filmland / By Charlie Myers

Farce, Parody and Self-Parody

Know the difference! This week’s openings run the gamut from sly to clueless

(Sept. 24, 2009) Previews

Opening Friday, Sept. 25, is Fame, based on the 1980 musical about students at a New York high school for the performing arts. The soundtrack has been updated and the careers the students pursue have changed. With Debbie Allen and Bebe Neuwirth. Rated PG for thematic material including teen drinking, a sexual situation and language. 107 m. At Broadway, Mill Creek and Fortuna.

Based on the comic book series, the sci-fi thriller Surrogates is set in 2017, when people are safely cocooned while their surrogates engage in adventure. All is well until murder intrudes upon paradise and Bruce Willis is the F.B.I. agent who has to investigate. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene. 88 m. At Broadway, Mill Creek and Fortuna.

The sci-fi horror film Pandorum stars Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster as astronauts who awake in deep space and have no idea who they are or where. But something tells them they aren’t the only life aboard the spaceship. Rated R for strong horror violence and language. 108 m. At the Broadway and Mill Creek.

In the Loop is a UK comedy/satire on the theme of statesmanship. A furor develops when the U.S. President and the British Prime Minister agree that a joint war might be beneficial. Not everyone is equally enthusiastic. With James Gandolfini and Steve Coogan. Not rated. 106 m. At the Minor.

Reviews

THE INFORMANT!: If you aren’t familiar with the actual story behind whistleblower Mark Whitacre, you might be confused by the events that unfold in Steven Soderbergh’s film. It doesn’t matter. Based on the book by New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald entitled The Informant, the addition of an exclamation point to the film title is actually the first clue to Soderbergh’s approach and the breezy soundtrack solidifies the style.

Soderbergh’s Whitacre is a fictional recreation that is as much a comedic as cautionary tale, and the amazingly versatile Matt Damon is easily up to the task of embodying the character within Soderbergh’s most peculiar style.

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