NOW PLAYING
 
"A CHRISTMAS CAROL" (PG) Two stars. Voices of Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman. An animated retelling of the classic Charles Dickens novel. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace
 
"THE BOX" (PG-13) Not reviewed. Cameron Diaz, James Marsden. A box arrives on the doorstep of a married couple who know that opening it will grant them a million dollars and kill someone they don't know. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace
 
"THE FOURTH KIND" (PG-13) One star. Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas. Fact-based thriller about unexplained disappearances in Alaska. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace
 
"THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS" (R) Two-and-a-half stars. George Clooney, Ewan McGregor. An Army battalion employs paranormal powers in their missions. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6

CONTINUING
 
"AMELIA" (PG) Two stars. Hilary Swank, Richard Gere. A look at the life of Amelia Earhart. Ormond 12, Beacon 12
 
"ASTRO BOY" (PG) Two stars. Voices of Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage. A scientist creates a young robot with incredible powers. Marketplace



"CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT" (PG-13) One-and-a-half stars. John C. Reilly, Chris Massoglia. A young boy meets a man at a freak show who turns out to be a vampire. Ormond 12, Beacon 12, Marketplace

"COUPLES RETREAT" (PG-13) One-and-a-half stars. Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman. Four couples settle into an island resort for a vacation. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Beacon 12, Marketplace

"LAW ABIDING CITIZEN" (R) One star. Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler. A man decides to take justice into his own hands. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Beacon 12, Marketplace

"MICHAEL JACKSON'S THIS IS IT" (PG) Three-and-a-half stars. Compilation of interviews, rehearsals and backstage footage of the King of Pop as he prepared for his London tour. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace

"PARANORMAL ACTIVITY" (R) Not reviewed. Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat. A couple is disturbed by a nightly demonic presence. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace

"SAW VI" (R) Not reviewed. Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor. Jigsaw is at it again in the next installment of the horror franchise. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Marketplace

"WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE" (PG) Three stars. Voices of James Gandolfini, Forest Whitaker. Adaptation of classic story of a disobedient boy who imagines a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown him as their ruler. Ormond 12, Beacon 12, Marketplace

 

By JAKE COYLE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lionel Barrymore. Alastair Sim. Laurence Olivier. Albert Finney. George C. Scott. Bill Murray. Michael Caine. Mr. Magoo. Scrooge McDuck.

Of the many to play Ebenezer Scrooge, Jim Carrey now adds his name, starring in Disney's new 3-D animation version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." The appeal of the part is clear:

But the allure of Scrooge alone wasn't enough for Carrey. In this latest incarnation of Dickens' Christmas fable, Carrey plays not only the penny-pinching miser, young and old, but also the three ghosts that visit him: the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

When Scrooge breaks into a sudden jig or the Ghost of Christmas Past -- rendered here (faithfully to the book) as a kind of flickering candle -- gives a comic twitch, it's easy to recognize the actor behind the animation.

But on the whole, the film feels suffocated by its design, and the liveliness of Carrey and the rest of the cast (including Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Cary Elwes) struggles to shine through.

For a distinctly modern approach, director Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump," "Cast Away") opted to use performance-capture animation, having the actors movements and expressions transferred from live-action to animation. Zemeckis has previously employed the technique in "The Polar Express" and "Beowulf."

Unfortunately, the characters come across oddly inanimate. Many have vacant, almost ghostly eyes and closer resemble the figures that might be used in an architect's model.

It's a shame, too, because the architecture of this "Christmas Carol" is at times striking. The mid-19th century London of Dickens' novella is painted with care, animated to be dramatically lit by candlelight. Alan Silvestri's bombastic score is also stirring.

Film adaptations of "A Christmas Carol" are nearly annual events. That's not a bad thing, necessarily. Dickens' story is about as sturdy a one as we've got -- it would be nearly impossible to mar what might be the finest ghost story this side of "Hamlet."

But it's unfortunate that this should be the 2009 edition. The time, not just the season, is ripe for "A Christmas Carol." It is, of course, about a greedy industrial capitalist of the 1800s (Scrooge recalls his deceased partner, Jacob Marley, as "a good man of business") who learns to see the value of family and charity.

