Movie Reviews

The Story: A long-retired Ping-Pong champ is chosen to enter an underground Ping-Pong tournament in order to take down an evil crime lord. The Lowdown: An overall substandard comedy with little going for it other than a few decent bits from Christopher Walken.

The Story: A young polar bear and walrus must learn to survive in the Arctic. The Lowdown: A well-intentioned family film that won't do much for anyone who isn't a youngster.

The Story: A rancher, desperate for money to save his land, agrees to help deliver a notorious killer to justice. The Lowdown: A deliberately gritty, downbeat revisionist western from James Mangold with a brilliant central performance from Russell Crowe.

The Story: An FBI agent goes after the mysterious assassin who killed his partner. The Lowdown: A convoluted action flick that suffers by taking itself way too seriously.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Unfaithfully Yours at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 2, 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…

Through a Glass Darkly is part of a series of Classic Cinema From Around the World being presented at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St. in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Story: The story of radio's original "shock jock" Petey Greene (Don Cheadle) and his rise to fame as an outspoken broadcaster, personality and comic. The Lowdown: Some of the funniest, most moving and most exciting filmmaking of the year housed in a work with some of the best performances of the year. Don Cheadle…

The Story: A fact-based, highly colored account of the 1857 massacre, by paranoid fanatical Mormons, of a wagon train on its way to California. The Lowdown: Bad filmmaking conspires with bad acting and dubious history to create an alarmingly grotesque film.

The Story: A sportswriter (Josh Hartnett) buys into a homeless man's (Samuel L. Jackson) claim that he's really former heavyweight contender Bob Satterfield. The Lowdown: A frequently sappy, by-the-numbers sports flick, but with a performance from Samuel L. Jackson that makes it worthwhile.

The Story: A college graduate (Scarlett Johansson) accepts a position as a nanny from a posh Upper East Side family. The Lowdown: An entertaining, though rarely more than pleasantly amusing, romantic comedy with a few insights into class consciousness and nice performances from Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney.

The Story: Mr. Bean wins a church raffle for a vacation in Cannes. His trip causes much chaos for anyone who crosses his path. The Lowdown: The gags are more clever than funny, the pace is nonexistent, and this is really a case of "for fans only."

The Story: A troubled teen moves in with her long lost dad and must help him save his dolphin research laboratory. The Lowdown: A painfully obvious, low-budget and amateurish film that comes across as trite, overwrought, corny and overlong.

The Story: Two high-school nerds attempt to win popularity -- and sex -- by providing the alcohol for a pre-graduation party. The Lowdown: A fairly silly -- and extremely raunchy -- teen-sex comedy that only occasionally hits the bull's-eye with laughs, but scores high marks for surprising emotional resonance.

Persona is part of a series of Classic Cinema From Around the World being presented at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St. in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 Pack Square South, will present A Notebook on Cities and Clothes on Saturday, Aug. 25, and Sunday, Aug. 26, at 2 p.m. Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, and free for museum members.

The Story: A Roman warrior, a Turkish fighting woman and a sort of magician fight to protect a kid who's the last descendant of Julius Caesar. The Lowdown: There hasn't been anything like this since the Italians were turning out a "Son of Hercules" movie every week back in the early '60s. The lips match…

The Story: A mysterious virus from outer space transforms people into emotionless automatons who threaten the world as we know it. The Lowdown: This highly compromised fourth version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers scores in terms of thematic content, but is muddled by postproduction reshoots and basic awkward story construction.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show The Student Prince at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 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…

The Story: A quasi-biographical look at Jane Austen and her romance with a young man before she became famous. The Lowdown: A decent attempt at examining the impact of Austen’s life experiences on her work, but the film suffers from the standard biopic and period-piece ailments of being too stodgy and lifeless.

The Story: A young man enters a world of plotting royalty, evil witches and enchantment when he crosses a wall into an alternate reality in his search for a fallen star. The Lowdown: A rich fantasy with delightful comedy and characters. Brilliantly directed by Matthew Vaughn and superbly acted by a stellar cast, this is…

Smiles of a Summer Night is part of a series of Classic Cinema From Around the World being presented at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St. in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.