Movies

A moon-eyed teen must choose between her vampire lover and her werewolf pal, a decision she faces amid the ever-simmering rivalry between bloodsuckers and lycanthropes. Wait, aren’t we right back where we were last year on this whole “Twilight” thing?

At first, chapter three, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” seems to be a retread of last year’s retread, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

Yet with new director David Slade (best known for the hardcore vampire horror flick “30 Days of Night”) and a stronger story, “Eclipse” manages to do what its dreadfully dumb predecessors could not: It almost makes believers out of those of us who don’t much care whether Kristen Stewart’s Bella Swan chooses vampire stud Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) or werewolf hunk Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).

Almost. The trouble is, while “Eclipse” might not be dreadfully dumb, it’s still pretty dumb.

By MAUREEN SIMPSON • Special to the Guide

When a movie’s main character vehemently vows to allow “no love making or sparking” on a secluded Cape Cod beach, it’s a safe bet he’s on board a romantic comedy.

But instead of offering romance in the modern, crude one-night stand variety of “Knocked Up,” the throwback “The Lightkeepers” returns to a time when relationships still had Jane Austen-esque charm and sensibility.

Starring Academy Award-winner Richard Dreyfuss and Golden Globe nominee Blythe Danner, “The Lightkeepers” is a beach romance set in 1912. Curmudgeon lighthouse keeper Seth Atkins (Dreyfuss) desires to lead a solitary life after walking out on his wife, but finds his lone wolf existence challenged when a mysterious young man calling himself John Brown (Tom Wisdom) washes ashore and wishes to stay.

Starting Feb. 5, Northridge Cinemas on Hilton Head Island will screen the Tim Burton-directed "Alice in Wonderland" in 3-D. It's just one of a flurry of 3-D productions in the works for 2010, including “Shrek Forever After,” “Toy Story 3,” “How To Train Your Dragon,” “Despicable Me” and — really — “Piranha 3-D.”

For times and tickets, call 843-342-3800. Click here for a listing of local theaters.

Movie buffs of all stripes will find something of interest in this year’s Beaufort International Film Festival, which runs Feb. 18-21 and features 20 films selected by local judges from the 200 entries submitted from 24 countries (including "The Deadbeat," pictured at right).

The festival, now in its fourth year, is a production of the Beaufort Film Society, which was founded by Ron Tucker and other local film aficionados.

Tucker said he started the society after his retirement from the Marine Corps in 1992, when he fell into film location management and scouting. That interest led him to launch Sandbar Productions.

By JEFF VRABEL • 843-706-8140

‘Avatar” is lame. You know it, I know it, portions of James Cameron’s animatronic exoskeleton know it. By contrast, though, and in the interest of objectivity, here is an incomplete list of people who seemingly don’t know it: billions of moviegoers all over the planet (ours), the lucrative international market and the important movie-industry people who will spend the better part of the next two months passing expensive awards around crowds of themselves.

Whatever. I am no stranger to standing alone when it comes to the hating of highly popular movies — seriously, two rum-and-cokes and one mention of “Forrest Gump” and I am not responsible for whatever happens to your carpet — so let me take this opportunity to start the local post-Golden Globes pre-Oscars “Avatar” backlash.

You would think that a half-billion dollars could buy you a halfway decent screenplay. But as James Cameron proves in “Avatar,” his first film since the Oscar-winning “Titantic” (1997) and reportedly the most expensive movie ever made, that isn’t necessarily the case.

All the hype about “Precious” (let’s drop the rest of its clunky title) makes one wonder how any film could live up to it. After being anointed as a Sundance, Cannes and Toronto film festival event, embraced by critics and adopted by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, this tiny movie with a heart as big as its young hero can’t be that good. Can it?

Yes, it is.

As you might guess by the title, “The Princess and the Frog” is a fairly familiar story. And because this animated musical comes from Walt Disney Pictures, you can expect talking-animal sidekicks, a perilous journey, a budding romance and a moral to the tale.

‘Invictus” is a sports film that is more about what’s happening in the stands than on the playing field.

It’s South Africa in 1990 and change — as seen in the first scene of the film — is literally coming down the street. After 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) has been released.

For those weary of the cuddly Robert De Niro, the gentle uplift of his latest film, “Everybody’s Fine,” probably isn’t going to be tonic for the soul. But midway through the movie, there is a flash of the old, unpredictable and delightfully unmanageable De Niro when his character, feeling unappreciated by his grown children, goes off on a subway panhandler for a perceived breach of etiquette.