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Opening This Week
See the Film section for WW's full reviews of Carol and The Hateful Eight, which open on Friday.
The Big Short
A We're in a bubble of movies about the financial crisis, but The Big Short is the first good one. It's based on the book by Michael Lewis, who's known for making complicated financial issues into compelling stories, and adapted by Adam McKay, who is known for Talladega Nights and the "More Cowbell" sketch. Surprisingly, this combo works. The film focuses on three real weirdos (Steve Carell, Christian Bale and Brad Pitt) who were some of the only people to predict the collapse of the housing market in 2007. They used convoluted financial instruments to make huge bets against housing and, despite devastating personal and professional costs, reaped massive rewards when the world did fall to pieces. The film is packed with funny and surprisingly clear explanations of the financial system (shout-out to Planet Money foun der Adam Davidson, who consulted). It's entertaining and informative, just like you'd expect from Michael Lewis and not at all what you'd expect from Adam McKay. R. ALEX FLACONE. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Living Room Theaters, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Evergreen, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Tigard.
Concussion
Will Smith is Dr. Bennet Omalu, the Nigerian forensic pathologist who pioneered research on the brain damage caused by football. He sets out to spread awareness about the life-threatening consequences of football-induced head injuries, clashing with the NFL and a culture that worships the sport. Screened after deadline. See wweek.com for Lauren Terry's review. PG-13. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Fox Tower, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard.
Daddy's Home
B Will Ferrell hasn't exhausted the comedy of emasculation just yet—his argyle sweater vest-wearing persona still has some comic juice, especially teamed with The Other Guys co-star Mark Wahlberg's alpha male. Brad (Ferrell) works at a smooth-jazz radio station—the movie gets points just for that glorious touch—and is determined to be the world's best stepdad to the kids of new wife Sarah (Linda Cardellini). Enter Dusty (Wahlberg), Sarah's tattooed, chopper-ridin' ex, who might want to re-enter the family portrait. Director Sean Anders sticks to sitcom setups, and obvious gags. But compared to, say, the shapeless Sisters, Daddy's Home at least has structure and sincerity (both films have jokes about genitals). Nothing here is as soaringly daft as the "lions vs. tunas" exchange in The Other Guys, but there's a nice surreal bit about a home repairman (Hannibal Buress) who shows up one day and then just never leaves Brad's house. Enough of that kind of thing keeps Daddy's Home recognizably, and acceptably, Ferrellesque. PG. ROBERT HORTON. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Pioneer Place, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, St. Johns Theater.
Joy
B+ Director David O. Russell takes his formula for American Hustle, wraps it in Christmastime and casts America's ass-kicking sweetheart Jennifer Lawrence as the woman who invented the self-wringing Miracle Mop. Joy (Lawrence) is the ultimate handyman, balancing her explosive father (Robert De Niro) and musician ex-husband (Édgar Ramirez) fighting in the basement, her antisocial and bed-ridden mother (Virginia Madsen), two kids and too many unpaid bills. She fixes plumbing, shoots rifles to let off steam, bleeds a widow (Isabella Rossellini) for money and gives Bradley Cooper's Home Shopping Network exec a piece of her mind. The movie is a joy to look at, with its postcard-worthy scenes and Lawrence wearing the pants. But the girl-power slant is too steep, Lawrence looks and feels too young for her role, and after a crescendoing HSN sales bit, the movie trails too long. Relying on a blue-collar underdog story, co-written by Annie Mumolo of Bridesmaids, and a blameless cast—De Niro, Rossellini, Cooper and they keep rolling in—wasn't a risky bet. But don't those mail-order deals always seem smaller in real life? PG-13. ENID SPITZ. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, CineMagic, Mill Plain, Cornelius, Hollywood, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Fox Tower, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Sherwood, Tigard.
