San Diego Reader January 5, 2017 57
under “must to avoid.” 2016. — S.M. ● (AMC MISSION VALLEY; ARCLIGHT LA JOLLA)
Office Christmas Party — It’s awards season, and the duo responsible for Blades of Glory and The Switch, virtuoso hacks Josh Gordon and Will Speck, earn a nomination for one the year’s gloomiest comedies. Box office anathema Jennifer Aniston stars as a CEO threatening to shutter her sybaritic little brother’s (T.J. Miller) failing branch office. By way of retaliation, he decides to reward his employees with a depraved holiday blow- out. If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of failure, then the unintoxicating dope jokes, eeny-meeny-miney-moe framework, and de rigueur closeup cameo by Harry P. Ness may lead one to believe that Judd Apatow might very well be a genius. Olivia Munn photographs well, Kate McKinnon puts an uptight Republican spin on her Hillary Clinton impersonation, and Jason Bateman’s mug- ging quickly fades into the background. Even a third act demolition derby tribute to The Blues Brothers can’t revitalize this stiff. As childish and unimaginative as its oversimplified title, were there still video stores, the DVD would no doubt be
shelved in the generics aisle. 2016. — S.M. ● (IN WIDE RELEASE)
Passengers — Director Morten Tyldum makes the most of many of his assets in this interplanetary romantic drama: the vast exterior emptiness of space, the vast interior emptiness of the colonist ship Avalon as it is experienced by a single passenger awoken 90 years early, the gently affirming android bartender in the Overlook Hotel-style bar, the devilish/boyish charm of Chris Pratt, the feline/womanly charm of Jennifer Lawrence, and the appealing physiques of both. Beefcake and cheesecake — how equitable! What isn’t equitable is the relationship between these two restless pioneers (he wants a world where he can build things, she wants new journalistic territory to cover), because one of them is keeping a terrible secret from the other. That secret provides the only real drama in their inevitable love affair, and for a while, it looks like it might be enough. But in the end, Tyldum makes the very least of it. Fixing the malfunctioning Avalon requires addressing the funda- mental damage, but the film seems to argue that the same does not hold true for the human heart. 2016. — M.L. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)
CENTRAL
AMC Fashion Valley 7037 Friars Rd (888-262-4386)
AMC La Jolla 8657 Villa La Jolla Dr (888-262-4386)
MOVIE THEATERS EAST COUNTY
Vintage Village Theater 820 Orange Ave, Coronado (619-437-6161)
AMC Mission Valley 1640 Camino Del Rio North (888-262-4386)
ArcLight La Jolla 4425 La Jolla Village Dr (858-768-7770
Digital Gym Cinema 2921 El Cajon Blvd ((619) 230-1938)
Landmark Hillcrest 3965 Fifth Ave (619-298-2904)
Landmark Ken 4061 Adams Ave (619-283-3227)
The LOT La Jolla 7611 Fay Ave (858-777-0069)
The LOT Liberty Station 2620 Thruxton Rd (619-566-0069)
Reading Town Square 4665 Clairemont Dr (858-274-9994)
Regal Horton Plaza Horton Plaza (844-462-7342)
Reuben H. Fleet Science Center 1875 El Prado, Balboa Park (619-238-1233)
San Diego Natural History Museum - Kaplan Theater 1788 El Prado, Balboa Park (619-232-3821)
UltraStar Mission Valley 7510 Hazard Center Dr #100 (619-574-8684)
United Artists Horton Plaza 475 Horton Plaza (844-462-7342)
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AMC Chula Vista 555 Broadway #2050 (619-371-9105)
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AMC Palm Promenade 770 Dennery Rd (619-662-2698)
AMC Plaza Bonita 3050 Plaza Bonita Rd (619-475-2200)
Regal Rancho Del Rey 1025 Tierra del Rey (844-462-7342)
South Bay Drive In 2170 Coronado Ave (619-423-2727)
NORTH INLAND
Digiplex Poway 13475 Poway Rd ((858) 679-3887)
Digiplex River Village 5256 Mission Road, Bonsall (760-945-1365)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — Disney spins the Wheel! Of! Star Wars! and gets “Gotta get that shield down!” as its Obligatory Plotline Rehash in director Gareth Edwards’ take on how exactly the rebellion got ahold of the plans for the original Death Star in A New Hope. (Answer: through some pretty dark dealings and considerable sacrifice.) The good news is that Edwards’ effort to make a storm-the-beach war film produces a tense third act that earns most of its big moments and also justifies much of what’s come before. The bad news is that what’s come before is a clunky attempt at a coldhearted espionage thriller, full of good characters saddled with bad
