Films This Week
Check out the movies playing around town.
With: Reviews
Movie Times click here.
Santa Cruz area movie theaters >
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New This Week
CHAPPIE This sci-fi thriller from Neill Blomkamp (District 9), set in a near future when humans are policed by unfeeling robocops, concerns a stolen ‘bot reprogrammed to think and feel for himself—making him a target among the evil Powers That Be. Sharlto Copley and Dev Patel star; Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver have featured roles. (R) 124 minutes. Starts Friday.
LEVIATHAN Freshly nominated for a Foreign Language Oscar (it won the Golden Globe), this Russian drama is set on the rugged and glorious coast of the Barents Sea, where a humble auto mechanic battles a corrupt and powerful mayor to save his business, his land, and his family. Andrey Zvyagintsev (R) 140 minutes. In Russian with English subtitles. Starts Friday.
THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL Most of the original cast members return as mature expat Brits getting a new lease on life in India when the ambitious young proprietor of their residential hotel (Dev Patel) tempts chaos by trying to expand his business and get married at the same time. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, and Celia Imrie head the cast, which also includes newcomers David Strathairn and Richard Gere. John Madden directs. (PG) 122 minutes. Starts Friday.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS Vince Vaughn, Tom Wilkinson, and Dave Franco star in this comedy as a trio of Yanks on a business trip to Berlin where every possible thing that can go wrong does. Ken Scott directs. (R) 91 minutes. Starts Friday.
Film Events
CONTINUING SERIES: MIDNIGHTS @ THE DEL MAR Eclectic movies for wild and crazy tastes plus great prizes and buckets of fun for only $6.50. This week: ROBOCOP Peter Weller is terrific as the bionic blue knight hero of this 1987 sci-fi thriller, a critically wounded veteran cop reconstructed as an invincible machine. Dutch master craftsman Paul Verhoeven directs. (R) 102 minutes. (***)—Lisa Jensen. At the Del Mar, Friday at midnight only.
THE TENTH ANNUAL SECRET FILM FESTIVAL Get out your blankets and bunny slippers and prepare to settle in for the duration for the tenth installment of the best 12-hour film festival in town. The concession stand is open all night with hand-crafted treats from local establishments as five fabulous films never before seen in Santa Cruz, hand picked by the crackerjack Del Mar selection committee, unspool for your eyes only before their official release dates. Actual film titles cannot be named (that’s why they’re secret!), but previous SFF premieres have included MirrorMask, Lars And The Real Girl, Let The Right One In, and The Darjeeling Limited. Don’t be the last kid on the block to see the coolest new movies of the season. Get in line now. Admission is $21, this week only. At the Del Mar, Saturday (March 7) midnight to Sunday (March 8), noon.
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 Groups webpage: groups.google.com/group/LTATM
Movie Times click here.
Now Playing
FOCUS Will Smith stars as a slick, seasoned con man who takes on a sexy young blonde apprentice (Margot Robbie), but finds their working partnership complicated by romance in this comic caper adventure from co-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Crazy Stupid Love). (R) 105 minutes.
THE LAZARUS EFFECT Paranormal thriller from the producers of The Purge and Insidious franchises, in which a team of scientists doing research on resurrecting the dead have to try their discovery on one of their own—with harrowing results. Mark Duplass, Olivia Wilde, and Evan Peters star for director David Gelb. (PG-13) 83 minutes.
MAPS TO THE STARS David Cronenberg directs this acidic look at Hollywood, its denizens, and the cult of celebrity, revolving around the family of a TV self-help therapist, his famous clients, and all of their attempts to claw their way to stardom. John Cusack, Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, and Robert Pattinson star. (R) 112 minutes.
SONG OF THE SEA Anyone who loves seals, ancient Celtic folklore, fairy tales or mythology will be utterly charmed by this magical Irish animated feature. Directed by Tomm Moore, whose previous film was the lovely Secret of the Kells, inspired by the famed illuminated manuscript, this Oscar-nominated fable combines traditional tales of the selkies (seals who transform into human women on land) with a stunning visual palette, and an endearing tale of a young girl and her destiny. Every hand-drawn frame of this movie is ravishing, so see it on a big screen! (PG) 93 minutes. (****)—Lisa Jensen.
