Contact Us Advertising Information Online exclusives Cover Story Buzz Feature In Case You Missed It Vote 2009 Boulderganic Fall 2009 Student Guide 2009 Boulder Weekly Sweet 16 Anniversary Boulderganic 2009 Summer Scene 2009 Email Newsletter Legal Services Best of Boulder 2009 Annual Manual 2009 Newspaper of the Future Kids Camp Guide 2009 Wedding Marketplace 09 Jobs available Student Guide 2008 Best of Boulder 2008 Annual Manual 2008 Join Our Mailing List
|
July 16 - July 22, 2009
buzz@boulderweekly.com
 The Adventures of Mr. Tompkins
Film director Peter Garrity and producer and writer R. Igor Gamow collaborated to create an educational science film series entitled The Adventures of Mr. Tompkins. Mr. c.G.h. Tompkins was created by scientist George Gamow in a series of books designed to both educate and entertain the reader with or without a science background. (c.G.h. is an example of George Gamow’s wonderful humor “c,” “G” and “h” represent the three most famous constants in physics “c” is the speed of light, “G” is the universal gravity constant and “h” is Planks constant — the basis of quantum mechanics). Mr. Tompkins is a simple bank clerk that has a passion of going to popular science lectures and after the lecture goes home and has wild dreams about being in the company of the scientists covered by the lecture. Brad Mclain, educational researcher and film director from the Space Science Institute introduces the Madame Curie episode. Gamow and Mclain answer questions after the screening. At the Boulder Public Library — BPL Film Program
Angels and Demons
On the heels of the 2006 adaptation of Dan Brown’s best-seller The Da Vinci Code, Tom Hanks returns to the dullest role of his career, once again under the direction of Ron Howard, who takes the material as seriously as a kidney stone on the way out. Angels & Demons is the same sort of lumbering mediocrity that Da Vinci Code was. It’s more violent, which is something, I guess, and its narrative structure ensures a regular string of cliffhangers. But what turns the pages in print doesn’t necessarily propel a story onscreen. Rated PG-13 (sequences of violence, disturbing images and thematic material). At Flatiron. — Michael Phillips
Away We Go
Glib and charming in roughly equal measure, the road-tripping Away We Go is worth seeing for Maya Rudolph (best known for being underutilized on Saturday Night Live), who plays a mother-to-be living in Colorado with an insurance salesman (John Krasinski of The Office). From the beginning, with American Beauty, director Sam Mendes has never been one to defuse the smugness in a smug script. Much of the dialogue in Away We Go is enjoyable, but in their pursuit of happiness, the two lead characters remain attractive outlines. Rated R (language and some sexual content). At Century and Mayan. — Michael Phillips
Bruno
Extraordinarily raunchy, occasionally funny, Bruno takes everything Borat did so well three years ago and pushes it further, swapping one primary target (American anti-Semitism) for another (American homophobia). But comic nerve has little to do with sheer excess. The fashionista at the center of Bruno is a pretty tedious fellow, and there’s a calculated stridency to the material in Sacha Baron Cohen’s new guerrilla lark. Rated R (pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language). At Flatiron, Century, Twin Peaks and Colony Square. — Michael Phillips
Countdown (1968)
While the Apollo 3 crew train for the first moon landing, it is discovered that the Soviet Union is also planning a moon landing. Desperate to reach the moon first, NASA enacts a makeshift plan to land a man on the moon first, using the older Gemini spacecraft. NASA sends a man and shelter separately, one-way. The astronaut for the mission has only three weeks to train before take-off, and will have to stay on the moon in a shelter for about a year, until an Apollo spacecraft is ready to pick him up. Then the Russians take off two days earlier than expected. At the Boulder Public Library. — BPL Film Program
Departures
Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Departures is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan as well an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan’s cultural heritage. Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved, is suddenly left without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled Departures thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a “Nokanshi” or “encoffineer,” a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living. Not Rated. At Starz. — Denver Film Society
The Hurt Locker
Vivid, assured and extremely suspenseful, director Kathryn Bigelow’s latest (and strongest) film takes moviegoers by the collar and throws them headlong into one horrifying life-and-death situation after another. Jeremy Renner plays a soldier in Iraq running toward the explosives while everyone else is ducking and covering. He’s a bomb tech whose job entails disarming one Improvised Explosive Device (IED) after another, day after day. Time will tell if this politically neutral war movie is a classic, but it’s certainly a formidable experience. Rated R (war violence and language). At Mayan. — Michael Phillips
Food, Inc.
