NOW IN THEATERS
AQUAMAN This premiere solo outing for DC comics’ Aquaman is as big and (occasionally) dumb as its hero, but it can also match the weird charm of Jason Momoa’s performance. The story takes us to Aquaman’s beginning as a half-human, half-merman kid who can speak to marine wildlife (he gets that from his mom, an Atlantean queen played by Nicole Kidman). When Atlantis threatens war on the land dwellers, Aquaman must realize his destiny as the underwater kingdom’s leader and usurp his hot-headed half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson). Much of the dialogue lands with a thud, and the acting could be stronger (Amber Heard, playing Aquaman’s love interest, is the biggest offender), but as effects-laden spectacles go, director James Wan delivers the goods and then some. The movie’s MVP, however, is costume designer Kym Barrett, who crafts everything from the bug-like outfit of villain Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) to the Atlantean armor with such wondrous creativity that she could find herself among the craftspeople behind the costume dramas and prestige pictures on Oscar night. Rated PG-13. 143 minutes. Screens in 2D only at Regal Santa Fe 6; Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Robert Ker) AT ETERNITY’S GATE Julian Schnabel’s wildly uneven account of the feverish last stretch of the life of Vincent van Gogh is largely about ways of seeing. The portrait that Schnabel has put on film is in many ways as much about his own way of seeing as van Gogh’s. Willem Dafoe captures the artistic intensity and emotional instability that seem to have characterized the fateful months in the spring and summer of 1890 that preceded the artist’s death. The main drawback to Dafoe’s casting is that he’s about 30 years older than van Gogh was when he died. Despite its flaws, this version of van Gogh’s end game packs plenty of power and character as it takes Vincent from failure and depression in grey, grimy Paris to Arles after meeting Paul Gauguin (an imperious Oscar Isaac) and being advised to “go south, Vincent!” There’s plenty to annoy you in this latest addition to the well-stocked van Gogh cinema shelf, but also plenty to admire, including Dafoe’s performance, some fine cameos by actors Mathieu Amalric and Mads Mikkelsen, and a beautiful depiction of the creative process of painting itself. Rated PG-13. 110 minutes. In English and some French with subtitles. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Jonathan Richards) BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY In 1991, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury died from AIDS-related complications. With this biopic, the band’s surviving members attempt to do right by his legacy while also watering it down, settling petty scores with former management and reminding the public that they were there and contributed a great deal, too — as when guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee) informs nobody in particular that he wrote the solo in “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The results are grandiose, goofy, and largely entertaining. While a bit more energy would have gone a long way, the film dutifully hits the benchmarks of the band’s rise to fame without fussing too much over details, and Rami Malek embodies the larger-than-life lead singer Mercury with particular relish. Concerns from the gay community about the surface-level treatment devoted to Mercury’s sexuality are well noted, but for what the film is — a nearly family-friendly overview of Queen’s career — it delivers crowd-pleasing results. More importantly, the filmmakers also know when to foreground Queen’s eternally vibrant music and just get out of the way. Some screenings are “singalong” screenings; check the theater for details. Rated PG-13. 134 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Robert Ker) BUMBLEBEE The 1980s era of family movies is effectively recreated in this first entry in the Transformers franchise not to be directed by Michael Bay. The year is 1987, and Charlie
