UglyDolls (Rated PG)
Big-eyed, snaggle-tooth “ugly dolls” are central characters in this animated production celebrating inner beauty. Kelly Clarkson leads the cast as Moxy, an empathetic, enthusiastic ugly doll. Nick Jonas portrays a “perfect doll”—manufactured with standardized good looks. He teaches other perfect dolls to become cookie-cutter-perfect children’s dolls. UglyDolls recalls Monsters, Inc. However, unlike that film, this one’s musical aspirations outweigh those of its plot. Clarkson, Jonas, Pitbull and several others contributed original songs that are being released by Atlantic Records. Let the cross-promotional marketing begin! (L.M.)
The Intruder (Rated PG-13)
Having spent his entire life in one Napa Valley home, widower Charlie Peck (Dennis Quaid) states he’s happy to sell the house to young marrieds, Scott and Annie Russell (Michael Ealy and Meagan Good). Once the sale in complete, Peck doesn’t follow through on his plans to move to Florida. Instead, he repeatedly shows up at his old home, where he takes an unnatural interest in its condition—and in Annie. Having failed to persuade Peck to leave them alone, Scott beefs up the home’s security. But Peck, whose great grandfather built the house, knows all its secrets and, apparently, all of Scott and Annie’s secrets as well. It’s been a while since Quaid starred in a major film, so it’s a great time for him to play against type as the villain. (Lisa Miller)
Long Shot (Rated R)
When classy U.S. presidential candidate Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) runs into sloppy journalist Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen), her wheels start turning. Field was 13-year-old Fred’s babysitter and now thinks he might help her public image by assisting her in being a more likable candidate. Soon enough, the backwards baseball cap, windbreaker-wearing Fred is virtually Field’s shadow. His public outbursts may be a disaster, but privately, he wins her affections. With opinion polls showing the public wouldn’t approve of Field dating a rumpled, penniless writer, the question becomes, will she, or won’t she? I wouldn’t vote for an on-screen romance between Theron and Rogen, but fortunately, it’s also hilarious. (L.M.)
Movie Collectable Show
Dale Kuntz has long been Milwaukee’ genial advocate of classic Hollywood. If Ted Turner had gotten wind of him, this charmingly garrulous gentleman might have been auditioned as a host on TCM; but instead, Kuntz has remained a local phenomenon. Twice a year, Kuntz hosts a Movie Collectable Show, featuring dealers from the Midwest peddling movie posters, press kits, stills, lobby cards, DVDs and assorted movie industry memorabilia. Admission is $3. (David Luhrssen)
10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday, May 5, at Burnham Bowl Hall, 6016 W. Burnham St.
Zen Film Festival
It all started with Robert Pirsig’s 1974 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a book that inspired many Americans to look at the objects around them and the world they move through in different ways. Surely, Pirsig is in the DNA of UW-Milwaukee’s “Zen and the Art of Filmmaking”—a class dedicated to rethinking how films are made and to pushing the limits of creativity and ideas. For the past 10 years, short films produced by students in that class have been shown in a mini-festival. This year’s offerings include a love story involving puppets, a crazed clown determined to throw pies in the faces of the innocent, and much more. (D.L.)
7 p.m., Tuesday, May 7, at UWM Union Cinema, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd. Admission (and pizza!) is free.
