Selected mini-reviews, rated on a system of 0 to 4 stars, by Rick Groen and Stephen Cole. Full reviews appeared on the dates indicated.
Bright Star
***
It may be a romance involving the greatest of the Romantic poets, but John Keats isn't the star of Bright Star. Instead, the real subject is the object of his affection - Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Their unconsummated relationship was confined not just by the proprieties of the time but also by the poet's failing health, empty wallet and conflicted nature. All this emerges through Fanny's frank and unblinking gaze, which is precisely where Cornish shines. She speaks eloquent volumes with her eyes, seeing much, feeling much, yet pushed by convention and circumstance to the margins of Keats's brief life. Consequently, at times, her emotions appear to grow out of thin dramatic soil. Mainly, though, it's the exquisite restraint - both of Cornish's performance and Jane Campion's direction - that gives the film its power. G R.G.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
**
Based on the popular seventies kids' book, the 3-D animated story of a teenage inventor who turns water into, among other things, a mile-high cyclone of spaghetti. No comedy has a more promisingly ludicrous set up. Unfortunately, the filmmakers decide to lay on the Important Life Lessons halfway through and all the air comes out of the film's boulder-sized meatballs. With the voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris and James Caan. PG (Sept. 18) S.C.
Dead Snow **
A horror movie from Norway, with medical students hurrying off for spring break to the Norwegian Alps, where they're attacked by flesh-eating Nazis. Dinner scenes are zombie-rific. But the set-up is beyond tedious. Norwegian medical students should consider suing director Tommy Wirkola for malpractice. Surely they can't be this dull. 18A (Sept. 25) S.C.
Fame
**
A remake of the 1980 musical where New York performing-arts students learned how to live forever. The first half-hour is loose and fun, as a talented bunch of young performers get to fool around and show their stuff. Then the plot kicks in and the party is over. Music teachers include Kelsey Grammer and Debbie Allan, who starred in the original. PG (Sept. 25) S.C.
Love Happens
**
Jennifer Aniston plays a scarf-wearing florist named Eloise who falls for a widower with enough baggage to fill a DC-8. Hard to believe, but the green-eyed sprite we knew as Rachel Green, our TV best Friend, is settling into spinsterhood. One thing is for sure, she can do better than her latest screen companion, Dr. Burke (Aaron Eckhart), a self-help guru who needs way too much help. A romantic comedy without enough romance - or comedy, for that matter. PG (Sept. 18) S.C.
Pandorum
***
It's 2074 and all that is left of Earth is a spaceship headed for a distant, livable planet. But there's trouble on board. An epidemic of paranoia has turned many, perhaps all, of the settlers into cannibals. Our only hope lies in a couple of groggy spacemen played by Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster. A smart, spirited sci-fi epic from young German director Christian Alvart. Worth catching on the big screen. 14A (Sept. 25) S.C.
Surrogates
**
Based on a comic-book series, Surrogates depicts a future world where most people use attractive robots to do their jobs and conduct their social lives, while slug-like humans lie on beds, desperately in need of gym time and personal stylists. Bruce Willis (sporting a Bruno-like blond wig) and Radha Mitchell play a couple of FBI agents investigating a series of "surrogate" murders which also lead to the death of their human masters. The science-fiction premise here begins to feel bait-and-switch - a provocative idea that's an excuse for a formula action movie, with shootouts, helicopter chases and a digital countdown. The final questions the movie raises are more procedural than philosophical: Do the actors sound so robotic because they are playing robots well or humans badly? PG (Sept. 25) L.L.
Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day
***
This is their last show, apparently. They're becoming Trailer Park Men anyway. Bubbles has a girlfriend now. And Ricky is cramming to get his Grade 12. Still, they have it in them for one great final screw-up, as Julian organizes a bank heist. With Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay and Mike Smith, who all deserve a stool at the bar in hoser heaven. 14A (Sept. 25) S.C.
