Films This Week
Check out the movies playing around town.
With: Reviews,
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Santa Cruz area movie theaters >
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New This Week
MOMMY A widowed mom struggling to cope with her precocious, difficult teenage son finds their lives entwined with an oddball single woman neighbor in this drama of eccentric relationships from French-Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan. Anne Dorval, Antoine Olivier Pilon, and Suzanne Clément star. (R) 139 minutes. Starts Friday.
JUPITER ASCENDING With The Matrix trilogy and Cloud Atlas on their resume, filmmaking siblings Lana and Andy Wachowski unleash a new, original sci-fi adventure in which a woman (Mila Kunis) marginally employed as a house cleaner here on earth discovers from an other-worldly tracker (Channing Tatum) that she’s in line for an amazing cosmic inheritance. Sean Bean and Eddie Redmayne head up the supporting cast. (PG-13) 127 minutes. Starts Friday.
SEVENTH SON Ben Barnes stars in this fantasy adventure as a young farmhand plucked from his quiet life by a mystical warrior (Jeff Bridges), who recruits him to lead a crusade against an evil queen (Julianne Moore). Kit Harington, Olivia Williams, and Djimon Hounsou co-star for director Sergei Bodrov. Based on the book series by Joseph Delaney. (PG-13) 102 minutes. Starts Friday.
THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER The genial invertebrate hero of kids’ TV emerges from the ocean with his pals to become superheroes on dry land in this second movie outing. Tom Kenny reprises the voice of SpongeBob. Antonio Banderas is the voice of his new pirate nemesis. Paul Tibbitt directs. Starts Friday.
TWO DAYS ONE NIGHT (DEUX JOURS UNE NUIT) Marion Cotillard stars as a blue-collar wife and mother who has just one weekend to convince a majority of her co-workers to vote to let her keep her job in a small-town factory, instead of accepting a big bonus. Most of the film consists of brief, terse interviews between harried people, and viewers might get restless wondering where it’s all going. But the movie does go somewhere interesting at last, even if it takes awhile to get there, in this thoughtful, life-sized drama from Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. PG-13. 95 minutes. (In French with English subtitles.) (***)—Lisa Jensen. Starts Friday.
Film Events
SPECIAL EVENT THIS WEEK: FALL ITALIAN FILM SERIES The Dante Alighieri Society of Santa Cruz returns with its monthly series of Italian films (one Sunday a month) to promote Italian culture and language. The theme for the Winter/Spring 2015 season is “The Strength of Women.” Please visit folkplanet.com/dante/films.html for information on this month’s film. In Italian with English subtitles. Logan Walker, film studies lecturer at SJSU, will introduce the film and conduct an after-film Q&A. At Cabrillo College, VAPA Art History Forum Room 1001, Sunday only (Feb. 8), 7 p.m. Free.
CONTINUING SERIES: MIDNIGHTS @ THE DEL MAR Eclectic movies for wild & crazy tastes plus great prizes and buckets of fun for only $6.50. This week: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW Oh, Rocky! The granddaddy of all midnight movies totters back onscreen on its platform stilettos in this classic cult 1975 rock horror musical comedy. Tim Curry is irresistible in his corset, fishnet stockings, and purring, throaty vibrato; creator Richard O’Brien and Susan Sarandon co-star, along with a live cast to lead you in rice-flinging and dialogue recitation. Don’t dream it, be it. (PG) 100 minutes. (****)—Lisa Jensen. Fri-Sat midnight only. (Feb. 6-7) At the Del Mar.
CONTINUING EVENT: LET’S TALK ABOUT THE MOVIES Film buffs are invited to join us Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. in downtown Santa Cruz, where each week we discuss a different current release. For our location and discussion topic, please visit our Google Group webpage:https://groups.google.com/group/LTATM
Movie Times click here.
Now Playing
BLACK OR WHITE Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer star as dueling grandparents embroiled in a custody battle over the little granddaughter (Jillian Estell) Costner’s character has raised in this drama about race, family, and good intentions. Mike Binder (The Upside of Anger) directs. (PG-13) 121 minutes.
BLACK SEA Jude Law stars as a submarine captain who accepts a dubious job trolling the Black Sea for a lost sub supposedly full of gold in this drama of class warfare, corporate greed, and the pernicious influence of private wealth. Scoot McNairy, David Threlfall, and Ben Mendelsohn co-star for director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland). (R) 114 minutes.
THE LOFT Karl Urban and James Marsden star in this paranoia thriller about five married men who co-rent a penthouse loft in the city for their extramarital affairs—until murder throws their friendship and their secret fantasy lives into chaos. Erik Van Looy directs. (R)
A MOST VIOLENT YEAR Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain star in this crime thriller set in New York City in 1981, where a successful immigrant family will stop at nothing to save their business and preserve their hefty share of the American Dream. David Oyelowo (Selma) and Albert Brooks co-star for director J. C. Chandor (All Is Lost). (R) 125 minutes.
OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS, 2015 Where are the next generation of filmmakers and animators coming from? Find out in these two complete programs (separate admission) of this year’s Oscar-nominated short films from around the world (five live-action and five animated), offered for theatrical release in advance of the Academy Awards on Feb. 22. Astound your friends with your knowledge of these categories at your Oscar party! Animated program: Reviewed this issue. (Not rated) 77 minutes. (***)—Lisa Jensen. Live-Action: (Not rated) 117 minutes.
PROJECT ALMANAC A group of high school pals build a time machine that threatens to wreak havoc with history in this sci-fi thriller from director Dean Israelite. Amy Landecker, Jonny Weston, and Sofia Black-D’Elia star. (PG-13)