This eye-popping documentary from filmmaker Robert Kenner should win a few hearts and minds regarding what we put in our stomachs. But the film got virtually no cooperation from representatives of the dominant players in industrial food production, and as a result, Food, Inc. is a rangy, well-articulated essay rather than a compelling point-counterpoint. Rated PG (some thematic material and disturbing images). At Century and Chez Artiste. — Michael Phillips
The Hangover
The Hangover takes care of its target audience — males who, after seeing director Todd Phillips’ earlier and funnier Old School, dreamed of joining the Old School fraternity. This film belongs to the what-happened-last-night? genre typified by Dude, Where’s My Car? Groom-to-be Doug (Justin Bartha) is whisked to Vegas from L.A. by his pals (Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms), with Doug’s eerie future brother-in-law (Zach Galifianakis) in tow. Chaos ensues; laughs do not (although Helms is an exception). Rated R (pervasive language, sexual content including nudity, and some drug material). At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Michael Phillips
Herb & Dorothy
This documentary tells the extraordinary story of Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk, and Dorothy Vogel, a librarian, who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means. In the early 1960s, when very little attention was paid to minimalist and conceptual art, Herb and Dorothy quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists. Devoting all of Herb’s salary to purchase art they liked, and living on Dorothy’s paycheck alone, they continued collecting artworks guided by two rules: the piece had to be affordable, and it had to be small enough to fit in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Within these limitations, they collected over 4,000 pieces and proved themselves curatorial visionaries; most of those they supported and befriended went on to become world-renowned artists. Not Rated. At Starz. — Denver Film Society
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Not bad, not good, Ice Age 3 may be OK enough to do what it was engineered to do, i.e., baby-sit your kid for a while and rake in the dough. Lack of comic distinction and forgettable computer animation have always held back the Ice Age projects. Dawn of the Dinosaurs lays out one life-and-death scenario after another, dutifully. No wonder the comparatively simple frustrations endured by the squirrel-rat hybrid Scrat offer some relief. Rated PG (some mild rude humor and peril). At Flatiron, Century, Twin Peaks and Colony Square. — Michael Phillips
I Love You, Beth Cooper
See full screen review on page 38. Rated PG-13. At Flatiron, Century, Twin Peaks and Colony Square.
Moon
See full screen review on page 38. Rated R. At Century and Mayan.
My Sister’s Keeper
The harder this cinematic assault weapon went at my tear ducts, the more duct tape I wrapped around them as a defensive measure. Anna (Abigail Breslin), a girl who was a test-tube baby conceived to provide bone marrow to her older sister (Sofia Vassilieva), who has leukemia, sues her parents (Cameron Diaz, Jason Patric) for “medical emancipation,” and while you’d think inter-family legal action would stop all the lovey-dovey montages of everybody cherishing every minute together, think again. Rated PG-13 (mature thematic content, some disturbing images, sensuality, language, and brief teen smoking). At Flatiron, Century and Colony Square. — Michael Phillips
The Proposal
In this disposable romantic comedy, Ryan Reynolds plays the beleaguered Man Friday to a fearsomely mean book editor played by Sandra Bullock. The editor, a Canadian living in New York, has visa troubles and is threatened with deportation. She strong-arms the assistant into marrying her — quickie divorce to follow — under the suspicious eye of Immigration Services. It’s not terrible, but there’s not much fun to be had watching the Wicked Witch of the Upper East Side get her comeuppance and thaw out and fall in love. Rated PG-13 (sexual content, nudity and language). At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Michael Phillips
Public Enemies
Johnny Depp stars as charismatic Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger, and Christian Bale plays G-man Melvin Purvis. The film is a fascinating bundle of contradictions — authentic in a million details, deeply romanticized in others. Cool, calm and collected, this is more love story than gangster picture (Marion Cotillard plays Dillinger’s lover), and it’s more vivid around the edges than at its center. Yet a genuine filmmaking intelligence guides every scene. Director Michael Mann focuses on 1933-34, the final year and a half in Dillinger’s life. Rated R (gangster violence and some language). At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Michael Phillips
