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:

Going Up River: The Long War of John Kerry (PG-13)
From George Butler, the filmmaker who brought us the 1977 Schwarzenegger hit Pumping Iron, comes the "most anticipated political documentary of the fall." Using 35 years of film and photos he collected of John Kerry, Butler follows the presidential candidate through his experiences both during and after the Vietnam War.
Now Showing: Downtown West

Ladder 49 (PG-13)
A harrowing story about how ordinary men can become extraordinary heroes, Ladder 49 exposes the "often hidden human element" to the dangerous lives and sacrifices of American firefighters. The plot wraps itself around devoted firefighter Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix) as he lies trapped deep within a burning warehouse, his memories, moment-by-moment, year-by-year leading up to his current predicament, and the strong bond he has formed with his mentor and captain, Mike Kennedy (John Travolta).
Now Showing: Tinseltown USA, Wynnsong 16, Farragut Towne Square, Knoxville Center, Foothills 12, Halls Cinema 7

Mean Creek (R)
Rated "R" for Revenge, this is a graphic tale of a shy, picked-on and fed-up kid named Sam (Rory Culkin) who, with the help of his older brother and a couple of his closest buddies, seeks vengeance on the school bully. A river trip intended to humiliate the thug becomes complicated when a.) the true humanity of the bully is revealed and b.) Mother Nature plays her cruel hand in the boys' quickly unraveling scheme.
Now Showing: Downtown West

Shark Tale (PG)
Unlike last year's big-biting, G-rated fish-flick Finding Nemo, this animated Dreamworks tale takes its cartoon a step higher (and darker) by presenting the child (and childlike adult) audience with a tiny hustler named Oscar (Will Smith) who's hunted down by a dangerous gang of killer sharks that are on to his latest con. Along with Smith, Renee Zellweger, Jack Black, Robert De Niro and director Martin Scorsese spotlight the impressive list of character voices.
Now Showing: Tinseltown USA, Wynnsong 16, Farragut Towne Square, Knoxville Center, Foothills 12, Halls Cinema 7

Woman Thou Art Loosed (R)
Adapted from the "Oprah Book Club Winner" of the same title, Woman Thou Art Loosed is an emotional story of female empowerment. Michelle Jordan (Kimberly Elise), thrown onto the difficult road of sexual abuse, crime and prison, seeks redemption and tries to redefine the way she lives her life.
Now Showing: Tinseltown USA, Wynnsong 16, Knoxville Center

Zhou Yu's Train (PG-13)
Follow the long, winding and complicated train-ride romance of a young female Chinese factory worker as she struggles to choose between her sensitive poet boyfriend and a successful and handsome young doctor.
Now Showing: Downtown West

Watch Your Back

Popularity is a war. The rise and demise of the troops is tactical, fierce and ruthless. Take prisoners and make them adore you.

That’s the message as Saturday Night Live’s Tina Fey makes her screenwriting debut with the contrived but clever Mean Girls (PG-13, 2004).

The cutesy Lindsay Lohan plays Cady, the naïve home-schooled student starting her first year in a real high school. Lohan makes friends with two eccentric art students who give her the social schematic of the cafeteria. However, before she can eat her lunch, Cady is adopted by an elite group of girls known affectionately as “the plastics” (for their obvious kinship to Barbie).

From that point on the film follows the intricate network of devilish high school girl conspiracies. Chock full of backstabbing, plotting and life-ruining gossip, we see the true nature of the teenage girl: evil. Pure evil.

Lohan and her rhinestone-clad henchmen rule the student body and secretly despise everyone but themselves. The members catalog their hatred for their classmates in the “burn book” where they criticize every last inch of their peers.

Rachel McAdams plays Regina, the leader and most vicious vixen of the group. McAdams plays the plotting mean girl to the letter and adds a great deal to the film.

Fey strayed away from using every clichÉ in the teen movie-making book, but she isn’t exactly breaking new ground. Admittedly the script has some great insight into the mentality of the 17-year old girl and, at times, will make you laugh out loud.

Fey plays Ms. Norbury, a quirky math teacher who is unhappy with her life and is determined to make Cady live up to her true potential. It is a great role for Fey, who brings a level of mature comic influence to the screen.

The movie is worth watching if you can stomach the resurgence of bad high school memories and the beaten dead-horse genre of ditsy teen movies.

To hell with love, high school is a battlefield.

—Rosemary Nottoli