Mustang
A In remote Turkey, five orphaned sisters are strictly confined to their home while their uncle arranges their marriages. Beneath the shadow of their family's oppression and opposition, the girls struggle to experience the youthful freedoms that many of us take for granted. In this feature debut from director Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Lale—the youngest sister—watches her siblings capitulate to suffocating patriarchy and searches herself for the strength to escape. The film is anchored by outstanding performances from an ensemble cast of young newcomers whose portrayals are sincere and affecting. Through their eyes, we see the anger and fear that dominates their lives and how the young women have been deprived of any choice or freedom. The pallor of their blinkered lives looks stark in comparison to the weathered and intractable attitudes of their traditional and adherent elders. Focused and natural, Ergüven's direction is concerned mainly with the faces of the characters as they each react in their own way to the inexorable situations they're trapped in. PG-13. MIKE GALLUCCI. Living Room Theaters.
Point Break
A remake of the 1991 bro classic, whose surfing, skydiving and bank-robbing homoeroticism wasn't extreme enough for a generation weaned on Mountain Dew. It was screened for critics, but then the production company embargoed reviews until opening day, which we suspect is because it's awful, though we definitely can't confirm suspicions that it is a massive letdown and a terrible remake, despite having already seen it. See wweek.com for AP Kryza's review. PG-13. Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Pioneer Place, Sherwood, Tigard.
Still Showing
Ant-Man
B+ If it were a comic book, it wouldn't be the kind you put in a Mylar bag. It'd be one that you read with greasy fingers and childlike relish. PG-13. AP KRYZA. Vancouver.
Black Mass
A- Much like the city's other exports, Boston's gangster flicks vary in quality from genre-shattering genius (The Departed, most '90s bands, the people who invented America) to mind-numbing pantomimes of misogyny (The Boondock Saints, Boston sports fans, Mark Wahlberg). Scott Cooper's Black Mass is the latest cinematic try. It tells the story of Boston's most notorious criminal, James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp) and the deal he made with the FBI's John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) that ensured he could do whatever he wanted for decades. R. JAMES HELMSWORTH. Laurelhurst.
Bridge of Spies
B- Steven Spielberg was born to convey viewers through weird and wonderful alternate realities. Even though history is nearly as illusory as a dinosaur theme park, the director's gift just doesn't shine as brightly when he contends with humanity's past. Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks as an insurance lawyer recruited by the U.S. government to negotiate a spy-for-spy trade with the Soviet Union, benefits from a caustic screenplay by the Coen brothers. While Spielberg is pretty good even when he's on auto-pilot, there is little here that doesn't feel perfunctory. PG-13. CHRIS STAMM. Lake Theater, Living Room Theaters.
Brooklyn
A- Based on the title alone, you'd assume that Brooklyn is about a group of artists opening a boutique that sells only dog hoodies. It's not—Brooklyn is a lovely period romance about a young Irish woman trying to make her way in 1950s New York—but since it's set in the '50s, everybody's dressed exactly like they are now and listens to music the same way. Based on the novel by Irish author Colm Tóibín and adapted by Nick Hornby (High Fidelty, About a Boy), Brooklyn is just the sweetest thing. Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) makes an adorable couple with Emory Cohen (Smash), and I could watch them court for hours, especially their awkward dinners with Cohen's Italian family. Portlanders will especially love the more subtle message: Untold wonders await you if you leave your shitty small town and move to New York's coolest borough. PG-13. ALEX FALCONE. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, CineMagic, Cinema 21, Bridgeport.
Chi-Raq
B+ If you're a fan of modern interpretations of classic Greek drama or showmanship in the style of Baz Luhrman, then this is the Spike Lee joint you've been waiting for. Based on Aristophanes' comedy Lysistrata, Lee tells the tale of an indomitable heroine rallying women from both sides of the Peloponnesian War to withhold sex in order to force the armies to negotiate peace. Through the lens of modern, vibrant, Spike Lee-styled Chicago, the classic takes on a gritty texture. In an unsuccessful homage to its Grecian roots, much of Chi-Raq's dialogue rhymes, resembling a draft of "Dr. Seuss Goes to Englewood." R. LAUREN TERRY. Cinema 21.
