Movies - The Salt Lake Tribune

DVD review: ‘Side Effects’ is a smooth, sly thriller

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:25:14 MDT

DVD review: ‘Side Effects’ is a smooth, sly thriller

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 21, 2013 07:25AM MDT

Grade • B DVD • If Steven Soderbergh is retiring from moviemaking, as he’s claimed, the thriller “Side Effects” isn’t a bad way to go out. It starts with frail Emily (Rooney Mara) feeling depressed when her husband Martin (Channing Tatum) finishes a prison term for insider trading. Emily sees a shrink, Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law), who prescribes a new anti-depressant — but the drug’s side effects include sleepwalking, or for Emily sleep-stabbing. Soderbergh puts a smooth polish on Scott Z. ...

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Movie review: ‘Angels’ Share’

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:27:33 MDT

Movie review: ‘Angels’ Share’

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 20, 2013 09:27AM MDT

The caper comedy “The Angels’ Share” may be the closest Ken Loach, the rabidly left-wing British filmmaker, has ever gotten to a mainstream Hollywood movie — and that’s a good thing and a bad thing. The setup is pure Loach, as it depicts the squalid life of Robbie (Paul Brannigan), a poor Glasgow lad dealing with his latest scrape with the law and avoiding prison only because his girlfriend, Leonie (Siobhan Reilly), is about to give birth. Robbie looks destined for an early grave, beaten up eit...

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'Star Trek' quiz: How well do you know the Enterprise team?

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:27:33 MDT

'Star Trek' quiz: How well do you know the Enterprise team?

the Associated Press

Published May 20, 2013 09:27AM MDT

This summer’s “Star Trek Into Darkness” is the 12th movie in the franchise, which also includes five live-action and one animated TV series. The Star Trek universe is indeed large. Think you know your way around? Try this quiz to find out.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Movie review: ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ delivers smart action

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:35:18 MDT

Movie review: ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ delivers smart action

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 18, 2013 04:35PM MDT

The first rule of “Star Trek Into Darkness” is that you do not talk about “Star Trek Into Darkness.” There is so much cool stuff in director J.J. Abrams’ second film based on Gene Roddenberry’s beloved science-fiction series, and information that should not be divulged, that a moviegoer should go in cold, if such a thing were possible in the age of Internet spoilers. So the next two paragraphs are as much synopsis as you’re getting from me. The movie begins with Capt. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) ...

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Movie review: Games with words get tense ‘In the House’

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:49:54 MDT

Movie review: Games with words get tense ‘In the House’

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 17, 2013 02:49PM MDT

French director François Ozon’s latest, the insidiously creepy domestic thriller “In the House,” ties knots in your stomach as it walks its characters through a moral swamp of truth and fantasy. Mr. Germain (Fabrice Luchini) teaches writing and French literature in a Paris high school, where years of lackluster students and esteem-boosting educational theories have left him jaded. He shares his frustration with his wife, Jeanne (Kristen Scott Thomas), an art gallery manager worried that her gall...

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Movie review: ‘Source Family’ traces the half-life of a ’70s cult

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:49:54 MDT

Movie review: ‘Source Family’ traces the half-life of a ’70s cult

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 17, 2013 02:49PM MDT

Hippies didn’t get much more hip than the members of the California cult depicted in the fascinating and freaky documentary “The Source Family.” It starts in the early 1970s with a Sunset Strip health-food restaurant that drew celebrities such as Warren Beatty and John Lennon to sample its organic goods. Those working the restaurant were all followers of Father Yod, a larger-than-life spiritual leader who taught a mishmash of religious beliefs and fronted his own rock band (whose music makes up...

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Indie films from Mexico will screen at the Broadway

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:49:54 MDT

Indie films from Mexico will screen at the Broadway

Published May 17, 2013 02:49PM MDT

The newest talent in Mexican filmmaking will be represented in a two-day event this week at the Broadway Centre Cinemas. The Domino Mexican Independent Film Tour stops at the Broadway, 111 E. 300 South, Salt Lake City, on Tuesday and Wednesday. All screenings are free. Tuesday’s show, starting at 7 p.m., is a collection of seven short films: “El pescador (The Fisherman)” (drama); “La herida de Lucrecia (Lucrecia’s Wound)” (drama); “Yuban: Tierra viva (Yuban: Living Earth)” (documentary); “Enraiz...

