Movie Reviews

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Winter Kills at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, 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…

The Story: A humorless, revenge-obsessed cop and a gun-toting woman team up to solve the mystery behind the murders of his family and her sister. The Lowdown: Quite possibly the most boring action movie ever made -- and one of the least coherent.

The Story: A dorky high-school virgin steals his brother’s vintage muscle car and takes a road trip with his two best friends to Tennessee in order to have sex with a girl he met on the Internet. The Lowdown: An utterly generic, gross-out teen-sex romp, with some likable enough leads and an entertaining performance from…

The Story: A 14-year-old girl runs away from home with the family servant to escape an unloving father and to learn the truth about her mother. The Lowdown: A sentimental film that bites off more than it can chew, The Secret Life of Bees is still a nicely acted, shrewdly cast, enjoyable film with undercurrents…

The Story: A CIA agent stationed in the Middle East must figure out a way -- with the help of his arrogant boss -- to capture a mysterious terrorist mastermind. The Lowdown: A slick action-oriented thriller with some strong performances that tries to be something more by being politically aware, but never quite feels as…

The Story: A relatively -- but only relatively -- accurate biopic of the Duchess of Devonshire that aims more for the domestic drama of her life than her public influence. The Lowdown: Too staid and soap-operatic for its own good, but with compensations from the performances, direction, intelligent dialogue and characterizations.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show The Naked Prey at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, 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 Asheville Art Museum will screen Eraserhead for one show only at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, at the Fine Arts Theatre. Info: 253-3227.

The Story: The tale of how a young Billy Graham became the world’s most famous evangelist. The Lowdown: A quaint enough, but terribly uneven little movie that’s too confined by its low budget to overcome its shortcomings.

The Story: The underground city of Ember is dying due to its failing generator, and the people have lost the knowledge that they were meant to return to the earth's surface before this happened. The Lowdown: Thematically heavy and stunning to look at, City of Ember manages to be worthwhile without ever getting near greatness…

Two episodes of The Prisoner, part of a series of Classic Cinema From Around the World, will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St. in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Story: A TV crew and a few firefighters and cops are quarantined with the residents of an old dark apartment house when a mysterious disease that turns its victims into killers breaks out. The Lowdown: Another film that uses the camera jiggle-a-thon shtick to convey mayhem, but with a handful of fairly effective thrills…

The Story: The true story of Syracuse running back Ernie Davis, the first African American ever to win the Heisman Trophy. The Lowdown: A completely formulaic sports biopic that drags out every trope of the genre while at the same time feeling excruciatingly long.

The Found Footage Festival, the acclaimed touring showcase of found videos, will make a one-night only appearance in Asheville as part of its 2008 North American tour. Hosts Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, whose credits include The Onion and the Late Show with David Letterman, will present their unique blend of video clips and live…

The Story: Two rather mopey high-school kids find themselves thrown together, discover awkward chemistry and have various adventures in New York City over the course of the evening. The Lowdown: Michael Cera and Kat Dennings (in roles they could play in their sleep) keep this uninspired teen flick barely afloat.

The Story: An anti-American filmmaker is visited by three ghosts who aim to teach him the importance of America. The Lowdown: Another in a long line of recent unfunny spoofs that also has the added drawback of simpleminded political heavy-handedness.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Cats at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 12, 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…

The Story: A college professor invents the intermittent windshield wiper, only to have his design stolen by the Ford Motor Company, causing him to spend the next decade fighting for the credit he’s due. The Lowdown: An utterly harmless little film, with a strong central performance by Greg Kinnear. Still, it can’t quite overcome the…

Pack Memorial Library will show Chocolat on Thursday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m. in Lord Auditorium. Kilwin's of Asheville and the French Broad Chocolate Lounge have kindly donated chocolates and fudge to make the event indulgent. Info: 250-4700.

The Story: This mildly satirical comedy catalogs the misadventures of a socially disastrous British journalist, who hits the big time when he receives an offer to work for a New York City celebrity magazine. The Lowdown: Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst -- and a number of agreeable bits and pieces -- elevate this slightly flat…

The Story: A pair of lawmen for hire come to the western town of Appaloosa to "clean up" the place. The Lowdown: A western that is both traditional and untraditional, Appaloosa is solid filmmaking with some unusually strong characterizations and performances, as well as a sense of moral and psychological complexity.