Saying goodbye to Paul Newman with Cool Hand Luke and the rest of this
week’s movie happenings
Paul Newman’s death from cancer is just plain sad. It’s
almost impossible to come up with another movie star who has remained
quite as beloved by the general public throughout the years—even
if they hadn’t thought of him for a while, there was no shortage
of people who found themselves touched when they heard he’d
died. Certainly, his recent films weren’t as great as the movies
he made back in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, but
he’s almost more remembered for his philanthropy during the past
two decades.
Of course, he made many wonderful films. I’m personally a huge
fan of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, that anti-western written
by William Goldman that had an enormous impact on me when I was young.
He teamed with Redford again for The Sting, another terrific movie,
and some of my other favorites include Hud, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The
Hustler—hell, even The Color of Money, an overrated piece that
finally earned him his Oscar. Newman never shied away from darker,
challenging roles, and that’s why we’ll always remember
him in Cool Hand Luke, as the one man who will stand up to The Man for
all of us. You can say goodbye to Newman with Cool Hand Luke, which
will screen at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, at Café Libertalia in
Hillcrest.—Anders Wright
Allah Made Me Funny: Muslim comedians look for comedy in the Western
world. An American Carol: Hollywood Republicans like Kelsey Grammer
and Dennis Hopper team up for a Michael Moore mockumentary.
Appaloosa: The Western continues its comeback. Ed Harris directs and
stars as a lawman with good-lookin’ Viggo Mortensen as his
sidekick, going after a bad dude.
Battle in Seattle: There’s a solid cast in Stuart
Townsend’s fictitious take on the 1999 WTO riots in the Emerald
City. Charlize Theron, Andre Benjamin and Ray Liotta are all on board,
and Woody Harrelson plays a riot cop who bashes in some brains.
Blackout: The latest entry in the Philippine Cinema Showcase is a
psychological thriller about a drunken apartment landlord who wakes up
to find his car’s bumper dented and bloody. Runs Oct. 3 through
8 at UltraStar Chula Vista.
Blindness: Julianne Moore is the only sightless person quarantined
after an epidemic of blindness hits her city. Mark Ruffalo is her
husband, and Gael Garcia Bernal is the crazy dude who tries to take
over in the chaos.
Flash of Genius: Greg Kinnear plays Robert Kearns, the man who
invented the modern windshield wiper but who had to fight Ford and the
auto industry for 30 years to get the credit. Nice premise, but like
Kinnear and the windshield wiper, somewhat bland.
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People: The film adaptation loses
some of the spectacularly sinful stuff found in Toby Young’s
memoir of working under Graydon Carter at Vanity Fair. Even the nude
transsexual stripper doesn’t seem like a very big deal. But
Simon Pegg is fun as the journo looking for the sweet smell of
success. Like The Devil Wears Prada, but with a dude.
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist: Call it John Hughes 2.0.
Michael Cera and Kat Dennings are the titular characters, kicking
around New York all night in search of their favorite band and a love
connection with each other. Not perfect but terribly sweet, with a
great soundtrack that includes a nice score from Devo frontman Mark
Mothersbaugh. See our review on Page 23.
Religulous: Bill Maher travels the world, talking to different people
about a God he doesn’t believe in.
Save Me: A drug-addicted gay man’s family checks him into a
brainwashing rehab facility in the hopes of curing his gayness.
Kubrador: Part of the San Diego Asian Film Festival’s yearlong
look at Filipino movies, Kubrador follows the life of a bookie who
scrambles to collect debts from the numbers racket that exists in the
slums. Through Oct. 2 at UltraStar Chula Vista.
Silent films with live music: Curtis Glatter will hit the
library’s second-floor auditorium with his laptop, his keyboards
and his four-track and accompany several silent films—including
Vampyr and two from Jean Epstein, La Glace a Trois Faces and
Tempestaire—with live music. Starts at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct.
1, at the Downtown Public Library. Free.
The Big Lebowski: The Dude has now abided for a decade. Easily the
Coen brothers’ cultiest cult film, Lebowski stars Jeff Bridges
as The Dude, a stoner who shares his name with the wealthy husband of
a kidnap victim. After a mistaken-identity incident results in his rug
being soiled, The Dude seeks recompense, and hilarity ensues. Screens
at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma. Free.
