Movie Reviews

The Hendersonville Film Society will show End of the Game at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 4, 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…

Twin Rivers Media Festival presents Fix at 8 p.m. Friday, May 2, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St. in downtown Asheville. Other festival events and films take place over the weekend. Info: 273-3331.

Whoopee! is the first of a three-movie Busby Berkeley retrospective being presented at Pack Library in Lord Auditorium. The film will be shown at 6 p.m. Monday, May 5, and will be introduced and discussed by Xpress film critic Ken Hanke.

The Story: When his grandmother dies, a young Mexican boy crosses the border into the U.S. in search of his illegal immigrant mother who lives in Los Angeles. The Lowdown: Melodrama and politics make an uneasy combination in this well-intentioned film that succeeds more than it doesn't thanks to the performances.

The Story: The stoner boys from Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle get arrested as terrorists and escape from Guantánamo Bay in an effort to prove their innocence. The Lowdown: Though it tries hard to equal the original and expand on it in thematic content, this sequel only works in bits and pieces, becoming…

The Hendersonville Film Society will show The Wages of Fear at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 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…

A Clockwork Orange is part of a series of Classic Cinema From Around the World being presented at 8 p.m. Friday, April 25, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St. in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Story: A man who wants to marry another woman can't bear to put his wife through a divorce, so he devises a more lethal solution. The Lowdown: A beautifully acted, finely detailed period drama that's certainly worth watching, but finally feels a little insubstantial.

The Story: The Rolling Stones as captured in concert at New York's Beacon Theatre. The Lowdown: A very good -- if maybe not great -- concert by the Grand Old Men of rock is brilliantly captured by Martin Scorsese.

The Story: Ben Stein drones his way around the world to make a case for intelligent design. The Lowdown: An interminable, shockingly bad and completely irresponsible slab of propaganda masquerading as fact.

The Story: An American teen travels to a mystical realm of martial arts and super powers in order to return a supernatural weapon and defeat a despotic warlord. The Lowdown: A perfectly fine little piece of entertainment that works as what it is while on-screen, yet is too predictable and insignificant to be memorable.

The Story: Dumped by his girlfriend, a composer goes on vacation to regroup only to find his ex and her new companion staying at the same resort. The Lowdown: Standard lowbrow comedy courtesy of producer Judd Apatow, but one marked by an occasionally insightful, warmhearted screenplay.

The Story: On the eve of the execution of a man he helped convict, a forensic psychologist finds himself under suspicion of murder and is told he has 88 minutes to live. The Lowdown: Impossibly silly writing, bad direction and an overzealous star collide in a spectacular train wreck of movie.

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

Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, the Captain's Bookshelf and Western Carolina University present Polis Is This for one show only Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m. at the Fine Arts Theatre.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Duck, You Sucker at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 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…

The Story: An Egyptian police band find themselves stranded in a small Israeli town and have to rely on the kindness of the locals. The Lowdown: A slight story that scales the heights of human experience with rare -- and both funny and touching -- precision. A must-see.

The Story: A deranged killer escapes from an asylum and proceeds to track down the object of his fixation at her high-school prom. The Lowdown: Shock effects, dumb scripting and bloodless killing abounds in this rather boring slasher picture.

The Story: A grimly dysfunctional family is turned upside down by a wayward adopted brother and an ER doctor. The Lowdown: Indie Comedy 101 cookie-cutter fare, with forced, unbelievable -- and largely unlikeable -- characters who get by (just barely) thanks to Thomas Haden Church.

The Story: Detective Tom Ludlow finds himself at the center of an investigation into LAPD corruption that might end up with him on the business end of the stick. The Lowdown: An unbelievable, standard-issue cop movie that remains watchable until you stop to think about it for too long.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Oh! What a Lovely War at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 13, 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…