68 San Diego Reader February 25, 2016


MOVIES


still unusual. It’s also weirdly conven- tional, making the film less a portrait of an extremely complicated marriage, and more a tale of (very) personal expres- sion in the face of a (somewhat) hostile, uncomprehending world. 2015. — M.L. ★ (ARCLIGHT LA JOLLA; LOT; LAND- MARK HILLCREST)


Deadpool — An anti-superhero movie (or maybe a super-antihero movie) that might have worked if it had the courage of its lack of convictions. That is to say, it starts out, story-wise, with a messed up mercenary named Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), except he mostly just jokes about being messed up, and he’s not really that mercenary. (He donates his earnings to charity!) Wade has the good fortune to meet a gal whose brand of crazy “matches” his — a maniac pixie dream girl! — only to discover that he’s dying of cancer. Cue the experimental lab that both cures him and makes him superhuman, but has an ugly side effect: it makes him ugly. So of course, he sets out on a murder- ous rampage in pursuit of the man who can make him handsome again, because otherwise, his true love and soul mate won’t want him any more. When you play that stupid, you need to commit — say, by having the hot chick (as she is identified in the chuckleworthy opening credits) actually be that shallow. Not that any of this matters overmuch, because the story is less important here than the star, and even the star is less important than the barrage of one-liners and violent visual gags. There are lots; about half of them work. The half that don’t will either not matter or leave you exhausted, depending. Directed by Tim Miller. 2016. — M.L. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Eddie the Eagle — A fairy tale based on the true story of Eddie Edwards, a bespectacled, milk-swilling loser who sets out to win the 1988 Winter Olympics by refusing to let various unpleasant realities have any bearing on his pure, sweet dream of simply competing in the Games. (A few samples: a naysaying father, a doubly naysaying English Olympic committee, a generally uncooperative body, a drunken has-been for a coach, a lack of experi- ence in his chosen event of ski jumping... the list goes on.) Taron Egerton doesn’t have to do much but grin and grimace to convey Edwards’s “too dumb to know when he’s beat” charm; the more interest- ing work is left to Hugh Jackman as the old-timer who coulda been something. (He lands somewhere between Dennis Hopper in Hoosiers and Jason Sudeikis


Puck Will Make Amends continued from page 63


Comparisons may be odious, but


the point isn’t that the play is like Blackadder. They’re similar only in subject matter, i.e., Rococo pop culture; and in the fact that servants devise cunning plans. Nobody can actually agree on the


words to the actors’ nonsense rhyme from Blackadder, and the show’s writ- ers have never clarified the matter, but I like the suggestion of “Puck to make amends” as the final line. Shakespeare’s Puck descends from folk tales of mischievous household sprites. Pucks could be induced to do chores, but they were more likely to


in Race: a respectable showing.) Director Dexter Fletcher knows that it takes a delicate touch to serve up corn this sweet, and he mostly manages it. For every easy, eye-rolling bit, there’s a moment of genuine emotion; the champion jumper’s pre-climax speech on what matters in sport is downright joyful. 2016 — M.L. ★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


The Finest Hours — A straight-up Boys’ Own adventure yarn, set sincerely and squarely in early ’50s New England but gussied up with plenty of 21st-century StormWave CGI. A monster winter storm causes not one but two oil tankers to split in half off the coast, and so many people are busy attending to one of them that the fate of the other is left in the hands of just four brave (but also dutiful) souls on a glorified Coast Guard motorboat. To complicate matters, the captain (Chris Pine, hunched and hesitant for a change) has a botched rescue on his conscience, and oh, he just got engaged. Meanwhile, a grimy engineer (Casey Affleck, who seems to have been cut according to some olde-timey pattern) has to convince the remaining crew that he can keep half a ship afloat with pure American know-how and gumption. Plus maybe a little luck. With Holliday Grainger. Craig Gillespie directs. 2016. — M.L. ★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Gods of Egypt — Having ravaged Greek mythology with the Clash of the Titans remake and sequel, Hollywood sets its sights on another great civilization. The fate of the world — and one guy in par- ticular — hangs in the balance as Horus and Set set to. Directed by Alex Proyas. Review maybe forthcoming at sandiegore- ader.com. 2016 (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Hail, Caesar! — Remember mov- ies? The Coen brothers do. Westerns, romances, musicals, dance extravaganzas — the works. (All of which are on gor- geous, indulgent display here.) Millions of people used to look to them for — in the words of Capitol Pictures’ Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) — “information, uplift, and yes, entertainment.” Kind of like religion! It’s no accident that Mannix delivers that line to a quartet of religious leaders, brought in to comment on the presenta- tion of Jesus in Capitol’s Hail, Caesar! A Tale of the Christ. It’s also no accident that this film shares part of that film’s title. You see, Mannix is a man of faith: faith in God, but also faith in humanity. Despite the waywardness and weakness forever being displayed by the feckless denizens of his industry, Mannix has trouble writing people off — as economic units, or as clumps of atoms destined for destruction. Instead, he sees them as suffering souls in need of, if not salvation, then at least


