Eugene Weekly : Movies : 5.22.08


.MOVIE LISTINGS | MOVIE REVIEW ARCHIVE | THEATER INFO

 

OPENING OR RETURNING:
Films open the Friday following date of EW publication unless otherwise noted. See archived movie reviews.

Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival: The fifth annual festival changes venues this year, moving to the Hult with its lineup of films from around the world that exhibit “the wonderful diversity of human cultures past and present.” Films include Pocahontas Revealed and Hidden Worlds: Underground Rome, among many others. Through May 24, Hult Center. See full schedule at www.archaeologychannel.org

Bank Job, The: Jason Statham (The Transporter) and Saffron Burrows star in this film based on the 1971 robbery at Lloyds Bank in London. To the thieves’ surprise, the box they steal has more than just cash in it. “Shapes up as one of the liveliest entertainments of the year,” said Andrew Sarris in The New York Observer. R. 110 min. Movies 12. (3/27)

College Road Trip: Martin Lawrence plays the overbearing father of a girl (Raven-Symone) who insists on coming along on her college-visiting road trip. I think quirky situations and wacky hijinks may ensue! G. Movies 12.

Dire Straights: A performance from German TV in 1979 and a 1980 French documentary make up this In-Concert Series screening. Bijou LateNite.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: It’s the only mainstream movie opening this weekend! It’s got Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett and Shia LeBoeuf and sassy Raiders of the Lost Ark dame Karen Allen! Also, it takes place 19 years after the underrated third film in a world facing the possibility of nuclear annihilation. That’s about all I’ve got. That and a big plastic Indy whip. PG13. 124 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Little Brother, Big Pharma: The Eugene premiere of a documentary about the current treatment for people diagnosed with mental illness, featuring one family’s story and commentary from doctors, authors, mental health workers and others. 1 pm May 25, Bijou. $5.

Queer Film Festival: This free festival continues with Itty Bitty Titty Committee, about a recently dumped woman who meets the sassy leader of a radical punk-feminist group. 11:50 pm May 23, Bijou. Free.

Ruins, The: The ruins are alive … with creepy plant life. At least that’s what it looks like in previews for this horror flick, adapted by Scott B. Smith from his own novel. Two reasons to see this, really: Shawn Ashmore (Iceman in the X-Men movies) and Jena Malone, who deserves better roles (doesn’t anyone remember Saved!?). R. 97 min. Movies 12.

Superhero Movie: The Scary Movie send-uppers turn their attention to spandex-clad superheroes. PG13. 85 min. Movies 12.

Twenty-one: An unconventional math professor (Kevin Spacey) recruits his brightest students (among them Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess) to count cards in Vegas, leading to tuiton money for them and, one assumes, mad loot for the boss. Until things get complicated. PG13. 123 min. Movies 12.

 

CONTINUING

Baby Mama: When successful businesswoman Kate (Tiny Fey) finds that she can’t conceive the kid she wants, she hires Angie (Amy Poehler) as her surrogate. It’s a clash of personalities and more when Angie shows up on Kate’s doorstep. “An essentially sweet-natured picture that doesn’t go as far as it could,” says Salon.com. PG13. 96 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Chronicles of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian: When the Pevensie children find themselves back in Narnia, it’s just a year later for them — and 1300 years later for the magical land, now under the control of an evil foreigner. Lucy, Susan, Peter and Edmund (with help, of course) must help get the true king back on Narnia’s throne. PG. 144 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. See review this issue.

Drillbit Taylor: When three high school kids get sick of being picked on, they hire Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson), who pretends to be a teacher in order to keep an eye on his young clients. There’s brand-name talent behind the scenes (Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen) but the reviewers weren’t charmed. PG13. 102 min. Movies 12.

Fool’s Gold: Fools’ choices? Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey play a divorced couple who reteam to bicker endlessly — and search for a sunken treasure. Totally sure they stay divorced in the end, too. PG13. Movies 12.

