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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 2013)
MOVI ES BY MO LLY TEMP LETO N ALL FUTURE, NO VISION Director Neill Blomkamp’s heavy hand flattens Elysium ELYSIUM: Written and directed by Neill Blomkamp. Cinematography, tell us who we are by imagining where we might be going. Elysium, on the other hand, is here to tell us where we are by telling us where we are — just with shinier toys and a more drastic divide between the privileged and everyone else. In 2154, the wealthy have left an overpopulated Earth, retreating to a glittering space station where there is no sickness and everyone appears to live in grandiose mansions with lake-sized swimming pools and robot servants. Back at home, the rest of us scramble to survive. Part of the problem with Elysium is that writer-director Neill Blomkamp (District 9) takes everything to such dramatic extremes that there is no time to consider or Trent, Opaloch. Editing, Julian Clarke and Lee Smith. Music, Ryan Amon. Starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Alice Braga and Sharlto Copley. Sony Pictures, 2013. R. 109 minutes. 44266 S cience fiction, contrary to what its frequently fluffy appearances at the multiplex might lead you to believe, is a brilliant medium for ideas. You can invent anything: a starfleet based on equality, a future destroyed by robots, a world of passively invading alien parasites. You can dream up new versions of the future, or meld past and present; you can envision impossible technology. Science fiction is built to include moral ambiguity, or the real reason such a flawed and biased system continues to exist. Everybody on Earth is probably mostly good, except that they have to do dubious things to survive (our hero has a history as a car thief). Everybody on Elysium is probably also mostly good, except that they were born into privilege and have never questioned their right to a comfortable life — a concept that Blomkamp never touches. That would require a subtle hand, which he doesn’t have: From the angelic voices on the soundtrack to the cramped action sequences, everything is built to bludgeon. Blomkamp’s heaviest tool is the mad-dog agent Kruger (Sharlto Copley, from District 9), a psychopath kept on a leash by Elysium’s defense secretary, Delacourt (Jodie Foster). Kruger exists only to kill people, and to prove that conniving Delacourt is super, super evil. Why? Because she believes in keeping the privileged comfortable. Her character oversimplifies everything Elysium thinks it’s saying about inequality. But Elysium oversimplifies a lot of things. Blomkamp is quite good at displaying his vision of the future; his dusty, crumbling Los Angeles has a believable Mad Max vibe, and he never gets hung up on technobabble even while outfitting his hero, Max (Matt Damon), with an improbable exoskeleton. Like George Lucas, though, Blomkamp is very good at setting up a visually fascinating world and then failing to make narrative sense of it. The world-building is skin deep, the characters flimsy, the resolution half-baked and the gender politics unsurprisingly tired (the two named female characters are motivated by children). Elysium is gritty and occasionally tense, but the things that make it different than any other whiz-bang action film are just set dressing and a pretense toward deeper meaning. Is it a good-looking science fiction movie that’s not based on an overused, corporate-owned concept? Yes, and there should be more of those. But Blomkamp’s vision simply lacks vision. ■ SHOWTIMES FOR WEEK OF FRI, AUG 16 - THURS, AUG 22 ® 492 E. 13th Ave. Tel: 541-686-2458 Purch Adv Tix @ cinemark.com 800-326-3264 + Exp # CINEMARK 17 bijou-cinemas.com/bijouartcinemas BLACKFISH (PG-13) 4:20, 6:20, 8:20 FRUITVALE STATION (R) FRIDAY 3:00 SATURDAY—SUNDAY 3:00, 7:10 MONDAY—THURSDAY 7:10 20 FEET FROM STARDOM (PG-13) 5:00 THE KINGS OF SUMMER (R) FRIDAY 2:00 SATURDAY—SUNDAY 2:00, 9:15 MONDAY—THURSDAY 9:15 So Delicious presents GMO OMG followed by expert panel discussion FRIDAY 7pm Special Event - $10/No Passes Adults—$7 Students w/ID—$6 Seniors—$5 Matinees—$5 Ask about our New Membership Program! 43 W. 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Tix on Sale WORLD'S END MARATHON IMAX: ELYSIUM [CC,DV] (R) ★ Fri.1130 210 450 730 1010 JOBS [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(1215) 400 700 1000 ELYSIUM [CC,DV] (R) ★ Fri.