District Attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling), a star prosecutor with a record-breaking conviction rate. Willy soon learns there are factors in this case designed to tarnish his reputation, such as a missing weapon and a cop enmeshed in a love triangle. More a character actor than a leading man, Gosling is most interesting when Willy stops chewing gum and starts weighing his moral choices. A gorgeous lawyer (Rosamund Pike) from a big law firm he'd like to join clouds his judgment.

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``Disturbia'' (PG-13, 1 hr., 44 min.)

``Disturbia,'' which topped the box office scores last week, is a coarser and more violent film with its PG-13 rating than ``Fracture'' is with its R. Thus are the problems with the PG-13 rating exposed for all to ponder. Themes about a misogynistic serial killer and suburban voyeurism are interwoven in the film with a classic teen romance. The melding of these genres is never comfortable and looks more exploitative and cynical as the film goes on. Certainly ``Disturbia'' is not suitable for middle-school kids. It shows the dead female victims of a serial killer, wrapped in plastic and hidden behind a wall. And it hints at how the man goes about his murders, with the sounds of screaming and the sight of blood spattering. Apart from its darker elements, the movie is full of the understated sexual innuendo and implied longing of a teen love story. Though none of that is explicit, there are a couple of fairly steamy kissing scenes. There are also lascivious shots of girls in bikinis and of a young woman undressing, though with her back to the camera and no nudity. Even so, we're seeing her through the eyes of her voyeuristic teen neighbor -- and he's our hero. One gag has two little boys secretly watching a porn video showing topless women covered in whipped cream. The script also includes a marital infidelity theme, barnyard profanity and a drug reference in a song lyric.

Shia LaBeouf plays Kale, a smart but troubled high-school kid who can't get beyond the death of his dad a year earlier in an awful road crash (shown in the prologue). Kale socks a teacher and gets three months of house arrest, complete with one of those electronic ankle bracelets. He starts using his cell phone, video cameras and such to spy on the neighbors. A cute new girl named Ashley (Sarah Roemer) has moved in next door. Soon she and Kale find a flirty kinship and the two of them, plus Kale's pal Ronnie (Aaron Yoo), are spying together. They begin to suspect another next-door neighbor (David Morse) of murder. There is much of Hitchcock's ``Rear Window'' (1954) in ``Disturbia,'' just not the classy part.

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``The TV Set'' (R, 1 hr., 29 min.) (LIMITED RELEASE)

Showbiz-savvy high-schoolers 16 and older will get a dose of reality and rich sardonic humor watching ``The TV Set.'' They'll see -- in only slightly exaggerated form -- the kinds of intellectual and ethical compromises artists and network executives take (and then rationalize) in order to make the big bucks. Writer/director Jake Kasdan really zaps a nerve here. His droll cautionary tale salutes idealism, then proceeds to write its epitaph. The R rating reflects strong profanity. The film contains milder elements of sexual innuendo, sexual language, drinking, abuse of painkillers, a marijuana moment, and a suicide theme.

David Duchovny, in likeably rumpled mode, plays Mike, the creator of a new, bittersweet TV sitcom pilot based on his own life and sparked by the incident of a relative's suicide. The network executives who make the pilot immediately mess with Mike's vision. The biggest bigwig (a perfectly brittle Sigourney Weaver) thinks the suicide theme needs to go. She also selects an actor for the lead (Fran Kranz) who plays every joke and emotion as broadly as a clown, and Mike can't stand him. Her new, BBC-bred assistant (Ioan Gruffudd) tries to help Mike save his original concept but is gradually co-opted himself. Watching Mike's idea dumbed down to the lowest common denominator is funny and tragic.

P.S. FOR TEENS 16 AND OLDER: If you notice a lot of adults shaking their heads when they watch TV and muttering, ``It's just like 'Network,''' you might want to check out the movie they're referring to. ``Network'' (R, 1976) imagined the decline of television to the lowest, most exploitative kind of programming. What's ironic is that nothing imagined in the movie 31 years ago comes nearly low enough to reflect what's on TV today. ``Network'' was directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Paddy Chayefsky, who were pioneers in film and early television.

