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"City of Ember" reminded me of an old joke from the Soviet era.
Q: What did people in Czechoslovakia use before candles?
A: Light bulbs.
It's analogous to the sci-fi situation at hand, which is the exact obverse of Jules Verne's: a journey to the surface, not the center, of the Earth.
The underground City of Ember was built to last 200 years -- no less, but not much more. It has flourished until now (the year 241), when its all-powerful Generator is failing, the lights are starting to flicker, and food supplies are running out.
Instructions for just such an emergency were left in a sort of digital safety-deposit box, long lost -- until rediscovered by intrepid teens Tina and Dune (Saoirse Ronan and Harry Treadaway). It's now up to them, racing against time, to save and lead the people to a newer -- or older or, in any case, better -- world.
Villainous Lord Mayor Bill Murray opposes their efforts, hilariously strutting and pontificating beneath a threadbare canopy carried by his munchkin toady Toby Jones. Tim Robbins as Dune's dad and Mary Kay Place as Tina's mom are empathetic, as is great old Martin Landau as Dune's sleepy boss.
You'll enjoy the star-nosed mole, bigger than a Buick Le Sabre, who comes after our heroes (and Mayor Murray), and the obligatory climactic chase scene reminiscent of Kennywood and "Goonies." But mostly, if you go, you'll enjoy the post-apocalyptic cosmology and mise-en-scene, combining elements of Dickens, Hogwarts and Clockwork Orange -- everything in even worse disrepair than in "WALL-E."
There's a fortune to be made here if you had the Rustoleum franchise.
PG for mild peril and some thematic elements
-- Barry Paris, PG film critic
Jan Dite is a waiter who is short in stature and standing, but long in ambition. His simple goal is to become a millionaire.
But as an impish waiter in pre-World War II Czechoslovakia, he is more likely to serve the rich and, in one of his favorite tricks, watch them scramble onto the floor to collect the coins he puckishly scatters.
"I Served the King of England" introduces Jan as a middle-age man and spends much of the movie flashing back to his awakening about women, wine and luxurious hotels that serve both -- sometimes with the help of illuminated lazy Susans -- and war.
Based on the novel by Bohumil Hrabal, it's a black comedy that is bubbly and bracing. With its memorable and vivid visuals, it uses a single character (Ivan Barney as the young Dite, Oldrich Kaiser as the older) like a brush to paint a canvas of desire, wartime carnage and matters of conscience and reflection.
Rated R for sexual content and nudity. Opens at the Manor.
-- Barbara Vancheri, PG Movie Editor