How ever could such a story be relevant today?

By DAVID GERMAIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

A fun tone is undermined by disjointed storytelling in George Clooney's "The Men Who Stare at Goats," and it all starts with the disclaimer that opens the movie: "More of this is true than what you might imagine."
     
This wry comment serves as a nod and a wink from the filmmakers, a license to do what they will to Jon Ronson's amusing nonfiction account of the U.S. military's hush-hush research into psychic warfare and espionage.
     
What Clooney's producing partner, first-time director Grant Heslov, and his colleagues come up with is a hit-and-miss fictional narrative on which to string some of the brightest anecdotes Ronson uncovered about efforts to create warrior monks who try to walk through walls or glare animals to death.
     
The priceless opening scene -- recreating the start of Ronson's book as a general attempts to displace his molecules and run through his office wall -- promises a Catch-22 or Strangelove-style satire.
     
But the book is a loosely connected journey from one absurdity to the next, sprouting offshoots and asides, great stand-alone burlesques and dramas that don't lend themselves to a cohesive film.
     
The dramatic spine developed by screenwriter Peter Straughan jettisons much of the book's darkest and most-compelling moments -- a CIA murder plot, psychic warfare links to the Branch Davidians and the Heaven's Gate cult suicides -- in favor of a gag-laden jaunt stretching from Vietnam through the war on terror.
     
Delivered with goofy gusto by Clooney and co-stars Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey, "Goats" is fitful, undemanding, and ultimately lightweight humor.
     
Something of a stand-in for Ronson, McGregor's Bob Wilton is a reporter who stumbles onto the story of the New Earth Army, founded by Vietnam vet Bill Django (Bridges), the pioneer of New Age techniques meant to give his troops a spiritual edge and superpowers to win over enemies -- or wipe them out.
     
Django's prize pupil is Lyn Cassady (Clooney), whom Wilton accompanies through a series of mishaps on a mission in Iraq.
     
Inspired by real people Ronson encountered, Cassady and Django have the scent of authenticity about them. Not so with Wilton and his awkward, ill-defined motivations for uncovering the story, or with Spacey's Larry Hooper, a psychic rival to Cassady who's a stiff contrivance meant to add tension.
     
The fictional plot line isn't terribly interesting, though it's nicely ornamented by little farces lifted from the book -- a guy convinced that the Loch Ness monster is the ghost of a dinosaur, another who advises that Angela Lansbury somehow knows the whereabouts of Manuel Noriega (it was Kristy McNichol in the book, but same chuckle nonetheless).
     
The actors carry baggage that creates some unfortunate distractions. Clooney at times seems like a cross between his Desert Storm operator from "Three Kings" and his looney-tunes Odysseus from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Django plays a bit like Bridges' Dude from "The Big Lebowski" had he joined the Marines.
     
McGregor's "Star Wars" connection proves jarring as the film incorporates Ronson's references to psychic warriors as Jedi knights. It's cute once, but the repeated Jedi-speak in the presence of Obi-Wan himself grows tiresome.
     
In fits and starts, director Heslov captures a lot of the drolly incredulous spirit of the book. It's just too bad the dots don't connect better.

 

NOW PLAYING
 
"AMELIA" (PG) Two stars. Hilary Swank, Richard Gere. A look at the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart. Ormond 12, Beacon 12

CONTINUING
 
"ASTRO BOY" (PG) Two stars. Voices of Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage. A scientist creates a young robot with incredible powers in the image of the son he lost. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Beacon 12, Marketplace

"CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT" (PG-13) One and a half stars. John C. Reilly, Chris Massoglia. A young boy meets a man at a freak show who turns out to be a vampire. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace

"CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS" (PG) Not reviewed. Voices of Anna Faris, Neil Patrick Harris. Inspired by the beloved children's book, the film focuses on a town where food falls from the sky. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Beacon 12

"COUPLES RETREAT" (PG-13) One and a half stars. Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman. Four couples settle into an island resort for a vacation. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace

