Sep 10, 2009 6:59 PM

Movies: Kate Beckinsale Goes Ballistic in Whiteout

Following the midweek release of animated sci-fi adventure 9, Kate Beckinsale kicks off the fall movie season Friday by kicking some Antarctic ass in Whiteout.

Current reviews: 9 Fuses Bleak Sci-Fi Story With Brilliant Visuals

Nightmare Nazi Dominates Tarantino’s Glorious Basterds

Gritty Lead Performance Drives District 9‘s Alien Vérité

BasedGreg Rucka and Steve Liebe’s graphic novel, the thriller features Beckinsale (pictured) as a U.S. Marshall who has 72 hours to solve a crime before night falls — for six months.

ning Friday are Soro Row, wboasts a twisted bit of stunt casting with Stars icrrie Fisher as an ax-wielding killer, and Tyler Perry’s new comedyI Ca Bad All By Myself.</>

ied release, courtroom thriller Beyo Reasonable Doubt fes the always-watchable Amber Tamblyn as the girlfriend of a complicated politician (Michael Douglas).

the week: 9</eAed rag dolls battle insectoid robots on a bleak, machine-ruled planet, but the real draw of director Shane Acker’s feature debut is the brooding landscape and <a href=wing details</a> lavd upon the 10-inch-tall burlap action heroes.

e about this week’s theatrical offerings and watch trailers below.

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:</strongckinsale (Undeld) pl.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko. She has three days left on her tour of duty in Antarctica when she stumbles upon a badly beaten corpse. Facing 6 million square miles of ice and six months of darkness at 120 degrees below, Stetko must solve the murder before the last plane leaves for the winter. <st strongp>

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: /video/9-movie-trailer/iframe?videoId=5171b441c2b4c00dd0c204c6&autoplay=false&muted=0&adsDisabled=0&iu=3379/conde.wired/legacy] >

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:</strongcker directs the animated saga centered on a band of “stitchpunk” rag dolls. Given the spark of life by a scientist, they outwit machines that have polluted Earth beyond recognition. Voice cast includes Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly and Martin Landau. Co-produced by Tim Burton, 9</espted by Pamela Pattler (Corpride).<st strongp> <p

e**/strong**=Bleak Sci-Fi Story With Brilliant Visuals</a>

strong=ation Drew Tim Burton to 9</e chpunk’ Story</a>

r> *Reasonable Doubt</a></emd)</strongt

:</strongambly and Michael Douglas star in this courtroom thriller, directed by Peter Hyams (End ays).<st strongp>

r> *Row</a></emd)</strongt

:</strongrs‘ oal leading lady Carrie Fisher stars in this slasher film about sorority sisters who get stalked by a hooded killer after covering up the prank murder of their housemate. <st strongp> <h3

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:</strongctors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Cranm>) seir sci-fi thriller in the near future, where billionaire Ken Castle (played by Michael C. Hall) develops a Slay/em> gaat embeds nanotechnology into the brains of players. The tech allows millions, including online champion Kable (Gerard Butler, 300<), t out their innermost ultraviolent desires. Kable must win his freedom before he can save his wife, a real-life avatar. Amber Valletta, John Leguizamo and Alison Lohman co-star. <st strongp>

r>_/a></em_t

:</strongdge (Beavnd Butt-Head, Office Space) cJustin Bateman as Joel, a flavor-extract exec in charge of a motley crew of misfits. Joel, taking misguided advice from his pot-smoking confidante (Ben Affleck), schemes to hook up his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig) with a gigolo so he can guiltlessly pursue hot new employee Cindy (Mila Kunis). <st strongp

eiew:</strongm>Extr/em>, w/director Mike Judge has crafted a genuinely funny and surprisingly restrained comedy about a small businessman facing a big midlife crisis. The elegantly paced comedy peels back a layer of blue-collar Americana to expose the squirrely characters and half-wit mischief scuttling around underneath the surface. Imagine Woody Allen turning his lens on a suburban factory and you’re getting close to Extr/em>‘s r. — LeWallace<br