dialogue, tense scenarios saddled with dumb action, and tolerable storyweaving saddled with bad fan service. (Blue milk! Walrus Man! A variant on “Never tell me the odds!” Etc.) Like the rebootish The Force Awakens, Rogue One features tweaks on the old standbys (leads Jyn and Cas- sian as Leia and Han, the politely snarky K-2SO as both C-3PO and RD-D2, etc.). Unlike The Force Awakens, it also features some genuine freshness: a reluctant col- laborator with the Empire, a monk who can feel the Force but is nobody’s Jedi, and a frustrated baddie who just wants credit where it’s due. 2016. — M.L. ★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)
Silence — Reviewed this issue. 2016 — S.M. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)
Sing — Garth Jennings directs this animated version of American Idol, with a soupcon of let’s-put-on-a-show-to-save- the-theater thrown in for good measure. 2016. — D.S. (IN WIDE RELEASE)
Train to Busan — A self-centered fund manager (Yoo Gong) learns what it takes to be a good father during a South Korean zombie outbreak in this terrific, mostly trainbound thriller. It starts, unsurprisingly, with getting over that “self-centered” bit and paying attention: to your kid, to your mom, to your fellow
Digiplex Temecula Tower Cinemas 27531 Ynez Rd (951-699-2205)
Krikorian Vista Village Highway 78 at Vista Village Dr (760-945-7469)
Angelika Carmel Mountain 11620 Carmel Mntn Rd (858-207-2606)
Regal Escondido 350 West Valley Parkway (844-462-7342)
Regal Mira Mesa 10733 Westview Parkway (844-462-7342)
Regal San Marcos 1180 W. San Marcos Blvd (844-462-7342)
NORTH COASTAL
Cinépolis Del Mar 12905 El Camino Real (858-794-4045)
Cinépolis La Costa 6941 El Camino Real (760-827-6700)
Digiplex Mission Marketplace 431 College Blvd (760-631-5700)
La Paloma 471 South Coast Highway 101 (760-436-7469)
Regal Oceanside 401 Mission Avenue (844-462-7342)
Regal Carlsbad 2501 El Camino Real (760-720-5392)
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passengers — really, to anything and everything beyond the bottom line. If only all morality tales and class-struggle allegories could be this bloody and entertaining — just try not to chuckle when the zombie virus animates its first victim (a deer run over by a pig farmer who is having the worst day ever), not to seethe when the bastards start trampling the innocent, not to cringe when the undead claim beloved characters, and not to tear up at the increasingly frequent moments of heroic sacrifice. Director Yeon Sang-ho makes smart use of the cramped quarters, and while it’s true that his zombies’ abilities tend to vary accord- ing to the requirements of the moment, it’s easy to overlook amid the onslaught of action and emotion. 2016 — M.L. ★★★ (DIGITAL GYM)
Underworld: Blood Wars — This is the fifth — the fifth — time Kate Beckinsale has leathered up as Selene, the slinky vampire heroine of her kind’s endless battle with the world’s werewolves. This particular entry in the supernatural saga was released internationally in 2016, the same year Beckinsale played a Jane Aus- ten heroine in Love & Friendship. What range! Anna Foerster directs. 2017 (IN WIDE RELEASE)
Why Him? — Christmas, the perfect time for Zoey Deutch to introduce the family to her first serious boyfriend, James Franco. The titular question goes unanswered. Sure, Franco is sweet, cute in a goofy way, and above all, painfully honest, but aside from those amorphous traits we’re never quite sure what it is about the flagrantly abrasive vulgar- ian that turns her on. Could it be the $200 million he has in the bank? As a successful video game designer, Franco puts the silly in Silicon Valley; it’s a role he’s become all too comfortable playing. Dad Bryan Cranston – at home as the walking time bomb waiting to explode on his future son-in-law – doesn’t have the milquetoast in him needed to pull off the other half of the equation. A paperless toilet gag brought a few chuckles, as did Megan Mullally’s vaped-out square trying to arouse hubby Cranston. But it will be best remembered as the film put the word “bukkake” in the mouths of middle- Americans. 2016. — S.M. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)
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