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Shannon is a chilling killer in ‘Iceman’

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:49:54 MDT

Shannon is a chilling killer in ‘Iceman’

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 17, 2013 02:49PM MDT

It’s the actor’s job in a movie to create a compelling performance out of an interesting character, and the director’s job to frame that performance within the context of a well-structured drama. In the lurid, one-note crime drama “The Iceman,” actor Michael Shannon does his job brilliantly, but director/co-writer Ariel Vromen doesn’t hold up his end of the deal. Shannon portrays real-life contract killer Richard Kuklinski, who committed more than 100 murders before his eventual arrest in 1986. ...

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DiCaprio, Spielberg open a stormy Cannes Film Festival

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:00:42 MDT

DiCaprio, Spielberg open a stormy Cannes Film Festival

by Jake Coyle The Associated Press

Published May 16, 2013 09:00PM MDT

CANNES, France • The Cannes Film Festival got off to a blockbuster, if stormy start, as Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” opened on a soggy French Riviera. Amid heavy rain, dancing flappers flocked down the Cannes red carpet Wednesday night, bringing a touch of the Jazz Age to the Croisette. “Gatsby” stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire helped give the festival’s opening day a strong dose of star power. At the opening ceremony, DiCaprio, joined by his “Gatsby” co-star, Bolly...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

‘Star Trek’: Spock and Kirk, then and now

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:43:04 MDT

‘Star Trek’: Spock and Kirk, then and now

by John Hendrickson Digital First Media

Published May 15, 2013 01:43PM MDT

When “Star Trek Into Darkness” hits theaters this week, the lead roles of Spock and Kirk will look and sound far different from their original 1966 incarnations. <freeform><script data-hide-title=”true” data-hide-byline=”true” data-hide-footnotes=”true” type=”text/javascript” src=”http://cdn.spundge.com/embed/stories/3515/”></script><noscript><h1>'Star Trek': Spock and Kirk, then and now</h1><h2>Photo illustration by Nelson Hsu, Digital First Med...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

DVD review: ‘Atlas’ links past, present and future

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:18:30 MDT

DVD review: ‘Atlas’ links past, present and future

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 14, 2013 09:18AM MDT

Grade • B+ DVD • Endlessly inventive, and occasionally off-the-rails nutso, “Cloud Atlas” is a whirling series of six interlocking stories from different eras, from the 1800s to the 2300s. In each story, the same group of actors — Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent and Korean star Doona Bae — appear in different roles. And in each, there rises a question of whether someone will step up as a hero or allow evil (usually in the form of Hugo Weaving) to...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

DVD review: Lindsay Lohan is laughably bad in ‘Liz & Dick’

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:18:30 MDT

DVD review: Lindsay Lohan is laughably bad in ‘Liz & Dick’

by Scott D. Pierce The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 14, 2013 09:18AM MDT

Grade • F DVD • If I didn’t know better, I’d think that Lifetime’s made-for-TV movie “Liz & Dick” — now out on DVD and Blu ray — was supposed to be a comedy. There is some entertainment value in laughing at how utterly awful this tale of Elizabeth Taylor (Lindsay Lohan) and Richard Burton (Grant Bowler) is. It’s actually a series of otherwise almost unrelated scenes strung together, connected by Taylor and Burton sitting in heaven talking about their lives. (I am not making this up.) There’s a...

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Utah Filmmaker Richard Dutcher ends ‘hunger strike’

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:18:30 MDT

Utah Filmmaker Richard Dutcher ends ‘hunger strike’

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 14, 2013 09:18AM MDT

Richard Dutcher’s “hunger strike” is over. The Provo filmmaker on Sunday called off his planned three-week fast, more than a week early. He began on April 28 to focus his energies on raising money to finish his latest movie. Dutcher, in a post Sunday afternoon on Facebook, explained that he gave up the fast “due to almost losing consciousness on a couple of occasions, vomiting 7 times a day, and starting to see blood in the vomit.” What Dutcher called a “hunger strike” drew attention to a fund-...

