Daniel Day-Lewis’ Great Emancipator is not a stentorian orator but a sly, selfamusing raconteur, an expert horse trader who doles out patronage jobs in exchange for congressional yeas. Forced
A haiku: Children are too dumb to know that Billy Crystal is the real monster. (Not reviewed) (UA Riverview)
RUST AND BONE|B
TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D|CIt’s taken nearly 40 years and seven slicey-dicey features for the minds behind the Texas Chainsaw franchinse to decide a seismic shift was in order. But most longtime fans of lumbering, crossdressing murderers fond of creative dismemberment will be flummoxed by the direction of this new chapter, which attempts to humanize a classic baddie no one wants humanized. Beginning with a recap of how the 1974 original went down, John Luessenhop’s loosely bounded 3-D riff begins with Heather (Alexandra Daddario), an extremely attractive supermarket butcher (aren’t
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s surrealist courtship, both on- and off-screen, rightly dominates Twilight discussion, but the final installment of the most weirdly fascinating franchise in a decade belongs to Michael Sheen. A talented actor with a taste for macabre cheese, the Englishman violates the boundaries of scientific reason with the amount of fun he has as Aro. It’s foolish to expect anything other than galumphing out of our two leads, a realization that puts performances both good (Sheen, Billy Burke) and godawful (everyone else, especially freaking Taylor Lautner) into clearest focus. Instead of exhausting yourself screaming about how much The Twilight Saga sucks — and it does suck, so, so much — tolerate it for what it is (junk food) and cherish it for what it isn’t (taken seriously). —DL (Franklin Mills, UA Riverview, Franklin Mills)
ZERO DARK THIRTY |B+ Stirring controversy before its release, much of it thanks to political commentators who had not seen the film, Zero Dark Thirty arrives prepackaged as a referendum on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques — or, as it’s known outside the down cocoon of bureaucratic doublespeak, torture. In fact, the scenes in which presumed Islamic terrorists are subjected to waterboarding and hung in stress positions occupy only a tiny fraction of the film, and information thus extracted is one small stone on the path that eventually leads the CIA “targeter” played by Jessica Chastain to Osama bin Laden. The question of whether the movie distorts the role coercion played in finding bin Laden — senators and journalists say yes, while the CIA’s acting chief is less
mirror, reflecting the concerns, or lack of them, that audiences bring. One moment peddling militaristic rah-rah, the next questioning it, Zero Dark Thirty works both sides of the razorwire fence, a gambit that places it at war with itself. As in life, the guys with the biggest guns come out ahead, but that’s not quite the same as winning. —SA (Franklin Mills, UA Riverview, UA Grant)
REPERTORY FILM ANDREW’S VIDEO VAULT Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., 215-5733234, therotunda.org. Triple feature! Nightbirds (1970, U.S., 70 min.): Two vagabonds in London have a bizarre and vindictive love affair. Things (1989, U.S., 83 min.): A man forces his wife to undergo a treacherous experiment to hatch nonhuman “things” due to his inability to conceive. Mystique (1979, U.S., 77 min.): A mind-bender that follows a woman who experiences reality in her dreams, and lives her fantasies. Thu., Jan. 10, 8 p.m., free.
BOWERBIRD Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., 215-5733234, bowerbird.com. One11 (1992, U.S., 90 min.): A film without any subject or people, this mediation on emptiness and light was made by Henning Lohner and scored by
composer and pianist John Cage. Fri., Jan. 11, 9 p.m., free.
BUCKINGHAM FRIENDS MEETING 5784 York Rd., 215-794-7299, buckinghamfriendsmeeting.org. War Photographer (2001, U.S., 96 min.): A doc about war photographer James Nachtwey. Sat., Jan. 12, 7 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL HOUSE 3701 Chestnut St. 215-387-5125, ihousephilly.org. L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema Bless Their Little Hearts (1984, U.S., 84 min.): A heartbreaking look at a family affected by underemployment. The Pocketbook (1980, U.S., 13 min.): A man contemplates his choices after unsuccessfully attempting to steal a woman’s purse. Sat., Jan. 12, 2 p.m., $9. Compensation (1999, U.S., 95 min.): Parallel stories are told about two deaf women living in different centuries. Dark Exodus (1985, U.S., 28 min.): A period piece that visualizes an early 20th-century America, when African-Americans moved from the South to the North. Sat., Jan. 12, 5 p.m., $9. Passing Through (1977, U.S., 111 min.): After being released from prison, a jazz musician seeks out his mentor. When it Rains (1995, U.S., 13 min.): A man tries to help his friend pay his rent on New Year’s Day. Sat., Jan. 12, 8 p.m., $9. A Different Image (1982, U.S., 51 min.): A young woman grapples with self-identity and her heritage. Grey Area (1981, U.S., 38 min.): A dramatic look at the stresses of poverty. Cycles (1989, U.S., 17 min.): A woman performs rituals in hopes of getting her long-overdue period. Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification (1979, U.S., 6 min.): A woman’s attempt to purify her body and her environment. Wed., Jan. 16, 7 p.m., $9.
PHILADELPHIA JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad St., 215545-4400, pjff.org. Soldier/Citizen (2012, Israel, 68 min.): A gritty doc that follows Israeli soldiers studying for their civics test on their way to getting their high school diplomas. Mon., Jan. 14, 7:30 p.m., $10.