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BEYOND THE RATINGS GAME

-- OK FOR 6 AND OLDER:

``Meet the Robinsons'' G (Gorgeous computer-animated feature (shown in crisp, colorful, non-scary 3-D at some theaters) celebrates imagination, individuality, creating a family when you don't have one, in tale of bespectacled, spiky-haired 12-year-old inventor, Lewis; an orphan eager to find his real mom, Lewis invents a ``memory scanner''; Wilbur Robinson, a boy from the future, takes Lewis there -- a cheery art deco-style future, which at darker moments looks more like the dehumanized world of Fritz Lang's 1927 silent classic, ``Metropolis.'' Lewis meets the riotously eccentric Robinson clan and feels loved. Baby abandoned on orphanage step; serious theme handled humorously shows how childhood loneliness, sadness, failure can stalk us through life; ``Bowler Hat Guy'' villain wears a hat that sprouts metal legs, chases folks; Lewis and Wilbur crash a time machine; rude taunts ``puke-face'' and ``booger-breath''; dinosaur topiary comes to life, chases folks.)

-- OK FOR 8 AND OLDER:

``Firehouse Dog'' PG (Heavy-handed comedy nearly defeats a strong cast with its corny script, oversold jokes and clumsy special effects that spoil the wonderment; a movie star Irish terrier, Rex, falls from a plane during a film stunt, lands safely in a tomato truck (minus his wavy hairpiece) and endears himself to a firehouse crew in the nearby city with his agility and courage, becoming their mascot and winning over the fire captain's (Bruce Greenwood) sullen 12-year-old son (Josh Hutcherson); but an arsonist is on the loose and Rex's trainer (Dash Mihok) misses him. Too many doggie digestive jokes: Rex has noisy flatulence, poops into a pot of stew; intense firefighting scenes with explosive smoke, flames, falling beams; boy, dog, and a firefighter are trapped at various times, all rescued; subplots about grief, loss, anger over mother's abandonment of them, a firefighter uncle who died in a blaze.)

``Are We Done Yet?'' PG (Less crass, more amusing sequel to Ice Cube's 2005 comedy ``Are We There Yet?'' (PG, but deserved a PG-13); still acting within a narrow range (from annoyance to anger and back), Cube plays sports writer/entrepreneur Nick, now married to Suzanne (Nia Long), the divorcee he pursued in the first film; with her and his new stepkids (Aleisha Allen and Philip Daniel Bolden, both less arch and annoying than in the first film) he moves into a house that needs major repairs; John C. McGinley is Nick's amusing, over-the-top foil as the ever-present real estate guy/contractor. Mild sexual innuendo; chaste romance between 13-year-old girl and a slightly older boy; comic scenes with deer and raccoons acting crazy; bats swarm; owl swoops to grab a chipmunk; pigeon falls dead after being shot (off-camera) with a nail gun; huge fish pulls a child under water (a quick rescue); toilet humor; ``plumber's butt.'')

``TMNT'' PG (First ``Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle'' feature since 1993 (also PGs in 1990, '91, '93), this time a fully computer-animated 'toon -- hard-edged and homely, dimly lit, narratively murky, too violent for some under 10; the Ninja Turtles (mutated long ago by a pollutant ``ooze'' and named for Italian Renaissance artists Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello) have become estranged; their sensei, Master Splinter, says they must reconcile before facing a new threat -- reanimated stone warriors from ancient Central America; their archeologist pal April (voice of Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her boyfriend Casey Jones (Chris Evans) help. Semi-harsh language (``snot kicked out of him''); tired ethnic stereotypes; off-color joke kids won't get refers subtly to phone-sex industry; huge, looming red-eyed monsters, ancient warriors; battles not bloody, but big and loud.)

-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITIES:

``Disturbia'' (NEW) (Exploitative thriller awkwardly mixes dark, violent R-ish themes and PG-13-ish teen romance; Shia LaBeouf stars as a troubled kid still grieving for his father (who dies in a highway accident shown in an upsetting prologue); he socks a teacher and gets three months' house arrest, complete with electronic ankle bracelet; bored, he starts using digital equipment to spy on the neighbors; with the cute new girl next door (Sarah Roemer) and his pal (Aaron Yoo) he suspects one neighbor (David Morse) is a serial killer. Female victims of serial killer shown wrapped in plastic; hints of the killer at work -- screams, blood spattering; understated sexual innuendo and implied teen longing; steamy kissing scenes; shots of girls in bikinis and of a young woman undressing with her back to the camera and no nudity, all seen through the eyes of our voyeuristic protagonist; two little boys secretly watch a lewd video showing topless women covered in whipped cream; infidelity theme; barnyard profanity; drug reference. Too dark for middle-schoolers.)

