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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 2014)
MOVIES BY ALEX NOTMAN A MOST WANTED MAN LET’S BE FRANK Frank may be the most twee film ever made W hen I heard author Jon Ronson interviewed on NPR recently about Frank, the film based on his book, I was excited. Having seen trailers featuring Michael Fassbender wearing a papier-mâché head, I was tickled to learn from Ronson that the story was inspired by a real person — Frank Sidebottom, the English musician and comedian who lead the band The Freshies as the ’70s sank into the ’80s. With Fassbender and Maggie Gyllenhaal on the roster, how could Frank be anything but a delightful whimsical romp? The film may be “based” on Frank Sidebottom, but only the mask and not the man. Set in the here and now, the vapid-eyed head is a gimmick, a crutch, for a film that ultimately falls flat beneath the weight of indie clichés. The opening scene does tickle. Jon Burroughs (played by Domhnall Gleeson and yes, that red mop is familiar — he was Bill Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows) walks down a Dublin street while the audience is privy to his inner soundtrack — snippets of that elusive breakthrough song the “songwriter” is trying to coax out of his consciousness. But then the tweets begin — Twitter logo, hashtags and all — as Jon documents his journey as a wannabe musician, and they continue to pop up like distracting gnats throughout the film. After witnessing a darkly comic suicidal scene at the beach during one of these song sessions, the bumbling Jon falls ass-backwards into the band fronted by Frank, the unpronounceable Soronprfbs (worthy of one chuckle), and soon becomes the straight-laced keyboardist among a family of offbeats: the acerbically aggressive theremin AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) (R) 11:50, 2:25, 5:05, 7:50, 10:25 CHEF (DIG) (R) 4:45, 10:10 EXPENDABLES 3, THE (DIG) (PG-13) 11:55, 3:35, 7:00, 10:00 FRANK MILLER’S SIN CITY DAME TO KILL FOR (3D) (R) 3D PRICING: $3.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 11:40, 5:10, 10:30 FRANK MILLER’S SIN CITY DAME TO KILL FOR (DIG) (R) 2:15, 7:45 GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) (DIG) (PG) 11:10, 1:45, 4:20, 7:15, 9:50 GIVER, THE (DIG) (PG-13) 11:35, 2:05, 4:35, 7:20, 9:50 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (3D) (PG-13) 3D PRICING: $3.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 11:30, 1:00, 4:00, 5:25, 8:50, 10:00 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (DIG) (PG-13) 2:30, 7:00 HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 (DIG) (PG) 11:45, 2:20, 5:00 AND SO IT GOES (DIG) (PG-13) 11:00, 1:25, 7:20 BLENDED (PG-13) 11:25, 2:15, 5:05, 7:45, 10:35 DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (PG-13) 11:35, 3:45, 7:05, 10:00 DELIVER US FROM EVIL (2014) (R) 10:55, 1:30, 4:15, 7:15, 10:10 EDGE OF TOMORROW (PG-13) 11:05, 1:35, 4:05, 7:00, 9:55 FAULT IN OUR STARS, THE (PG-13) 10:50, 1:45, 4:40, 7:35, 10:30 MALEFICENT (3D) (PG) 3D PRICING: $2.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 4:50, 10:20 player Clara (Gyllenhaal), the tormented band manager Don (Scoot McNairy), the artsy French bassist Baraque (François Civil) and the aloof drummer Nana (Carla Azar). Eventually, this family will deliver Jon to South by Southwest — his holy grail. But first, Soronprfbs holes up in a cabin to record an album in the fog-blanketed Irish countryside where Frank is more than a frontman; he is a masked guru, a messiah of creativity whose unconventional methods inspire devotion, envy, madness and lust in the other band BOYHOOD members. Therein lies the problem; director Lenny Abrahamson never fleshes out Frank or the others. The film tells us Frank is great, but it doesn’t show us. Frank’s brief music interludes are charming and every shot is beautifully composed; yet self-consciously so, contrived like a hipster album cover. The film never goes past the glossy twee surface. Even in its commentary on the ubiquity of social media and the link between mental illness and art, Frank never really takes off its mask. ■ HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY, THE (DIG) (PG) 12:50, 3:45, 7:05, 10:05 IF I STAY (DIG) (PG-13) 10:55, 1:35, 4:25, 7:20, 10:15 INTO THE STORM (DIG) (PG-13) 7:50, 10:20 LET’S BE COPS (DIG) (R) 11:25, 2:10, 4:50, 7:40, 10:25 LUCY (DIG) (R) 11:15, 2:00, 4:55, 7:55, 10:15 NOVEMBER MAN, THE (DIG) (R) 11:00, 1:40, 4:40, 7:25, 10:05 PLANES: FIRE AND RESCUE (DIG) (PG) 11:05, 1:50, 7:35 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (3D) (PG-13) 3D PRICING: $3.