film

Film listings are edited by Cheryl Eddy. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Meryl Cohen, David Fear, Dina Gachman, Susan Gerhard, Dennis Harvey, Johnny Ray Huston, Patrick Macias, and Chuck Stephens. See Rep Clock and Movie Clock, for theater information. Asian Film Festival

The Four Star Theatre's seventh-annual Asian Film Festival runs through Aug 28. Venue is the Four Star Theatre, 2200 Clement, S.F. For ticket info, go to www.hkinsf.com. For commentary see the Aug. 6 Bay Guardian. All times p.m.

Opening

The Battle of Shaker Heights A misfit teen (Shia LaBeouf) with a serious chip on his shoulder and an obsession with war reenactments tries to negotiate the minefields of adolescence, a beyond fucked-up home life, and a crush on the older sister (Amy Smart) of his preppy best friend (Elden Henson). Those Project Greenlight fans who tuned in every week to watch the behind-the-scenes car wreck of the film's making will find this bland exercise in faux irreverence anticlimactic; there's nothing nearly as interesting in the final product as there was in any given episode of the show. Neophyte directors-contest winners Kyle Rankin and Efram Potelle's modus operandi seems to primarily consist of pointing a camera toward movement, giving the whole endeavor the feeling of an expensive student film project. LaBeouf gamely attempts to inject an angry young man into the smart-ass-by-numbers caricature and give his rebel a cause, but not even his natural charisma can keep this battered battleship afloat.

(1:25) 1000 Van Ness. (Fear)

*Horns and Halos The early segments of Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky's doc present a picture of Soft Skull Press's Sander Hicks as a crusading punk drawn to his latest project because he "knew damn well" that no one else in the publishing establishment would touch it. The project in question is a new edition of Fortunate Son, J.H. Hatfield's scathing biography of George W. Bush, which alleged, most notoriously, that Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972. In fact, St. Martin's Press had already touched Fortunate Son – and, financially speaking, its hands were probably still scorched from burning the book once a Dallas Morning News reporter revealed that Hatfield had done time for attempted murder. Enter Hicks, who came to the rescue with a firm belief in the book and the troubled man behind it. Horns and Halos reveals the naïveté behind Hicks's faith and the personal problems Hatfield kept hidden behind his public face. The legacy Hatfield ultimately bequeaths to Hicks is a tortured one. Boisterous at the beginning of Horns and Halos – which illustrates both the perils of U.S. citizenship and of becoming a documentary subject – Hicks is humbled and despondent by its end. (1:20) Red Vic. (Huston)

Jeepers Creepers 2 The cornfield-dwelling monster returns to snack on more hapless teens. (1:44) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London.

The Other Side of the Bed Paula (Natalia Verbeke) dumps boyfriend Pedro (Guillermo Toledo) since, unbeknownst to him, she's in love with his caddish best friend, Javier (Ernesto Alterio). Javier keeps promising Paula he'll leave his wife, Sonia (Paz Vega), who, unbeknownst to him, has taken her consoling of the crushed Pedro to a decidedly more carnal level. Did I mention that they all have a tendency to unexpectedly break into Jerome Robbins-style choreography and sing bad Euro-pop tunes? This goofy hybrid of bedroom farce and old-school showstopper numbers has its libidinous musical chairs game down but misses the right mix-and-match of genres by a Castilian kilometer. Veteran Spanish director Emilio Martínez-Lázaro knows how to frame scenes but can't seem to work them into something cohesive, and the cast's ability to make the head games and heartbreaks believable is frittered away by fantasy homages that wear out their welcome in seconds flat. (1:44) Metreon. (Fear)

Party Monster How could a movie that casts Macauley Culkin as Michael Alig (and gives nostalgic CPR to Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts") go wrong? Too many celebrity bit parts, not enough narrative focus, and absolutely no Screaming Rachel are just three of countless accidental answers provided by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato's drama debut. Bailey and Barbato's circus loses it charm long before it becomes an excuse to photograph Culkin and Chloë Sevigny as if they were separated-at-birth twins. The fact that Party Monster is more sympathetic to murderer than to victim would be less annoying if Alig and pal James St. James (Seth Green) were the geniuses the directors seem to think they are. Brattily imaginative? Yes. Brilliantly intelligent? No. Check out Bailey and Barbato's documentary of the same name instead. At least it has Screaming Rachel – if you don't know who that is, your vérité comedy education is incomplete. (1:38) Castro. (Huston)

*Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator A flipside to the loud entertainment of last year's Dogtown and Z-Boys, Helen Stickler's thoroughly disturbing documentary portrait of fallen thrasher Mark "Gator" Rogowski begins with the lonely sound of wheels grinding against pavement. Stickler's movie has the cheap 'n' scrappy look of a skateboard video, but she doesn't promote the skater-as-rock-star approach of those vids (and Stacy Peralta's Dogtown), she takes it apart – methodically and painfully. Rogowski's journey from a troubled childhood to troubling teen fame and fortune led to a homicidal wipeout, and recordings of his incarcerated phone calls provide Stoked's bewildered voice-over narration. His shameless love of the camera also means Stickler has copious footage of his big-hair-and-Sheila-E-shirt glory days as a spokesmodel and disturbing footage of his fall from grace – and the board – when skateboarding hit the streets (a shift similar to hair metal's early '90s defeat at the hands of punk). It would be a shame if Stoked's audience was limited to skaters: one of the best docs of this year, Stickler's movie widens beyond skateboarding to incisively portray the love affair between youth culture and money, a match made in America but often destined for hell. (1:34) Opera Plaza, Shattuck. (Huston)

*Thirteen Sure to be regarded as a grrrlish Kids for the '00s thanks to its strong, sharp portrait of prepubescent girls gone wild, Thirteen screams "Pay attention to me!" with a spot-on mixture of adolescent rage and joy. In a debut feature cowritten with then-13-year-old star Nikki Reed, director Catherine Hardwicke manages to catch all the casual cruelty, sex, drugs, and scar tissue of those preteen years with an acuity that'll send a thrill, or chill, of recognition through all you former kids. No doubt the emphasis will be on chills for viewing parents. It doesn't take more than a once-over by seventh grade's hot girl, Evie (Reed), for Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) to go from a poetry-writing nice kid to a furiously acting-out nastee bizkit. Her single mom (Holly Hunter), herself taking it one day at a time, watches in misery as her love story with her baby girl goes horribly wrong. Tracy's "decadence" may ring a tad extreme – sometimes she seems to be trying out every trick in the big book of bad habits. But Thirteen's performances lift it out of the teensploitation camp – there's little that's laughable or kitsch about Wood's and Hunter's bawls-out intensity. (1:40) Albany, Bridge, Empire. (Kimberly Chun)

Ongoing

*American Splendor Shari Springer Berman and Roger Pulcini's film grafts the documentary portraiture of Terry Zwigoff's Crumb on the fictional narrative of Zwigoff's Daniel Clowes adaptation, Ghost World, and comes up with something less than either of those great films – but still the best U.S. fictive filmmaking in this summer of bummers. American Splendor travels from vignette to vignette, losing and gaining momentum, rarely mimicking the long interior monologues or abrupt endings of Harvey Pekar's comics. It livens up and finds a purpose with the arrival of Hope Davis's Joyce Brabner – the film's chief strong point is its characterization of her marriage to Pekar (Paul Giamatti). Splendor casually addresses the fact that Pekar's comic is drawn by a variety of artists, allowing characters' appearances to shift from one sequence to another (one minute, Drew Freidman's smudgy daytime nightmares; the next, Joe Zabel's crisp nervous energy). An all-animated version might have imaginatively extended this trait, which simultaneously defines Pekar's portraiture and makes it playfully elusive – even free spirited. (1:41) Act I and II, Embarcadero, Empire, Piedmont. (Huston)

American Wedding (1:36) Century 20, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

And Now Ladies and Gentlemen Filmmaker Claude Lelouch was a peripheral figure of the French nouvelle vague when he unleashed A Man and a Woman on the world in 1966. The shadow of his most famous film looms large over his latest endeavor, from the inverse in-joke of the title to the trademark bossa nova that plays softly in the background. This go-round is an exhalation of a curdled old Europe, the kind of place where an old-school jewel thief (Jeremy Irons) and a sad-eyed chanteuse (Patricia Kaas) can marinate in a sauce of soul-sick sophistication. Both suffer from sudden blackouts, chronic amnesia, and the ability to tint film stock at will, which eventually leads them to pas de deux into the Moroccan desert searching for magical elixirs and mystical saints. Lelouch toys with the themes of redemption and spiritual enlightenment that poke through the rumpled façade of world-weariness, but seriously, when you're staring at Irons hamming it up in hippie gear, the guffaws begin to drown out any greater notions or higher truths. (2:06) Lumiere, Shattuck. (Fear)

L'auberge espagnole (1:56) California.

Bad Boys II (2:25) Century 20, 1000 Van Ness.

*Bend It like Beckham (1:42) Galaxy.

*Bugs! (:40) Metreon IMAX.

