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COMING SOON
November 24:
 Alexander: starring Colin farrell,
Anthony Hopkins, Rosario Dawson and Angelina Jolie.
Christmas with the Kranks: starring Tim
Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis.
December 3:
Closer: starring Natalie Portman, Jude
Law, Clive Owen and Julia Roberts.
December 10:
Ocean's Twelve: starring George Clooney,
Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts.
Blade: Trinity: starring Wesley Snipes,
Kris Kristofferson, Jessica Biel and Parker Posey.
December 17:
The
Aviator: starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett
and Kate Beckinsale.
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate
Events: starring Jim Carey, Jude Law and Meryl
Streep.
Spanglish: starring Adam Sandler, Tea
Leoni and Cloris Leachman.
.gif) | Just
Opened
"National Treasure" -
Nicolas Cage, Sean Bean, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha. Cage
plays Benjamin Franklin Gates, an archaeologist-historian on
the hunt for a staggering treasure. He is descended from a
family of treasure-seekers whose greatest goal was to find a
war chest, hidden by the Founding Fathers prior to the
Revolutionary War, using a secret code in the Declaration of
Independence. Ben is out to steal the great document so that
evil sources, who he knows are on the track, don't get to it
first and he's willing to face a long prison sentence if he's
caught. The FBI is also onto the quest. The hunt will take him
down into foreboding caverns and tombs.
"The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" - Animated feature
with voices of Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey
Tambor and David Hasselhoff, based on the Nickelodeon TV
series. The most watched children's TV show ever, its far-out
imagination has a hipster edge, having appeal all the way up
to college students. Now it's expanded for the big screen so
all can know of life in the idyllic deep sea at Bikini Bottom.
But all is not well in paradise. SpongeBob, a spongefish,
having been flipping patties at the Krusty Krab eatery, is
humiliated when he's passed over for the manager position of
the new Krusty Krab by nasty Squidward. At the same time, the
scheming proprietor of the failing Chum Bucket eatery,
Plankton, schemes to steal the crown of King Neptune and
convince the king that Mr. Krabs, owner of Krusty Krab, was
responsible, which would mean a death sentence for him.
Neptune's daughter Missy intercedes, but meanwhile Plankton
has taken over Bikini Bottom by turning everybody into
bucket-helmeted automatons. SpongeBob and Patrick, for their
part, venture to the monster-infested Shell City in search of
the missing crown.
MOVIE REVIEW: Thinkers must go see this provocative film
"WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW!?"  Starring Marlee Matlin, at
The Movies on Exchange Street.
"What the Bleep Do We know!?" is a major don't-dare-miss
film, getting mostly negative reviews from critics but vast,
monumental applause from extended runs before word-of-mouth
overflow audiences coast to coast. No, not standing applause,
rather the silent applause from being so stupefied by what
you've seen that you lay limp in your seat while the credits
roll.
Just as "The Passion of the Christ" offended nonbelievers,
this film will enrage the devout of any religion that worships
a god who is exterior to oneself, which would be most of them.
Intellectuals, disaffiliates, rebels and cynics against
society and religion, especially college students and seekers
of a radical change of thinking about life, or even the
meaning of life, must see this all-pervasive national craze. A
little plot, its vagueness being the film's only shortfall,
stars Marlee Matlin as a photographer mixed up in her
emotional state as it involves her estranged husband and
especially her dissatisfaction with her own body. But that's
only incidental to the film's intellectually thrilling base. A
whirlwind of animated mind-teasing provocations, zipping with
colorful explanation through the neurological processes of the
brain and atomic structure, will leave you withered in cranial
shock as it pierces, and shows your innate control over, every
perception in your life. This lively, vigorously paced film
not only questions everything you think you know, but the
questions themselves.
It is about, of all things, quantum physics, the study of
infinitely tiny particles and, more pointedly, a validation of
what has been the wisdom of the Far East and South American
shamans predating recorded history that, essentially, humans
create their own reality through thoughts. From quantum
physics new research points to the brain's hypothalamus
creating chemical reactions throughout the body, changing the
very nucleus of cells, manifesting feelings of lust, love,
sadness, victimization and all else. When you withdraw from
this addiction to an emotion, your cells see it as the same as
withdrawing from a drug.
Dramatically, this highly ambitious film starts with the
Big Bang that began the universe, then to the concept that
every atom, every electron in that almighty blast forms the
physical, emotional and spiritual essence of everything —
human, animal, vegetable and mineral — on the planet. The
metaphysicist among the film's interviewees observes that all
those beings, all made up of those original atoms, are all
one, and the god force, that is, spirit, is within everything.
About humans, she adds, "God was separated from the universe
(by the ego of humans) and therefore became a blasphemy. The
height of arrogance is how people create God in their own
image."
The film's advisory group of 14 includes physicists, a
neurologist, physicians, a molecular biologist and spiritual
teachers, all with highly impressive detailed credentials
given at the end. Snips of interviews in the film flow
briskly, integrated with superb attention to maintaining the
film's spirited energy. The interviewees' ideas are totally
invigorating, with scientific credibility to everything from
meditation to time travel to alternate universes. You find
yourself delighted and intellectually stimulated continuously.
Followers of nationally renowned spiritual guru and medical
doctor Deepak Chopra (especially of his book "The Spontaneous
Fulfillment of Desire") will rejoice at the film's inspired
popularization of his quantum physics concepts.
Do not expect to be welcome in smart groups anymore if you
haven't seen this.
MOVIE REVIEW: Documentary looks at 9/11 detainees
The film cites evidence that following 9/11, even as
Attorney General John Ashcroft stood before the press
announcing that no one would be arrested or held without
charge, more than 5,000 U.S citizens of South Asian or Middle
Eastern origin were put under arrest with no charge, held
simply on vague grounds of "national security."
Some were held for a few days, some for almost three
months, many with no legal representation or communication
with family allowed. Some were arrested simply because their
names sounded Middle Eastern, the film contends. Many were
subjected to secret detention, solitary confinement and
deportation, losing their businesses and their families. Of
the 5,000, not a single one was ever charged.
"Persons of Interest," taking as its dramatic device a
virtually barren room with one window, uses its camera not as
a basis for film artistry but simply to report. The choice of
the bleak and vacant room for the filming is shrewd, setting
off the subject as isolated, with all reference points lost.
The camera simply rolls as one after another of the former
detainees stands and tells his story, occasionally with family
members, mostly solo.
What is striking is the calm demeanor, the dauntless
courage, the stoic composure of the individuals. No bitterness
here, only a perplexity over what had happened to their
understandings and faith in what America was supposed to be.
The film is often high drama with its minimalism but will
have varying appeal.
IF YOU GO
Human Rights Watch Film Festival,
dealing with human rights issues. Festival organized by Human
Rights Watch, an independent human rights advocacy
organization.The Festival continues through Sunday, Nov. 21,
at Space, 538 Congress St. The cost is $4 to $5 for most
showings. Call 828-5600 or go online at www.space538.org.
Marty Meltz has been reviewing movies
for the Portland Newspapers for 27 years. His reviews appear
weekly in the Telegram and on Thursdays in the Press
Herald.
Questions? Check out our commonly
asked questions about movies.
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Includes dates on or after
11/19/2004
Created 11/19/2004
13:04:20
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