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’