Jack’s back this week in Chinatown (see Screenings)

Weekly Film Listings - February 4-10

OPENING

From paris with love -(Capitol) A bald and buff John Travolta plays a sarcastic superspy seemingly intent on racking up a huge body count during his trip to Paris. This high-octane thriller also stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the reluctant sidekick. Starts Fri.

dear john -(Odeon/SilverCity/Uni 4/Caprice) The latest adaptation from novelist Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) is a weepy romantic drama about what happens when a soldier on leave from Iraq falls for a conservative college student. Starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. Starts Fri.

CONTINUING

★★★½ avatar -(Odeon/SilverCity) After more than a decade out of the limelight, Titanic director James Cameron returns with an insanely expensive fantasy epic that is visually stunning but suffers from a banal script. Still, this account of intergalactic colonial exploitation set on a distant moon is an immersive cine-treat for sci-fi fans.

★★ the book of eli -(Capitol/SilverCity) It's Road Warrior meets The Road, as Denzel Washington stars in a hyper-violent and post-apocalyptic tale about a man on a mission to save what's left of the world, helped by a bible in one hand and a machete in the other. Denzel is fabulous, of course, but this is one dumb movie. Costarring Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis.

★★★½ crazy heart -(Odeon) See review.

★★★½ daybreakers - (Roxy, 9:10) A well-cast Ethan Hawke stars in a creepy and very original horror flick where vampires are the ruling majority . . . and the rapidly dwindling supply of human blood is making things unpleasant for all those nasty critters with long incisors.

★★ ¾ edge of darkness -(Capitol/SilverCity/Caprice) Mel Gibson plays a hardboiled homicide cop out for revenge after his only daughter, an outspoken activist, is gunned down by an evil corporation with powerful government protectors. Aside from a few dull patches this is a brutal, edgily persuasive thriller.

★★★★ an education -(Roxy, 7:15) This superbly fresh and engaging coming-of-age story about a smart but not yet wise 16-year-old girl in 1960s London is a knock-out. Co-starring Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson.

★★★★ fantastic mr. Fox -(Roxy, Sat.-Sun. 2:00) Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Life Aquatic) takes his first foray into animation as the director of this utterly delightful and intriguingly stylized tale of a sly fox who is the bane of all the nearby farmers. Written by the fantastic Roald Dahl and featuring the vocal talents of George Clooney, Bill Murray, Meryl Streep and Willem Dafoe.

★★★½ invictus -(Capitol) The indomitable Clint Eastwood once again directs Morgan Freeman, this time as he plays Nelson Mandela. The inspiring story centres on how a newly-elected President Mandela used rugby to help unite his racially divided country. This is the ultimate underdog sports movie.

★★½ it's complicated -(SilverCity/Capitol) Shallow moreso than complicated, the latest from Nancy Meyers (The Holiday, What Women Want) dishes up another romantic comedy as Meryl Streep plays a divorced woman who finds herself falling back in love with her ex-husband (Alec Baldwin)—at the same time as she's being courted by a sexy architect (Steve Martin). Note: opens at the Capitol on Mon., Feb. 8.

★½ legion -(SilverCity) Lots of Old Testament terrors get a CGI update in this religio-horror flick wherein God has lost faith in man (what took him this long?) and so he sends down a legion of militaristic angels to do lots of smiting and smoting.

★★ the lovely bones -(SilverCity) Peter (Lord of the Rings) Jackson goes from grandiose fantasy epic to an intimate human drama about what happens to a family after the 14-year-old daughter is murdered and the police can't solve the crime. Well-intentioned, sure, but this mixture of New Agey sentimentality about death combined with flabby direction and some poor performances makes this one a major disappointment.

planet 51 -(Roxy, Sat.-Sun. 3:40) A human astronaut lands on a distant planet where he is the monster, in an animated film for kids that looks to be sassily entertaining.

★★★½ precious -(Uni 4) This dire, unbearably harsh and ultimately touching story of triumph over adversity focuses on an overweight, unloved black girl in Harlem who is pregnant by her father and gets slapped around, mentally and physically, by her mother. This is incredibly powerful stuff, but the performances are better than the anything-but subtle direction.

★★★ sherlock holmes -(Capitol/SilverCity) Rock 'em, sock 'em Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) directs this anything-but-traditional account of London's most legendary detective. Not everything works—and purists will hate it—but this is often spirited, silly fun. Starring Robert Downey, Jude Law and Rachel McAdams.

★★★½ a single man -(Odeon) There is deserved Oscar buzz for Colin Firth's performance as a gay English professor who is quietly choking on grief several months after the sudden death of his partner. Based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood and costarring Julianne Moore.

the tooth fairy -(SilverCity/Uni 4/Caprice) In what most critics have called a toothless comedy, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has to pay for his sins by being transformed into a tooth fairy for one week of humiliation and crazy adventures.

