Now in theaters
AMERICAN SNIPER Based on the memoir by Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), the most prolific sniper in American military history, this is Clint Eastwood’s most commercially successful movie but far from his best artistically. Eastwood
handles the action scenes powerfully but doesn’t thread them together with the kind of nuanced storytelling he’s capable of, and he leaves some loose ends dangling. The home-front scenes of Kyle with his wife (Sienna Miller) and family become a bore, but Cooper is excellent as a man increasingly addicted to combat. Rated R. 132 minutes. Regal DeVargas , Santa Fe. ( Jonathan Richards)
CHAPPIE Director Neill Blomkamp brought us the much-loved sci-fi film District 9 and the little-liked sci-fi film Elysium . Now he offers a glimpse of a future in which society is policed by aggressive robots. A man (Dev Patel) reprograms one to think and feel, and it fights back against the oppression. Hugh Jackman co-stars. Rated R. 120 minutes. Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe; Dream-Catcher , Española. (Not reviewed)
CINDERELLA Director Kenneth Branagh tackles the famed fairy tale, shooting it as an all-ages costume drama devoid of singing mice. Lily James plays the title character, Richard Madden is Prince Charming, Cate Blanchett plays the wicked stepmother, and Helena Bonham Carter is the fairy godmother. Rated PG. 112 minutes. Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe; Dream-Catcher , Española. (Not reviewed)
THE DUFF Teenage Bianca (Mae Whitman) discovers that she’s the DUFF of her clique — the designated ugly fat friend — and sets out to change her ways. She enlists the help of a jock (Robbie Amell) to give herself a makeover. Based on the young-adult novel by Kody Keplinger. Rated PG-13. 100 minutes. Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe; Dream-Catcher , Española. (Not reviewed)
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY The erotic novel about a young woman, Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), who falls in with billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and his kinky preferences finally comes to the big screen. Some say that reading the book is an act of masochism — here’s hoping director Sam Taylor-Johnson has whipped the dialogue into shape. Rated R. 125 minutes. Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe. (Not reviewed)
FOCUS Will Smith attempts a career comeback, playing a slick con man who meets a beautiful pickpocket (Margot Robbie) and falls in and out of love with her over the course of two jobs: one at the Super Bowl in New Orleans and the other at an auto race in Buenos Aires. It’s usually fun to watch slick grifting of this nature, but there aren’t many surprises, the jokes never quite work, and the film is broken up like two episodes of a TV show. Aiming for The Sting , Focus ends up closer to The Sting II . Rated R. 104 minutes. Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe. (Robert Ker)
THE IMITATION GAME This very entertaining movie could have been a lot more. Morten Tyldum has taken the engrossing story of Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), the British war hero, computer pioneer, and homosexual martyr, and fit it into the familiar confines of a biopic stocked with Movie Moments, which never convince us that things really happened the way the film depicts them. Rated PG-13. 114 minutes. Regal DeVargas , Santa Fe. ( Jonathan Richards)
KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE The spy movie shifts away from the gritty realism of Jason Bourne and Daniel Craig’s James Bond and back to the spirit of the 1960s secret-agent men in this colorful, over-the-top caper by director Matthew Vaughn. Taron Egerton plays an aimless kid who is recruited into an elite spy organization by Harry Hart (Colin Firth), and soon finds himself trying to stop a harebrained scheme by billionaire mastermind Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson). This is a satisfying, energetic, irreverent romp that is full of ideas. The MVP award goes to costume designer Arianne Phillips. Rated R. 129 minutes. Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe. (Robert Ker)
THE LAZARUS EFFECT Olivia Wilde and Mark Duplass play two medical students who learn how to bring the dead back to life, starting with a dog and then moving on to humans. The film is directed by David Gelb, who seems to be changing things up after receiving acclaim for his foodie documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi . Rated PG-13. 83 minutes. Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe; Dream-Catcher , Española. (Not reviewed)
MCFARLAND, USA Kevin Costner, who knows his way around an inspirational sports movie, plays a cross-country running coach in this film, which is based on true events. It’s 1987, and the coach finds himself working in a Latino community full of kids who have never been given a chance. He gets them to believe in themselves, overcome a variety of hurdles, and win a championship. Rated PG. 128 minutes. Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe; Dream-Catcher , Española. (Not reviewed) MR. TURNER Mike Leigh’s portrait of J.M.W. Turner is a warts-and-all impression of England’s greatest painter, constructed using the director’s process of improvisation, discussions with his actors to develop a script, and months of rehearsal. The result is a movie that is illuminating, beautifully performed, unimpeachably researched, and shot with an inspired Turneresque beauty by cinematographer Dick Pope. The film is perhaps a little long at two and a half hours, but that’s how long it takes. Rated R. 150 minutes. Regal DeVargas , Santa Fe. ( Jonathan Richards)
