Metro Pulse Online: Movies, Past &Amp; Future

Armed only with his mysterious mental connection to the feral minds of studio executives, the Movie Guru reveals just how good or bad this week's new releases will be:

Cellular (PG-13)
A young man (Chris Evans) innocently answers his cell phone and is thrown into a high-stakes, race-against-time thriller to save a complete stranger’s life. According to the voice on the other end of the call, her name is Jessica Martin (Kim Basinger), she’s been kidnapped with no clue as to where’s she’s being held, and—as if that isn’t enough tension—the battery on his cell is running dangerously low!
Now Showing: Wynnsong 16, Foothills 12, Halls Cinema 7

Intimate Strangers (R)
What begins as a premise for a sitcom episode unwinds into a funny, poignant character study—prime territory for French director Patrice Leconte (The Hairdresser’s Husband, The Man on the Train). Sandrine Bonnaire accidentally walks into Fabrice Luchini’s office, thinking he’s her new psychiatrist. He’s actually a tax attorney, but does that really matter if he’s a good listener?
Now Showing: Downtown West

Maria Full of Grace (R)
Joshua Marston’s Spanish-language film has received rave reviews across the board for its frank, documentary-like portrait of a young woman’s willingness to risk death for a new life in America. Stuck at a dead-end job in Colombia, 17-year-old Maria meets a drug smuggler and agrees to swallow capsules of heroin and carry them into the U.S.
Now Showing: Downtown West

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (R)
The genetically altered, superhuman beauty Alice (Milla Jovovich) returns to fight the undead in this sequel to the 2002 blockbuster hit Resident Evil. The adventure begins where the last one left off: Alice is stranded in “Raccoon City” to fend off an onslaught of ravenous monsters, including a heavily armed and formidable assassin called “Nemesis.”
Now Showing: Wynnsong 16, Foothills 12, Halls Cinema 7

Riding Giants (PG-13)
Stacy Peralta, who presented the drama of skateboarding in Dogtown & Z-Boys, now tackles the history of surfing through archival footage of wicked waves and interviews with the sport’s early champions.
Now Showing: Downtown West

Unforgettable ‘Dates’

By adorning customary fairy tales with bizarre characters, Adam Sandler developed a niche following that rapidly snowballed into mainstream success. The likeable Everyguy with personality quirks, Sandler generally serves as an anchor to offset the inanity of the supporting cast. Sandler and Drew Barrymore had an overwhelming aw-shucks chemistry in The Wedding Singer, and they reunite for a second oddball romantic comedy in 50 First Dates.

Henry Roth (Sandler) lives in Hawaii, working as a veterinarian at a Sea World-esque attraction. He spends each night with a different female tourist in very short-term relationships with no strings attached. During a day-trip on his hobby boat, he meets Lucy Whitmore (Barrymore) at a diner. The two share breakfast and leave with a standing date to meet again the following day.

However, when they meet again, Lucy doesn’t remember him, and he discovers she has a medical condition that leaves her without any short-term memory. Smitten with Lucy, Henry is resigned to make Lucy fall in love with him every day—with the help of friend Ula (Rob Schneider)—in hope that someday she’ll remember him, but he must simultaneously convince her father (Blake Clark) and brother (Sean Astin) of his good intentions.

Sandler and Barrymore are adorable on screen together and give the impression that the film wouldn’t work (or at least not quite as well) without one or the other.

The caring, level-headed Clark (who will perform at The Comedy Zone this weekend) and muscle-bound, lisping doofus Astin feed off each other a la Laurel and Hardy. Ula, Henry’s peculiar Hawaiian friend—with a handful of kids and a marijuana habit—stands as one of Schneider’s most bizarre roles to date.

The movie has a warm, welcoming air about it, from its thoroughly enjoyable cast of characters to its sweet romance, and it works as Sandler’s most fun film, overall, since his last collaboration with Barrymore.

—Clint Casey