Film Clips

Surviving Christmas (PG-13) — What saves “Surviving Christmas” from being a run-of-the-mill holiday film are its unconventional casting choices. While the ending is no surprise, isn’t that really what we want in a Christmas movie? It’s funny and sad, its characters flawed and conflicted — predictable, just like the dynamic at your own family’s holiday gathering. (Reviewed Oct. 22)

Team America: World Police (R) — The latest feature film effort of South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker is everything you’d imagine it to be: rude, insulting, obscene — essentially something to offend everyone. Which is what makes it so funny. An equal opportunity offender, “Team America” is not for those with delicate sensibilities; leave the younger teenagers and children at home. (Reviewed Oct. 15)

Friday Night Lights (PG-13) — One of the best football films to be made in the last 50 years, it has an honesty that transcends those familiar football movie clichés — the troubled player, the hard-but-wise coach, the comeback play. All of those elements exist within the film, and yet Berg gives them an authenticity and integrity that reinforces that what is unfolding before the audience has its basis in real life. (Reviewed Oct. 8)

Shark Tale (PG) — What could either have been a gentle morality play or tongue-in-cheek parody is neither; it’s simply a sour cioppino peppered with stale cultural stereotypes and pop culture references. “Shark Tale” certainly has its share of laughs, and its animators are consistently clever with the “fishifying” of human world structures and objects. What it ultimately lacks is the sense of wonder that animation gifts its audiences, a tradition since the days of Walt Disney’s “Snow White.” (Reviewed Oct. 1)

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (PG-13) — A profoundly existential sequel to 1995’s unexpected international anime success, Oshii’s futuristic vision is both haunting and beautiful, a kind of 21st century version of Disney’s “Fantasia.” There are moments in the film that don’t always make the connection for the audience, but that could be a consequence of translation. Yet the use of subtitles this time around, as opposed to the widely seen version of the original with English dubbing, make the language less a barrier and more a conduit to interpreting Oshii’s message. (Reviewed Sept. 24)

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (PG) — With its spectacular visual imagery and retro sensibilities, this is one of the best major studio films so far this year — and one of the most blatantly derivative. Yet that’s what will make it so appealing to many film fans. Virtually every frame of this film is drawn out of some other reservoir of film history, whether it’s sci-fi serials, German expressionism, or detective noir. The plot might seem pretty pedestrian to today’s more sophisticated movie-going audience, which is why the film may find more fans in the over-35 demographic. (Reviewed Sept. 17)

Vanity Fair (PG-13) — The real star of the film is director Mira Nair’s infusion of the color and culture of India into stuffy, pre-Victorian high society. Reese Witherspoon is pleasant enough, but like most of her other roles she interprets Becky Sharp as a plucky, perky sort of girl, in stark contrast to William Thackeray’s literary social climber, whose conniving verges on the Machiavellian. In the end Nair’s exploration of Thackeray’s social commentary falls short; there is more depth to the costumes and interiors in this production than to its characters or moral dilemmas. (Reviewed Sept. 3)