Rating Legend: (4=Don't miss, 3=Good, 2=Worth a look, 1=Forget it)
“Black Ops” (R) (1.5) [DVD only]
When the crew (Gary Stretch, et al.) of a reactivated WWII battleship loses contact with headquarters in this uninspired, gory, gruesome thriller, a Marine captain (Lance Henriksen) leads a group of highly trained Marines (James Russo, Katherine Randolph, Jim Hanks, Matthew Alan, Daniel Louis Rivas, et al.) to the Persian Gulf to investigate and fight a menacing, deadly, and ghostly paranormal entity (Grant Mathis).
“Brideshead Revisited” (PG-13) (2.5) [Some sexual content.] [DVD only]
Striking photography highlights this somber, long-winded film based on Evelyn Waugh’s 1945 romantic novel in which an Oxford art student (Matthew Goode) forms an unlikely friendship with a gay, flamboyant alcoholic (Ben Whishaw) in 1920s England, but when he meets the rest of the family, including the stern, snobbish, controlling, Catholicism-obsessed mother (Emma Thompson), who is estranged from her husband (Michael Gambon) living in Venice with his mistress (Greta Scacchi), and his attractive sister (Hayley Atwell), the friendship quickly sours.
“Brutal Massacre: A Comedy” (R) (3.5) [Language, sexuality/nudity and some violent images.] [DVD only]
One disaster after another befalls a washed-up, two-bit filmmaker (David Naughton), who directed such B-flick slasher films as Killer Koala, Fish Who Ate Flesh, Retirement Home, Garbage Man, People Pesticide, The Untrained Surgeon, Sasquatch at the Mall, I’ll Take the Ring Back and the Finger Too!, Crazed Fan, and Bowel Movement, when he, his crew (Brian O’Halloran, Ellen Sandweiss, Ken Foree, Gerry Bednob, Richard Vallejos, et al.) and the actors (Michelle DiBenedetti, Emily Brownell, Bill Sorice, et al.) begin filming their next masterpiece in this hilarious, delightfully campy, tongue-in-cheek, satirical mock documentary.
The Color of Freedom” (R) (3.5) [Language, including some sexual references.] [DVD only]
An engaging, factually inspired, well-acted film in which a stern, racist guard James Gregory (Joseph Fiennes) is promoted to the head of the censorship office for an island prison in South Africa in 1968 and then forms an unlikely friendship and respect for Nelson Mandela (Dennis Haysbert) over the course of the political prisoner’s 27-year imprisonment while raising his two children with his wife (Diane Kruger).
“December Boys” (PG-13) (3) [Sexual content, nudity, underage drinking, and smoking.] [DVD only]
The brotherly bond between four Australian orphans (Daniel Radcliffe, Lee Cormie, Christian Byers, and James Fraser) who share December birthdays and live in a Catholic convent in the Outback is ultimately strengthened in this heartwarming, bittersweet, factually inspired, coming-of-age film narrated by Max Cullen when a kindhearted, elderly couple (Jack Thompson and Kris McQuade) offers to take them in for a summer holiday during the 1960s, where the eldest cynical orphan has his first kiss with a sexually precocious teenager (Teresa Palmer) and one dreams of being adopted by a nearby barren couple (Sullivan Stapleton and Victorian Hill).
“Declaration of War” (NR) (2) [Subtitled]
When a French music executive (Jérémie Elkaïm) and his artistic wife (Valérie Donzelli) learn that their son has a malignant rhabdoid brain tumor in this odd, down-to-earth, factually inspired, heart-tugging film narrated by Pauline Gaillard and Philippe Barassat, the overwhelmed and traumatized couple joins forces with the doctors (Béatrice De Staël, Elisabeth Dion, Anne Le Ny, Frédéric Pierrot, et al.), family (Michèle Moretti, Philippe Laudenbach, Elina Löwensohn, et al.), and friends (Bastien Bouillon, et al.) in Paris to win the battle and to help their son recover.
“The Edge of Heaven” (NR) (3.5) [Subtitled] [DVD only]
While a discontented Turkish university professor (Baki Davrak) in Hamburg returns to Istanbul to search for the daughter (Nurgül Yesilçay) of a prostitute (Nursel Köse) accidentally killed during an argument by his lonely, widowed, elderly father (Tuncel Kurtiz) in this compelling, down-to-earth, well-acted, Oscar-nominated film, a Turkish political activist goes to Germany to search for her mother whom she believes sells shoes in Bremen and is befriended by a gay German student (Patrycia Ziolkowska) who invites her to move in with her and her mulish mother (Hanna Schygulla).
"Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" (PG-13) (1) [Intense sequences of action and violence, some disturbing images, and language.]
Repetitious special effects and a weak plot characterize this tepid, nonsensical, 3D, sci-fi thriller in which bullet-eating, chain-spewing, soul-sucking, Evel Kenevil motorcycle-riding Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage), who sold his soul to the Devil after his father became ill, joins an African-American angel (Idris Elba) and a distraught mother (Violante Placido) to protect and save a young boy (Fergus Riordan) in Eastern Europe who is being pursued by Satan (Ciarán Hinds) and his henchmen (Johnny Whitworth, et al.).
“Hannah Takes the Stairs” (NR) (1.5) [DVD only]
An improvised plot and hand-held cameras detract from this quirky, low-budget film about a trumpet-playing free-spirit (Greta Gerwig) who breaks up with a musician (Mark Duplass) and then begins relationships with two coworkers (Kent Osborne and Andrew Bujalski) when she begins an internship at a Chicago production company.