Creed
A- Rocky is almost entirely a good movie. Most of the sequels are mostly good, while some of them are almost not bad. Creed—the seventh movie in the Rocky franchise—is more like the original Rocky than its sequels because it's mostly good, but also because it's almost entirely the same movie as Rocky. It feels more like an apology for the mediocre Rocky movies we've endured, more like a series reboot than a sequel, featuring a stronger young actor in Michael B. Jordan. PG-13. ALEX FALCONE. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Fox Tower, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville.
Crimson Peak
B+ "It's not a ghost story. It's a story with ghosts in it," says heroine Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) early on in Guillermo del Toro's macabre gothic romance Crimson Peak. She's describing the novel she's just submitted to a condescending publisher, but she might as well be describing Crimson Peak itself. It's a film in which the things that go bump in the night are not nearly as terrifying as the people who walk the earth. R. AP KRYZA. Academy, Kennedy School, Laurelhurst, Valley.
The Danish Girl
A In director Tom Hooper's first film since Les Miserables, Eddie Redmayne plays Einar Wegener, one of the first people to undergo gender reassignment surgery, in the story from David Ebershoff's novel of the same name. Wegener and his wife, Gerda (Alicia Vikander), a fellow artist and his best friend, make the perfect, hip art couple of 1920s Copenhagen. But the camera immediately drops hints of Einar's internal conflict, pausing to catch him ogle Gerda's rouge and face powder. When he stands in for one of Gerda's models for a painting, Einar dons the name "Lili," quivering with electricity at the touch of stockings on his skin and exuding Old World femininity with every flick of his eyelashes. When confronted with his male body, the pain in his face is nothing short of torture. As Einar sheds his masculine shell for longer periods, Lili becomes more than a game of dress-up between him and Gerda, and Hooper's film drives it home as they prepare to say goodbye to the man who was Einar. R. LAUREN TERRY. Fox Tower.
Everest
B+ In 1996, a stranded group of climbers met a massive storm at the top of the world. Led by New Zealand mountaineer Rob Hall (Jason Clarke), the team included writer Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly), who later wrote the book Into Thin Air about the experience. Today's CGI and 3-D technology puts the viewer on the mountain in a visceral way. One can't help but shiver as the characters ease across staggering crevasses on narrow ladders. PG-13. LAUREN TERRY. Academy, Laurelhurst, Vancouver, Valley.
The Good Dinosaur
B- Set among the breathtaking landscapes of the American frontier, The Good Dinosaur is a Little House on the Prairie-style rendering of pioneer life, except, of course, all the characters are talking dinosaurs living in an alternate reality where a certain fateful asteroid never made impact. You could just as easily be watching a Planet Earth documentary, with dinosaurs. PG. PENELOPE BASS. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Cornelius, Forest Theatre, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
Goosebumps
A- It's easy to be skeptical about a 2015 Goosebumps film in 3-D. Jack Black plays R.L. Stine, who joins forces with a couple of cute kids to fight every monster he's ever written about and save the town. PG. ALEX FALCONE. Avalon, Mt. Hood, Vancouver.
Heart of a Dog
A Her late husband, Lou Reed, and a rat terrier named Lolobelle are at the heart of artist Laurie Anderson's new fever-dream film, her first feature to hit the big screen since Home of the Brave nearly 30 years ago. It's a meditation on death and memory, told through home movies Anderson shot and narrates. Yes, it gets weird, but with an artistic elegance. NR. AMY WOLFE. Cinema 21.