Camp Camp takes us through a season at Camp Ovation, where all of the most talented drama geeks disappear to each summer, in case anyone was wondering. Michael arrives fresh from getting bashed at his high school prom for showing up in drag. Vlad fights hard to dispel golden-boy impressions (but nonetheless looks and sings like the missing sixth Backstreet Boy) and is somehow, mysteriously straight. Ellen, slightly insecure and friend to all of the fags at Camp Ovation, is glad to hear it. They and the rest of the drama gang eat, drink, and sleep tap routines, Shakespearean monologues, and show tunes, show tunes, show tunes, producing a new play at the grueling rate of every two weeks. While there are some seriously After-School Special moments, it's a sweet film with some good performances and a couple of plot lines it's a pleasure to think a small portion of teenage America may experience. (1:54) Lumiere, Shattuck. (Lynn Rapoport)

*Capturing the Friedmans (1:47) Four Star.

*The Cuckoo (1:44) Kabuki, Smith Rafael.

*Dirty Pretty Things (1:49) California, Century 20, Embarcadero, Orinda.

*Le Divorce (1:55) Embarcadero, Orinda, Piedmont, Shattuck.

*Finding Nemo (1:41) Century Plaza, Century 20.

Freaky Friday (1:49) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness, Shattuck.

*Freddy vs. Jason If you're not a fan of horror movies (specific subgenre: '80s slasher flicks), if you loathe excess violence, or if your favorite movie of 2002 was The Hours, don't even bother. Freddy vs. Jason is not for you. However, any kid who grew up shrieking with delight over the creative kills of the almighty Krueger and Voorhees is bound to have a good time with this one, which sees the terrible two at first allied (on Elm Street), then locked in an epic, exceptionally blood-drenched clash of the titans (at Camp Crystal Lake). As "cinema," Freddy vs. Jason has some problems – laughable dialogue, plot holes, and a heroine whose figure is the most memorable part of her performance. But to quote the film, "Freddy is fighting Jason! What more do you want?!" (1:32) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Eddy)

*Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns (1:42) Galaxy.

Grind (1:40) Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

If I Should Fall from Grace: The Shane MacGowan Story Making a case for Shane MacGowan as a one-man battling bastion against "the death of Irish culture" while also exhibiting a human train wreck, this portrait of the Pogues' former leader is a worthy if slightly padded one. He's seen shambling around various pubs, standing barely upright onstage, and slurring largely indecipherable comments in "interview" footage – thank god there are observers here (his parents, his girlfriend, former bandmates, Nick Cave) who actually have something to say, and can ar-tic-ul-ate it. "You can't be worried about t'ings like yer health," the notorious boozebag and (former?) heroin user mumbles at one point. Uh, right. It's strange that Sarah Share's well-crafted documentary pretty much ignores his last decade, spent with backing band the Popes, though no doubt the combustive prior Pogues history is far more colorful as recalled in detail here. They were a great band (if an uneven studio entity), and MacGowan was (is? who's been keeping track?) a fine songwriter-lyricist. The bountiful old performance footage here is exhilarating, the proliferation of old music videos (many offered in their entirety) rather less so. If you're already a convert, you'll be in heaven. If not, MacGowan's precarious presence as a crumbling 45-year-old offers enough bizarre entertainment value to hold the attention. (1:33) Roxie. (Harvey)

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2:00) Century 20, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

The Magdalene Sisters (1:59) Albany, Empire, Lumiere, Piedmont.

Marci X (1:24) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness, Shattuck.

The Medallion Sucking like there's no tomorrow, this Hong Kong-U.S. coproduction purportedly wrapped principal shooting in March 2002. Given the long pause before release, you might reasonably suspect there were, uh, problems. Craptastic results duly bear out that conjecture. Jackie Chan plays an HK cop trying to protect a Dalai Lama-esque golden child (reference to the cruddy old Eddie Murphy movie fully intended) who controls a medallion that's "the Holy Grail of Eastern mythology." (Really? So the "East" has one mythology now?) It's purported to hold the "key to eternal life." Thus generic snotty British bad guy Julian Sands wants boy, jewelry, etc., or else he'll kill everybody. Insufferable comedy-relief from Lee Evans (Mouse Hunt), abysmal romantic relief from Claire Forlani, routine CGI effects, horrible computer-spat-out scripting, nonstop yet underwhelming action, and a hapless slippery grasp on tone/humor/logic – all these make Medallion the worst Chan movie in aeons. At times it seems intended for children. Whether that's simply a matter of pandering stupidity or whatnot, you can rest assured that no one over the age of 13 will be glad they paid admission price. (1:30) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness, Shattuck. (Harvey)

My Boss's Daughter (1:26) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

Open Range (2:20) Century Plaza, Century 20, Grand Lake, Metreon, Oaks, 1000 Van Ness.

