San Diego Reader March 30, 2017 57


Ghost in the Shell — Scarlett Johans- son stars in the live-action version of the manga series-turned-animated film franchise-turned animated TV series about a counter-cyberterrorist organiza- tion led by a cyberperson with little use for traditional clothing. At least when she’s kicking ass. Directed by Rupert Sanders. Review forthcoming at sandiegoreader. com. 2017 (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Hidden Figures — NASA’s gone funky when a trio of African-American women (Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe), all experts in the field of analytic geometry, prove they have the right stuff needed to crack the elite white boy’s space program. An important historical achievement — and apparently, the space center’s best kept secret — is brought to light in this entertaining, at times thoughtful big screen adaptation. Filmed in the bright, colorful mode of a ’60’s romantic comedy, the film admirably captures the look and feel of the period — and it does so without lecturing or wagging an admonishing finger. Those pondering the meaning of seamless editing need look no further than Peter Teschner’s flair for cutting on action. The exposition is cumbersome at first as co-writer and director Theodore Melfi’s (St. Vincent) script has a habit of repeating itself: two runs to the bathroom were enough to get the point across. Still, a crowd pleaser in the best sense of the term. 2016. — S.M. ★★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Kong: Skull Island — The latest Kong borrows at least a couple of pages from the script of the latest Godzilla (unsurprising, since Max Borenstein co-wrote both) — notably, the jacking up of the big ape’s size to truly gargantuan (though he does seem to grow and shrink a bit according to the demands of the scene), and the pitting of monster against monster, with people mostly serving as not-so-innocent bystanders. Plus the notion of monster as humanity’s benevolent protector, in spite of that status as not-so-innocent. The results are similarly middling. These critters are cuddly gods, demanding no sacrifice and forgiving all sins — though sometimes after a flare-up of temper. It’s fun to watch them in action, but on the human side, the film is clumsily written, over-cast and underacted, with only frustrated soldier Samuel L. Jackson striking the right tone of crazy amid the chaos. (John Goodman sounds bored as an intrepid scientist, while Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston are reduced to tight-shirted eye candy as a combat photographer and secretly sensitive tracker, respectively.) Besides the godlike gorilla, the real star seems to be ‘70’s technology, as director Jordan Vogt-Roberts lavishes loving attention on slide projectors, walkie-talkies, reel-to-reel players, manually adjusted cameras, and bucket-of-bolts transportation. Just don’t ask yourself who is holding the Super 8 during the final scene. 2017. — M.L. ★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


The Last Word — What is it about this grab-bag of contrivances, this last word in geezer porn, that attracted the likes of Shirley MacLaine? To set the plot in motion, the newspaper that leisure-class dowager Harriett Lauler (MacLaine) uses to blot up the wine spilled during her botched suicide attempt is conveniently open to the death notices. Not wanting to leave her obituary to chance, the control freak — she “put the ‘bitch’ in ‘obituary’” — hires the town necrologist (Amanda Seyfried) to jerry-build a memorialization. Having firmly established his heroine’s disesteem, novice screenwriter Stuart Ross Fink attempts a complete character 180 that entails Harriet dragging Seyfried and an adorable at-risk youth (Ann’Jewel Lee), on a road trip to patch things up


glories, animal instinct over alien malice, and genuine, endless darkness over its chuckleheaded imitation. Here is a story that knows how to put the nihilism in the vast nothingness of space. If you’re into that sort of thing. With Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Fergusun. 2017. — M.L. ★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Ghost in the Shell: More like Elmer’s Glue in the Hair, amirite? Oh, wait; that’s a terrifying Geisha robot. Never mind.


with Harriet’s estranged daughter (Anne Heche). The occasionally retired Ms. MacLaine is ever quick with a retort, but this is one lead-footed comeback we all could have done without. Mark Pellington directs. 2017. — S.M. ★ (LANDMARK HILLCREST)


