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Jim Caviezel, Alexander Ludwig and Matthew Daddario star in “When the Game Stands Tall.”
WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL 001/2 (Century 16, Century 20) In a sense, “When the Game Stands Tall” — the Hollywood-ization of De La Salle High School’s legendary Spartans football team — is about what it’s not about. It’s not about winning. It’s not even about the football. Rather, it’s a values-driven parable of character. Since Concord’s De La Salle is a Catholic school, it lends itself well to a “faith-based” film, though screenwriter Scott Marshall Smith and director Thomas Carter have the good sense to tread relatively lightly around the Jesus stuff. Noted Jesus portrayer (and fan) Jim Caviezel plays storied coach Bob Ladouceur, who oversaw the Spartans’ unprecedented 151-game winning streak. Unchallenged dominance doesn’t serve the drama of a sports movie, so of course the real story is in the dynasty beginning to crumble. Health issues sideline Ladouceur, just as son Danny (Matthew Daddario), a Spartan receiver, finally hoped to make something of his situation with a football-obsessed dad. A tragedy of gun violence fells a Spartan. And, yes, the streak ends, as the new batch of seniors takes its success for granted, and De La Salle steps up to face a well-matched rival in Long Beach Poly. Can Ladouceur put the pieces back together? And should he, given the toll on his family (including his wife, played by Laura Dern) and enticing job offers at the collegiate level? When the script focuses on process and philosophy, the film functions best. “When the Game Stands Tall” takes interest in how Ladouceur formed boys into men by empowering them to take ownership of their growth and success and care about excellence more than 24
wins. The players author “commitment cards” spelling out their achievable personal goals for improvement, practice and work out on a grueling schedule, get perspective by visiting wounded veterans, and formally gather to pour out their emotions to each other and thereby bond as a team. But this wouldn’t be a sports movie without hyped-up drama, and “When the Game Stands Tall” has its fair share of soap-operatic emotional displays, climactically capped by a schmaltzy, manufactured, arguably absurd “Rudy”-style moment. Carter previously helmed the high-school basketball film “Coach Carter,” also of local interest, about putting academics first. There’s little here about the student side of student athletes, but we do get a fictional running back (Alexander Ludwig) with an off-the-shelf jerky dad (Clancy Brown) that compares poorly to surrogate dad Ladouceur. Ludwig’s character insists, when seriously injured, “The only way I’m going out of this game is on a stretcher.” There’s implicit heroism in his attitude, disconcertingly so as the game soul-searches about its physical toll on players, perhaps especially school-age ones. Of course, we’ve seen the “Full eyes, clear hearts, can’t lose” ethic before on screen, and more winningly dramatized, but “When the Game Stands Tall” does a good, and family-friendly, job of encapsulating Ladouceur’s “winning” approach to life as well as the game: putting in a no-regrets “perfect effort from snap to whistle.” Rated PG for thematic material, a scene of violence and brief smoking. One hour, 55 minutes. — Peter Canavese
Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q August 22, 2014
(Century 20) “Romance novels” function on idealization, including fulfilling a teen’s yen for drama — any kind of drama — to alleviate the tedium of school days and curfew nights. And so impossibly cute romance meets tragedy to mix up ye olde rom-dram formula, whether it’s “The Fault in Our Stars” or its on-the-heels screen sibling “If I Stay,” based on Gayle Forman’s YA novel. Chloë Grace Moretz plays Mia Hall, a cello-playing Yo Yo Ma fanatic growing up in Oregon under loving, attentive punk-rock-loving parents. They’re, well, impossibly cute: Isn’t it zany how Mom and Dad (Mireille Enos and Joshua Leonard) haunted rock clubs and Mia loves symphony halls? You just want to pinch their cheeks! But speaking of “haunted,” after a discreetly depicted car accident, Mia finds herself a Patrick Swayze-style ghost — make that a “coma ghost” — having the mother of all outof-body experiences. With time to remember and reflect on her life to this point, and the freedom to stalk her loved ones, Mia learns it’s up to her to decide if she lives or dies, her decision-making process forming the dramatic spine of the film. Never mind that this hardly