make mischief and engage in schemes. Both servants in Metromaniacs


display Puck-ish tendencies, and Edmund Blackadder was a first-rate Puck (and then some). If the past four hundred years of literary hired hands outsmarting their superiors are any indication, we have a long-standing appreciation for clever butlers: Regi- nald Jeeves, Emilio the butler from Mr. Deeds, Cato from The Pink Pan- ther, the various servants from The Three Musketeers, and Hans the clever servant from Grimm’s tales all come to mind. As far as enduring tropes are concerned, it looks as though this one will live on as long as there are audiences to laugh at the buffoonery of the upper crust.


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information, uplift, and yes, entertain- ment. It’s just possible the Coens feel the same way, and that’s why they made this picture about a beleaguered studio fixer dealing with, among other things, a kidnapped movie star, a cushy job offer, a pregnant mermaid, and a habitual tempta- tion. With George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, and Tilda Swinton, among others. 2016. — M.L. ★★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


How to Be Single — “Why are we embarrassed to admit that we are single,” asks narrator-star Dakota Johnson at the outset of this muddled valentine to self- discovery, when singledom is “when our real life is happening, maybe?” So com- mitted is the film to musing on this point that it eventually hollows out nearly every one of its characters — the earnest lover looking to commit, the couch-crasher desperate to keep the party going, the levelheaded online dater with a helpful algorithm, the rich and doting single father, the self-aware lothario, and the oh enough already — in an effort to keep the reasons for single life going. Somewhere near the end, the dull barrage of observa- tions on modern romance (and sexytimes) sharpens to something approaching a point: there’s a danger to defining yourself entirely by who you’re dating. Except Ms. Johnson — whose display of deadpan comic delivery is the happy surprise here — hasn’t been doing that. At least, not so far as we’ve seen. We’ll just have to take her drunk friend Rebel Wilson’s word for it. New York looks fun, though. With Allison Brie, Leslie Mann. Directed by Christian Ditter. 2016. — M.L. ● (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Ip Man 3 — With charisma to spare, the ever-appealing Donnie Yen returns in the continuing saga of martial arts grand- master Wing Chun. Part 3 finds Chun using his formidable might to help save a local school from falling into the hands of crime lord Mike Tyson, who comes off remarkably well until called upon to speak. (As an actor, Iron Mike makes a terrific heavyweight champ.) Sentimental- ity takes shape first in the form of a wife in the final stages of abdominal cancer, and later when Tyson’s goons make off with a cluster of kids. Director Wilson Yip lacks the penicillin personality needed to treat a script moldier than a sack of year-old bread. Authentic period design and laudable fight choreography prove no match for the cardboard narrative and calculable characters that eventually bring it down by unanimous decision. Fans expecting to see more interplay between Chun and his star pupil Bruce Lee are in for a letdown. In Cantonese with English subtitles. 2015. — S.M. ★ (DIGITAL GYM CINEMA)


The Lady in the Van — Miss Shepherd, the titular lady — played without a trace of self-regard or emotional grasping by Maggie Smith — does not have much of a life. It’s hard to get much going when you live in a van, harder still when you’re old and slightly daft and imprisoned by your own crushing sense of guilt. But then, neither does Alan (Alex Jennings, a sort of English Truman Capote), the middle- aged man who winds up serving as host to her rolling residence — and also, our narrator. He’s a playwright so locked within himself that he must collect his material second-hand, unless, of course, it concerns his mother. (There are lots of prisons in this world.) Mam is his first, last, and best subject — until he meets the needy, smelly, and just slightly mysteri- ous Miss Shepherd. Remarkably, the film does not exist to unravel her mystery to anything like completion. Nor does it intend for its comfortably ensconced nar- rator to learn some grand wisdom from


the mostly uninvited, mostly ungrateful, and decidedly uncomfortable guest in his driveway. (Unless the frank, unhappy observation that “Caring is about shit” can count as wisdom.) In the end, the mystery doesn’t matter except insofar as it reveals the person at its heart, and it is Alan’s experience of that person that makes his account significant. Directed by Nicholas Hytner. 2015. — M.L. ★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Only Yesterday — Isao Takahata’s animated tale of a working woman’s trip to the country and subsequent recollec- tion of her childhood gets a U.S. release. Review forthcoming at sandiegoreader. com. 1991 (LANDMARK KEN)


