Movie Reviews

The Story: Four years spent following students at New York's School for the Performing Arts. The Lowdown: A few bright moments and a director with a nice touch when handling musical numbers can't overcome an undeveloped story with bland characters.

The Fine Arts Theatre will show The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, and at 1 p.m. on both Saturday, Sept. 26, and Sunday, Sept. 27. The film is being presented by Andie McDowell (who will introduce all showings) as a benefit for Our Voice.

And the Ship Sails On, part of a series of Classic Cinema From Around the World, will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St. in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show The Debussy Film at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community, 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville. (From Asheville, take I-26 to U.S. 64 West, turn right at the third light onto Thompson Street. Follow to the Lake Point Landing entrance and…

The Story: A man -- who is being pursued by a maniac whose face is hidden beneath bandages -- flees to the supposed safety of a nearby laboratory. The Lowdown: An unusually clever and intelligent time-travel yarn with a good share of scares and brain teases.

The Story: Documentary film on the Australian exploitation film. The Lowdown: Cheeky, loud, irreverent, very R rated and colorful -- just like its topic.

The Story: An actor convinced that his soul is holding him back professionally has his soul removed, only to discover that he needs it back. The Lowdown: Surreal comedy and metaphysical concerns mix to brilliant results in this strikingly unusual film.

The Story: A self-help guru falls into a relationship with a florist while still dealing with the baggage of his wife's sudden death three years earlier. The Lowdown: A slickly-made adult romance marred by gooey sentimentality and an inability to find the right pitch.

The Story: Fact-based story of Mark Whitacre, who turned FBI informant on the company he worked for. The Lowdown: A funny (in a very dry sense), bitter and very unusual movie about a delusional man whose specialty is duplicity.

The Story: A divorcée -- and her two sons -- goes on a journey to find a new husband to support her. The Lowdown: An utterly charming, often very funny little movie that re-establishes Renée Zellweger as an actress of note.

The Story: The love story of the poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne. The Lowdown: A nicely made, very restrained biopic of the traditional school that's enlivened by a light tone and a superb supporting performance from Paul Schneider.

The Story: A failure by a quack inventor leads to a machine that causes food to rain from the sky, which is all well and good until the machine starts to malfunction. Disaster strikes and things begin to get out of hand. The Lowdown: A generally odd family film that’s more bizarre -- namely in…

The Story: The hottest girl in school becomes possessed by a demon and it's up to her nerdy best friend to set things right. The Lowdown: Neither entirely successful as horror or comedy, Jennifer's Body is still an interesting film with more on its mind than its detractors claim.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Otello at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community, 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville. (From Asheville, take I-26 to U.S. 64 West, turn right at the third light onto Thompson Street. Follow to the Lake Point Landing entrance and park in…

Shoot the Piano Player, part of a series of Classic Cinema From Around the World, will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St. in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Story: A documentary on the 1974 concert that was intended to precede the Ali-Foreman heavyweight championship fight in Zaire. The Lowdown: A fascinating look at a once-in-a-lifetime event showcasing some of the biggest names in soul music. The only downside is that there's just not enough music.

The Story: An Australian teen starts a musical group in a local prison as a means of getting into music school. The Lowdown: A schmaltzy uplifting drama that's generally painless.

The Story: A selfish woman learns the meaning of love when she inherits her sister's children. The Lowdown: It starts well, but quickly devolves into the usual clunky mishmash of Tyler Perry clichés -- with a few notable scenes that stand out from the rest of the movie.

The Story: A U.S. marshal must track down a murderer in the frozen wastes of Antarctica. The Lowdown: A refreshing premise quickly falls victim to messy direction, jumbled action and a mystery that’s never very mysterious.

The Story: After some sorority girls are accidentally responsible for the death of one of their sisters, they ditch the body -- only to find themselves being bumped off by an unknown killer apparently out for revenge. The Lowdown: Standard schlock-slasher horror that exceeds its dubious welcome by about 20 minutes and suffers from an…

The Story: A child molester hiding from the mob (via the witness-protection program) in a dinky town makes a deal with the local cannibals to lure mobsters there to replenish their larders. The Lowdown: Offensive, amateurish, predictable, unscary and just plain not good.