"LAW ABIDING CITIZEN" (R) One Star. Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler. A man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets his family's killers free. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Suare 6, Marketplace



"MICHAEL JACKSON'S THIS IS IT" (PG) Three and a half stars. Compilation of interviews, rehearsals and backstage footage of the King of Pop as he prepared for his London tour. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace

"PARANORMAL ACTIVITY" (R) Not reviewed. Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat. A couple is disturbed by a nightly demonic presence. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace

"SAW VI" (R) Not reviewed. Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor. Jigsaw is at it again in the next installment of the horror franchise. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace

"THE STEPFATHER" (PG-13) Not reviewed. Penn Badgley, Dylan Walsh. A boy returns home from military school to discover his mom has a new man in her life. Terror ensues. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Marketplace

"WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE" (PG) Three stars. Voices of James Gandolfini, Forest Whitaker. Adaptation of classic story of a disobedient boy who imagines a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown him as their ruler. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace

"ZOMBIELAND" (R) Three stars. Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg. Two men find a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Beacon 12   

By DAVID GERMAIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
     
Considering the risks Amelia Earhart took, losing her life in the call of aviation, Hilary Swank and director Mira Nair don't put much on the line in their film biography "Amelia."
     
Swank and Nair play it safe to the point of benumbing this woman's life, leaving Earhart as remote and muted as she is in the black-and-white photos and news footage of the aviator included at the film's end.
     
"Amelia" is a biopic on autopilot. We get the facts of Earhart's pioneering achievements, her marriage to her promoter (Richard Gere), her fling with a fellow pilot (Ewan McGregor). And we get pretty pictures of airplanes in flight.
     
But this dowdy movie rarely embodies Earhart's passions, whether for flying or for the men in her life. Swank's Earhart repeatedly tells people how she has to fly or die. Yet when she's in the air, she's as stiff and closed-off as a passenger stuck in a middle coach seat on a trans-Atlantic flight.
     
Much of the fault lies in the screenplay by Ron Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan, a script remarkably based on not one, but two Earhart biographies. That should have given the filmmakers a surfeit of material.
     
Instead, "Amelia" plays like a Cliffs Notes summation of Earhart's life, the dialogue ranging from languid to soporific, the majesty of her moments in flight trivialized by empty voice-overs from Swank -- "Flying lets me move in three dimensions," "Who wants a life imprisoned in safety?"
     
In stumbling, choppy fashion, the movie intercuts between Earhart's doomed last flight around the world in 1937 and the achievements leading up to it over the previous decade.
     
Lovely aerial images, lush landscapes and rich sets and costumes are the film's lone strengths. In almost every other regard, "Amelia" veers off course.
     
All the other components for an engaging chronicle are there. A grand life that ends in tragedy and epic mystery. Period drama that offers the chance to craft glorious images and play puppetmaster for fascinating characters. A filmmaker in Nair ("Monsoon Wedding," "Mississippi Masala") who has a keen feel for bold women and zestful lives.
     
Then there's Swank, whose career is perplexing. Her breakthrough role with 1999's "Boys Don't Cry" earned her the best-actress Academy Award, but it looked like a fluke given limp followups like "The Core" and "The Affair of the Necklace."
     
Then she won her second Oscar for 2004's "Million Dollar Baby," yet lapsed back to more dull choices with "Freedom Writers" and "P.S. I Love You."
     
As Earhart, Swank exposes what could be her prime limitation: She doesn't have much range. Swank can tear up the screen in raw street drama such as her two Oscar winners. She's miserably out of her skin as the stately Earhart, though -- drab, distant, utterly uninvolving, despite the striking physical resemblance she manages to bear with the flyer.
     
"Amelia" flirts with potentially interesting aspects of Earhart's story -- a torn conscience over her personal success, the frivolity endured as a spokesmodel for luggage and cameras to help finance her flying pursuits.
 
Sadly, these moments are tossed in to no purpose, like stuffy airport layovers in really interesting destinations you wish you had the time to go out and explore.
 