(Hailee Steinfeld) is a misfit teenage girl with a single mom (Pamela Adlon). She fishes a canary-yellow Volkswagen Beetle out of a scrapyard with the intent to fix it up, and discovers that it’s a robot from a distant world named Bumblebee, who was rendered mute in a battle. The two bond over their shared outcast status and soon must defend themselves from the evil Decepticons, as well as some army bros (led by an agent played by John Cena) who want the alien gone. It’s all capably crafted by director Travis Knight, and includes several scenes that exude a tangible warmth. But there isn’t an original bolt in the frame of this movie, which apes E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial down to almost all of its details, and that familiarity can be charming at some times and boring at others. The ’80s setting also reminds us that this property was created in that era as a cheap cartoon to sell toys; despite efforts to provide the franchise with a soul, it still gives off that whiff of bland capitalism. Rated PG-13. 113 minutes. Screens in 2D only at Regal Santa Fe 6; Regal Stadium 14. (Robert Ker) BURNING In South Korean director Lee Chang-dong’s slowburn psychological thriller, fire is a metaphor for the passions of love, desire, and possibly murder. Nothing is as it seems when Jong-su (Ah-in Yoo), an introverted young man, gets mixed up with Haemi ( Jong-seo Jun), an old friend, and the brazen and confident Ben (Steven Yeun), a rival for Haemi’s affections. When Haemi mysteriously disappears without a trace, Jong-su suspects Ben, who professes a penchant for dark crimes, of killing her. Thus begins a taut game of cat and mouse. But are Ben’s confessions of arson, which may have helped him cover up a string of murders, true? Is Jong-su the victim of a hoax, or is something more inexplicable and nefarious afoot? An expertly crafted, atmospheric offering with nods to classic film noir tropes, Burning builds to a stunning climax. Not rated. 148 minutes. In Korean with subtitles. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Michael Abatemarco) ESCAPE ROOM Utilizing a plot similar to that of Saw, this horror film centers on six strangers (with Taylor Russell in the lead role) who are invited to try out a new escape room puzzle in town with the aim of winning $1 million. When they arrive at the meeting place, they realize they’re already in the room, and that the challenge has begun. As they navigate one deadly trap after another, they also discover the secret that ties them all together. Rated PG-13. 100 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed) THE FAVOURITE All politics is sexual in the court of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), in this ravishingly entertaining costume romp as imagined by director Yorgos Lanthimos (The
Lobster). Anne ruled England for a seven-year stretch in the early 18th century. Her closest advisor and confidante was Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. When that relationship soured, Sarah (Rachel Weisz) was replaced in Anne’s affections by Abigail Hill (Emma Stone), Sarah’s poor relation. Both were Ladies of the Bedchamber to the Queen, and in this movie’s deliciously bawdy take, they lived up to that title in more ways than one. Everything clicks in this darkly funny satire. The costumes are rich, as is the production design in which palace intrigue swirls and wars are alternately launched and halted, funded and starved, and ministers come and go. The humor is sometimes sophisticated, sometimes slapstick. All three women should be near the front of the line at Oscar time. Weisz and Stone duel for Anne’s affections with wit, charm, deceit, and other, more sinister weapons. And Colman is transcendent, creating a doughy, gouty, self-pitying egotist with occasionally glimpsed reserves of nobility and steel. Rated R. 119 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts; Violet Crown. (Jonathan Richards) GREEN BOOK This “inspired by a true story” tale follows a wellworn formula: an odd-couple pairing of polar opposites who take a while to warm up to each other, but when they finally do, it’s as cozy as Christmas (where the movie ends). The mismatched pair is Tony Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen), a brawling goombah from a Bronx Italian neighborhood, and Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a fastidious African-American concert pianist who lives high atop Carnegie Hall. The year is 1962. Dr. Shirley and his trio are embarking on a concert tour of the Deep South, and he requires a driver who can double as enforcer. Mortensen warms into the role after laying the boor on a bit thick in the establishing scenes. Ali, too, has to play through a stereotype, but he emerges triumphant, and he ices the deal with superb piano work. There is scarcely a scene that you don’t see coming, scarcely a button that is not pushed. Yet they are pushed and executed so winningly that in the end you’d be inclined to forgive the movie even if an angel got his wings. Rated PG-13. 