Hitchcock/Truffaut
B- This documentary is more about a nonfiction book than anything else. When the French filmmaker François Truffaut wrote to Alfred Hitchcock, he didn't expect a response. But he got one, and an interview, and the series of recorded sessions that followed both bonded the men in a close friendship and mined details that Hitchcock never told anyone else. The titular book that Truffaut published in 1966 is a filmmaker's bible now—"I had a paperback. It's not even a book anymore. It's like a stack of papers," says Wes Anderson. But for all the memorable one-liners from Hitchcock and praise piled on him, Hitchcock/Truffaut does the opposite of the director's own films. It shows its cards too soon. NR. ENID SPITZ. Cinema 21, Kiggins Theatre.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2
B Mockingjay Part 2, the conclusion of the Hunger Games series, looks spectacular. The burned-out shells of future mega-city the Capitol set a perfect mood, the costumes are inventive and cool, and the acting is almost too good since it results in many great actors having only a couple lines. And yet, all that solid artistic work almost, but not entirely, distracts from the fact that MJP2 is a supremely goofy movie. Set during the conclusion of the revolution started in Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen leads a group of rebels against the Capitol, which has been booby trapped with hot oil, lasers, and an army of lizard people. It's…silly. If you're on the fence about seeing Mockingjay 2, you'll just need to decide if you like great acting more than you hate lizard people. PG-13. ALEX FALCONE. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Cornelius, Forest Theatre, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Pioneer Place, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
In the Heart of the Sea
C In the Heart of the Sea is not Moby Dick: The Movie. It's based on a 2000 nonfiction book by Nathaniel Philbrick about the crew of the Essex, a whaling vessel that sank in 1820. But director Ron Howard knows people want it to be Moby Dick: The Movie, so Philbrick's book is mashed up with scenes of a fictionalized Herman Melville researching his famous novel. While the first half is a marvelous, swashbuckling adventure about the Essex as it leaves Nantucket, crewed by the handsome but mealy-mouthed Chris Hemsworth and the newest Spider-Man (finally, a new Spider-Man!), Tom Holland, its second half is just a group of shipwrecked men slowly starving to death. It's boring. Even when they start eating each other. PG-13. ALEX FALCONE. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Fox Tower, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy, St. Johns Theater.
Inside Out
A- It's sad. Crushingly, relentlessly sad. And absolutely brilliant. PG. ALEX FALCONE. Valley.
The Intern
B+ Ben (Robert De Niro), an active widower and retiree in need of something to keep himself busy, applies to a senior internship program at "About the Fit," a Topshop-like online clothing site founded by the dedicated Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway). It's a refreshingly modern concept, serving as a reminder that the timeless art of being a gentleman begins with respect. PG-13. LAUREN TERRY. Academy, Laurelhurst, Mt. Hood, Vancouver, Valley.
Legend
B- They used to say a cup of tea could fix anything in England back in the 1960s, which is when racketeering brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy, who is hard not to enjoy) started ruling London's criminal underworld. Unfortunately, Earl Grey can't fix the scattered scenes and haphazard plot of the new feature written and directed by Academy Award winner Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, A Knight's Tale). Hardy is its saving grace, valiantly dual acting in the roles of the very different twin brothers. R. AMY WOLFE. Fox Tower.
The Martian
B- Take the buzz surrounding The Martian with a boulder of salt. It's just a pretty good sci-fi yarn based on Andy Weir's book that stumbles on its own ambition. When a massive storm hits the Martian exploration project and Watney's team leaves him for dead, the skilled botanist realizes that the only way to avoid starvation and space madness is to "science the shit" out of his situation. PG-13. AP KRYZA. Academy, Avalon, Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Kennedy School, Laurelhurst, Mt. Hood, City Center, Division, Wilsonville, Valley.
Pan
Director Joe Wright (Atonement, Hanna) remakes the iconic children's story as a modern-day action flick with Hugh Jackman and Rooney Mara. Screened after deadline. PG. Avalon, Vancouver.
Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict
A In the tradition of Grey Gardens, filmmaker and fashion addict Lisa Immordino Vreeland throws viewers into the closeted, batshit world of the woman who imagined London's first modern art museum, slept with Samuel Beckett, commissioned Jackson Pollock's largest-ever work for her front entry, and once had an original Dalí delivered to her in bed. A black sheep of the world's most famous family of curators, Peggy Guggenheim was an oddball—she shaved her eyebrows at school just for the hell of it, chats nonchalantly in interviews about her dozens of abortions and was so notoriously cheap that she served shitty wine and old pasta to Picasso at her art parties. But the film captures her insanity with sympathy (and a bigger budget than most arthouse biopics have). Even the most casual art users could easily be hooked by the story of this enfant terrible. NR. ENID SPITZ. Living Room Theaters.
The Peanuts Movie
A bald child named Charlie battles questionable fashion choices, impossible odds and burgeoning hormones. G. Academy, Avalon, Eastport, Empirical, Kennedy School, Laurelhurst, Mt. Hood, Movies on TV, Valley.
Room
B+ In this riveting adaptation of Emma Donoghue's novel, an abducted woman must raise her son in a confined space, To maintain a stimulating setting, Ma (Brie Larson) creates a social environment with anthropomorphized characters named Bed and Lamp. R. LAUREN TERRY. Academy, Fox Tower.
Sicario
A How do you like your tension? Relentless? Then you're in luck, my friend, because Sicario is like a broken elevator; it never lets up. OK, that joke doesn't work, but the crime thriller starring Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) does. She's a talented FBI agent specially recruited into a task force fighting a brutal (and questionably legal) war against Mexican drug cartels. She spends the whole movie confused and on edge while taking orders from the mysterious Benicio Del Toro (Snatch), who manages to act without ever fully opening his eyes or mouth. As the real mission of the task force slowly takes shape, so do beautiful sweeping helicopter shots of the border zone and heartbreaking vignettes of all the people affected by drug war. It's a powerful film even if you never have anybody to root for. R. ALEX FALCONE. Academy, Laurelhurst, Vancouver.
Sisters
C+ As Gen X plunges into the Big Four-O with all the grace of an arthritic Tommy Lee flailing about his gyroscopic drum riser, they've released a slew of movies about the bummers of aging: You've got your Grown-Ups, your Hot Tub Time Machines, your Star Wars (I assume that's what Chewie's arc will be about), etc. This year, America's pre-eminent comedic minds, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, take a crack at it as the titular sisters. Poehler is Maura, a peppy do-gooder nurse, recently divorced. Fey is Kate, a single mom surfing couches after being fired from a hair salon. When their parents call to tell them they're selling their childhood home and they need to come get their stuff, they (of course) come up with another plan: throw one last rager in the house (of course). For the most part, it's a straight-up party comedy, replete with the requisite tropes: a guy (current SNL cast member Bobby Moynihan ) taking too many drugs, an unwanted crasher (ex-SNL cast member Maya Rudolph), a vaguely racist subplot featuring a Korean nail stylist, and an extended rectal trauma sequence featuring MADtv alum Ike Barinholtz. There are plenty of funny bits—Poehler wearing her childhood retainer, Moynihan painting a wall with his Moynihan—but given the preponderance of truly innovative comedians, Sisters is disappointingly standard. R. JAMES HELMSWORTH. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Fox Tower, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
Spectre
C+ How do you like your James Bond? Brooding and brutal, or breezily throwing out quips? Should he drink craft cocktails or Heineken? Spectre—the 26th Bond film—has it all, and more. The one thing it doesn't have is the ability to leave a lasting impression. We walk out of the theater neither shaken nor stirred. Following the impressive Skyfall, director Sam Mendes returns to the director's chair. Buildings crumble, helicopters do barrel rolls, and Daniel Craig nonchalantly causes millions in property damage. But from the minute Sam Smith's grating theme music starts, the movie slides downhill. Most disappointing is Christoph Waltz—so perfect in Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained—who just sneers, cackles and hunches. Sure, there's fun to be had—Bond drives a tricked-out ride through Rome's narrow streets and engages in an Alpine plane chase before the anticlimactic conclusion (extremely uncommon for the series) lands with a dull thud. Considering everybody who's involved in Spectre, the very last reaction anybody expected was "meh." PG-13. AP KRYZA. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Cornelius, Mt. Hood, Bridgeport, Division, Evergreen, Fox Tower, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard.
