Saturday, October 24, 2015

now playing / coming soon

Lots to see these days, and with the Blue Jays out of the post-season, I've got the time. Here's what's on my list just now…


"Bowing to the principle that there can never be enough films about criminal fraternities…" etc. Anthony Lane. Just in case that principle is right, I think I'll check out Johnny Depp's latest. "But are we watching a warped force of nature, as was certainly the case with the real Bulger, or an acting master class?" Either way, I'm in.

6th week, good for probably only one more
International Village: 7:35 10:35
SilverCity Riverport: 10:10
a couple others

Egoyan directs Chris Plummer as an aging Holocaust survivor, slipping memory, growing confusion, who sets out to bring a Nazi war criminal to justice. Review snippets sound like it's largely unsuccessful, mundane, perhaps predictable, but I might give it a go because of the inverted REFUGE OF LIES themes.

Fifth Ave 1:00, 4:00, 6:30, 9:10 / Thu 1:15, 3:45, 6:15, 8:55
International Village 2:20, 4:50, 7:05, 9:45
Riverport Sat Sun Tue 12:05 2:25 5:00 7:30 10:05, varying times Mon Wed Thu
other cinemas


Luci liked it. Probably has dates. Definitely has Tom Hanks.

Week 2, will be around for a while
International Village 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:30
Riverport 12:30, 3:50, 7:10, 10:30
Rialto White Rock 1:15, 4:00, 6:50 (+ 9:35 Sat Oct 24)
and others


"Matt Damon's strongest performance in a decade" - Time.  That's saying something: 2006, The Departed. 2007, Bourne Ultimatum. 2009, The Informant!  2009, Invictus. 2010, True Grit.  2011, Margaret.  2012, Promised Land. 2014, Interstellar.  I'll see it, if only for the line “I'm going to have to science the shit out of this.”

Week 4, probably around for a while
random times at Riverport (3D), Park, others


Was going to skip it: Man On Wire more than sufficed.  But 3D?  Yeah, this is the right story for the gimmick. May check it out. Love the old school poster. If they used Mayer Hawthorne for the theme song, I'd be there in a minute.

Week 4
International Village 1:30, 7:15, 10:05 (4:25 is 2D)
Riverport  1:25 only


Mexican border drug wars, probably brutal.

Week 4
Riverport 1:20, 4:15, 7:10, 10:05
others


Somehow mountain climbing and the whole Everest thing has never grabbed me. But with a screenplay by William Nicholson (Shadowlands) and Simon Beaufoy (who impressed me in an extended interview about his screenplay for Slumdog Millionaire), I just might check it out. Probably has dates. "Solid, if too squarely beholden to standby scenes of worried wives weeping at home while the menfolk follow their mad bliss" - Lisa Schwarzbaum

Week 6. Probably only a couple more weeks to go
International Village 1:45, 4:40, 7:40, 10:30
Riverport 4:25, 7:15 except Thu, 10:30
other cinemas

SAW


I was going to skip it. Software guru bio, who needs it? Social Network was NBD, for me, after the opening scene. But Danny Boyle directed (never seen a Danny Boyle I didn't like), Aaron Sorkin screenplay (I know, I know, Social Network, blah blah blah). // Now I've seen a Danny Boyle I didn't like. Should have listened to my qualms. Considerably less memorable than The Social Network. Which was considerably less memorable than I would want in a movie. I guess films about relationally impaired software developers aren't my cup of tea, as beguiling as that premise may sound.

Week 2
Fifth Ave 12:30, 3:30, 6:50, 9:50
Riverport 1:30, 4:25, 7:20, 10:15
Rialto 4:15, 6:45 (+ 1:45 Sun)
others


Jumped right over the shark into Shyamalan territory. Lurid, over-wrought, cartoonish, derivative, silly - and that's accentuating the positive. Camp only works if it works, and while your mileage may vary, I felt it very much didn't work. I'm good with the over-the-topness of it, if only it had been well done: I'm afraid del Toro just lacks taste. Poor dialogue, awkward performances (except the three in the poster, who range in descending order from strong to no big deal to uneven, red to black to white), unconvincing all round. Except the ghostie-monster creatures, who were genuinely disturbing and threatening. Truly, the attempt to create a new story in a Shelley / Stoker / Bronte world, with nods to Rebecca and The Shining, is fine with me - but it just didn't work.  What a terrible fall from Pan's Labyrinth.

COMING 


Room
Globe & Mail: "The story of a woman kidnapped by a man only known as Old Nick and held captive in a soundproof garden shed for seven years, where she gives birth to a son, Jack. One of the bestselling Canadian novels of the past decade, with sales exceeding two million copies around the world since it was published in 2010. Booker Prize finalist. The film adaptation, an impressive distillation of everything that made Donoghue’s novel great." PTC Rec
May open Oct 30 in Vancouver


Los 33 (The 33)
Opens wide Nov 13
Based on a true story about the collapse at the mine in San Jose, Chile that left 33 miners isolated underground for 69 days.