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Movie review: ‘Bidder 70’ chronicles the genesis of an activist’s voice

Sat, 11 May 2013 15:58:50 MDT

Movie review: ‘Bidder 70’ chronicles the genesis of an activist’s voice

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 11, 2013 03:58PM MDT

The thoughtful documentary “Bidder 70” sheds new light on a recent chapter of Utah history — and of the evolution of an activist’s voice. The events are familiar to Utahns: How Tim DeChristopher, a University of Utah student and environmental activist, protested a late 2008 Bureau of Land Management auction of oil and gas leases by bidding — and how he got nearly two years in federal prison on fraud charges because his continued speechmaking ticked off the judge. Filmmakers Beth and George Gag...

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Movie review: Too much is just right in ‘Great Gatsby’

Fri, 10 May 2013 08:41:19 MDT

Movie review: Too much is just right in ‘Great Gatsby’

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 10, 2013 08:41AM MDT

As bold and brassy as an adaptation ever was, director Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” lights up F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel of Jazz Age excess and “Lost Generation” self-invention with sparkling visuals, sweeping grandeur and a dead-perfect cast. Luhrmann applies the tricks that made “Moulin Rouge” and his rock ’n’ roll “Romeo + Juliet” so memorable — an always-moving camera, lush sets and costumes, and a mixtape soundtrack that pays no attention to period authenticity — to a kaleidos...

Movie review: ‘Reality’ a sharp satire of TV obsession

Fri, 10 May 2013 08:41:19 MDT

Movie review: ‘Reality’ a sharp satire of TV obsession

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 10, 2013 08:41AM MDT

Italian director Matteo Garrone’s biting comedy-drama “Reality” takes the old saying about how the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, and asks us to consider what happens when the fence is a television screen. Luciano (Aneillo Arena) is the happy-go-lucky owner of a fish stand in the piazza of his Naples neighborhood. He’s always talking, always performing for his customers. He also performs at family events, and in the movie’s beginning puts on a dress and oversized eyelashes for ...

Movie review: Downey’s charm powers ‘Iron Man 3’

Sat, 04 May 2013 19:33:20 MDT

Movie review: Downey’s charm powers ‘Iron Man 3’

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 4, 2013 07:33PM MDT

The blockbuster “Iron Man 3” shows that it’s not the hardware that matters in a giant summer action movie, but the software. The software deployed here is the brainpower of director/co-screenwriter Shane Black and the on-screen charms of star Robert Downey Jr. They collaborate smartly to flesh out the character of Tony Stark, the billionaire inventor and industrialist who created and wears the Iron Man suit. Stark isn’t the same irresponsible playboy he was when the first “Iron Man” rolled off t...

Summer movie preview: Here’s looking at 92 new films

Fri, 03 May 2013 09:30:44 MDT

Summer movie preview: Here’s looking at 92 new films

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 3, 2013 09:30AM MDT

Preview • Iron Man, Superman, Capt. Kirk and ... Jay Gatsby? <freeform> <iframe src=”http://local.sltrib.com/charts/SummerMovies/SummerMovies.html” width=”630px” height=”1450” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0”></iframe> </freeform>

Movie review: ‘To the Wonder’ gorgeous but distant

Thu, 02 May 2013 21:49:02 MDT

Movie review: ‘To the Wonder’ gorgeous but distant

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 2, 2013 09:49PM MDT

Is there such a thing as a lesser Terrence Malick movie? After his confoundingly beautiful “The Tree of Life,” I would not have thought so. But then I saw “To the Wonder,” a sumptuously rendered but emotionally distant take on love and faith that has all the visual splendor of Malick’s last movie without the cosmic scope. There is a story of sorts, though Malick leaves us to piece it together from the available evidence. There is a couple, an American named Neil (Ben Affleck) and a Frenchwoman, ...

Movie review: ‘Hava Nagila’ a breezy history of Jewish culture

Thu, 02 May 2013 21:23:38 MDT

Movie review: ‘Hava Nagila’ a breezy history of Jewish culture

by Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 2, 2013 09:23PM MDT

“Hava Nagila” is a staple of bar mitzvahs and Jewish weddings, but the puckishly titled documentary “Hava Nagila: The Movie” engagingly explores the song’s roots and its evolution as a symbol of American Jewishness. Director Roberta Grossman and writer Sophie Sartain trace how the song’s symbolism has transformed from a celebration of Israeli pioneers to an icon of suburban assimilation to a reviled piece of Jewish kitsch and back again to beloved cultural touchstone. The filmmakers (who inclu...