Military tale, animated picture and broad comedy to light up silver screen
A military tale (“The Guardian”), an animated picture (“Open Season”) and a broad comedy (“School for Scoundrels”) are the major titles landing in theaters on this last Friday of September. The new films (with all dates subject to change) opening at a theater near you include:
– “The Guardian,” with Kevin Costner (“Open Range”) and Ashton Kutcher (“Just Married”) in a PG-13 military tale about a grizzled Coast Guard veteran training recruits who believe they possess the strength and endurance required to become part of an elite squad of rescue swimmers.
– “Keeping Mum,” with Maggie Smith (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”), Rowan Atkinson (“Bean”), Kristin Scott Thomas (“The English Patient”) and Patrick Swayze (“Dirty Dancing”) in a dark-themed British comedy. In the R-rated import, an overworked minister fails to recognize that his wife is wandering into the arms of another man and his children are having problems of their own.
– “Open Season,” with the voices of Martin Lawrence (“Bad Boys”) and Ashton Kutcher (“Guess Who”) in a computer-animated tale, rated PG, about a grizzly bear with no survival skills and a wild mule deer with no common sense who decide to leave their safe environment and venture into the wild.
– “Renaissance,” with Daniel Craig (“Layer Cake”) providing a voice in a futuristic black-and-white action thriller about a tough detective battling the evildoers inside a genetic-research company. The R-rated French import was created via rotoscoping, an animated process that has artists using computers to paint live-action performers so they appear animated.
– “School for Scoundrels,” with Billy Bob Thornton (“Bad Santa”) and Jon Heder (“Napoleon Dynamite”) in a PG-13 comedy about a powerful motivational speaker and a depressed traffic cop competing for the affections of the same woman. Comics Sarah Silverman (“The Aristocrats”), Horatio Sanz (NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”) and David Cross (TV’s “Arrested Development”) co-star, and Todd Phillips (“Old School”) directed.
– “The Science of Sleep,” with Gael Garcia Bernal (“Bad Education”) and Charlotte Gainsbourg (“21 Grams”) in an offbeat comedy. Acclaimed filmmaker Michel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) directed the R-rated tale of a man who falls in love and then worries that his dreams are seeping into his real life.
– “The U.S. vs. John Lennon,” with David Leaf and John Scheinfeld co-directing a documentary on the activities of the late Beatles member between 1966 and 1976, a period during which the government investigated him due to his antiwar protests. Political activists such as Angela Davis, Ron Kovic, and George McGovern appear in the film, as does Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono.
At the buck$ office
“Number Two” was No. 1 at in theaters last weekend.
The gross sequel “Jackass: Number Two” with Johnny Knoxville easily took the top spot at the box office. The R-rated picture opened with a surprisingly strong $29 million.
It was followed in the distance by “Jet Li’s Fearless.” The PG-13 import debuted with $10.5 million.
According to the Associated Press, the top-10 movies last weekend were:
1. “Jackass: Number Two” ($29 million)
2. “Jet Li’s Fearless” ($10.5 million)
3. “Gridiron Gang” ($9.4 million)
4. “Flyboys” ($6 million)
5. “Everyone’s Hero” ($4.6 million)
6. “The Black Dahlia” ($4.4 million)
7. “All the King’s Men” ($3.6 million)
8. “The Illusionist” ($3.3 million)
9. “The Covenant” ($3.1 million)
10. “Little Miss Sunshine” ($2.8 million)
Coming soon!
The major titles scheduled to open Oct. 6 include: “The Departed” (Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon in a gangster epic) and “Employee of the Month” with Dane Cook and Jessica Simpson in a romantic comedy).