I’m So Excited R
A disabled airplane circling for hours, unable to land, has solid potential for drama or comedy. Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s I’m So Excited opts for the latter but delivers little as its wacky, mostly farcical characters grapple with each other and assorted crises on the ground. Many sequences recall the swishy camp of ’70s-era gay comedy movies and seem oddly out of time and out of tune. Perhaps much of the intended humor is lost in translation. (David Luhrssen)
The To-Do List R
Set in Boise, Idaho, in 1993, Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza) is a newly graduated high school valedictorian. While pondering her upcoming freshman year at Georgetown University, virginal Brandy makes a to-do list that includes becoming sexually experienced before college. She does her homework in typical overachiever fashion, endeavoring to climb the sexual ladder one rung at a time with an assortment of locals while saving her actual deflowering for hunky Rusty, who barely knows she’s alive. Writer-director Maggie Carey has based the film on her own efforts to empower her sexuality, but the film takes many gross-out turns along the way. (Lisa Miller)
The Wolverine PG-13
Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is a bitter, mountain-dwelling hermit when he’s approached by Yukio (Rila Fukushima) bearing a message from Lord Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi). If Logan will come with her to Japan, Lord Yashida will give Logan back his mortality. Tired and grieving over those he has lost, Logan makes the trip and accepts Yashida’s offer. However, once mortal again, Logan falls for Yashida’s granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) who has been targeted by her own crime-boss father (Hiroyuki Sanada), his yakuza henchmen, a mysterious Ninja army and slinky mutant Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova). Aesthetically pleasing locations and artful cinematography make it all go down easily. Martial arts action adds a new dimension, but the film’s post-production 3D is surprisingly flat. (L.M.)