DREW'S REVIEWS

AMERICA (PG-13) A movie so singularly titled should probably be a little more focused. But what starts as a weakly tolerable, disingenuously patriotic documentary eventually shows its true intolerant colors when co-writer-co-director-star-felon Dinesh D’Souza renews his anti-Obama screed, last seen on screen in 2012’s 2016: Obama’s America. Attempting to debunk the liberal American-shame movement led by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn (it’s partially framed as a belated answer to his People’s History of the United States) and Michael Moore, D’Souza espouses the greatness of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Madam C. J. Walker and more in poorly dramatized reenactments. Trying to prove America’s innocence of the several crimes, the movie actively reminds us that white people were slaves, too, and that one of the worst slaveowners was black. The film then really turns ugly, as D’Souza accuses Obama and Hillary Clinton of being not-so-covert agents of the ideals of the radical Saul Alinski. America’s greatest moment comes from U2’s Bono, whose description of America-the-idea is far more eloquent than any of the amateurish, cinematic stunts pulled by D’Souza. Say what you will about Michael Moore, but the man can put together some convincingly artful propaganda. D’Souza, not so much.

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (PG-13) First Godzilla, then Edge of Tomorrow and Snowpiercer: summer 2014 has been especially generous for sci-fi fans. Now Dawn of the Planet of the Apes arrives to live up to and exceed our expectations about how good a movie about damn, dirty apes can be. (And we can still anticipate Guardians of the Galaxy and Lucy.) In the eighth installment of the venerable franchise, apes have yet to completely take over the planet. A band of humans survived the Simian Flu and struggle to rebuild in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Caesar (motion-capture king Andy Serkis, giving another Oscar-worthy performance) has created a community in the forests outside the city. Soon man and beast will clash, thanks to the machinations of evil ape Koba (Toby Kebbell). I never thought I’d fully back a PotA flick without humans shuffling around behind stuffy masks, but with the digital FX in Dawn I don’t miss them at all. The work done on the apes is truly wondrous to watch. Kudos to director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and his entire technical staff. I cannot wait for what I can only assume will be War for the Planet of the Apes.

DELIVER US FROM EVIL (R) To date, Scott Derrickson’s weakest feature is his stolid remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Deliver Us from Evil is more fun than Derrickson’s sci-fi dud, but it’s no Sinister or Exorcism of Emily Rose. Based on… excuse me… inspired by the true accounts of New York police sergeant Ralph Sarchie (convincingly portrayed onscreen by Eric Bana), the film struggles to decide if it is a demonic possession flick, a cop thriller with delusions of Se7en or a haunted house chiller. Ultimately, it decides to be The Exorcist, climaxing with Sarchie and his partner priest, Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez), performing an exorcism right there in the police station. But lots of screen time is spent on the dedicated cop dealing with family abandonment issues. And who wouldn’t, with Olivia Munn as the wife Sarchie leaves waiting at home? Too bad the scary bedroom scenes with Sarchie’s six-year-old daughter ultimately amount to little more than Conjuring-esque knockoffs. Joel McHale, of “Community.” was a nonconformist, if not dramatically successful, choice for Sarchie’s buff, comic-relief partner. Derrickson’s latest is less a bad horror movie so much than an unfocused generic one from a filmmaker who could deliver better.

SNOWPIERCER (R) If you’ve seen any of Bong Joon Ho’s excellent features, you should not be surprised at the raves his latest—a sci-fi epic, no less—has been getting. Released in the heat of summer, competing with Hollywood’s biggest, loudest blockbusters, Snowpiercer stands out as that scarce genre film one expects people to cite as a must-see in years to come. A botched attempt to stop global warming kills off all life on Earth except for the last remnants of humanity aboard a globetrotting super train. But people are people, so they remain stratified by class, leading to a revolution led by gruff Curtis (Chris Evans), his second, Edgar (Jamie Bell), and his mentor, Gilliam (John Hurt). Seeking to reach the eternal engine, manned by the legendary Wilford (Ed Harris), Chris and his army journey through the increasingly lively, inventive cars, battling Wilford’s emissary, Mason (Tilda Swinton, a caricaturish standout in bad teeth and glasses), and soldiers. Be prepared for Bong’s momentary whimsies and abrupt tonal shifts from serious to silly; it’ll be familiar stuff for anyone who’s seen his excellent monster movie, 2006’s The Host. Skip Transformers 4 and see the best blockbuster not at the local multiplex.

