filmland / By Charlie Myers

Pith and Treacle

Yawning along with ‘Bucket,’ enjoying ‘I’m Not There’ more than most

(Jan. 17, 2008) Previews

I can’t think of a better couple to buy meat pies from than Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, particularly when the main ingredient isn’t exactly legal. Opening Friday, Jan. 18, is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim from an 1840s serialized story. Directed by Tim Burton, the film tells the story of a Victorian era barber who gets revenge in a grisly fashion. On stage, the violence is handled symbolically. I’m guessing the film is more graphic. Here’s your chance to hear Depp sing. Rated R for graphic bloody violence. 120 m. At the Broadway and Mill Creek.

After getting pregnant by a guy who isn’t exactly a hunk in Knocked Up, Katherine Heigl now plays a woman who is always a bridesmaid, never a bride in 27 Dresses. In this romantic comedy, Heigl is Jane, who helps plan her sister’s wedding to a man she secretly loves. But wait, there may be another prospect on the horizon. Rated PG-13 for language, some innuendo and sexuality. 117 m. At the Broadway, Fortuna and Mill Creek.

When five friends throw a going-away party, I bet they didn’t count on a skyscraper-size monster attacking New York. But had they checked out the film genre first, they might have had a clue what was ahead in the sci-fi thriller Cloverfield. Luckily or unluckily for us, they have a video camera. From TV writer/director Matt Reeves (Felicity). Rated PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images. 100 m. At the Broadway, Fortuna and Mill Creek.

Diane Keaton, Ted Danson, Katie Holmes and Queen Latifah star in the comic caper Mad Money. Directed by Callie Khouri (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood), the story is about three female employees of the Federal Reserve who try to steal money that is supposed to be destroyed. Waste not, want not. Rated PG-13 for sexual material and language and brief drug references. 114 m. At the Broadway, Fortuna and Mill Creek.

Wynston Jones hosts the third in the “Films of Bette Davis” Eureka Library series: The Petrified Forest, based on the play by Robert Sherwood. Co-starring Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart (in a key early role), the 1936 film follows the interactions of a waitress, a bank robber and a traveler at a remote desert diner. The free presentation begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, in the Main Branch meeting room. Call 269-1905 for more information.

Reviews

THE BUCKET LIST: I’ll admit up front that I went to this film with very negative expectations. I was already writing phrases like “brain-dead geezer film” in my head, and I expected to observe that the film was made simply to allow two aging veteran actors to pick up a paycheck and phone in their performances.

1 2 3 4 5 NEXT PAGE >SHARE