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Birdemic: Shock and Terror (Not rated, 90 minutes) - Cheap, schlocky, technically inept sort-of homage to Hitchcock’s The Birds deserves its reputation as a trashy midnight movie. It’s horrible, but in a good way. Grade: 79

Due Date (R, 95 minutes) - Disappointing road comedy from Todd Phillips stars Robert Downey Jr. as an expectant father trying to get home from a business trip while improbably impaired by a hapless stoner (Zach Galifianakis). Like a cruder, less funny Planes, Trains & Automobiles. With Michelle Monaghan and Jamie Foxx.Grade: 77

For Colored Girls (R, 133 minutes) - Tyler Perry’s reconfiguration of the Ntozake Shange’s 1975 stage play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf is a weirdly inert (though occasionally cringe-inducing) exercise in male-bashing that is redeemed to a great extent by some genuinely fine performances from Kimberly Elise, Thandie Newton, Phylicia Rashad, Loretta Devine and yes, even Janet Jackson. It’s a failed experiment and Perry’s best work to date. Grade: 84

Get Low (PG-13, 104 minutes) - Robert Duvall’s thespian grandstanding unbalances what otherwise is a delicate, sweetly comic movie about a Depressionera hermit determined to attend his own funeral - the movie teases some mortality and regret, sinking it with his flinty gravitas and careful inarticularities. He wears us out as the predictably cantankerous Felix, who would have been more compelling had he turned out to be the violent monster he was rumored to be. While we can’t give Felix’s secret shame away here, it’snot hard to figure out that it’s really not that shameful, and maybe even kind of romantic . Grade: 87

Philip Martin is blogging daily with reviews of movies, TV, music and more at Blood, Dirt & Angels.

Kings of Pastry (Not rated, 84 minutes) - Another improbably fascinating documentary from the venerable team of D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hedegus. This one follows Chicago-based chef Jacquy Pfeiffer as he journeys to his native France to compete in the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition - and to try to earn the coveted M.O.F. (“Best Craftsman in France”) collar. Grade: 88

The Last Unicorn (G, 92 minutes) - “Classic” animated musical fantasy from 1982 follows a lonely mythical creature (voice of Mia Farrow) as she searches for others of her kind. While one assumes it’s a movie made by older drug users for younger ones, it has it moments, and Jeff Bridges and Angela Lansbury in the supporting vocal cast. Grade: 85

Megamind (PG, 95 minutes) - Underwhelming animated superhero tale posits Will Ferrell as the voice of the titular villain, whose life is divorced of meaning after he accidentally vanquishes his nemesis, Metro Man (Brad Pitt). With a voice cast that includes Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and Ben Stiller. Grade: 82

Mesrine: Killer Instinct (R, 113 minutes) - Part one of Jean-Francois Richet’s twopart, epic account of the life of French gangster Jacques Mesrine stars a preternaturally arresting Vincent Cassel as the charismatic killer (who, like Keith Richards, was once arrested in Arkansas, though the movie transposes the event to Arizona). One ofthe best movies not to make it to state cinemas in recent years. With Ludivine Sagnier, Cecile De France and Gerard Depardieu. Grade: 88 More DVD reviews online at

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MovieStyle, Pages 35 on 02/25/2011

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