Santa Cruz Good Times

Friday
May 24th
Text size
  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size

Film, Times & Events: Week of Nov. 10th

Thursday, 10 November 2011 00:00 GT_Staff Film - Reviews and Times
 E-mail

film_guide_iconFilms This Week
Check out the movies playing around town.
With: Reviews,
Movie Times click here.
Santa Cruz area movie theaters >

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

New This Week
film_immortals
IMMORTALS
It's all some flummery about a madman king (Mickey Rourke) of ancient Greece who wants to wipe out mankind and depose the gods, but who cares? If the director of the extraordinary The Fall, Tarsem Singh, is dabbling in Greek mythology, I am so there. Luke Evans, Henry Cavill, andfilm_Jacknjill Frieda Pinto star. (R) 103 minutes. Starts Friday.  Watch film trailer >>>


JACK AND JILL
If you'd rather pay good money to NOT see Adam Sandler in drag, then this comedy may not be for you. Sandler stars as an LA adman and his own flamboyant twin sister, whose annual Thanksgiving visit drives her brother nuts. Katie Holmes co-stars. Dennis Dugan directs. (PG) Starts Friday. Watch film trailer >>>





film_Jedgar

J EDGAR
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as J. Edgar Hoover, the enigma who was for 50 years the face (and iron fist) of the FBI. Armie Hammer co-stars as his longtime associate, and suspected lover, in Clint Eastwood's biographical drama on the dark side of power. Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas, and Judi Dench co-star. Dustin Lance Black (Milk) wrote the script. Director Eastwood composes the score. (R) 137film_lovecrime minutes. Starts Friday.  Watch film trailer >>>



LOVE CRIME
Kristin Scott Thomas stars in this French mystery thriller as a ruthless executive who makes life hell for her new young assistant. Ludivine Sagnier (Swimming Pool) co-stars as the assistant who turns the tables in unexpected ways when her boss claims credit for one of her ideas—setting the stage for an epic psychological battle of cunning, deceit, and ambition.  (Not Rated) 104 minutes. In French with English subtitles. Starts Friday. Watch film trailer >>>


film_skinilive



THE SKIN IN I LIVE IN Reviewed this issue. (R) (117 minutes) (★★★1/2) Starts Friday.






Film Events
SPECIAL EVENT THIS WEEK: WINTER ITALIAN FILM SERIES The Dante Alighieri Society of Santa Cruz is back with a new monthly series of Italian films (one Sunday a month) to promote Italian culture and language. The theme this time is "Set in Sicily" This Week: SALVATORE GIULIANO Francesco Rosi directs this 1961 neo-realist drama that explores the life of the legendary criminal against the backdrop of the Sicilian underworld. (Not rated) 125 minutes. In Italian with English subtitles. At Cabrillo College, VAPA Art History Forum Room 1001, Sunday only (November 13), 7 pm. Free.

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: GHOSTBUSTERS Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Sigourney Weaver get slimed in Ivan Reitman's 1984 paranormal  laugh-fest. Who ya gonna call? (PG) 107 minutes. (★★1/2)—Lisa Jensen. Fri-Sat midnight only. At the Del Mar.

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: SHAUN OF THE DEAD It's zombies lite as a chronic slacker tries to eradicate an invasion of the flesh-eating undead in this cheeky 2004 British horror comedy. Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Nick Frost, and Penelope Wilton star; Edgar Wright directs. (R) 99 minutes. Tonight only (Thursday, Nov 10), 8 p.m., at the Cinema 9.
Movie Times click here.
Now Playing
film_anonymous
ANONYMOUS Reviewed this issue. (PG-13) 130 minutes. (★★★)


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.  (R) 100 minutes. (★★★1/2)—Lisa Jensen.

