Arts
At the Movies
PHOTO COURTESY OF FOCUS FEATURES
SURVIVAL In The Dark Tower, only Roland (Idris Elba) can save the worlds from the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey).
Pakistani stand-up comic named Kumail (Nanjiani) who falls for a white woman named Emily (Zoe Kazan) who heckles him during a performance. Their budding relationship is strained when Emily discovers Kumail has a stash of photos of Pakistani women his parents have been trying to set him up with in an arranged marriage, so she breaks things off. Later, she’s taken to the hospital and put into an induced coma due to an infection, and Kumail realizes he made a mistake letting her go, but now it may be too late. I don’t know how accurate the story is, but in the closing credits, we get to see photos of Nanjiani’s real life parents. It was a reminder of how lucky it is to have a close, supportive family. A couple of weeks ago, I saw and reviewed Maudie, another great love story. The beauty of film is there are so many ways to portray love, which is both the simplest and most complex thing humans express. When the screening ended at The Palm, the audience burst into applause, and this film is worthy. What a crowd pleaser! (120 min.) —Glen Starkey
THE DARK TOWER
What’s it rated? PG-13 Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Stadium 10, Park, Galaxy Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black. (95 min.) —Sony Pictures
New MOVIES from page 41 distract from the noise, he’s constantly got music playing through ear buds, choosing songs that are perfect for his task, whether that’s driving a getaway car from a heist or bopping through a neighborhood to grab coffee for the criminals Doc has gathered for the job. The film is mostly filled with amazing
JESUS’ SON When? 1999 What’s it rated? R Where’s it available? DVD, Streaming on Amazon and iTunes
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ate American author Denis Johnson’s collection of short stories, Jesus’ Son, are adapted into a feature length film by Canadian-born New Zealander director Alison Maclean for the 1999 comedy by the same title. The film stars and is narrated by Billy Crudup as FH, a.k.a. Fuckhead, a heroin- and prescription drugs-using 20-something who occasionally steals things and finds himself in one unfortunate scenario after the other. FH is introduced to heroin by his future girlfriend Michelle, played by Samantha Morton, who FH meets in one of the film’s many memorable scenes, this one set to the immediately infectious Tommy Roe hit “Sweet Pea.” After a night together, FH finds Michelle shooting up at the kitchen table the next morning. He watches as he pours himself a bowl of
car chases, a foot chase just as exciting as the car chases, the aforementioned trip to gather coffee that plays like a music video, and a blisteringly good soundtrack. It’s a pretty irresistible combination, though I have to say the beginning of the film is more fun than the end. Yes, it’s lightweight, but for some summer fun, I highly recommend it! (113 min.) —Glen Starkey
corn flakes, and their relationship takes off from there. Reflecting the structure of the source material, the film follows FH through distinct but interconnected adventures that are both tragic and comical. The midportion of the film, which features Jack Black as Georgie, a pill popping orderly at the emergency ward where FH has taken a job, is particularly funny and feels the most like a true comedy, before shifting back into more of a drama-infused blend. The scenes with Black also feature the film’s best dialogue, with Black delivering several laugh-out-loud one-liners. In the latter part of the film, while attending an AA meeting, FH finds a relatable figure in Mira, played by Holly Hunter, whose past romances, including three marriages, all seem to have ended
THE BIG SICK What’s it rated? R What’s it worth? Full Price Where’s it showing? Stadium 10 Director Michael Showalter (Hello, My Name is Doris) directs this semi-autographical screenplay by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani about a
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in tragedy. During this period of sobriety, FH works as a newsletter writer for a nursing home, whose troubled residents FH can also relate to. Like the title, there are moments of magical realism in the film that are not explicitly explained. At one point FH potentially appears in the dream of someone else, fellow user Wayne, played by Denis Leary, and at another point FH sticks his hand through the glass pane of a window. In the closing scene, the Southern gospel song "Farther Along" is featured, which includes the lyrics, “Farther along we’ll know all about it, Farther along we’ll understand why, Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine, We’ll understand it, all by and by.” (107 min.) Δ —Trever Dias
PHOTO COURTESY OF EVENSTAR FILMS
SKIPS A GENERATION Billy Crudup plays struggling addict FH (Fuckhead) in director Alison Maclean’s film adaptation of Denis Johnson’s short story collection, Jesus’ Son.
DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME
What’s it rated? NR Where’s it showing? The Palm Dawson City: Frozen Time pieces together the bizarre true history of a long-lost collection of 533 nitrate film prints dating from the early 1900s. Discovered buried under a hockey rink in a former Klondike Gold Rush town, their story reveals the links between the movie business and Manifest Destiny in North America. (120 min.) —Kino Lorber
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DESCPICABLE ME 3
What’s it rated? PG Where’s it showing? Stadium 10, Park, Galaxy The mischievous Minions hope that Gru (Steve Carell) will return to a life of crime after the new boss of the Anti-Villain League fires him. Instead, Gru decides to remain retired and travel to Freedonia to meet his long-lost twin brother (also voiced by Carell) for the first time. The reunited siblings soon find themselves in an uneasy alliance to take down the elusive Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), a former 1980s child star who seeks revenge against the world. (90 min.) —Universal Pictures
DETROIT
What’s it rated? R Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Stadium 10, Park, Galaxy In the summer of 1967, rioting and civil unrest starts to tear apart the city of Detroit. Two days later, a report
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of gunshots prompts the Detroit Police Department, the Michigan State Police and the Michigan Army National Guard to search and seize an annex of the nearby Algiers Motel. Several policemen start to flout procedure by forcefully and viciously interrogating guests to get a confession. (142 min.) —Annapurna Pictures
DUNKIRK
What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth? Full Price Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Bay, Stadium 10, Park, Galaxy Writer-director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar) helms this historical drama about the World War II evacuation of Dunkirk, when allied forces from Belgium, the British Empire, Canada, and France were surrounded by the German army between May 26 to June 4, 1940. Civilians in fishing, merchant marine, and pleasure boats valiantly came to their rescue. Nolan wastes no time dropping you into the action, though he begins his film deceptively with a group of soldiers walking nonchalantly through a seemingly deserted village. You see one man finding a few drops of water from a coiled garden hose with no water pressure, another finding a cigarette butt in an ashtray through an open window. There’s no dialog, just some boys trying to find their way to the rear of the combat theater. Then shots ring out and they’re scrambling. The camera follows one in particular, Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), who eventually finds the beach where other Brits and Frenchmen are awaiting evacuation. Later we cut to Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance) as he prepares his pleasure craft to travel to Dunkirk as part of the civilian evacuation flotilla, accompanied by his son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) and local 17-year-old boy George (Barry Keoghan), who promises to be “useful.” They’re part of the extraordinary effort of civilians that helped evacuate some of the 300,000 soldiers saved from Dunkirk. Finally we’re in the cockpit with Farrier (Tom Hardy), who with two other pilots is tasked with flying to Dunkirk to help the evacuating soldiers with air support, dog fighting with enemy aircraft trying to bomb and strafe fleeing boats. Throughout the film, we revisit these three situations—land, sea, and air—each telling their small, personal stories in service to the whole, like individual pieces of a mosaic that comprise a masterpiece, which I would argue Nolan has created. It’s a masterful depiction of war from the perspectives of those who were there, and it’s frightening and terrible to behold. Hans Zimmer provides a remarkable score. For me, this score ranks up there with the best Bernard Herrmann scores like those from Hitchcock’s Psycho and Vertigo. It adds such intensity to the scenes. I thought the casting was especially good too. Aside from Hardy and Rylance, the only other actors I was familiar with were Harry Styles as Alex, James D’Arcy as Colonel Winnant, and Kenneth Branagh as Commander Bolton—most of these faces are unfamiliar, and bouncing from story to story, often not getting names, added to the realism. These were the faces of war—interchangeable pawns, fodder for gunfire. One other recognizable actor was Cillian
