Santa Cruz Good Times

Films This Week
Check out the movies playing around town.
With: Reviews THE WAY,
Times and Trailers.

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New This Week

JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN
Rowan Atkinson is back in another episode of his international spy spoof comedy series. Rosamund Pike and Dominic West co-star for director Oliver Parker. (PG) 101 minutes. Starts Friday. Watch film trailer >>>

RED STATE
Kevin Smith tries his hand at the horror thriller genre with this tale of Middle American teens recruited online for sex who find themselves entrapped by sinister fundamentalists. Michael Angarano, Melissa Leo, Michael Parks, and John Goodman head the cast. (R) 88 minutes. Starts Friday. Watch film trailer >>>

THE WAY
Reviewed this issue.  (PG-13) 115 minutes. (★★★) Starts Friday.

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Film Events

CONTINUING SERIES: MIDNIGHTS @ THE DEL MAR Eclectic movies for wild & crazy tastes plus great prizes and buckets of fun for only $6.50. This week: THE HUMAN
CENTIPEDE 2 (FULL SEQUENCE). (Not Rated) 88 minutes. Fri-Sat midnight only. At the Del Mar.

SPECIAL EVENT THIS WEEK: The 25th ANNIVERSARY BRIDGE SCHOOL BENEFIT CONCERT FILM 25 years of superstar performances at Neil and Pegi Young's annual Bridge School benefit concerts in Mountain View are captured in this jam-packed concert film. What kind of stars are we talking about? Well, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Matthews, The Who, Patti Smith, The Pretenders, Metallica, Elton John and Leon Russell—to name just a few. At the Del Mar, Monday only (October 24), 7 p.m.

CONTINUING SERIES: FLASHBACK FEATURES Oldies and goodies on Thursday nights at the Cinema 9, presented by your genial host, Joe Ferrara. $5 gets you in. This week: THE SHINING (R) 146 minutes. (★★1/2)—Lisa Jensen. Tonight only (Thursday, October 20), 8 p.m., at the Cinema 9.

CONTINUING EVENT: LET'S TALK ABOUT THE MOVIES At the Del Mar mezzanine Wednesday nights at 7 pm  Free. Visit www.ltatm.org.

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MOVIE TIMES 10/21-10/26

Del Mar Theatre    469-3220
Drive  2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:40  + Sat, Sun 12:45
Paranormal Activity 3   2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 + Fri & Sat noon, 11, Sun 1
The Paris Concert  Special Opera  Sun 10/23  11am
VERY Special Event – The 25th Anniversary Bridge School Concert Film
Tues 10/24 7
The Human Centipede 2  Friday 10/21 & Saturday 10/22 Midnight Showing

Nickelodeon    426-7500
The Way  1:50, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20 + Sat, Sun 11:20am
Midnight in Paris  4:30, 9:10  + Sat, Sun 11:50am
The Mill and the Cross  5:10, 9:30 + Sat, Sun 12:40
Toast  2:50, 7:10 
The Help  3, 8    
Happy, Happy  6  + Sat, Sun 12:50
The Debt  2, 6;40

Aptos Cinema    426-7500
Footloose  2:10, 4:30, 6:50, 9:10 + Sat, Sun 11:50am
Three Musketeers  2:20, 4:40, 7, 9:20 + Sat, Sun Noon

Green Valley Cinema 8    761-8200
Footloose  1:30, 4, 7, 9:30  + Sat, Sun 11am
The Thing  1:30, 4:15, 7, 9:40  + Sat, Sun 11:15am
Real Steel   1:35, 4:10, 7, 9:40  + Sat, Sun 11am
The Big Year  1:30, 4, 7, 9:30 + Sat, Sun 11:15am
Johnny English Reborn  1:30, 4, 7:15, 9:30  + Sat, Sun 11:15am
Three Musketeers 3D  1:30, 4, 7, 9:30  + Sat, Sun 11am
Paranormal Activity 3  1, 3, 5:05, 7:15, 9:40 + Sat, Sun 11am

Cinelux Scotts Valley Cinema    438-3260
Ghostbusters  Thurs 10/27  7:30      
The Mighty Macs  11:30am, 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30          
Moneyball  12:45, 3:45, 6:45, 9:45   
The Big Year   4:20, 9:20 
Real Steel  11, 1:45, 4:40, 7:30, 10:20  
The Thing  11:55am, 2:30, 4:55, 7:30, 10
Dolphin Tale  11am, 1:30, 4:45, 6:45
Footloose  11:20am, 2, 3, 4:45, 7:20, 10
Three Musketeers 3D  11:10am, 1:45, 7:10, 9:45 
Three Musketeers 2D  4:30
Paranormal Activity 3  10/20  10, 11:55
Paranormal Activity 3  11:15am, 1:20, 3:30, 5:45, 8, 10:15
Johnny English Reborn  12:10, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:10

Cinelux 41st Avenue Cinema    479-3504
Paranormal Activity 3  10/20 10, 11:55
Paranormal Activity 3  11:15am, 1:15, 3:20, 5:30, 7:45, 10
The Ides Of March  11:30am, 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30 
Moneyball  12:45, 3:45, 6:45, 9:45

