Battleship Directed by Peter Berg Reviewed by Malcolm Maclachlan and Tony Sheppard Malcolm: If you were looking for a summer blockbuster idea, you could do a lot worse than “Tim Riggins versus the Aliens.” If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Riggins is the character that made “Battleship” star Taylor Kitsch famous, and who was also one of the main reasons “Friday Night Lights” was one of the most underrated shows (formerly) on television. As the brooding fullback with daddy issues, he lurched back and forth between self-destruction and acts of great moral courage. He was both brawler and dreamer, bully and mentor, and a ladies man who behaved with surprising honor at times. I used t

“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” Directed by John Madden Review by Malcolm Maclachlan and Tony Sheppard Malcolm: I loved the Newsweek headline for their review of “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”—“Eat, Pray, Die.” Not that there was a lot of praying going on. Actually, I don’t remember any. Maybe it should have been “Eat, Love, Die,” (though that sounds a little Darwinian) because the aging Brits in this predictable but charming little tale remain obsessed with their love lives, but not much concerned with any afterlife they’ll soon experience (or not). To back up, the story involves a group of down-on-their-finances British retirees who decide to stretch their money by settling at a hotel i

The Avengers Written and directed by Joss Whedon Review by Malcolm Maclachlan and Tony Sheppard Malcolm: I was thinking about skipping “The Avengers” before I found out it was written and directed by Joss Whedon, who was apparently given free-reign to do basically whatever he wanted. Not because I was ever a huge fan of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (though I did like “Firefly”). Instead, it was because it seemed like if anyone could make sense of the confusing pile of characters and plot lines he’d been handed, it was Whedon. And how. Tony: Agreed - Whedon is on a recent roll, having also co-written and produced the surprisingly fun “The Cabin in the Woods.” Malcolm: “The Avengers” is ea

The Week in Film(s) Six weeks ago, “21 Jump Street” opened and had one week of opportunity before being trampled at the box office by “The Hunger Games.” This week’s one week success story is likely to be “The Five Year Engagement” – which isn’t the only big opening of the week, but is the best of a crop destined to be ploughed under by “The Avengers” (on May 4th). It’s a fun enough romantic comedy starring Jason Segal and Emily Blunt (who is better currently in "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen") as a couple who come fairly close to marrying several times, only to find circumstances repeatedly stacked against them. He’s an up and coming chef with an established career in San Francisco and sh

There are two films opening this week that feature a relatively young male character who finds himself in an awful situation, suffering profound loss, and then having to figure out how to move on from that experience. In “The Lucky One,” Zac Efron plays a marine who, during three combat tours, witnesses multiple deaths and injuries to those close to him, but manages to come through unscathed. At least physically – he’s certainly not emotionally and psychologically unscathed, jumping at sudden sounds and reacting adversely to being woken suddenly by his young nephews. He’s also a bit of a self-reliant loner, now that he’s away from the camaraderie of the Corps and when he decides to travel

"Bully" Directed by Lee Hirsch Review by Tony Sheppard and Malcolm Maclachlan Malcolm: As is becoming usual for flashpoint issues in our society, one of the most insightful things said recently about “bullying” came from a comedian, this time John Fugelsang (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZgDCQDmtqU). If you want to do something about the problem, he says, stop using such a trivial-sounding word. “Bullying is a flaccid, outdated, Archies Comics term,” Fugelsang says, before suggesting “criminal harassment.” Though for much of this film, plain old “assault” works better. Watching Alex, the main victim shown in “Bully,” getting slapped, punched, strangled and threatened with death on a s

Jiro Dreams of Sushi Directed by David Gelb Back when their economy was booming, and the Japanese were snapping up real estate in Hawaii and golf club memberships in Arizona, there was a joke that suggested that you only needed to be able to say three things in Japanese: 1) No, it’s not for sale 2) Can I play through? 3) Cook the fish! For the uninitiated, this always seemed like a gag about sushi, but it’s sashimi that’s always raw whereas sushi comes in assorted forms based around the common element of rice that has been cooked and then flavored with vinegar. The art of sushi preparation has been mastered, and perhaps perfected, in a small restaurant tucked away in the basement of an

