filmland / By Charlie Myers

Midnight Movie

To be scared, make sure you see Paranormal Activity as late as possible

(Oct. 29, 2009) Previews

Opening Wednesday, Oct. 28, with one screening Tuesday evening, is Michael Jackson’s This Is It, a documentary directed by Kenny Ortega that tracks the late singer as he prepared for a series of concerts in London. The film, shot in HD video, also has interviews with Jackson’s friends and collaborators. Rated PG for some suggestive choreography and scary images. 112m. At the Broadway, Fortuna and Mill Creek with a 9 p.m. Tuesday evening screening.

Opening Friday, Oct. 30, is the latest dick flick (formerly brain-dead guy film), I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, based on Tucker Max’s book about beer, vomit and sex. With Matt Czuchry as Max. Look for the sequel Assholes Finish First in 2010. Rated R for nudity, strong sexual content including graphic dialog throughout, language and some crude material. 106m. At the Minor.

Finally, the latest from Tyler Perry is I Can Do Bad All By Myself, a sort of weepie/comedy about April (Taraji P. Henson), an alcoholic nightclub singer redeemed by an attractive immigrant (Adam Rodriguez) who shows up at her door. Of course, there’s Madea (Perry), along with Mary J. Blige and Gladys Knight. Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving a sexual assault on a minor, violence, drug references and smoking. 113m. At the Broadway.

Reviews

THE INVENTION OF LYING: Writer/co-director Ricky Gervais (with Matthew Robinson) has hit upon a marvelous conceit for The Invention of Lying. The film world consists of an alternate universe where the concept of lying is nonexistent. The immediate effect, from our deceitful perspective, is humorous: People make very blunt remarks to each other, truth in advertising is the necessary norm and fiction does not exist as a concept, not to mention a literary genre.

Viewers see this world through the eyes of Mark Bellison (Gervais), who has been branded a fat loser by the honest folk of his town. Mark is a film writer (non-fiction history lectures) who manages to score a date with Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner). It doesn’t begin well: He interrupts her masturbating (which she completes before going out) and the waiter tells him, “she’s out of your league.”

When he is subsequently fired for writing about the Black Plague and can’t pay his rent, he tells a bank teller he has $800 dollars in his account. Assuming the computer is in error, she gives him the money and the rest is history.

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