.MOVIE LISTINGS | MOVIE REVIEW ARCHIVE | THEATER INFO

 

OPENING:

Clips of Faith: New Belgium’s tour of handmade films (submitted by fans of the beer) and handmade beers (from the Lips of Faith) line lands in Eugene at 8 pm Friday, July 16, at Alton Baker Park. 

Conversation, The: Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 film is about an electronic snoop (Gene Hackman) who thinks he might have unwittingly taped a conversation about a murder. Highest recommendations. PG. 7 pm Tuesday, July 20, DIVA. $3.

Greenberg: In writer-director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale)’s latest, Ben Stillar stars as a fortyish, do-nothing fellow whose attempts to reconnect with old friends fall somewhat flat — while the time he spends with his brother’s (younger) assistant (Greta Gerwig) seems to have potential. R. David Minor Theater. (3/25)

I Am Love: Tilda Swinton stars — and amazes — in Italian in this film about a woman whose identity shifts and changes as her family grows up. Her adult children find themselves as their own people; her son’s chef friend, to Emma (Swinton)’s surprise, is irresistibly alluring. I Am Love defies swift, clever summation; it’s rich and formally beautiful, and a film to experience as much as watch. Let it sweep over you. R. 120 min. Bijou. See review this issue.

Inception: The latest from director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento) sweeps in on a building wave of expectation. It’s something to do with thieves stealing ideas from dreams. I think. I know it stars the stellar lineup of Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard and Ken Watanabe. PG-13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. 

Letters to Juliet: Does Amanda Seyfried sleep? She’s in everything lately, including this sweetly cheesetastic (I’m going by the preview here, OK?) film about a young American who volunteers to reply to letters left for Juliet at a wall in Verona. One recipient of such a letter (Vanessa Redgrave) is inspired to search out her long-lost love. PG. Movies 12.

9500 Liberty: This documentary takes viewers to Prince William County, Virginia, as a law goes into effect that requires cops to stop anyone they have “’probable cause’ to suspect is an undocumented immigrant.” An “engrossing documentary,” said Variety. Not rated. Bijou. See review this issue.

Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The: College kid Dave (the charming Jay Baruchel) finds himself swept into a battle between good and evil (I assume; these things always involve such battles) when a sorcerer (Nicolas Cage in a terrifying wig) crosses his path. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Standing Ovation: Five kids form a competitive singing group. I get the distinct feeling this is a hastily cobbled-together attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Glee, but I could be wrong. Plus: The age-old battle between rich teens and not-rich teens continues! It’s just like the ’80s! PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Waiting to Inhale: Marijuana, Medicine and the Law: Documentary looks at the conflict surrounding the legalization of medical marijuana in the U.S. Screens as a benefit for the Compassion Center’s Low Income Assistance Program at 7 pm Thursday, July 15, at Cozmic Pizza. $5. 

CONTINUING: 

A-Team, The: This week brings both the A-Team film and a Karate Kid reboot. Imaginations, working overtime! Between The Losers and The Expendables, this is, bizarrely, the summer of betrayed fighters. The becoming-ubiquitous Bradley Cooper costars with Liam Neeson, Jessica Biel and District 9’s promising Sharlto Copley. PG-13. Movies 12.

Clash of the Titans: Kraken or no kraken, Sam Worthington in a skirt or Liam Neeson with funny facial hair, the fact is, this movie is directed by the guy who made the moderately abysmal The Incredible Hulk. Just keep that in mind. PG13. Movies 12.

Date Night: Tina Fey and Steve Carrell are a totally ordinary couple whose date night runs out of control when they steal a table at a fancy restaurant. With James Franco and Mila Kunis as the couple whose table it was, and Mark Wahlberg as a dude who doesn’t wear a lot of shirts. PG13. Movies 12. (4/15) 

Despicable Me: Evil Gru (Steve Carell), who hides his lair in a tidy suburb, is planning to steal the moon. Three orphan girls need a dad. When these parties collide, wackiness is pretty much guaranteed to ensue. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Eclipse: The Twilight saga continues with the cinematic adaptation of the least annoying of the four books (still looking forward to some of the batshit crazy stuff in book four, though…) Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) get serious, while werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) gets more serious about butting in — and baby vampires terrorize Seattle. Yes, it’s all absurd. PG-13. 124 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (7/8)

Exit Through the Gift Shop: The first film by graffiti artist Banksy is about a French shopkeeper who tries to find and film the elusive artist — but becomes the subject of Banksy’s documentary. Some suspect it’s all a hoax, but Ebert says that only adds to its fascination. R. 87 min. Bijou. See review this issue.

