BY LEAH ROZEN
CRITIC'S CHOICE
COMEDY
In what has to be a screen-billing first, a fellow is credited at the end of this fabulously outrageous comedy as the "naked fight coordinator." That guy earned his money with one scene, an extended grappling match between two sweaty, hairy, buck-naked men, neither of them an Adonis. It is the single funniest scene this year. Heck, that goes for the whole movie, all 82 rude, crude and yet brilliant minutes of it.
Borat is a guerrilla road movie. Englishman Baron Cohen (of HBO's Da Ali G Show) pretends to be Borat Sagdiyev, a boorish TV reporter from Kazakhstan. As Borat, he travels across the U.S., along with his grumpy producer (it's these two who eventually exchange blows in the buff), conning unsuspecting, unfailingly polite real Americans (including feminists, drunken frat boys and rodeo fans) into answering his ever more outrageous questions. No one clocks Borat, though he's begging for it. It's the culture clash that makes this all so funny. Disguised as bumbling Borat, Baron Cohen keeps pulling our leg and we just keep extending it. (R)
Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura
DRAMA
Penélope Cruz, working in her mother tongue, gives a magnificent performance in a frothy yet bittersweet tale about mothers and daughters. Given that she looked lovely but seemed ill at ease in the English-language clunkers Vanilla Sky and Sahara, it's refreshing to see Cruz deliver the goods. Reunited with her mentor, flamboyant director-writer Pedro Almodóvar (they last teamed on All About My Mother in '99), she gets to emote big-time in this Spanish-language comic drama (with English subtitles).
Cruz plays Raimunda, a housewife in Madrid who, over the course of this enjoyably wacky and convoluted tale, contends with a murdered husband and ghostly visits from her long-dead mom (Maura). Whatever the film throws Raimunda's way, Cruz handles it with aplomb, her good humor intact, her plump rear (it's padding) swinging from side-to-side as she sallies forth to face the next challenge. (R)
Voices by Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet
ANIMATED
Before Daniel Craig landed the role, Hugh Jackman was being talked up as the next James Bond. He gets his chance in a quick gag in Flushed Away, when Roddy St. James, the debonair mouse he voices, pretends to be 007 while larking about a posh penthouse where he's a pampered family pet. The bit is just one of many inspired moments peppering this film that's sure to delight both kids and chaperoning adults.
Roddy is soon flushed down the toilet by a bullying rat and must learn to survive in London's sewer system. There he befriends feisty Rita (Winslet), a street-smart rat, and together they take on the underworld's evil crime boss, a giant toad (Ian McKellen). Best, though, are the singing slugs that repeatedly pop up to serenade Roddy and his friends. Their rendition of "Proud Mary" is slime-sational. (PG)
Shut Up & Sing With just 12 words—a comment slamming President George W. Bush at a 2003 Dixie Chicks concert—singer Natalie Maines ignited a political firestorm that still sizzles three years later. An insightful documentary looks at crisis management on the fly while spotlighting the band's ever-stiffening resolve: What doesn't kill them (chillingly, someone threatens to do just that) makes them stronger. (R)
Wondrous Oblivion In an engaging but slight British film, a shared love of cricket draws together a Jewish boy and his black Jamaican neighbors in '50s London. Delroy Lindo stars. (Not rated)
Death of a President Not worth the lurid hype it has generated, this modest fake documentary set in 2008 evenhandedly looks at what might happen in the aftermath of the supposed assassination of President Bush. (R)
CARS ($29.99) A speedy NASCAR rookie racecar (above, voiced by Owen Wilson) learns to slow down and appreciate small-town life in an amiable animated comedy. While easy to enjoy, ultimately this one doesn't have as much heart as such earlier Pixar winners as Finding Nemo and Toy Story. Extras: There's regrettably no audio commentary, but extras include two cartoon shorts (one is a new Cars spinoff), deleted scenes and a making-of feature in which creator John Lasseter says Cars grew out of a driving vacation he made with his family. (G) Movie:
Extras:
BABEL'S BREAKOUT
Sure, Brad Pitt draws a few more paparazzi, but he isn't the only actor in Babel attracting attention for a nail-bitingly intense performance. As Amelia, a well-meaning nanny who whisks the children in her care off on a perilous trip to Tijuana, Mexican-born TV actress and acting teacher Adriana Barraza has critics raving. Barraza, 50, gained 30 lbs. ("to make my face look more innocent, more like a child," she says) and spent hours braving the wilds of a Mexican desert. "At night the coyotes were howling," she says. "It was scary!" But there were some highlights, namely a heartrending scene with Pitt. Says Barraza: "I can say proudly that Brad Pitt cried in my ear."
Shows Happy Feet's Penguins How to Dance
Marching like a penguin looks easy enough, but dancing like one? That takes talent. Virtuoso Savion Glover, who choreographed and performed main character Mumble's tapping scenes in Happy Feet, shares his steps:
1. RESEARCH YOUR ROLE Glover met with a penguin trainer to "learn how a penguin walks, how different limbs move," he says. "And I watched documentaries about penguins."
2. NO FLAPPING I had to keep my elbows straight," says Glover, who wore a motion-capture outfit with dozens of sensors. "But I had a lot of freedom. The director wanted my style."
3. EMBRACE YOUR INNER SHAKIRA "They have this waddle you do with the waist," he says. "There's a circular pelvic thing going on. And then it's a matter of me listening to the music and hittin' it."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
