This week's premieres
photo: Itafilm
50 First Dates (50 krát a stále po prvý raz) - Romantic comedy by Peter Segal. Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore revisit the chemistry they first displayed in The Wedding Singer with this love story by the director of Sandler's most recent vehicle, Anger Management. Sandler plays Henry, a veterinarian who meets and subsequently falls in love with Lucy (Barrymore), who seems to return the sentiment. But there's a slight problem: Lucy has no short-term memory and thus constantly forgets having met Henry, much less having fallen for him. So Henry must try from the beginning, again and again, to win her over.
photo: Itafilm
Masked and Anonymous (Inkognito) - Comedy drama by Larry Charles. The directorial debut of sitcom writer/director Charles (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mad About You) finds Bob Dylan playing, shockingly enough, an eccentric aging rock star. Amid a backdrop of civil war and further social upheaval, rock promoter Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) enlists the help of television producer Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange) to organise a televised concert headlined by the imprisoned Jack Fate (Dylan). It's supposed to be a benefit concert for an unnamed charity, but it appears that it's actually all to the benefit of Uncle Sweetheart. The scheme seems to be going as planned, until an investigative journalist (Jeff Bridges) begins sniffing around. Also starring Giovanni Ribisi, Penelope Cruz, and Luke Wilson.
Other movies playing
Cheaper by the Dozen (Dvanásť do tucta) - Comedy by Shawn Levy. A group of children run amok when their father (Steve Martin) becomes preoccupied with coaching a college football team and their mother (Bonnie Hunt) goes on a book tour to promote her recently released memoirs. Two of the lovable delinquents are played by popular television stars: Tom Welling, who plays the teenage Superman in Smallville, and Hilary Duff (of the Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire), who plays a teen pop star in real life.
Lost in Translation (Stratené v preklade) - Comedy/Drama by Sofia Coppola. Though it occasionally resorts to caricature that isn't worthy of the rest of the film's elegant restraint, this love letter to Bill Murray proves that it deserved its hype, or at least most of it. Murray is truly brilliant, equally hilarious and tragic. But, then again, he always is - something that Coppola was clearly aware of when she wrote the script. A slightly bigger surprise is Scarlett Johansson, who proves she is much more than jailbait with gorgeous lips and a husky voice. The fact that she can believably play Murray's less experienced intellectual equal shows that her promising turns in Ghost World and The Man Who Wasn't There were no fluke. Highly recommended.
Prepared by Jonathan Knapp
