Daily Loaf

For a movie whose title references the most sinister level of encounter with an alien life form — abduction — The Fourth Kind should probably have come with a modest “buyer beware” warning.

That’s because the film is less about getting prodded and probed by little green men than it is a test of what we are willing to believe and be frightened by. As The Fourth Kind opens, actress Milla Jovovich addresses the audience directly, telling us that what we are about to watch is based on a series of strange occurrences that purportedly happened in Nome, Alaska, during the first week of October 2000.

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It may have been the day after Halloween, but thousands of people had plenty good reason to play dress-up this past Sunday afternoon at the St. Pete Times Forum. One didn’t have to look far to find a Yoda or Princess Leia milling about the concourses. Many congregated toward a makeshift exhibit of original Star Wars props and artifacts, including a Darth Vader costume, blasters and helmets. Nearby, children and adults alike sidled up next to Stormtroopers for photo ops. It was all a prelude to the main event inside the arena, “Star Wars: In Concert.”

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Under Mira Nair’s direction, Amelia is pretty enough to look at, but its lack of dramatic momentum and episodic nature are deficits the film’s handsome production values can’t overcome. As a biopic, Amelia falls short in two critical areas: It fails to sufficiently illuminate its protagonist, and it is unable to convey the weight of her accomplishments. For this, the script by Ronald Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan must also shoulder a considerable part of the blame. Perhaps because the writers seem to take for granted that their story has an automatically compelling subject at its center, they eschew illumination for melodrama. As a result, its title character remains a rather opaque figure dutifully hitting her marks in the story of her life — or, more accurately, its final 10 years.

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Who knew the zombie-filled apocalypse would be this much fun? Mixing comedy, horror, road movie and coming-of-age story, Zombieland manages to be gross, hilarious and — dare I say it — heartwarming.

Read more of Sal’s review of Zombieland after the jump …

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To read more about the summer’s biggest releases, check out CL’s Movies & Television site.

I’ll say this for The Ugly Truth’s poster: With lead actress Katherine Heigl holding a heart in her hand while another rests over Gerard Butler’s nether region, it’s a fine example of truth in advertising. Though the film has its heart in the right place, it indulges in a frothy battle of the sexes that is informed less by wit and nuance than the one-sheet’s outright caricature and stereotype.

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