For_Immediate_Release:
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
(2006; Twentieth Century Fox; 104 minutes)
A "cure" has been found for mutation and sets off a confrontation within the mutant community, with Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) looking for a positive response and Magneto (Ian McKellen) leading violent opposition. Leech (Cameron Bright) is the child who harbors the anti-mutant antibody and is kept on Alcatraz by an anti-mutant activist (Michael Murphy), ashamed of his son (Ben Foster) and his 16-foot wingspan. There are many parallels with current political and social issues. All the same, I enjoyed the film. I liked the action, I liked the absurdity, I liked the incongruous use and misuse of mutant powers, and I especially liked the way it introduces all of those political issues and lets them fight it out with the special effects. Rated PG-13. (Roger Ebert) DVD special features: director and writer commentary; alternate endings; deleted and extended scenes; featurettes.
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
(2006; Fox; 92 minutes)
A satire both savage and elegant, targeting the pro-smoking lobby with a dark appreciation of human nature. Aaron Eckhart stars as a spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, who loves his work and makes a confident and cheerful response to the problem that his product kills people. Directed by Jason Reitman, who uses wit instead of a bludgeon to make his points. The first-rate cast includes Robert Duvall as the tobacco czar, William H. Macy as an anti-smoking senator, Maria Bello as an alcohol lobbyist, Katie Holmes as a snoopy reporter and Sam Elliott as the Marlboro Man, dying of cancer. Rated R. (Ebert) DVD special features: director and cast commentary; deleted scenes; Charlie Rose interview with director and cast; several featurettes.
EDMOND
(2006; First Independent; 82 minutes)
William H. Macy stars as an angry white man in David Mamet's adaptation of his 1982 one-act play, a nutty screed on the sexual politics of race in America. Most of the story unfolds over one grotesque night after 47-year-old Edmond walks out on his wife (Rebecca Pidgeon). On the neon-lit street, he deals badly with strangers: a tarot card reader, a three-card monte hustler and an actress who only acts like one (Julia Stiles). Organic Theater veteran Stuart Gordon directs this macho vent of rage. Rated R. (Bill Stamets)
-- Compiled by Mary Houlihan
Source: http://search.msn.com
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