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"Mr. Woodcock" (PG-13, 1hr., 35 min.)
In this unevenly funny farce, the writer of a popular self-help book sees all his theories about letting go of the past implode when his mom gets engaged to the drill-sergeant-like gym teacher who tormented him in middle school. Then the past takes over. "Mr. Woodcock" is better than its trailers indicate. It has sharp, unsentimental dialogue and a cast -- Billy Bob Thornton, Susan Sarandon, Seann William Scott -- that doesn't oversell the jokes. High-schoolers may have enough distance from middle school to enjoy the film, but it seems more geared to young adults ready to look back with amused chagrin. The movie is an iffy choice for teens under 15, as it is often lewd and profane, occasionally getting into R territory. There are all kinds of crude, slangy euphemisms for sex, as well as a scene in which the author John (Scott), hiding under Mr. Woodcock's (Thornton) bed, hears his mom (Sarandon) and Woodcock make love. We only see the mattress bouncing above John's head and hear sounds, but even so ... The movie includes toilet humor, smoking, and a character who drinks to excess. And finally, will Hollywood comedies please let go of the asthma jokes? Apparently childhood asthma sufferers -- and stutterers -- are the folks OK to dis now in comedies.
John is on a book tour with his hard-partying publicist (Amy Poehler) when he learns his hometown wants to give him the Corn Cob Key to the city. Eager to accept the honor, he goes home and learns his mom is in love with Mr. Woodcock, and that Woodcock is still busy destroying the self-esteem of junior high kids. The man's mean, macho personality seems not to have changed an iota, so John plots to break up the romance.
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"The Brave One" (R, 2 hrs., 7 min.)
Jodie Foster turns in a powerful performance about a woman who becomes a vigilante after she and her fiance are mugged and beaten by street thugs and her fiance (Naveen Andrews) dies from his injuries. Her portrayal, and that of Kevin Bacon in the flawed but harrowing "Death Sentence" (R; see Beyond the Ratings Game), offer twin examples of terrific acting that also reflects a troubling mood in the land -- about getting even, no matter how much pain and how little comfort it brings. In "The Brave One," however, Foster's character Erica Bain becomes a kind of heroine, while Bacon's in "Death Sentence" does not. Her character, a New York radio personality who creates verbal love letters to the city, commits mayhem and finds a kind of redemption in it. The film's moral center feels off. Its less than subtle glorification of vigilantism as well as its stylized but still very graphic violence -- bloody point-blank shootings, stabbings, skull-crushing beatings -- along with its semiexplicit sex scenes (flashbacks with partial nudity of Erica and her fiance making love) all make "The Brave One" inappropriate for most under 17. The movie also includes a scene with a drug addict and a young prostitute he's holding hostage, profanity, crude sexual language, smoking and drinking.
What partially redeems "The Brave One," apart from its handsome, gray-and-gritty view of urban life, is Foster's searing portrait of someone who recovers physically from the attack, but whose mind still reels from post-traumatic stress disorder and plain old grief and rage. Terrence Howard brings, as he always does, a subtle, powerful presence as a homicide detective who befriends Erica after the initial attack.
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BEYOND THE RATINGS GAME
-- MORE ACCESSIBLE TO KIDS 10 AND OLDER:
"Mr. Bean's Holiday" G (Youngsters may grin at the antics of actor Rowan Atkinson's semi-verbal, truly odd Mr. Bean (first introduced on British TV), with his rubbery face and limbs, always leaving chaos in his wake; he earns laughs lip-syncing to an aria, eating shellfish, shells and all; but the film is uneven and problematic; in this second Bean film (after "Bean," PG-13, 1997) Mr. B wins a trip to Cannes (the famous film fest is well-spoofed); Bean accidentally causes a boy (Max Baldry) and his filmmaker dad (Karel Roden) to be separated on their way to Cannes; his wacky efforts to get the stranded kid back to his dad feel weird; today's kids learn never to talk to strangers, let alone travel with them; it warrants a PG.)
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:
"Mr. Woodcock" (NEW) (Crude but intermittently amusing comedy -- better than its previews indicate -- about John (Seann William Scott), a successful young author of a self-help book, who returns to his hometown to get an award, only to find his long-widowed mom (Susan Sarandon) in love with his one-time middle-school gym teacher, Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton), an unsmiling macho-man remembered as a destroyer of kids' self-esteem; sharp dialogue and actors who don't oversell the jokes lift the film above the norm. Lewd, profane humor sometimes nears R range; crude euphemisms for sex; John, hiding under Woodcock's bed, hears his mom and the gym teacher make love, feels the mattress bounce; toilet humor; smoking; drinking; mean gags about kids with asthma, stutterers. Too lewd and profane for most middle-schoolers.)
"Balls of Fury" (Fatally unfunny Ping-Pong/kung-fu farce feels improvised, but not in a good way; Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler), a former table tennis prodigy, languishes in Reno doing Ping-Pong stunts at clubs; an FBI guy (George Lopez) gets him back into competition to help flush out the table tennis-fancying gangster (Christopher Walken) who killed Randy's dad (shown in a prologue). Awful ethnic stereotypes; bad gay jokes (mostly nonexplicit), including a subplot about male sex slaves; comedic martial-arts violence; chopsticks-up-the-nose-or-in-the-crotch gags; midrange profanity; toilet humor; smoking; drinking. Too lewd for middle-schoolers.)
