Arts
At the Movies PHOTO COURTESY OF ANNAPURNA PICTURES
SAN LUIS OBISPO
255 ELKS LANE · 544-4475 BOX OFFICE OPENS AT 7:30PM Adults $9 · Children 5-11 $4.00 · Children 4 & Under Free One Complete Showing Nightly Voices of: T.J. Miller/James Corden/Anna Faris
(PG)
8:30
Andy Serkis/Woody Harrelson/Steve Zahn
(PG-13)
10:10
ARROYO GRANDE
1007 GRAND AVE · 489-2364
RIOT A police raid in Detroit in 1967 leads to a multi-day riot in Detroit.
Stadium Seating
PHOTO COURTESY OF AVIRON PICTURES
MOVIES from page 42
Charlize Theron/James McAvoy/John Goodman
KIDNAP What’s it rated? R Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Stadium 10, Park, Galaxy A typical afternoon in the park turns into a nightmare for single mom Karla Dyson (Halle Berry) when her son suddenly disappears. Without a cell phone and knowing she has no time to wait for police help, Karla jumps in her own car and sets off in pursuit of the kidnappers. A relentless, edge-of-your seat chase ensues, where Karla must risk everything to not lose sight of her son. (100 min.) —Aviron Pictures
New
(R)
(2:00) (4:30) 7:00 LOOK US UP ON
Friday August 4th – thru – Thursday August 10th
MAUDIE What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth? Full Price Where’s it showing? The Palm Aisling Walsh (Joyriders, Song for Raggy Boy, The Daisy Chain) directs this screenplay by Sherry White (The Breadmaker, Down to the Dirt, Crackie) about arthritic Nova Scotia painter Maud Dowley (Sally Hawkins), who after having her family home sold out from under her by her brother takes up housekeeping work for Everett Lewis (Ethan Hawke). Eventually the two find romance as Maudie hones her naïve but charming folk painting style, eventually becoming a community icon. First and foremost, this is a love story, albeit a very unconventional one. Because of Maudie’s affliction, her family—brother Charles (Zachary Bennett) and her aunt Ida (Gabrielle Rose)—believes she’s incapable of taking care of herself, but Maudie has an indomitable spirit, and rather than live under her aunt’s thumb, she answers an ad for a housekeeper. Everett is a 40-year-old bachelor, taciturn, illiterate, and proud. He’s a hard worker who sells fish door-to-door, cuts and sells wood, removes trash, and works in the orphanage where he was raised. He’s pretty hard to like at first, and though he reluctantly hires Maudie, he treats her poorly. Vacationing New Yorker Sandra (Kari Matchett) takes an interest in Maudie’s work, and helps build her confidence, and the entire story takes place over several decades, from the late ’30s to 1970 when Maudie dies. The small fishing village becomes a character as well, and its seasonal changes move from a fly-infested summer to an unforgiving winter. The people who live there are tough and sometimes gossipy and cruel, and it all feels like real life—the highest compliment I can pay a film. (115 min.) —Glen Starkey
Pick
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth? Full Price Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Stadium 10, Galaxy This new Spider-Man film picks up a few months after the events of Captain America: Civil War, which chronicled the rift between Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). This time
Pick
NIGHTMARE A single mother (Halle Berry) must track down her young son and find the kidnappers who took him in Kidnap.
AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL (PG) Daily: 1:30, 4:15, 7:00
STARTS FRIDAY
around, Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) and the federal government create the Department of Damage Control (D.O.D.C.), which inadvertently drives Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) out of business, leading him to become the villain Vulture. Meanwhile Peter Parker (Tom Holland) returns to his studies after Stark tells him he’s not ready to be an Avenger, but that doesn’t stop Peter from pursuing his crime fighting endeavors. This sixth installment in the Spider-Man franchise is directed by Jon Watts (Clown, Cop Car) with a screenplay by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Horrible Bosses, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs). (133 min.) —Glen Starkey
VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth? Rental Where’s it showing? Galaxy Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element, Lucy) directs this comic book-based scifi adventure about special operatives Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) who must safeguard Alpha, a sprawling spacecity that’s home to species from a thousand planets. That sounds like a fairly simply plot, but Besson complicates it to the point of chaos, apparently trying to one-up himself over The Fifth Element. He does not succeed. Look, the Frenchman has made a lot of good films, a few truly excellent ones, and a lot of fun, creative, but ultimately slight flicks, which is where I’d rank Valerian. It’s not terrible, it looks fantastic, and it bears Besson’s deep creativity, but in addition to the overcomplicated plot and the bloated story at nearly two hours and 20 minutes, the film is seriously miscast. DeHaan simply doesn’t exude the roguish charm the Valerian character demands, and
Delevingne doesn’t have the toughness and feminism to embody Laureline. You know who would have made this film sing? Raiders of the Lost Ark-era Harrison Ford and Karen Allen, that’s who! DeHaan and Delevingne don’t have the chemistry or delivery to pull off the banter Besson has constructed for the duo. As a visual feast, this film delivers, and if that’s enough for you, pony up your ticket money and go, but in the grand scheme of Besson’s frequently remarkable oeuvre, Valerian will probably remain a footnote. (137 min.) —Glen Starkey
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth? Matinee Where’s it showing? Park, Sunset Drive In, Galaxy Matt Reeves (The Pallbearer, Cloverfield, Let Me In) directs and co-writes with Mark Bomback (Live Free or Die Hard, The Wolverine) this third film in the rebooted series that is preceded by Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014). Commencing about two years after the events of Dawn, Caesar’s (Andy Serkis) clan of apes is at war with a human military faction called Alpha-Omega led by a ruthless commander known as the Colonel (Woody Harrelson). The survival of each species is at stake. Computer generated images and “performance capture” actor Andy Serkis are once again the stars of the show in what is essentially an anti-war movie in the vein of Platoon or Apocalypse Now. The technology on display is pretty amazing, with Caesar and the other ape characters delivering the sort of subtle facial expressions and complex emotions normally requiring actual human beings rather than computer generated animated constructs. It’s not that I ever forgot
Pick
I was looking at CGI, it’s just that it’s done so well I found myself fascinated by its quality. Caesar wants nothing more than to live peacefully away from the remaining humans, who we discover are losing their ability to speak due to the simian virus. Harrelson’s Colonel takes a page out of Brando’s performance as Kurtz from Apocalypse Now —a man gone crazy by war who believes he’s the only one with the mental clarity to see the truth, in his case, the belief than humans who can’t speak are no longer human and must be exterminated before they can spread their affliction. In short, humans are losing their humanity simultaneously as apes are gaining theirs. Naturally we’re rooting for Caesar in the face of the Colonel’s merciless worldview, and the film gets its heart and soul from the idea that he can behave more humanely than the humans he encounters. Yet, even Caesar struggles to overcome his baser instincts. He’s haunted by nightmares of Koba, a gorilla from Dawn of the Planets of the Apes that succumbed to his dark side. Likewise, Caesar finds himself consumed by hatred after so many of his clan—including family members—are murdered by the Colonel. Much of the film is about his own internal struggle to do the right thing. It’s a very human and moral story, an allegory about a world gone mad, consumed with hatred, a world at war with difference—where intolerance and a refusal to coexist threatens to burn everything to the ground. At two hours and 20 minutes, it’s a bit overloaded, but for a blockbuster franchise, it avoids the pitfalls of the Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers franchises by actually trying to expand its message rather than merely repeating it ad nauseam. (140 min.) ∆ —Glen Starkey New Times movie reviews were compiled by Arts Editor Ryah Cooley and others. You can contact her at rcooley@newtimesslo.com.
DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME (NR) Daily: 4:15
THE BIG SICK (R) Daily: 1:30, 4:15, 7:00
MAUDIE (PG-13) Today: 1:30, 4:15, 7:00 Daily Starting Fri: 1:30, 7:00 A GHOST STORY (R)
ENDS TODAY!
Today: 1:30, 4:15, 7:00
541-5161 • 817 PALM, SLO WWW.THEPALMTHEATRE.COM
EARLY BARGAIN SHOWS DAILY
MORRO BAY SH
OW
TIMES
STA R T
FRI
DA
Y
$8 00 ALL SEATS ALL SHOWS Starring Fionn Whitehead, Aneurin Barnard, Kenneth Branagh
(PG-13)
Daily: 4:30 & 7:00 Sunday: 2:00, 4:30 & 7:00
464 MORRO BAY BLVD. 772-2444 MORROBAYMOVIE.COM
www.newtimesslo.com • August 3 - August 10, 2017 • New Times • 43