Forbidden Kingdom: When an American teenager finds a lost relic of the legendary Monkey King, he also finds himself sent back in time to join a band of warriors fighting to free said king. The important bits? Jackie Chan and Jet Li costar, and Wo Ping (Crouching Tiger; The Matrix) handles the fight sequences. Awesome. PG13. Cinemark.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall: The Apatow Onslaught continues with this romantic comedy about a guy (Jason Segel, who also wrote the screenplay) who tries get away from it all after his famous girlfriend (the fantabulous Kristen Bell) dumps him — only to find that she, and her strange new boyfriend, are at the same Hawaiian resort. With Mila Kunis, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and a lot of other funny people. R. 112 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (4/24)

Horton Hears a Who: The Dr. Seuss classic gets the animated treatment from the creators of Ice Age, with Jim Carrey as Horton and Steve Carell as the mayor of Who-ville, the tiny world on a speck that Horton discovers and defends from his fellow animals, who think he’s gone nuts. G. 110 min. Movies 12.

Iron Man: The first major summer flick (summer? Huh?) stars Robert Downy Jr. as Tony Stark, a wealthy industrialist who devises a suit that gives him the superheroic ability to take down baddies who misuse his destructive technology. Awesome. With Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow. PG13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (5/8)

Jumper: Adapted from a novel by Steven Gould, this film follows “jumpers” who can leap through space and time. Among these lucky few are Hayden Christensen and Jamie Bell; Samuel L. Jackson provides the tension as a fella who doesn’t approve of these crazy hijinks. Directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity). PG13. 88 min. Movies 12.

Leatherheads: George Clooney directs and stars in this romantic comedy set in the 1920s against the start of the pro football league. With Jon Krazinski (The Office) as a golden-boy quarterback and Renee Zellweger as the reporter determined to prove he’s not as perfect as he seems. PG13. 113 min. Movies 12. (4/10)

Made of Honor: This sliver of nonsense seems deliberately scheduled opposite Iron Man, as if some moron imagined it were a palatable “chick flick” option. Nice going, universe. Even Dr. McDreamy, Patrick Dempsey, as the guy who figures out too late that he’s in love with his best friend (Michelle Monaghan) isn’t enough to make this look anything but embarrassing. PG13. 101 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Nim’s Island: Moppet-of-the-moment Abigail Breslin stars as Nim, a girl who lives with her scientist father (Gerard Butler) on an island and has a literary heroine whose life is rather similar. When Nim’s father disappears, life brings Nim and her favorite author together to find him. With Jodie Foster. PG. 95 min. Cinemark.

Speed Racer: Here it comes, here comes … the Wachowski Brothers’ color-saturated, whiz-bang take on the oddball Japanese cartoon that some of us never understood when we were children. Emile Hirsch stars as Mach 5 racer Speed; Matthew Fox (as baddie Racer X), John Goodman, Christina Ricci and Susan Sarandon round out the cast. PG. 129 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Super High Me: Comedian Doug Benson, inspired by Super Size Me, decides to go without pot for a month — then spend an entire month high as a kite and see what effects the endless inhaling has on his body and mental state. The film mixes Benson’s experiment with his stand-up routine and a bit of history about California’s drug laws; it’s all a bit muddled, but it’s also relatively funny. Bijou LateNite. (5/1)

Ten Thousand B.C.: Director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) directs a set-ages-ago story about a young hunter and the lovely woman he’ll stop at nothing to save from “mysterious warlords.” Other key phrases from the studio’s synopsis include “ultimate fate,” “tyrannical god” and “empire beyond imagination.” PG13. 109 min. Movies 12.

Visitor, The: A disillusioned professor who finds two young people living in his unused apartment allows them to stay and finds, slowly, that he’s growing close to them — until one is arrested as an undocumented citizen. “This is a film of our times — paranoid, heartbroken, disillusioned,” said The Boston Globe‘s Wesley Morris. PG13. 103 min. Bijou. (5/15)

What Happens in Vegas: Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher star as a couple that gets rather spontaneously wed in Vegas, then realizes they hate each other — only to wind up stuck together when he puts her quarter in a slot machine and hits the jackpot. PG13. 99 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Young@Heart: This BBC-funded documentary follows the Young@Heart Chorus as they prepare for a performance in their hometown of Northampton, Mass., working on songs you might not expect a group of octogenarians to perform and dealing with the issues that arise for people of a certain age. “Young@Heart is a heartening and poignant affirmation of the transformative power of music,” said USA Today. PG. 107 min. Bijou. (5/15)

 

MOVIE THEATERS
Use the links provided below for specific show times.

Bijou Art Cinemas
Bijou Theater 686-2458 | 492 E. 13th

Regal Cinemas
VRC Stadium 15 342-6536 | Valley River Center

Cinemark Theaters
Movies 12 741-1231 | Gateway Mall
Cinemark 17 741-1231 | Gateway Mall