FOOTLOOSE 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—they both illuminate the kind of souless, depth-free creatures our current culture tends to idolize; even compete for. (PG-13) 113 minutes. (★1/2)—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

IN TIME I’m tempted to be generous and add an extra 1/2 star in this troubled tale—the movie lingered after I left the theater so kudos to the writers for somehow making an impact. The story itself eerily mirrors today’s Occupy Wall Street movement, where “spread the wealth”/hold head honchos responsible is such a thick theme. Here, it’s the near future. Nobody ages any more. The currency: time itself. Justin Timberlake plays the poor guy—literally— who stumbles onto a fortune in “time.” But the police, or "time-keepers" are fast on his trail. There’s hints of Bonnie & Clyde in writer-director Andrew Niccol’s (Gattaca; The Truman Show) story. The downfall? The dialogue stumbles and there are a few holes in the plot. It’s a quirky mess, when it all comes down to it but an intriguing one at that—you somehow can’t help but be interested in watching how it will all unravel. Justin Timberlake, Olivia Wilde, Amanda Seyfried and Cillian Murphy star (PG-13) 109 minutes. (★★)—Greg Archer

MARGIN CALL With its exceptional writing, less-is-more vibe and pitch-perfect pacing—so moody, so tension-filled—it so eerily mirrors the state of Wall Street’s mood swings today, and the players whose decisions ultimately allow things to either prosper or plummet. It’s all about the latter here in a thriller revolving around an elite Wall Street investment firm sent into a wild tailspin during the first 24 hours of the 2008 financial meltdown. An A-list cast shines here: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Demi Moore, Simon Baker, and Stanley Tucci star for director J. C. Chandor. Powerful. (R) 105 minutes.  (★★★1/2)—Greg Archer

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE Elizabeth Olsen gives an impressively shaded performance s a young woman whose sense of selfhood is as fractured as the film's title; a runaway from a cult and its hypnotic psycho leader (the excellent John Hawkes), she's literally trying to find herself. Unfortunately, the film also suffers from an identity crisis. It wants to be a thriller, a character study, and even a domestic family drama, but it never quite hits its marks in any department. There's plenty of menace to go around, mostly told in flashbacks, but because the character remains as elusive to the filmmaker (and the viewer) as she is to herself, there's little to anchor audience interest in her story. (R) 101 minutes. (★★1/2)—Lisa Jensen.

PUSS IN BOOTS Antonio Banderas returns as the voice of the orange swashbuckling cool cat he made so popular in the Shrek films. Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Sedaris and Billy Bob Thornton lend supporting voices but it’s the story that really shines. Puss, apparently, had a stellar friendship with Humpty Dumpty—they become like “brothers” in an orphanage. Later in life, when they’re reunited, Humpty convinces Puss to help him steal some magic beans (a la Jack and the Beanstalk) from Jack and Jill and ... Oh, go see it for yourself. An ejoyable ride from beginning to end with clever twists. (PG) 90 minutes. (★★★)—Greg Archer.

THE RUM DIARY Johnny Depp returns to Fear-and-Loathing mode in this adaptation of the Hunter S. Thompson novel (begun in 1959, but not published until the late '90s), a lightly fictionalized account of the author's early stint as a reporter for a run-down newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart, Giovanni Ribisi, and Richard Jenkins co-star. Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I) directs. (R) 120 minutes.

TAKE SHELTER Jeff Nichols taps into the potent national zeitgeist of fear in this story of a young Midwestern husband and father (the persuasively edgy Michael Shannon) who's gradually crippled by his mounting terror of—well, whatever it is that's out there. In an often striking portrait of the effects of rampaging fear on one man, and the ripple effect it has on his family, loved ones, and community, Nichols generates plenty of dread for its own sake, but that's not the same as telling a coherent story. He succeeds in replicating the suffocating panic of non-stop fear, but the film as a whole is mostly a premise in search of a story. (R) 120 minutes. (★★1/2)—Lisa Jensen.

THE THREE MUSKETEERS Almost everything that could possibly go wrong, did, in Paul W. S. Anderson's misbegotten attempt to turn Alexandre Dumas' elegant classic into a cheesy, CGI-laden superhero franchise. Anderson makes an oily bouillabaisse out of Dumas' sprightly storyline, adding a steampunk element (plans for a 17th Century flying ship stolen from the "Da Vinci Vault") too heavy-handed to be fun. Just as full of hot air is Andrew Davis' jokey, creaky dialogue. Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson and Luke Evans are terrific as Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—in the fleeting moments they get to play the characters Dumas wrote—but they deserve a better movie. (PG-13) 110 minutes. (★)—Lisa Jensen.