Santa Cruz Cinema 9    (800) 326-3264 #1700
Fright Night  Flashback Feature  Thu 10/27  8
Lang Lang  - Live in Concert  Mon 10/24 –  7:30
Jack the Ripper & Butterfinger the 13th  Thur 10/27  8:15
Three Musketeers  3D 2:10, 7:40   Three Musketeers 2D Digital  4:55, 10:25
Johnny English Reborn  2:50, 5:25, 8, 10:35 +Sat, Sun 12:05
Footloose  1:45, 4:30, 7:20, 10:10 + Sat, Sun 11:05am 
Real Steel  1, 4, 7, 10 
The Thing  2:15, 4:50, 7:30, 10:05 + Sat & Sun 11:35am        
Dolphin Tale 3D  1:10, 6:40  Dolphin Tale 2D Digital 3:50, 9:30 
The Ides of March  2:40, 5:15, 7:50, 10:20 + Sat, Sun 12:05
Moneyball  1:05, 4:05, 7:10, 10:15  + Mon No 10:15
Contagion  1:30, 4:10, 6:50, 9:25 + Sat, Sun 11am

Riverfront    (800) 326-3264 #1701
50/50  1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 9:50 + Mon-Thurs no 1:15
The Big Year  1, 4, 7, 9:40  + Mon-Thurs no  1

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Now Playing

THE BIG YEAR Extreme birdwatching? The stakes are high for Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Steve Martin as rival birdwatchers in this comedy about a prestigious competition to spot the rarest birds in North America. David Frankel (Marley & Me) directs. (PG)

CONTAGION This one’s a keeper. Fine storytelling, wonderful execution and a pitch-perfect cast elevate Contagion beyond typical Hollywood offering. There’s an outbreak of a deadly virus that kills its victims within days. Director Steven Soferbergh.does a fine job of rotating the subjects and the mood he’s focusing on. Great locales here—Hong Kong, Macao, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, London and Geneva. Even better cast: Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, and Gwyneth Paltrow. This a bold, thought-provoking work. (PG-13) 106 minutes.  (★★★1/2)—Greg Archer

DOLPHIN TALE Well crafted and filled with plenty of emotion. It’s hard to resist this tale of an injured dolphin and the people—particularly one boy—that helps rally to save it.  Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson, and Morgan Freeman co-star for director Charles Martin Smith. (PG) 113 minutes. (★★★)—Greg Archer

DREAM HOUSE Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts star for director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot; In America) in this new horror-thriller. (PG-13)

DRIVE Ryan Gosling's commanding presence fuels this lean, stylish suspense thriller. He plays a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a wheelman for petty criminals, forced to go on the offensive after a job goes awry. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn; costarring. Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks. (R) 100 minutes. (★★★)—Lisa Jensen.

50/50 His own brush with cancer inspired comedy producer Will Reiser to pen this tender, thoughtful and humane comedy disguised as a raunchy guy farce—complete with Seth Rogen as the cancer patient's horndog buddy. In real life, Rogen and Reiser are friends, and Reiser has written him a typically gauche comic part. But the film belongs to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who racks up another wry, disarming, perfectly life-sized performance as a 27-year-old radio writer suddenly facing mortality. Directed by Jonathan Levine, the film never pokes fun at cancer or cancer patients, but it does offer up a bracing and humorous manual on coping with life's surprises. (R) 100 minutes. (★★★1/2)—Lisa Jensen.

FOOTLOOSE Everybody ... cut it loose. Why Hollywood insists on resurrecting modern pop culture “classics” and making them worse than the originals, escapes me. The first film worked because its star, Kevin Bacon, had real charm. You liked the dude. Not so much with newcomer Kenny Wormald or DWTS babe Julianne Hough—although they both illuminate the kind of souless, depth-free creatures our current culture tends to idolize; even compete for. Some songs have been scrapped from the original. The script, nearly word for word it seems from its predecessor, seems much more limp than I remembered. The dancing? Good. But in 2011, it’s hard to believe that there exists a town with such conventional values that it would outlaw dancing and music—all because one preacher said they had to do it. (You never to see any other clergy here in this Tennessee hamlet.)  Dennis Quaid co-stars for writer-director Craig Brewster. Let’s hear for the “oy.” (PG-13) 113 minutes. (★1/2)—Greg Archer.

HAPPY, HAPPY Director Anne Sewitsky trades in a laugh-to-keep-from-crying sort of worldview when a city couple and their adopted young African son rent a small guest house from warm, ebullient schoolteacher Katja (Agnes Kittelsen) and her sullen husband for a winter vacation. Sewitsky punches up her dark themes of infidelity and emotional battery with ironic appearances by a quartet of Nordic males, singing a capella American gospel (after a montage of illicit sex, the chorus chimes in with a deadpan, yet somehow salacious "Good Religion"), as the filmmakers introduce the idea iof a bad marriage as a kind of enslavement for couples unhappily shackled together. The narrative strays into some weird, off-putting moments, but Kittelsen delivers a mostly endearing performance; the viewer becomes invested in her emotional journey. And Sewitsky displays a droll sensibility (ironic, if not strictly comic) that keeps her feature debut interesting, however strange it may get. (R) 88 minutes. In Norwegian with English subtitles. (★★1/2)—Lisa Jensen.