By YVONNE VILLARREAL
LOS ANGELES TIMES
    
Just a few weeks ago, Katie Featherston was balancing plates brimming with spaghetti and baked ravioli, working as a waitress at a local Buca di Beppo restaurant. Micah Sloat was a struggling actor/computer programmer living in North Hollywood. Now, they're watching the micro-budget horror movie they filmed three years ago develop into a full-blown phenomenon.
     
The two play the young couple haunted by a spectral force in the breakout hit "Paranormal Activity." The suspenseful supernatural thriller, reminiscent of "The Blair Witch Project," has become one of the year's biggest success stories. Made for $15,000, "Paranormal" was the No. 1 movie at the box office this weekend, taking in about $22 million, and has earned an astounding $62.5 million since its initial limited release in late September.
     
Featherston and Sloat? They're just as surprised as everyone else.
     
"When the movie opened, we hid behind a tree across the street from the ArcLight (theater) in Hollywood," Featherston, 27, said as she sat in a booth at Buca di Beppo, where she was frequently interrupted by former co-workers. "The line was huge. I couldn't believe it. It's something you hope for but never, ever expect will happen. I wanted to run over and say, 'Hey, I'm in that!' ... but we couldn't."
     
In an attempt to keep the mystery surrounding the movie's story intact, the studio and the film's director, Oren Peli, an Israeli-born video game designer with no formal film training, kept the two actors relatively secluded -- they've only recently started to do interviews with media.
     
The tactic seems to have worked. After the movie's nationwide release, the startling ending to the film provoked a spike in Internet searches by people apparently determined to learn if the facts as presented were true.
     
It's all been a big leap for Sloat. The 28-year-old, who grew up in Westport, Conn., and moved to Los Angeles in 2005 to pursue acting, was on the verge of ditching the unstable career and giving up on his dream.
     
Featherston, a Texas native, graduated from Southern Methodist University and also moved to Los Angeles in 2005.
   
When the two auditioned for the spookfest in 2006, they weren't expecting to be part of a box-office record breaker. There wasn't even a script.
     
"I remember being in the waiting room and these girls would just kind of walk out shaking their head," Featherston said. "I walked into the room and (Peli) said, 'Why do you think your house is haunted?' Just like that. Boom! So I just threw myself into the character."
     
And that's exactly what Peli was searching for in casting the characters who would later be called Katie and Micah (yes, he used their actual names).
     
"The whole point is for it to feel natural," Peli said in a recent phone interview. "I didn't want actors who looked like they were acting. I wanted it to feel real, so I didn't want there to be a script. I wanted the audience to think they were watching real life. If you're looking at the footage of their audition and see the way they interact -- if you didn't know any better -- you'd think you were looking at real documentary footage of a couple."
     
It's true. In person, they often finish each other's sentences. They playfully tease one another. Compliments are exchanged. But despite the good-natured flirtations, they insist they're not a couple, although Sloat is quick to point out that Featherston asked him for his number back when they auditioned together.
 
"I was not trying to hit on him," Featherston interjects. "I was new in town and we had so much fun together. Why wouldn't I want us to be friends and hang out? And I thought if we got the part, it would be nice if we got along because it was going to be intense."
 
Filming took place in 2006 at Peli's San Diego home over a span of seven days -- a problem for Sloat, who was enrolled in music school at the time (he even wrote original music that's included in the film).
     
The actors, who were each paid $500 for their roles, often put in 14- to 18-hour days. The little sleep they managed to squeeze in took place in the "haunted" house.
 
Featherston slept in the infamous bed seen in all the promotional screen shots of the film, while Sloat dozed off in one of the guest rooms.
     
"We hardly saw the outside world," Featherston joked. "We just filmed all the time. I couldn't even tell you what San Diego is like. But the exhaustion helped make our characters more believable -- I think."
     
Believable acting aside, Sloat said, it's the universal primal fear that makes this thriller so spine-tingling.
     
"Being scared at night is something we can all relate to," Sloat said. "As children, we all had those fears. Everyone knows what it's like to be scared of what's lurking behind the closet. I think as we age, those kind of unconscious fears recede into the background, but they're still there. And when they reappear in your home -- in your room -- it's not something that you can just ignore. I think that's why it's done so well."
 