(1105 140) 420 705 940 KICK-ASS 2 [CC,DV] (R) Fri.(1100 145) 430 715 745 1000 1030 LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri.(1230 330) 635 935 PARANOIA [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri.(1145 215) 455 720 955 PLANES [CC,DV] (PG) Fri.430 PM 655 PM PLANES IN REALD 3D [CC,DV] (PG) ★ Fri.(1125 AM 200 PM) 925 PM PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS [CC,DV] (PG) Fri.(1105 150) 425 710 PERCY JACKSON:SEA OF MONSTERS IN REALD 3D [CC,DV] (PG) ★ Fri.945 PM WE'RE THE MILLERS [CC,DV] (R) Fri.(1115 155) 435 750 1040 2 GUNS [CC,DV] (R) Fri.(1055 135) 440 735 1015 SMURFS 2 [CC,DV] (PG) Fri.(1120 AM 205 PM) 445 PM THE WOLVERINE [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri.(1200 250) 630 930 THE CONJURING [CC,DV] (R) Fri.(1140 230) 500 740 1025 DESPICABLE ME 2 [CC,DV] (PG) Fri.(1110 130) 410 640 920 Fri.(1220) 415 715 1020 THE HEAT [CC,DV] (R) KICK-ASS 2 [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(130) 430 715 1020 LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(1250) 400 700 1005 JOBS [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(100) 410 705 1000 ELYSIUM [CC,DV] (R) ★ Fri. - Sat.(120) 420 730 1010 PLANES IN REALD 3D [CC,DV] (PG) ★ Fri. - Sat.(330 PM) 900 PM PLANES [CC,DV] (PG) Fri. - Sat.(1245 PM) 630 PM PERCY JACKSON:SEA OF MONSTERS IN REALD 3D [CC,DV] (PG) ★ Fri. - Sat.(340 PM) 915 PM PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS [CC,DV] (PG) Fri. - Sat.(110 PM) 640 PM WE'RE THE MILLERS [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(1255 350) 650 940 Summer Movie Express - Tues & Wed. 10 am LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(100) 400 700 1000 ELYSIUM [CC,DV] (R) ★ Fri. - Sat.(115) 415 715 1015 2 GUNS [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(130) 430 730 1005 THE HEAT [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(100 350) 645 930 Times For 08/16 - 08/17 © 2013 2 GUNS (DIG) R 10:30, 1:15, 4:05, 7:15, 9:55 THE CONJURING (DIG) R 2:00, 4:55, 7:35, 10:20 DESPICABLE ME 2 (3D) PG 11:10AM DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) PG 2:15, 5:00, 7:50, 10:25 ELYSIUM (DIG) R 11:05, 12:20, 1:45, 3:05, 4:25, 5:45, 7:05, 8:25, 9:50 JOBS (DIG) PG-13 10:20, 1:20, 4:20, 7:25, 10:20 KICK-ASS 2 (DIG) R 10:55, 1:30, 4:30, 7:25, 10:30 THE LEE DANIELS’ BUTLER (DIG) PG-13 11:30, 3:10, 7:00, 10:05 PACIFIC RIM (DIG) PG-13 10:25, 4:10, 10:15 PARANOIA (DIG) PG-13 11:00, 1:40, 4:35, 7:15, 9:55 PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS (3D) PG SPECIAL EVENT PRICING: $3.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 11:20, 2:10, 4:50, 7:30, 10:10 MOVIES 12 CROODS PG 11:40, 2:25, 5:05, 7:30, 9:50 EPIC PG 11:35, 1:55, 4:35, 7:05, 9:35 FAST & FURIOUS 6 PG-13 11:50, 3:25, 7:20, 10:15 THE GREAT GATSBY (2013) PG-13 11:05, 3:30, 7:00, 10:05 THE INTERNSHIP PG-13 11:25, 2:15, 5:00, 7:40, 10:25 IRON MAN 3 PG-13 11:30, 2:30, 5:20, 8:35 IRON MAN 3 (3D) PG-13 SPECIAL EVENT PRICING: $2.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 1:00, 4:00, 7:10, 10:10 MAN OF STEEL PG-13 11:10, 2:40, 6:05, 9:30 Gateway Mall - Beltline @ *DWHZD\ ([S&RGH PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS (DIG) PG 10:10, 12:50, 3:30, 6:10, 8:50 PLANES (3D) PG SPECIAL EVENT PRICING: $3.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 12:35, 5:20, 10:00 PLANES (DIG) PG 10:15, 3:00, 7:40 RED 2 (DIG) PG-13 1:25, 7:10 SMURFS 2 (3D) PG SPECIAL EVENT PRICING: $3.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 10:15 SMURFS 2 (DIG) PG 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45 THE WAY, WAY BACK (DIG) PG-13 11:15AM WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) R 10:05, 11:25, 12:45, 2:05, 3:25, 4:45, 6:05, 7:20, 8:45, 10:05 THE WOLVERINE (3D) PG-13 SPECIAL EVENT PRICING: $3.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 4:00 THE WOLVERINE (DIG) PG-13 10:00, 1:00, 7:00, 10:00 Gateway Mall - Beltline @ *DWHZD\([S&RGH MAN OF STEEL (3D) PG-13 SPECIAL EVENT PRICING: $2.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 12:30, 7:15 OBLIVION PG-13 11:20, 2:00, 4:40, 7:25, 10:30 THE PURGE R 11:45, 2:20, 4:30, 7:35, 9:55 STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS PG-13 11:15, 2:05, 4:55, 7:45 STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (3D) (PG-13) SPECIAL EVENT PRICING: $2.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 3:35, 10:20 Assistive Listening and Captioning System Avail eugeneweekly.com • A ugust 15, 2013 21
