Film Shorts: March 2008

Quick takes on new releases

By D.K. Holm

Film critic D.K. Holm offers up witty (and pithy) analyses on a handful of this month's new theater releases...

10,000 B.C. From the fine craftsmen of cinematic art who brought you Independence Day...at least this pre-civilization action film won’t necessarily need dialogue...

The Bank Job Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows star in another one of those visually high-powered British crime films (though this one is directed by Roger Donaldson of inauspicious Dante’s Peak fame) in which crooks pulling “one last job” haul more than they expected...

College Road Trip Martin Lawrence comedy that is perhaps meant to be a funny version of the famous Sopranos episode wherein Tony takes Meadow on a tour of potential colleges…

Girls Rock! A free commercial in the form of a documentary about the transformative powers of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls...

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day A mousy governess (Frances McDormand) falls into the employ of a vivacious young American actress (Amy Adams)...

Horton Hears a Who! Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Dane Cook, and Jaime Pressly provide the voices for this latest animated Seuss project (though does anybody even really remember the slight story attached to the title?)...

Doomsday The latest horror effort from cult director Neil Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers), this one starring Rhona Mitra, Malcolm McDowell, and Bob Hoskins in a tale about life 30 years after the spread of a plague...

Funny Games U.S. Naomi Watts and Tim Roth star in Michael Haneke’s remake of his own 1997 bourgeois-button-pushing film about violence in the media...

Drillbit Taylor Unofficial remake of My Bodyguard (1980) in which three nerds hire a guy (Owen Wilson) to protect them from bullies...

Meet the Browns The latest Tyler Perry production, adapted from his stage play of the same name and starring Angela Bassett (and of course Perry himself)...

Stop Loss Director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) returns to the screen after almost a decade with this tale of a decorated Iraq war hero (Ryan Phillippe) from a small Texas town who is asked to make yet another tour of duty...

Flawless In ‘60s London, a retiring janitor (Michael Caine) asks an executive (Demi Moore) to help him steal some diamonds. Joss Ackland also stars in this film directed by Michael Radford (The Postman)...

Superhero Movie It has apparently been determined that it is time for Leslie Nielsen to star in a film that makes fun of comic book adaptations...

21 Kevin Spacey stars in this adaptation of the true story of the MIT math students who cracked the casinos at Vegas through carefully organized card counting...

Run, Fatboy, Run Outsized romantic comedy from writer and star Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), directed by David Schwimmer...