Spotlight
A- Spotlight inverts the usual comparison: It's a movie that feels like prestige television. Specifically, it feels like The Wire. An Oscar favorite recounting how a Boston Globe investigative team uncovered an epidemic of pederast priests abetted by the Archdiocese, Spotlight borrows the rhythms of a propulsive TV procedural. It resists the temptation for self-congratulation. Instead, there's a pall of communal guilt (much of it Catholic), an acknowledgement that a Pulitzer Prize won't erase decades of conniving at rape. R. AARON MESH. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Hollywood, Bridgeport, Fox Tower.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
A- If there's one thing we know about Star Wars fans, it's that they're as resistant to change as any religious zealot. And so, the best thing that can be said about The Force Awakens is that it's classicist in the way of a well-executed neo-soul record, crackling with familiarity without bowing to the altar of history. It's almost old-fashioned. There's no Dark Knight-style brooding, no ring-a-ding-ding dialogue a la The Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy. The action is fairly nonstop, but not shot up with meth and Red Bull like Mad Max: Fury Road. The story here is pretty simple: Some guys in helmets are threatening peace in the galaxy, and it's up to, well, you-know-who to stop them. Yes, the line "Chewie, we're home" will cause 30-somethings to clutch their limited-edition wookiee action figures to their chests, but the nostalgia filters to the film's edges. This is the first installment of a new trilogy, which means developing new heroes and villains for a generation that doesn't know Dooku from Lando. And that's mostly the feeling you'll have leaving the theater—that all you've really seen is the first third of a series that's going to take the next half-decade to climax. All you can ask of director J.J. Abrams is that he leave you in anticipation. It'd be difficult for even the most hardcore Star Wars evangelical to argue that he hasn't. PG-13. MATTHEW SINGER. Bagdad, Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Cornelius, Edgefield, Lake Theater, Milwaukie, Moreland, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Pioneer Place, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Roseway Theatre, Sandy, St. Johns Cinemas.
Trainwreck
C Save your time, save your money, and most importantly, save your little heart from breaking. R. ALEX FALCONE. Laurelhurst.
Trumbo
C+ Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) is cooking up something other than meth in Trumbo. Cranston delivers a stellar performance as Dalton Trumbo, a rebellious screenwriter who despite being the highest-paid in the business in 1947, can't stay out of trouble. He and nine other artists are blacklisted and jailed for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee while conniving gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) fuels the media fire. This may be all the right ingredients, but just a bad batch. R. AMY WOLFE. Hollywood, Fox Tower.
The Visit
B- M. Night Shyamalamadingdong has lost the luster of his early career, so it's no surprise he's making little $5 million found-footage horror movies. PG-13. ALEX FALCONE. Vancouver.
Youth
C Italian filmmaker and Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino's exploration of aging, starring Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel as two graying artists, feels artistically important. Almost too much so. Despite coming from a well-respected filmmaker working with an all-star cast, it ends up feeling like too much beautiful, existential pondering without enough teeth. As Caine and Keitel sit around talking about the past and how much they piss, which doesn't sound cute or important, even from Michael Caine. Then they make profound pronouncements: "You say emotions don't matter. Emotions are all we have." Then a naked person or a cow walks by, and it might mean something. A lot of stuff might—like, why does Caine's daughter make out with the ugly mountaineer? Why is Paul Dano dressed like Hitler? After a masseuse gives Caine a hand job, why do we watch her play Dance Dance Revolution? Like, eight times? PG-13. ALEX FALCONE. Fox Tower.
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