OPENING THIS WEEK
THE BOSS
In Melissa McCarthy’s latest comedy, she plays a Martha Stewart-like mogul who is recently released from prison after serving a sentence for insider trading. Eager to mend her image while contending with a lot of angry friends and associates, she moves in with an employee named Claire (Kristen Bell) and finds a way back to the top through Claire’s daughter (Ella Anderson). Peter Dinklage and Kathy Bates also star. Rated R. 99 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown; DreamCatcher. (Not reviewed)
CITY OF GOLD
Rated R. 96 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts; Violet Crown. See review, Page 40.
CONCERTO: A BEETHOVEN JOURNEY
Director Phil Grabsky may be one of cinema’s hardest-working documentarians. His “In Search Of” series on the great composers and “Exhibition on Screen” series about major art exhibits engage the audience with stories set in the present that illuminate and offer insight on the past.
Concerto: A Beethoven Journey is no different. Four years in the making, the documentary follows renowned Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes who performs Beethoven’s five piano concertos at more than 100 international venues. Ove Andsnes’ narrative is the backdrop for an examination of Beethoven’s relationship to the concertos. Exclusive access to Ove Andsnes on tour means there’s no skimping on the music. When it comes to Beethoven, Grabsky’s film is authoritative but not definitive. He finds an uncommon angle to provide a fascinating glimpse of the subject of a contemporary musician and his source inspiration. Ove Andsnes’ understanding of the composer challenges the notion that Beethoven was a reclusive, antisocial artist. The pianist finds the passion in the music and marries it to his own passion for playing. The result is often beautiful and stirring.
Not rated. 93 minutes. The Screen. (Michael Abatemarco)
DEMOLITION
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Davis, a banker who loses his wife in a car crash and responds to the tragedy by taking apart his household appliances and writing letters to the customer service department of a vending machine company. When one of the company’s reps (Naomi Watts) gets back to him, the two form a friendship and Davis becomes a mentor of sorts to her son (Judah Lewis). Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers
Club). Rated R. 100 minutes. Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)
HARDCORE HENRY
The first-person perspective has been very common in actionbased video games for some time now, and this experimental movie attempts to bring that experience to the big screen. Audiences will see the story through the eyes of Henry, an ordinary man who must do extraordinary things when his wife (Haley Bennett) is kidnapped by a group of mercenaries. Tim Roth plays Henry’s father. Rated R. 96 minutes. Jean Cocteau Cinema; Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown; DreamCatcher. (Not reviewed)
MARGUERITE
French movie star Catherine Frot finds many dimensions in the title character, a wealthy baroness with a laughably awful voice who nurtures her delusion that she is a formidable concert singer. Egged on by sycophants, she sets her sights ever higher and achieves a sort of transcendence that overlaps with derangement. Inspired, at some distance, by the life of the American singer Florence Foster Jenkins, the film is handsome to behold, and the scenes are consistently interesting in their details. Rated R. 129 minutes. In French with subtitles. Center for Contemporary Arts. (James M. Keller) See Listen Up, Page 34.
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
Filmmaker Jeff Nichols and actor Michael Shannon have collaborated numerous times, perhaps most notably on 2011’s
Take Shelter. Their latest film is similar to that one in that it tells a father-son tale with a science-fiction twist. This time, the father (Shannon) learns that his son (Jaeden Lieberher) has dangerous powers and together, they go on the run. Kirsten Dunst and Adam Driver also star. Rated PG-13. 111 minutes.
Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)
MY GOLDEN DAYS
Rated R. 120 minutes. The Screen. In French with subtitles. See review, Page 38.