The Whistleblower

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The Story: A Nebraska cop takes a job as a "peacekeeper" in Bosnia and uncovers corruption and a sex-trafficking ring. Her attempts to expose this puts her in jeopardy. The Lowdown: Rachel Weisz is the primary reason to see this well-intended, but not entirely successful film about cover-ups and the abuse of power.

The Palm Beach Story

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The Asheville Film Society will screen The Palm Beach Story Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 8 p.m. in the Cinema Lounge of The Carolina Asheville and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther. Hanke is the artistic director of the A.F.S.

Restless

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The Story: Doomed romance between a troubled young man and a girl with a brain tumor that plays nothing like the cliche that this suggests. The Lowdown: A very special, very unusual, very good romantic fantasy that -- despite superficial similarities to other films -- has its own distinct identity. Sad and touching without being…

Hour of the Wolf

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It’s October, and the folks at World Cinema have decided to present a month of horror-tinged movies for Halloween. First up is Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf (1968), which is often referred to as the director’s only horror picture. Actually, that seems a bit wide of the mark to me. It would not be […]

Dream House

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The Story: A couple's new home turns out to harbor a dark secret, which itself contains a secret of a different kind. The Lowdown: An almost complete misfire from director Jim Sheridan and a strong cast. It may in part be the result of studio tampering, but the film is simply tepid, slow, rather dull…

50/50

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The Story: A young man deals with his friends and family after he is diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. The Lowdown: Sensitive and slyly humorous take on a serious subject that skirts most of the pitfalls inherent in this kind of story.

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler Oct. 5-11: Restless Ides of Real Steel Whistleblo­wers

The mainstream and art titles are evenly matched this week—two of each. On the mainstream side we have The Ides of March and Real Steel. (There are no prizes for guessing who reviews which this week.) The art titles are The Whistleblower at the Fine Arts and Restless at The Carolina. With any luck, this week will fare better than the lackluster last week when no new movie could crack the top three. Audience lack of interest has rarely been so high—which in some instances was understandable. And, guess what? The special two-week engagements of The Lion King enter their fourth week.

Cranky Hanke’s Screening Room: Is 2011 really that bad?

I know there are those who actually believe that 2011 has been a good year for movies. I can’t agree with that—nor it seems can most people. But there’s always the chance that I’ve been forgetting something. With that in mind, I went over all the new films I’ve seen that impressed me enough to get the full five stars. This came up to five titles: The Illusionist, 13 Assassins, Incendies, Midnight in Paris and Point Blank. It’s a point of debate as to whether The Illusionist can technically be counted as 2011, since it opened in limited release in 2010—and since I saw it in 2010. Incendies, on the other hand, counts, since it only opened enough to qualify for Oscar consideration in 2010. So I’ll discount The Illusionist, but keep Incendies as a possible “Best of” contender.

Killer Elite

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The Story: In order to save his mentor's life, an ex-secret service operative has to undertake "one last job" for a vengeful sheikh. The Lowdown: Enjoyable -- if not very distinguished -- action thriller that gets the good out of its name cast without actually taxing their abilities.

Brazil

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The Asheville Film Society will screen Brazil at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 4, in the Cinema Lounge of The Carolina Asheville, and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther. Hanke is the artistic director of the A.F.S.

Senna

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The Story: A documentary about Brazilian race driver Ayrton Senna. The Lowdown: Amazing assembly of film footage from Senna's career -- along with home movies and videos -- painting a biographical picture of the driver and his races.

Dolphin Tale

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The Story: Uplifting fact-based story of a dolphin who loses her tail. The Lowdown: Appallingly manipulative, but reasonably effective feel-good story of the family-friendly kind, and raised a notch by Morgan Freeman's presence in the second half.

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler Sept. 28-Oct 4: What’s Your 50/50 Senna Dream House?

Here we are with the “special limited two week engagement” of the 3D-ified Lion King entering its third big week and five new films entering the fray. We have three mainstream titles—50/50, Dream House, What’s Your Number?—and one art title—Senna—and one specialized title—Courageous. The mainstream titles appear to open everywhere except the Beaucatcher. Senna opens at The Carolina. And Courageous will be at the Carmike and Regal Biltmore Grande. On top of all this, there’s Qfest—Asheville’s first annual LGBTQ film festival—running from Thursday night through Sunday at the Fine Arts. In short, there is no shortage of cinematic options this week. And it’s going to get more crowded next week when two new art titles open.

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler Sept. 21-27: Point Blank Killer Dolphin Moneyball Abduction

This week it’s four mainstream titles—Abduction, Dolphin Tale, Killer Elite, Moneyball (opening most places)—up against one lonely art title—Point Blank (opening at The Carolina). There’s little doubt about what’s going to come out on top here. Moneyball seems destined to be the big winner at the box office. Other questions remain. Will Taylor Lautner prove he’s more than a beefy boy with big biceps? Can Morgan Freeman fix an amputee dolphin? Can Brad Pitt make baseball stats interesting? Will Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro become the Groucho, Harpo and Chico of action pictures? All will be revealed over the weekend—depending on how intrepid you are.

Point Blank

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The Story: When his pregnant wife is kidnapped, a man has no choice but to follow the instructions of mobsters. The Lowdown: Breathlessly -- but elegantly -- paced thriller of a kind we don't see very often. A witty, intelligent film with real characters, style and magnificently staged action.