More on:
citypaper.net ✚ CHECK OUT MORE R E P E R T O R Y F I L M L I S T I N G S AT C I T Y PA P E R . N E T / R E P F I L M .
29
Fleeing a bad relationship in Belgium, Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) crashes at the Antibes apartment of his mostly estranged sister Anna (Corinne Masiero). A bouncer gig at a local club puts him in front of Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard), a sullen killer-whale trainer who’s unhappy with her everyday. Looking to get back into the ring, trained kickboxer Ali begins taking on underground brawls, while Stéphanie, who’s grown
Director Sam Mendes goes for broke from minute one, initiating us into the chase as Bond (Daniel Craig) and babely agent Eve (Naomie Harris) pursue chaos-bringer Patrice (Ola Rapace) through the alleys of Istanbul. Patrice has gotten hold of a drive containing the identities of every undercover MI6 agent in the world, intel the ever-dissatisfied M (Judi Dench) would like to have back. While well-paced, Skyfall falters when it tries to convince us that the public has the clout to hold an agency like MI6 accountable for its sins. Such clandestine orgs will always be fueled by secrecy, which Mendes remembers in his overhauls of time-tested double-0 tropes. Craig’s job description hasn’t changed, but he’s been visibly invigorated by his new coworkers. —DL (UA Riverview)
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN, PART 2|C-
[ movie shorts ]
P H I L A D E L P H I A C I T Y PA P E R | J A N U A R Y 1 0 - J A N U A R Y 1 6 , 2 0 1 3 | C I T Y PA P E R . N E T |
PROMISED LAND|BSteve (Matt Damon), a poised corporate up-and-comer partnered with veteran saleswoman Sue (Frances McDormand), sets his boots down in the town of McKinley, tasked with leasing land for hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” Things are going well until Dustin (John Krasinski), a backpack-toting activist with an agenda, starts hurling tree-hugging wrenches in all of Steve’s gears. Like any polarizing scrap, an educated compromise skulks somewhere in the middle, but this screenplay hides instead of hunting for it. —Drew Lazor (UA Grant, Franklin Mills)
SKYFALL|A-
categorical — is critical, but it also points to a more amorphous and engaging question: Why? Like filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, who have answered questions about their sources and intent with cagey generalities, Zero Dark Thirty has a disturbing moral blankness at its core. Framed as a factual account, even if Chastain’s Maya is pseudonymous, the film climaxes with the raid on bin Laden’s compound, the longest sustained departure from its protagonist’s POV and a troubling sop to action-movie enthusiasts. The joyless intensity with which Maya (whose name means “illusion” in Sanskrit) pursues her goal, her resolve redoubled after a colleague falls prey to a suicide attack, echoes the country’s all-consuming fury, especially as it threatens to eclipse any other reason for her existence. With no life apparent outside of her job, Maya serves as a
the agenda | food | classifieds
MONSTERS, INC. 3D
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK|B On provisional release from a mental hospital after administering a beatdown to his estranged wife’s lover, Bradley Cooper moves back with his mother (Jacki Weaver) and father (Robert De Niro). Cooper’s jittery mannerisms quickly wear thin, but he’s balanced by a policeman’s widow (Jennifer Lawrence) whose no-nonsense bluntness brings him back to Earth. The movie settles into a well-worn rut once the two start training for a ballroom-dance contest, cruising toward a resolution it never earns, but it tries so hard to please it almost can’t help but succeed. It’s clever and cute and never lets you forget it, and winning in spite of how much it insists on it. —SA (Franklin Mills)
they all?), discovering that her grandmother has left her a Texas estate. Roadtripping there with perma-shirtless boyfriend Ryan (singer Trey Songz) and friends Nikki (Tania Raymonde) and Kenny (Keram Malicki-Sánchez), she’s excited about the inheritance, but that’s before good ol’ skin-wearin’ Leatherface (Dan Yeager) emerges from the wine cellar with his favorite gas-powered woodsman’s tool. You can probably already connect the dots as to the relationship between Heather and Leather, but the real crumminess comes in the cornball exposition. (Many of the kills are awesome.) Are we expected to care that one of the greatest slashers in American horror history is a grossly misunderstood family man with “the emotions of an 8-year-old”? Go to therapy and get back to buzzing pretty people in half, please. —DL (Frankln Mills, UA Grant, UA Main Street, UA Riverview)
a&e
to mollify his party’s ideological purists while dragging dissenters across the aisle, Lincoln employs every means at his disposal, including some that tarnish his copper-bright image. As always, director Steven Spielberg has a tendency to underline twice when once would do, but Day-Lewis runs with the movie’s pedantic bent, enhancing one argument with a Euclidean theorem. The painstaking detail that goes into tracking the 13th amendment’s path toward approval is at its core an impassioned defense of representative democracy, with all its flaws intact. It’s like the most eloquent episode of Schoolhouse Rock ever made. —SA (Ritz Five, UA Grant)
attached to her friend’s tender, sexual side, fights from the inside out. Schoenaerts and Cotillard turn in ingenious performances, with both characters’ emotional impenetrability made more stark by the paradisal French Riviera. Director Jacques Audiard lightly falters in his over-establishment of Cotillard as damaged, but it remains a beautiful movie with a beautiful message. —DL (Ritz Five)
the naked city | feature
LINCOLN|B+