RED ARMY This fascinating indepth documentary pulls back the veil shrouding Red Army, the Soviet hockey team that came to prominence during the Cold War era. Produced, written, and directed by Gabe Polsky, it chronicles the rise and fall of the greatest sports dynasty the world has ever known. More important, it humanizes the men who lived under the harshness of the Communist regime and a brutal coach. A must-see for anyone interested on Cold War tactics. Not rated. 76 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts , Santa Fe. (Will Webber)
RUN ALL NIGHT Liam Neeson takes a break from playing a man whose daughter is in danger in the Taken series to change things up. Here, he plays a man whose son is in danger, when an angry mob boss (Ed Harris) wants revenge. Rated R. 114 minutes. Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe; Dream-Catcher , Española. (Not reviewed)
THE SALVATION Kristian Levring’s Danish Western was shot in South Africa but traces its roots to both the American and European Westerns of days gone by. Mads Mikkelsen is the protagonist, a Danish settler who embarks on a course of retribution after some bad guys kill his wife and child — and that’s really simplifying the plot, which includes the influence of the railroad, the machinations of a greedy oil baron, a PTSD-wracked villain, crooked politicians, and the usual array of beatings and shoot-outs. It’s highly derivative, but that’s part of the appeal if you just take it for what it is: a solid revenge Western that will carry you with its dark, unsettling energy. Eva Green is one of the few in the cast to act with nuance, and she’s riveting. Most of the other characters and performances are of the white hat/black hat variety. Not rated. 92 minutes. Jean Cocteau Cinema , Santa Fe. (Robert Nott)
THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL The whole gang is back — most notably Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Bill Nighy — for another stay in the hotel in India for retired Brits (first seen in the 2011 comedy). This time, Richard Gere brings an American twist to the proceedings, getting a few of the women all atwitter. Rated PG. 122 minutes. Regal DeVargas , Santa Fe. (Not reviewed)
SELMA Half a century ago, the civil rights attack on Jim Crow in this country was just coming to a boil under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. One of the watersheds of that movement was a massive protest march bound from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, 54 miles away, in support of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That undertaking is the centerpiece and focus of this uneven but powerful film from director Ava DuVernay. David Oyelowo gives us an MLK in whom quiet, deeply religious social convictions triumph over human doubts and weaknesses. Rated PG-13. 127 minutes. Regal DeVargas , Santa Fe. ( Jonathan Richards)
THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER Students in both preschool and college will love the latest SpongeBob SquarePants adventure, which is fast-paced, psychedelic, and hilarious. The plot transforms Bikini Bottom into a post-apocalyptic wasteland, takes SpongeBob far into the future, features wacky musical interludes, and ends up with the whole gang swimming out of their cartoon world and into L.A., where they transform into superheroes (animated by CGI) and face off against a pirate (Antonio Banderas). Rated PG. 93 minutes. Screens in 2-D only at Regal Stadium 14 , Santa Fe; DreamCatcher , Española. (Robert Ker)
STILL ALICE Get ready to add this film to your list of “hardest movies to watch.” A renowned author and linguistics professor, Alice (Oscar winner Julianne Moore for best actress) is in the middle of a lecture when she loses her train of thought. After visits to a neurologist, she is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Even the opening scenes have a sense of dread about them, and we watch Alice and her family endure the disease’s progression. The film can feel predictable and a little too neat, and many supporting parts feel sketchy, but it’s held aloft by Moore. Rated PG-13. 101 minutes. Regal DeVargas , Santa Fe. (Laurel Gladden)
TIMBUKTU In 2012, radical Islamists occupying the northern Mali town of Aguelhok executed an unmarried couple by public stoning. The incident prompted Abderrahmane Sissako to make this film about the imposition of Sharia law after the jihadist takeover of the legendary city at the edge of the Sahara Desert. For the most part, he leaves the violence implied, and the film manages to maintain some lightness, even humor, woven in with its darker strands. Not rated. 97 minutes. In English and various languages with subtitles. The Screen , Santa Fe. ( Jonathan Richards)
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS This mockumentary features the daily lives of vampires living together in Wellington, New Zealand. Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), and Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) argue over the standard of cleanliness in their vampire den and go out for nights on the town. At about 85 minutes, the film is nearly too long, but it maintains its appeal through absurdity and sheer charm. Written and directed by Waititi and Clement (best known in this country for their work on the HBO series Flight of the Conchords ), Shadows presents vampires living in social exile, bumbling along, and doing their best. Not rated. 86 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts , Santa Fe. (Adele Oliveira)