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Among the pirates and cartoons, a few good films for grown-ups Adult Rated
A summer of swishy swashbucklers and men in tights can make anyone feel like they need a vacation from the movies.
But a little spectacle sometimes goes a long way - especially when you could just as easily stumble into a theatre playing a creative catastrophe like Poseidon or, Lord be with you, Lady in the Water. Yet for grown-up filmgoers - or those simply pining for a change of pace - there are alternatives to the overpriced, overproduced blockbusters movie studios rely on to line their coffers. And, as the success of such early summer releases as The Devil Wears Prada and even The Break-Up demonstrates, there is an audience who will fork over $14 to see something that doesn't involve monsters, slashers or both. With the summer nearly over, you may think the best of the season is past - that only second-tier product is being hoisted upon an unsuspecting public in the dog days of August, that you should save your dollars for the more prestigious, Oscar-baiting films of the fall. (Unless you're gullible enough to pay to see Snakes on a Plane.) But the fact is, now is the time when some genuine gems are being released, largely because studios are increasingly clueless about how to market movies not based on breakfast cereals. Most of the following films will barely register at the box office, will probably never grace a magazine cover and never warrant sequel or Oscars. And they are all among the very best of the year. (Note, all release dates are extremely subject to change.) LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE The summer's smartest, most satisfying movie. A dark, raucous comedy about a dysfunctional family's road trip could have easily degenerated into Hollywood tripe in lesser hands (think Ben Stiller). But first-time directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Ferris seamlessly juggle big, biting laughs with surprisingly tender and truthful moments. Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette star as the Hoovers, a nuclear family verging on their own personal Chernobyl, that takes a road trip when their daughter (Abigail Breslin of Signs) is accepted into the Little Miss Sunshine child beauty pageant. Along for the ride are Steve Carell as Collette's gay suicidal brother, Alan Arkin as Kinnear's vulgar dad and, in a breakout turn, Paul Dano as the Hoover's purposely-mute teenage son. This indie comedy was the standout at this year's Sundance Film Festival, but its balance of belly laughs and tears transcends all demographics. (Opens Aug. 18) CLERKS II Some events make people feel old - Fred Savage reproducing, for example. But for others, it's the thought of a Kevin Smith movie for grown-ups. Yet as painful as the truth may be, it's unavoidable - if you liked Clerks when it came out, you're probably in your 30s. You're approaching middle age. Half of your life, statistically speaking, is behind you. And probably the last 20 will be spent in a diaper. So, realistically, you have 30 good years left. It is this realization, and the dilemmas therein, which elevates Smith's sequel - about what happens when you're a Gen-Xer still without a purpose - to something more than rude, raunchy farce. (Now playing) FACTOTUM Spending 90 minutes with a whiskey-soaked, unemployable barfly sounds as appealing as crashing a bar mitzvah with Mel Gibson, but director Bent Hamer's take on street poet Charles Bukowski is sweetly disarming. Another Sundance favourite, Factotum stars Matt Dillon, in a candid, clunky performance that ranks among his best, as Bukowski's alter ego Hank Chinaski, a unrepentant drifter whose greater intellectual callings are continually undone by his own fierce temper and fiercer appetites. The former keeps him perpetually pinballing from one menial job to another. The latter, whch he fuels with a regiment of booze and beer, prevents him from fully realizing his dreams to be a writer. Not that Hank is what you'd describe as ambitious - his routine consists of banging out short stories and poems on a typewriter and mailing them to magazines where editors, in turn, ignore or reject him. When he's not doing that, he can be found either at the bottom of the bottle or being fired. His relationships with two women he encounters - played by Marisa Tomei and Lily Taylor - prove equally volcanic. Both actresses provide fine counterpoints for Dillon's gruff, grizzled Hank, a broken-down drunken soul who, despite himself, manages to win us over with warmth and unforeseen reserves of dignity and grace. (Opens later this month) THE ILLUSIONIST This artful drama about murder and magic possesses all the atmosphere and mystery of an act of on-stage deception by Harry Houdini or, in the case of this film, master illusionist Eisenheim (Edward Norton). Set in Vienna circa 1900, Neil Burger's movie is surprisingly lush for a non-blockbuster - and is buoyed by splendid work from the always-terrific Norton. He receives able support from Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti (Sideways) as the inspector charged with discovering Eisenheim's secrets and gorgeous Jessica Biel as Duchess Sophie von Teschen, the object of Eisenheim's affection and the source of his conflict with Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). A century ago, magicians were the rock stars of the popular culture - worshipped, feared and prosecuted by mesmerized masses who were transfixed by their sleights of hand and misdirection. Similarly, Burger manages to hold his audience sway until the final elegant minutes. (Opens Aug. 18) THE NIGHT LISTENER Among the legions of comic performers-turned-dramatic actors Robin Williams is the most accomplished, and most comfortable, at being still. It sounds like a minor point, but Williams is so skillful at inhabiting quiet, rueful, even tormented, characters it makes you wish he'd turn his back on slapstick fluff like RV for good. With that in mind, add The Night Listener, alongside One Hour Photo and Insomnia, to the actor's impressively varied resume. This creepy Hitchcockian drama, based on Armistead Maupin's fact-based novel, finds Williams starring as a talk radio host who befriends a young boy afflicted with AIDS. Their relationship develops over the phone, never face-to-face, and eventually Williams begins to suspect the boy is a figment of fiction - the concoction of a woman (Toni Collette) who says she's the boy's guardian. The Night Listener may be too slow for some - it's less a thriller than a psychological drama - but for the patient, the rewards are considerable. (Now playing) WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? Required viewing for anyone who has ever cursed, groaned or wept while filling their car up at the pump - in other words, everyone. This documentary chronicles the abbreviated life of the General Motors EV1, a vehicle that required no gas, no oil, no brake changes. So why did GM not only stop making the cars, but insist all existing models be destroyed? Narrated by Martin Sheen, the film, like all great detective yarns, points fingers and names names. (Opens Aug. 25) MIAMI VICE You may have heard a lot of people hate this movie. Blame the name. They probably expected either a send-up of the seminal 1980s cop series or, at the very least, a similarly-toned reincarnation. Instead, writer-director Michael Mann (who executive produced the TV show) gave them neither. This 2006 Vice - with Colin Farrell as Sonny Crockett and Jamie Foxx as Ricardo Tubbs - is stripped to the bone, eliminating the signature pastel flash and staging the underworld fireworks with the noirish docu-style of his Collateral. Vice isn't as dynamic an entertainment as that Tom Cruise cab-bound thriller or as rich as Mann's Heat, but we'll take mediorce Mann over, say, best-ever Brett Ratner anyday. (Now playing) WORLD TRADE CENTER Maybe in another decade, Oliver Stone will make a 9/11 epic that dovetails all the conspiracy theories about the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Until then, World Trade Center will have to suffice as Stone's entry in the growing list of 9/11 films - focusing on the event from the perspective of two Port Authority officers who were trapped in the rubble of the obliterated twin towers. More Apollo 13 than JFK, Center is cannily apolitical and should play equally well in red and blue states. For that reason alone, it's likely to be one of the year's five Best Picture nominees. (Now playing)
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