In “Freshman Orientation,” a typical Midwestern 18 year-old freshman at a large state university eager to delve into the college party life, instead discovers that school is not the beer-driven, sexual fantasy of his imagination. Determined to do anything to obtain the girl of his dreams (a gorgeous but reluctant sorority girl), he decides to adopt a gay identity in order to insinuate himself in her life. This casual charade, however, quickly lands him in a morass of campus activism, gender warfare, fraternity hazes, sorority torture, “coming out” narratives, political martyrdom, and ultimately, a university-wide meltdown.
STARRING: Sam Huntington, Marla Sokoloff, Mike Erwin, Heather Matarazzo, Kaitlin Doubleday, Bryce Johnson, Judy Tylor, John Goodman, Rachel Dratch
DIRECTOR: Ryan Shiraki
STUDIO: Regent Releasing
RATING: R (For strong sexual content, language, drug use)
“Balls Of Fury” - In the unsanctioned, underground and unhinged world of extreme Ping-Pong, the competition is brutal and the stakes are deadly. Now, Rogue Pictures’ outrageous new comedy “Balls of Fury” serves up this secret world for the first time on-screen. Written by Thomas Lennon & Robert Ben Garant (Night at the Museum, Reno 911!), the absolutely dreadful film is directed by Ben Garant. Down-and-out former professional Ping-Pong phenom Randy Daytona (Tony Award winner Dan Fogler) is sucked into this maelstrom when FBI Agent Rodriguez (George Lopez) recruits him for a secret mission. Randy is determined to bounce back and recapture his former glory, and to smoke out his father’s (Robert Patrick) killer - one of the FBI’s Most Wanted, arch-fiend Feng (Academy Award winner Christopher Walken). But, after two decades out of the game, Randy can’t turn his life around and avenge his father’s murder without a team of his own. He calls upon the spiritual guidance of blind Ping-Pong sage and restaurateur Wong (James Hong), and the training expertise of Master Wong’s wildly sexy niece Maggie (Maggie Q), both of whom also have a dark history with Feng. All roads lead to Feng’s mysterious jungle compound and the most unique Ping-Pong tournaments ever staged. There, Randy faces such formidable players as his long-ago Olympics opponent, the still-vicious Karl Wolfschtagg (Mr. Lennon). Can Randy keep his eye on the balls? Will he achieve the redemption he craves while wielding a paddle? Is his backhand strong enough to triumph over rampant wickedness?
STARRING: Dan Fogler, Christopher Walken, George Lopez, Maggie Q, Thomas Lennon, Robert Patrick
DIRECTOR: Robert Ben Garant
STUDIO: Rogue Pictures
RATING: PG-13 (For crude and sex-related humor, and for language)
Rowan Atkinson returns to the iconic role that made him an international star in “Mr. Bean’s Holiday.” In his latest misadventure, Mr. Bean - the nearly wordless misfit who seems to be followed by a trail of pratfalls and hijinks - goes on holiday to the French Riviera and becomes ensnared in a European adventure of cinematic proportions.
Tired of the dreary, wet London weather, Bean packs up his suitcase and camcorder to head to Cannes for some sun on the beach. Ah…vacation. But his trip doesn’t go as smoothly as he had hoped when the bumbling Bean falls face first into a series of mishaps and fortunate coincidences, far-fetched enough to make his own avant-garde film.
Wrongly thought to be both kidnapper and acclaimed filmmaker, he has some serious explaining to do after wreaking havoc across the French countryside and arriving at his vacation spot with a Romanian filmmaker’s precocious son and an aspiring actress in tow. Will Bean be arrested by the gendarmes or end up winning the Palme d’Or? It’s all caught on camera as Atkinson again applies his awkward athleticism to a comedy of errors - “Mr. Bean’s Holiday.”
STARRING: Rowan Atkinson, Willem Dafoe, Emma de Caunes, Jean Rochefort
DIRECTOR: Steve Bendelack
STUDIO: Universal Pictures
Based on Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin’s popular satirical novel, “The Nanny Diaries” stars Scarlett Johansson as a working-class woman from New Jersey who becomes a nanny to a wealthy Manhattan family - “The Nanny Diaries.”
STARRING: Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti, Donna Murphy, Alicia Keys, Chris Evans
DIRECTORS: Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
STUDIO: MGM & The Weinstein Co.
RATING: PG-13 (For strong language, adult situations)
In the movie “Dedication,” Henry Roth is messed up. A New York children’s book author who tells kids that Santa doesn’t exist, he hates sleeping with - and next to - anyone, including his girlfriend and must lay on the floor, usually with heavy objects on top of him just to feel safe. His motto is “Life is nothing but the occasional burst of laughter rising above the interminable wail of grief.”
“Dedication,” a modern love story in which a misanthropic, emotionally complex author of a hit children’s book series (Billy Crudup) is forced to team with a beautiful illustrator (Mandy Moore) after his best friend and creative collaborator (Tom Wilkinson) passes away marks the directorial debut of Justin Theroux. As Henry struggles with letting go of the ghosts of love and life, he discovers that sometimes you have to take a gamble at life to find love.
