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N MOVIEREVIEWS
BLUE JASMINE ---
“I want the past past,” says Jasmine. Fat chance. The haunted protagonist of “Blue Jasmine,” played by Cate Blanchett, can’t forget her bygone bliss and the horrifying loss of it. A Park Avenue socialite, Jasmine has lost it all and landed on the San Franciscan doorstep of her workingclass sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins), a good soul tested by her long-absent sibling’s demands. Jasmine and Ginger were both adoptive sisters, but when Jasmine made her social-clambering escape, she never looked back, becoming accustomed not only to a certain lifestyle but to a fabulous selfishness, insulated by willful obliviousness. Certainly, “Blue Jasmine” is Allen’s riff on “A Streetcar Named Desire,” an impression only helped along by the casting of Blanchett, who played Blanche DuBois in an acclaimed 2009 production. Blanchett is a force of nature as Jasmine: the beating heart that keeps the schematic picture alive and kicking, and a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination. Though “Blue Jasmine” is more a drama than a comedy, Blanchett’s comic brio, in Jasmine’s blithely imperious manner, magically complements her mental fragility and self-defeating desperation. Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, language and sexual content. One hour, 38 minutes. — P.C.
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS ---
The “real-life thriller” “Captain Phillips” may be obvious and it may be clumsy, but it’s also at least a little bit thoughtful, and there’s never a dull moment. Add in two strong central performances and the stylistic stringency of Paul Greengrass, and you get, at the very least, a fine approximation of an important Oscar-time movie. The whole enterprise is basically here to give Tom Hanks something to do, and do it he does as Captain Rich Phillips of the Maersk Alabama, a U.S.-registered cargo ship beset by pirates while on its way from Oman to Kenya in 2009. Greengrass and screenwriter Billy Ray (“State of Play”), working from Phillips’ book “A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea,” hurriedly establish victims — Phillips, his wife (Catherine Keener in a blink-or-you’ll-miss-’er cameo), and his crew — and perps, the Somali crews sent out by a warlord padding his war chest. The pirate captain, Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi), quickly draws our attention as the counterpart to Phillips. Skinny and living under a more intense duress than Phillips, Muse nevertheless deals with similar issues that put him in harm’s way for capitalist goals, and into conflict with his unhappy crew. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of menace, violence with bloody images, and substance use. Two hours, 14 minutes. — P.C.
DON JON --
Joseph Gordon-Levitt rates high on the likeability level, starting out as a child actor and turning in memorable leading roles in the recent “(500) Days of Summer,” “Inception,” “50/50” and “Looper.” Making his screenwriting-directing debut, the dimpled charmer needs to have viewers on his side: He plays a Jersey boy addicted to pornography. The comedy is broad and the characters stereotypical. Contributing a new iteration to the Don Juan myth, Gordon-Levitt stars as a modern-day seducer. He cares about only a few things, such as
working out in the gym, his pad, his ride, his family and friends, his church, girls and pornography. For him, porn proves more satisfying than sex with a real-life partner — even a perfect 10 like the gum-snapping Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson). But filmmakers always have to be careful about glorifying the very subject that they are attempting to criticize. Every time Jon clicks on the Play icon of his computer, he — and we — are meant to take pleasure in the experience. He suffers consequences only when Barbara catches him in the act. Rated R for strong graphic sexual material and dialogue, nudity, language and some drug use. One hour, 29 minutes. — S.T.
ENOUGH SAID ---
Writer-director Holofcener (“Friends with Money”) has devised in “Enough Said” a comedy of separation anxiety and conjoining anxiety. Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Eva, a divorced, middle-aged suburban masseuse with a daughter heading to college. James Gandolfini plays Albert, a divorced, middle-aged suburban TV librarian with a daughter heading to college. So they have a lot in common, including a mutual sense of humor, and they instantly hit it off at a party. The course of true love never did run smooth, and at first, the ways Holofcener observes Eva’s hesitations ring true. The slovenly Albert isn’t exactly an obvious physical match for the fit Eva (a disparity the film never forgets to use to painful effect), and she’s gun-shy in any case due to the specter of their failed marriages. But Albert is sweet and funny, and as Eva puts it, “Our middle-agedness is comforting and sexy to me,” so she proceeds, tentatively in Albert’s presence and recklessly when he’s not around. Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, comic violence, language and partial nudity. One hour, 33 minutes. — P.C.