There are a lot of big name movies to choose from this week – as in movies with high profiles – including the second week of the cinematic behemoth “The Hunger Games” which has already ably proved that hunger trumps taste. There’s also Julia Roberts as the evil stepmother in “Mirror, Mirror,” the first of two 2012 retreads of the Snow White story. This one is directed by the master of gratuitous form over necessary function, Tarsem (“The Cell,” “The Fall, “Immortals”), so it’s a little like Cirque du Soleil threw up on Julie Taymor at a revival screening of “The Princess Bride.” The dwarves are a marauding gang of thieves who wear pogo-stilts in some overcompensating need to appear giant,

The Hunger Games Directed by Gary Ross There’s no shortage of opportunities out there at the moment for some ‘last man standing’ vicarious voyeurism - whether it be “Celebrity Apprentice,” “The Voice,” any number of cable cooking shows, the NCAA finals, or the latest ‘vote them off the podium’ phenomenon: “Survivor: The Republican Primaries.” And given our species’ propensity for rubber-necking at freeway accidents, watching video clip shows that focus on hard crotch landings, and tuning in to assorted gameshows in which contestants endure pain and/or humiliation, it’s no wonder that we’re periodically given fictional contests in which the stakes are raised to life and death proportions.

The week in film(s) Timing your movie’s release is a strange combination of art, science, and simple luck. You obviously don’t want to go head to head with a blockbuster that appeals to the same audience, but counter-programming to a different demographic might work. You don’t want to find yourself opening in the week following some epic that generates stunning audience word of mouth and dominates as much in its second week as its first. And you’re also going to suffer if you open in the week before an equally dominant film sucks the air out of the room/box office as soon as it hits the screen. This week’s crop of new films are caught between a rock and a soft place. On the one hand, nex

15th Annual Sacramento Jewish Film Festival March 10-11, 2012 The Crest Theatre again plays host to the Sacramento Jewish Film Festival this weekend, with two feature films and one short film on Saturday evening and two features and two more shorts on Sunday afternoon. This year’s films are diverse in both subject matter and tone. Opening Night Films “Holy Land Hardball” This feature length documentary (screened with a supporting short film) recounts the challenges associated with one man’s dream to introduce professional baseball to Israel. This might have been an easier task if it didn’t also involve introducing Israel to professional baseball, as it’s a sport that many Israelis simp

Charles and Ray Eames: Designers of more than just chairs That’s not the title of the documentary being shown on Tuesday at the Crest Theatre, but it very well could be. “Eames: The architect and the painter” will be screened at 7:30pm (doors open at 6:30pm) in a special event to benefit the Eames exhibit at the California Museum. The director of the film, Jason Cohn, will attend the screening and the evening is sponsored by Hot Italian, Sactown Magazine, Lumens, and The Bridge District. I think it’s probably fair to say that for most people who are familiar with the work of Charles and Ray Eames, the primary examples of the prolific partnership that come to mind are their iconic chair d

An Inconvenient Seuss Over forty years ago, “The Lorax” first appeared in book form and told the story of a commercial enterprise run amok, in which every bright and fluffily foliaged ‘truffula’ tree is harvested to make ‘thneeds’ – a strange convertible garment that in today’s day and age would have its own late night infomercial. It’s a classic tale that focuses on commercialism, corporate greed, and a complete lack of sustainability as the loss of the raw materials causes the venture to fail as quickly as it succeeded. Along the way we’re introduced to the Lorax, a diminutive orange creature with a soup-strainer mustache who appears as an advocate for the trees and wildlife. Think of t