STARRING: Billy Crudup, Mandy Moore, Harvey Keitel, Mia Farrow, Bob Balaban, Bobby Cannavale, Martin Freeman, Amy Sedaris, Christine Taylor, Tom Wilkinson
DIRECTOR: Justin Theroux
STUDIO: The Weinstein Co.
RATING: R (For language, sexual situations, adult situations, drug use)
“Closing Escrow” tells the story of three quirky families seeking to buy their next home. They’re all moving for different reasons-and none of them are getting along with their real estate agents. Negro attorneys Bobby and Tamika have hired Hillary Macella as their real estate agent. Hillary is a racially hyper-sensitive white woman dealing with more than her share of white guilt. That is until she gets mugged, and starts seeing the world quite a bit differently. Tom and Dawn are an unconventional couple. When they met, Tom was happily married to another woman. But thanks to Dawn’s unstoppable persistence (the police reports called it stalking, but Dawn doesn’t like to think of it that way), Tom was convinced to leave his wife and start his life over again in a new home with Dawn. They’ve wound up with a shady real estate agent with a knack for damaging homes to make them more affordable for his clients. This makes house hunting somewhat awkward for Tom and Dawn, not to mention a little dangerous.
STARRING: April Barnett, Rob Brownstein, Colleen Crabtree, Andrew Friedman, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Kirstin Pierce, Ryan Smith, Bruce Thomas, Patty Wortham, Cedric Yarbrough
DIRECTORS: Armen Kaprelian & Kent G. Llewellyn
STUDIO: Magnolia Films
RATING: PG (For language)
A dignified send-off for a loved one erupts into uproarious chaos when romance, jealousy, in-laws, hallucinogens, dark secrets, life-long yearnings and a spot of bold blackmail all collide in the irreverent British comedy “DEATH AT A FUNERAL.” Directed by Frank Oz (The Muppet Movie, In & Out) and featuring a cast made up of the cream of Britain’s crop, the film mischievously explores what happens on the day when a typically divided family is finally forced to come to terms with each other’s - bad behavior, outrageous faults, skeletons in the closet and all.
On the morning of their father’s funeral, the family and friends of the deceased each arrive with his or her own roiling anxieties. Son Daniel (MATTHEW MACFADYEN) knows he will have to face his flirty, blow-hard, famous-novelist brother Robert (RUPERT GRAVES) who’s just flown in from New York, not to mention the promises of a new life he’s made to his wife Jane (KEELY HAWES). Meanwhile, Daniel’s cousin Martha (DAISY DONOVAN) and her dependable new fiancé Simon (ALAN TUDYK) are desperate to make a good impression on Martha’s uptight father - a plan that literally goes out the window when Simon accidentally ingests a designer drug en route to the service, leaving him prone to uncontrollable bouts of delirium and nudity in front of his potential in-laws.
Then comes the real shocker: a mysterious guest (that midget, PETER DINKLAGE) who threatens to unveil an earth-shattering family secret. As riotous mayhem and unfortunate mishaps ensue on every front, it is now up to the two brothers to hide the truth from their family and friends and figure out how to not only bury their dearly beloved, but the secret he’s been keeping - a “Death At A Funeral.”
STARRING: Matthew Macfayden, Rupert Graves, Peter Dinklage, Alan Tudyk, Daisy Donovan, Kris Marshall, Andy Nyman, Jane Asher
DIRECTOR: Frank Oz
STUDIO: MGM
RATING: R (For language and drug content)
In the movie “Rocket Science,” Hal Hefner is an average sophomore at Plainsboro High School in New Jersey. He stutters and suffers the daily indignities of a typical teenager. With only a little encouragement, Hal falls in love with the star of the debate team, Ginny Ryerson and finds himself suddenly immersed in her ultra competitive world of high school debating, with its players, its politics and its own set of rules.
STARRING: Reece Thompson, Anna Kendrick, Vincent Piazza, Nicholas D’Agosto, Aaron Yoo
DIRECTOR: Jeffrey Blitz
STUDIO: Picturehouse
RATING: R (For language and sexual situations)
“Bratz Movie” - The highly popular dolls Bratz finally come alive in “Bratz Movie,” the first live action feature film based on the chic fashion dolls. As the Bratz navigate their way through this story, we will see how the four young women represent honestly, camaraderie and most importantly friendship. As long as they can remember, Yasmin (Nathalia Ramos), Jade (Janel Parrish), Sasha (Logan Browning) and Cloe (Skyler Shaye) have been “BFF” - Best Friends Forever. Inseparable since they first met, the young girls have always supported each other’s individual personalities, talents and fabulous fashion styles. But now as the foursome enter Carry Nation High, Yasmin, Jade, Sasha and Cloe face a brand new world: a blackboard jungle, where for the first time they discover life as a teenager means dealing with a system of social cliques, all strictly enforced by senior Meredith Baxter Dimly. Finding themselves being pulled further and further apart, the girls band together and rise up as “the Bratz” to fight peer pressure, in turn learning how true empowerment means standing up for your friends, being true to oneself and living out one’s dreams & aspirations - “Bratz Movie.”
STARRING: Chelsea Staub, Anneliese van der Pol, Malese Jow, Stephan Lunsford, Jon Voight
DIRECTOR: Sean McNamara
STUDIO: Lionsgate Films
RATING: PG (For mild language)
