Movie Reviews

The Story: A talk-show host goes back to his Southern roots and learns the meaning of family à la Hollywood. The Lowdown: A truly obnoxious comedy that tries to blend crude humor with debatable life lessons.

The Story: Comedy routines and documentary footage of the tour that contain them. The Lowdown: Occasionally amusing but rarely hilarious comedy combined with a dubious documentary approach and fleeting insights into the performers.

The Porter Center at Brevard College will show Son of the Sheik Sunday, Feb. 17, at 3 p.m. with live accompaniment of the Porter Center's pipe organ by Vance Reese. Tickets are $5 at the door or call 884-8330 in advance.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show The Last Wave at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17, 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 look at Jimmy Carter as he travels the country promoting his controversial book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. The Lowdown: An unassuming documentary that's never close to spectacular, but gets its message across while being surprisingly interesting.

The Story: A down-on-his-luck treasure hunter ropes his newly ex-wife into searching for a sunken treasure. The Lowdown: Flat romance, lame comedy and a so-so adventure plot are brought even lower by an excessive running time. Mild compensation comes from the scenery.

The 39 Steps, part of a series of Classic Cinema From Around the World, will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St. in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Story: A cornea transplant leaves a young woman with the ability to see ghosts, ghoulies and other things that go bump in the night. Personal problems ensue. The Lowdown: An amazingly dull take on an already overused concept.

The Story: A woman who was killed on her wedding day comes back from the dead to break up her fiancé's new romance. The Lowdown: A joyless, cheap, unfunny, unromantic comedy that might put you off movies altogether.

The Story: A down-on-his-luck nature-show host decides to track down Bigfoot in an effort to save his television program. The Lowdown: An amateurish hodgepodge of gross-out gags, stoner humor and randomness that’s never even remotely funny or worthwhile.

The Media Arts Project will present New Year Baby at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, at the Fine Arts Theatre. Admission is $5, free to UNCA and WCU students.

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

The Story: Combination concert film and backstage documentary centered on Disney Channel pop star Miley Cyrus. The Lowdown: An effective enough distillation of Miley Cyrus' tween-centric concert into a tight little package that ought to please her youthful fans.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Hannah and Her Sisters at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10, 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…

The Story: After the death of her sister to drug abuse, a teen must win a dance competition in order to afford her tuition to private school. The Lowdown: Another dance-centric teen drama that attempts to purport a positive message but ultimately fails due to drab direction and being steeped in melodrama.

The Story: An aging writer finds himself the object of an enthusiastic literary student's attention -- both professionally and personally. The Lowdown: A remarkably astute and penetrating character study with fine performances by all and a brilliant one by Frank Langella.

The Story: Headband-sporting John Rambo decides to come out of hiding to free some Christians from a Burmese army encampment. The Lowdown: Violent, dumb, poorly made and pointlessly gory. It's exactly what you expect from a Rambo movie.

The Story: A woeful comedic takeoff on last year's hit 300. The Lowdown: A truly witless attempt at parody that's about on par with slamming your finger in a car door for 90 minutes.

L'Age D'Or, part of a series of Classic Cinema From Around the World, will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St. in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Story: An FBI special computer-crime agent must track down a deranged killer who features his killings on an untraceable Web site. The Lowdown: One good actress -- Diane Lane -- and a decent cast are wasted in this dull, unpleasant mishmash of a thriller.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Calendar Girls at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3, 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…