Eugene Weekly : Movies : 12.3.09


.MOVIE LISTINGS | MOVIE REVIEW ARCHIVE | THEATER INFO

 

OPENING:

Antichrist: Charlotte Gainsbourge and Willem Dafoe star in the latest from Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves), a provcative and violent story about a couple who try to deal with grief in an isolated cabin — only to find things get a lot worse. Not rated. Bijou. See review this issue

Armored: Matt Dillon, Jean Reno and Laurence Fisburne are three armored-car company employees who decide to steal from their company. And then someone tries to help, and messes everything up. PG13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Brothers: Jim Sheridan (In America) directs this story about Grace (Natalie Portman), whose husband Sam (Tobey Maguire) is presumed dead in Iraq. His brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) steps in to help; a connection is made; Sam returns, and things get complicated. R. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. 

Capitalism: A Love Story: Michael Moore’s latest, a look at the still-ongoing financial crisis, is getting mixed reviews; to some it’s an “emotional attack” and “scattershot and lazy,” while others think it’s moving and energizing. R. Movies 12. (10/8)

Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood: Documentary discusses ethical questions about children’s marketing and its effect on kids. Discussion with lcoal media experts follows. 6:30 pm Wednesday, Dec. 9, 220 HEDCO Building, UO. Free. www.lchay.org 

Everybody’s Fine: Robert De Niro is the pops in a friendly family flick about parents and their adult children. With Kate Beckinsale, Drew Barrymore and — say it ain’t so! — Sam Rockwell, who should do more Moons and less stuff like this. PG13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. 

Found Footage Festival: The traveling showcase of odd films and videos — now in its fifth year is hosted by curators Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, and includes a video found by David Cross, a home movie of a suburban metal festival and a compilation of exercise videos (starring, among others, Dolph Lundgren). 7 pm Sunday, Dec. 6, Bijou. $10. www.foundfootagefestival.com 

Guerilla Midwife: Documentary by Deja Bernhardt follows midwife Robin Limm as she works around the world. 7 pm Sunday, Dec. 6, Cozmic Pizza. $7-$15. 

Heckler’s Night: The Goat gets out Kickboxer! for this week’s Heckler’s Night selection. 7 pm Wednesday, Dec. 9, Wandering Goat. Free.

Journey to India, A: Series ends with Nayak: The Real Hero, in which a reporter accepts a challenge to run his country for one day. His success is both surprising and dangerous, as the people in power aren’t thrilled. 6 pm Thursday, Dec. 3, Mills International Center, EMU, UO. Free.

Pulp Fiction: The often-imitated 1994 Quentin Tarentino followup to Reservoir Dogs stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman in three violent stories of crime, lust and greed. See it for the umpteenth time, why don’t you? R. David Minor Theater.

Rise: Fly fishing adventure movie screens as a fundraiser for the Southern Oregon Casting for Recovery retreat, an annual event for breast cancer survivors. 5:30 pm and 7 pm Thursday, Dec. 10, David Minor Theater. $10.

Transylmania: This spoof plays out at Razvan University, which is in an old Transylvania castle. Vampires want it back; one presumes the college kids who study there will have to defend their school. Spoofily. R. Cinemark.

Whiteout: Kate Beckinsale plays a U.S. Marshall sent to Antarctica to investigate a death — but she only has days before the long, dark winter really settles in. R. Movies 12.

Films open the Friday following EW publication date unless otherwise noted.

CONTINUING:

An Education: Relative newcomer Carey Mulligan has rightly been called “luminous” in her role as Jenny, an eager-to-grow-up 16-year-old in 1960s England who meets a much older man. David (Peter Sarsgaard) introduces her to the world she dreams of inhabiting. He changes her life, but not in the expected way, and not for the expected reasons. PG-13. 95 min. Bijou. (11/19)

Blind Side, The: Sandra Bullock stars as a rich Southern lady who takes in a homeless African-American kid who becomes a star footbal player. Tell me you see the problems with this. “What The Blind Side offers is a kind of liberal Hollywood version of conservative values: all rock-solid valor, all the time,” said Entertainment Weekly. PG-13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Boondock Saints II: All Saints’ Day: The sequel to the cultish 2000 Boondock Saints reunites the vigilante MacManus brothers (Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus); the rest of the cast includes the fantastic Clifton Collins Jr. and reliable Julie Benz (Dexter), but reviews are calling it style over substance. R. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Christmas Carol, A: Robert Zemeckis turns his 3-D obsessed attention to the classic holiday story. I’m assuming this will have less dick jokes than did Beowulf. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Couples Retreat: Four Midwestern couples — among them Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell and Malin Ackerman — head off on a group retreat to a couples resort where couples therapy turns out to be necessary. Directed by Peter Billingsley, aka that kid from A Christmas Story. PG13. Movies 12.

Fantastic Mr. Fox: Wes Anderson (Rushmore) steps into the animated world with this adaptation of the Roald Dahl book about a thieving Fox (George Clooney) who gets himself in a battle with three nasty farmers (the leader of whom is voiced by Michael Gambon). Anderson’s stop-motion world is delightful, but the film feels a little distant. PG. 88 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. See review this issue

Fourth Kind, The: People are disappearing from a small town in Alaska; are aliens really to blame? Milla Jovovich keeps appearing in poorly-received thrillers and horror flicks; how do we stop this? PG13. Movies 12.

