Opening Films

by Inlander Staff & r & & r & Cars -- Like every one of the six previous features Pixar has delivered, Cars is smart, snappy, entertaining cinema. And like every one of those six previous features, it's grounded in fundamentally strong storytelling -- you know, the kind of thing that's not supposed to matter all that much any more in movies. It's funny, warm and charming, yes -- but it's also wise in a way that's almost enough to make you want to weep. (SR) Rated G





Nacho Libre -- Jack Black + the director of Napoleon Dynamite + Mexican wrestling = absurdist comedy gold? That's the formula Paramount is banking on. Black plays Nacho, a backwater nobody who sees the fame and prestige heaped on the Luchadors and wants a piece. Semi-pro wrestling is the result. (LB) Rated PG





The Omen -- There's bad news at the Vatican Observatory at the beginning of this remake of the cheesy but memorably creepy 1976 film about the rise of the son of Satan: According to some nerve-wracked astronomer-priest, the positioning of a large, blazing comet is signaling that we're on the eve of Armageddon. But that's nothing! It also seems (we find out later in the film) that the Church has been infiltrated by men who are not only rooting for, but are paving the way for, the ascension of the anti-Christ. There's also good news to go along with this. The remake is far better than anyone could have hoped. (ES) Rated R





A Prairie Home Companion -- Watching the film adaptation of Garrison Keillor's popular, old-timey radio show is likely to be about like seeing it live. Set in St. Paul's Fitzgerald Theater, it's the story of a radio variety show struggling to compete in the television age. All the familiar characters are there -- Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), Dusty and Lefty (Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly) -- and Keillor himself. This time, you get a backstage pass, to watch the spectacular ensemble fret over the imminent closure of the show. Rated PG-13