Chile Pages,
beyond his age. Unfortunately, he also has far more sinister tendencies. Sarah brings Miles to a therapist (Colm Feore) to figure out what the deal with the spooky behavior is, and they begin to suspect that Miles’ smarts can be credited to the supernatural force that possesses him. Rated R. 100 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)
SPIDERMAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE
The wall-crawling superhero Spider-Man makes his feature-length animated debut, and the result offers vibrant visuals that make most superhero and animated films look conservative by comparison. In keeping with the youthful vibe, the protagonist is not your grandfather’s Peter Parker — it’s 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. The film is nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at this year’s Oscars. Rated PG-13. 117 minutes. Screens in 2D only at Regal Stadium 14. (Robert Ker)
THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD
To commemorate the centennial of the end of World War I, director Peter Jackson crafted this documentary about the conflict. To make the film, he and his team of technicians dug up grainy archival films from Britain’s Imperial War Museum and painstakingly restored and then colorized the footage. He paired the footage with audio testimony from the era to paint a portrait of British soldiers on the front lines. Rated R. 99 minutes. Screens in 2D only at Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)
THE 2019 OSCARNOMINATED ANIMATION SHORTS
This year’s crop of Academy Award-nominated animated shorts includes three from the United States: Bao, the Pixar short that preceded Incredibles 2; Weekends, about the effects of divorce on a young boy; and One Small Step, about a young girl who dreams of becoming an astronaut. These nominees are joined by Ireland’s Late Afternoon, about an elderly woman who uses her memories to reconnect with the present, and Canada’s Animal Behaviour, in which six animals meet for group therapy. Not rated. Approximately 75 minutes. Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)
THE 2019 OSCARNOMINATED DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Important, topical issues are once more explored in this year’s crop of Academy Award-nominated documentary shorts. Black
Sheep looks at immigration in the United Kingdom through the eyes of a Nigerian mother who moves her family from London to Essex, where they encounter racism in their housing estate.
End Game takes viewers to the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco, where it explores issues of end-of-life care. Lifeboat introduces audiences to the German nonprofit Sea-Watch, which aids refugees crossing of the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Europe. A Night at the Garden takes us back to a proNazi rally at Madison Square Garden in 1939, where archival footage shows the group urging its thousands of supporters to not believe the media and to free America from Jewish influence. The film Period. End of Sentence. transports viewers to rural India, where women install a machine in the local school that makes sanitary pads available, with hopes of ending the stigma around menstruation. Rated R. Approximately 137 minutes. Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)
THE 2019 OSCARNOMINATED LIVEACTION SHORTS
Once more, audiences can preview the live-action shorts up for Academy Awards through this annual program of films from throughout the world. Spain’s Madre centers on a woman who receives a disturbing phone call from her vacationing son and must figure out what’s wrong. Ireland’s Detainment focuses on two boys who are brought to the police station for questioning in a kidnapping case. Skin, from the United States, looks at what happens when a child of white supremacists is friendly with an African-American man in front of his parents. Canada offers two entries: Fauve, in which two boys run wild in an abandoned mine, and Marguerite, about the relationship between a nurse and her elderly patient. Rated R. Approximately 108 minutes. Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)
THE UPSIDE
In this loose remake of the 2011 hit French film The Intouchables, Kevin Hart plays Dell, a down-and-out man who is desperate to find work. When he approaches an extremely wealthy quadriplegic named Phil (Bryan Cranston) for a reference, he ends up getting a job as his personal caretaker. Although Dell is unqualified for the position, the two men develop an unlikely friendship and help each other find renewed joy in life. Rated PG-13. 125 minutes. Regal Santa Fe 6; Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)
WHAT MEN WANT
This toothless remake of the Mel Gibson rom-com What
Women Want (2000) stars the sparkling Taraji P. Henson as Ali, a pro sports agent who has smacked up against the glass ceiling at her Atlanta agency. Though she’s at the top of her game, representing both Serena Williams and Lisa Leslie, she just can’t seem to gain the respect of the sharklike male agents (Max Greenfield, Jason Jones, Pete Davidson) who surround her. When she hits her head during a wild bachelorette party, she wakes with the ability to read men’s thoughts. The film spools out predictably from there, as Ali infiltrates poker night, steals clients, and rises to the top — only to discover she has lost her humility along the way. Henson is perfect in the role, with sass oozing out of her pores, but the script suffers from too many cooks and a blurry message, the jokes are flat, and the inevitable romance with a single dad played by Aldis Hodge feels forced. Rated R. 117 minutes. Regal Santa Fe 6; Regal Stadium 14. (Molly Boyle)
WHO WILL WRITE OUR HISTORY
This movie is drawn from a treasury of eyewitness records of life and death in the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw that were committed to paper following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. The reports were created by a clandestine team assembled by a young Jewish historian, Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum. The group, to which its founder gave the code name Oyneg Shabes (the joy of Sabbath), recognized that history is written by the winners, and it was determined to present the truth of what was really happening to the Jewish population of Warsaw. On the eve of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in the spring of ’43, they buried some 60,000 pages that were recovered after the war, and those papers provide the story and the text of this remarkable film. Not rated. 95 minutes. In English, Polish, and Yiddish with subtitles. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Jonathan Richards)
THE WIFE
Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce), a world-famous novelist who has just won the Nobel Prize, is boyish, vain, and impulsive. Joan (Glenn Close), his wife of 40 years, is mature, self-effacing, long-suffering, and wise. A lot of this melodrama, directed by Björn Runge, is both heavy of hand and puzzlingly unconvincing as regards its insights into a writer’s life. Its main thrust is the lack of respect and opportunity for a woman in the writing field, and Joan’s sublimation of her own talent to the role of the Great Man’s Wife. The performances of its three leads lift this story from a self-pitying potboiler to a film to be reckoned with. Close snagged a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role. Rated R. 100 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Jonathan Richards)
WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?
In Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, director Morgan Neville takes the audience through the meteoric rise of the children’s television icon Fred Rogers. The story is told by his wife, Joanne Rogers, and his two sons; Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood characters and production staff; and a few celebrities who recount their experiences with his inordinately large heart. Rogers’ personal philosophies are sprinkled throughout, particularly as they applied to his beliefs on human dignity and respect. His commitment to his young audience was steadfast, and his earnestness came back to him a hundredfold in waves of support. The impact of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, which ran for nearly 30 years, is examined, along with its pop-culture parodies and the backlash against his messages of kindness. Overall, the world is a better place because Fred Rogers shared what he believed with us. If you grew up watching his show, this documentary will have you humming catchy tunes and revisiting familiar characters. Even if you didn’t, the key message from this evangelist of goodness will not be lost on you. Rated PG-13. 94 minutes. Violet Crown. (Thomas M. Hill)