by JONATHAN KIeFeR & JIM LANe
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Django Unchained
Just know it’s the sort of movie whose premiere gets postponed in the wake of school shootings and whose dialogue contains so many N-bombs that people have glumly gotten down to counting them. Sure, the word was common enough in the 1850s, but Quentin Tarantino is not exactly a paragon of historical verisimilitude. Here, again, the audacious everadolescent revisionist just wants us to know how, like, awesome our history would’ve been as one big bloody badass overlong Westernblaxploitation whatsit. Christoph Waltz plays a voluble and worldly bounty hunter who frees the eponymous hero, played by Jamie Foxx, to rescue his wife, played by Kerry Washington, from a brutal plantation lord played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Gangsta vengeance and tedium ensues. All told, good taste might have been more offensive. Waltz is wonderful, Foxx is deliberately less a character than a trope, and DiCaprio a bit of a bore, except in that he seems to enjoy acting again. Maybe the real revelation is Samuel L. Jackson in a careercapping turn as the slaveholder’s elderly houseman, a sort of terrible and riveting Tarantino apotheosis, or at least an antithesis of the actor’s role as Spike Lee’s Mister Señor Love Daddy. J.K.
3
The Guilt Trip
An inventor (Seth Rogen), off on a crosscountry road trip to try to interest retailers in his latest invention, impulsively invites his mother (Barbra Streisand) to come along, hoping to reunite her with a long-lost sweetheart when they reach San Francisco. The movie appears to have undergone some post-production tampering (witness the many scenes from the preview trailer that didn’t wind up in the finished picture), but the final result is comfy and enjoyable. Dan Fogelman’s script has a gentle, low-key humor that meshes nicely with Streisand and Rogen’s easy screen rapport, and Anne Fletcher’s unobtrusive direction makes it all go down smoothly. Few surprises, but no glaring mistakes along the way, either. Colin Hanks, Nora Dunn, Adam Scott and Ari Graynor contribute thankless but nicely turned cameos. J.L.
3
Hitchcock
Here’s another defanged Hollywood history, done in the biopic-snapshot style and complete with voguish prosthetic distraction—this time in the fat-suited form of Anthony Hopkins, rolling suspenselessly along as the master of suspense. Adapted by John J. McLaughlin from Stephen Rebello’s book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, director Sacha Gervasi’s film seems slightly afraid of appealing only to a rarefied film-wonk crowd, and settles therefore into broad, easy strokes. Worried about advancing age and declining reputation, this Hitch bucks all career advice and stakes his house on a self-financed adaptation of Robert Bloch’s novel, which, in turn, derives from the true story of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein, who appears to the director in a few misbegotten dream sequences. There’s also some behind-every-great-man mythology, helped along by Helen Mirren as Hitchcock’s wife and unsung collaborator Alma Reville. The net result is companionable but eventually sort of irritating, like a good friend with a bad habit of pantomimed stabbings and a cappella renditions of Bernard Herrmann’s violins. Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, James D’Arcy, and Danny Huston co-star. J.K.
3
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Having done all right with his Lord of the Rings, director Peter Jackson returns to the fantasy fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien and another planned nine-hour trilogy, beginning with this overlong but eventually appealing first installment. As the eponymous diminutive, Martin Freeman excels at comporting himself with kooky company, particularly by means of selfeffacement. Obediently, the movie also provides not just the requisite CGI spectacles but a few of the previous trilogy’s other human touches: the patient wizardry of Ian McKellen; the elfin nobility of Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving; the moistly sibilant voice and motion-captured form of Andy Serkis. Mercifully, it’s less like watching someone else play a video game (albeit in unprecedented high definition) than it might have been—Jackson’s enhanced digital imagery has a vaguely fluorescent chill, but at least the film it’s in seems like a promising warm-up. J.K.
BEFORE
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2 5 0 8 L A N D PA R K D R I V E L A N D PA R K & B R O A D WAY F R E E PA R K I N G A D J A C E N T T O T H E AT R E “A STRONG, EMOTIONALLY REPLETE EXPERIENCE.”