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ALIVE INSIDE This documentary focuses on social worker Dan Cohen, who founded the nonprofit Music & Memory. The organization’s mission is to fight for those suffering from memory loss by using music. Unfortunately, the healthcare system is not exactly supportive of this therapy. For his first feature documentary, Michael Rossato-Bennett won Leonardo’s Horse from the Milan International Film Festival and the Audience Award for Documentary from Sundance, where it was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. 

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (PG-13) Despite abundant reasons for applause, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 sabotages itself with the most dreadfully deadening second act unleashed in a major superhero movie. Andrew Garfield returns as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and has much more control of the role in his second appearance. The action-packed finale jams three supervillains into what can’t be more than 20 minutes. Make sure you wake up for it.

AND SO IT GOES (PG-13) Does every aging Hollywood star have to make a “taking care of the grandchild for which they are unprepared to care movie?” Michael Douglas stars as a self-centered, wealthy dude who asks his age-appropriate neighbor, naturally played by Diane Keaton, to help him care for the granddaughter he never knew existed. 

BEGIN AGAIN (R) Kiera Knightley and Mark Ruffalo star in Once, writer-director John Carney’s latest film. Gretta (Knightley) and Dave (Adam Levine of Maroon 5) head to New York City after Dave lands a record deal. Gretta winds up playing music on the street after Dave cheats on her, and then meets Dan (Ruffalo), a down-and-out music exec looking for a way back in. 

BLENDED (PG-13) Ten years after 50 First Dates, Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore reunite as single parents who, after meeting on a bad blind date, fall for each other on an African safari with their kids. Sandler invited his Wedding Singer, Waterboy, and Click pal and director Frank Coraci for the sure-to-be critically reviled, financially successful family flick.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (PG-13) Cap (Chris Evans) returns in his second solo outing, and it’s a slight improvement over the first, a definitively middle-of-the-pack Marvel movie. As an agent of SHIELD, Captain America, aka Steve Rogers, must adjust to his new reality and save the world, regularly. 

CHEF (R) With Shane Black taking over last year’s Iron Man 3, Jon Favreau hasn’t helmed a feature since 2011’s Cowboys & Aliens. He also stars in his latest, a comedy about a chef, Carl Casper, who loses his restaurant job and starts a food truck. Plus, he’s got to reunite his separated family. Favreau wrote and directed this feature that also stars , Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Downey Jr. (Ciné)

DEMOLITION HIGHWAY 1996. Bad Movie Night returns just in time for Frank Scarvo (the never riveting Danny Fendley) to be released from a five-year prison sentence and seek revenge on Xavier Carbone (Joe Estevez, Martin Sheen’s D-list younger brother). Despite Frank’s tight lips—he went to jail for not ratting out his boss— Carbone had Frank’s girl killed and took his money. No wonder Frank wants revenge so badly.

DUCK SOUP 1933. Ciné’s Summer Classic Movie Series continues its comedy revue with the Marx Brother’s classic, Duck Soup. Groucho stars as Rufus T. Firefly, the newly appointed dictator of Freedonia thanks to wealthy backer, Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), while the bankrupt nation fends off neighboring Sylvania. Silent Harpo and talkative Chico play Sylvanian spies; Zeppo plays Firefly’s personal assistant. AFI placed the film at 85 on its “100 Years… 100 Movies” list and at five on its “100 Years… 100 Laughs” list. (Ciné)

EARTH TO ECHO (PG) Found footage is not the cinematic dead end many believe it to be, but the gambit needs a narrative purpose to be used. The trailers for Earth to Echo, an E.T.-looking wannabe that brings to mind 1988’s Mac and Me, betray no such narrative need for the found footage frame. A group of kids could help this alien named Echo return home without filming every second of it. The family-friendly sci-fi flick is the first feature from director Dave Green. 

EDGE OF TOMORROW (PG-13) Exo-suited Tom Cruise continuously kills the same generic aliens over and over in this charmingly funny, engagingly smart, sci-fi take on Groundhog Day. The untrained Cage dies but somehow wakes up to repeat the day. Fortunately, war hero Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) knows what’s going on and gives Cage some pointers on effective soldiering. 