Funny People: Judd Apatow’s latest stars Adam Sandler as a comedian who’s received a dispiriting diagnosis: he’s dying. Enter Seth Rogen as a younger funny guy Sandler’s character takes under his crumped wing as part protégé, part employee. With Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman and Erica Bana. R. David Minor Theater. (8/6)

G-Force: Talking guinea pigs save the world! Or whatever. Is this just an entire film capitalizing on the animation used to create that creepy-eyed creature in the godawful Bedtime Stories? PG. Movies 12.

Hangover, The: This summer’s dirty-fun buzz movie stars Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifinakis and Ed Helms as three guys who have no idea what happened at the bachelor party last night. Where’d that guy’s tooth go? Where’d the baby come from? It’s a really good time finding out. Movies 12. (6/11)

Informant, The: The latest from Steven Soderbergh stars Matt Damon as an employee of an agri-business firm who turns informer — sort of; the whistle-blower isn’t entirely forthcoming, it seems. Maybe. Maybe he’s just a little strange. It’s “a return to form for Soderbergh,” says The New Yorker. R. Movies 12. (9/24)

Inglorious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino’s long-anticipated WWII movie stars Brad Pitt as the leader of a group of Jewish soldiers who “engage in targeted acts of retribution” against the Third Reich. “Energetic, inventive, swaggering fun,” said The Village Voice. R. Movies 12. (8/27)

Invention of Lying, The: Ricky Gervais (BBC’s The Office) stars as the man who brings lying to a world in which everyone always tells the truth — and finds fame and fortune in the process. ‘Course, things probably go wrong after that. With Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and Jeffrey Tambor. PG13. Movies 12.

Julie & Julia: Julie Powell’s book about cooking her way through Julia Child’s masterpiece comes to screens as a two-part story: One part follows Powell in her Queens apartment, the other Child in France. Movies 12. (8/13)

Men Who Stare at Goats, The: The funny is all in the preview for this wishy-washy semi-satire that looks, in flashbacks, at the peculiar military attempt to train soliders to use psychic powers as weapons. George Clooney and Ewan McGregor are game, but the story gets lost somewhere in the Iraq desert. R. 93 min. Cinemark. (11/12)

New Moon: The Twilight saga continues with this adaptation of the series’ soggiest book, in which Bella, devastated with Edward’s departure, takes up with an old friend with a secret, and resorts to being an adrenaline junkie ‘cause it makes her hear Edward’s voice. Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen join the cast as the creepy vampire Volturi; Chris Weitz takes the reins from Catherine Hardwicke. PG13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

New York, I Love You: Slight, sometimes sweet string of short pieces from a variety of filmmakers shows one side of New York, but doesn’t get very adventurous. Bijou. (11/25)

Ninja Assassin: Doesn’t the title kind of say it all? He’s a ninja! And an assassin! And there’s a secret society, and a government conspiracy, and a gorgeous woman who needs saving … “Even diehard fans of the genre would be advised to skip this one,” said the not-pulling-punches A.O. Scott on At the Movies. R. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Old Dogs: Two middle-aged dudes have to — gasp! shock! — handle a pair of twins. Mayhem supposedly results. Listen, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Don’t give these people — the ones who try to spoon-feed you such schlock — your money. They don’t deserve it. Go buy a couple of lattes instead. You might get more giggles from them. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Planet 51: In this animated tale, Dwayne Johnson voices an astronaut who finds, after landing on a strange planet, that not only is he not alone — he’s not normal. He’s the alien to the alien creatures who live there, and who really fear alien invasion. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Serious Man, A: The latest from Joel and Ethan Coen is arguable one of their best yet; it’s the set-in-1967 story of professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), who looks to three rabbis for help dealing with an unfaithful wife, a couch-surfing brother and two problematic children — as well as a gorgeous, sunbathing neighbor. “Hauntingly original,” said New York magazine. R. Bijou. (10/29)

Shorts: The latest family flick from Robert Rodriguez is about what happens when a kid who lives in a town where everything is the same gets his hands on a magical, wish-granting rock. PG. 89 minutes. Movies 12.

Star Trek: Even the most crotchety critics enjoyed J.J. Abrams’ take on the maiden voyage of the Enterprise — and the rivalry-turned-friendship of young James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto). With Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, John Cho and Eric Bana. PG13. 126 min. David Minor Theater. (5/14)

2012: Roland Emmerich continues his series of films in which the world is destroyed (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) with this disastertastic absurdity starring John Cusack as a dad trying to keep his family together while the word dissolves around them. (This summary entirely based on conjecture from the preview.) Look, it’s just there for the special effects and we all know it, right? Why are you going? PG13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (11/25)

Up: In the latest film from Pixar, a crotchety old balloon salesman sends his house into the sky (via balloons, of course) to escape from it all — only to find that he has an unwanted stowaway on his porch. The praise is already flowing — and deserved. PG. Movies 12. (6/4)

Where the Wild Things Are: Spike Jonze adapts Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book into something more complicated and more elaborate than expected — yet it’s also decidedly handmade, unexpedtedly difficult and sweetly unsentimental, for the most part. With Max Records, Catherine Keener and the voices of James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara and Lauren Ambrose. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (10/15) 

 

 

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

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

David Minor Theater
David Minor Theater and Pub 762-1700 | 180 E. 5th

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

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