The Limits of Control

Plus: My Life in Ruins, The Taking of Pelham 123 and others

By Volcano Staff on June 4, 2009

THE HANGOVER: Uptight bride-to-be Tracy (Sasha Barrese) kisses her groom-to-be Doug (Justin Bartha) as he heads for a night in Las Vegas with his boys before the wedding. Tracy's trusting father Sid (Jeffrey Tambor) lends the boys his cherry vintage Mercedes convertible and off they drive down the California highway blaring T.I.'s Rhianna-powered "Live Your Life." "To a night we'll never forget," the four friends toast from the roof of the Caesar's Palace later that night. The rest of The Hangover is spent trying to remember. (R) — Michael Swan


IMAGINE THAT: Early opening. (PG)


LAND OF THE LOST: Will Ferrell plays a scientist with a scheme for importing fossil fuels from a parallel dimension and lands in one himself, with Anna Friel, Danny McBride and Jorma Taccone (as a Missing Link).  Preposterously goofy.  Either you’re in the mood, or you aren’t.  I was. (PG-13) Three stars – Roger Ebert


THE LIMITS OF CONTROL: An empty and pointless exercise in style, draining from the viewer such energy that the visitor sinks slowly in ennui.  Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. (R) One-half star — RE


MY LIFE IN RUINS: Nia Vardalos stars as an American tour guide in Greece who lectures to busloads of tourists who are walking clichés. Vardalos has misplaced her infectious charm in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and literally smiles widely almost entirely through the movie.  She has a romance that seems directly from a trashy romance novel.  Also with Richard Dreyfuss. (PG-13) One and a half stars – RE


RUDO Y CURSI: Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, who became stars in Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001), are reunited in a comedy about half-brothers who are discovered in a rural soccer game by a talent scout for pro clubs.  They find themselves dazzled by the bright lights in Mexico City and, more alarmingly, by high-stakes poker and sexy television personalities.  Directed by Carlos Cauron, who wrote Y Tu Mama. (R) Three stars – RE


THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123: Early opening. (R)