Honolulu Weekly

Unattributed film synopses indicate movies not yet reviewed by HW staff.

Indicates films of particular interest

Opening

The Bounty Hunter Running into your ex is awkward, but arresting your ex? That’s a pilot for a syrupy romantic comedy. A bounty hunter (Gerard Butler) receives orders to hunt down his ex-wife (Jennifer Aniston), conveniently resulting in a lot of provocative handcuffing.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dear Diary, Life as the flesh and blood embodiment of Jeff Kinney’s illustrated protagonist, Greg Heffley, is pretty cool–save for the fact that I’m a dweeb with pimply friends going through the typical travails of a pre-pubescent middle schooler.

Repo Men At mega-corporation The Union, life-saving organs can be purchased on credit. Can’t make the payments? Repo men will hunt you down and reclaim them. The tables turn when Jude Law, an experienced repo man with a purchased heart, goes broke.

Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails America’s favorite anthropomorphic steam locomotive gets his choo-choo on in an attempt to restore Hiro, an old Japanese engine.

Continuing

Alice in Wonderland 3D [Tim] Burton’s interpretation of Wonderland is just as imaginatively colorful and creature-filled as James Cameron’s fawned-over Pandora. (And it’s also in uninspired 3-D.) Bright flowers have talking human faces and miniature rocking horses fly through the air like insects. –Ryan Senaga

Brooklyn’s Finest After Cop Out, the popo get serious in this Sundance crime film about three cops (Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke) faced with three different dilemmas following one massive drug sting.

Cop Out Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan play the latest interracial cop duo, undoubtedly stumbling, rambling and wisecracking their way through a case involving a stolen vintage baseball card. For Willis, the two-time Emmy Award winner, a cop-out indeed.

The Crazies By focusing on the problem and not the cure, Breck Eisner turns this film into a survival-of-the-fittest competition. The result is ultimately satisfying, but it’s as cheap and lazy as its all-too-frequent scares. –Dean Carrico

Crazy Heart A tragicomedy featuring Bad Blake, a 57-year-old, alcoholic country singer played perfectly by Jeff Bridges, who finds an intimate connection with a young journalist (Maggie Gyllenhaal) hungry for a story. –D.C.

The Ghost Writer See review on page 16.

Green Zone See review on page 17.

The Hurt Locker A gripping look into the work of the military’s most courageous and unrecognized heroes: the Explosive Ordnance Disposal squad, responsible for defusing roadside bombs in Baghdad. A critics’ darling.

The Last Station A biographical account of Russian author Leo Tolstoy, meaning a lot of rhetoric about peasant-loving, non-violent resistance and Christian anarchy. His marriage to Countess Sofya (the fantastic Helen Mirren), 16 years his junior, provides the tension.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief It’s a perfectly serviceable distraction, particularly with those who haven’t grown up in the midst of Potter-mania, but for those who have, it’s a painful reminder that lightning rarely strikes twice. –D.C.

Remember Me She witnessed her mother’s murder, he’s grieving his brother’s suicide and his parents’ breakup at the same time. Madcap hilarity ensues in this lighthearted romantic comedy.

She’s Out of My League Ostensibly ugly guy lands ostensibly perfect girlfriend. Will his insecurities threaten their relationship?

Shinjuku Incident Helmed under Chan’s own production company,[it] plays like a Tokyo version of Brian De Palma’s Scarface, without the cursing. –D.C.

Shutter Island With a Martin Scorsese film, one can’t help but expect–and deserve–more than a rote, plodding pace and irresponsibly handled screenplay tricks. Shutter Island is a B-movie, haunted-house chiller that’s neither haunted enough nor B enough. –R.S.

The White Ribbon Nothing less than a somber study on the birth of evil. In German! –R.S.

Doris Duke Theatre

8th Annual Jewish Film Festival Runs through March 18 and features six full-length films (two with ties to Japan) and one short.

Mighty Uke (Canada, 2009) A documentary that ventures as far as Tokyo and London to explore the ‘ukulele’s cross-cultural appeal. Local masters like Jake Shimabukuro and Bill Tapia, who turns 102 this year, are also featured.

Fri 3/19, 7:30pm, $15 for non-museum members; $12 for museum members; $8 for students with I.D.

Movie Museum

Two-Way Stretch (U.K., 1960) A British, jailbreak comedy about a group of prisoners who plan on robbing a sultan and sneaking back into jail just in time for their release the next morning.

Thu 3/18, 12:30, 2:30 & 4:30pm.

The Escapist (U.K./Ireland, 2008) When Frank, a convict 14 years into his life sentence, discovers that his daughter nearly died from a drug overdose, he organizes a gang of misfits to help sneak him out of prison.

Thu 3/18, 6:30 & 8:30pm.

The Chicken, the Fish and the King Crab (Spain, 2008) A documentary following preparations for the Bocuse d’Or, the Olympics of the French culinary world that takes place in Lyon.

Fri 3/19, 12:30, 2:30, 4:30, 6:30 & 8:30pm.

Warm Spring (China, 2003) After escaping from her abusive foster parents, seven-year-old Xiao Hua gets taken in by an uneducated farmer.

Sat 3/20,12:30, 2:30, 4:30, 6:30 & 8:30pm.

The Stoning of Soraya M (2008) An adaptation of journalist Freidoune Sahebjam’s book, which recounts the true story of his encounter with a woman in a remote Iranian village who reveals the harrowing murder of her niece.

Sun 3/21, 12:30, 3, 5:30 & 8pm.

Bride Flight (Netherlands/Luxembourg, 2008) A romantic drama starring three women who meet while taking a flight to join their husbands in New Zealand, then reconnect in their 70s at the funeral of a mutual friend.

Mon 3/22, 12:30, 3, 5:30 & 8pm.

University of Hawaii

Tapped (2009) In conjunction with World Water Week, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the vile corruption of the bottled water industry.

Sun 3/21, 5pm.

Holy Day (Vietnam, 1976) In the 1950s, sisters Nhan and Ai, both abandoned by their husbands, struggle with the political influence of the Catholic Church sweeping Vietnam. While one sister lives in fear of the church, the other develops a new relationship.

Wed 3/17, 6:30pm, Korean Studies Auditorium, free.