Mannerly melodrama

BY PHILIP MARTIN

The Duchess 84 Cast: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell, Charlotte Rampling Director: Saul Dibb Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity, thematic material Running time: 110 minutes As pretty and intricately constructed as an 18th-century corset, The Duchess is a slightly too serious period costume drama based on Amanda Foreman’s best-selling biography Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. - Friday, October 10, 2008

REVIEW : The Express

BY PHILIP MARTIN

The Express 78 Cast: Rob Brown, Dennis Quaid, Charles S. Dutton Director: Gary Fleder Rating: PG for thematic content, violence, language, sensuality Running time: 119 minutes Everyone who remembers Ernie Davis says he was a good man. But if you believe the makers of The Express, a bio-pic of Davis — he was the first black man to win college football’s Heisman Trophy but died of leukemia before he had a chance to play in the National Football League — he was close to perfect. - Friday, October 10, 2008

ON FILM : Looking past hype is job of the critic

PHILIP MARTIN

I talked to an editor at the Associated Press a couple of weeks ago. The AP is considering a new feature, like the weekly poll it conducts during college football season, in which newspaper film critics will vote on which films they think are most likely to win Academy Awards. It’s described as a “power ranking” of movies, although the details aren’t yet worked out. There might be a different poll question every week. - Friday, October 10, 2008

REVIEW : City of Ember

BY PHILIP MARTIN

A post-apocalyptic children’s fable that recalls the pre-Amelie work of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Pixar’s Wall-E, City of Ember is a production designer’s movie that retains some of the fairy-tale darkness of the Grimm Brothers. It might strike some as too angst-producing for children, because although it contains only a couple of scenes of imminent threat, it raises the specter of environmental exhaustion and the inevitable end of a way of life. - Friday, October 10, 2008

REVIEW : Body of Lies

BY CHRISTY LEMIRE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rendition. Redacted. The Kingdom. In the Valley of Elah. Lions for Lambs. They’re all movies about the war on terror that nobody has wanted to see. You’ll be able to add Body of Lies to that list, even though it’s probably the most worthwhile and least preachy of the bunch. - Friday, October 10, 2008

Box office

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — Beverly Hills Chihuahua pawed its way to the top spot at the weekend box office, debuting with $29.3 million. - Friday, October 10, 2008

FILM CLIPS

At area theaters 58 AN AMERICAN CAROL, PG-13 A contemporary Ebenezer Scrooge (Kelsey Grammer) takes on Hollywood. With Trace Adkins, Jon Voight; directed by David Zucker. Fiesta Square 16 in Fayetteville, Rogers Towne Cinema. (85 minutes) 86 APPALOOSA, R A marshal (Ed Harris) - Friday, October 10, 2008

Home movies

— Karen Martin

Recent DVD releases: Boy A (R, 100 minutes) A film-festival favorite, Boy A is an emotionally taut melodrama that features Andrew Garfield in a BAFTA Best Actor awardwinning performance as a young ex-convict returning to society after 14 years in a juvenile prison. Grade: 87 The Happening (R, 91 minutes) This unscary apocalyptic film from director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) stars Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo as Philadelphians who, along with many others, flee their homes to escape a lethal threat of unknown origin. The DVD (available in a single widescreen version and high-definition format on Bluray with a digital copy) includes deleted scenes, a gag reel and a making-of documentary. Grade: 78 Normal (R, 100 minutes) A talented cast is underutilized in this confusing drama, shown at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival but hardly anywhere after that, about a mother (Carrie-Anne Moss) who can’t get over the loss of her teenage son, killed by a drunken driver (Callum Keit - Friday, October 10, 2008

ON CHRISTIANITY

BILLY GRAHAM

DEAR REV. GRAHAM: I’ve been told that I’m supposed to be growing in my faith but I don’t think it’s happening. Maybe I don’t understand what it means. Am I missing something? — R.L. DEAR R.L.: You are right; God’s will is for us to grow stronger in our faith. Only then will we be able to resist the devil’s temptations; only then will God be able to use us as fully as possible. The Bible says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). - Friday, October 10, 2008