★★★★ up in the air -(Odeon/SilverCity/Uni 4) George Clooney stars as an emotionally unavailable, globe-trotting corporate downsizer, in a sly comedy with a bitter message hiding just beneath the surface. Clooney and the film have both been getting well-deserved raves.

when in rome -(Odeon/SilverCity) TV actress Kristen Bell stars in a romantic comedy about a woman, ordinarily unlucky in love, who gets pursued by a legion of fellas after she steals a few coins from a magic fountain in Rome.

IMAX

★★★★ Africa: The Serengeti - (1:00, 6:00)

★★★ Ocean men: extreme dive -(10am, noon, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00) ★★★ ride around the world -(4:00)

★★★ ¾ under the sea -(11am, 3:00, 7:00)

SCREENINGS

Victoria Film Festival - In addtion to all the screenings, week two includes Saturday's ConVerge (see Film) and the weekend's Sips ’n’ Cinema. Continues to February 7. victoriafilmfestival.com

The Olympic Torch - Watch 30 minutes of Leni Reifenstahl’s classic, Olympia, at this panel discussion and open forum about the symbolism and politics of the torch, 7pm THURSDAY in rm. 105 of UVic’s Hickman Building. Free. 250-592-3715.

A Prairie Home Companion - Rather than Robert Altman’s movie of the same name, this is Garrison Keillor’s actual beloved radio show via a live HD satellite broadcast, featuring special guests as well as regular show performers. Tickets $12 to $20. 7:30pm THURSDAY at SilverCity.

The Met: Live in HD- This week, Plácido Domingo takes the title role in Verdi’s gripping political thriller Simon Boccanegra. 10am SATURDAY at the Odeon and SilverCity. $18-$25.

GottaCon SCreenings- Seattle's Dead Gentlemen Productions will be on hand when they screen their latest opus, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, 6:30-10pm SATURDAY. Also, the Loading Ready Run crew screen their 2009 vids, 2-5pm SUNDAY. at Pearkes Centre, 3100 Tillicum. Limited seating. $15-$40. gottacon.com

Race Across the Sky- Watch Lance Armstrong race against 1,200 other cyclists in Colorado's dreaded Leadville Trail 100 in this 90-minute big screen doc, 1pm SUNDAY at SilverCity. $8-$12.50.

Movie Monday - Screens Every Little Step . This fascinating documentary chronicles the 2006 remounting of A Chorus Line, the revered and long-running Broadway Musical that first dazzled audiences in the mid-'70s.Showtime is 7pm MONDAY in the 1900-block Fort Street. By donation. 595-FLIC. moviemonday.ca

CINECENTA

Cinecenta at UVic screens its films in the Student Union Building. Tickets are available 40 minutes prior to showtime. Info: 721-8365. cinecenta.com.

antichrist -(Wed.-Thurs., Feb. 3-4: 7:00, 9:10) "Dogme" director Lars von Trier is being more than usually extremist in this intensely horrific film that ladles out lots of violence, sexual mutilation and other stomach-churning grotesqueries. Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe.

★★★ the men who stare at goats -(Fri.-Sat., Feb. 5-6: 3:00, 7:15, 9:10) George Clooney stars in a vaguely fact-based satire about a squadron of "psychic soldiers" that the military was supposedly grooming in order to wage unusual warfare in Iraq. With Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey and Ewan McGregor.

planet 51 -(Sat.-Sun., Feb. 6-7: 1:00 matinee) A human astronaut lands on a distant planet where he is the monster, in an animated film for kids that supposedly meets the technical requiements to be called entertainment.

★★★★ the road -(Sun., Feb. 7: 3:00, 7:00 & Mon., Feb. 8: 7:00 only) Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men) wrote the grim, post-apocalyptic novel that this bleak and very fine film is based on. Starring Viggo Mortensen and costarring Robert Duvall and Molly Parker.

★★★★★ chinatown -(Tues., Feb. 9: 7:00, 9:25) Jack Nicholson is superb in this gritty and stylish noir, set in the 1930s and directed with surpassing flair by a pre-scandal Roman Polanski. Corruption and murder never looked so good. Co-starring Faye Dunnaway and John Huston.

★★★½ Me and orson Welles -(Wed.-Thurs., Feb. 10-11: 7:00, 9:15) Richard Linklater (Slacker, School of Rock) directs this delightful period film about a teenager who is cast in the Mercury Theatre's famed 1937 production of Julius Caesar directed by a young Orson Welles. This is a fine coming-of-age story but mostly a celebration of the crazy and sometimes cruel creative storm erupting out Welles (wonderfully played by Christian McKay) Also starring Zac Efron and Claire Danes.