Movie Reviews

Classic Cinema From Around the World will present An Angel at My Table at 8 p.m. Friday, April 9, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St., in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 11, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community (behind Epic Cinemas), 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.

The Story: The story of the creation, rise and fall of the band the Runaways. The Lowdown: An unblinkingly realistic look (albeit sometimes clichéd) at the world of rock music; it's anchored by sharp direction and three performances that could prove career-defining.

The Story: Documentary about the legal battle over an important art collection. The Lowdown: An interesting but unadventurous documentary that does itself a disservice by trying too hard to skew the picture.

The Story: Four couples' marital trouble starts to rise to the surface on a Bahamas vacation. The Lowdown: A fairly typical Tyler Perry soap, but with a misogynistic undercurrent and a preposterously ill-conceived ending.

The Story: An angsty teen is forced to spend the summer with her estranged father. The Lowdown: A shoddy, meandering mess filled with clichés and lazy melodrama.

The Story: The demigod Perseus sets out to detach the head of Medusa so he can use it to turn a giant monster to stone and save the people of Argos. The Lowdown: Every bit as silly as it sounds, Clash of the Titans, nonetheless, offers passable, if far from extraordinary, entertainment.

The Story: An unformed 19-year-old Arab is molded into a hardened criminal during a stint in prison. The Lowdown: A powerful prison drama that occasionally achieves greatness. Strong stuff that's definitely worth seeing -- assuming you're up to it.

Classic Cinema From Around the World will present Vagabond at 8 p.m. Friday, April 2, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St., in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Story: A group of washed-up friends are transported -- by a hot tub -- through time to their heyday in the '80s. The Lowdown: A generally unfunny, occasionally repulsive comedy that's offset by a handful of funny moments.

The Story: A young Viking wounds a dragon and, in dealing with the creature, learns that everything his people think they know about dragons is wrong. The Lowdown: A thoroughly appealing animated fantasy from the duo who made Lilo & Stitch.

Classic Cinema From Around the World will present Swept Away at 8 p.m. Friday, March 26, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St., in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Clue at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 29, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community (behind Epic Cinemas), 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.

The Story: A ghost writer is hired to polish the memoirs of a former British prime minister after the mysterious death of the original writer. The Lowdown: A complete return to form for Roman Polanski -- a quietly intense psychological and political thriller that ranks up there with the filmmaker's great works. Not to be…

The Story: A boy is continuously thwarted in his attempts at gaining popularity in his first year of middle school. The Lowdown: A surprisingly imaginative, often amusing little movie that's a rarity in the world of kids films.

The Story: A wife, suspicious of her husband's fidelity, hires a young prostitute to test his faithfulness. The Lowdown: It's stylish, well-acted and contains some good performances, but devolves into a not-very-persuasive exploitation thriller. Entertaining, but not the film it starts out to be.

The Story: In the future, a repo man in the business of repossessing designer organs from deadbeat patients finds himself on the other end of the repossession game. The Lowdown: A well-acted and occasionally stylish sci-fi yarn that's too derivative to be as thought-provoking as it thinks it is.

The Story: A bounty hunter lands the assignment of bringing in his ex-wife. Fighting and romance ensue. The Lowdown: The stars have no chemistry. The story is dopey. The romance is nonexistent. The comedy is unfunny. The sight gags are lame. Any more questions?

Classic Cinema From Around the World will present When a Woman Ascends the Stairs at 8 p.m. Friday, March 19, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St., in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Clue at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 21, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community (behind Epic Cinemas), 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.

The Story: A fact-based story of a young French woman who, for unknown reasons, invented a story that she was attacked on a train by thugs who mistook her for being Jewish. The Lowdown: A fascinating character study about how our circumstances control our actions. It offers no answers, merely suggestive observations.