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Video / DVD

New releases

A look at what's coming to the shelves near you

By Times Staff
Published October 13, 2005

KICKING & SCREAMING

DIRECTOR: Jesse Dylan

CAST: Will Ferrell, Robert Duvall, Mike Ditka, Kate Walsh, Musetta Vander, Dylan McLaughlin, Elliot Cho, Francesco Liotti, Alessandro Ruggiero

SYNOPSIS: Ferrell plays a guy bullied by his father (Duvall), attempting payback through coaching youth soccer.

WHAT WE SAID: St. Petersburg Times film critic Steve Persall gave the movie a B-. "The best thing about the youth soccer comedy is that it allows children to act like children, especially the tall one in the middle of everything," he wrote. "Don't let Will Ferrell's age fool you; he's the biggest kid on screen. His pleasant brand of goofiness, matched against a pair of bullying old pros, lifts Kicking & Screaming a notch above most movies about underdog jocks."

MPAA RATING: PG; crude humor, mild profanity

RUNNING TIME: 95 min.

DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott

CAST: Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Ghassan Massoud, Eva Green, Edward Norton, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Alexander Siddig, Brendan Gleeson

SYNOPSIS: Christian blacksmith (Bloom) becomes a 12th century knight, defending Jerusalem from Muslim forces during the Crusades.

WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a B+. He wrote that the movie could help explain the centuries of conflict between Muslims and Christians. "The film is set in 1184, during the third of seven crusades by European forces who believed themselves guided by God to conquer the Middle East, to shape politics and perhaps religion, and defeat Muslim forces equally convinced that their resistance was inspired by the divine. Kingdom of Heaven, for all its meticulous period detail, occasionally feels as if it's happening today," he wrote. "Kingdom of Heaven leans heavily toward moderation, mutual understanding and respect. Both sides have good guys and bad guys. Everybody claims that what they're doing, from diplomacy to murder, is willed by God or Allah."

MPAA RATING: R; strong violence, brief sensuality

RUNNING TIME: 146 min.

DIRECTOR: Ken Kwapis

CAST: Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively, Jenna Boyd, Bradley Whitford, Michael Rady, Mike Vogel

SYNOPSIS: Four best friends (Tamblyn, Ferrara, Bledel, Lively) spend a summer apart while romance, tragedy and family dysfunction create turning points in their lives. They keep in touch, sharing a pair of blue jeans through the mail that magically fits each girl perfectly.

WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the movie a B+. "There's something irresistible about Ken Kwapis' film, despite the way it lunges for our hearts with every teenage female crisis imaginable. Death, divorce, disillusionment and a dramatically dependable loss of virginity are the foundations of four young women's stories, linked by a conceit that sounds dumb until it's realized onscreen," he wrote. "It exists somewhere between harsh reality and fairy tale fantasy, where most girls live and Hollywood seldom treads."

MPAA RATING: PG; mature themes, brief sensuality, mild profanity

RUNNING TIME: 120 min.

DIRECTOR: Miranda July

CAST: Ellen Geer, John Hawkes, Brad William Henke, Miranda July, Jordan Potter, Brandon Ratcliff, Jason Rice, Natasha Slayton, Miles Thompson, Najarra Townsend, Carlie Westerman

SYNOPSIS: A lonely heart performance artist (July) and jilted husband (Hawkes) find quirky romance in the midst of unsavory adolescent sexuality.

WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a C-. "Me and You and Everyone We Know won inexplicable acclaim at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals, where its avant-garde superficiality probably inspired a lot of one-upmanship among people trying to sound smarter than everyone else. Maybe I'm missing something, but I won't try again to figure it out," he wrote.

MPAA RATING: R; language and disturbing sexual content involving children

RUNNING TIME: 90 min.

DIRECTOR: Louis Leterrier

CAST: Bob Hoskins, Jet Li, Morgan Freeman

SYNOPSIS: A shady underground fight promoter (Hoskins) treats an enslaved orphan (Li) like a dog, until a blind piano tuner (Freeman) enters the picture.

WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this movie.

MPAA RATING: R; violence, partial nudity and strong language

RUNNING TIME: 103 min.

DIRECTOR: Yvan Attal

CAST: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yvan Attal, Emmanuelle Seigner, Alain Chabat

SYNOPSIS: French couples and singles mix and occasionally match in a romantic ensemble. With English subtitles and a cameo by Johnny Depp.

WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this movie.

MPAA RATING: Not rated.

RUNNING TIME: 100 min.

DIRECTOR: Alexandre Aja

CAST: Cecile de France, Maiwenn Le Besco, Philippe Nahon, Franck Khalfoun

SYNOPSIS: College coeds on vacation cross paths with a mass murderer. With English subtitles.

WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Rick Gershman gave the film a C, noting that the goriest scenes were trimmed for U.S. release. "The cuts add up to only about a minute, but 5 or 10 seconds here and there can make a huge difference. End result: Makes no one happy. Hard-core horror fans will be dissatisfied at missing the bloodiest bits, but the softened Tension is still way too brutal for everyone else," he wrote.

MPAA RATING: R; graphic bloody killings, terror, sexual content and language

RUNNING TIME: 91 min.

[Last modified October 12, 2005, 10:18:06]