Sloat and Featherston -- who look much like they did three years ago (although on this day Featherston is a bit more glam with the help of an on-site makeup artist) -- don't seem fazed by the frenzy. They don't mind it either.
     
Featherston quit waitressing. Sloat hinted he's leaving the tech industry. "Auditions are coming at us like bullets," Sloat said. "It's better than winning all the lotteries at once."
 

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Watching "Michael Jackson's This Is It" will have fans grieving once again, but this time, it won't only be for the fallen King of Pop, but for what we lost -- a brilliant entertainer who gave every inch of his body and soul for what might have been one of the most spectacular comebacks of all time.
    
Jackson never got to complete that comeback, dying days before his London concerts were to begin in July, but "This Is It," culled from hundreds of hours of rehearsal footage for those shows, does it for him. Even though it's been well edited, the amazing performances Jackson delivers in this film are not a result of camera magic, but Jackson's own.
     
When Jackson announced his "This Is It" concerts earlier this year, many wondered whether Jackson had any magic left at all. Besides his tattered reputation, he was rumored to be in frail health and hadn't performed a major concert in almost a decade. There was well-deserved skepticism about whether Jackson had the vocal and physical agility to stage the kind of concerts that wowed fans in his prime two decades earlier.
     
"This Is It" gives both answers an emphatic yes. Even though Jackson's looks -- with his weirdly delicate face and his stick-thin frame -- still makes one squirm with discomfort, once he starts to perform, that discomfort gives way to amazement. At 50, Jackson was still an amazingly gifted dancer with moves that leave your mouth agape. Though we only see him do the moonwalk once, and just fleetingly, his stop-on-a-dime spins, deft footwork and body jerks recall the Jackson the world fell in love with 25 years earlier with "Thriller."
     
And Jackson's voice still dazzles -- even when he's trying to play it down.
     
"I'm trying to conserve my voice," Jackson says at one point -- then delivers a vocal that is spine-tingling -- and these are just run-throughs, not the actual show.
     
Fans never get to see what would have been the "This Is It" concert -- full dress rehearsals weren't due to happen until the show went overseas for final rehearsals. Instead, the movie takes from segments of taped rehearsals, and also weaves in film segments Jackson planned for the concert to give at the very least an idea of how the concert might have looked.
     
A graveyard scene meant to be in 3-D was planned for Jackson's performance of "Thriller," and a computer-animated dancing army would have accompanied Jackson on screen for a militaristic version "They Don't Care About Us." Jackson kept much of the same moves from his classic "The Way You Make Me Feel" video -- including the floor humping -- as well as the groundbreaking choreography from his "Beat It" clip.
     
But whether it was through new visuals and different musical arrangements, he appeared to be breathing new life into his well-worn catalog, promising fans a show that would have taken Jackson and his fans to new heights. Jackson is gentle but authoritative as he demands perfection from his crew, whether it's gently taking the audio crew to task for making his earpiece too loud or attempting to elicit a grand performance from his young star guitarist.
     
"This is your time to shine," he says in that famously soft soprano voice before delivering a high wail and challenging her to do the same on her guitar.
     
The film doesn't give viewers much insight into Jackson outside of performance mode -- we only see him rehearsing or hear him talking about music, or the meaning of his songs. Yet the film does give a glimpses into Jackson's personality -- alternatively playful and shy, firm yet understanding, often saying phrases like "with love" after giving a command.
     
There were certainly critics of "This Is It" before its release -- those who wondered whether it would be an exploitative flick, a quick attempt to cash in on his newfound popularity, and those who felt the preparations for the concert contributed to his death.
     
But "This Is It" is a beautifully made, loving tribute that gives Michael Jackson what he so desperately wanted -- affirmation that he indeed was the greatest entertainer of our time.

By AUDREY PARENTE
STAFF WRITER

I screamed.
    
A machete blade sliced my neck. I bled to death right there against a tree in New Smyrna Beach.
     
I was killed by a solar-powered Astro-Zombie and lived to tell about it.
     