130 minutes. Violet Crown. (Jonathan Richards) HOLMES AND WATSON Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, the dynamic duo from popular comedic films like Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers, reunite for this movie based on one of the most famous literary partnerships of all time: Sherlock Holmes (Ferrell) and Dr. Watson (Reilly). When a murder occurs at Buckingham Palace, the bumbling pair must solve the case in order to protect the Queen (Pam Ferris). Rated PG-13. 90 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed) IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) has fashioned painfully beautiful cinematic poetry from James Baldwin’s 1974 novel of young love and racial injustice. Jenkins moves slowly, building scenes, revisiting them, and weaving in new threads to tell the story of Fonny (Stephan James) and Tish (KiKi Layne), two sweet and sensitive young people. They fall in love and make a baby before Fonny is locked away on a false rape charge and left to wither in prison without a trial. Baldwin’s story is about love, family, support, and endurance against crushing odds. It takes place in 1970s New York, with Memphis’ Beale Street plucked for the title from the W.C. Handy classic song “Beale Street Blues” to represent the bleak opportunity a racist society offers African Americans. The actors are all superb, with Layne’s Tish growing from a nineteen-year-old into a woman before our eyes, and a terrific Regina King as her loving, indomitable mother. If the film has a flaw, it lies perhaps in a shade too much lyrical sensitivity, but that sensitivity also serves the atmosphere of contrasts that Jenkins so powerfully creates. Rated R. 119 minutes. Violet Crown. (Jonathan Richards) THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH Nicolas Roeg’s 1976 sci-fi classic, based on the novel by Walter Tevis, stars David Bowie as Thomas Jerome Newton, an interstellar traveler who is stuck on Earth and trying to get back to his family. The film — which also features Candy Clark, Buck Henry, and Rip Torn — is a surreal odyssey that tells a very human story. Newton’s allegorical fall is tragic, leaving viewers to question his very nature. Bowie played memorable roles in Basquiat, Labyrinth, and other films, but Newton, an alien who succumbs to human vice, is perhaps his most iconic. New Mexico is among the film’s settings (Fenton Lake is where Newton crash-lands) and the movie was shot at locations in Jemez Springs, Madrid, Belen, Artesia, Alamogordo, and Roswell, among other places. Roeg died in 2018; Jan. 10 marked the three-year anniversary of Bowie’s death. The cinema is showing a new high-quality DCP digital print of the film. Rated R. 139 minutes. Jean Cocteau. (Michael Abatemarco) MARY POPPINS RETURNS Emily Blunt blows into London via the umbrella of Mary Poppins, the whimsical British nanny famously portrayed by Julie Andrews, for this sequel to the 1964 film. The Banks siblings, now adults played by Emily Mortimer and Ben Whishaw, find themselves at risk of losing their childhood home. Poppins appears in order to help them, as well as the next generation of Banks kids, through this rough patch, getting them back in tune with the magic of life. The plot is clichéd, but director Rob Marshall nails the tone perfectly, portraying London with a small-town friendliness and utilizing classic-style animation for Poppins’ flights of fancy. Lin-Manuel Miranda plays the Dick Van Dyke-like sidekick, a singing street lamplighter, and Miranda’s experience with Hamilton lends a polished air to the delightful (and plentiful) musical numbers. Blunt is charming in the lead role, threading the needle between stern nanny and bighearted magician perfectly. While the running time is too long for some toddlers, this movie finds Disney recapturing the effortlessly warm feeling of their classic live-action movies, right down to the appearances by Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury. Rated PG. 130 minutes. Regal Santa Fe 6; Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Robert Ker) MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS Based on John Guy’s 2004 biography Queen of Scots: The True
Life of Mary Stuart, this period drama tells the story of Mary, Queen of Scots (Saoirse Ronan), who returned to Scotland from France as a teenage widow in 1561 and proceeded to ruffle many feathers, most notably those of Queen Elizabeth (Margot Robbie). Director Josie Rourke attempts to examine both powerful women with a sympathetic eye, as they vie for the throne
