Opening Films

by Inlander Staff & r & IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA


Can Figaro help Count Almaviva disguise as a poor student in order to win Rosina away from that greedy old quack, Dr. Bartolo? On Saturday at 10:30 am, the New York Metropolitan Opera will beam a live broadcast of this greatest of comic operas direct to NorthTown Mall. (Oh, and a few other places, too.) Back in 1816, Rossini's depiction of rich people as idiots and common folk as the smart ones made for subversive stuff. Today, perhaps, we just enjoy the verisimilitude of The Barber of Seville. (MB)





THE HILLS HAVE EYES II


Once you've remade a horror classic with a sequel, you're pretty much stuck. You can film a prequel to the entire story (Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) or you can just go ahead and remake the sequel. This remake of The Hills Have Eyes Part II trades that film's '80s-rific bike gang for the contemporary equivalent -- National Guard soldiers -- giving them a fighting chance as well as making them bad-asses. And that's what they're going to need to be if they want to survive -- again. (MD) Rated R





THE LAST MIMZY


When was the last time kids and science were put together in a way that wasn't horribly traumatic? Kids and science breed stories about geeks who either become cool or accept their geekdom. The Last Mimzy, though, takes two mathematical genius siblings and gives them a chance to be bona fide, world-saving heroes (not just like namby-pamby, "way to be yourself" heroes). Somehow their big brains warn them about the end of the world, and give them the tools to head it off. (LB) Rated PG





PRIDE


In the sub-genre of feel-good film that takes a group of poor (often minority) teens with nothing to do and nowhere to go, then gives them something to do and thus, somewhere to go with their lives, the number of things actually to do is shrinking. Basketball's been done, steppin's been done, cheerleading's been done. Writing has been done multiple times. Swimming never has. Pride, a story about a swim coach (Terrence Howard) who teaches kids how to succeed in life by succeeding in the swimming pool, then, was inevitable. (LB) Rated PG





REIGN OVER ME


Adam Sandler's, like, second-and-a-half attempt at dramatic acting is the tale of college roommates who bump into each other after one (Sandler) has lost his entire family on 9/11. Don Cheadle, who plays the other roommate, is a great actor. Sandler doesn't look half bad, finding something of the smoldering pain and frustration he channeled in Punch Drunk Love. (LB) Rated R





SHOOTER


Mark Wahlberg is the former Marine ace who's screwed by the government, gets out -- and then is brought back so he can be screwed again. Michael Pena is the brand-new FBI agent who realizes that the ex-Marine on the run has been set up, but then he starts asking the wrong questions of the wrong people. Excellent action, a thoughtful script, and a gaggle of great supporting performances (Levon Helm is a scene-stealer as an arms expert) push this way beyond your standard revenge film. (ES) Rated R





TMNT


For those of you dying to see the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, the Weinstein Company did you a huge solid by bumping it up a week. It's a strange bird, though, and might not exactly please you TMNT purists. It's computer-generated, so it looks pretty, but also looks action-heavy and funny-lite. Worse, it centers on a battle with some "tech-industrialist" named Max Winters who has no connection to the original plots. On the plus side, there's hot ninja chick Karai from the original comic. Another plus is that it seems to start after the end of the second live action film, ignoring the regrettable existence of the third film that sent the turtles to, like, colonial Japan. We take the bitter with the sweet, I guess. (LB) Rated PG