Movie Reviews

The Story: Two estranged brothers -- one of who is trained by their once-abusive father -- enter a mixed-martial-arts tournament. The Lowdown: A hokey and far-fetched uplifting sports melodrama that somehow works, mostly due to its central performances.

The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen The Mask of Fu Manchu on Thursday, Sept. 15, 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.

Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present The Mirror at 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9, at Phil Mechanic Studios, 109 Roberts St., River Arts District (upstairs in the Railroad Library). Info: 273-3332, www.ashevillecourtyard.com

The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen House on Haunted Hill on Thursday, Sept. 8, 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.

The Story: The story of an overweight teenager who copes not only with his life, but with the lives of other people. The Lowdown: A charming character study -- though possibly upsetting for those with a candy-colored view of adolescence -- of a misfit and his growing extended family. Human, insightful and surprisingly well crafted.

The Story: Fictionalized account of the double used by Saddam Hussein's despotic and depraved son, Uday. The Lowdown: It may be based on fact, but The Devil's Double is mostly an entertainingly lurid melodrama of corruption and excess -- but one that is raised a notch by the furious performance of Dominic Cooper in the…

The Story: A group of co-eds head to an island on a Lousiana lake, only to find out it’s infested with killer sharks. The Lowdown: Barebones horror filmmaking at its stupidest and least involving.

The Story: A hot-headed golfer has a blow-up during a tournament and ends up in the tiny Texas town of Utopia, where an old cowboy holds the secret to becoming a better golfer. The Lowdown: Cheesy filmmaking, heavy-handed preachiness and flagrant consumerism make for one hairy film.

The Story: A guilt-and-redempton story set against the sci-fi premise of the discovery of a doppelganger Earth. The Lowdown: A brilliant concept that the film seems less inclined to explore than the human drama that accompanies it. The forced indie-production style doesn't help, but the film remains intriguing if not wholly realized.

The Story: An exploration of the difference between the official version of the story of the three Mossad agents tracking down a Nazi in 1966 and what really happened. The Lowdown: Well cast and solidly made, The Debt is a hard film to fault on any specific grounds, but it's equally hard to get as…

The Story: Top-secret footage of the moon mission no one ever heard of. The Lowdown: Drab, dreadful and dull entry in the dismal "found footage" sub-genre.

The Asheville Film Society will screen Swing Time Tuesday, Sept. 13, 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.

Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present Early Summer at 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2, at Phil Mechanic Studios, 109 Roberts St., River Arts District (upstairs in the Railroad Library). Info: 273-3332, www.ashevillecourtyard.com

The Story: Documentary assembled from footage shot in 1964 of Ken Kesey and the band of Merry Pranksters' legendary LSD-infused bus trip across America. The Lowdown: It may not quite do what it sets out to do, but this assemblage of footage is invaluable as a fascinating record of its time.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show part one of The Birth of a Nation at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 4, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community (behind Epic Cinemas), 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.

The Asheville Film Society will screen Foreign Correspondent on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 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.

The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen The Ghost of Frankenstein on Thursday, Sept. 1, 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.

The Story: Mysterious creatures -- with evil intentions -- coerce a lonely child into releasing them from the pit in which they've been imprisoned since the late 1800s. The Lowdown: A methodical horror film that relies on tension and mood to generate a disturbing atmosphere that may not be appreciated by audiences wanting shocks and…

The Story: A female assassin attempts to get back at the criminals who slaughtered her family. The Lowdown: Terminally dumb movie that lacks enough action or cleverness to be entertaining.

The Story: A young woman moves into an apartment and begins receiving phone calls from the past. The Lowdown: A cheap attempt at high-concept horror that isn’t thought out enough to be effective.

The Story: A good-natured clueless boob fresh out of jail wanders through the lives of his self-absorbed sisters causing chaos that turns out to make them better people. The Lowdown: The same old load of clams about the dim bulb who's really smarter, happier and better than the smarter characters. Fairly painless, but hopelessly derivative…