MOVING IMAGES chile pages — compiled by Holly Weber
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Floyd/Washington Post) Drama/biography, rated PG, 112 minutes, Regal Santa Fe Place
BELLE Trailer youtu.be/ChneY1MSVFw For years, shy high school student Suzu has only been a shadow of herself, but when she enters “U,” a massive virtual world, she escapes into her online persona as Belle, a gorgeous and globally-beloved singer. When her concert is interrupted by a monstrous creature, Suzu embarks on an emotional and epic quest to uncover the identity of this mysterious “beast” and to discover her true self in a world where you can be anyone. “Belle is a beautifully observed, dazzlingly animated sci-fi fairy tale about our online-offline double lives.” (Daily Telegraph) Fantasy/anime, rated PG, 121 minutes, Violet Crown
THE KING’S MAN Trailer youtu.be/_0vKejp3rvA Matthew Vaughn’s The King’s Man, a prequel to the filmmaker’s two entertainingly comic-book-y action-adventure spy-larks, Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, is at once more bonkers and more staid than either of its predecessors. Set against the backdrop of World War I, this story posits a revisionist theory about the causes of the global conflict with one man, fictional pacifist the Duke of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes), racing against time to stop history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds as they plot a war that could destroy humanity. Vaughn’s stylistic signature of balletic brutality is among the film’s pleasures, although the narrative’s hybrid tone — part academic, part acid trip — is not. (Michael O’Sullivan/The Washington Post) Action/comedy, rated R, 131 minutes, Violet Crown
DRIVE MY CAR Trailer youtu.be/6BPKPb_RTwI An aging, widowed actor seeks a chauffeur. The actor turns to his go-to mechanic, who ends up recommending a 20-year-old girl. Despite their initial misgivings, a very special relationship develops between the two. “Patience is richly rewarded in the three-hour span of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s theatre-centered tale, adapted from a story by Haruki Murakami.” (New Yorker) Drama, not rated, 179 minutes, Center for Contemporary Arts Cinema SCREAM Trailer youtu.be/beToTslH17s Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, California, a new killer dons the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past. “A bravura, provocative sendup of horror pictures that’s also scary and gruesome yet too swift-moving to lapse into morbidity.” (Los Angeles Times) Comedy/horror, rated R, 111 minutes, Regal Santa Fe Place, Violet Crown
REOPENING THE FRENCH DISPATCH Trailer youtu.be/TcPk2p0Zaw4 Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch pays oblique but ferociously detailed tribute to The New Yorker, with Bill Murray as Arthur Howitzer Jr., the Harold Ross-like editor of the titular magazine published in the fictional French town of Ennui-surBlasé. A love letter to journalists, The French Dispatch bears the Anderson signatures that have made his movies an artisanal cottage industry. It is undeniably delightful to look at but keeps things on an attractive but shallow surface. (Ann Hornaday/ The Washington Post) Romance/comedy, rated R, 103 minutes, Violet Crown HOUSE OF GUCCI Trailer youtu.be/eGNnpVKxV6s House of Gucci is a movie about passion, not fashion. The soap-opera-like tale, which tells the true story of the 1995 murder of fashion heir Maurizio Gucci by thugs hired by his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani (played by Lady Gaga), is also about money, family, power, betrayal, sex, loyalty, scandal, ambition, and murder. Directed by Ridley Scott, it’s one of those prestige true-crime dramas that run through a checklist of events without ever seeming to draw any cautionary lesson or larger point. Unfortunately, House of Gucci is not one of those so-bad-it’s-good larks. (Michael O’Sullivan/The Washington Post) Crime/drama, rated R, 158 minutes, Violet Crown
26 PASATIEMPO I January 14-20, 2022
Belle explores the line between our sense of ourselves and how we want to be seen.
CONTINUING THE 355 Trailer youtu.be/SV0s2S9reT0 CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown (Jessica Chastain) joins forces with a rival German agent (Diane Kruger), a former MI6 ally (Lupita Nyong’o), and a Colombian psychologist (Penélope Cruz) when a top-secret weapon falls into the hands of a group of mercenaries. Together, the four women embark on a breakneck mission to save the world while staying one step ahead of a mysterious figure who’s tracking their every move. “Starry, silly escapism with pop-feminist flare and a passport.” (Entertainment Weekly) Action/thriller, rated PG-13, 122 minutes, Regal Santa Fe Place, Violet Crown A HERO Trailer youtu.be/zAJ6_lmr_HQ A man in prison for debt tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint during a two-day leave, but things don’t go as planned. From two-time Academy Award-winning director Asghar Farhadi, A Hero won the Grand Prix award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. “The movie takes place in Iran, yet it’s really situated in the crack of daylight that separates truth from a lie.” (Michael O’Sullivan/The Washington Post) Drama, rated PG-13, 127 minutes, CCAC. Review Page 24 AMERICAN UNDERDOG Trailer youtu.be/_6rn-6lKBJ8 The inspirational true story of Kurt Warner (Zachary Levi), who overcomes years of challenges and setbacks to become a two-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl champion, and Hall of Fame quarterback. Just when his dreams seem all but out of reach, it’s only with the support of his wife, Brenda (Anna Paquin), and the encouragement of his family, coaches, and teammates that Warner perseveres and finds the strength to show the world the champion that he already is. “This down-the-middle crowd pleaser ultimately makes for a rousing enough portrayal of against-the-odds fortitude, pad-crunching gridiron action, and good old-fashioned Midwestern decency.” (Thomas
LICORICE PIZZA Trailer youtu.be/ofnXPwUPENo In this coming-of-age film, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson once again turns his affectionate, somewhat pitiless lens on the entertainment world. But now it’s the wilderness of child stardom and C-list celebrity, which forms the alternately amusing and bemusing backdrop for a portrait of young love, elusive purpose, knowingness, innocence, and the knockabout appeal of just hanging out. At its idiosyncratic best, the film captures the in-betweenness of life, when love isn’t exactly romance, and the future turns out to be another version of the present. It might be most rewarding to view Licorice Pizza as a dream: It doesn’t always add up, or even go anywhere in particular. But it makes its own kind of offbeat, freewheeling sense. (Ann Hornaday/The Washington Post) Comedy/romance, rated R, 133 minutes, Violet Crown SING 2 Trailer youtu.be/EPZu5MA2uqI You could do worse than this sequel to 2016’s Sing, which follows a ragtag musical menagerie looking to take their act to the film’s version of Las Vegas. As in the original film, they’re led by Buster the koala (Matthew McConaughey), who wants to take the show to Redshore City, but he’s told the group’s potatoes are just too small to make it in Not Vegas. In desperation, Buster promises an appearance by a retired and reclusive rock star/lion (Bono). What begins as a dream of big-time success soon becomes an emotional reminder of the power of music to heal even the most broken heart. A cinematic masterpiece it is not. But Sing 2 is good enough. (Kristen Page-Kirby/For The Washington Post) Comedy/musical, rated PG, 110 minutes, Regal Santa Fe Place, Violet Crown SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME Trailer youtu.be/JfVOs4VSpmA No Way Home is a Spider-Man sundae with extra cherries. The concept of a multiverse is the engine that drives the new film’s narrative, but the high-test rocket fuel that powers it are its performances. Guided by director Jon Watts, whose credits include both of Tom Holland’s previous headlining performances as the wall-crawler, the supporting cast has so much fun here that it’s infectious. With Spider-Man’s identity now revealed, our friendly neighborhood web-slinger is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life as Peter Parker from the high stakes of being a superhero. When Peter asks
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