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BRIDGE OF SPIES In May of 1960, two weeks before an East-West summit in Paris, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet airspace. With the world teetering on the brink of Mutually Assured Destruction, the entire course of the Cold War depended on getting that CIA agent back on U.S. soil. Tom Hanks plays the man who was trusted with negotiating the prisoner exchange, a lawyer plucked from a normal, everyday existence by the CIA. Steven Spielberg directs. Alan Alda, Amy Ryan co-star. (PG-13) 135 minutes.
CRIMSON PEAK It’s got the old-fashioned horror tale elements like old scary mansions, ghosts, and evil sisters-in-law, and there’s something classically terrifying about a mansion that “bleeds, breathes, and remembers” that it might just be worth being too freaked out to sleep. Guillermo del Toro directs. Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam and Tom Hiddleston co-star. (R) 119 minutes.
GOOSEBUMPS Quiver in your Sketchers and flannel shirts, ’90s kids, because the beloved R.L. Stine books are coming for you—again! This time, in live action, to reawaken every fourth-grade nightmare you ever had. Plus, Jack Black with a very fake, very bad English accent? We are so, so in. Rob Letterman directs. Odeya Rush, Halston Sage co-star. (PG) 103 minutes.
FREEHELD The real events of Laurel Hester’s life and death took place less than a decade ago; it’s the story of a New Jersey police lieutenant who, after dedicating her life to the force, was diagnosed with lung cancer. As if being faced with the inescapable fate of death wasn’t bad enough, Hester spent her last days fighting to ensure that her domestic partner, Stacie Andree, would be able to receive her pension benefits—just as every married partner on the force does when their spouse dies. Her fight gained national attention, and with it began the battle to secure the same rights for couples across the country. Peter Sollett directs. Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Steve Carell co-star. (PG-13) 103 minutes.
SPECIAL SCREENING: THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING Based on Naomi Klein’s book by the same name, This Changes Everything is a documentary filmed over 211 days in nine countries and five continents over the course of four years. From the wealthy, industrialized nations whose populations emit the highest rate of global emissions to the poorer, less-industrialized populations who suffer the consequences, the documentary unpacks the surprising potential that this inescapable crisis offers a global citizenry. Avi Lewis directs. (NR) 89 minutes. 7 p.m., Oct. 20, Del Mar Theatre, 1124 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz.
Film Events
CONTINUING EVENT: LET’S TALK ABOUT THE MOVIES Film buffs are invited Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. to downtown Santa Cruz, where each week the group discusses a different current release. For our location and discussion topic, go to: https://groups.google.com/group/LTATM.
Now Playing
BLACK MASS Just when you thought you’d seen Johnny Depp at his creepiest, he puts on jagged tiny teeth and a blondish receding hairline to become the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston. While it’s true that a terrible film can still feature a brilliant cast, Black Mass shows true promise with Depp as mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, Joel Edgerton as his ally in the FBI, Benedict Cumberbatch as his senator brother, and a smattering of genre crossovers like Adam Scott, David Harbour, and Corey Stoll. Scott Cooper directs. (R) 122 minutes.
EVEREST As groups of Everest climbers make their way up the summit, a massive storm hits and it’s every man for himself. Goosebumps are inevitable when watching this harrowing tale of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster and the survival attempts of two expedition groups. The star-studded (yet just gritty enough to be believable) cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke, Sam Worthington, Robin Wright, and Keira Knightley. Baltasar Kormákur directs. (PG-13) 121 minutes.
HE NAMED ME MALALA Malala Yousafzai is still a teenager, but it’s possible to look at her life story and not be amazed—she’s a goofball who can do card tricks, she laughs at herself, but she’s also the young Pakistani girl who was shot in the head for taking a stand against the Taliban. Her wisdom and her courage in supporting girls’ education around the world has stunned world leaders. He Named Me Malala takes a look at what has made one young girl an international hero. Davis Guggenheim directs. Malala Yousafzai, Ziauddin Yousafzai and Toor Pekai Yousafzai co-star. (PG-13) 87 minutes.
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2 Last time Adam Sandler tried to make a movie, half the cast walked off the set, so it’s probably best that this time he leaves the directing to Genndy Tartakovsky, sticks to a children’s film and plays an animated character so nobody can see his face. (Too mean? We say too true.) In the second round of Hotel Transylvania, Dracula is elated to be a grandvampire, except that Johnny and Mavis’ baby is half-vampire, half-human, and with his foofy mess of red curls, adorable face and very apparent lack of fangs, he’s not quite living up to his family legacy. Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez co-star. (PG) 89 minutes.
THE INTERN Robert De Niro is the intern and Anne Hathaway is his boss. Yes, yes, we know—role reversal, oh, the irony! (Of the Alanis Morissette variety, obviously.) Chortles aside, Robert De Niro could bring a certain element of heartwarming nostalgia to this critique of the baby-driven entrepreneurial movement behind modern tech companies and startups. Or the whole thing could just be a big old schmaltz-fest with Hathaway crying a lot. We all know how she loves to cry. Nancy Meyers directs. Rene Russo co-stars. (PG-13) 121 minutes.
THE MARTIAN Astronaut Mark Watney is left stranded on Mars after a storm hits and he’s presumed dead—but somehow, he maintains a pretty positive outlook on the whole thing, despite the fact that he only has enough food for 50 days, the terrain isn’t suited for agriculture, and it’ll take four years to get a message back to Earth. There are, of course, complications with attempts to rescue Watney but with such a stellar cast (can you say Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Donald Glover a.k.a Childish Gambino?) we don’t even care if he dies at the end. Note: we have no idea if he dies at the
end. Ridley Scott directs. (PG-13) 141 minutes.
MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS Oh, oh, oh, it’s Littlefinger from Game of Thrones and the Effy from BBC’s Skins—plus that adorable kid also from Thrones. Memorable faces aside, the movie’s about a bunch of children who escape an experimental facility and venture out into the desolate landscape of “The Scorch,” where they’re hunted. And … zombies? It’s a teen flick, but it still looks better than those Shailene Woodley Hunger Games knockoffs. Wes Ball directs. Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster co-star. (PG-13) 131 minutes.
PAN Reviewed this issue. (PG) 111 minutes.
SICARIO Emily Blunt is like the way cooler, less smiley version of Anne Hathaway. She’s British and she cries less. She can sing, play Queen Victoria, that super badass chick in Edge of Tomorrow, and everything in between. Did we mention that she’s the total package? Fawning aside, Benicio del Toro is also in this movie! He’s in charge of showing the young idealistic FBI agent the ropes as she struggles to understand the world of Mexican drug cartels. Denis Villeneuve directs. Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro (R) 121 minutes.
THE WALK Can we all just chuckle a little at Joseph Gordon-Levitt with a French accent? Now that that’s out of the way—this is so not a film for anyone with fear of heights. It’s the totally true story of Philippe Petit, who decided to walk the void between the World Trade Center towers in 1974. Of course it would take a Frenchman to pull off a totally illegal, renegade traverse over a wire at the height of 1,362 feet (no diss to the French, but it was complètement fou!). The documentary starring the real Petit, who’s still alive today, was harrowing enough. In IMAX 3D? We’ll stick to ground-level films, thank you very much. Robert Zemeckis directs. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon, Ben Kingsley co-star. (PG) 123 minutes.