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (PG-13) The adaptation of John Green’s story of cancer teens in love succeeds on numerous fronts. The script by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (they had similar success with the slightly superior The Spectacular Now) ably and completely translates Green from page to screen. Nothing of the book, neither its pain nor humor, is lost (even though a few things could have been). 

FINDING VIVIAN MAIER 2013. You probably have not heard of Vivian Maier; I had not. But Maier, a nanny, earned posthumous acclaim as one of the 20th century’s greatest shutterbugs after the discovery of 100,000 of her photographs. Directors John Maloof and Charlie Siskel recreate Maier’s mysterious life from photos, films and interviews in this award-winning doc. (Ciné)

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 (PG) How to Train Your Dragon 2 aspires to make a wonderful family film and turn it into an epic. Hiccup (v. Jay Baruchel) and his dragon, Toothless, spend their days flying across the world, discovering new locations and hopefully new dragons. 

I ORIGINS (R) Indie darling Brit Marling reunites with her Another Earth filmmaker, Mike Cahill, as opposed to her The East and Sound of My Voice collaborator Zal Batmanglij. In her latest, Marling costars with Michael Pitt (recently seen as Mason Verger on NBC’s stellar “Hannibal”) as a molecular biologist and partner who make a discovery about the human eye that will change the scientific and spiritual world. The film marked Cahill’s second winner of Sundance’s Alfred P. Sloane Prize, which honor cinematic science.

JERSEY BOYS (R) Naturally, Jersey Boys is about the music. When four young men, including angel voiced Frankie Valli (Tony winner John Lloyd Young) from the wrong side of the Jersey turnpike come together, the result is the melodic harmonies of the Four Seasons. The struggles that precede and are caused by the fame come with the musical biopic territory. 

MALEFICENT (PG) Maleficent is clearly birthed from the Alice in Wonderland strain of family fantasy, and despite being more successful than either of 2012’s dueling Snow White retellings, overdoses on style while lacking the original cartoon’s charm. 

MILLION DOLLAR ARM (PG) Kudos to director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) and excellent screenwriter Thomas McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor and Win Win) for taking what could have been another sappy, inspirational Disney sports movie and turning out a mostly satisfying retelling of the true recruitment of Major League Baseball’s first Indian players. 

MOOD INDIGO Michel Gondry survived The Green Hornet and returned to France for this whimsical French romantic fantasy. A wealthy bachelor (Romain Duris), who invented a pianocktail (it’s a piano that makes cocktails; duh) seeks a cure for his lover, Claire (Audrey Tautou), who suffers from a strange disease where a flower grows in her lungs. 

NATIVE LAND 1942. As part of its Picturing America Film Series, the Georgia Museum of Art presents a screening of Native Land. Featuring songs and narration by the legendary Paul Robeson, this documentary exposes attacks on the workers’ civil liberties during the 1930s. Through dramatizations and archival footage, Native Land shows the lengths that corporations will go to in order to punish unionizers. The film won the National Board of Review prize for Best Documentary. Screenings of this film are rare. (Georgia Museum of Art)

NEIGHBORS (R) The smartest move made by the year’s funniest comedy (to date) was to spread the guilt and the sympathy between the family (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) and the frat bros (led by Zac Efron and Dave Franco). When a fraternity moves in next door to new parents, Mac and Kelly Radner, a war breaks out after Mac calls the cops on one of the frat’s first parties. 

PERSECUTED (PG-13) Are you sure this isn’t a TV movie? Evangelist John Luther (James Remar, not Idris Elba, reprising the similarly named tortured British detective) finds himself framed for murder and having to go all “Fugitive” after failing to back a devious senator’s (played by the typecast Bruce Davison) religious reform bill. 

PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE (PG) This Planes sequel sounds like its best years are ahead on DVD. Dusty Crophopper (v. Dane Cook), now a world-renowned racer, experiences an engine injury and changes his focus to aerial firefighting. Dusty joins the Smokejumpers, a team of all-terrain vehicles led by the veteran chopper, Blade Ranger (v. Ed Harris). Other vocal talents include Julie Bowen, Wes Studi, Dale Dye, Regina King, Corri English, Bryan Callen, Danny Pardo and Matt Jones. Remember this is just Disney, not Pixar.

