.MOVIE LISTINGS | MOVIE REVIEW ARCHIVE | THEATER INFO

 

OPENING:

Army of Dorkness: Sci-fi night baristas screen movies or TV shows. 8 pm Monday, Nov. 16, Wandering Goat. Free.

Doubt: John Patrick Shanley directs this adaptation of his prizewinning play about a nun and the priest she believes is paying too much attention to a student. Starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis. PG13. 2 pm Thursday, Nov. 19, Campbell Community Center. Free. (12/31/08)

Heckler’s Night: The Goat gets out the incredibly, astonishingly cheeseball Van Helsing — starring Kate Beckinsale and Hugh Jackman in some of their more forgettable roles — for this week’s Heckler’s Night selection. Even whiskey doesn’t make this one go down smooth. 7 pm Wednesday, Nov. 18, Wandering Goat. Free.

Horror and the Horrific: Four-week UO film series closes with Night of the Hunter, 6 pm Thursday, Nov. 12, 180 PLC, UO. Free.

Hurt Locker, The: Director Kathryn Bigelow returns with an incredibly well-received story about soldiers trained to defuse homemade bombs in Iraq. The L.A. Times’ Kenneth Turan said it’s “Overwhelmingly tense, overflowing with crackling verisimilitude.” R. Movies 12. (9/3)

Informant, The: The latest from Steven Soderbergh stars Matt Damon as an employee of an agri-business firm who turns informer — sort of; the whistle-blower isn’t entirely forthcoming, it seems. Maybe. Maybe he’s just a little strange. It’s “a return to form for Soderbergh,” says The New Yorker. R. Movies 12. (9/24)

Journey to India, A: Series continues with The Legend of Bhagat Singh (6 pm Thursday, Nov. 12), and Slumdog Millionare, which surely needs no introduction at this point (6 pm Thursday, Nov. 19). Mills International Center, EMU, UO. Free.

Melvin: Local filmmaker Henry Weintraub’s latest work is a feature-length film about the titular kid (Leif Fuller), who rises from the grave to enlist a nerdy college kid (Patrick O’Driscoll) to take out the bullies who killed him. Bloody, funny and entirely Oregon-made. Screens with Jeremy Garner’s also locally made short film Highway 58. 7:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 14, DIVA. Free.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail: It’s just too quotable. Don’t get me started. But do go see it again; this time, you can drink while you watch! David Minor Theater.

More Than a Game: Five Ohio basketball players — including this dude you may have heard of named LeBron James — are the focus of this documentary, which follows their seven-year journey to the possibility of a high school basketball championship. “A knockout of a sports documentary,” said the L.A. Times. Cinemark.

NextFrame Film Festival: The University Film and Video Association’s touring festival brings two programs of student work to town: Animation/Experimental Films, 7:30 pm Thursday, Nov. 12, and Best of the Festival: Award-Winning Films, 7:30 pm Friday, Nov. 13, at DIVA. $6 each night.

Pirate Radio: Richard Curtis (Love, Actually) directs the story of eight British DJs who unlawfully broadcast rock ‘n’ roll from a boat in the North Atlantic in the 1960s. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Billy Night, Rhys Ifans and Nick Frost. R. VRC Stadium 15.

Rocking the Boat: Gender Dynamics in Co-ed Rock Bands: Local filmmaker Emily West Afanador’s film follows four co-ed Eugene bands, looking at the dynamics among the members and talking to female musicians about the challenges that exist even within Eugene’s music scene. Screening followed by a Q&A with the director. 8:30 pm Thursday, Nov. 12, David Minor Theater. 21+. $3.

2012: Roland Emmerich continues his series of films in which the world is destroyed (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) with this disastertastic absurdity starring John Cusack as a dad trying to keep his family together while the word dissolves around them. (This summary entirely based on conjecture from the preview.) Look, it’s just there for the special effects and we all know it, right? Why are you going? PG13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Ugly Truth, The: Any theories about why Katherine Heigl is once again playing a TV show employee? This charmer pairs her with Gerard Butler as a bad-boy TV personality who thinks he knows everything about the difference between men and woman. You got that “charmer” was being used sarcastically, right? R. David Minor Theater.

