NOW IN THEATERS
ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD
Director Ridley Scott isn’t slowing down at age eighty. After
Alien: Covenant in May, he now releases his second movie of the year. It’s a thriller set in 1973 in which Mark Wahlberg plays Fletcher Chase, a security guard who works for billionaire oil tycoon J. Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer). When Getty’s grandson is kidnapped, the miserly magnate refuses to spend the necessary money to bring the boy back, and his daughter (Michelle Williams) enlists Fletcher to do whatever it takes. Rated R. 132 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)
COCO
Pixar Animation heads south of the border to tell a story about a boy in rural Mexico named Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) who dreams of becoming a famous musician like his hero, the deceased Ernesto de la Cruz. Miguel’s family forbids any member from pursuing a career in music, however, because of an ancestor who left the clan for those very reasons. During a Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration, Miguel crosses over to the Land of the Dead to seek out de la Cruz and reverse this rule. Pixar populates this afterlife with a faithful imagining of Mexican folk art that includes bright colors, lively skeletons, and spirit animals that seem to glow. As with Pixar’s best work, it’s the script that shines brightest — and this airtight example includes a number of satisfying plot twists and a heavy helping of heart. Rated R. 109 minutes. Screens in 2-D only at Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Robert Ker)
DARKEST HOUR
Gary Oldman is extraordinary as Winston Churchill. Wreathed in fat, lumbering through the halls of Parliament or the rooms of his own sumptuous residence with a cigar lodged firmly in his mouth, the actor disappears and the legendary British wartime prime minister is all there is to see. Director Joe Wright ( Atonement) gives us Britain at her darkest hour, with Adolf Hitler running roughshod over Europe and poised to cross the channel. King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn), with considerable reluctance, invites Churchill to form a cabinet. The movie shows us a man isolated and with the burden of his country’s survival squarely on his shoulders. But despite the stakes, Darkest Hour struggles to get us involved. At the end of it all, despite Oldman’s bravura performance, we are not as enlightened as we would like to be about the many contradictions of the man whose bulldog determination saved Britain. Rated PG-13. 125 minutes. Violet Crown. (Jonathan Richards) DOWNSIZING Filmmaker Alexander Payne, famous for dry comedies and understated character studies including Sideways and Nebraska, dabbles in big- concept science fiction this time out. Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig play a married couple who shrink themselves to just a few inches tall in a new procedure aimed to help save the planet and allow people to live lavish lifestyles on an affordable budget. This new life, however, isn’t quite what they’re expecting. Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, and Jason Sudeikis also star. Rated R. 135 minutes. In English, Spanish, Icelandic, and Norwegian with subtitles. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Not reviewed) FATHER FIGURES Owen Wilson and Ed Helms play two brothers who learn from their mother (Glenn Close) that their father, contrary to what they’d previously been told, is not dead. Because she enjoyed many affairs in the 1970s, however, she isn’t quite sure who the father is. The brothers embark on a road trip to meet potential candidates, including those played by Christopher Walken, J. K. Simmons, and former quarterback Terry Bradshaw (as himself). They may not find their father through this comedic adventure, but they learn a great deal about their mother and themselves. Rated R. 113 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed) THE FENCER This historical drama set in Estonia in the years after World War II is based on the experience of a fencer named Endel Nelis (Märt Avandi). He is in hiding from the Soviet police force in the small town of Haapsalu, where he teaches physical education to school children. When he starts a popular fencing club, the school principal decides it is an inappropriate activity for the proletariat and sets his sights on getting it shut down, even if that means Nelis is sent to a work camp in Siberia. This is not a feel- good movie in the traditional sense, but one tinged with impending doom yet continuous hope for the future. Not rated. 99 minutes. In Estonian, Russian, and Armenian with subtitles. The Screen. (Jennifer Levin)
FERDINAND
The beloved 1936 picture book The Story of Ferdinand — about a gentle bull who prefers the scent of flowers to the violence of bullfighting — comes to life in this animated comedy, with John Cena voicing the title character. To update the story, the filmmakers have tacked on a zany adventure in which Ferdinand escapes from the bullfighting circuit. Rated PG. 106 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)