MOVIES
Review | Brüno (R) ***
It's funny how some people just never learn
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What's coming out this week
BIG SCREEN OPENING WEDNESDAY Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (PG) -- Although the story supposedly grows darker in the sixth installment of the boy wizard's adventures, this is the first Potter picture to receive a PG rating since 2004's Prisoner of Azkaban, so it can't be that dark. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint return to continue the battle against the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), who gets uglier every time we see him.
So you think you're a natural-born filmmaker who was put on this earth to direct movies? Join the club, pal. With the advent of cheap cameras, the Internet and online video-sharing sites like YouTube and BitTorrent, practically everybody is an aspiring Spielberg or Fellini these days.
Speaking on a commentary track for his film Knowing (Summit Entertainment, $27 DVD, $35 Blu-ray), director Alex Proyas (Dark City; I, Robot) says his favorite commentary track is one featuring a conversation between Martin Scorsese and the late Michael Powell. (The DVD, which he never names, is Criterion Collection's Black Narcissus.)
BIG SCREEN I Love You, Beth Cooper (PG-13) -- Chris (Home Alone) Columbus returns to the director's chair for the first time since 2005's Rent for this John Hughes-ian comedy about a gigantic nerd (Paul Rust) who declares his love for the school hottie (Hayden Panettiere) during his graduation speech.
It was months between Jessie Cave's first open-call audition and finding out that she had nabbed the part of Lavender Brown, Hermione's smitten roommate-turned-romantic competition in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.