THE FIFTH ESTATE --
Josh Singer’s highly scrutinized screenplay derives from the 2011 books “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange and the World’s Most Dangerous Website” by former WikiLeaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg (played in the film by “Rush”’s Daniel Bruhl) and “WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy” by David Leigh and Luke Harding of Britain’s venerable newspaper “The Guardian.” In telling the story of the news-leaking, whistle-blowing website, the movie makes the fundamental mistake of taking Domscheit-Berg’s perspective and allowing Assange to become the hero’s antagonist. This is not to say that “The Fifth Estate” doesn’t try to have it both ways. The film paints Assange as an unethical master manipulator, an imperious egotist and a white-haired weirdo, but it also hammers the point that WikiLeaks marked a revolution in journalism, the next evolutionary step connoted by the title. Rated R for language and some violence. Two hours, eight minutes. — P.C.
GRAVITY ---1/2
“At 600 km. above the Earth,” we’re told in the new film “Gravity,” “There is nothing to carry sound. No air pressure. No oxygen. Life in space is impossible.” And yet, there we are. The evocation of Ridley Scott’s 1979 “Alien” (“In space, no one can hear you scream”) is apt: “Gravity” is a bit like “Alien” without the alien, replacing it with existential despair that’s just as likely to take a fatal bite out of the heroine. Here the heroine is Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a medical engineer sent via space shuttle to assist in repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope. In the film’s first sequence — a bravura 12-minute segment crafted to
appear as a single camera shot with no cuts — satellite debris shoots at the shuttle and the telescope, causing a fatal accident that threatens to strand and thereby kill Stone and shuttle commander Matt Kowalski (George Clooney). Dwindling oxygen and thruster power threaten their survival, as does Stone’s natural panic due to the circumstances and her inexperience. Rated PG-13 for intense perilous sequences, some disturbing images and brief strong language. One hour, 30 minutes. — P.C.
PRISONERS --1/2
A-list talent in front of and behind the camera boosts expectations that Denis Villeneuve’s crime thriller “Prisoners” will deliver the goods. But actors — including Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano — cannot elevate the screenplay by Aaron Guzikowski (“Contraband”) into a work of moral complexity and white-knuckle tension. Kidnapped children, devastated and frantic parents, a cool-headed detective and creepy suspects are core conventions. Keller Dover (Jackman) believes in praying for the best and preparing for the worst. Living in a sleepy Pennsylvania town, the loving father trains his family in survival skills. Dover assures his wife (Bello), teenage son (Dylan Minnette) and daughter (Erin Gerasimovich) that he can protect them from anything. One fateful Thanksgiving proves him wrong. Rated R for language, disturbing violent content and torture. Two hours, 33 minutes. — S.T.
RUSH --1/2
The director of “Frost/Nixon,” Ron Howard, brings us in “Rush” another Morgan match-up: 1970s Formula One racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. “Rush” proves most distinguished by its dual sympathies for British playboy Hunt (an impressive change of pace for Chris Hemsworth) and sour but focused Austrian driver Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). They size each other up as they make their ways through the Formula Three circuit, and Morgan establishes their personalities both in their behaviors and in their traded-off narration of insights like “The closer you are to death, the more alive you feel.” It’s not long before “Rush” arrives at the legendary 1976 Formula One season, but even then, Howard makes clear that it’s not about the races. They’re there, but rushed through kinetically edited montages so we can get back to the concerns of Hunt and Lauda in their careers (threatened by each other’s successes) and married lives (in underwritten turns, Olivia Wilde and Alexandra Maria Lara play Hemsworth and Bruhl’s respective spouses). Rated R for sexual content, nudity, language, disturbing images and brief drug use. Two hours, three minutes. — P.C.
N MOVIECRITICS S.T.- Susan Tavernetti, P.C. Peter Canavese, T.H.-Tyler Hanley
- Skip it -- Some redeeming qualities --- A good bet ---- Outstanding For show times, plot synopses, trailers and more movie info, visit www.mv-voice.com and click on movies.