Friday the 13th: The first of a five-film horror series, this is the
one with the dude in the hockey mask with serious mommy issues.
Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, at the Birch North Park Theatre.
Tlatelolco: Las Claves de la Massacre: Ten days before the 1968
Olympics in Mexico City, police opened fire on student demonstrators,
killing scores of them. This documentary will make sure you
don’t forget. Screens at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, in Arts &
Letters 101 on the SDSU Campus. Free.
Drona: An epic Bollywood smashup between good and evil. Drona is the
one dude who just might be able to save the world. From evil, we
think. Screens at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, and at 9:30 p.m. Friday and
Saturday, Oct. 3 and 4 at the UltraStar Del Mar. Tickets at
http://www.goldspiritfilms.com.
I-Be Area: As part of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Thursday
Night Thing (TNT), this week they’ll be showing Ryan
Trecartin’s funky full-length. Dealing with issues like cloning
and adoption, the film is a surreal experience, so much so that
attendees will get a chance to paint their face all day-glo and also
hear a talk from curator Neil Kendricks. Screens at 7 p.m. Thursday,
Oct. 2, at the museum’s Downtown location.
My Architect: The first of Architecture + Cinema, a series put
together by UCSD’s ArtPower! Film, My Architect takes a long
look at internationally renowned architect Louis I. Kahn through the
eyes of his son, director Nathaniel Kahn. Part of the site-specific
installation Sanctuary at the Salk Institute, which Kahn the elder
designed. Screens at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, at the CalIt2 Auditorium
on the UCSD campus.
The Philadelphia Story: Just a classic. Jimmy Stewart won a Best Actor
Oscar, Katharine Hepburn was nominated as Best Actress, and the
screenplay took an award as well. He’s a tabloid reporter who
crashes her society wedding, she’s a society debutante, and it
all happens under the watchful eye of her ex-husband, played by Cary
Grant. Screens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, through Saturday, Oct.
4, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.
San Diego Women’s Film Festival: Now in its sixth year, the
Women’s Film Festival has a new sheriff: Citizen Video owner
Holly Jones. She’s curated this lineup of more than 40 films,
all of which feature women behind the camera. It’s a sharp
lineup, and we’ve got more details over on Page 18. The festival
runs Oct. 2 through 5 at the Reading Gaslamp. http://www.sdwff.org.
San Diego Italian Film Festival: Avoiding the sophomore slump is tough
to do, but the Italians have a nice lineup and a good concept. This
year, it’s just bigger and better, with a gala—thrown in
the way only the Italians can throw a party—accompanying the
first film, and all told, 15 movies on the big screen, most of which
are recent theatrical releases from the homeland. See Page 18 for
more. http://www.sandiegoitalianfilmfestival.com.
Press Rewind Plus ’08: Each Sunday in October, UCSD’s
ArtPower! Film presents the flicks it showed in last year’s
first student film festival. Week 1 includes shorts from Jessie
Pellegrino, Joshua Krohn, Jay Kim, Stacie Perillo, Braden Diotte, Ben
Tuller, M. Jay Drose and Matthew Goodwin. Each week will feature
different films from different filmmakers, and it’ll always be
pay-what-you-can. Screens at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, at The Loft on the
UCSD campus.
Up the Yangtze: Yung Chang’s doc is ostensibly about the side
effects of damming up the Yangtze River, but it’s really a
portrait of what it’s like to be poor in China. Heartbreaking.
Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6, at the Downtown Central Library.
Free.
The Visitor: Tom McCarthy follows up his debut, The Station Agent,
with this subtle look at immigration. Veteran character actor Richard
Jenkins (the dead dad on Six Feet Under) is a burnt-out professor
adrift in his life, but things change when he tries to help a young
illegal immigrant detained in New York. McCarthy makes his points
through people instead of politics, which is nice. Screens at 7 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 6, at the IR/PS Robinson Auditorium on the UCSD campus.
Free.
The Future of Food: Presented by the Ocean Beach People’s
Organic Food Co-op, this doc takes a frightening look at how our food
gets from where it’s planted to your local Albertsons. Remember,
people, think global, eat local! Screens at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7, at
the International House Great Hall on the UCSD campus. Free.