THE HELP Kathryn Stockett's bestselling novel about female solidarity and racial stereotype-busting in the American south of the 1960s is given fine treatment here. Emma Stone stars. (PG-13) 137 minutes. (★★★)—Greg Archer

THE IDES OF MARCH A perfect George Clooney trifecta: he directs, co-writes and stars in this winning political drama playing a candidate in a pivotal Ohio presidential primary. It’s Ryan Gosling though that, once again, steals the show, delivering a priceless performance playing a young press secretary (Ryan Goslin) who happens to stumble into a political scandal. Great supporting cast. Great script. Plenty of intrigue. Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Marisa Tomei co-star (R) 101 minutes. (★★★1/2)—Greg Archer

THE LION KING Return engagement—in 3D—for Disney's classic 1994 Hamlet-like coming of age drama.. (G) 89 minutes. (★★★★)—Lisa Jensen.

KILLER ELITE Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert De Niro star in this action thriller. Gary McKendry directs. (R) 105 minutes.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS There's nothing not to love in Woody Allen's irresistible romantic comedy. Owen Wilson is great fun as a Hollywood screenwriter longing to write serious fiction who's transported back to the era he idolizes, Paris in the 1920s. (PG-13) 100 minutes. (★★★★) —Lisa Jensen.

THE MILL AND THE CROSS Rutger Hauer stars as 16th Century Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, caught in the act of creating his vast masterwork, "The Way To Calvary," in 1564, in Polish filmmaker Lech Majewski's visually stunning experimental film about art and the artmaking process. Majewski isn't interested in telling a linear story; life sprawls across his cinematic canvas in all its messy, teeming, tragi-comic, absurd humanity. As the painting comes to life onscreen, Bruegel (and Majewski) become godlike figures, grinding the raw grain of life and human activity into art, in this singular, questing, radical art film. (Not rated) 92 minutes. (★★★1/2)

MONEYBALL In Bennett Miller's entertaining screen adaptation of Michael Lewis' non-fiction book, "moneyball" refers to the old-school way baseball has been run over the last 40 years, where celebrity players' salaries skyrocket into the millions, and only the richest teams who can afford the most expensive players ever win championships. Brad Pitt makes a tasty little feast out of the part of Billy Beane, iconoclastic GM of the Oakland As, who in 2002 assembles a group of inexpensive players from spare parts and leftovers, according to computerized stats, who go on to make major league history. A wry, engaging David vs. Goliath tale that pays homage to the "romance" of baseball without resorting to the usual sentimental clichés. (PG-13) 133 minutes. (★★★)—Lisa Jensen.

OUR IDIOT BROTHER A surprisingly good film with a lot of heart—something you wouldn’t know if you just watched the previews, which make the film out to be totally slapstick. Paul Rudd stars.. (R) 90 minutes.  (★★★)—Greg Archer

REAL STEEL It's by-the-numbers in every possible way, plot-wise, but Shawn Levy's workmanlike saga of tarnished dreams and redemption coasts along on the considerable appeal of Hugh Jackman, playing tough and tender as a broken-down fight promoter who gets one last chance to turn his life around. Set in a near future when robots have replaced humans in the boxing ring, Jackman's character begins to bond with his estranged son while they coach a sturdy little underdog "sparring bot" into a winner. But the milieu is very cool; I especially liked all the different levels of Purgatory suggested by the various fighting arenas, from DIY dives to Olympian palace. Jackman is fun to watch, and the CGI is well-integrated into the visuals. What it all boils down to is a little bot with heart managed by a fighter vs big, hulking, hi-tech muscle machines controlled by geeks with joysticks. In this universe, heart wins out. Who could argue with that? (PG-13) 127 minutes. (★★★)—LIsa Jensen.

TEXAS KILLING FIELDS A city cop and a local detective team up to solve a series of murders in the Texas bayou in this true-crime drama from director Ami Canaan Mann. Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jessica Chastain and Chloe Grace Moritz star. (R) 105 minutes.

THE THING Another retread for the venerable pulp horror thriller, this one purports to be a prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter version, showing what happened when an alien spacecraft crashed into a Norwegian research station in Antarctica, unleashing terror on the unsuspecting scientists. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, and Ulrich Thomsen star for director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (R) 103 minutes.

TOAST The autobiography of Britain's master chef and culinary icon Nigel Slater is the basis for this wry comedy-drama about growing up foodie in the 1960s. Freddie Highmore stars as the teenage Nigel, trying to find himself as both a passionate cook and a gay youth while resisting the influence of his scheming, suffocating step-mother (Helena Bonham Carter). Ken Stott and Matthew McNulty (he played Luis Bunñuel in Little Ashes) co-star. (Not rated) 96 minutes.

TRESPASS Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman star in this Joel Schumacher thriller as a couple whose marriage is falling apart as they're being held for ransom by young thugs. Cam Gigandet, Liana Liberato, and Ben Mendelsohn co-star. (R) 91 minutes.

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