Now Playing

by Inlander Staff & r & & r & ATL -- Four teenagers from the wrong side of Atlanta follow their bliss straight toward the ultimate distinction of ... achievement in hip-hop and roller-skating. Lots of switchblades, fast cars and fron' teef wif inset bling alternate with close-up dolly shots of hot women with their backfields in motion. Characters seriously intone advice about following your heart, because that's the only way to avoid any regrets. We can think of one other way. Rated PG-13





The Benchwarmers -- Rob Schneider and David Spade play nerds while Jared Hess revisits his Napoleon Dynamite character (a-frickin-gain). The three team up to teach geeks how to stand up to jocks on and, presumably, off the baseball diamond. Douche-baggery that undermines the sanctity of our national game ensues. Rated PG-13





Failure to Launch -- Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) is handsome, wealthy and too lazy to move out of his parents' house. So his folks hire a "consultant" (Sarah Jessica Parker) to lure him away with a promise of romance. There are plot holes galore, along with by-the-numbers storytelling. But the film manages to remain an enjoyable, if fluffy, romp. (ES) Rated PG-13





Forces of Nature -- Showcasing the awesome spectacle of earthquakes, volcanoes, and severe storms as we follow scientists on their quests to understand how these natural disasters are triggered. Narrated by Kevin Bacon! Unrated





Greece: Secrets of the Past -- Continuing their long tradition of making learning fun, the folks at IMAX bring us Greece, wherein you get to "see how the island of Santorini was formed and how the island's volcanic eruption, one of the biggest explosions in Earth's history, occurred. Follow a team of archeologists piecing together the puzzles of ancient history and learn how the field of archeology has progressed. Travel to Athens and see how computer graphic imaging can restore the Parthenon to its original glory. Trace some of our modern society's customs -- democracy, medicine, athletics and theatre back to their roots in the Golden Age of Greece." Unrated





Ice Age: The Meltdown -- The mammoth, the saber-tooth and the sloth gain sidekicks and a kind of pro-unconventional family, anti-global warming message this time around, but it doesn't work. Aside from being crude, this sequel lacks a genuine antagonist or any real character development. As the movie's marketing campaign tacitly admits, the best part about Meltdown is that silly squirrel Scrat. Rated PG





Inside Man -- Spike Lee regains much of the ground he lost over his last few films. This is a terrific heist movie, with plenty of angles we haven't seen before. Clive Owen has planned the perfect bank job (or something), Denzel Washington is the cool and calm detective trying to stop things before they go too far, and Jodie Foster is the mysterious and powerful woman who can miraculously make the impossible happen ... with discretion. (ES) Rated R





Larry the Cable Buy: Health Inspector -- The year's first redneck star vehicle, the blue-collar comedy tour's Larry the Cable Guy plays way outside his usual acting range, pretending he cares about cleanliness. It'll be "git 'er done," for two hours. Less, if we're lucky. Rated PG-13





Lucky Number Sleven -- Looks like a lot of those potboiler assassins-and-mob-bosses-with-innocent-people-in-the-middle, forced-to-do-extraordinary-things types of movies, except there's a palpably subversive bent to this slick thriller, suggesting it doesn't take itself too seriously. Stylized action and in-jokes ensue. Rated R





Mozart and the Whale & r & Containing the seeds of a good film but lacking the contextual soil within which such things sprout, here's a tale of a little-understood form of autism and the interpersonal strife it can cause. If you know about Asperger's, this film will make sense and will probably touch you. If you don't -- well, good luck. (LB)





Scary Movie 4 & r & Scream had the decency to stop at three films, but then, the Scary Movie franchise had the good sense to stop aping Scream after only two. The fourth film, now, mimics the third, lampooning films (War of the Worlds, The Village) with current-ish events (the president freezing on 9/11, Tom Cruise on Oprah) for what's sure to be light-hearted mediocrity. Rated PG-13





She's the Man -- Finally, the Amanda Bynes star vehicle all us WB devotees have been waiting for! That girl is so funny. She cross-dresses here, for some reason (OMG other than hilarity!) that's not immediately clear to us, taking her brother's place at a prestigious prep school. Sweet, teeny-bopper gender politics flick ensues. Rated PG-13





Stay Alive -- Looks like Malcolm's in the middle of more than he can handle. Yes, Frankie Muniz has gone from crappy 'tween action movies to crappy teen horror flicks. (Horizontal move, if you ask us.) The premise, near as we can tell, is that if you die in this ultra-underground video game, you -- wait for it -- die in real life. Rated PG-13





Take the Lead -- Here's another doctored-up Hollywood version of an "inspired by a true story" movie. In this one, Antonio Banderas, all cool and calm and smooth, gives us his take on New York ballroom instructor Pierre Dulaine, who apparently turned a bunch of troublemaking high schoolers into experts on their feet -- after they added hip-hop to the beat. Clich & eacute;-ridden and not the least bit believable. (ES) Rated PG-13





Thank You For Smoking & r & Aaron Eckhart plays a tobacco spokesman with a gift for what Plato called sophistry. He takes the talking points of Big Tobacco and turns them into air-tight arguments: "The number one killer in America is cholesterol ... and here comes Senator Finistirre who is clogging the nation's arteries with Vermont Cheddar Cheese." Directed by Ivan Reitman's son, this film is (if you haven't noticed) a satire. Rated R





V for Vendetta -- In a fascist London a couple of decades from now, a masked man named V rekindles the spirit of long ago would-be Parliament bomber Guy Fawkes. He wants the people to destroy the vile government, and grooms young Evey (Natalie Portman) to help with the task. Based on the series of comic books, this is slick, stylized, thrilling and visceral filmmaking. It's violent and thoughtful and fun. (ES) Rated PG-13





The Wild & r & This looks shockingly like Madagascar. Only difference it seems is that rather than escaping a New York zoo and ending up in Africa, this wild bunch escapes a New York zoo and purposely head to Africa, chasing some lion's cub or something. It remains unclear why the Koala has a Scottish accent. Rated G





The World's Fastest Indian -- Aptly titled, but not for the reason you might think, Anthony Hopkins plays a New Zealander who built, then tweaked, an Indian-brand motorcycle -- turning it, he hoped, into the fastest thing that'd ever set wheels on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. Land speed records ensue. Rated PG-13