THE PURGE: ANARCHY (R) I don’t get the dislike of The Purge. Sure, it wasn’t quite the home invasion chiller it purported to be, but its brand of dystopian exploitation was entertaining enough. In the quickly produced sequel, a young couple (Zach Guilford, who needs a better horror vehicle than Devil’s Due, and Kiele Sanchez) gets stranded right before the beginning of the yearly Purge. Concurrently, Leo (Frank Grillo) seeks vengeance for his son, and a mother (Carmen Ejogo) and daughter are on the run.

RIO 2 (G) Blu (v. Jesse Eisenberg), Jewel (v. Anne Hathaway) and the three kids leave the wilds of Rio de Janeiro for the real wilds of the Amazon, where Blu must battle his father-in-law (v. Andy Garcia).

SEX TAPE (R) The premise might seem funny on paper. Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel star as a married couple who try to bring the sexy back with a sex tape. Of course, the tape goes up in the cloud, and the duo must get it back before everyone they know sees it. Wait; this comedy does not sound any funnier on paper than it looks in its trailer.

THE STORY OF OCAF Ciné and the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation present a free screening of the 30-minute documentary, The Story of OCAF 1994-2014, about a unique, nationally-known art center located right over in Watkinsville. The community, called “The Artland of Georgia,” was created through the hard work of volunteers and paid for by independent donations, not tax money.  Anyone is welcome. For more info about OCAF, visit ocaf.com or better yet, go see the doc at Ciné. (Ciné)

TAMMY (R) Melissa McCarthy headlines her hubby Ben Falcone’s directorial debut; the duo collaborated on the script. McCarthy’s Tammy hits the road with her grandmother, Pearl (Susan Sarandon), after losing her job and discovering that her husband, Greg (Nat Faxon), is a cheater. Tammy’s trailer looks more like Identity Theft 2; its description sounds much more charming. The cast includes fan favorites like Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, Dan Aykroyd, Mark Duplass, Gary Cole, Toni Collette and Sandra Oh.

THINK LIKE A MAN TOO (PG-13) Everyone returns to mine more gold from the sequel to the hit romantic comedy based on Steve Harvey’s bestseller, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. The gang reconvenes in Las Vegas for the wedding of Candace and Michael (Regina Hall and Terence Jenkins). What happens in Vegas shakes up everyone’s lives. With director Tim Story, original writers David A. Newman and Keith Merryman, and original cast members Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Taraji P. Henson, Romany Malco, Gary Owen, Gabrielle Union and Kevin Hart all back, can this second marriage be as successful?

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (PG-13) Michael Bay’s fourth Transformers movie is too long, but it's less abrasive and offensive than its two immediate predecessors. A more appealing band of humans, led by Mark Wahlberg, certainly helps, as do the Dinobots that finally appear in the last 30 of the movie’s 165 minutes. Evil government, represented by Kelsey Grammer, and evil corporations, represented by Stanley Tucci, are working together with a bad Transformer named Lockdown to hunt down the remaining Autobots. 

22 JUMP STREET (R) 22 Jump Street steps right into the criticisms of other high profile R-rated comedy sequels like The Hangover Part II. Hot off the success of The LEGO Movie (still 2014’s best wide release), writing and directing duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, constantly and self-referentially acknowledge that Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) just need to do the exact same thing again. Moving from high school to college, the undercover team must find the supplier of a dangerous new drug called WHYPHY. Stick around; the end credits contain the movie’s funniest gag.

WISH I WAS HERE (R) Zach Braff hit a goldmine with his decade-old writing-directing debut, Garden State (whose soundtrack was a juggernaut, too). His long-awaited follow-up starts behind the eight ball after the “Scrubs” star questionably funded the film via high profile crowdsourcing. In Wish I Was Here, Braff stars as 35-year-old Aidan Bloom, who faces a(nother) pre-midlife crisis. I guess they occur every 10 years for Braff. With Josh Gad, Ashley Greene, Kate Hudson, Joey King, Mandy Patinkin and, thankfully, Donald Faison.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (PG-13) Director Bryan Singer returns after a two-film hiatus for a successful X-venture combining the best of the first two X-Men (a heavy dose of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine) with Matthew Vaughn’s valedictory First Class. Wolverine takes center stage as his psyche is sent back to the 1970s (cue the fashion, the automobiles, the Nixon) to convince a young, feuding Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to work together to stop the end of the human and mutantkind.