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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2012)
News Opening This Week -- July 20 K AM ’ S C APSULES BIG BUDGET FILMS The Dark Knight Rises (PG-13 for sen- suality, profanity and intense violence) Lat- est Batman adventure, again directed by Chris Nolan, has the Caped Crusader (Christian Bale) coming out of exile to match wits with a mysterious cat burglar (Anne Hathaway) and with a masked terrorist (Tom Hardy) determined to destroy Gotham City. Ensemble cast includes Michael Caine, Mor- gan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard. Movie Reviews by Kam Williams INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS 30 Beats (R for nudity, profanity and sexuality) Roman- tic comedy, set in the midst of a summer heat wave, about ‘Hara-Kiri: The Death of a Samurai’ Page 8 The Portland Skanner July 18, 2012 ten New Yorkers ensnared, due to forces beyond their con- trol, in a web of desire woven by a chain reaction of seduction and self-discovery. Starring Ingeborga Dapku- naite, Jason Day and Vahina Giocante. Grassroots (R for pervasive profanity and brief drug use) Unlikely-buddy dramedy about a just-fired journalist (Jason Biggs) who grudgingly agrees to campaign for an eccentric pal (Joel David Moore) running for a seat on the Seattle City Council. With Tom Arnold, Cedric the Entertainer, Christopher McDonald and Lauren Ambrose. Hara-Kiri: The Death of a Samurai (Unrated) 3-D remake of the 1962 revenge saga of the same name revolv- ing around a struggling samurai warrior (Ebizo Ichikawa) who decides to even the score with the feudal lord (Koji Yakusho) responsible for his son-in-law’s (Eita) suicide. With Goro Daimon, Takashi Sasano and Hikari Mitsushi- ma. (In Japanese with subtitles) The Queen of Versailles (PG for mature themes and mild epithets) McMansion documentary about music mogul David Siegel’s two-year effort to build the biggest and most expensive single-family home in the United States for his wife, Jackie. Wagner’s Dream (Unrated) “The Show Ain’t Over ‘til the Fat Lady Sings” documentary chronicling the daunt- ing host of challenges encountered by Manhattan’s Metropolitan Opera in the process of mounting a very ambitious production of Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle. Fea- turing appearances by James Levine, Carl Fillion and Peter Gelb. (In English and French with subtitles) The Well-Digger’s Daughter (Unrated) Faithful remake of the 1940 classic based upon the Marcel Pag- nol romance novel about a working-class widower (Daniel Auteuil) who finds himself emotionally-conflict- ed when one (Astrid Berges-Frisbey) of his six daughters is left pregnant by a wealthy Air Force pilot (Jaques Mazel) fighting in the First World War. With Kad Merad, Jeanne-Pierre Darroussin and Nico- ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ las Duvauchelle. (In French with subtitles) ‘The Queen of Versailles’
