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Favorable Films
Critics' picks for new movies coming out in February
4 stars - Great | 3 stars - Good | 2 stars - Fair | 1 star - Poor
 Coraline
Rated PG | 95 min. | 4 stars
In an animated adventure, a young girl (the voice of Dakota Fanning) walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life—only much better. |
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 Fanboys
Rated PG-13 | 90 min. | 3.5 stars
It's 1998 and four extreme Star Wars fans who have been friends since childhood are driving across the country to Skywalker Ranch in order to sneak a peek at the yet unreleased Episode I: Phantom Menace as one last hurrah for their dying friend.
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 Youth in Revolt
Not rated | 85 min. | 4 stars
While his trailer trash parents teeter on the edge of divorce, 14-year-old Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) sets his sights on dream girl Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), hoping that she'll be the one to take away his virginity. |
More Movies
Other new attractions hitting the big screen this month
 He's Just Not That Into You
Rated PG-13 | 80 min. | 3 stars
In a movie based on a book inspired by HBO's Sex and the City, Jennifer Aniston stars in a series of interconnecting stories that dissect the challenges of reading and misreading human behavior.
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 The International
Rated R | 117 min. | 3 stars
An Interpol agent (Clive Owen) and a Manhattan district attorney (Naomi Watts) attempt to expose a global bank's role in an international arms deal, but quickly realize the institution will stop at nothing to continue financing terror and war.
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 Two Lovers
Rated R | 100 min. | 2.5 star
Joaquin Phoenix leads this romantic drama about a bachelor living in Brooklyn who's torn between the family friend (Vinessa Shaw) his parents wish he would marry and his beautiful but volatile new neighbor (Gwyneth Paltrow). |
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MOVIE PREVIEW
Assassination of a High School President
Rated R | 90 min. | Yari Films
2.5 stars
Directed by Brett Simon
Performances save President
By Stephen Farber
Film critic
Is there anything new to say about high school torments? Probably there is, but Assassination of a High School President doesn’t find enough novel insights to make for essential viewing. It has echoes of other movies about adolescent angst, from Election to Thumbsucker and Charlie Bartlett, but it doesn’t live up to the best of those.
Still, Assassination will be remembered for confirming the talent of its leading man, Reece Daniel Thompson, who starred as the stuttering teen hero of last year’s Rocket Science. Not many young actors convey intelligence, but Thompson is completely convincing and immensely likable as an aspiring journalist who wants to expose the truth about the school’s top jock.
As the prom queen who takes him under her wing, Mischa Barton is captivating. These two actors make the movie worth seeing, even though the script by Tim Caplan and Kevin Jakubowski veers from genuine wit to more routine high jinks.
At his Catholic school in New Jersey, Bobby Funke (Thompson) is beset by a lot of the typical teen perils—school bullies, a tyrannical principal (Bruce Willis) and the first stirrings of love and lust. But Assassination turns out to be a rather high school detective story. When a bunch of SAT exams are stolen from the principal’s office, Bobby determines that the school president, Paul Moore (Patrick James Taylor), must be the thief and exposes him in the school paper. He ruins Moore’s life, but as he gets to know his girlfriend, Francesca (Barton), he begins to have second thoughts and sets out to rectify matters by finding the true culprit. |
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What's to Come
A sampling of movies to keep on your radar for March
 The Accidental Husband
Rated PG-13 | 90 min. | 2 stars
When talk radio host Emma Lloyd (Uma Thurman) advises one of her listeners to break up with her boyfriend, the jilted ex sets about getting his revenge. Colin Firth and Jeffrey Dean Morgan co-star.
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 Duplicity
Rated PG-13 | 95 min. | 2.5 stars
A pair of corporate spies who share a steamy past hook up to pull off the ultimate con job on their respective bosses. Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Paul Giamatti, Tom Wilkinson and Carrie Preston star. |
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 The Great Buck Howard
Rated PG | 87 min. | 3.5 stars
See real-life father and son Tom Hanks and Colin Hanks in the story of a young man who, much to the chagrin of his father, becomes the new assistant to an illusionist in decline looking for the comeback of a lifetime.
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 Monsters vs. Aliens
Rated PG | 98 min. | 3 stars
When a meteorite from outer space hits a young girl and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters rounded up over the years. Seth Rogen, Reese Witherspoon, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert, Keifer Sutherland, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett and Paul Rudd lend their voices to this 3-D IMAX experience.
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 Phoebe in Wonderland
Rated PG-13 | 96 min. | 3.5 stars
Confounded by her clashes with the seemingly rule-obsessed world, a little girl (Elle Fanning) seeks enlightenment from her unconventional drama teacher. Felicity Huffman and Patricia Clarkson also star.
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 Race to Witch Mountain
Rated PG | 94 min. | 3 stars
A UFO expert enlists the help of a cabbie to protect two siblings with paranormal powers from an organization that wants to use the kids for their nefarious plans. Dwayne Johnson stars.
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 Sunshine Cleaning
Rated R | 102 min. | 2 stars
In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school, a mom starts an unusual business — a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service — with her unreliable sister. Amy Adams and Alan Arkin star.
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 Watchmen
Rated R | 163 min. | 3.5 stars
When an ex-superhero is murdered, a vigilante named Rorschach begins an investigation into the murder, which begins to lead to a much more terrifying conclusion. Carla Gugino, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Billy Crudup star.
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