“Hell Ride” (R) (.5) [Strong violence, sexual content including graphic nudity and dialogue, language, and drug use.] [DVD only]
Bullets, arrows, bare breasts, and risqué language dominate in this lame, choppy, violent, nonsensical film when a vengeance-fueled Victor biker (Larry Bishop) and his two main sidekicks (Michael Madsen and Eric Balfour) join an aging motorcycle rider (Dennis Hopper) to seek revenge against rival 666 members (Vinnie Jones, David Carradine, et al.).
“The Hottest State” (R) (2) [Sexual content and language.] [DVD only]
A slow-moving, uneven love story about a disillusioned New York City actor (Mark Webber) who tries to escape his Texas upbringing and the fate of his estranged parents (Ethan Hawke and Laura Linney) when he falls in love with an independent, hard-edged, aspiring singer/songwriter (Catalina Sandino Moreno) who eventually takes the advice of her mother (Sonia Braga) and breaks up with him.
“Impact Point” (R) (2) [Violence, language, some sexuality, and nudity.] [DVD only]
After California detectives (Linden Ashby and Eddie Alfano) begin investigating the hit-and-run death of a volleyball star in this lackluster, unimaginative, predictable thriller, an alleged sports columnist (Brian Austin Green) begins stalking a comely volleyball player (Melissa Keller) while threatening her new partner (Kayla Ewell) and buff trainer (Joe Manganiello).
“Jillian’s Vantage” (NR) (3.5) [DVD only]
After a tragedy occurred several months earlier in this poignant, heartwarming, inspirational, creative, critically acclaimed, romantic, 23-minute, 2002 film, a depressed and lonely computer geek (John Valdetero), who restores corrupted hard drives for a living, reluctantly accepts to go on a blind dinner date with a beautiful, witty, self-assured therapist (Kristi Almo) set up by his worried best friend (Craig Cliver) and finds himself surprisingly surprised.
“Man on Wire” (PG-13) (3) [Some sexuality and nudity, and drug references.] [Partially subtitled] [DVD only]
James Marsh’s fascinating, jaw-dropping, unevenly paced documentary that intertwines interviews with accomplices, news clippings, home movie footage, still photographs, and partial reenactments to chronicle the insane dream of daredevil French high-wire tightrope walker Philippe Petit to perform “the artistic crime of the century” by illegally rigging a steel cable between the twin towers of the World Trade Center and performing the unimaginable, crazy, mind-blowing, 45-minute feat of crossing the cable eight times while suspended 1,350 feet above the streets of Manhattan in August of 1974.
“Pineapple Express” (R) (3) [Pervasive language, drug use, sexual references, and violence.] [DVD only]
After a weed-smoking process server (Seth Rogen) witnesses a high-rolling drug dealer (Gary Cole) and a crooked cop (Rosie Perez) murder a Chinese rival and then he misses an important dinner engagement with his high school girlfriend (Amber Heard) and her parents (Ed Begley, Jr. and Nora Dunn) in this funny, fast-moving, slapstick comedy, he and two two-bit pot dealers (James Franco and Danny R. McBride) try to prevent themselves from being killed by two henchmen (Kevin Corrigan and Craig Robinson) and a gang of vengeful oriental thugs.
“Played” (R) (1) [Pervasive language, violence, some nudity, and drug use.] [DVD only]
Revenge, murder, and mayhem run rampant in this convoluted, nonsensical, rambling 2006 thriller that involves a petty thief (Mick Rossi) who is released from the slammer after 8 years and his sweetheart (Joanne Whalley), a crooked British cop (Vinnie Jones), Los Angeles detectives (Anthony LaPaglia, George Berg, Aaron Gallagher, and Bruno Kirby), drug dealers (Patrick Bergin and Steve Jones), lowlife criminals (Val Kilmer, et al.), a vengeful father (Roy Dortice) seeking justice for the overdose of his son (Trevor Nugent), and a hit man (Gabriel Byrne).
“Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” (PG-13) (3) [Mature material and sensuality.] [DVD only]
While an NYC art student (Alexis Bledel) dates a hunky model (Jesse Williams) in an attempt to forget a Greek fisherman (Michael Rady) and a budding filmmaker (Amber Tamblyn) breaks up with her boyfriend (Leonardo Nam) after a pregnancy scare in this entertaining, down-to-earth, tweener sequel about four best friends sharing a pair of well-worn jeans, a Yale student (America Ferrera) finds herself in Vermont with a budding actress (Rachel Nichols) and attracted to a British actor (Tom Wisdom) when a director (Kyle MacLachlan) surprisingly casts her in the lead of a Shakespeare play and a college student (Blake Lively) heads to Turkey to work with an archeologist (Shohreh Aghdashloo) to escape the memories of her mother’s suicide and then visits her estranged grandmother (Blythe Danner) in Alabama.
“This Means War” (PG-13) (3) [Sexual content including references, some violence and action, and language.]
While two skilled, butt-kicking CIA agents (Chris Pine and Tom Hardy) vie for the affections of a perky product research director (Reese Witherspoon), who takes advice from her colorful best friend (Chelsea Handler), in this entertaining, witty, action-packed, star-dotted (Angela Bassett, Rosemary Harris, and Abigail Spencer) film, a vindictive German terrorist (Til Schweiger) arrives in Los Angeles to seek revenge for the death of his brother in Hong Kong.
“War Games: The Dead Code” (PG-13) (2.5) [Some violence and language.] [DVD only]
When a Philadelphia computer whiz (Matt Lanter) is encouraged by his best friend (Nicolas Wright) to play a challenging video war game in an attempt to win money for a trip to Montreal to be near a chess-loving high school student (Maxim Roy) in this complicated, tension-filled thriller, he and his mother (Susan Glover) become a target of a powerful supercomputer in Washington, D.C. that identifies him as a potential terrorist threat.
The preceding films were reviewed by Wendy Schadewald, who has been a Burnsville film critic since 1986. To see more of her film reviews, log on to www.shortredheadreelreviews.com.