San Diego Reader February 23, 2017 57


teacher (with a sweet kid and a pregnant wife) in a high school that demands educators who look like Ice Cube and talk with his brand of menace and authority. But even Mr. Cube is not immune to the degradations of Senior Prank Day, and neither is safe from the Administrative axe on this, the last day of school. When Day acts to save his own skin and so gets Cube fired, the fight is, as they say, on — though not for a long while. First, the movie wants you to watch Day sweat, squirm, scheme, and scream as he tries to escape his fate — and fails, and fails, and fails. He succeeds, however, at carrying the film, partly through sympathetic wretchedness and partly through sheer energy. (He also has help from a mostly well-used cast, includ- ing Tracy Morgan as a hapless coach, Dean Norris as an exasperated principal, and of course, his co-star, who both mocks and upholds his famed badassery.) The fight, when it arrives, is bonkers, brutal, and almost believable. The film, when it ends, is a little less so. Directed by Richie Keen. 2017. — M.L. ★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Get Out — Thriller that follows a black man as he journeys with his white girlfriend into the terrifying wilds of white-people country living. Written and directed by Jordan Peele. Review forth- coming at sandiegoreader.com. 2017 (IN WIDE RELEASE)


The Great Wall — Director Zhang Yimou enlists the friendly All-American face of Matt Damon to entice multiplex audiences to embrace subtitles, the glories of Chinese civilization, and the coming wave of Chinese cinema. (Damon’s face, scowly and granitic, is up to the task, his slippery accent isn’t.) The story feels American as well; specifically; it feels like a low-budget Western in which a highly skilled ne’er-do-well gets roped by a spir- ited gal into defending the town against a horde of nasties, and learns a thing or two about love and doin’ right in the process. Something bland and familiar to make the keening wail of the (beautiful) funeral cer- emony a little less foreign, and the brightly color-coded armor of the Great Wall’s defenders a little less outlandish. It’s a hard movie to defend: the script whiffs most of its attempts at humor, the beastly baddies are dull demon dogs, and the action yo-yos between the ridiculous and the sublime. But I found it a strangely easy movie to enjoy, so that’s something. It probably helps that the copious CGI is just wonky enough in places to suggest the gratifying solidity of practical effects. 2017. — M.L.


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)


Reading Grossmont 5500 Grossmont Ctr Dr (619-465-3040)


Regal Parkway Plaza 405 Parkway Plaza (619-462-7342)


Regal Rancho San Diego 2951 Jamacha Rd (844-462-7342)


Santee Drive In 10990 Woodside Ave (619-448-7447)


SOUTH BAY


AMC Chula Vista 555 Broadway #2050 (619-371-9105)


AMC Otay Ranch Otay Ranch Town Center (619-216-7545)


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)


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)


GET SHOWTIMES


& TRAILERS: SDREADER.COM/MOVIES


Dillon, and Sam Elliott (among others) buy the sedatives they might just need to sleep through the night after having been a part of this. Directed and co-written by Ash Brannon. 2016 (IN WIDE RELEASE)


A United Kingdom — Politics as reflected through the prism of a powerful love story between president of Botswana Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo) and Brit- ish-born Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike). (His subjects referred to her as “the Afri- can Queen.”) Director Amma Asante skill- fully blends color into her narrative, letting viewers know what part of the world they’re in at all times, thanks in large part to her deployment of light and saturation. We never lose sight of what the couple is standing up against; for a novel change, it’s the love story that drives the politics. Screenwriter Guy Hibbert and Asante pull off a precision balancing act, illuminating the intensity of the love the couple shared and never once allowing their romance to take a back seat to the issues. Had she cho- sen to take the opposite approach, Asante and company would no doubt be up to their eyeballs in Oscar nominations. As is, this stands taller than any of 2017’s best picture nominees. 2016 — S.M. ★★★★ (LANDMARK HILLCREST)


XX — Reviewed this issue. 2017 — S.M. ★★★ (DIGITAL GYM)


★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


John Wick: Chapter 2 — What a great opening! An olde-timey movie, projected onto an urban facade, showing an automo- tive crash. Pan down to a motorcycle, sliding on its side along the rain-slicked street — the crash has actually happened; the movie is reality. The bike’s owner scrambles into view, picks it up, takes off, and VROOM here comes his pursuer, skidding across the purple neon asphalt in a roaring muscle car. No further introduc- tion is required: here comes John Wick (Keanu Reeves), avenging angel, out to tie


up the last loose end from the lean, mean, ‘80s-themed first installment: the recovery of his stolen ’69 Mustang. But here’s the problem with avenging angels: after a while, their invincibility gets both boring and silly, and the viewer starts pining for something recognizably human. (You wouldn’t want to make a drinking game out of every time Wick gets hit by a car/ stabbed/shot/beaten up, only to shake it off and get back to work.) And this particular angel isn’t even especially righteous — his big decision about whether or not to honor a marker has less to do with integrity than pragmatism. The first chapter’s ‘80s


efficiency and sincerity give way to ‘90s excess and jokey cool; body armor gets replaced by a bulletproof sportcoat; lov- ing attention to the realities of reloading surrenders to outright fetishization of the gun. Alas: for John Wick: Chapter 2, reality is just a movie. Directed by Chad Stahelski. 2017. — M.L. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Rock Dog — A sheep dog decides to pur- sue his dreams of rock-and-roll stardom in this animated offering from Mandoo Pictures and Huayi Brothers that should help voice talent Luke Wilson, Eddie Izzard, J.K. Simmons, Lewis Black, Matt


You’re Killing Me Susana — Fish- out-of-water relationship dramedy in which the fish is a blissfully self-centered actor (played with boyish charm by Gael García Bernal), the water he’s out of is Mexico, and the dry land upon which he is flopping and gasping is the Iowa Writ- ers’ Workshop, where his frustrated wife (Verónica Echegui) has fled for a little self-fulfillment, aesthetic and otherwise. “Dramedy” is actually something of a misnomer, since the comedy inherent in the setup (hot-blooded Latino jealously pursuing his woman through the thickets of literary theory and artistic transmuta- tion) is almost entirely neglected. (Instead, our hero hides out from a stiffed cabbie and brags about bull’s penis tacos to the horrified local yokels.) But it’s too slight and simple to be a straight-up drama. Maybe a bawdy ballad? She climbed the Pole’s willy/ but I spanked her silly/ and now we are happy again! It might have helped if director Roberto Sneider had let his female lead be something more than the pretty thing doing the killing mentioned in the title. 2016 — M.L. ★ (DIGITAL GYM)


MOVIE SHOWTIMES & TRAILERS AT SDREADER.COM/MOVIES


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84