``Blades of Glory'' (Riotous, rude farce about figure skating rivals Chazz (Will Ferrell) and Jimmy (Jon Heder), banned forever from competition for public scuffling; three years later, a stalker/fan (Nick Swardson) and a veteran coach (Craig T. Nelson) note a loophole that would allow the two to compete as the first male/male duo. Constant R-ish verbal, visual sex jokes go beyond innuendo: crotch gags; references to Chazz's ``sex addiction'' (he attends a lascivious support group, claims he had an affair with a 35-year-old woman when he was 9); much gay (at times homophobic) humor; a towel worn dangerously low; drinking; talk of drug use; adoption spoof; incest joke; death threat; ice stunt video ending in bloody accidental decapitation; profanity; toilet humor. Not for middle-schoolers.)

-- R's:

``Fracture'' (NEW) (Thriller starts out glitzy, superficial, but gains momentum and gravitas, morphing into an intriguing morality tale about justice versus prestige; Anthony Hopkins steals the picture as a cold aeronautics executive (though more human and less clever than his iconic Hannibal Lecter) who shoots his unfaithful wife (Embeth Davidtz) and seems to confess his guilt; the hotshot assistant district attorney (Ryan Gosling) assigned to prosecute him soon sees all the evidence melt away; he must decide whether to pursue justice or decamp to a fancy law firm. Understated compared to many current R-rated films: stylized gun violence, not hugely graphic but with much blood; stylized, nongraphic lovemaking scene; midrange profanity; semi-crude sexual language; milder sexual innuendo; toilet humor; drinking. OK for high-schoolers.)

``The TV Set'' (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Smart, sardonically funny spoof of how TV pilots are made and artists' visions dumbed down; film is a cautionary tale that applauds idealism; David Duchovny stars as creator of a new autobiographical sitcom based partly on memories of a family suicide; Sigourney Weaver as the network exec who junks the suicide theme and hires the worst possible actor (Fran Kranz) for the lead; Ioan Gruffudd as her BBC-bred assistant who tries to save the series' integrity, but gets co-opted, too. Strong profanity; milder sexual innuendo, sexual language; drinking; abuse of painkillers; a marijuana moment; suicide theme. Showbiz savvy teens 16 and older.)

``The Reaping'' (Silly film borrows much from occult/religious thrillers such as ``The Exorcist'' (R, 1973), ``Rosemary's Baby'' (R, 1968), and ``The Omen'' (R, 1976); despite nice atmospherics, it never makes chills of its own; Hilary Swank as an ex-minister, now professor, who lost her faith after a tragedy and now debunks ``miracles''; she and her assistant (Idris Elba) go to a Louisiana town, asked by a local man (David Morrissey) to find scientific reasons their river has turned blood-red, cattle are dying, frogs are falling from the sky (Old Testament-style plagues) so townsfolk won't kill a 12-year-old girl (AnnaSophia Robb) they suspect of Satanism. Gun suicide; dreamlike, semiexplicit sexual situation; subtext about menstruation, puberty; piles of dead cattle; swarming locusts, maggots; children endangered; fire and brimstone; profanity; drinking. 16 and older.)

``Shooter'' (Rip-snorter action thriller (based on Washington Post film critic Stephen Hunter's novel, ``Point of Impact'') moves so supercool-fast, audiences won't have time to trip over logical speed bumps; Mark Wahlberg as an ex-Marine sniper who leaves the military after his superiors betray him on a secret mission; a civilian years later, he's recruited by an ex-colonel (Danny Glover) to pre-empt a presidential assassination; betrayed again, he's framed as an assassin and on the run; a rookie FBI agent (Michael Pena) and the widow of his Marine buddy (Kate Mara) help him. High-caliber shootings with much blood, occasional gore; gun suicide; fingers, then arm shot off; do-it-yourself bullet removal; villain's implied intention to commit rape; strong profanity; beer. Action fans 16 and up.)