"In the Land of Blood and Honey" and "A Separation" Two movies open in Sacramento this week that offer glimpses into very different cultures and places, as two couples find themselves in desperate circumstances. In one, a Bosnian woman and a Serbian meet on the eve of the Bosnian war. In the other, an Iranian husband and wife struggle to come to terms with conflicting opportunities and duties. “In the Land of Blood and Honey” tells the story of Alja and Danijel who first meet in a night club and then again later in a camp, commanded by Danijel, where Bosnian women are taken and used by Serbian soldiers. The basic premise is built around this relationship, one that might have been quite o

The Secret World of Arrietty Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi 2012 marks the 60th anniversary of Mary Norton’s classic children’s book “The Borrowers” and “The Secret World of Arrietty” is one of at least five television and film adaptations, although not the most recent (the latest being a 2011 British television production). First released in Japan in 2010, it opened around much of the world during 2011 and finally makes its US debut today, with an American cast of voice actors. The wide opening includes several Sacramento theaters. This isn’t the only one of Norton’s stories to have made it to the big screen. Her first two novels were adapted into the beloved 1971 Disney production “B

If you've left things to the last minute, good luck trying to eat at a restaurant that's high enough up the culinary food chain to require a reservation.  A quick check of the reservation aggregator OpenTable (opentable.com) shows that it's slim pickings in Sacramento unless you want to go for the early bird special at about 4pm. But all is not lost as there's a special, sneak preview of the new film "This Means War" tonight at 7pm at the Century Stadium.  And if you pick up tickets in advance, you can even make it look like you planned ahead. It's a funny film with an inherently funny premise: Two high level CIA operatives (Chris Pine, Tom Hardy) realize they're dating the same woman (R

Oscar Shorts 2012 This week, the Crest Theatre continues its tradition of bringing the Academy Award nominated short films to Sacramento in time for eager Oscar-watchers to fill out their ballots. And watching them in these special screenings puts you on an even footing with Academy members who are required to watch them in the same manner in order to be qualified to vote in these categories. In order to qualify for Oscar contention, short films (under 40 minutes) have to have had a run in theaters or to have won a top award in at least one Academy sanctioned film festival. The nominated films are packaged together by Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International to form theatrical packages

Big Miracle Directed by Ken Kwapis One film this week has noteworthy political content and the most surprising thing is which film it is. From a casual distance, “Big Miracle” looks like a very generic animal rescue story, essentially “Free Willy” x2.5, as assorted people try to help two adults and one juvenile whale escape from behind an ice barrier in the Beaufort Sea. It’s based on a true story of an event that captured national attention in 1988, and the film makes use of news footage from that period, with every major network anchor commenting on the situation as it unfolds. It also embellishes the story with various formulaic characters and circumstances, including a love story, a

The Woman in Black Directed by James Watkins Daniel Radcliffe has made nine theatrical movies in the last decade and eight of them have been episodes in the “Harry Potter” saga. So it’s hardly surprising that when he first appears onscreen in “The Woman in Black,” you find yourself expecting his Hogwarts sidekicks to show up, or a wand to appear in his hand (not helped by an early train journey). But that slight disorientation passes and he turns in a fairly solid performance as the young father who has been sent by his London firm to settle the paperwork of a dead woman who lived in a fabulously spooky house on the far side of a remote tidal causeway. Outside of the “Potter” films, he’

INTERVIEW: DIRECTOR JOE CARNAHAN AND ACTOR FRANK GRILLO [NOTE: THE INTERVIEW CONTAINS SOME MILD PLOT SPOILERS FOR “THE GREY”.]   Recently, in San Francisco, I had a chance to chat with co-writer and director Joe Carnahan and actor Frank Grillo about their new release “The Grey” which opens this week. The film, which is reviewed in a separate article, tells the story of a group of oil workers whose plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness, where they find themselves stalked by a pack of almost mythically large wolves. Joe is a Sacramento native and we’ve known each other for several years through the local film community and the Sacramento Film and Music Festival. As we were setting up f