The Secret of Grain
Mister Beiji, a weary 60-year-old, is still grinding away at the shipyard, in a job that has become more painful as the years wear on. A divorced father, he desperately tries to remain close to his loved ones, a task made all the more difficult by familial rifts and tensions at the breaking point, and which financial difficulties only exacerbate. In this delicate part of his life, it seems like everything contributes to his feelings of uselessness. He has carried the weight of perceived failure for a long time, and his only thought is to overcome it by founding his own business, a restaurant. But it isn’t going to be easy. His income is insufficient and irregular, and falls far short of what he’ll need to realize his ambition. That doesn’t keep him from dreaming and talking about it, mostly to his family. That family is, little by little, drawn together around the plan, which has for all of them taken on value as a symbolic quest for a better life. Thanks to their can-do attitude and all their hard work, the dream will come true... Well, almost. Not Rated. At Starz. — Denver Film Society
The Shark is Still Not Working
Jaws was a thoroughly groundbreaking film in every way imaginable. It had a tremendous impact on the way movies are made, marketed and merchandised and spawned a pop cultural fascination with sharks. Narrated by Chief Martin Brody himself, Roy Scheider, this feature-length documentary focuses squarely on the many ways Jaws has helped to shape these elements of pop culture. In addition, TSISW proudly showcases many of the fans, artists, and craftsmen who keep this film alive, examining some of the creative venues through which they express their passion for the film. It covers the recent events at Jawsfest-05, celebrating the picture’s thirtieth anniversary and highlights Jaws homages and send-ups from pop culture. Interviews with the cast and crew, and prominent filmmakers whose careers have been duly influenced by the movie will give the viewer some insight as to why Jaws has earned a well-deserved place among the greatest classics Hollywood has ever produced. The Shark is Still Working is the ultimate retrospective on Jaws. Not Rated. At Starz. — Denver Film Society
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire, winner of 2008’s Academy Award for best picture and seven other Oscars, is a ruthlessly effective paean to destiny, leaving nothing to chance. Every arrow plucked from director Danny Boyle’s quiver takes aim at the same objective: to leave you exhausted but wowed. An18-year-old (Dev Patel) in the former Bombay, India, is suspected of cheating his way to national fame on the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? Rated R (some violence, disturbing images and some language). At Boulder Outdoor Cinema. — Michael Phillips
Star Trek
The new Star Trek seeks to extend a lucrative brand with a young demographic. But it’s a real movie — breathlessly paced bordering on manic, but propulsively entertaining. The script ping-pongs early on between Iowa and Vulcan, as the destinies of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) entwine. The plot issues — of moderate interest at best — deal with the space-time continuum and alternate reality. The film may not be memorable science fiction, but it's an engaging pop diversion. Rated PG-13 (sci-fi action and violence and brief sexual content). Rated PG-13. At Flatiron and Colony Square. — Michael Phillips
Surveillance
Two FBI agents (Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond) follow a trail of grisly killings across the country to a rural police station where three witnesses to yet another horrible crime are being held: a wounded officer, a traumatized little girl, and a young female drug addict. As the agents interrogate them in separate rooms, flashbacks reveal that their statements don’t quite capture the vivid truth of what they survived on that lonely stretch of highway. During these sequences, we begin to meet characters whose absence at the station only adds to our increasing sense of dread about the untold enormity of the events that unfolded on that brisk, sunny day. What has become of the officer’s partner, the young girl’s entire family, and the addict’s boyfriend? What knowledge do the FBI agents already have about the case that they aren’t sharing? Jennifer Chambers Lynch pulls all the strings together tightly, relying on her inherited ability to survey the landscape of the American dream — the optimism represented by its open roads and the freedom of the families, friends, and lovers that traverse it — only to expose the nightmare that rots just below the surface. When Lynch finally reveals the truth at the heart of this screw-turning thriller, it’s like a deadly highway pileup: Much as you want to turn away, you can’t stop gaping right at it. Rated R. At Chez Artiste. — BPL Film Program
