filmland / By Charlie Myers

Gypsies, Cowboys and Prodigies

This week: Lotsa good stuff, just a little crap

(Sept. 13, 2007) Previews

I’m expecting Jodie Foster to bring a lot more class to the revenge vigilante film than Kevin Bacon did recently. In The Brave One , opening Friday, Sept. 14, Foster is in her element as a woman bent on revenge after suffering a brutal attack, in a film directed by Neil Jordan. Terrence Howard costars. Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality. 129 m. At the Broadway and Mill Creek.

Death at a Funeral

GALLERY >

From South Korea comes Dragon Wars: D-War wherein some sort of Korean serpents ravage Los Angeles. Am I supposed to care? Maybe someone who cares will save the day. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and creature action. 110 m. At the Broadway and Mill Creek.

Billy Bob Thornton heads a big-name cast as a tyrannical high-school gym teacher in Mr. Woodcock . A former student (Seann William Scott) becomes upset when he discovers that his mother (Susan Sarandon) is to marry Mr. Woodcock. After all, look what happened to Angelina Jolie. Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, thematic material, language and a mild drug reference. 97 m. At the Broadway.

Directed and co-written by Steve Buscemi, who also stars, Interview is a promisingly intriguing film. Buscemi plays a political reporter who is forced to interview a film/TV star (Sienna Miller) after a falling out with his boss. Most of the film takes place in the actress’ loft. Rated R for language including sexual references, and some drug use. 94 m. At the Minor.

Even more promising for documentary fans and critics of the Bush administration’s conduct of the Iraq invasion, No End in Sight , written and directed by political scientist Charles Ferguson, offers a searing look at the mess Bush has gotten the country into. I can’t be the only one who sees the film’s title as depressingly prophetic. Not rated 112 m. At the Minor.

There will be a sneak preview of The Kingdom Saturday evening, 8:45 p.m., at the Broadway. Starring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Chris Cooper, the film is about an F.B.I. team sent to investigate the bombing of an American housing complex in Saudi Arabia. Rated R for intense sequences of graphic brutal violence, and for language. 120 m.

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