The Stanford Prison Experiment
VIFF Nov 27 - Dec 2
Twenty-four male students out of seventy-five were selected to take on randomly assigned roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison situated in the basement of the Stanford psychology building.
Nov 27 8:20
Nov 28 6:20
Nov 29 7:50
Nov 30 6:30
Dec 2   8:15

The Revenant
Jan 8 2016
Alejandro González Iñárritu
In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.

Midnight Special
Mar 18 2016
Directed by Jeff Nichols (Shotgun Stories, Mud, Take Shelter)
A father and son go on the run after the dad learns his child possesses special powers.

GONE?

Cop Car
Aug 7 2015
I'll see anything with Kevin Bacon in it. Two kids find themselves in the centre of a deadly game of cat and mouse after taking a sheriff's cruiser for a joy ride.

Thursday, January 01, 2015

YEFF 2014 | MCN + Metacritic | Combined List | Jan 1 2015


Canadian film won Jury Prize at Cannes 2014
Screens at Vancouver Intl Film Centre tonight at 6:50 ONLY


As of New Year's Day, here's where the Critic Top Ten List tallies stand in our very unscientific meld of Movie City News and Metacritic tabulations. (Unscientific because the two meta-lists undoubtedly overlap.) Both tabulations agree on eight of the top ten films, with Boyhood and Budapest #1 and #2 respectively, and juggling the next three: my Top Five would also include Boyhood, Birdman, Budapest and Whiplash, with Skin yet to be seen. 

Beyond that, MCN likes Dardennes better, Meta favours Fincher. I'm still intrigued to see LEGO, ranking as high as it does, and am baffled that my beloved Homesman makes only a couple MCN lists, and none on Metacritic. I stand corrected. (As if...) 

There are notes on some of the films here.

1. Boyhood                            (709.5 = 456.5 + 253) iTunes
2. Grand Budapest Hotel          (386.5 = 266.5 + 120) Netflix
3. Birdman                            (277 = 182 + 95) Fifth Ave
4. Under The Skin                   (272.5 = 185.5 + 87) Netflix
5. Whiplash                            (256 = 184 + 72) Intl Village closes tonight 

6. Selma                                     (192 = 130 + 62)
7. Inherent Vice                            (159 = 114 + 45)
8. Ida                                     (155 = 98 + 57) Netflix
9. Two Days, One Night          (134.5 = 104.5 + 30)
10. Mr Turner                            (132 = 93 + 39) Fifth Ave

11. Nightcrawler                   (129 = 82 + 47) 
12. Gone Girl                            (119 = 72 + 47) Intl Village
13. Only Lovers Left Alive         (111.5 = 77.5 + 34) iTunes
14. Foxcatcher                            (111 = 79 + 32) Intl Village
15. Goodbye to Language         (107.5 = 73.5 + 34)
16. Snowpiercer                   (105 = 73 + 32) iTunes
17. Citizenfour                            (102 = 78 + 24) 
18. LEGO Movie                   (97.5 = 64.5 + 33) iTunes
19. Force Majeure                    (95 = 59 + 36) 
20. Guardians of Galaxy          (81 = 52 + 29)

21. The Immigrant                            (71 = 39 + 32) iTunes
22. Leviathan                            (65)
23. American Sniper                   (60)
24. Winter Sleep                   (53)
25. We Are The Best                   (49.5)
26. Edge Of Tomorrow          (44)
27. Babadook                            (38.5)
28. Calvary                            (37.5) 
29. Interstellar                            (35.5) SilverCity Scotiabank
30. Listen Up Phillip                   (32.5)

31. Love Is Strange                   (30)
32. National Gallery                   (29.5) VIFF Jan 3
33. Stray Dogs                            (28)
34. Life Itself                            (26)
35. Last of the Unjust                  (21)
36. Imitation Game                   (20.5) Park Riverport Scotiabank
37. Nymphomaniac                   (19)
38. God Help The Girl          (18)
38. Manakamana                   (18)
38. Mommy                            (18) 6:50 tonight VIFF only showing
38. Night Moves                   (18)
38. Overnighters                   (18)
38. Wild                                     (18) Fifth Ave, Intl Village

44. Missing Picture, The          (17.5)
45. Most Violent Year          (17)
45. Starred Up                            (17)
47. Theory Of Everything          (16) *
47. Weekend, Le                   (16)
47. Wild Tales                            (16)
50. Obvious Child                   (15.5)

Homesman (11.5)