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Though it is one of America’s most popular sporting events, the association of NASCAR with uneducated, backwards rednecks seems cemented into the American consciousness. So the brilliant comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, is not just a sidesplitting series of slapstick pratfalls and over-the-top accents, but a lens into an important part of American culture. Comic sensation Will Ferrell plays the title character, Ricky Bobby, a figure who is at once laughably ridiculous, infuriating and loveable. Ricky Bobby, with his bleached-blonde wife, cute sons Walker and Texas Ranger, and dim-bulb sidekick Cal (award-winning actor John C. Reilly, flexing his considerable comedic muscle), has got it made. He is NASCAR’s most popular driver, and nearly every aspect of his life is endorsed by a recognizable product. Yet his racetrack kingdom is not unshakeable: two formidable opponents, his unpleasable father, Reese (Gary Cole), and a flashy new opponent, the openly gay French import Jean (played by a hilarious Sasha Baron Cohen, known to millions as Ali G), threaten to hijack his crown and expose his vulnerabilities. Rated PG-13. At Red Rocks. — Denver Film Society
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The first Transformers was a headache, but I sort of enjoyed it. It was a Slurpee brain-freeze of a blockbuster. This sequel is more like listening to rocks in a clothes dryer for 2.5 hours. Nobody’s looking for anything other than relentless, brainless action, but director Michael Bay offers nothing but visual and aural chaos. Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox run for their lives while the U.S. military and their metallic allies deal with evil robots. Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material). At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Michael Phillips
Treeless Mountain
Self-reliant 7-year-old Jin and her little sister, Bin, live with their hard-pressed mother in a cramped apartment in Seoul. But when their mother decides to leave in search of their estranged father, she drops them off to live with their alcoholic Big Aunt for the summer, whose hospitality is reluctant at best. With only a small piggy bank and their mother’s promise to return when it is full, the two young girls are forced to fend for themselves. Jin tries to keep Bin out of trouble, not always successfully; they learn that toasted crickets are tasty, and become entrepreneurs. Counting the days, and the coins, the two bright-eyed young girls eagerly anticipate their mother’s homecoming. But in the end it is at an unexpected home where Jin comes to learn the warmth and importance of family bonds in this beautiful, meditative and thought-provoking second feature from So Yong Kim, the acclaimed director of In Between Days. Not Rated. At Starz. — BPL Film Program
Up
Balloon salesman Carl (voiced by Ed Asner) shared a dream with his wife to visit South America. After his wife dies, Carl’s yearning for adventure dies as well. Yet it rises again, and Up becomes a chronicle of an unlikely friendship between Carl and an 8-year-old (Jordan Nagai). This Disney-Pixar film feels nervy and adventurous and a little messy, the result of formidable creators working on an enormous budget, enormously well-spent. Yet the expansive emotional landscape of Up is something new. More power to these people. They are making the best films coming out of Hollywood. Rated PG (some peril and action). At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Michael Phillips
Whatever Works
On the heels of last year’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the freshest Woody Allen film in more than a decade, Whatever Works (Allen’s 40th feature as director) plays like a hoary old Broadway stage comedy yanked, reluctantly, into the present. Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm) plays a New York City misanthrope whose worldview is tempered by a relationship with a much younger Southern runaway (Evan Rachel Wood). The detail work in this film is virtually nonexistent. Whatever Works is more like “Oh, Whatever.” Rated PG-13 (sexual situations including dialogue, brief nude images and thematic material). At Century and Esquire. — Michael Phillips
back to top
|
| |