seems like much of a choice. Especially since Mia was lucky enough to bag a cute guy, Adam (Jamie Blackley), a rock guitarist who gigs with a band, seems likely to get signed, and seems to love Mia madly. Too many of the characters are idealized, and despite a predictable, late-breaking “twist,” “If I Stay” poorly dramatizes Mia’s actual choice: at least the way the script and Moretz play it, it always seems like a no-brainer; hence, there’s little in the way of dramatic tension. The film’s spiritual bent (just a stone’s throw from “Heaven Is for Real”) never amounts to more than silly and, worse, the film can be read as implying that Mia’s only reason for living is the boy she likes. Paging the National Organization for Women ... National Organization for Women, report to Theater 7 ... Still, who doesn’t like being lovingly spoon-fed? R.J. Cutler’s film may be shamelessly engineered and sappy, but swoony romantics (c’mon, you know you are one!) may not much mind. Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and some sexual material. One hour, 46 minutes. — Peter Canavese
A Most Wanted Man (R) Century 16: Fri 10:50 a.m. & 7:40 p.m. Sat & Sun 1:45 & 7:25 p.m. Century 20: 4:55 & 10:45 p.m. Boyhood (R) ++++ Aquarius Theatre: 11:15 a.m., 12:15, 3:45, 4:45, 7:15 & 8:15 p.m. Calvary (R) +++ Century 20: 1:45 p.m. & 7:05 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 2, 4:40, 7:15 & 9:50 p.m. Fri & Sat Charlie Chan in London (1934) (Not Rated) Stanford Theatre: Fri Click on theater name for showtimes Chef (R)
Palo Alto Square: 1:30, 4:15 & 7 p.m. Fri & Sat 9:45 p.m.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (PG-13) +++ Century 20: 10:55 a.m., 1:55 & 7:45 p.m. Earth to Echo (PG) Century 16: 11:10 a.m. & 1:40 p.m. Century 20: 11:10 a.m. & 1:35 p.m. The Expendables 3 (PG-13) +1/2 Century 16: 9 & 10:30 a.m.; noon, 1:30, 3, 4:30, 6:15, 7:30, 9:15 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 11:40 a.m.; 1:15, 4:20, 7:25, 9 & 10:30 p.m. Gigi (1958) (Not Rated) Stanford Theatre: Sat & Sun 3:35 & 7:30 p.m. The Giver (PG-13) ++ Century 16: 9:15, 10:35 & 11:50 a.m.; 1:10, 2:25, 3:50, 4:55, 6:25, 7:35, 8:55 & 10:10 p.m. Century 20: 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:35, 7:15 & 9:55 p.m. Guardians of the Galaxy (PG-13) Century 16: 9:45 a.m., 12:45, 3:40, 7 & 10:05 p.m. In 3-D at 11:15 a.m., 2:15, 5:15 & 8:30 p.m. Sat in 3-D at 11:30 p.m. Century 20: 10:55 a.m., 1:55, 4:50, 7:50 & 10:45 p.m. In 3-D at 12:25, 3:25, 6:30 & 9:20 p.m. The Hundred-Foot Journey (PG) ++1/2 Century 16: 10:25 a.m., 1:20, 4:20, 7:20 & 10:15 p.m. Century 20: 10:55 a.m., 1:50, 4:45, 7:45 & 10:40 p.m. If I Stay (PG-13) Century 16: 10:45 a.m., 1:35, 4:25, 7:15 & 9:55 p.m. Fri 11:35 p.m. Sat 11:50 p.m. Century 20: 11 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7:10 & 9:55 p.m. Into the Storm (PG-13) +1/2 Century 20: 7 & 9:30 p.m. Let’s Be Cops (R) Century 16: 9, 10:25 & 11:35 a.m.; 1, 2:10, 3:35, 5, 6:20, 7:45, 9 & 10:25 p.m. Sat 11:35 p.m. Century 20: 11:50 a.m., 1:05, 2:30, 3:45, 5:15, 6:30, 8, 9:15 & 10:45 p.m. Lucy (R) +++ Century 16: 4:10, 7:05 & 9:30 p.m. Century 20: 12:45, 3:10, 5:35, 8:05 & 10:30 p.m. Magic in the Moonlight (PG-13) Century 20: 4, 7 & 9:40 p.m. Guild Theatre: 2, 4:30, 7:10 & 9:30 p.m. Planes: Fire & Rescue (PG)
Century 20: 11:35 a.m., 1:55 & 4:30 p.m.
The Reluctant Debutante (1958) (Not Rated) Stanford Theatre: Sat & Sun 5:40 & 9:35 p.m. Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) (Not Rated) Stanford Theatre: Fri 6:10 & 9:20 p.m. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (R) Century 16: 7:50 p.m. In 3-D at 9:05 & 11:40 a.m.; 2:20, 5:05 & 10:25 p.m. Sat & Sun 9:05 a.m. & 2:20 p.m. Sat in 3-D at 11:45 p.m. Century 20: 12:15 & 8:10 p.m.; In 3-D at 2:55, 5:35 & 10:45 p.m.; In X-D, 11:05 a.m., 1:45, 4:30, 7:15 & 10 p.m. Step Up All In (PG-13)
Century 20: 2:50 & 5:50 p.m.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (PG-13) ++ Century 16: 9:20 & 11:55 a.m.; 2:30, 5:10, 7:55 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 12:05, 2:40, 5:15, 7:55 & 10:40 p.m.; In 3-D at 11 a.m., 1:35, 4:05, 6:45 & 9:25 p.m. What If (PG-13) Century 16: Fri 4:35, 7:05 & 9:35 p.m. Sat & Sun 10:50 a.m., 4:45 & 10:20 p.m. Century 20: 11:10 a.m., 4:15 & 9:40 p.m. When the Game Stands Tall (PG) Century 16: 10:40 a.m., 1:25, 4:15, 7:10 & 10 p.m. Fri & Sat 11:30 p.m. Century 20: 11 a.m., 12:25, 1:45, 3:15, 4:30, 6:05, 7:20, 8:55 & 10:10 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 0 Skip it 00 Some redeeming qualities 000 A good bet 0000 Outstanding
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