Valiant cast battles loud, ugly action for the soul of 'Man of Steel'
Early in Man of Steel, fourth-grader Clark, the boy who will be Superman, is cowering in a broom closet at school, eyes screwed shut, hands clapped over his ears. He can't control his super powers: his X-ray vision shows him the skulls and skeletons under everyone's flesh; unfiltered noise—dogs, traffic, heartbeats—assault him from all sides. Rushing to school, his mom kneels outside the door and asks what's wrong.
Controversial personalities explored in WikiLeaks doc 'We Steal Secrets'
I'm a combative person—I like crushing bastards." So says Julian Assange, founder of the international whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks, in Alex Gibney's investigative documentary, We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks. Not exactly the definitive film on the WikiLeaks phenomenon, Gibney's doc functions as a character study of some of the complex personalities involved in the complicated issue of national security vs. the public's right to know.
Santa Cruz Movie Times
'Blancanieves' retells Snow White with spicy Spanish style
If you love fairy tales, in all their infinite variety, don't miss Blancanieves, Pablo Berger's flavorful retelling of Snow White with a decidedly Spanish twist. It's a silent film (no spoken dialogue, but with a vivid musical soundtrack), shot in luminous black-and-white, which only adds to its distinction. By making the story so uniquely his own, Berger proves just how universal the enduring and endlessly adaptable fairy tale format can be.
In 2006, Canadian actress Sarah Polley directed Julie Christie to an Oscar nomination and herself to a variety of writing and directing awards for her feature debut, Away From Her. Now Polley turns to the documentary format in Stories We Tell, which is essentially a glorified home movie about the filmmaker's family and a potent secret buried for years in its collective past. In circling around her quarry, a family rumor, a joke, really, that she decides to investigate, Polley attempts to give her subject universal appeal by stressing the theme of communal family storytelling, and the places where family story and true history either converge or split apart.
Films This Week
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Films This Week
Check out the movies playing around town.
With: Reviews,
Movie Times click here.
Santa Cruz area movie theaters >
Time to hang up the franchise with 'Hangover III'
It was the perfect storm of circumstances. First, the Memorial Day holiday and early deadlines; second, an attempted screening malfunction earlier in the week. And finally, the recent trend for studios to launch potential big summer movies on Thursday, rather than the traditional Friday, in hopes of inflating the "weekend" box office gross over four days (five, if the Monday happens to be a holiday), instead of the usual three.
Characters, action, humor, surprise fuel 'Star Trek Into Darkness'
J. J. Abrams has figured out the secret to building a better franchise: treat the source material with respect, but not reverence, don't be afraid to tweak its foibles, jazz it up with a lot of youthful energy, and, most of all, have fun with it. This is the policy that made his first Star Trek prequel such a hit in 2009, and Abrams and his team continue to revitalize the series with the fast, punchy, slyly funny, yet surprisingly touching Star Trek Into Darkness.
Films This Week
Check out the movies playing around town.
With: Reviews,
Movie Times click here.
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