The Lego Batman Movie — Director Chris McCay’s whirlwind romp through The Dark Knight’s universe keeps things kid-friendly by operating from the notion that Batman is a seven-year-old boy, his development arrested by the traumatic experience of losing his parents at a tender age. He doesn’t want to share: he regards his greatest enemy as “rival” good guy Superman instead of actual bad guy The Joker. He’s frightened by his feelings, so


much so that he invents “snake clowns” as a more plausible phobia. And when his butler tells him he has to go to a social occasion, he literally rolls on the floor shouting “No,” until he’s reminded that going out means getting to play dress-up. The story is similarly juvenile: a bland affirmation of the importance of working together, and a casual brush-off to the pain of loss. Anything realer, one suspects, might have gotten in the way of the rat- a-tat barrage of gags, jokes, riffs, zingers, etc., wrought by the script’s five(!) authors, to say nothing of the ravishing riot of brick-based set design. It may look like a children’s movie, but it feels like it’s aimed at Mommy and (more likely) Daddy. 2017. — M.L. ★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Life — Okay, so it’s like Alien, in that a bunch of people in space wind up with a smart, deadly xenomorph on board and have to figure out how to stop it. And it’s like Gravity, in that one of those people would rather be melancholy among the stars than miserable on earth. And it’s like The Martian, in that smart scientists are constantly having to innovate and recalculate based on new difficulties. And it’s like Independence Day, in that the critter has tentacles and sort of a rudimentary face. And it’s like Deadpool, in that Ryan Reynolds cracks wise and suffers horribly. What of it? It’s also unlike all of those films, in that director Daniel Espinosa is capably doling out tension over horror, personal sacrifice over personal crises, the limits of intelligence over its


FILM FESTIVALS CHULA VISTA CIVIC CENTER LIBRARY


365 F St., Chula Vista 619-691-5069


Film Forum: Coming Through the Rye Emmy-winning writer and director James Sadwith’s film debut displays verve and charm in this memory piece about a prep school student (Alex Wolff) obsessed with Holden Caulfield, who writes a stage adaptation of “The Catcher in the Rye.” He and his quirky (girl) friend Dee Dee (Stefania Owen) hit the road on a roller-coaster odyssey to find reclusive author J.D.Salinger (Chris Cooper) and obtain his blessing. 2015. 97 minutes. PG-13. Mini concert at 5:30 pm featuring singer Rachel Herrera, followed by the film screening at 6:00 pm. Sponsored by the Friends of Chula Vista Library. Info: 619-691-5069. Wednesday, April 12, 6:00pm


FLEET SCIENCE CENTER


1875 El Prado, Balboa Park 619-238-1233


Senior Monday On the first Monday of every month, seniors 65 and better can enjoy dis- counted admission, a show in the Heikoff Giant Dome Theater, and a lecture about scientific topics. 10:30am lecture, theater show at noon. Monday, April 3, 10:30am


LA JOLLA LIBRARY


7555 Draper Ave., La Jolla 858-552-1657


The Ramallah Concert This live film was made on August 21, 2005, during the week of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip when an historic concert took place in the city of Ramallah, in the Palestinian Territory. The event featured the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a world-class group of young Arab and Israeli musicians, conducted by Daniel


Barenboim. This was the first time the Orches- tra gave a concert in one of its members’ home countries. It was standing-room only in the 700-seat concert hall, and the atmosphere was electric. An earlier award winning documen- tary “Knowledge is the Beginning” follows the establishment of the orchestra by Barenboim and Palestinian author Edward Said in order to bring together young musicians from across the political divide in the Middle East. Sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, San Diego Chapter. Sunday, April 9, 1:00pm


LA PALOMA


471 S. Coast Hwy. 101, Encinitas 760-436-7469


NUMB3RS


3811 Park Bl., Hillcrest 619-294-7483


Screen with Screams Film Festival A horror film festival six years in the running in Colorado comes to San Diego. Thursday, March 30, 7:00pm