Passionada (1:45) Galaxy.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2:23) Century Plaza, Century 20, Grand Lake, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

The Princess Blade (1:33) Galaxy.

Seabiscuit (2:21) Century 20, Grand Lake, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, Oaks, 1000 Van Ness, Orinda.

The Secret Lives of Dentists The erratic Alan Rudolph has always enjoyed, with varying success, diving into self-contained milieus – from the Me Decade mecca in Welcome to L.A. to the famous salons of The Moderns and Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. But he's arguably never investigated a scene as familiar yet surprising as the one here: a suburban middle-class marriage, with children. Dentists who share a practice, David (Campbell Scott) and Dana Hurst (Hope Davis) have reached that point in their lives where activity is incessant but actual stimulation is rare; with three very young daughters, a mortgage, and god knows what other ordinary obligations stretching years ahead, their well-plotted future can be seen as either comforting or suffocating. Secret Lives' long climax is nothing more than a family of five getting the flu – and it might be the most engrossing, detailed, nail-biting set piece you'll see all year. (1:44) Smith Rafael. (Harvey)

Spellbound (1:36) Opera Plaza, Shattuck.

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (1:25) Century 20, Jack London, Metreon.

Step into Liquid There's nothing more photogenic than bronzed surfers cutting through sun-dappled waves – and yet there are few things as hard to capture on-screen as the exhilarating rush that makes surfing so addictive and so popular. This paradox has dogged surf-umentaries since their first dip into the cinematic pool, and it's something that Step into Liquid seems to know it can't outpaddle. So filmmaker and pedigreed surf aficionado Dana "Son of Bruce" Brown bypasses capturing lightning in a bottle, concentrating instead on fashioning a cinematic Surf Culture for Dummies that's less an Endless Summer than endless summaries of facts on the modern-day wave-rider lifestyle. The MTV-friendly aesthetics and moondoggy narration (warbly voiced philosophy about harmony, nature, etc.) are a poor substitute for actual adrenaline, however, and even with some gorgeous visuals, it still feels like a simplified tourist version of a second-hand high. (1:28) Embarcadero, Shattuck, Smith Rafael. (Fear)

S.W.A.T. (1:56) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

*Swimming Pool (1:54) Clay, Shattuck.

*Teknolust If ever there were a homegrown movie perfect for smart folks hiding out from summer blockbusters and gubernatorial recall shenanigans, Teknolust is it. Lynn Hershman Leeson wrote the script as a lark when funding failed to materialize for a long-planned female Frankenstein film. Here a different kind of mad scientist, played by Tilda Swinton, downloads herself into her research and creates ... three Tildas. Also in the cast is Karen Black; originally, her character, based on a real-life person, was a rogue FBI agent, a hippie who drops out to become a private eye. But Black wanted to revisit her transsexual research for Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, so Hershman rewrote the agent as a transsexual remade in the image of her favorite actress: Karen Black. Rumor has it the distributor is waiting to see how San Francisco reacts to Teknolust before deciding its fate, so don't sit at home. Besides, given last week's news reports on the latest genetic hybrid (a rabbit crossed with a human), there may not be much time left before the film loses its sci-fi status. (1:22) Opera Plaza, Shattuck. (Rich)

*28 Days Later (1:48) 1000 Van Ness.

Uptown Girls (1:33) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

*Whale Rider (1:55) California, Four Star, Opera Plaza.

*Winged Migration (1:29) Act I and II, Opera Plaza, Smith Rafael.

Rep picks

*The Adventures of Robin Hood The undeniable peak of Errol Flynn's late-'30s honeymoon was 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood, a Warner Brothers superproduction that, like Flynn's breakthrough role in Captain Blood two years earlier, had been intended for another star (originally, James Cagney, of all people, was to play the prince of thieves). Fortunately, things didn't go as planned – initial director William Keighley was also replaced, by Michael Curtiz – and what emerged was, like Curtiz's later Casablanca, a movie that blithely set a standard. Still an escapist joy, The Adventures of Robin Hood bottles Flynn at maximum ripeness. Managing to carry off even a glitter-edged Peter Pan tunic with green tights and go-go booties, he's gay in the old sense, fleet, forthright, lewd, droll (when told "Why, you speak treason!," he replies, "Fluently"), courageous, and as full of male oomph as nature and artifice could produce. Newly restored and upgraded with digital sound, Adventures boasts Technicolor that – as the film's tagline proclaims – "Only the rainbow can duplicate!" The Crayola rainbow, perhaps, but so much the better. (1:42) Castro, Grand Lake. (Harvey)