Arts & Entertainment
Movies Opening Jan. 31
BIG BUDGET FILMS
Labor Day (PG-13 for
sexuality, mature themes
and brief violence) Jason
Reitman wrote and directed
this adaptation of the Joyce
Maynard best seller of the
same name about a
depressed
single-mom
(Kate Winslet) who, along
with her son (Gattlin Grif-
fith), ends up kidnapped by
the escaped con (Josh
Brolin) she unwittingly
offers a ride. Cast includes
Tobey Maguire, James Van
Der Beek and Maika Mon-
roe.
K AM ’ S
C APSULES
Movie
Reviews
by Kam
Williams
At Middleton (R for sex-
uality and drug use) Roman-
tic romp revolving around
the antics of a couple
strangers (Andy Garcia and
Vera Farmiga) who meet
That Awkward Moment
That Awkward Moment
(R for sexuality and perva-
sive profanity) Romantic
comedy revolving around
three confirmed bachelors
(Zac Efron, Michael B. Jor-
dan and Miles Teller) who
make a pact to remain single
only to have the promise
tested when two of them fall
in love. With Imogen Poots,
Mackenzie Davis and Jessi-
ca Lucas.
INDEPENDENT &
FOREIGN FILMS
12 O’Clock Boys (Unrat-
ed) Crime does pay docu-
mentary profiling a biker
gang of troubled teens inex-
plicably given free rein by
the police to terrorize the
citizens of Baltimore.
and fall in love while their
kids are taking a tour of a
college campus. With Taissa
Farmiga, Tom Skerritt and
Spencer Lofranco.
Best Night Ever (R for
profanity, graphic nudity,
drug use, crude humor and
pervasive profanity) Parody
of the road trip genre about
a bride-to-be (Desiree Hall)
who gets more than she bar-
gained for when she ven-
tures to Vegas with her
bridesmaids for a bawdy
bachelorette party. Co-star-
ring Samantha Colburn,
Eddie Ritchard, Crista
Flanagan and Jenny Lin.
Jitney at Winningstad
mann, best known for her
explorations of eroticism
and gender.
Brightest Star (Unrated)
Romantic dramedy about a
jilted college grad (Chris
Lowell) who tries to make
himself over to win back his
uptight ex (Rose McIver),
only to meet a free-spirited
bohemian (Jessica Szohr)
who likes him just as he is.
Support cast includes Alli-
son Janney, Clark Gregg
and Peter Jacobson.
Charlie Victor Romeo
(Unrated) Aviation disaster
post mortem deconstructing
the final moments of a half
dozen, doomed commercial
airliners via a combination
of animation and black box
transcripts.
Jobriath A.D. (Unrated)
“It’s better to flame out than
to fade away” biopic
recounting the brief career
of Bruce Wayne Campbell
(1946-1983), aka Jobriath,
the first openly-gay rock
star, and the first to die of
AIDS.
Love Is in the Air (Unrat-
ed) Transatlantic comedy
about a lawyer (Nicolas
Bedos) who makes the most
of a second shot at romance
with his ex-girlfriend (Ludi-
vine Sagnier) when he finds
himself seated next to her
Portland Playhouse presents its fifth production from August Wilson’s
Pittsburgh Cycle: “Jitney,” a masterful, tension-filled play about a group of
independent taxi drivers in a well-worn livery cab station in the mid-1970s.
The production features Rodney Hicks, Victor Mack, Ashley Williams, Kevin
Kenerly, Vin Shambry, wrick Jones, Roy Ayers, and Mujahid Abdul-Rashid
and is directed by G. Valmont Thomas. The show is staged at the
Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway. For information call 503-488-
5822, or go to www.portlandplayhouse.org.
on a flight from New York
to Paris. With Jonathan
Cohen, Arnaud Ducret and
Brigitte Catillon. (In French
and English subtitles)
Peter
Brook:
The
Tightrope (Unrated) Life’s
a stage biopic, shot with
five hidden cameras, high-
lighting legendary theater
director Peter Brook’s cre-
ative process.
Somewhere Slow (Unrat-
ed) Road flick about a fugi-
tive from justice (Jessalyn
Gilsig) who is befriended by
a teen drifter (Graham
Patrick Martin) she meets
while on the run after a
botched convenience store
robbery.
With
Robert
Forster, Lindsay Crouse and
David Constabile.
Tim’s Vermeer (PG-13
for profanity) History of art
documentary, directed by
Raymond Joseph Teller
(mute half of Penn &
Teller), tracing inventor Tim
Jenison’s attempt to deci-
pher how 17th C. Dutch
Master Johannes Vermeer
managed to paint so realisti-
cally over a century before
the invention of photogra-
phy.
Breaking the Frame
(Unrated) Reverential retro-
spective chronicling the
career of iconoclastic, visu-
al artist Carolee Schnee-
January 29, 2014 The Portland Skanner Page 5