NEW THIS WEEK Information is correct at press time. Film release schedules are subject to change. EDDIE THE EAGLE BB See review on p. 28. Opens Feb. 26 at theaters valleywide. (PG-13) GODS OF EGYPT [not yet reviewed] A thief and a mythical god take a quest through an ancient land. Opens Feb. 26 at theaters valleywide. (PG-13)
TRIPLE 9 BB A new film from director John Hillcoat should be reason to celebrate. From 2006’s revisionist Western The Proposition to 2009’s ultra-postapocalyptic The Road to 2012’s Prohibitionera drama Lawless, this is a filmmaker who smashes stereotypes in well-explored genres makes us see familiar stories from new angles. So what happened with Triple 9? How did Hillcoat manage to make an urban heist thriller—about criminals using the murder of a police officer as a diversion—feel so, well, generic? How did he manage to render his terrific cast—which includes such names as Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kate Winslet, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck and Anthony Mackie—as characters too unlikable to be genuinely engaging, but not complex or twisted enough to be intriguing anyway? Is it all down to the script, by newcomer Matt Cook? That doesn’t seem like enough of an explanation. There are certainly moments here that are superbly tense and dripping with anxiety. But then they’re over, and we’re left with a hollow emptiness. Hillcoat’s films have, previously, been haunting; they linger with you long after they’re over. But I had all but forgotten Triple 9 the minute it ended. Opens Feb. 26 at theaters valleywide. (R)—MaryAnn Johanson
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THEEB BBB The power in this Jordanian Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Feature comes from its simplest moments—and they might have been even stronger with a clearer sense of context. Set in 1916, it’s the story of a Bedouin boy named Theeb (Eid Al-Hwietat) who tags along when his brother, Hussein (Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen), agrees to guide a British soldier (Jack Fox) through the Wadi Rum desert. Eventually, an attack by bandits leaves Theeb alone, depending on a wounded bandit for his survival, and young Al-Hwietat is impressive at conveying the physical and moral trials Theeb faces in a basic survival narrative. But writer/director Naji Abu Nowar provides almost no framework for the era of the Arab Uprising against the Ottoman Turks, or the implications for the lives of simple tribesmen caught in the middle of global-scale conflict. The British soldier’s comment that king and country are the things really worth fighting for collide with Theeb’s devotion to his family and tribe; Theeb proves engrossing in the moment, but misses its chance to really dig into that fundamental distinction. Opens Feb. 26 at Broadway Centre Cinemas. (NR)—Scott Renshaw
plotting and histrionic performances are at student-film levels. It’s a mediocre but largely unpretentious drama, probably of interest only to those with personal experience with its themes. Opens Feb. 26 at Broadway Centre Cinemas. (R)—Eric D. Snider
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TOUCHED WITH FIRE BB There is a book called Touched with Fire (subtitled ManicDepressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament), but this movie is not based on that book. Rather, it’s writer-director Paul Dalio’s semi-autobiographical story about bipolar characters who are helped by the book—whose psychologist author, Kay Jamison, appears as herself to endorse its contents (oh, boy). Carla (Katie Holmes) and Marco (Luke Kirby) are 20-something poets who meet in a psychiatric ward, where they bring out each other’s manic sides and must be separated. Once released, they pursue a relationship, watched warily by Carla’s parents (Christine Lahti and Bruce Altman) and Marco’s father (Griffin Dunne). The film’s message—take your meds if there are people depending on you—is reasonable but narrowly applicable, and Dalio doesn’t do anything to make it more universal. Moreover, the melodramatic
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