Video Slam: Monthly event invites video artists to submit short videos of up to 10 minutes for a competition that follows the format of the poetry slam. 7 pm Sunday, Nov. 15, DIVA. Free.

Films open the Friday following EW publication date unless otherwise noted.

CONTINUING:

Amelia: The latest from Mira Nair (The Namesake) is a biopic about Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank). Early reviews haven’t been kind, suggesting that the film ticks off Earhart’s accomplishments without ever painting a full portrait of the aviation pioneer. “Why does such an exciting life make for such a dull movie?” asked A.O. Scott on At the Movies. PG. Cinemark.

Astro Boy: The beloved manga character comes to life on the big screen. With the voices of Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell and Nicolas Cage. PG. Cinemark.

Boondock Saints: Two brothers take the law into their own hands in Boston, attracting the attention of an FBI agent (Willem DaFoe) investigating deaths in the Russian mob. This 1999 cult(ish?) flick has a sequel due out soon, so catch it now if you missed it 10 years ago. David Minor Theater. 

Box, The: Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly continues to perplex fans with his third film, a thriller about a couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) whose lives seem normal enough — until Frank Langella shows up on their doorstep with a troubling proposition. “If you make a preposterous movie that isn’t boring, I count that as some kind of a triumph,” said Roger Ebert. PG13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Christmas Carol, A: Robert Zemeckis turns his 3-D obsessed attention to the classic holiday story. I’m assuming this will have less dick jokes than did Beowulf. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Coco Before Chanel: Director Anne Fontaine’s latest is an interesting biopic that focuses on the time before Coco Chanel (Audrey Tautou) became the icon she’s known as today. Tautou’s performance is steely and nuanced, and the film lingers even as it’s not entirely satisfying. PG13. 110 min. Bijou. (11/5)

Couples Retreat: Four Midwestern couples — among them Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell and Malin Ackerman — head off on a group retreat to a couples resort where couples therapy turns out to be necessary. Directed by Peter Billingsley, aka that kid from A Christmas Story. PG13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

District 9: Producer Peter Jackson gets top billing, but this sci-fi film about aliens taking refuge in South Africa is actually the feature-film debut of director Neill Blomkamp. The buzz is beyond good; Blomkamp is already being dubbed one to watch. R. 112 min. Movies 12. (8/20)

Food, Inc.: Even if you’re tired of the glut of information — which seemingly goes ignored by so many — about the problems with our food industry, this new documentary about the flaws in the system, which pulls together all the big guns (Michael Pollan, Joel Salatin), is worth your time. David Minor Theater. (7/23)

Fourth Kind, The: People are disappearing from a small town in Alaska; are aliens really to blame? Milla Jovovich keeps appearing in poorly-received thrillers and horror flicks; how do we stop this? PG13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

G-Force: Talking guinea pigs save the world! Or whatever. Is this just an entire film capitalizing on the animation used to create that creepy-eyed creature in the godawful Bedtime Stories? PG. Movies 12.

Halloween II: Rob Zombie directs the latest in the horror series; this time it stars Malcolm McDowell and Weird Al! R. 101 min. Movies 12.

Hangover, The: This summer’s dirty-fun buzz movie stars Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifinakis and Ed Helms as three guys who have no idea what happened at the bachelor party last night. Where’d that guy’s tooth go? Where’d the baby come from? It’s a really good time finding out. Movies 12. (6/11)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: The penultimate Potter tale is a touch complicated: Voldemort is at work in the wizarding and Muggle worlds. Dumbledore needs Harry’s help in many things, including recruiting a new professor to Hogwarts. Students are being attacked, and an old book is full of unexpected information. PG. Movies 12. (7/16)

Inglorious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino’s long-anticipated WWII movie stars Brad Pitt as the leader of a group of Jewish soldiers who “engage in targeted acts of retribution” against the Third Reich. “Energetic, inventive, swaggering fun,” said The Village Voice. R. Movies 12. (8/27)

Law Abiding Citizen: Ten years ago, Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler)’s family was murdered, but a plea bargain set one of the killers free. When the killer is released, he quickly turns up dead — and assistant DA Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx)’s family might be next! R. Cinemark.

