CAST: Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Amanda Peet, Frances McDormand, Keanu Reeves, Jon Favreau
SYNOPSIS: Nicholson plays 63-year-old Harry Sanborn, vacationing in the Hamptons with his latest young girlfriend (Peet) and meets her mother, Broadway playwright Erica Barry (Keaton, nominated for an Oscar). He suffers a mild heart attack, and when he gets out of the hospital, his doctor (Reeves) insists he stay in the Hamptons rather than return to Manhattan. He ends up staying for weeks, alone with Keaton in her home. Complications ensue.
WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Marty Clear found a lot of Something's Gotta Give predictable, but said the Keaton-Nicholson pairing saved it. "One reason - apart from the fact that they're both fine actors - is that we got to know both of them when they were young, and youthfulness seemed so integral to their screen personas. . . . Here the actors, like their characters, seem to refresh a youthful spark in each other's eyes. They energize the material and the audience in the process."
MPAA RATING: PG-13; sexual content, brief nudity, strong language
RUNNING TIME: 135 min.
House of Sand and Fog
DIRECTOR: Vadim Perelman
CAST: Ben Kingsley, Jennifer Connelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Ron Eldard, Frances Fisher, Jonathan Ahdout
SYNOPSIS: Kathy Nicolo (Connelly), a barely recovering alcoholic reeling from a broken marriage, is in such a funk that she won't even open her mail. Her neglect causes her to lose her seaside house when she ignores the tax notices. It is purchased for a fraction of its value by Col. Massoud Amir Behrani (Kingsley), an Iranian immigrant for whom the house represents his path to the American dream. But dreams, as he learns, can become nightmares. Kingsley and Shohreh Ashdashloo, who plays his wife, were both nominated for Oscars.
WHAT WE SAID: Times film critic Steve Persall gave House of Sand and Fog an A, calling it "a major accomplishment, a film that keeps a hushed audience in their seats when the end credits roll, then lives on beyond the theater. . . . It takes a powerful movie to make real life seem clearer, to make a total stranger someone who is, to some degree, better understood. House of Sand and Fog is that kind of film."
MPAA RATING: R; profanity, violence, sexual situations
RUNNING TIME: 126 mins.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
DIRECTOR: Marcus Nispel
CAST: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, R. Lee Ermey, Andrew Bryniarski
SYNOPSIS: This remake of the 1974 classic horror flick remains the story of five young adults on a road trip encountering a family of inbred sociopaths. A new element - people depended upon for help can hurt you - sends the story into uncharted territory no reviewer should reveal. Let's just say the murderous family is a bit more cunning than the now-campy cannibals in Tobe Hooper's version.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave it a B-plus. "Nispel certainly hasn't trashed our memories. He embraces them, even as Scott Kosar's screenplay veers away from the original plot to create one of the best movie remakes ever. True, there isn't as much posterity to handle as remaking Casablanca or Gone with the Wind, but this is a nice balance of reverence for the source and updating for modern tastes."
MPAA RATING: R; graphic violence, profanity, drug content, brief sexuality
RUNNING TIME: 97 min.
Brother Bear
DIRECTORS: Aaron Blaise, Robert Walker
CAST: Voices of Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Suarez, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, Michael Clarke Duncan, D.B. Sweeney, Jason Raize
SYNOPSIS: The story is set 10,000 years ago in an American-Indian culture where a typically rebellious teen named Kenai (voice of Phoenix) is preparing to receive his totem of manhood. Kenai doesn't like bears, especially when one kills his older brother during a hunt. But the great spirits intervene and Kenai undergoes a magical transformation, becoming a bear. Meanwhile, Kenai's other brother, Denami (Raize), is stalking Kenai the bear because he thinks it killed both his siblings.
WHAT WE SAID: "Brother Bear is a nice effort but nothing spectacular," wrote Persall, who gave it a C. "Lovely artwork, some funny gags, a tear or two if you're a really soft touch, but it never rises to the artistic and emotional level of Disney's true classics."
