R E S T A U R A N T P O L L B A L L O T P . 4 6 - The Austin Chronicle

C ALE N D AR ( COMMUNITY SPORTS ARTS FILM MUSIC) L I S TINGSCLASH OF THE TITANS D: Louis Leterrier;with Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, JasonFlemyng, Gemma Arterton, Alexa Davalos, Mads Mikkelsen, LukeEvans, Izabella Miko. (PG-13, 118 min.)Leterrier’s overbusy new take on the messy1981 original is pretty messy itself, trying as itdoes to cram all manner of Greek history into itsoverstuffed running time. Avatar’s Worthingtonis cast as Perseus, a self-denying demigod withserious father issues who must find a way todefeat all manner of mythological beasties. (Thecomplex lineages of Greek mythology are helpfullyspelled out for nonhumanities majors in one ofthe longest expository prologues yet committedto film.) But no one in his or her right mind isgoing to Clash of the Titans for extra credit (onehopes); they’re going for the epic monster vs.man (or man-god) kickassery, and Leterrier’s filmdoes have some nifty CGI up its sleeve. It’s beingreleased in 3-D but wasn’t conceived that way, andthe result is a murky image that’s often far toodark for the action onscreen and which featureslittle if any three-dimensional awesomeness onewould expect from an “epic adventure” such asthis. (04/02/2010)– Marc Savlov★★ Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, AlamoDrafthouse South, Alamo Drafthouse Village, BartonCreek Square, CM Cedar Park, Hill Country Galleria,CM Round Rock, Southpark Meadows, Dobie,Highland, Gateway, Lakeline, Metropolitan, TinseltownNorth, WestgateTHE CRAZIES D: Breck Eisner; with Timothy Olyphant,Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker, Lisa K. Wyatt,Larry Cedar, Preston Bailey. (R, 101 min.)The Crazies, a remake of George A. Romero’s1973 film of the same name, taps so specificallyand so immediately into the current nationalzeitgeist it might well turn out to be the teapartiers’ and Fox News folks’ favorite film of theyear. Eisner’s update is, at heart, not much morethan Grant Wood’s American Gothic with little reddribbles of blood running down the pitchfork’stines. It’s been dosed with a major expansion ofRomero’s earlier nihilistic themes and a muchlarger budget, but its decidedly anti-authoritariantone is essentially the same. With The Crazies2010, Eisner and co-writers Scott Kosar and RayWright have crafted a thriller that’s quick on its feet(Romero’s, hamstrung by budgetary concerns, plodded),efficient in its setup, and chock-full o’ nuts.To call The Crazies the most original horror film ina long while only serves to point out just how lousymainstream, studio-released horror has become.(03/05/2010) – Marc Savlov★★★■MetropolitanwCRAZY HEART D: Scott Cooper; withJeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall, JackNation, Ryan Bingham, Colin Farrell. (R, 111 min.)You’d never guess that Crazy Heart is the workof a first-time filmmaker, but it is, and while thestory is as old and true as the broken-down country& western balladeer at the heart of it, nearlyeverything about Cooper’s debut feels intimateand immediate and as emotionally raw as everycountry song that ever mattered. That’s duealmost entirely to Bridges’ searing and sorrowfulturn as the alcohol-basted and nicotine-stainedC&W has-been Bad Blake. It’s a performance that’smagnificent in its road-weariness, and it’s a measureof just how truly great an actor Bridges hasmatured into over the years. Backed (and haunted)by a blazingly fine soundtrack courtesy of T BoneBurnett and the late Stephen Bruton and a themesong (and screen appearance) by rising star RyanBingham, Bridges makes this sozzled and desperateex-desperado – a cliché by any other name –as fresh and vital as one final shot at cowboy-poetredemption. (01/08/2010) – Marc Savlov★★★★■ArborLos OlvidadosLos Olvidados (1950) D: Luis Buñuel; withAlfonso Mejía, Estela Inda, Miguel Inclán, RobertoCobo. (NR, 80 min.) Known in English as The Youngand the Damned, this film sees Buñuel workingin a social realist style, though nevertheless withtouches of his own surrealist and Marxist sensibilities.The street urchins of Mexico City are thesubjects, and though the film depicts the harmfuleffects of their harsh environment, Buñuel neversentimentalizes their plight or activities. This filmis deservedly one of the great classics of cinema.