Chile Pages,
HOW TO BE A LATIN LOVER
Mexican comedy star Eugenio Derbez gets his biggest shot to cross over into the United States yet. He plays Máximo, a man who has created a pampered life for himself by seducing wealthy older women. When he is humbled and must move in with his sister (Salma Hayek), he learns lessons about what is really important in life. Rob Lowe also stars. Rated PG-13. 115 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)
KEDI
Director Ceyda Torun grew up surrounded by the street cats of Istanbul. “They were my friends and confidants,“she wrote, “and I missed their presence in all the other cities I ever lived in.” This warmhearted film, shot partly from human perspective and partly from cat height, is a love letter to the felines and the people who share her native city. “People who don’t love animals can’t love people either — I know that much,” observes one matter-of-fact fishmonger. Yet the film is not sappy, just generous and wise. By the end, you’ll feel as if a cat has been purring on your lap for 80 minutes. Not rated. 80 minutes. In Turkish with subtitles. Center for Contemporary Arts. (James Keller)
KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD
In 2009, director Guy Ritchie reimagined the Sherlock Holmes stories as a kinetic action flick. Now, he attempts to give another British myth a similar transformation by applying his visual style to King Arthur. This story focuses on the years surrounding Arthur’s (Charlie Hunnam) pulling the sword from the stone and becoming a somewhat reluctant king. Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, and Eric Bana also star. Rated PG-13. 126 minutes. Screens in 2-D only at Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)
LOWRIDERS
Set in East LA, this drama focuses on Danny (Gabriel Chavarria), a teenage graffiti artist who is encouraged by his father (Demián Bichir) to become a mechanic and join the family business. When his no-good brother (Theo Rossi) returns from prison and seeks to compete with their father at a lowrider competition, Danny must choose his allegiances. Rated PG-13. 99 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; DreamCatcher. (Not reviewed)
NEITHER WOLF NOR DOG
In the 1990s, author Kent Nerburn was contacted by a Native American elder named Dan to help him write a book that conveyed Dan’s wisdom, political opinions, and social commentary. That collaboration became the 1995 book Neither Wolf Nor Dog, and now Nerburn has adapted the book into a screenplay about the journey the two men undertook. Christopher Sweeney plays Nerburn, and Dave Bald Eagle plays Dan, in this telling of how Nerburn accepted this responsibility while traversing Lakota country. 2 p.m. Saturday, May 27, only. Not rated. 110 minutes. Jean Cocteau Cinema. (Not reviewed)
NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER
Richard Gere plays Norman, the eponymous hero of this character study of a flimflam man who suddenly finds himself operating at an unaccustomed altitude and gasping for breath. Gere is garnering fine reviews, and one’s tolerance for the actor’s idiosyncrasies will provide a pretty accurate gauge of one’s reaction to this quirky New York tale. In the movie’s key setup, Norman insinuates himself into the company of a midlevel Israeli politician named Micha Eshel (a superb Lior Ashkenazi) by buying him a pair of shoes. It’s an investment that pays off three years later, when Eshel returns to New York as his country’s prime minister. The political intricacies of this story, by the Israeli-American writer-director Joseph Cedar (Footnote), keep things interesting, and a solid supporting cast helps us to overlook some of the story’s weak points. Eventually, as the threads tangle around Norman and threaten to bring him and his precarious house of cards to grief, there is only one avenue that leads to redemption. Rated R. 118 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Jonathan Richards)
SNATCHED
In the latest Amy Schumer comedy, she plays Emily, a woman who is dumped by her boyfriend just before they are scheduled to embark on a trip to South America. Instead she coaxes her homebody mother (Goldie Hawn, in her first film role since 2002) to join her for a little bonding in paradise. Their adventure goes awry when they are kidnapped and must work together to get away from their captors. Rated R. 91 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown; DreamCatcher. (Not reviewed)
THEIR FINEST
By turns funny, romantic, moving, and harrowing, this movie about movies, war, and female empowerment hits every note with the exquisite ping of a fork struck to fine crystal. Gemma Arterton is Catrin Cole, a young woman who in blitz-ravaged London unexpectedly finds herself hired by the British Ministry of Information’s film division as a screenwriter to handle the “slop” (women’s dialogue) for propaganda movies. The assignment is to find real wartime human interest stories and turn them into morale-raising potboilers. The perfect casting includes Sam Claflin as her writing partner and perhaps more, Bill Nighy as an aging star, Eddie Marsden as his agent, plus Helen McCrory, Richard E. Grant, Jeremy Irons, and many more. To see Nighy raise an eyebrow, or sing an Irish air in a pub, is pure cinema magic. Impeccably directed by Danish filmmaker Lone Sherfig and adapted by Gaby Chiappe from Lissa Evans’s 2009 novel Their Finest Hour
and a Half (a title they should have kept), this is certainly one of the year’s finest to date. Rated R. 117 minutes. Violet Crown. (Jonathan Richards)