Abra-Cadabra

We’re awfully British this week-- a huge stack of films from across the pond. The one drumming up the most excitement is The Prestige, the newest from Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins), a story of two warring magicians played by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. The native Australian Jackman is also lending his voice to the Aardman's (Wallace and Gromit) first computer animated feature, Flushed Away, where he plays an upper class mouse struggling in Ratropolis, in the sewers. Maggie Smith (Gosford Park, Ladies in Lavender) and Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean, Blackadder are together in Keeping Mum, a tale of a dysfunctional family and their new housekeeper, who begins to solve their problems like a much darker Mary Poppins. Wilderness is about juvenile delinquents sent off to an isolated British island, where the situation crosses Battle Royale and No Escape. There are also two new films starring Robson Green (Wire in the Blood, Reckless): In The Last Musketeer, Green is an ex-con, taking refuge teaching fencing at a private school; Take Me Now is a tale of murder, sex, and deception which leaves questions of real truths in the end.

Leaving England, there a a few new comedies on the wall. The new political comedy, Man of the Year stars Robin Williams as a Daily Show type celebrity who gets elected president by questionable methods. Christopher Guest Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show) leaves behind his mockumentary format to make For Your Consideration a straight-ahead comedy about Hollywood, stardom, and Oscar-buzz. A comedy of a different sort is Night of the Living Dorks, about high school losers who suddenly find themselves dead, strong, and somehow popular.

Night Owls of Coventry is a smaller film about a deli owner in the 70's who has to change with the times. Robert Downey Jr. stars in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, a coming-of-age drama about a boy growing up in New York, whose life has been saved by "saints." Henry Jaglom's Going Shopping is the story of a clothing designer's wild Mother's Day weekend, a sister film to 1990's Eating. The sequel to 2003's independent sation, Open Water 2: Adrift tackles another angle of oft-repeated water danger, and finally, Crossover is the story of a talented basketball player using his sports scholarship to become a doctor.

In TV news, the second season of Duchess of Duke Street is new this week, and Penn & Teller's B.S! is up to season #4.