of England with supporters on each side. The clash doesn’t end well for one of them; those aware of British history know which one, while for everyone else, it might be considered a movie spoiler. Rated R. 124 minutes. Violet Crown. (Not reviewed) THE MULE Clint Eastwood’s advanced age isn’t stopping him from directing and starring in movies. This time, he plays Leo Sharp, a World War II veteran who, in his late eighties, encounters financial difficulties and solves them by becoming a drug mule for the Sinaloa cartel. As his workload grows larger, he attracts the attention of a DEA agent (Bradley Cooper) who attempts to track him down. The story is based on true events, adapted from the June 2014 New York Times article “The Sinaloa Cartel’s 90-Year-Old Drug Mule.” Dianne Wiest, Laurence Fishburne, and Michael Peña also star. Rated R. 116 minutes. Regal Santa Fe 6; Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Not reviewed) THE QUAKE In this sequel to the hit Norwegian thriller The Wave (2015), with the same cast but a new director in John Andreas Andersen, geologist Kristian Eikjord (Kristoffer Joner) is a shattered nervous wreck of his former self. He’s living with the trauma of having saved his family and a lot of people from a tsunami, though hundreds more were killed. Three years later, he foresees a massive earthquake about to hit Oslo, but nobody will listen to him. After an overlong buildup that follows familiar disaster-film tropes, Kristian is proved right in spades. Once the city begins to rock and roll, the effects are utterly gripping, and the images of crumbling skyscrapers will provide a harrowing reminder of 9/11. Joner and his supporting cast, particularly Edith Haagenrud-Sande as his little daughter and Ane Dahl Torp as his estranged wife, are excellent, and there’s no shortage of tension as you await the inevitable. Once the movie hits its climax, though, the ending is a bit abrupt, leaving you wondering if they ran out of budget, patience, or both. And what the sequel will be. Rated PG-13. 106 minutes. In Norwegian with subtitles. Jean Cocteau Cinema. (Jonathan Richards) RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET This sequel to the 2012 animated comedy Wreck-It
Ralph finds the video-game hero Ralph (John C. Reilly) and his buddy Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) venturing into the internet via a Wi-Fi router to try to save Vanellope’s game from destruction. They join a hardcore online game called
Slaughter Race, where Vanellope finds a greater sense of purpose and a potential new bestie in Shank (Gal Gadot), one of the game’s drivers. Ralph grows concerned that he’s losing his friend, and his insecurities deliver what the film’s title promises. It’s a lot of plot for one animated film to handle, but there’s nothing to fault with the cast — playing the lovable bruiser is right in Reilly’s wheelhouse, and Silverman complements his lead efforts nicely with her own chirpy charm. The film includes many in-jokes about the internet and Disney films, but a prolonged game of “spot the reference” doesn’t add up to a totally satisfying experience. Fortunately, the two stars supply enough heart to carry the movie through its stilted patches. Rated PG. 112 minutes. Screens in 2D only at Regal Stadium 14. (Robert Ker) ROMA Cinephiles will find much to cherish in the latest picture by director Alfonso Cuarón, who returns to his indie roots with this black-and-white ode to his childhood in 1970s Mexico City and in particular to his family’s housekeeper. He uses a wide array of cinematic tools to transform a domestic drama into a visually thrilling feature chockablock with howdid-he-do-it shots that are influenced by giants such as Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut, and Robert Altman, and also include sly nods to his own past work including Gravity and
Children of Men. The story centers on a maid named Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), who works in a middle-class household, managing the family’s four rambunctious kids and comforting their mother Sofía (Marina de Tavira), who is going through a rapidly fraying marriage. Cleo has her own problems outside the house. Issues of class and race bubble just below the surface, which all share the commonality that if you’re a woman, then men will treat you terribly regardless of your background. At times the film can feel like it contains a bit more style than substance, but with such care, imagination, and virtuosity devoted to the style, it stands above the currently crowded field of prestige pictures. Rated R. 135 minutes. In Spanish with subtitles. The Screen. (Robert Ker) SECOND ACT Jennifer Lopez stars as Maya, a middle-aged woman working in a retail job who is certain that she has as much to offer the business world as any young, connected MBA graduate. She gets her chance to prove her mettle when her godson (Dalton Harrod) creates a fake résumé and social media accounts to make her seem accomplished, and she’s hired as a consultant by an investment firm. She then needs to fake it until she makes it, often to comic results. Rated PG-13. 