"The Nanny Diaries" (A diverting mix of anthropological observation, arch satire, real emotion and visual panache (based on the novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus), this witty, watchable, albeit lightweight film stars Scarlett Johansson as a bright but directionless college grad who hires on as nanny with a rich, dysfunctional Park Avenue couple, Mr. and Mrs. X (Paul Giamatti and the great Laura Linney), to care for their preschooler (Nicholas Reese Art); Chris Evans as the "Harvard Hottie" upstairs; singer Alicia Keys as the nanny's pal. A steamy kiss; implied overnight tryst; hints of Mr. X's adultery -- he canoodles with a colleague; drinking; smoking; rare strong profanity. Not for 'tweens.)
-- R's:
"The Brave One" (NEW) (Jodie Foster in a searing performance as Erica, a New York radio personality -- a poet of the neighborhoods -- who, with her fiance (Naveen Andrews), is severely beaten by muggers; her fiance dies; she recovers physically, but is altered by grief, rage, post-traumatic stress; she becomes a secret vigilante killer; for all its nuance, the film seems to glorify vigilantism; Foster's acting redeems the film, along with Terrence Howard's subtle but powerful turn as a police detective who befriends her. Stylized but very graphic violence -- point-blank shootings, stabbings, skull-crushing beatings; semiexplicit sex scenes (flashbacks with partial nudity of Erica and her fiance making love); violent scene with a drug addict holding a young prostitute hostage; profanity; crude sexual language, smoking; drinking. Not for under-17s.)
"Death Sentence" (NEW) (Kevin Bacon is haunting as family man transformed into a driven revenge killer after his son is murdered by a gang of street thugs, and the violence escalates fast; John Goodman as the sleazy father of the lead thug (Garrett Hedlund); despite great action sequences, including a stunning foot chase, the film, really a Greek tragedy, feels arid and turns unintentionally droll when the street thugs ham it up; based on a novel by Brian Garfield, whose book "Death Wish" was also made into a film (R, 1974) that began a revenge movie trend. Intensely bloody, highly graphic gun, knife and fist violence; strong profanity; drinking; marijuana; strong sense of grief. Upsetting and violent; not for under-17s.)
"3:10 to Yuma" (Russell Crowe and Christian Bale spar with guns, philosophy and charisma in this terrific -- and terrifically bloody -- Western (based on an Elmore Leonard short story and a 1957 film), with sparky dialogue and gorgeous vistas, all corralled by director James Mangold; in the Arizona Territory, rancher Dan Evans (Bale), a Civil War veteran with a wrecked leg, signs on to escort notorious criminal Ben Wade (Crowe) to the train for transport to court; Evans needs cash to save his ranch and yearns to show his older boy (Logan Lerman) his dad's a hero; Wade is murderous and charming; his vicious right-hand man (Ben Foster) and gang of killer thieves stalk the posse. Bloody gunplay; gory wounds; profanity; drinking; smoking; implied sexual tryst; racial slurs. 17 and up.)
"Shoot 'Em Up" (Intentionally outrageous action flick -- a highly entertaining, but very adult blend of hardboiled film noir and ultra-hip spoof -- with stunts so impossible they're cartoonish; Clive Owen as mysterious, carrot-eating Mr. Smith, a laconic gunman who takes on multitudes and wins; he reluctantly defends a pregnant woman chased by hit men; when she dies in a hail of bullets, he takes her newborn to a prostitute/wet nurse (Italian star Monica Bellucci), then protects them from a henpecked killer (Paul Giamatti) and discovers why the baby is a target. Ultraviolent shootouts; torture; steaming profanity; graphic sexual slang; explicit sexual situations; seminudity. Not for under-17s.)
"Halloween" (Remake by director/musician/writer Rob Zombie of 1978 John Carpenter slasher classic (this is No. 9 in the "Halloween" lexicon); well acted and shot, but in keeping with the times, grossly violent, highly profane and sexually explicit (with nudity) -- thus sadly ordinary -- whereas original film used dread instead of gore; new film focuses first on serial killer Michael Myers' (Daeg Faerch as the boy; Tyler Mane as the adult) abused childhood; young Michael commits horrific murders, is sent to an asylum, treated by a kindly doctor (Malcolm McDowell), grows into a hulking adult, escapes, heads home on a killing rampage. Smoking and drinking. Not for under-17s or squeamish older teens.)
"Superbad" (Lewd, riotous teen comedy about high-school buds Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera); smart but dorky, they're heading to different colleges and desperate to lose their virginity first; an even geekier kid (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) uses a fake ID to get booze for them to bring to a party, but he's delayed by two idiot cops (Bill Hader and Seth Rogen; Rogen, star of R-rated "Knocked Up," co-wrote this script). Highly explicit sexual language; drugs, drunkenness; squirm-inducing scene about menstrual blood; graphic drawings of penises; semiexplicit sexual situations -- mild compared to the language; the boys' naivete saves film from seeming obscene. 17 and older.)
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