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71 San Diego Reader Januarb 7, 18, 2
Decemy er 2016014
MOVIES
an audio diary that works nicely to pro- vide explanatory voiceover). As he puts it, “I’m going to have to science the shit out of this.” Ridley Scott’s (Exodus: Gods and Kings) nuts-and-bolts answer to the exis- tential drama of Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity works best when it keeps its camera on Damon — whose usually impervious puss actually manages to show signs of strain and stress — as he takes care of business and deals with various disasters. (Not pictured: what he does with the empty hours in between.) The film flattens out a bit when dealing with the thoroughly (and dully) decent crew who left him behind, and gets downright goofy when it touches down on earth to show NASA and Jet Propulsion Labs’ scramble to save their man. (Donald Glover’s visual reveal of his rescue plan is hilarious, but not in the way it intends to be.) With Jeff Daniels, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, et alia. 2015. — M.L. ★★ (ARCLIGHT LA JOLLA; LA PALOMA)
The Night Before — A smartly built, chemically-enhanced Christmas story about growing up that you can’t watch with the grown-ups — at least, not the ones who will get bothered by dick pics. The Night Before, which follows three friends (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie) as they wind down a tradition of Christmas Eve guy’s- night-outing, is of those movies where the most random scene turns out to be the whole point of things. In this case, it’s a showdown between the elfin Gordon- Levitt and a couple of pissed (and pissing) Santas out on a Christmas Eve pub crawl. He’s outraged at what he thinks is a brof- fensive desecration of a childhood icon, but the two are actually proper adults with a firm grasp on reality, fantasy, and the virtues of each. Our guys have a long journey ahead of them, full of callbacks to their beloved Christmas stories: the Grinch, Home Alone, and most impor- tantly, Scrooge. (Michael Shannon very nearly steals the show.) Directed by Jona- than Levine (Warm Bodies). 2015. — M.L. ★★ (REGAL HORTON PLAZA)
Point Break — Luke Bracey and Edgar Ramirez slip into the wetsuits of Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze in this remake/ blowup of the 1991 hit about bank robbers
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MOVIE THEATERS EAST COUNTY
Vintage Village Theater 820 Orange Ave, Coronado (619-437-6161)
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8879 Villa La Jolla Drive (858-453-7622) The LOT
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4665 Clairemont Dr (858-274-1554) Regal Horton Plaza
Horton Plaza (619-444-FILM)
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who surf. The sports are more varied and more extreme this time around, with commensurate increases in both cash and convictions. 2015. (IN WIDE RELEASE)
The Revenant — Reviewed this issue. 2015 — M.L. ★★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)
Room — A cowardly movie about brave people. Part one is heartrendingly human, bordering on wise: a considered portrait of motherly love under extreme duress. To wit: Ma (Brie Larson) is both captive and sexual slave to a dim Midwestern monster, trapped in a soundproofed shed with a son (Jacob Tremblay) who has never seen
the world outside. (Well, except on TV.) Wonderfully and believably, she gives the boy a life, an education, a cosmology, and a family; what is more, she man- ages to shield him from the horror of her own situation. It’s only when the boy’s innocence is threatened that she resolves to set him free. (Spoilers, of a sort, to follow.) Free him she does, and that’s when the film loses its nerve, transform- ing from an unflinching look at love amid suffering into an embarrassing bout of wishful thinking. It makes sense for Ma to fall apart once the ordeal is over. But it does not make sense — psychologically, developmentally, but above all, narratively — for an anger-prone child whose entire,
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largely happy world has been ripped asunder to magically become both moppet and angel of salvation. #DiscoverYour- Fantasy. Directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Frank). 2015. — M.L. ★ (ARCLIGHT LA JOLLA; LA PALOMA; READ- ING GASLAMP)
Spotlight — Takes its name from a team of investigative journalists at The Boston Globe, and provides a touching ode to the old-fashioned notion that some things simply need reporting; never mind the effort, the expense, or the effect on circulation. Here, the thing in question is the awful failure of the Catholic Church in Boston (and beyond) to protect its youth
from its sexually abusive priests. But while director and co-writer Tom McCarthy clearly relishes the chance to dramatize the dull drudgery of diligent newsgather- ing — knocking on doors, chasing down sources, poring over directories, building spreadsheets, etc. — he’s out to uncover something bigger than How They Broke It. Something more amorphous, more encompassing, and more poisonous: the tribal culture of a city that somehow lived with the secret for 30 years. And not even the Globe — in fact, especially not the Globe, nor its stalwart reporters and edi- tors — escapes that particular spotlight. The top-shelf cast — which includes Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Stanley Tucci, and Rachel McAdams, among others — contents itself with unshowy ensemble work, and McCarthy maintains an atmosphere of cool control, keeping the viewer just distanced enough from the smoldering horror. 2015. — M.L. ★★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens — The kind view — the uncynical view, the generous view — is that director J.J. Abrams just wants to give the joy of childhood back to a generation that fell in love with Star Wars back in 1977. (Plus maybe win a new generation over to that story’s mythological power.) Because what he’s done is to remake Star Wars: A New Hope; tweaking it for the passage of time; improving on the acting, the effects, and the dialogue; and tossing in some bits from its sequels (a lightsaber in the snow, father-son conflicts above the void, a journey to find a Jedi master, a strike team sent to take out a shield generator, etc.). Some things are the same with different names: the Empire and the Rebellion are now The First Order and the Resistance. Some things are the same with different people: the Emperor and Darth Vader are now the Supreme Leader and Kylo Ren. Some things are the same with different sizes – New Hope had a weapon that could destroy a planet; Force Awakens has a weapon that can destroy multiple planets. (Both have a weak spot.) Some things are the same but updated, an orphan in the desert with a mysterious heritage, a swashbuckling pilot, a plucky droid. And some things are simply the same: C-3PO and R2-D2, the Millennium Falcon, and oh yes, the Force. The unkind view — the cynical view, the greedminded view — is that there is no need for new ideas when people will line up to pay for old ones. 2015. — M.L. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)
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