@Blanton Museum Auditorium (on the UT campus),Sunday, 3pm; $5, $3 museum members, UT students,faculty, and staff.DEAR JOHN D: Lasse Hallström; with Channing Tatum,Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins, Henry Thomas, D.J. Cotrona,Cullen Moss, Scott Porter. (PG-13, 108 min.)Based on a weepie by bestselling novelist NicholasSparks, Dear John frontloads its action to the beginning,in which reformed hooligan John (Tatum) ishome in beachside South Carolina, on leave from theArmy. He falls fast for Savannah (Seyfried, sweet butunderused), a saintly type who is building houses withHabitat for Humanity. When John heads back overseasto finish his tour, he and Savannah swap letters,which are obvious, mewling, and frankly pretty boring;then 9/11 happens and changes the course of theirromantic future. This is a muzzy picture through andthrough, from Hallström’s softy direction and JamieLinden’s humorless script and slurry plotting toTatum’s portrayal of John. He is meant to be brooding,I think, but Tatum’s vague features read more“meathead” than anguished young lover. He has tocarry the film, but he’s the least interesting thinggoing on here. (02/05/2010) – Kimberley Jones★★■Movies 8DIARY OF A WIMPY KID D: ThorFreudenthal; with Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Rachael Harris,Steve Zahn, Connor Fielding, Owen Fielding, Devon Bostick, ChloeMoretz, Karan Brar, Grayson Russell. (PG, 92 min.)Diary of a Wimpy Kid is easily the smartest, snarkiest,and most honest depiction of that tweenagewasteland known as the “middle school years” thatthis former wimpy freak and geek has come across.Based on Jeff Kinney’s popular illustrated seriesof children’s books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is true– often painfully so – to its title. Having just graduatedfrom sixth grade to the formidable fortressof middle school, Greg (Gordon) enters the zoneconfident in his ability to make the perilous transitionfrom “little kid” to just plain “kid.” He still hashis circle of friends, dweeby though they may be.There’s not a lot of narrative-driven plotting to thefilm – it’s ostensibly based on a diary (or journal,RushRush (1991) D: Lili Fini Zanuck; with JasonPatric, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Max Perlich, GreggAllman, Sam Elliott. (R, 120 min.) Austin FilmFestival: Made in Texas. Kim Wozencraft’s semiautobiographicalnovel is the source material forthis film about a couple of cops in Beaumont,Texas, who become heavily involved in drug usewhile working deep undercover. (*) @Texas SpiritTheater, Wednesday, 7:30pm; $5, members of AFFor TSHM free.as its author frequently protests) after all. But it iscomically true to the major embarrassments andminor heroisms of middle school. Take it from me. Iwas there. (03/26/2010)– Marc Savlov★★★ Barton Creek Square, CM Cedar Park,Hill Country Galleria, CM Round Rock, SouthparkMeadows, Gateway, Lakeline, Tinseltown North,Tinseltown South, WestgateFORMOSA BETRAYED D: Adam Kane; withJames Van Der Beek, John Heard, Leslie Hope, Tzi Ma. (R, 101 min.)Not reviewed at press time. An FBI agent and aChicago cop investigate the murder of a Taiwanese-American, providing the basis for this politicalthriller having to do with