“AN INTIMATE TALE OF THE SMALL ACTS OF KINDNESS AND CONNECTION.”
RUST AND BONE THE IMPOSSIBLE - A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES
- Michael O’Sullivan, WASHINGTON POST
STARTS FRI., 1/11
FRI-TUES: 11:00AM, 1:40, 4:20, 7:00, 9:40PM
WED-TUES: 11:20AM, 2:00, 4:40, 7:15, 9:55PM
“A REFINED TREAT.”- Todd McCarthy, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
“AN INTOXICATING SPECTACLE THAT BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO THE CLASSIC.”
Anna Karenina - Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
What’s a charming man like you doing in a place like this?
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WED/THUR: 10:35AM, 12:45, 2:55, 5:10, 7:30, 9:45PM FRI-TUES: 10:45AM, 12:50, 3:00, 5:10, 7:30, 9:45PM WED/THUR: 10:30AM, 1:20, 4:10, 7:00, 9:50PM F O R A D V A N C E T I C K E T S C A L L FA N D A N G O @ 1 - 8 0 0 - F A N D A N G O # 2 7 2 1
Gangster Squad
Director Ruben Fleischer and writer Will Beall (taking off from Paul Lieberman’s book) recount the efforts of Los Angeles police in 1949 to bring down mobster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn, succulently hammy) with a handpicked detail of maverick cops (led by an iron-jawed Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling, cranking the charm factor up to 11). The movie is largely fictitious, but golly gee, what swell fiction it is! A smart, snappy script, nonstop gun-blazing action, and a powerhouse cast (Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Michael Peña, plus Emma Stone for glamour) all add up to an exciting throwback to the Warner Bros. gangster movies of the early sound era, punched over with grit, wit and the glowing retro sheen of L.A. Confidential (cinematographer Dion Beebe really outdoes himself). J.L.
2
The Impossible
The driving engine here is the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and the story follows a Spanish family on Christmas vacation in Thailand who were so separated and thoroughly battered but reunited against odds so long that the film’s title is only a slight exaggeration. It’s not made up, but it’s anglicized; screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez and director Antonio Bayona, Spaniards themselves, have cast a thoroughly English family (Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts as the parents). We wait for the big wave, then we watch it, then we’re wading through the aftermath. There’s great technical skill in the scenes of devastation, and McGregor and Watts are fine, while young Tom Holland makes an elegant display of coming-of-age as their eldest son. Yes, The Impossible may make you want to hug your kids, but it’s also the kind of movie that allows the perverse pleasure of sitting through a terrible event from a safe distance. Better to donate to disaster relief. J.K.
3
Jack Reacher
An ex-military cop (Tom Cruise) pops in to investigate the case against a killer sniper and finds things are not quite as openand-shut as they seem. Lee Child’s series of novels (in this case, One Shot) makes a surprisingly good fit for Cruise, even though the books’ Reacher is bigger and blonder. But if this turns into a franchise (is Cruise getting tired of Mission: Impossible?), writer-director Christopher McQuarrie (or whoever comes after) would be wise to pick up the pace on the next picture: At 130 minutes, this one threatens to wear out its welcome. Fortunately, Cruise’s movie-star charisma is well-deployed, the plot is engaging and the action scenes smoothly mounted. Rosamund Pike plays the accused killer’s lawyer, Richard Jenkins plays her district-attorney father, and David Oyelowo plays the lead cop on the case. J.L.
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Les Misérables
The opera-lite smash from Victor Hugo’s novel comes to the screen, with ex-con Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), his dogged pursuer Javert (Russell Crowe), the doomed Fantine (Anne Hathaway), her daughter Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) et al, under the direction of Tom Hooper. There is much to respect in the movie, and the show’s fans will no doubt be satisfied. But they may find it less stirring here than on the stage as Hooper does make an occasional hash of things: unimaginative staging, often sloppy editing and the much-vaunted live singing on the set is at best a mixed blessing. Still, the production is lavish, the casting (including Eddie Redmayne as Marius and Samantha Barks as Éponine) is spot-on. The highlight comes early on, with Hathaway’s searing rendition of the show’s most famous song, “I Dreamed a Dream.” J.L.
