Opening Films

by Inlander Staff & r &


BLACK SNAKE MOAN


A bizarre-as-all-hell story about a man named Lazarus (Samuel Jackson) who finds a young white woman named Rae (Christina Ricci) drugged up, badly beaten and left for dead. When he looks into her past he finds she has "that sickness," meaning of course that "she goes crazy," meaning of course that she likes to have sex, do drugs, and let men abuse her. Lazarus aims to cure her of those evils. (LB) Rated R





WILD HOGS


Four middle-aged friends, sick of their jobs, bored with their lives and generally having nothing to look forward to, take a cross-country motorcycle trip. Four essentially backboneless suburbanite dudes frequenting biker bars? You can be sure there'll be a little love and a whole lot uh learnin' about themselves and others. Taking Pops to this film, as painful as it may be, is cheaper than actually buying him a Harley. (LB) Rated PG-13





ZODIAC


David Fincher's riveting but overlong telling of the West Coast Zodiac murders of the 1960s and '70s focuses much more on the people looking into the killings -- cops Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards, and newspaper guys Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal -- than on the killings, showing how interest can turn into obsession. The film is also dark and disturbing when the murders are seen. Great use of music to capture the times, a solid dynamic between Downey and Gyllenhaal, but removing a half hour would make it a better film. (ES) Rated R