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 11:20, 1:55, 4:30, 6:10, 8:45 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) (PG-13) 12:45, 3:30, 7:30, 10:10 WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL (DIG) (PG) 12:55, 3:40, 7:10, 9:55 MALEFICENT (PG) 11:00, 1:20, 3:35, 7:25, 9:40 NEIGHBORS (R) 11:30, 2:00, 4:20, 7:30, 10:05 RIO 2 (3D) (G) 11:10, 1:40, 4:10 TAMMY (R) 11:15, 1:50, 4:25, 7:40, 10:15 TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (PG-13) 10:45, 2:05, 5:25, 8:45 TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (3D) (PG-13) 3D PRICING: $2.00 UPCHARGE ALL TICKETS 6:55, 10:25 X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (PG-13) 11:20, 2:10, 5:00, 7:50, 10:40 IMAX: ISLAND OF LEMURS: MADAGASCAR 3D (G) Fri. - Sat.1220 PM 200 PM IMAX: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 3D [CC,DV] (PG-13) ★ Fri. - Sat.425 PM 715 PM 1005 PM AS ABOVE, SO BELOW [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(1240) 455 735 1000 GHOSTBUSTERS (PG) Fri. - Sat.(1140 215) 510 745 1020 NOVEMBER MAN [CC] (R) Fri. - Sat.(1155 235) 515 750 1030 IF I STAY [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(1210) 410 725 1010 FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY DAME TO KILL FOR [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(1145 AM) 445 PM 1005 PM FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY DAME TO KILL FOR 3D [CC,DV (R) ★ Fri. - Sat.(220 PM) 730 PM WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL [CC,DV] (PG) Fri. - Sat.(1215 350) 700 945 THE GIVER [CC,DV] (NR) Fri. - Sat.(1130 210) 435 705 935 THE EXPENDABLES 3 [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(1230) 405 720 1015 LET'S BE COPS [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(1205) 430 740 1025 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(1135 205) 440 710 940 HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY [CC,DV] (PG) Fri. - Sat.(1200) 400 655 955 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(1150 355) 645 935 LUCY [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(1225) 415 650 950 CHEF [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(1235 345) 645 925 NOVEMBER MAN [CC] (R) Fri. - Sat.(120) 430 730 1010 IF I STAY [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(130) 420 710 945 WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL [CC,DV] (PG) Fri. - Sat.(110) 400 650 935 THE GIVER [CC,DV] (NR) Fri. - Sat.(100 PM) THE EXPENDABLES 3 [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(330 PM) 630 PM 1000 PM LET'S BE COPS [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(150) 440 740 1015 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(135 PM) 640 PM TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 3D [CC,DV] (PG-13) ★ Fri. - Sat.410 PM 920 PM GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.700 PM GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 3D [CC,DV] (PG-13) ★ Fri. - Sat.(100 PM 350 PM) 955 PM FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY DAME TO KILL FOR [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.430 PM 1000 PM FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY DAME TO KILL FOR 3D [CC,DV (R) ★ Fri. - Sat.(130 PM) 720 PM THE EXPENDABLES 3 [CC,DV] (PG-13) Fri. - Sat.(100 355) 650 950 LET'S BE COPS [CC,DV] (R) Fri. - Sat.(115) 415 700 945 BOYHOOD (R) Fri. - Sat.(145 PM) 515 PM 900 PM Times For 08/29 - 08/30 © 2014 20 In what would become his final film role, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman inhab- its a classic fictional persona, that of the downbeat institutional man. As Günther Bachmann, a career spy head- ing an anti-terrorism unit in Hamburg, Hoffman — who died in February of a heroin overdose — puts an ingenious modern spin on the existential anti-hero who, against all odds and caught up in a tangle of lies and deceit, tries to do the right thing. As a staunch, debauched and aging spy bitten by failure but driv- en by fractured hope, his performance is a masterstroke of subtle emotion and thwarted desire, and an unlikely but somehow apt swan song for the great- est actor of his generation. (Bijou Metro) Over 12 years of making Boyhood, director Richard Linklater filmed his cast for a few days here, a few days there, capturing moments in the childhood of a boy named Mason — played throughout by Ellar Coltrane — and his family. The film flows so neatly from one moment to the next, from childhood bike rides to terrible stepfathers to high school girlfriends to the stumble into adulthood, that it’s easy to forget what a risky endeavor the whole thing was. Nearly every scene in Boyhood is beautifully true to the moment it depicts, whether that moment involves teenage boys posturing toughness or a dad making his daughter cringe with a talk about condoms. Every year, Linklater and his actors did something beautiful. As a whole, the movie is observational, natural, likable — a ballsy project made life-sized by the mundane. (Bijou Art Cinemas) THUR AUG 28 - WED SEPT 3 TH THE DOUBLE 4:00 BAD WORDS 7:50 HIS GIRL FRIDAY 4:00 CUBAN FURY 5:40 ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE 5:40 MOONRISE KINGDOM BAD WORDS 9:30 7:50 LOCKE 9:30 DATE NIGHT SPECIAL: $20 3 MOVIE PUNCH CARDS FOR 2 read us online at eugeneweekly.com A UGUST 28, 2014 • EUGENEWEEKLY.COM 08-28-14 movies.indd 1 8/27/14 10:59 AM