Men Who Stare at Goats, The: The funny is all in the preview for this wishy-washy semi-satire that looks, in flashbacks, at the peculiar military attempt to train soliders to use psychic powers as weapons. George Clooney and Ewan McGregor are game, but the story gets lost somewhere in the Iraq desert. R. 93 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. See review this issue.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It: A behind-the-scenes look at the sold-out concerts that were to take place last summer in London. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Nine: A small community of rag dolls come to life in a post-apocalyptic world, where strange machines threaten their existence. This astonishing-looking animated film is directed by Shane Acker (who previously made a short with the same name). With the voices of Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly and Crispin Glover. PG13. Movies 12. (9/17)

Paranormal Activity: The latest low-budget horror movie sensation is about a pair of twentysomethings whose new house is maybe not so empty, and maybe its residents aren’t so into the new tenants. R. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (11/5)

Paris: In multiple story strands, a man awaiting a heart transplant finds himself surrounded by his sister (Juliette Binoche) and her three children; a professor hopes for love; and a street vendor wonders what’s left after divorce. “Every character has life and depth,” says Roger Ebert. R. 130 min. Bijou. See review this issue.

Serious Man, A: The latest from Joel and Ethan Coen is arguable one of their best yet; it’s the set-in-1967 story of professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), who looks to three rabbis for help dealing with an unfaithful wife, a couch-surfing brother and two problematic children — as well as a gorgeous, sunbathing neighbor. “Hauntingly original,” said New York magazine. R. Bijou. (10/29)

Shorts: The latest family flick from Robert Rodriguez is about what happens when a kid who lives in a town where everything is the same gets his hands on a magical, wish-granting rock. PG. 89 minutes. Movies 12.

Time Traveler’s Wife, The: Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana star in this adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s bestselling book about a man cursed with a genetic anomaly that sends him skipping, uncontrollably, through time — and the woman who loves him despite that. PG13.107 min. Movies 12.

Up: In the latest film from Pixar, a crotchety old balloon salesman sends his house into the sky (via balloons, of course) to escape from it all — only to find that he has an unwanted stowaway on his porch. The praise is already flowing — and deserved. PG. Movies 12. (6/4)

Where the Wild Things Are: Spike Jonze adapts Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book into something more complicated and more elaborate than expected — yet it’s also decidedly handmade, unexpedtedly difficult and sweetly unsentimental, for the most part. With Max Records, Catherine Keener and the voices of James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara and Lauren Ambrose. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (10/15) 

Whip It: Ellen Page is a Texas beauty pageantgoer who does pageants for her mom (Marcia Gay Harden). A flyer for roller derby — and Kristen Wiig as a friendly derby girl — change her life entirely. Page is a charmer, as is Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development) as her best friend, but it’s slightly amazing how a film about this alternative sport manages to get so dressed up in Hollywood predictability. Directed by Drew Barrymore. PG13. Movies 12.

Zombieland: Jesse Eisenberg (Adven-tureland) goes back to the amusement park (OK, so the films aren’t related, but it is kinda funny) in this zombie flick that costars Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone (Superbad) and … Abigail Breslin? Little Miss Sunshine fights zombies? I’m in. R. Cinemark.

 

 

MOVIE THEATERS
Use the links provided below for specific show times.

Bijou Art Cinemas
Bijou Theater 686-2458 | 492 E. 13th

David Minor Theater
David Minor Theater and Pub 762-1700 | 180 E. 5th

Regal Cinemas
VRC Stadium 15 342-6536 | Valley River Center

Cinemark Theaters
Movies 12 741-1231 | Gateway Mall
Cinemark 17 741-1231 | Gateway Mall