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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 2014)
Arts & Entertainment Kam’s Kapsules: Movies Opening Friday, Dec. 5 By Kam Williams For The Skanner News BIG BUDGET FILMS The Pyramid (R for vio- lence and gruesome images) Subterranean horror flick about a team of archaeolo- gists who find themselves hunted by an evil creature after getting lost while exploring a labyrinth inside a lost pyramid discovered in Egypt beneath the Sahara Desert. Co-starring Garsha Arristos, Joseph Beddelem, Omar Benbrahim and James Buckley. Top Five (R for sexuality, nudity, crude humor, perva- sive profanity and drug use) Chris Rock wrote, directed and stars in this star vehicle about a standup comic try- ing to become a serious actor. With Gabrielle Union, Tracy Morgan and Rosario Dawson. INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS The Barefoot Artist (Unrated) Poignant portrait of 73 year-old Lily Yeh, the Chinese artist-turned-global humanitarian who, based on a belief that access to art is a fundamental human right, created a foundation which transformed abandoned lots and buildings into parks, gardens, theaters, studios and educational facilities for poor kids in Philadelphia, Rwanda, Kenya, Ecuador and elsewhere around the world. By the Gun (R for sexual- ity, nudity, graphic violence, pervasive profanity and drug use) Mafia drama, set in Boston, about an ambi- tious mobster’s (Ben Barnes) effort to become a made man. With Harvey Keitel, Toby Jones and Leighton Meester. Comet (R for profanity, sexual references and drug use) Time-travel adventure set in a parallel universe and chronicling a star-crossed couple’s (Emmy Rossum and Justin Long) tempestu- ous relationship. With Eric Winter, Lou Beatty, Jr. and Kayla Servi. Concerning Violence (Unrated) Liberation retro- spective, narrated by Lauryn Hill and inspired by Frantz Fanon’s “Wretched of the Earth,” recounting nine African nations’ fights for freedom from European colonial rulers in the Sixties and Seventies. (In English, Swedish, French and Por- Top Five father’s (James Remar) tuguese with subtitles) medical bills. Co-starring Dying of the Light (R for Stacey Dash, Mariel Hem- profanity and violence) ingway, Carmen Electra and Revenge thriller about a Nia Peeples. CIA agent (Nicolas Cage) Life Partners (R for pro- who goes rogue, rather than and sexuality) retiring as ordered, in order fanity to track down the terrorist Romantic comedy revolv- (Alexander Karim) who tor- ing around a couple of tured him years earlier. With BFFs, one gay (Leighton Anton Yelchin, Irene Jacob Meester), one straight (Gillian Jacobs), whose and Adetomiwa Edun. long-term friendship is test- The Foxy Merkins ed when the latter starts (Unrated) Unlikely-buddies dating a doctor (Adam Support cast comedy about a cash- Brody). strapped, asthmatic, lesbian, includes Gabourey Sidibe, wannabe whore (Lisa Haas) Abby Elliott, Greer Gram- who learns the ropes of the mer and Kate McKinnon. business from a straight, Night Will Fall (Unrated) wealthy, seasoned street- documentary walker (Jackie Monahan) Holocaust well-versed in picking up culled from recent found- and satisfying women. With footage shot in 1945 by Frances Bodomo, Diane Alfred Hitchcock and Sid- ney Bernstein in liberated Ciesla and Claudia Cogan. concentration camps in Ger- Lap Dance (Unrated) many. Greg Carter wrote and Pioneer (R for profanity) directed this semi-autobio- graphical drama about an Fact-based political thriller, aspiring actress (Ali Cobrin) set in the Seventies, about a who gets permission from grieving diver’s (Aksel her fiance (Robert Hoffman) Hennie) attempt to expose a to moonlight as a stripper to corporate and government pay her cancer-stricken conspiracy to cover up the truth about how his brother (Andre Eriksen) died during the installation of a gas pipeline in the North Sea. With Wes Bentley, Stephanie Sigman and Jonathan LaPaglia. (In Nor- wegian and English with subtitles) Poverty, Inc. (Unrated) “The more things change, the more they stay the same” documentary questioning whether Western nation’s anti-poverty industrial com- plex has been at all effective in alleviating the suffering of Third World peoples. She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (Unrated) Female Empowerment doc- umentary recounting the rise of the women’s move- ment in the Sixties. Featuring appearances by Muriel Fox, Ellen Willis, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Kate Mil- lett, Susan Brownmiller and Linda Burnham. A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (Unrated) Surre- See MOVIES on page 11 Page 6 The Portland and Seattle Skanner December 3, 2014