The Exorcist: A young priest questioning his faith teams with an
experienced exorcist to drive the demon out of a prepubescent Linda
Blair. The second of a five-film horror series, this one is still
freaky after all these years. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, at
the Birch North Park Theatre.
The Devil Wears Prada: This adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s
best-seller about the fashion industry is thin but pleasant. It
established Anne Hathaway as a leading lady, introduced us to Emily
Blunt and features a blistering performance from Meryl Streep as
Miranda Priestly, a thinly veiled version of Vogue editor-in-chief
Anna Wintour. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, at The Pearl Hotel
in Point Loma. Free.
Fireproof: Kirk Cameron takes a break from those Left Behind movies to
play a super-brave firefighter who doesn’t have the courage to
stand up to his own wife. Until, you know, something with Jesus.
Choke: Clark Gregg’s adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s
nihilistic novel about a sex addict with serious mommy issues who
fakes choking in restaurants to garner sympathy and money is really
funny, believe it or not. It all rests on the shoulders of Sam
Rockwell, and this is the role he was born to play.
The Duchess: Keira Knightley’s latest period piece also stars
some other Brits, like Ralph Fiennes and Dominic Cooper and (yawn)
zzzzzzzzz.
Eagle Eye: Shia LaBeouf re-teams with director DJ Caruso for this
terror-thriller. He’s a slacker, Michelle Monaghan’s a
single mom, and both are being pushed to do horrible things by a
threatening voice on the other end of the phone. Seriously, how have
we survived this long without another Shia movie? Oh, right. Easily.
Miracle at St. Anna: Spike Lee’s new joint explores four
African-American soldiers trapped in a Tuscan village during World War
II. Nights in Rodanthe: Richard Gere and Diane Lane get busy in a
small North Carolina town with the awkward name of Rodanthe.
Let’s just hope they both have residency and vote Democrat.
Ghost Town: Ricky Gervais finally gets the lead in an American movie.
But is this the right one for his big stateside break? He’s a
nasty dentist who dies on the operating table, and once he’s
revived, he sees—and can talk to—dead people, all of whom
are soon asking for favors. Like Ghost meets The Sixth Sense with a
chubby Brit.
Igor: John Cusack voices the title character in this animated
creature-feature, a hunchbacked lab rat desperate to become a mad
scientist. The supporting cast includes Steve Buscemi and John Cleese,
but we’re really looking forward to Eddie Izzard’s take on
Dr. Schadenfreude.
Lakeview Terrace: Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington move in next to
Samuel L. Jackson, an angry cop who doesn’t want a biracial
couple as neighbors. It’s from director Neil LaBute, so prepare
your buttons now—they will likely be pushed.
My Best Friend’s Girl: Irritating comic Dane Cook is hired by
his best friend, the irritating Jason Biggs, to woo the irritating
Kate Hudson, so she’ll see how great the irritating Biggs is.
Surprise! The irritating Cook falls for her. We’re guessing that
at some point, we’ll hear the somewhat irritating song from The
Cars that the movie is named after.
Burn After Reading: The Coen brothers’ new film is a thriller-
comedy reuniting bromancers Pitt and Clooney. Pitt, along with Frances
McDormand, is a gym employee who blackmails a gnarly ex-CIA guy (John
Malkovich) who leaves his unpublished memoirs behind after a workout.
Let’s hope it’s more Fargo than The Ladykillers.
Righteous Kill: Two aged New York cops investigate murders that are
eerily reminiscent of a case they tackled years ago. Just check the
cast: Al Pacino. Robert De Niro. And 50 Cent? For reals.
The Women: Annette Bening and Meg Ryan star as rich New York bitches
in this remake of George Cukor’s 1939 take on Clare Booth
Luce’s classic play.
Mamma Mia!: The Sing-Along Edition: Perhaps you wish you could stand
up in a darkened theater and belt out the ABBA songs featured in Mamma
Mia! Well, your time has come. There’s a new edition of the
based-on-the-hit-Broadway-musical film starring Meryl Streep and
Pierce Brosnan that will feature the lyrics to all the songs on the
screen, like a disturbingly large karaoke machine. You’ll be
with a group of like-minded ABBA fans, so your version of “Take
a Chance on Me” will be supported—nay, encouraged—by
the rest of the faithful.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Force goes animated. The new
film—really the pilot for an ongoing show on the Cartoon
Network—doesn’t capture the awesomeness of the 1977
original. But it’s still better than the last three movies.
