Friday, May 16, 2008

Movies opening this week

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Ben Barnes, dir. Andrew Adamson)
My review in Las Vegas Weekly
I read this book years ago when I was a kid and brushed up last week by listening to the audiobook. It was amazing to me how tedious and boring the book seems now, and how C.S. Lewis really belabors the religious allegory far more than in the first book. So even though I didn't think this movie was spectacular, it does improve greatly on the book and give me hope that future Narnia adventures might be worth all the hype and expense. Wide release

The Life Before Her Eyes (Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, Eva Amurri, dir. Vadim Perelman)
My review in Las Vegas Weekly
There have been some inordinately harsh reviews for this movie, talking about it as the worst film of the year, and I think that's overreacting a bit. But it is a melodramatic, overwrought cheat, and I say that as someone who liked the overwrought melodrama of Perelman's last film, House of Sand and Fog. That movie at least was emotionally affecting; this one is just irritating. Opened limited April 18; in Las Vegas this week

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