Arts & Entertainment
Kam’s Kapsules: For Movies Opening June 14
with subtitles)
BIG BUDGET
FILMS
Man of Steel (PG-13 for
profanity, sci-fi violence
and
intense
action
sequences) Henry Cavill
stars as Clark Kent in this
reboot of the Superman
series about an alien raised
from infancy by adoptive
parents (Kevin Costner and
Diane Lane) in Kansas
where, as a young man, he’s
called upon to save Earth
from
extraterrestrial
invaders from his home
planet, Krypton. With Amy
Adams as Lois Lane, Lau-
rence Fishburne as Perry
White, Rebecca Buller as
Jenny Olsen, and Russell
Crowe as Jor-El.
This Is the End (R for
crude humor, coarse sexual-
ity, graphic nudity, drug use,
violence and pervasive pro-
K AM ’ S
C APSULES
Movie
Reviews
by Kam
Williams
they’re partying at James
Franco’s house. With Jonah
Hill, Seth Rogen, Paul
Rudd, Michael Cera, Rihan-
na, Emma Watson, Kevin
Hart, Craig Robinson,
Mindy Kaling, Channing
Tatum and Jason Segel.
INDEPENDENT &
FOREIGN FILMS
20 Feet from Stardom
(PG-13 for profanity and
sexuality) Backup singers
belatedly get their due in
this overdue documentary
This Is the End
fanity) Ensemble comedy
about celebrities forced to
face their mortality when
the apocalypse arrives while
paying tribute to some of
the best in the business,
including Merry Clayton,
Lisa Fischer, Darlene Love,
20 Feet from Stardom
Claudia Lennear, Tata Vega
and Lynn Mabry. With
appearances
by
Bette
Midler, Mick Jagger and
Sheryl Crow.
Aliyah (Unrated) Dramat-
ic thriller, set in Paris, about
a 27 year-old drug dealer
(Pio Marmai) who’s consid-
ering making a fresh start
working in a relative’s
restaurant in Tel Aviv in
order to escape his burden-
some, deadbeat brother
(Cedric Kahn) and a love
life complicated by an ex
(Sarah Lepicard) and a new
girlfriend (Adele Haenel).
With Guillaume Gouix,
David Geselson and Olivier
Desautel. (In French with
subtitles)
The Bling Ring (R for
profanity, sexual references,
drug use and underage alco-
hol consumption) Sofia
Coppola co-wrote and
directed this true tale about
a gang of computer-savvy
teenagers who embark on a
crime spree burglarizing the
homes of Hollywood stars
by using the internet to
monitor the celebrities’
whereabouts.
Featuring
Backup Singers Belatedly Get Their Props in
Pop Music Documentary
siderable contributions to the annals of
rock, soul and other genres. For most of the
backups are black and female with gospel
o the names Merry Clayton, Lisa backgrounds, and have stories to share
Fischer, Darlene Love, Claudia about being underpaid, underappreciated
Lennear, Tata Vega or Lynn Mabry and/or outright exploited. In fact, Darlene
ring a bell? Probably not, yet you are confesses to having to clean houses as a
undoubtedly very familiar with their stellar maid between gigs in order to survive at a
work as backup singers for a variety of low point in her career.
musical icons.
Most backup singers are
For example, it’s Merry’s
frustrated artists who spend
powerful voice which adds
years helping others shine
a memorable touch of soul
while waiting for that big
Twenty Feet from
to the Rolling Stones’ clas-
break that might never come
Stardom
sic “Gimme Shelter” in the
that could catapult them into
Excellent IIII
brief interlude where she
the limelight. Finally,
Rated PG-13 for
makes the most of the
thanks to Twenty Feet from
profanity and sexual-
opportunity to belt out the
Stardom, these neglected
ity
bizarre lyrics “Rape! Mur-
sisters are finally getting
Running time: 91
der! It’s just a shot away!”
their props, if not the for-
minutes
The same can be said of
tune and mega fame that has
Distributor:
Darlene who not only han-
eluded them for so long.
Radius-TW
dled backup duties on hun-
Directed by Morgan
dreds of hits by everyone
Neville, this very entertain-
from Elvis Presley to The
ing and illuminating docu-
Beach Boys to Tom Jones to
mentary
includes
Sonny & Cher, but even anonymously ghost testi monials by the likes of Sting, Spring-
recorded the lead vocals on such Sixties steen, Bette Midler, Sheryl Crow and other
anthems as “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “He’s a greats freely paying tribute. A reverential
Rebel” and “It’s in His Kiss,” without get- retrospective representing the first tip of the
ting credit or decent compensation.
cap to backups I can remember since Lou
Sadly, despite their amazing talents, folks Reed warbled “And the colored girls go!”
pursuing this profession generally have pre- on the gritty ditty “Walk on the Wild Side.”
cious little to show financially for their con-
“Twenty Feet from Stardom”
Film Review by Kam Williams
D
Emma
Watson,
Katie
Chang, Leslie Mann and
Israel Broussard.
Call Me Kuchu (Unrat-
ed) Chilling, equal rights
documentary chronicling
the aborted efforts of mur-
der victim David Kato
(1964-2011), Uganda’s first
openly gay citizen, to lobby
against the proposed law
making homosexuality a
capital crime in his
country.
The Guillotines (R for
graphic violence) Qing
Dynasty drama revolving
around the daring exploits
of a top secret squad of five,
sword-wielding assassins
assembled by the emperor
(Andrew Lau) to eliminate
his political opponents.
With Ethan Juan, Shawn
Yue and Xiaoming Huang.
(In Mandarin with subtitles)
Hatchet III (Unrated)
High body-count horror
sequel finds the revenge-
minded heroine (Danielle
Harris) attempting to break
the curse of the seemingly-
Far Out Isn’t Far
Enough (Unrated) Rever-
ential biopic about the life
and times of prolific chil-
dren’s book author and
illustrator Tomi Ungerer, a
subversive artist committed
to challenging the status
quo. (In English and French
invincible sociopath (Kane
Hodder) who has been ter-
rorizing
her
haunted
Louisiana
swamp
for
decades. Cast includes Car-
oline Williams, Derek
Mears and Zach Galligan.
In the Fog (Unrated)
World War II saga set dur-
ing the height of Nazi occu-
pation on the Western Front
where a man (Vladimir
Svirskiy) wrongly accused
of collaborating with the
enemy must fight to save his
name. With Sergei Kolesov,
Vladislav Abashin and
Nikita Peremotovs. (In
Russian with subtitles)
Call Me Kuchu
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June 12, 2013 The Seattle Skanner Page 5