TOWER HEIST Fun and yet, you walk away thinking it could have been just a little better? Why? Is that we’re now immune to a constant outpouring of flash and fun—think Hangover, Bridesmaids—that we can’t stomach a slower-paced comedy? Or is that while the premise rocks, sometimes the delivery stumbles? Still, this is a robust affair starring Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, and Alan Alda. A comedy cum modern-day Robin Hood tale, it find the folks who lost their savings in shady schemes of a wealthy financier (Alda) seekling vengeange. How they manage to get that is most amusing. Matthew Broderick, Judd Hirsch, Téa Leoni have smaller roles here but look for Gabourey Sidibe to turn in a good performance as a housekeeper. Brett Ratner directs. (PG-13) 104 minutes. (★★1/2)—Lisa Jensen

A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS John Cho and Kal Penn return as the luckless slacker buddies, facing grown-up, holiday season responsibilities with typical immaturity, in this third installment of their misguided adventures. Neil Patrick Harries, Paula Garces, and David Krumholtz co-star for incoming director Todd Strauss-Schulson. (R) 90 minutes.

THE WAY The title of Emilio Estevez's wistful road movie of self-discovery refers to "El camino de Santiago," the way of St. James, the route across northern Spain to the cathedral of Santiago de la Compostela. Martin Sheen is wry and affecting as an LA eye doctor walking the route with the ashes of his adventurer son in a mismatched group of modern pilgrims. The movie engages as a glorious travelogue of ancient villages and folkways (it was shot on location in France and Spain), and in the little discoveries the characters make about themselves and each other as they travel along. It also may have viewers itching to follow the route, just to see who they might discover within when they leave their familiar selves behind. (PG-13) 115 minutes. (★★★)—Lisa Jensen.
Comments (0)Add Comment

Write comment
smaller | bigger

busy
< Prev   Next >
 

Share this on your social networks

Bookmark and Share

Share this

Bookmark and Share

  • Search

    • Latest Items

     

    Free Angela

    Political activist and UC Santa Cruz Professor Emerita Angela Davis commands the spotlight in a riveting new documentary. PLUS:  UCSC’s Bettina Aptheker opens up about the political upheavals of the ’60s and ’70s—and today. Angela Davis is not a human being who can be easily summed up in several sentences or paragraphs—books maybe, but, even then, capturing the political activist, scholar and author in the most comprehensive light is downright complex. That’s because Davis is an undeniably unique political creature, one who should be seen and heard to be fully absorbed and downloaded. Which is what makes Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, the new documentary about Davis and the turbulent political upheavals she faced during the late-1960s and ’70s, so inviting. In it, filmmaker Shola Lynch marks the 40th anniversary of Davis’ acquittal on charges of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy with a historical vérité style of filmmaking to illuminate a side of Davis few may have seen (or can recall), and captures the events that thrust the woman into one of the most fascinating orbits of notoriety and political intrigue of the 20th century.

     

    No Big Surprises

    The highly anticipated draft Environmental Impact Report for desal is finally out. Will it change anything? When scwd2, the group pursuing the proposed joint desalination plant for the Santa Cruz Water Department and Soquel Creek Water District, set up a booth at the Santa Cruz Earth Day festival in 2012, its reception was less than warm. Signature gathering for Measure P, the “right to vote” on desal ballot measure, was in full swing, as were tensions over the controversial project, which would produce up to 2.5 million gallons per day of desalinated water and cost an estimated $100 million. What were representatives of an energy-intensive desal plant doing among the recycling and conservation booths? That was the attitude Melanie Mow Schumacher, public outreach coordinator for scwd2 (pronounced “squid squared”), remembers sensing.

     

    The Maya-Ixil Move Forward

    Local nonprofit works to educate and create opportunity for indigenous communities in Guatemala In an isolated region of the Guatemala mountains called Ixil, the indigenous Maya population was devastated by a civil war between the government and leftist guerrilla factions that spanned 1960 to 1996. During that 36-year war, the Guatemalan military eradicated entire Mayan communities. In what amounted to genocide, soldiers burned Mayan farmlands and homes, raped and tortured the people, and scattered families. By the end of the war, 200,000 Mayans had been killed, 7,000 of whom were Maya-Ixil.