PEARL


1410 Rosecrans St., Point Loma 619-226-6100


Dive-In Theater A weekly “cinema social” combining eclectic film selections, food and drink, and conversation. The event takes place at the poolside lounge and theater located outdoors and connected to Eat at The Pearl. Scheduled films are projected onto a 10’ x 13’ foot projection screen with full sound, overlook- ing the vintage, oyster-shaped swimming pool. Guests are invited to enjoy a range of classics, blockbusters, foreign, and independent features from The Pearl’s private library. Showtime is at 8 pm, food is served until 10 pm, and bar’s open until 1 pm. Wednesday, April 5, 8:00pm, Wednesday, April 12, 8:00pm, Wednesday, April 19, 8:00pm


Fly Fishing Film Tour The original and preeminent exhibition of fly fishing cinema, The F3T (Fly-Fishing Film Tour) is a one of a kind experience. Each year fishy folk of all ages gather at premieres to soak up films from around the world, spin a few yarns among friends and dream about casts still unmade. From Bolivia to the Seychelles, British Columbia and Patagonia, from Saskatchewan to Zambia and Virginia to Montana, the notable characters, unique story lines and unparalleled fishing in these films will lead you on an adventure around the globe. Thursday, March 30, 6:00pm


REMINGTON CLUB II


16916 Hierba Dr., Rancho Bernardo 858-673-6340


Film Discussion Class: 1984 George Orwell’s barbed attack is set in an orchestrated society of the future where a clerk (Edmond O’Brien) rebels by engaging in a stoic love affair and is relentlessly pursued by Big Brother. Co-starring Jan Sterling. 1956. 90 minutes. Presented by the Continuing Education Center at Rancho Bernardo, with instructor Ralph DeLauro, in the second floor Multipurpose Room. (858) 487-0464. Wednesday, April 5, 7:00pm


SCHULMAN AUDITORIUM AT CARLSBAD CITY LIBRARY


1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad 760-602-2049


Arrival When 12 mysterious spacecraft appear around the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks is tasked with interpreting the language of the apparent alien visitors. Movie special features begin at 5:30pm Wednesday, April 12, 6:00pm


TEMPLE EMANU-EL 6299 Capri Dr., Del Cerro


Logan — Director and co-writer James Mangold takes another stab at the adamantium-clawed superhero (after 2013’s Japanese noir The Wolverine), this time turning him into an ailing Western hero tasked with transporting a very special youngster to safety, and winds up making the best superhero movie in years. It helps that the normally lone-wolf Logan also has an elderly father figure in tow: Charles Xavier, a super-psychic whose mind is going — a dangerous prospect. Xavier wants Logan to have a life before he dies, and sees the kid as a signpost pointing toward hope. Our hero knows better, knows that it’s all bullshit and bloodshed and bad guys stomping on good. The kid was grown in a lab! There is no promised land! And yet. It also helps that from the outset, we know that death is a real possibility, and that it takes a toll on the one who deals it. (When you deal with enemies by carving them up at close range, your life is nasty and brutish, no matter how long it’s made by your mutant healing factor.) Hugh Jackman stars alongside Patrick Stewart and newcomer Dafne Keen. 2017. — M.L. ★★★ (IN WIDE RELEASE)


Personal Shopper — By day, Maureen (Kristen Stewart) haunts the premium racks looking to outfit her vainglorious celebrity boss Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten). By night, she’s a paranormalist eager to connect with her dead brother’s spirit. (The two made a Houdini pact in which the first to die swore to contact the other.) Presented with what’s easily her most challenging role to date, Stewart crushed it. For his second collaboration with the actress, Olivier Assayas once again relies on sleight


Film Discussion Class: The Swimmer Based on John Cheever’s surreal and allegorical short story, this is Twilight Zone by way of The New Yorker. Burt Lancaster stars as Ned Mer- rill, an aging lothario who confronts his destiny by swimming home, pool by pool, through the suburban nightmare of upper-class East Coast society. Co-stars Janice Rule, Kim Hunter, and Joan Rivers. 1968. 95 minutes. Sponsored by Jewish Family Service, with instructor Ralph DeLauro, at College Avenue Center at Temple Emanu-El. Members free, all others $2. Information: 858-637-3270. Monday, April 3, 1:00pm


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