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PHOTO COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES
RERELEASED Released on Tuesday, Aug. 1
THE CIRCLE What’s it rated? PG-13 Should I rent it? Don’t bother
COLOSSAL
THE OTTOMAN LIEUTENANT
THE DINNER
What’s it rated? Not rated Should I rent it? Maybe
What’s it rated? R Should I rent it? Don’t bother
PHOENIX FORGOTTEN What’s it rated? PG-13 Should I rent it? Maybe
SLEIGHT
What’s it rated? R Should I rent it? Probably
What’s it rated? R Should I rent it? Maybe
DON’T KNOCK TWICE
WAKEFIELD
What’s it rated? R Should I rent it? Don’t bother
GOING IN STYLE What’s it rated? PG-13 Should I rent it? Maybe
THE LOVERS What’s it rated? R Should I rent it? Maybe
THE EXCEPTION What’s it rated? R Should I rent it? Probably
THE HUNTER’S PRAYER What’s it rated? R Should I rent it? Don’t bother
KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD
What’s it rated? R Should I rent it? Probably
What’s it rated? PG-13 Should I rent it? Maybe
Due for release on Tuesday, Aug. 8
SNATCHED
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: THE LONG HAUL
WOLVES
What’s it rated? PG Should I rent it? Don’t bother
What’s it rated? R Should I rent it? Don’t bother
What’s it rated? Not rated Should I rent it? Don’t bother
42 • New Times • August 3 - August 10, 2017 • www.newtimesslo.com
SAVE THE PLANET In An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, former Vice President Al Gore is back to champion solutions to climate change.
Murphy, cast as the “Shivering Soldier.” He’s rescued from a foundering ship by Mr. Dawson, Peter, and George. Shell shocked and desperate to return home, he’s angrily aghast that they’re sailing back toward Dunkirk. What happens on that boat drives home the randomness of war, how it arbitrarily takes one man and not another. We also learn what motivates Mr. Dawson, and so many others like him over those nine terrible days, to turn toward the danger, if only to save one more man— someone’s brother, son, or father. This film will rank up there with Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypse Now, Black Hawk Down, and Full Metal Jacket as a modern masterpiece. (106 min.) —Glen Starkey
THE EMOJI MOVIE What’s it rated? PG Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Sunset Drive In, Stadium 10, Park, Galaxy This animated comedy takes place in Textopolis, a world inside a smartphone that’s inhabited by various emojis. There, an emoji named Gene (voiced by T.J. Miller) is ashamed that he has multiple facial expressions while his colleagues only have one each, and he embarks on a quest to be like everyone else. James Corden, Ilana Glazer, Jennifer Coolidge, Patrick Stewart, and Maya Rudolph also lend their voices to this film from Sony Pictures Animation. (86 min.) —Sony Pictures Animation
A GHOST STORY What’s it rated? R Where’s it showing? The Palm (Last showing on Aug. 3) See Split Screen.
GIRLS TRIP What’s it rated? R Where’s it showing? Stadium 10, Park When four lifelong friends (Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Tiffany Haddish) travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival, sisterhoods are rekindled, wild sides are rediscovered, and there’s enough dancing, drinking, brawling, and romancing to make the Big Easy blush. (102 min.) —Universal Pictures
AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER What’s it rated? PG Where’s it showing? The Palm A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change into the heart of popular culture comes the riveting and rousing follow-up that shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution. Former Vice President Al Gore continues his tireless fight, traveling around the world training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy. Cameras follow him behind the scenes, in moments private and public, funny and poignant, as he pursues the empowering notion that while the stakes have never been higher, the perils of climate change can be overcome with human ingenuity and passion. (99 min.) —Paramount Pictures
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MOVIES continued page 43