103 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed) SHOPLIFTERS Osamu (Lily Franky) is the patriarch of the Shibatas, a Tokyo family scraping out a marginal existence. They have day jobs, but for the balance of life’s necessities, they turn to shoplifting. We meet Osamu and the preteen Shota (Kairi Jyo), as they execute a well-grooved run on a grocery store. On their way home they hear five-year-old Juri (Miyu Sasaki) crying and shivering outside her locked house, so they scoop her up and bring her home with the groceries. When they notice scars on her skinny little body, they decide to keep her. So begins Shoplifters, the Palme d’Or-winning film from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-Eda. The appealing family includes mother Nobuyu (Sakura Ando), her younger sister Aki (Mayu Matsuoka), and Grandma Hatsue (Kirin Kiki, who died in September). But Kore-Eda starts pulling back curtains and revealing multiple layers of character and backstory that build from unsettling to devastating. The actors, from the little girl to the grandma, project a warmth and humanity that give the seismic revelations of the movie’s endgame a touching and lingering resonance. Not rated. 121 minutes. In Japanese with subtitles. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Jonathan Richards) SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE The wall-crawling superhero Spider-Man makes his feature-length animated debut, and the results offers vibrant visuals that make most superhero and animated films look conservative by comparison. With bold action that seems to leap from a comic book, Into the Spiderverse boasts a refreshing style that borrows from anime, graffiti art, and other sources, and is accompanied a lively hip-hop soundtrack. In keeping with the youthful new-millennium vibe, the protagonist is not your grandfather’s Peter Parker — it’s the wonderful Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), the teenage, African-American version of Spider-Man that debuted in the comic books in 2011. Morales runs into Parker (Jake Johnson), however, when he stumbles into the SpiderVerse, a range of Spider-Man-like characters from alternate dimensions, which include a female version of Spider-Man (Hailee Steinfeld), a Depression-era pulp hero (Nicolas Cage), and a pig (John Mulaney). Together, they must stop the Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) from destroying all of their dimensions. Rated PG-13. 117 minutes. Screens in 2D only at Regal Santa Fe 6; Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Robert Ker) VICE Adam McKay (The Big Short) has been criticized for trivializing the legacy of former vice-president Dick Cheney. But the goofy side of McKay’s portrait of the man who rose out of a boozy gutter to become the most powerful second banana in our nation’s history is there to counterpoint a deadly serious story. Christian Bale is nothing short of jawdropping in his embodiment of Cheney. It’s not just the weight he gains during the course of the picture, it’s everything about him — the slouch, the walk, the tilt of the head, the hunch of the shoulders, the sneer, the stare. Amy Adams plays Cheney’s wife Lynne, who turns him around from a wastrel and onto the path of power. There are entertaining performances from Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld, and Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush, though the movie misses a chance to explore more meaningfully the relationship between Cheney and Dubya. And sometimes the humor may go a little over the top. But a lot of it is needle-sharp, and driven by Bale’s extraordinary performance, it hits with the force of a weapon of mass instruction. Rated R. 132 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; The Screen; Violet Crown. (Jonathan Richards) WELCOME TO MARWEN Steve Carell plays Mark, a man who is severely physically assaulted. As part of his recovery from brain damage, he invents a miniature town called Marwen in his backyard, where he can let his imagination run wild, and via a collection of Barbie-sized dolls, be the hero in his life that he always wanted to be. His healing process is put to the test when he must testify in court against his attackers and relive the trauma. Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger, and Janelle Monáe also star. Robert Zemeckis directs. Rated PG-13. 116 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)