The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 56

i I 'l 4f 04' 0g Ml llllllllll IlllllHllimil I I I I 1 I fTTTTT Opening Friday South America in 1952. (R) Roxy. Review, Page 9. "Shall We Dance?" Richard Gere stars as a lawyer who finds new spark in his stable but stale life when-he discovers ballroom dancing. Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sa-randon co-star.

(PG-13) Cinema 9, Essex Outlets, Majestic 10. Review, Page 10. "Team America: World Police" A loud, fast and in-your-face puppet comedy. (R) Cinema 9, Essex Outlets, Majestic 10. "The Motorcycle Diaries" The commg-of-age of iconic Cuban revolutionary Che Guevera is dramatized in this intelligent movie depicting a journey across 8,000 miles of mmt 1 4ft r- "Shall We tot i "Team America: World Police" works on every level as puppet heroes fight evildoers.

'Police takes no prisoners No one spared in 'South Park' creators' hilarious satire Local Film Events "AMERICANOS," 8:45 tbnight, Contois Auditorium, Burlington City Hall. Presented by the Vermont International Film Festival and Nectar's. "RELAX IT'S JUST SEX," 7:30 p.m. Friday, R.U.1.2.?, Burlington. 860-7812.

"SOUL PURPOSE," 8 p.m. Saturday, Flynn Center, Burlington. Film by Teton Gravity Research. An introspective look at the driving forces behind athletes' devotion to skiing and boarding. $16.

863-5966. "FED UP," 7 p.m. Monday, Ilsley Library, Middlebury. Part of the Film Series Looking at GMOs. 989-1104.

"FILM ANIMATION SAMPLE, fol Dance?" lowed by lecture, "Animation: A Historical Overview," 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday, Catamount Arts, St. Johnsbury. Bob Wurz-. burg, independent animator.

$5. 626-5135. "A WOMAN'S TALE," 1-3 p.m. Wednesday, Savoy Theatre, Montpelier. Australia, 1992.

A terminally ill woman struggles to live and die in her own home. $5. 828-8804. "EXPLORING THE THEME OF EMPIRE," film and discussion series, 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Nov.

3, Robert Hull Fleming Museum, UVM. Wednesday, "Stagecoach," directed by John Ford. 656-2085. $20.3 million. 3.

"Ladder 49," $13.1 million. 4. "Taxi," $12 million. 5. "The Forgotten," $7.6 million.

6. "Raise Your Voice," $4 million. 7. "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," $2.3 million. 8.

"Shaun of the Dead," $1.7 million. 9. "The Motorcycle Diaries," $1.5 million. 10. "Resident Evil: Apocalypse," S1.3 million.

big attack is planned. Spottswoode believes Gary is "the perfect weapon" since he's an actor who double-majored in theater and world languages at the University of Iowa. Gary's crude terrorist transformation consists of some cotton balls dyed black and stuck to his chiseled facial features, a little shoe polish and a bath towel wrapped around his head. Parker and Stone have never exactly been known for being politically correct, so why should they start now? The puppetized actors in the movie won't be happy with their portrayal, either. Alec Baldwin, head of the Film Actors Guild (which is frequently abbreviated you can figure it out for yourselD, is as madly power-hungry as the terrorists themselves.

Matt Damon is only capable of shaking his fist and grunting his name. It all may sound adolescent and goofy, and a lot of the time it is. But "Team America" also may be the best film of the year. It's easily the Box Office By Christy Lemire The Associated Press "Team America: World Police" arrives in theaters with what has to be the most unusual explanation of why it received an rating from the Motion Picture Association of America: "graphic, crude and sexual humor, violent images and strong language, all involving puppets." But nothing can prepare you for the hilarity of hot sex between a couple of marionettes (which almost earned the film an NC-17 rating) or for the surprising levelheadedness that emerges from what seems, at least superficially, like wild, wacky satire. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the mad geniuses behind "South Park," spare no one from skewering in their all-puppet extravaganza about a globe-trotting team of overly energetic peacekeepers not the so-called evildoers, or the self-righteous forces trying to stop them, or the Hollywood stars who feel compelled to use their celebrity to comment on the evildoers and the self-righteous forces trying to stop them.

The result is a film that works on every imaginable Review: "TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE" (R) Opens Friday at Cinema 9, Essex Outlets, Majestic 10 level: as a comedy, as sharp political commentary, as a send-up of bombastic action flicks, even as a musical. As in Parker and Stone's 1999 film "South Park: Bigger, Longer Uncut," some of the most inspired moments come in song, including Team America's rockin theme, "America, (Expletive) Yeah!" which blares as they blast off in jets from their James Bond-style headquarters hidden inside Mount Rushmore. That Parker (as director) and Stone (who co-wrote the script with Parker) are equal opportunity offenders is one of the movie's great strengths: They ridicule both Michael Moore and the U.S. government. And by placing their words in the mouths of marionettes, their observations never seem heavy-handed.

"Team America" is loud, fast and in-your-face. At the film's start, pretty-boy actor Gary is recruited by Spottswoode, the group's silver-haired mentor, to go undercover as a terrorist to find out when and where the next The Associated Press LOS ANGELES The undersea cartoon "Shark Tale" retained its box-office hite with a S31.3 million haul in its second weekend, remaining the No. 1 movie. The top 10 movies at North American theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by gross, as compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

and Nielsen EDI Inc. are: 1. "Shark Tale," $31.3 million. 2. "Friday Night Lights," Kuled for graphic, crude and sex ual humor, violent images and strong language, all involving.