Opening this week The Addams Family
The creepy family made famous in the 1960s television series gets the CGI animation treatment. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas. Rated PG.
Gemini Man
Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) directs Will Smith as an aging hitman who is tracked down by a cloned version of his younger self. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas. Rated PG-13.
Jexi
When a young tech-addicted loser starts to come out of his shell thanks to advice from Jexi, the voice in his smartphone, the A.I. life coach starts to sabotage his love life. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas. Rated R.
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice Documentary on the life and career of legendary singer Linda Ronstadt, one of the most recognizable voices in the history of recorded music. Pageant Theatre. Rated PG-13.
Now playing Abominable
A computer-animated feature about a teen girl who finds a Yeti on her roof and helps her new friend find his way back to his home at Mr. Everest. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas. Rated PG.
Downton Abbey
The popular British television show comes to the big screen, with the familiar cast of characters being visited at their English country house by the king and queen. Cinemark 14. Rated PG.
Hustlers
Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles and Cardi B star as a crew of strippers who hustle money from Wall Street clients who frequent the club. Inspired by a true-life 2015 story that appeared in New York magazine. Cinemark 14. Rated R.
2
It Chapter Two
If you look at this sequel as a standalone, it’s a big mess. The movie picks up 27 years after the first part, with the grown-up Losers Club—played by Bill Hader (Richie), Jessica Chastain (Beverly) and James McAvoy (Bill), among others—being called back to their hometown where a rematch with the morphing Pennywise the clown is in order. That’s it for the plot. The adults split up, suffer some individual horrors at the hands of Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard), then wind up back together for the finale. After a solid start, the performers just run from set piece to set piece, setting the table for some CGI scares mixed with the occasional practical effects. Even at nearly three hours, this movie comes off as rushed and haphazard. Despite this, Hader rules as Richie in the same way Finn Wolfhard ruled the character in the first one. He’s funny, he’s aces at looking scared, and he can handle the heavy drama. He and Skarsgard make chunks of this movie worth watching. It Chapter Two drags the overall grade for both movies together to somewhere around a B-minus. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas. Rated R —B.G.
2
Joker
See review this issue. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas. Rated R —B.G.
Judy
Renée Zellweger stars as actress/singer Judy Garland in this biopic centered on a six-week run of shows in London toward the end of her tragically short life. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas. Rated PG-13.
Gemini Man
1 2 3 4 5 Poor
Fair
Good
Very Good
Excellent
CN&R will NeveR CoNtaCt a meRChaNt to puRChase a Best of plaque
Reviewers: Bob Grimm, Juan-Carlos Selznick and Neesa Sonoquie.
All first place winners of CN&R’s Best of receive a plaque for fRee
FILM SHORTS
OCTOBER 10, 2019
CN&R
67