by Inlander Staff & r & & r & THE GUARDIAN & r &
Kevin Costner plays an aging Coast Guard rescue instructor, Ashton Kutcher is his feistiest student, there is much clashing between them as training progresses (till the script, not very cleverly, gets them drinking beers together). Both guys are pretty good in the parts, but the film plops clich & eacute; upon clich & eacute; and features what could be the highest-number of slow-motion shots ever seen onscreen. (ES) Rated PG-13
& r & SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS & r &
A bunch of lily-livered guys with no self confidence (and no dates) try to get some by enrolling in a mysterious class run by a nasty teacher (Billy Bob Thornton) and his menacing assistant (Michael Clarke Duncan). The most promising student (Jon Heder, showing no range) has been pining away for his cute neighbor (Jacinda Barrett), and starts to make some inroads, when the teacher also decides to pursue her. Lots of comedy, some of it slapstick. (ES) Rated PG-13
& r & OPEN SEASON & r &
Another film about computer-generated wildlife and the tension that arises when they inevitably come in contact with humans. Rated G
& r & HOUSE OF SAND & r &
Near as we can tell, three generations of Brazillian ladies get like stranded or something on a beach where they're forced to live -- and love and, no doubt, overcome. House of Sand, Andrucha Waddington's sophomore follow up to his generally beloved Me You Them is polarizing the hell out of people. In a film industry where egos are so monstrous as to almost be wrapped into the definition of the medium, it means something when the word most used -- for good and bad -- to describe your flick is "pretentious." We'll be seeing this, if only to witness a beautifully allegorical train wreck. Rated R