/strongc</strong=ge Taps Factory Angst for Flavorful Laughs in Extr/em></a

r>_t Steve</a></em_t

:</strongBullock plays Mary, a socially inept crossword puzzle creator who stalks cable news reporter Steve (Bradley Cooper) after a blind date. DJ Qualls, Thomas Haden co-star. <st strongp>

r>_n II</a></em_t

:</strong and directed by <a href=ie</a>, th0th installment of John Carpenter’s horror franchise picks up where the last one left off. Killer Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) has returned home to sleepy Haddonfield, Illinois, to take care of some unfinished family business. This leads to a trail of terror for heroine Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). <a href=McDowell</a> co-s. <st strongp>

r>_l Destination</a></em_t

:</strongtural gore in 3-D takes center stage as Nick (Bobby Campo) is visited by a horrific premonition that enables his girlfriend Lori (Shantel VanSanten) and her friends to escape a fiery race-car crash only to find that Death is on the march to collect survivors one by one. David R. Ellis (Snakn a Plane , inastination 2) ds. <st strong

r>_oodstock</a></em_t

:</strongr Ang Lee re-teams with writer James Schamus (Hulke Ice Storm, Ride With the Devil) fis comedy with music. Demetri Martin stars as an interior designer visiting upstate New York who gets swept up in the mayhem as half a million hippies descend for three days of love, peace and music at the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. Based on Elliot Tiber’s memoirs, the film includes Paul Dano, Emile Hirsch and Oscar-winner Imelda Staunton. <st strongp>

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: /video/inglourious-basterds-trailer/iframe?videoId=5171b43cc2b4c00dd0c20394&autoplay=false&muted=0&adsDisabled=0&iu=3379/conde.wired/legacy] >

r>_ous Basterds</a></em_t

:</strong Tarantino’s revenge fantasy follows a squad of American Jews in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Their mission: Scalp the enemy. The plot thickens when an icy Gestapo officer (played by Christoph Waltz) learns of the Basterds’ scheme to blow up Hitler in a Parisian movie theater. Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Mélanie Laurent and Diane Kruger star for Tarantino, who based the film loosely on Enzo Castellari’s 1978 action pic Inglus Bastards.<brstrongp

e**/strong**=e Nazi Dominates Tarantino’s Glorious Bast</em></a

</strong=o Names 20 Favorite Films Since Reser Dogs</a

r> _9</a></em_t

:</strongwho landed in Johannesburg, South Africa, 20 years ago have been rounded up by residents as underclass “prawns” and forced to live in the District 9 shantytown. When multinational employee Wikus van der Merwe (played by <a href=Copley</a>) cocts a mysterious virus that alters his DNA, he’s forced to take refuge in the camp. <a href=omkamp</a> dir. <st strongp

e**/strong**=Gritty Lead Performance Drives Dist 9‘s Vérité</a>

strong=ia, Racism Drive Alien Relocation in Dist 9</a</strong=r Jackson Discovered Dist 9 Dir Neill Blomkamp</a> strong=of Dist 9‘s y Alien Realism</a>

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:</strongaestro Hayao Miyazaki tells the tale of a goldfish princess who longs to become human. Complications ensue when a 5-year-old boy falls in love with her. Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The le Mermaid aneased in Japan as Gakeue no Ponyo, timated film, produced by Pixar mogul John Lasseter, includes Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey and Liam Neeson in the voice cast. <st strongp

e**/strong**=rtistry Trumps CGI in Miyazaki’s Ponym></a

r> _Traveler’s Wife</a></em_t

:</strongna plays a man embedded with DNA that causes him to skip back and forth through time without warning. <a href=cAdams</a> plahe thankless title role. Oscar winner Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghosem> ad the screenplay from Audrey Niffenegger’s best-selling novel. <st strongp>

r>_: The Rise of Cobra</a></em_t

:</strong.I. Joe operatives use their superskills and highly advanced technology to do global battle with arms dealer Destro and the evil Cobra organization. Directed by The y‘s en Sommers, CGI effects come from George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic. The toy-inspired movie stars Channing Tatum, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Christopher Eccleston, Sienna Miller, Dennis Quaid and Ray Park. <st strongp> <p

ea href= Aside, Making G.I. Wacation’ for Actor</a></st

o**:</strong**

ih- Later, The Giant‘s nized Soul Still Stirs</a></lih- Mexican Sci-Fi Beams a Blast From the Past, con o</ah- 2 BlInto Comic-Con, More Badass Than Ever</a></lih- em>‘s ing Flora, Fauna Give Comic-Con an Eyeful</a></lih- Best Summer Movie Trailers of 2009</a></li