For any B-horror-movie fan, the original 1968 version of "The Astro-Zombies" -- directed by maverick Hollywood filmmaker Ted V. Mikels and starring John Carradine -- is one of those beloved re-watchable movies to hate.
     
The original revolved around a rocket-scientist-gone-bonkers (Carradine) who is fired from a space agency project to build a remote-controlled being. So Carradine builds his own creature, from dead body parts, including a criminal's brain.
     
The creature goes on a killing spree. The plot get confusing when evildoers want the project for their own purposes. But, like any good zombie tale, it's really all about the gore.
     


A follow-up to Mikels' escapade, "Mark of the Astro-Zombies" (2002, straight to video) kept the cheesy scare character alive and killing.
     
Now we are in for Mikel's "Astro-Zombies M3: Cloned," and I had a feature role -- if it doesn't end up on the cutting room floor -- among dozens of victims mutilated on closed sets.
     
OK, the blood was fake and no serious harm came to folks or animals in scenes filmed at Athens Theatre, DeLand, and wooded areas in Ormond Beach and New Smyrna Beach. Other segments were filmed in Las Vegas and San Francisco. Mikels is in the process of doing final edits.
     
"I was very surprised at the level of professionalism, which was much higher than I expected," said Carole Ferrill, Florida Motion Picture & Television Association state president, who was on set.
     
Nearly 20 notorious Mikels films, including "The Corpse Grinders" and "The Doll Squad," make the producer/director/writer/actor's 50-plus-year career one of the most prolific in the world of low-budget horror cinema.
     
"The main reason for doing 'Astro-Zombies M3: Cloned' is that there seemed to be enormous international interest," Mikels said in a phone interview. People from other countries kept contacting him, hoping to be involved in a sequel. "For some reason or another, there's a fascination," he said.
     
Mikels chose local director Gary Lester, 24, of Daytona Beach, an award-winning producer of short films, with his dad Richard, to do extra scenes after seeing their film "Safe Haven/The Warsaw Zoo," about a zookeeper who hid 300 Jewish men during World War II.
     
"Astro-Zombies was really a trial for Gary to see what he could do," Mikels said. "They filmed for just two days -- an enormous amount of footage -- much more than I can use. They certainly proved they are extremely capable, dependable and communicative."
     
Gary Lester's filmmaking interest started in fourth grade.
     
"I am actually from Alamogordo, N.M., famous for the first atomic bomb test. Because of the pure white sand there, they use it for movies," Lester said. "My dad worked out there as a park ranger and I got to be on the sets of 'Tank Girl' and Janet Jackson and Boyz II Men videos."
     
Then Lester's family moved to Las Vegas where he "met Jason Voorhees," the character from the "Friday the 13th" slasher series. "That sparked my interest in horror films," Lester said.
     
Finally he ended up in Daytona Beach, in the Atlantic High School chorus, with parts in "Little Shop of Horrors," "Annie" and other plays. He earned on-screen time as a teenager during a night filming for a Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie, "The Flamingo Rising," about a St. Augustine drive-in theater. He took flack at school.
     
"I worked all night, got off about 6 a.m., got a few hours of sleep and then would go to school," said Lester. "Some people didn't believe me, but then I got to bring in the video tape."
     
He received a degree in photography from the University of Central Florida and his student film about Reye's syndrome won best student documentary at a Daytona Beach Film Festival. Later he did documentaries with his dad, who also has a film-and-TV-related background. Then came Mikels' film.
     
"He (Mikels) asked if I would be willing to do some second unit stuff in Florida," Lester said. "There's no way I would pass on an opportunity like that."
     
Footage includes scenes for nods to dyed-in-the-wool Mikels fans, like an elderly woman opening cat food, a human byproduct from "The Corpse Grinders." And Cocoa Beach actress, Melanie Robel, who's been in several low-budget genre films, is on a Doll Squad, which shows up to fight Astro-Zombies.
     
"I am not sure how the plot runs," Robel said in a phone interview. She is in an Internet soap opera set to air in 2010, but said her "Astro-Zombie" scenes were "the most fun I have ever had on set. It was a blast."
     
A 2010 premier at Athens Theater is being planned.