Get Him to the Greek: Jonah Hill and Russell Brand reunite with their Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller for a comedy about a record label intern trying to get British rocker Aldous Snow (Brand, revisiting his Sarah character) to a show on time. R. Movies 12. (6/10)

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The: This Swedish adaptation of the bestselling (and also Swedish) novel is relatively effective as a thriller, if you can forgive it a pile of cinematic clichés. Noomi Rapace is superb as Lisbeth, the titular girl, who teams up with a disgraced journalist to solve a lingering family mystery that works in abuse, Nazism and other nastiness to disappointingly shallow ends. Looks good, though. R. 152 min. Bijou. (4/22) 

Grown Ups: Look, there are stupid movies, and then there are full-on assaults on your intelligence. If you want to watch some comics who fear for their relevance make fart jokes and run into trees, be my guest. With Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James and David Spade. PG-13. 102 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Hot Tub Time Machine: Four dudes (John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke) get wasted, get in a hot tub, pass out — and wake up in 1986 (does John Cusack get to re-do his old movie roles?). “It’s fun, it’s sad, and it’s kind of sad that it’s so much fun,” wrote A.O. Scott in The New York Times. R. 100 min. David Minor Theater.

How to Train Your Dragon: This movie is 100 percent great. It’s about a young Viking (voiced by Jay Baruchel) who thinks he’d rather befriend dragons, his people’s longtime enemies, than kill them. Good call, kid. That’s a cute dragon you got there. PG. 98 min. Movies 12.

Iron Man 2: Despite the annoying replacement of Terrence Howard with (the fantastic, don’t get me wrong) Don Cheadle as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.)’s buddy Rhodey — and my own low tolerance for Mickey Rourke in anything — this sequel looks thoroughly, quippily, delightfully enjoyable. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Pepper Potts; Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson join the fray. PG13. 122 min. Movies 12. 

Karate Kid, The: Cranky kid Dre Parker has a hard time adjusting to life in China — an impossible crush, a gaggle of bullies — until he befriends the maintenance man (Jackie Chan), who has a not-so-secret talent. PG. VRC Stadium 15.

Knight and Day: Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are the unlikely pair at the center of this summer action flick, in which Cruise is a superspy who winds up with Diaz in tow. PG. 122 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (6/24)

Last Airbender, The: Apparently there’s even more wrong with M. Night Shyamalan’s latest than the casting snafu that infuriated fans of the TV show The Last Airbender: Airbender, the movie, stars white actors as characters that were Inuit or Asian in the series (see racebending.com for more). The story concerns conflict between four elemental nations, some members of which can control fire, water, air or earth. Ebert called it “an agonizing experience.” Fair warning, that. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Marmaduke: Owen Wilson voices the big dog from the comic strip. With Fergie, Lee Pace, William H. Macy, George Lopez, Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans and Judy Greer. PG. Movies 12.

Predators: Adrien Brody plays a fearless mercenary. See, right there: I’m in. He’s one of a group of  “hardened killers” being hunted down on an alien planet. With Alice Braga, Lawrence Fishburne and Topher Grace. R. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Robin Hood: He is an OUTLAW! Did you know that? I bet you did. Previews look patently ridiculous for Ridley Scott’s serious-business version of the old tale — so, it’s an origin story, right? Isn’t Russell Crowe a bit old for an origin story? Whatever. At least Cate Blanchett is in it. PG-13. 148 frickin’ minutes. Movies 12.

Shutter Island: It’s a bit worrisome that Scorsese’s latest was bumped from last fall to now, but reviews are still good for his thriller (based on a Dennis Lehane novel) about two U.S. marshals sent to investigate an escape from an isolated prison for the criminally insane. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo. R. David Minor Theater. (3/5)

Single Man, A: Colin Firth has rightly been showered with praise for his superb, subtle performance as George Falconer, a fiftyish English professor wrestling with his existence after the death of his longtime lover. Julianne Moore is his boozy, dramatic best friend; Nicholas Hoult plays the student who starts to snap George out of it. The drama and the beauty are in the details in fashion designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut. David Minor Theater. (2/5)

Splice: Scientists Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody find that one of their human hybrid experiments has gone well — perhaps too well. Directed by Vincenzo Natali, whose Cube scared the hell out of me. R. Movies 12.

Toy Story 3: Andy’s all grown up, and his toys — Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack) and the rest — face an uncertain future in the third Toy Story film, which has some, but not all, of the charms of the first. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (6/24)

 

 

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