filmland / By Charlie Myers

A Welcome Visitor

Plus: There is no way in hell you can make me see Love Guru

(June 26, 2008) Previews

Opening Friday, June 27, is the action/thriller Wanted, from director Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch; Day Watch). Based on a comic book series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, Wanted features James McAvoy as an executive who discovers that his father used to belong to a group of assassins called the Fraternity, who got a little help in their job by having some special abilities. Set in Chicago, the executive decides to follow in his father’s footsteps by enlisting the help of a Zen master played by Morgan Freeman and a tough woman played by (who else?) Angelina Jolie, who apparently didn’t completely satisfy her shooting urges in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. In his previous films, Bekmambetov displayed a nice visual sense. Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language and some sexuality. 110 m. At the Broadway, Fortuna and Mill Creek.

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The box office winner for the weekend, though, is likely to be the computer animated film Wall-E, a science fiction tale about a Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth Class (thus the acronym). Wall-E appears to be the last robot on Earth, and he was programmed to clean up environmental messes. His programming becomes a little messed up itself, however, when he falls in love with Eve, a robot that arrives on a probe from space. What’s a cute little load lifter to do? This is Pixar’s latest offering, directed by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo). Rated G. 97 m. At the Broadway, Mill Creek, Fortuna and the Minor.

The latest Will Smith flick Hancock, a comedic, romantic action/adventure flick, opens July 2. Smith plays an unpopular superhero who saves the life of a PR executive. Naturally, the PR executive returns the favor by launching a campaign to save Hancock’s image. Hotties Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman accompany Smith in this film directed by Peter Berg. Rated PG-13. 92 m. At Fortuna.

Reviews

THE VISITOR: One of the intriguing aspects of TheVisitor, the second feature from writer/director Thomas McCarthy after The Station Agent, is that it often seems to be slipping into easy sentimentality but somehow pulls back every time. I’m not sure who to credit for this refusal to give into a standard Hollywood mode, but surely some of the credit goes to lead actor Richard Jenkins (the dead father whose ghost appeared regularly in Six Feet Under) who is getting to carry a film for the first time. He is clearly up to the task.

Jenkins is Connecticut College economics professor Walter Vale who, to put it kindly, seems to have lost his enthusiasm for teaching. But he does not delude himself; he knows he is in a rut of old notes and stale ideas. His life takes a totally unexpected twist when he reluctantly travels to Manhattan to deliver a conference paper for an indisposed colleague.

Entering the apartment he owns there, he is startled to discover that it has been “rented” to Tarek Khalil (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend Zainab (Danai Gurira). Since both are in the country illegally, they hastily pack and leave but, of course, Walter relents as he realizes they have no place to go, and the relationship that develops between the three, particularly between Walter and Tarak, recharges and animates Walter’s life.

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