     

    Public Thinking

    Watsonville teens host TEDx event Santa Cruz County is no stranger to the TED brand. TED—which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design—talks have come to the area through independently organized events 10 times since 2011. This month, the gathering returns to the county with a new twist, thanks to the Watsonville Youth City Council. TEDxYouth@Watsonville, which will take place Sunday, May 19 at the Henry J. Mello Center for the Performing Arts in Watsonville, will feature only speakers younger than 19 years old and will traverse topics from racial stereotypes and renewable energy to traditional Mexican dance.

     

    Transoceana

    Danny Moriarty’s musical influences have been known to impact his life beyond his local rock band, Transoceana. “I went through two periods,” confesses the singer, guitarist and songwriter. “I borrowed Bono’s mullet look from the ’80s for a while, and then I dressed like I was from the ’70s and had big hair like Jimmy Page.” Bono and Page are also symbolic of Transoceana’s evolution as a band during their three years together.

     

    Cruzin’ for Inspiration

    Former resident pays homage to Santa Cruz with locally shot thesis film When he left Santa Cruz for the University of Southern California’s graduate film program in 2010, Christopher Guerrero had completed the film major at UC Santa Cruz in 2008 and worked on campus in the film and digital media department. It wasn’t until he headed south, that Guerrero began to reminisce about the coastal town. “It was really really hard when I moved to L.A., to acclimate and find friends,” he says, adding that—counter to the philosophical, conversational culture of Santa Cruz—he found nowhere in his new town where he could simply sit and talk about life with someone. “I didn’t really realize why I love [Santa Cruz] so much until it was gone.”

     

    Beck to the Future

    In celebration of Beck’s solo acoustic show at The Rio, GT explores Song Reader, the alternative rock icon’s most ambitious interactive art piece yet. Here’s an odd little paradox of the digital revolution: The more sophisticated our technology gets, the more our musical milieu begins to resemble that of a bygone era, when song ideas were passed around from musician to musician, perpetually taking on new twists. Dozens of different YouTube users might try their hand at setting somebody’s rant about cats or double rainbows to music, or you might hear the Belgian musician Gotye turning the many and varied covers of his song “Somebody That I Used to Know” into a virtual orchestra (see below).

     

    Growing Berries Without Bromide

    Researchers test a new alternative to a controversial chemical The scarecrows perched in Santa Cruz strawberry fields do little to scare away the birds, much less the insects and fungi harbored in the soil. Everything likes to eat strawberries, which makes growing them a risky business. This predicament led UC Santa Cruz professor Carol Shennan to take an unconventional approach to pest management. Nine years ago, the fatal plant disease Verticillium wilt was wiping out strawberry plants at the university farm. Chemicals hardly phase the pathogen, and Shennan saw little improvement with crop rotation, which is typically used to treat infested fields. A visiting plant pathologist from the Netherlands recommended a little-known organic technique called anaerobic soil disinfestation, and, with so few other options, Shennan decided to give it a try. 

     

    Uniting All That Has Been Separated

     

    Legal Battles Drag On

    More than a year after the 75 River St. occupation, four defendants remain embroiled in ongoing case  More than a year and a half since a group occupied the former Wells Fargo building on River Street in an act of protest, felony charges linger on for four of the original defendants and a trial may be imminent. Gabriella Ripley-Phipps, Brent Adams, Cameron Laurendeau and Franklin Alcantara were scheduled to begin trial May 13 in connection with the late 2011 protest. That trial now has been pushed back to September due to scheduling conflicts. The four face a felony charge of vandalism and a misdemeanor for trespassing.
    GTemail_tileTomorow's GTW Today.
    Sign up for Tomorrow's Good Times Today
    Upcoming arts & events

    Latest Comments

     

    The Pleasure of Süda

    Süda is a happening place. As my friend Jan and I were enjoying dinner, every table in the restaurant filled up and nearly all the outdoor seating was occupied as well. Located in the Pleasure Point area, Süda is a magnet for just about everybody hanging out in that neck of the woods.

