filmland / By Charlie Myers

Back to Brideshead

Plus: Weighing the relative virtues of this week’s so-so films

(Aug. 28, 2008) 

Opening Wednesday, Aug. 27, is Traitor, a thriller starring Guy Pearce as an F.B.I. agent investigating the activities of a Special Operations officer played by Don Cheadle. Jeff Daniels co-stars. Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences, thematic material and brief language. 113m. At the Broadway, Fortuna and Mill Creek.

GALLERY >

Also opening Wednesday is Hamlet 2, a comedy starring Steve Coogan as a failed actor exiled to teaching drama at a Tucson high school (the horrors!) where he oversees a student musical that purports to be a sequel to Will’s play. Directed by Andrew Fleming (Nancy Drew), the film co-stars Catherine Keener. Rated R for language including sexual references, brief nudity and some drug content. 92m At the Broadway.

Opening Friday, proving the summer isn’t yet over, is Babylon A.D., a post-apocalyptic film with a varied cast including Vin Diesel as a mercenary hired to escort from Russia a woman (Mélanie Thierry) who is secretly hosting some organism that a cult in the U.S. wants to turn into a messiah. Say what? Co-starring Michelle Yeoh, Gérard Depardieu and Charlotte Rampling. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, language and some sexuality. 90m At the Broadway, Fortuna and Mill Creek.

Disaster Movie intends to parody the genre as a group of young people faces a series of catastrophic events during a most difficult evening. Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language, drug references and comic violence. 90m. At the Broadway and Mill Creek.

College is a frat comedy wherein three friends become pledges at a rowdy fraternity during college freshman orientation. Can’t wait (long enough). Rated R for pervasive crude and sexual content, nudity, language, drug and alcohol abuse. 94m. At the Broadway, Fortuna, Mill Creek and Minor.

The Wackness is a comedy/drama coming-of-age story, set in 1994 New York, about a high school graduate (Josh Peck) who has a very eventful summer, including jail, romance (with Olivia Thirlby, Juno) and therapy (with Ben Kingsley). Co-starring Mary-Kate Olsen (who heats up Kingsley) and Famke Janssen. Rated R for pervasive drug use, language and some sexuality. 99m At the Minor.

1 2 3 4 5 6 NEXT PAGE >SHARE