Race — Stephen Hopkins’s account of track and field legend Jesse Owens and the controversy surrounding US participation in the Berlin Olympics of 1936 is over- stuffed, muddy-headed, heavy-handed, derivative, and weirdly sanitized — and yet it almost works, because who wouldn’t thrill to see a black man take on Nazi ideology on the world stage? (It probably helps if you haven’t seen 1982’s Chariots of Fire, which shares an uncomfortable number of story beats and details: the runner taking on a hateful world, the outcast coach, the shortened stride, the crisis of conscience about whether to run, etc., etc.) Stephan James portrays Owens as a man whose demeanor is as sweet and yielding as his body is hard and powerful: how could anyone hate such a nice guy who’s so good at what he does? Yet hate they do, because racism. Happily, he gets support from a constantly drinking (but never drunk) Jason Sudeikis as his progressive-minded coach. (Meanwhile, Jeremy Irons and William Hurt square off in a boring Berlin boycott battle.) Despite the import of the competition, dramatic tension comes mostly from Barnaby Metschurat’s Joseph Goebbels, who dominates every scene he’s in as the Games’ director. 2016. — M.L. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


The Revenant — Early on in direc- tor and co-writer Alejandro González Iñárritu’s small-scale epic, frontiersman Hugh Glass (played with almost frighten- ing commitment by Leonardo DiCaprio) learns the hard way that if you get too near a mother bear’s cubs, she will have at you. And even if — through some astonishing combination of luck, pluck, superior firepower, and emergency medi- cine — you manage to survive the attack, you will be scarred by the experience. This is, quite literally, nature red in tooth and claw. (Nature in the rest of the film is mostly white in ice and snow, perhaps less deadly but just as hostile, and rendered with impassive majesty by cinematog- rapher Emmanuel Lubezki.) It isn’t long before Glass finds himself in the role of the bear, fiercely stalking the skulking sonofabitch Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) who got too near to his own boy — even as he struggles to survive. The journey is long and painstaking, the better to give you a sense of just what is being opposed to what. As Glass heals, he progresses from a moaning, crawling beast to a cunning horseman: man rising to mastery over nature by wits and will. But eventually, a man comes up against his humanity: his power to choose, to plunge into the savage world of urge and instinct, or to step outside and dwell — however briefly, however painfully — in some more rarefied realm. 2015. — M.L. ★★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Risen — Joseph Fiennes glowers then gawks his way through Kevin Reynolds’ sun-blanched, strangely passionless account of the events following the Passion of Christ. Fiennes is Clavius, a


Roman centurion assigned to keeping the peace in Jerusalem, but the peace he really wants is that of “a day without death,” preferably in a country villa. Roman proc- urator Pontius Pilate wants peace, too, which is why he assigns Clavius to guard the tomb of one Yeshua, a recently cruci- fied Jew who apparently told his followers he would rise from the dead. (If such a thing were even rumored to be true, we’re told, there’s no telling what might happen. What we’re shown is that goofy, laughing hippies will rise up and share their mystical message of love, sharing, and oh yes, eternal life.) When the body goes missing, Clavius sets out to solve the mystery. He examines the Shroud like it’s forensic evidence, and conducts pointed interrogations of Yeshua’s follow- ers. Why, it’s almost like an externalized search for the basis of faith! Except it’s not — not for long, anyway. And once the question is answered, all that’s left is pious illustration, plus maybe a silly chase through the desert. 2016. — M.L. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Rolling Papers — When asked why he chose Ricardo Baca as the world’s first pot columnist, Greg Moore, editor of The Denver Post, offered, “He had covered the music scene for many years, so we knew he was familiar with marijuana.” Thus begins Mitch Dickman’s lively documentary on the paper’s never-before- attempted stab at giving cannabis serious coverage, and the slightly off-kilter team of kush-cognoscenti who comprise the writing staff at The Cannibist. There’s the occasional buzzkill — the crew has short-term memory loss to blame after a “promise” by Whoopi Goldberg to be a semi-regular contributor never material- izes — but the journalists not only do a commendable job of critiquing the vari- ous buds, they also perform a commu- nity service by weeding out some of the more potentially dangerous strains. Pot enthusiasts are clearly the target audience, while non-tokers will no doubt find the film’s depiction of a dying industry wish- ing to attract more readers by hitching its wagon to a snowballing phenomenon fascinating to watch. 2015 — S.M. ★★★ (DIGITAL GYM)


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 circu- lation. 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 McCar- thy clearly relishes the chance to dra- matize the dull drudgery of diligent news- gathering — 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 editors — escapes that particular spot- light. 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


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