strikes, which pushes the pair into a mystery so challenging that they enlist four friends to join them. Rated PG. 102 minutes. Screens in 2-D only at Regal Stadium 14, Santa Fe; DreamCatcher, Española. (Robert Ker) BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) In Alejandro González Iñárritu’s searing, hilarious, sometimes unsettling backstage satire, Michael Keaton tosses his hat into the Oscar ring with his brilliant dissection of a movie star, in artistic eclipse in the years since he sold his soul to play a masked comic-book superhero, looking for redemption on the Broadway stage. Packed with a terrific supporting cast headed by Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, and Emma Stone and shot in a simulated single take by the great Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman crackles with wit, self-referential allusions, fantasy, and penetrating insights about show business, relevance, and the modern world. Iñárritu, sloughing off the ponderous artiness of his recent movies, makes magic here. Rated R. 119 minutes. Regal DeVargas, Santa Fe. ( Jonathan Richards) CITIZENFOUR This documentary should be required viewing, whichever side of the Edward Snowden patriot/ bias traitor you fall on. Laura Poitras, the director by contacted Snowden to break his story, presents only one side here, but it’s a compelling brief that asks what constitutional freedoms we’re willing to surrender for security. Poitras pads her film with some sleepy footage of Snowden sitting in his hotel room, but there’s plenty of meat. Rated R. 114 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe. ( Jonathan Richards) DYING TO KNOW Gay Dillingham’s profound, uplifting documentary takes us on a journey to that border no fence keep from crossing. Our guides along this can us frontier are those two irrepressible icons of drugs and enlightenment, former Harvard professors Timothy Leary and Ram Dass. The centerpiece of the movie is Dillingham’s lovingly filmed 1996 reunion of the two men as Leary was facing death from cancer. She explores the lives that brought them to this point and Ram Dass’ subsequent battle with the effects of a devastating stroke. Local figures like Joan Halifax and Joanna Harcourt-Smith are among those interviewed, and there’s a nicely unobtrusive narration voiced by Robert Redford. Not rated. 99 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe. ( Jonathan Richards) EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS Ridley Scott goes biblical with this retelling of the story of Moses (played
here by Christian Bale), who leads the slaves in a revolt against Pharaoh Ramses ( Joel Edgerton). Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, and John Turturro also star, but the main attraction for many will no doubt be those clashing armies and parting sea waters. Rated PG-13. 150 minutes. Screens in 3-D and 2-D at Regal Stadium 14, Santa Fe. Screens in 2-D only at DreamCatcher, Española. (Not reviewed) FLAMENCO, FLAMENCO This film offers no narrative, no dialogue, no voiceover, and no subtitles — only title cards identifying the performers and the numbers. When they sing, the words are untranslated, but if you aren’t fluent in Spanish, you needn’t worry about missing their meaning. Every word, every ululating cry is ripped from the gut, torn from the heart, lifted by voices rasping with emotion. And when performers dance, they hit the floor with hammering heels, battering out staccato rhythms like bursts of automatic weapons. We are in the hands of Carlos Saura, master filmmaker and connoisseur of Spanish dance, and his frequent collaborator, the great Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. Not rated. 97 minutes. Jean Cocteau Cinema, Santa Fe. ( Jonathan Richards) FOXCATCHER Why did wealthy Du Pont heir John Eleuthère du Pont (Steve Carell) become fascinated with the U.S. Olympic wrestling team in the 1980s and ’90s, turning his home into a massive training center? Was it because he was lonely? Was it to spite his mother? Or was he simply the patriot and philanthropist he saw himself as? That question lies at the heart of this film by Bennett Miller, which covers the years before du Pont abruptly murdered one of his team’s coaches in 1996. Despite sharp writing, evocative photography, and nice directorial flourishes, Foxcatcher never gains enough purpose to justify its mannered pace or overcome Carell’s unnecessary and distracting makeup. Carell and Channing Tatum (as a star wrestler) are both terrific, but the gold medal goes to Mark Ruffalo for his fabulous, transformative performance as the doomed coach. Rated R. 134 minutes. Regal DeVargas, Santa Fe. (Robert Ker) THE GAMBLER Mark Wahlberg plays the title role in this remake of the 1974 James Caan vehicle of the same name. He’s a literature professor with a gambling addiction who gets in with some bad people and borrows a lot of money to get away from them. John Goodman and Jessica Lange co-star. Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) directs. Rated R. 111 minutes. Regal Stadium 14, Santa Fe; DreamCatcher, Española. (Not reviewed)
THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES The story of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) concludes with a battle that makes this film feel like the third act of the previous movie rather than a stand-alone feature in its own right. Dwarves, elves, orcs, men, trolls, goblins, wizards, eagles, giant worms, and one hobbit collide in what seems like a two-hour fantasy version of the big melee in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. It’s impressive but exhausting — which at this point is pretty much true of Jackson’s entire foray into Middle Earth. Some cool special effects and set pieces, along with admirably Shakespearean acting, can’t obscure the fact that it’s all gotten a bit long in the tooth. Rated PG-13. 144 minutes. Screens in 3-D and 2-D at Regal Stadium 14, Santa Fe. Screens in 2-D only at DreamCatcher, Española. (Robert Ker) THE HOMESMAN Tommy Lee Jones directed, co-wrote, and stars in this story of an independent woman (Hilary Swank) who teams up with a likable rascal ( Jones) to guide three insane women from the wilds of the Nevada Territory to the safety of the East in the mid-1800s. It’s an intriguing, haunting tale that pays homage to the pioneers who shaped the land. Rated R. 122 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe. (Robert Nott) THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 1 The studio behind the Hunger Games franchise has split the film adaptation of the final book into two parts to keep the money train rolling. This time Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is talking ’bout a revolution. Rated PG-13. 123 minutes. Regal Stadium 14, Santa Fe; DreamCatcher, Española. (Not reviewed) THE IMITATION GAME This very entertaining movie could have been a lot more. Director Morten Tyldum and screenwriter Moore have taken the engrossing story of Graham Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), the British war hero, computer pioneer, and homosexual martyr, and fit it into the familiar confines of a biopic stocked with Movie Moments, which never convince us that things really happened the way the film depicts them. The main event is the wartime assault on Enigma, the Nazi encrypting machine whose codes Turing invented a computer to crack. All the acting is terrific, and Cumberbatch plays the brilliant, socially clueless scientist with a mercurial doggedness that will land him on Oscar’s short list. Rated PG-13. 114 minutes. Regal DeVargas, Santa Fe. ( Jonathan Richards) continued on Page 38
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