NOW PLAYING

"LAW ABIDING CITIZEN" (R) Not reviewed. Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler. A man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets his family's killers free. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace

"THE STEPFATHER" (PG-13) Not reviewed. Penn Badgley, Dylan Walsh. A boy returns home from military school to discover his mom has a new man in her life. Terror ensues. Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace

"WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE" (PG) Not reviewed. Voices of James Gandolfini, Forest Whitaker. Adaptation of classic story of a disobedient boy who imagines a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown him as their ruler. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace
 
CONTINUING

"9" (PG-13) Three stars. Voices of Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly. A post-apocalyptic nightmare in which all of humanity is threatened. Beacon 12

"CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY" (R) Not reviewed. Michael Moore documentary about the impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans. Ormond 12, Beacon 12

"CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS" (PG) Not reviewed. Voices of Anna Faris, Neil Patrick Harris. Inspired by the beloved children's book, the film focuses on a town where food falls from the sky. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6

"COUPLES RETREAT" (PG-13) Not reviewed. Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman. Four couples settle into a island resort for a vacation. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace

"FAME" (PG) Two-and-a-half stars. Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally. Updated version of the musical which centers on the students of the New York Academy of Performing Arts. Ormond 12, Marketplace

"THE INFORMANT!" (R) Three stars. Matt Damon, Melanie Lynskey. The U.S. government decides to go after a business giant with a price-fixing accusation. Beacon 12, Marketplace

"THE INVENTION OF LYING" (PG-13) Not reviewed. Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner. Comedy set in a world where no one has ever lied, until a writer seizes the opportunity for personal gain. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Beacon 12

"SURROGATES" (PG-13) Two stars. Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames. In the future, a cop is forced to leave his home in order to investigate the murder. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Beacon 12, Marketplace

"TOY STORY/TOY STORY 2" (G) Not reviewed. Voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen. Disney classic comes back in 3-D. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10

"TYLER PERRY'S I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF" (PG-13) Not reviewed. Tyler Perry, Taraji P. Henson. When Madea catches kids looting her home, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Marketplace

"WHIP IT" (PG-13) Three stars. Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden. Indie-rock loving misfit deals with small-town misery through roller derby. Ormond 12, Beacon 12

"ZOMBIELAND" (R) Three stars. Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg. Two men find a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Ormond 12, Ocean Walk Movies 10, Port Orange 6, Beacon 12, Victoria Square 6, Marketplace
 

By MIN LEE

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bryan Singer said Sunday he's interested in making another "X-Men" movie and has discussed the possibility with Twentieth Century Fox.

The American director made "X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United," but passed on the third installment so he could make "Superman Returns." "Rush Hour" director Brett Ratner ended up shooting that film, "X-Men: The Last Stand." South African filmmaker Gavin Hood made another spin-off, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," which was released earlier this year.

"I'm still looking to possibly returning to the 'X-Men' franchise. I've been talking to Fox about it," Singer said at a talk at South Korea's Pusan International Film Festival.

"I love Hugh Jackman. I love the cast," he said, referring to the Australian actor who plays Wolverine.

Singer said he enjoyed making science fiction and fantasy movies because they allowed him to discuss serious issues through entertainment. He said the "X-Men" series, which follows a group of mutants with superpowers who struggle to fit in with humans, is about tolerance and social structures.

He said he likes to "trick audiences into thinking they're seeing fireworks, but they're learning about themselves and listening to what I have to say."

"The excitement about working in science fiction and fantasy is _ the stories, if they are good, are about the human condition," Singer said.

Appearing at a panel discussion with South Korean director Kim Ji-woon, the American director also said he appreciated the creative freedom South Korean filmmakers enjoyed to make the final cut, compared to Hollywood, where directors must negotiate with studio executives.

Hollywood movie budgets are so high that "the risk is too great to leave it in the hands of a filmmaker," he said, adding that he "has a responsibility to help studios feel secure in their investments."

Singer made his name with the 1995 critically acclaimed thriller "The Usual Suspects" but later earned a strong following among comic books fans for his adaptations of popular comic book series.