filmland / By Charlie Myers

Très Jolie

Plus: Last week’s Inception review … was it just a dream?

(July 29, 2010) Previews

DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS. Director Jay Roach (Austin Powers, Meet the Parents) starts with the premise from the French comedy Le Diner de Cons: Upscale businessmen compete to bring the most mock-worthy schmuck to dinner. Tim (Paul Rudd) joins the game to curry favor and finds wacky Barry (Steve Carell from The Office), who uses stuffed mice to recreate scenes from great literature. Or does Barry find him? Zach Galifianakis and a few other familiar comedy faces up the general zaniness factor. 110m. Rated PG-13 for sequences of crude and sexual content, some partial nudity and language. Opening Friday at the Broadway, Mill Creek and Fortuna.

CATS & DOGS: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE. Sequel to the talking animals flick Cats & Dogs has hairless Sphynx Kitty Galore (voiced by Bette Midler) trying to take over the world with the help of mice. The spy spoof has German Shepherd Diggs (James Marsden) and his buddy, Butch (Nick Nolte), leading the good guy dogs, teaming with their cat enemies to stop the evil plot, all in 3D. Rated PG for animal action and humor. 82m. Friday in 3D at the Broadway and the Fortuna, at Mill Creek in 2D.

CHARLIE ST. CLOUD. Teen heartthrob Zac Efron (High School Musical) stars in a film adaptation of Ben Sherwood’s novel The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, about a young man haunted by the death of his younger brother and enchanted by a girl (Amanda Crew) who may or may not be alive. 109m. Rated PG-13 for language including some sexual references, an intense accident scene and some sensuality. Opening Friday at the Broadway and Mill Creek

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT. Director Lisa Cholodenko (Laurel Canyon, High Art) co-wrote this tale of modern parenting. Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a lesbian couple whose kids, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson), both have the same anonymous sperm donor dad (Mark Ruffalo). Things get complicated when he comes into their lives. 104 m. Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some teen drug and alcohol use. Opening Friday at the Minor.

The Arcata Theatre Lounge Wednesday Sci-Fi Pint and Pizza Night moved to Thursday last week without our noticing. The upshot: Prehistoric Women and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women are showing on July 29. Saturday the ATL has Terry Gilliam’s twisting sci-fi tale 12 Monkeys, inspired by Chris Marker’s short La Jetée. Bruce Willis stars as a time traveler trying to save the world from a plague. Brad Pitt is the wild and crazy leader of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. Sunday it’s Rob Reiner’s fantastic comic fantasy The Princess Bride, starring, among others, André the Giant, who, I’m told, has a posse.

— Bob Doran

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