FRONTLINES
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1st Visit
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Not Fade Away
Under the influence of the Beatlesand-Stones-led British Invasion, four suburban New Jersey teenagers decide to start a band. Writer-director David Chase’s semi-autobiographical movie skims the 1960s like a flat stone over water—Kennedy (skip!), King (skip!), Vietnam (skip!)—with an air of studious authenticity. Trouble is, he tells us right off that the band is a gaggle of third-rate schlubs, then goes on to prove it: Their music is unoriginal and so are their personalities, and the low-watt cast of relative newcomers (John Magaro, Jack Huston, Will Brill) fails to make them interesting. Meanwhile, seasoned pros like Christopher McDonald, Rebecca Luker and Brad Garrett are shunted off into thankless cameos; only James Gandolfini as Magaro’s flinty Archie Bunker-ish father manages to strike a few sparks. J.L.
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Promised Land
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Rust and Bone
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(New Students Only)
1400 E ST. SACRAMENTO WWW.THEYOGASEED.ORG
YOU AND A GUEST ARE INVITED TO ATTEND A SPECIAL ADVACE SCREENING OF
Two salespeople for a natural-gas conglomerate (Matt Damon, Frances McDormand) descend on a small farm town to sew up the local fracking rights, only to be confronted by an environmental activist (John Krasinski) with horror stories of dying livestock and flaming water supplies. Directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Damon and Krasinski (from a story by Dave Eggers), the movie radiates nostalgia for the agitprop movies of a bygone era; it’s like Billy Jack without the karate. Damon and Krasinski provide nice set pieces for themselves that dovetail with their respective screen personae, and McDormand is always welcome, but Van Sant offers only a sluggish pace trying to pass for rural, laidback sensibility. Hal Holbrook and Rosemarie DeWitt round out the name cast; others slip snugly into the stereotypes they play. J.L.
A man down on his luck (Matthias Schoenaerts) living in Antibes, France, with his sister, gets spot-work as a bar bouncer, where he meets a Marineland orca trainer (Marion Cotillard), then befriends the woman when she loses her legs in an attack by one of her whales. Directed by Jacques Audiard and co-written with Thomas Bidegain (from stories by Canadian Craig Davidson, loosely), the movie is measured and uneventful (even that whale attack is shown only obliquely) but never sluggish or slow. Cotillard (who is fast proving herself a world treasure) and Schoenaerts (who just may end up doing the same thing) are both excellent, understated and honest. Schoenaerts has a particular challenge in that his character is a bit of a thoughtless bastard; the man’s essential decency surfaces slowly, like peeling an onion. J.L.
F E AT U R E S T O RY
FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN, E-MAIL YOUR NAME, ADDRESS WITH ZIP AND DATE OF BIRTH TO: UNIVERSALSCREENINGSSF@GMAIL.COM MAMA has been rated PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned - Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13) for violence and terror, some disturbing images and thematic elements. Please note: Passes received through this promotion do not guarantee admission and passes received through this promotion do not guarantee you a seat at the theater. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Theater is overbooked to ensure a full house. No admittance once screening has begun. All federal, state and local regulations apply. A recipient of tickets assumes any and all risks related to use of ticket, and accepts any restrictions required by ticket provider. Universal Pictures, Sacramento News & Review and their affiliates accept no responsibility or liability in connection with any loss or accident incurred in connection with use of a prize. Tickets cannot be exchanged, transferred or redeemed for cash, in whole or in part. We are not responsible if, for any reason, winner is unable to use his/her ticket in whole or in part. Not responsible for lost, delayed or misdirected entries. All federal and local taxes are the responsibility of the winner. Void where prohibited by law. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Participating sponsors, their employees & family members and their agencies are not eligible. NO PHONE CALLS!
IN THEATERS JANUARY 18 www.mamamovie.com
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A RT S & C U LT U R E
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AFTER
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01.10.13
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SN&R
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