the island formerly knownas Formosa. (03/26/2010) – Marjorie BaumgartenDobiewTHE GHOST WRITER D: RomanPolanski; with Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, KimCattrall, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson. (PG-13, 128 min.)Polanski is back in the saddle with this politicalmystery thriller, which refreshes aspects of what welike best in his work yet doesn’t surpass the excitementof his greatest achievements. The Ghost Writerhasn’t the complexity or breadth of such stunnersas Chinatown or The Pianist, but it is nevertheless asolidly built little roundelay of intrigue with a veracitythat seems torn from newspaper headlines. The film’sproduction design also plays a major role in creatingthe story’s overall sense of inhospitable tensions. TheGhost Writer’s mystery is a little too easy to disentangle(the screenplay was written by Robert Harris andPolanski, and adapted from Harris’ novel), althoughthat’s from the perspective of an outsider and notthe ghostwriter in the midst of the whirlwind. You’relikely to be drawn in by the film’s sleek elegancealone and forget about its mysterious underpinnings.(02/26/2010) – Marjorie Baumgarten★★★★■Arbor, Dobie, Tinseltown SouthTHE GIRL WITH THEw DRAGON TATTOO D: Niels Arden Oplev;with Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace. (NR, 152 min., subtitled)No one escapes untainted in this grimly fiendishadaptation of Stieg Larsson’s bestselling novel. Onthe face of it, the film is something of an investigativelyinclined thriller. The film quickly realizes itselfas vastly intriguing, well-written, and sensationallytopical. Chief among those intrigues is the disappearance,some 40 years earlier, of a young girlfrom a Swedish island. She was the niece of a now-82-year-old retired industrialist, who hires Stockholmbasedjournalist Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist) to investigatethe cold case. Running parallel to and finallyweaving its way into Blomkvist’s own storyline is thescrutiny of the fearsomely independent and blackclad,cycle-riding female hacker Lisbeth Salander(Rapace): the girl with the dragon tattoo. Oplev’sfilm is deftly calculated to thrill even as it repulses.This is not your mother’s murder mystery, unlessyour mother’s maiden name is de Sade and shehas an appallingly bleak vision of modern societythat occasionally fixates on the historical misdeedsof the corporate/industrial world and the correctionthereof. (04/02/2010)– Marc Savlov★★★★■ArborGalaxy Theatres presents "Clash of the Titans"in DBox Motion Seats and 3-D. We are the only theater in Texaswhere you can experience movies like never before.Tickets on sale now in Theater and Online.CLASH OF THE TITANS 3D (PG–13) DBox Motion ChairsFri. & Sat. 12:15 2:35 4:55 7:15 9:35 11:59DBox Motion Chairs Sun. - Thu. 12:15 2:35 4:55 7:15 9:35CLASH OF THE TITANS (PG–13) Fri. - Thu. 12:30 2:50 5:10 7:30 9:50HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3D (PG) Fri. & Sat. 12:453:00 5:15 7:30 9:45 11:50Sun. - Thu. 12:45 3:00 5:15 7:30 9:45HOT TUB TIME MACHINE (R) Fri. & Sat. 12:05 2:30 4:55 7:20 9:45 11:59Sun. - Thu. 12:05 2:30 4:55 7:20 9:45ALICE IN WONDERLAND 3D (PG)Fri. & Sat. 12:00 2:25 4:50 7:15 9:40 11:55Sun. - Thu. 12:00 2:25 4:50 7:15 9:40AVATAR 3D (PG–13) Fri. & Sat. 1:00 4:15 7:30 11:00Sun. - Thu. 1:00 4:15 7:30THE LAST SONG (PG) Fri. - Thu. 12:10 2:30 4:50 7:10 9:30TYLER PERRY'S WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO? (PG–13)Fri. & Sat. 1:40 2:00 4:20 4:40 7:00 7:15 9:40 10:00 11:40Sun. - Thu. 1:40 2:00 4:20 4:40 7:00 7:15 9:40 10:00DATE NIGHT(PG–13) Fri. & Sat. 12:55 3:00 5:05 7:10 9:15 11:50Sun. - Thu. 12:55 3:00 5:05 7:10 9:15a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m APRIL 9, 2010 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E 79