     

    The Power of Conversation

    Local author Cecile Andrews emphasizes importance of community engagement in newest book Cecile Andrews, author of the new book “Living Room Revolution: A Handbook for Conversation, Community and the Common Good,” probably wouldn’t get along too well with Larry David’s character from HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, known for hiding his face and avoiding communication with anyone he runs into on the street. Andrews is a longstanding part-time Santa Cruz (part-time Seattle) resident who says something that’s struck her about this town over the years is people's willingness to participate in a practice she’s dubbed the “Stop and Chat”—which is exactly what it sounds like.

     

    What do you know about Monsanto?

    Santa Cruz | Self Employed  

     

    Best of Santa Cruz County

    The 2013 Santa Cruz County Readers' Poll and Critics’ Picks It’s our biggest issue of the year, and in it, your votes—more than 6,500 of them—determined the winners of The Best of Santa Cruz County Readers’ Poll. New to the long list of local restaurants, shops and other notables that captured your interest: Best Beer Selection, Best Locally Owned Business, Best Customer Service and Best Marijuana Dispensary. In the meantime, many readers were ever so chatty online about potential new categories. Some of the suggestions that stood out: Best Teen Program and Best Web Design/Designer. But what about: Dog Park, Church, Hotel, Local Farm, Therapist (I second that!) or Sports Bar—not to be confused with Bra. Our favorite suggestion: Best Act of Kindness—one reader noted Café Gratitude and the free meals it offered to the Santa Cruz Police Department in the aftermath of recent crimes. Perhaps some of these can be woven into next year’s ballot, so stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy the following pages and take note of our Critics’ Picks, too, beginning on page 91. A big thanks for voting—and for reading—and an even bigger congratulations to all of the winners. Enjoy.  -Greg Archer, EditorBest of Santa Cruz County Readers’ Poll INDEX | Shops | Food & Drink | Arts & Entertainment | Health & Fitness | Professionals | The Rest |

     

    Poetic Cellars

    Poetic Cellars makes the most romantic wines. With a verse or two of beautiful poetry on every label, mostly poems of love and romance, this is the perfect wine to open up over dinner with your sweetheart. I particularly love winemaker Katy Lovell’s Syrah ($28) with its voluptuous velvety textures and dark fruit flavors.

     

    The Gypsy

    French-born jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimée lives for musical freedom and improvisation Cyrille Aimée is a musical gypsy. Her sound incorporates elements of Latin American, American, Brazilian and other styles of jazz, she has recorded albums as a duet with Diego Figueiredo, she currently performs with the Surreal (same pronunciation as her first name) Band, and she is working on a new album with yet another band. As it happens, Aimée can actually blame gypsies for her love of jazz. “I grew up in Samois-sur-Seine, which is a little town in France where Django Reinhardt used to live,” she says. “Every year they have the Django Festival in his honor, and so gypsies from all parts of Europe come and honor him and play guitar. I started hanging out with the gypsies and became obsessed with their music, their way of living, their freedom. What drew me to jazz music was the freedom of it, all the improvisation, and the fact that it’s a style of music that is constantly changing.”

     

    May Day in the Alps

    When my daughter returns to Santa Cruz from her new home in Los Angeles, she comments on how quiet it is here. It was even more so during a trip to Ben Lomond, when we set out for a sample of her second favorite macaroni and cheese. Sitting at the front of the Tyrolean Inn restaurant, the green tarp with plastic windows kept out the chill as well as the noise of an occasional passing car. A new draft beer celebrating the German spring, Maibok ($6) was refreshing, served in a hefty glass stein, but specialty cocktails are unique as well.

     

    Exposed

    David Cay Johnston’s new book explains how big companies rob us blind In his late teens David Cay Johnston started to ask questions. “Why do we have these guys in uniforms with guns driving around in cars all day?” “Why is the Santa Cruz County Courthouse being built in such an unusual shape?” He wrote an article, while still living in his hometown of Santa Cruz, proving that the off-kilter courthouse building, which officials had promised would save money, actually cost more than a conventional building.

     

    What are you a total sucker for?

    A cold beer after a long bike ride, gossip, and fighting over politics. Kyle McKinley Santa Cruz | Lecturer