N MOVIETIMES All Is Lost (PG-13) Guild Theatre: 3:30, 6, 8:30 p.m. Fri also at 1 p.m. Blue Jasmine (PG-13) ((( Palo Alto Square: 2, 4:30, 7 p.m. Fri-Sat also at 9:30 p.m. Captain Phillips (PG-13) ((( Century 16: 10:50 a.m. & 12:30, 2:10, 3:50, 5:30, 7:10, 8:50, 10:15 p.m. Century 20: 11:35 a.m. & 1:05, 2:40, 4:10, 5:45, 7:20, 8:50, 10:25 p.m. Carrie (R) Century 16: 10:30 & 11:55 a.m. & 1:15, 2:35, 4, 5:20, 6:55, 7:55, 9:45, 10:35 p.m. Century 20: 11:25 a.m. & 12:30, 1:55, 2:55, 4:25, 5:30, 7, 8:05, 9:35, 10:45 p.m. Sun no 1:55, and 4:35 instead of 4:25. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (PG) Century 16: 2:15, 4:50, 7:15 p.m. In 3D 11:45 a.m. & 9:50 p.m. Century 20: 11:15 a.m. & 1:45, 4:20, 6:50 p.m. In 3D 12:35, 3, 5:40, 8:05, 10:25 p.m. The Counselor (R) Century 16: 10:35 a.m. & 12:05, 1:30, 3, 4:30, 5:55, 7:25, 9, 10:15 p.m. Century 20: 11:20 a.m. & 12:50, 2:15, 3:40, 5:05, 6:30, 7:55, 9:20, 10:40 p.m. Don Jon (R) (( Century 20: 9:15 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 1, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45 p.m. Fri-Sat also at 10 p.m. Enough Said (PG-13) ((( Aquarius Theatre: 2:30, 5, 7:30 p.m. Fri-Sat also at 9:55 p.m. Century 20: 2:20, 7:40 p.m. Escape Plan (R) Century 16: 10:55 a.m. & 1:45, 4:45, 7:35, 10:25 p.m. Century 20: 11:15 a.m. & 2, 4:45, 7:35, 10:30 p.m. The Fifth Estate (R) (( Century 16: 10:40 a.m. & 1:35, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 1:10, 4:05, 7:10, 10:05 p.m. Gravity (PG-13) (((1/2 Century 16: 11:20 a.m. & 4:20, 9:40 p.m. In 3D 10:30 a.m. & 12:10, 1, 1:50, 2:40, 3:30, 5:10, 6, 7, 7:50, 8:40, 10:20 p.m. Century 20: 11:30 a.m. & 1:50, 4:15, 6:40, 9:05 p.m. In 3D 12:10, 1:20, 2:30, 3:40, 4:50, 6, 7:15, 8:25, 9:40, 10:45 p.m. In XD 12:40, 3:05, 5:25, 7:50, 10:15 p.m. I’m in Love With a Church Girl (PG) Century 20: 2:20, 7:50 p.m. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (R) Century 16: 11:30 a.m. & 12:30, 1:55, 2:55, 4:25, 5:25, 7, 8, 9:30, 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 11:35 a.m. & 12:20, 1:10, 2, 2:45, 3:30, 4:25, 5:10, 5:55, 6:50, 7:35, 8:20, 9:20, 10, 10:45 p.m. Key Largo (1948) (Not Rated) Stanford Theatre: 7:30 p.m. Sat & Sun also at 3:55 p.m. The Lady From Shanghai (1947) (Not Rated) Stanford Theatre: 5:50, 9:25 p.m. Machete Kills (R) Century 20: 11:40 a.m. & 5:10, 10:40 p.m. The Met: The Nose (Not Rated) Century 20: Fri 9:55 a.m. Sat 9:55 a.m. Sun 9:55 a.m. Mon 9:55 a.m. Muscle Shoals (PG) Aquarius Theatre: 1:45, 4:!5, 7 p.m. Fri-Sat also at 9:30 p.m. National Theatre Live: Othello (Not Rated) Guild Theatre: Sat-Sun 11 a.m. Prisoners (R) ((1/2 Century 16: 6:40 p.m. Fri-Sat also at 11:50 a.m. Pulling Strings (Not Rated) Century 16: 10:05 p.m. Fri-Sat also at 3:15 p.m. Century 20: 11:40 a.m. & 5, 10:05 p.m. Rush (R) (( Century 16: 10:45 a.m. & 1:40, 4:35, 7:30, 10:25 p.m. Century 20: 11:10 a.m. & 2, 4:50, 7:45, 10:35 p.m. The Shining (1980) (R) Century 16: Fri 2 p.m. Sat 2 p.m. Sun 2 p.m. Mon 2 p.m. Tue 2 p.m. Century 20: Sun 2 p.m. AQUARIUS: 430 Emerson St., Palo Alto (266-9260) CENTURY CINEMA 16: 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View (800-326-3264) CENTURY 20 DOWNTOWN: 825 Middlefield Road, Redwood City (800-326-3264) CINEARTS AT PALO ALTO SQUARE: 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (493-3456) STANFORD THEATRE: 221 University Ave., Palo Alto (324-3700) For show times, plot synopses and more information about any films playing at the Aquarius, visit www.LandmarkTheatres.com October 25, 2013 ■ Mountain View Voice ■ MountainViewOnline.com ■
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