Tropic Thunder: Ben Stiller directed and stars in this monster comedy
about a bunch of spoiled actors dropped into a real war zone. The
thing is, they think it’s a movie set, but the guerrillas
they’re up against are the real deal. Jack Black stars as the
funnyman taking on a serious role, and Robert Downey Jr. is the award-
winning actor who dyes his skin to play the part of the unit’s
black sergeant. Like most of Stiller’s stuff, it’s really
dumb and kinda funny. Oh, and in this case, it’s rated R, so
it’s also really violent.
Vicky Christina Barcelona: Will Woody Allen ever make another film in
New York? After shooting the last two in the U.K., he moved his act
overseas. Scarlett Johanssen and Rebecca Hall are tourists in
Barcelona who find themselves infatuated with mysterious brooding
painter Javier Bardem. When his crazy ex-wife (Bardem’s real-
life honey, Penelope Cruz) enters the picture, the whole trip becomes
a total bummer.
Man on Wire: James Marsh directs this compelling documentary about
Frenchman Philippe Petit, who illegally tightrope-walked between the
World Trade Center towers in 1974. Man on Wire explores Petit’s
obsessive and meticulous plotting, and how he convinced a group of
wild-eyed young adventurers to assist him. Drawing on gorgeous
archival footage and charming the audience with vivid storytelling,
it’s an imaginative, entertaining riff on heist movies.
Pineapple Express: Seth Rogen and James Franco play buddies Dale and
Saul, whose possession of some ultra-rare weed leads them into
compromising situations with the police, thugs, drug dealers and a
Chinese crime syndicate. Yeah, it’s as dumb as it sounds.
It’s also hilarious and hugely entertaining, with a star-making
performance by Danny McBride as Red. Keep an eye out for the absurd
props, which provide some unexpected laughs.
The Dark Knight: It’s finally here, and yes, Christopher
Nolan’s new Batman movie is everything you hoped it would be. An
epic two-and-a-half-hour crime drama that examines the complicated
nature of good, evil and heroism and simply must be seen on an Imax
screen to be believed. Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron
Eckhard are all well-served by a tense, taut script, but it truly is
Heath Ledger’s movie, as he plays Batman’s nemesis, The
Joker, with a shambling malevolence that’s terrifying and
intense.
Mamma Mia!: The hit Broadway musical consisting of nothing but Abba
tunes is turned into a big, fat Hollywood movie. But this one’s
got Meryl Streep as an overbearing mother. Her daughter Sophie is
getting married, but she doesn’t know who her dad is. So she
invites all of mom’s exes—Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and
Stellan Skarsgård—to the wedding.
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl: Abigail Breslin stars as a precocious
young reporter. It’s got a seriously high-profile supporting
cast, but if you’re the target demo, you shouldn’t be
reading CityBeat.
Wall*E: Our hopes are high for the cute li’l titular robot,
whose trailers are enough to make us both laugh and cry. It’s
hundreds of years in the future, and Wall*E’s been cleaning up
our mess since we left. And along the way, he’s gotten lonely.
Sure, we already get the An Inconvenient Truth messaging, but Pixar
has yet to do us wrong.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: No, it’s not a time
warp—the love-it-or-hate-it camp classic continues its midnight
run in its 37th year of release. When the lead character of the film
is a transvestite scientist named Dr. Frank-N-Furter, you know
you’re in for some seriously trashy viewing. And, of course,
this is the one movie where you want the audience shouting at the
screen. Screens Fridays at midnight at La Paloma Theater in Encinitas.
Fridays at the Fleet: Sea Monsters and Mysteries of Egypt are some of
the rotating films shown each Friday at the Reuben H. Fleet Science
Center’s IMAX theater where, for only $7.50, you can catch four
flicks. Sure, it’s more Discovery Channel than Transformers, but
the Fleet’s enormous old-school dome screen is way cool, and
some of the talent—narrators like Meryl Streep or Johnny
Depp—is impressive. You might find yourself as mesmerized as the
little kiddies sitting around you. Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in
Balboa Park. Check http://www.rhfleet.org for the screening list.
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