Bloglander

THE HUMAN TRACE
“In the lonesome town of Solace, an evil is waiting.” And that's why Kyle Fishburn is sent undercover to Solace, a small town with a big body count. He stays at a B&B and befriends the owner, an obsessive-compulsive whose town knowledge proves invaluable. Kyle learns the dirt, lies and secrets of the suspects and their victims — and discovers a frightening twist to Solace's secrets. Directed by Jason Satterlund of the Pacific Northwest-based Big Puddle Films. At Magic Lantern (JO) Not Rated

JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN
Rowan Atkinson reprises his role as dysfunctional and inept British Intelligence agent Johnny English. After his last disastrous mission, he has disappeared to a remote region of Asia as penance. His chance for redemption comes when MI7 calls on him to stop a group of international assassins before they kill the Chinese premier and cause global chaos. For Johnny English, disaster may be an option, but failure never is. (LZ) Rated PG

THE MIGHTY MACS
It’s 1971 and major universities across the country are gearing up for the first national championship in women’s basketball. The nuns who run Immaculata College, a tiny all-women's Catholic college in Philadelphia, are more concerned with suppressing the students’ hormones than turning them into winning athletes, but new coach Cathy Rush has high hopes for the Mighty Macs. This is Hoosiers Title 9 — the true story of an unconventional woman who led her rag-tag team further than anyone ever expected. (LZ) Rated G

THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER
It's the last weekend of summer, and the Detroit area is teeming with, among other things, four young people in search of love and adventure over their last weekend of summer. Maggie, Rob, Claudia and Scott as they seek the iconic teenage experience. They instead discover the quiet moments that will later become the part of their youth they view with nostalgia. What can we say? It got good reviews. Directed by David Robert Mitchell. At Magic Lantern (JO) Not Rated

NORMAN
A high school kid who has already lost his mother (car wreck) confronts the prospect of losing his father to cancer by telling people — not just bullies, not just his teachers — he is the one that has cancer. It’s an act he regrets, but can’t get out of. He doesn’t trust the people he should trust — his best friend, his girl friend — to forgive him, so he keeps lying. This is not a conventional Hollywood arc, and Norman is not a particularly lovable character, but this is a film that builds in the mind into something that speaks truths about the way we all shut out the people we should let in. At AMC (LB) Rated R 

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3
As a prequel to the first two films in the Paranormal Activity franchise, the third installment is set in 1988 when sisters Katie and Kristi are young girls. Through the same home footage format that characterized the first two films, the girls find an invisible entity haunting their home. Although it appears friendly, it turns hostile, tormenting them and their family. This is how all the paranormal activity began. (LZ) Rated R

THE THREE MUSKETEERS
Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel about the three elite warriors who serve the King of France in the 17th century is back on the big screen. After discovering an evil conspiracy to overthrow the King, the Musketeers come across the hot-headed young D’Artagnan and take him under their wing. Together, the four embark on a dangerous mission to defeat a beautiful double agent and her villainous employer from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war. Also a play at Gonzaga (see page _). (LZ) Rated PG-13

TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL
Yes, folks, bloody horror and slapstick comedy do mix, as Sam Raimi proved many years ago with Evil Dead 2. But this time some chainsaw-related backwoods kill-the-pretty-college kids storytelling is added to the mix in a reversal of your run-of-the-mill horror film plot. The girl who’s “kidnapped” by the two hillbillies of the title is actually being helped by them. But try convincing her frightened, kinda dumb friends of that. They just want to “rescue” her and kill the “bad guys.” Raucous and sweet and funny and inventively violent. At Magic Lantern (ES) Rated R

THE WAY
An American doctor, Tom (Martin Sheen), treks across Spain and France to finish an ancient pilgrimage known as “The Way of Saint James” that his son died trying to complete. Written and directed by Emilio Estevez (who also the plays Sheen's son in both the movie and in real life). A rookie in the ways of soul-searching, Tom finds other pilgrims along his journey - including a Dutchman, a Canadian and an Irish writer — each searching for answers. At AMC20 (JO) Rated PG-13