OPENING FRIDAY
“The Founder”
“The Resurrection of Gavin Stone”
“Silence”
“Split”
“20th Century Women”
“xXx: Return of Xander Cage”
Not reviewed
The latest Vin Diesel vehicle has Cage, an extreme athlete-turned-government operative, leading a group of similar go-for-brokers in a race for control of a weapon known as Pandora’s Box, which of course is the key to world control. (PG-13, 1:47)
NOW PLAYING
“Assassin’s Creed” **1/2
This film is stamped with director Justin Kurzel’s unique visual style, which makes for an exciting if strange ride. Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) is an inmate who is put to death by lethal injection but wakes up in a clinic at a shadowy corporation. The lead scientist, Dr. Sofia Rikkin (Marion Cotillard), claiming she’s researching “the cure to violence,” harnesses him to a device called the animus and sends him to 15th-century Spain, where he fights the Spanish Inquisition as his assassin ancestor, Aguilar. But it turns out to be a ploy to get Callum into a battle for “the Apple of Eden,” which has the code for free will. (PG-13, 1:48)
“The Bye Bye Man” *
The Bye Bye Man is a scary ghoul who stalks and kills anyone who speaks his name out loud. He can possess people, walk through walls and hack the largest companies in the world. He is, by far, the most logical thing in the film. The horror film feels off, as if the bad guy made off with pivotal minutes of film. “The Bye Bye Man” begins, promisingly, with a flashback to 1969, where a journalist is taking a shotgun to anyone who says the Bye Bye Man’s name. But then we flash forward, where three college students move into a giant house, say the name, and slip into a world of fear and paranoia. The students are such zeros, there’s little investment in their survival. Faye Dunaway and Carrie-Anne Moss, in small parts, exude more coolness than any of the lead actors. (PG-13, 96 minutes.)
“The Eagle Huntress” ***
The story of 13-year-old Mongolian girl Aisholpan, who becomes the first girl to join her father’s long line of eagle hunters in a harsh and beautiful landscape, is a thrilling fable of indomitability and father-daughter companionship. The film is crafted to be accessible, with subtitled dialogue supplemented by gently didactic voice-over narration by British actress Daisy Ridley (Rey of “Star Wars”). Aisholpan has the power to inspire girls (and not only girls) everywhere, and Otto Bell’s documentary may turn her into a pop-culture heroine. (G, 1:27)
“Elle” ***
“Elle” is a violently dark comedy in which passion and cruelty burn together in a masochistic fire. It begins startlingly with a rape, but rather than following it up with tears, revenge or justice, the victim — Michele Leblanc (Isabelle Huppert) — cleans up the room (her heels still on), takes a bath and orders in sushi. Director Paul Verhoeven, rebuffed by Hollywood, took to France to tell the story, adapted from Philippe Dijan’s novel “Oh …” He masterfully unspools the dense layers of Michele, who lords over a small army of nebbishy men at her literary-minded video game company and is sleeping with her best friend’s husband despite loathing him. On top of all this, she is the daughter of a mass murderer, who herself became a figure of public hate as a possible collaborator. Huppert commands the film, and few could pull off the unapologetically demented nature of “Elle” like Verhoeven. (R, 2:10)
“Fences” ****
Director-star Denzel Washington captures the poetry of playwright August Wilson’s text, and the result is an experience of exuberance and richness. Washington portrays Troy, a scarred and formidable personality. He was a star in the Negro baseball league, but he was 40 when baseball integrated, so he never knew real money or fame. Instead, Troy works as a sanitation man, aware of his own magnificence while hiding his bitterness at the same time. He seems unconsciously to want to destroy his family, his wife (Viola Davis) and a teenage son (Jovan Adepo). He also has an older son, a struggling musician (Russell Hornsby) who craves his approval, but Troy won’t give it. Washington gives one of the best self-directed performances in cinematic history, and Davis is staggering, especially in a scene in which she lets loose her fury. (PG-13. 12:18)
“Hidden Figures” ***
“Hidden Figures” takes us back to 1961, when segregation and workplace sexism were widely accepted facts of life. The word “computer” referred to a person, not a machine. The most important computers here are three African-American women who work at data entry jobs for NASA but go on to play crucial roles in the space program. Based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s nonfiction book, the film, directed by Theodore Melfi, turns the entwined careers of Katherine Goble (played with perfect nerd charisma by Taraji P. Henson), Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) into a rousing celebration of merit rewarded and perseverance repaid. There is something to be said for a well-told tale with a clear moral and a satisfying emotional payoff. (PG, 2:06)
“Jackie” ***1/2
Natalie Portman portrays the elegant first lady in Chilean director Pablo Larrain’s daring psychological portrait of the wife and widow of President John F. Kennedy. Closely shot, with the camera never far from Portman’s face, “Jackie” is anything but a traditional biopic. Flashing back and forth in time, the film plays with history and memory, fact and speculation. It is a fever dream of a movie, tracking its subject as she tries to maintain her composure and her sanity, and as she tries to secure her husband’s legacy. While the casting is uneven, Portman carries the film, portraying Jackie with transfiguring intensity and focus. (R, 1:40)
“La La Land” ****
A musical with big numbers, intimate reveries and adult feelings, Damien Chazelle’s musical “La La Land” is a boy-meets-girl tale with early-21st-century rhythms. It grapples with love between equals in a story about an aspiring actress, Mia (Emma Stone), who meets an ambitious musician, Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), Los Angeles-style during a traffic jam: He honks at her; she flips him the bird. They end up swaying in that fading, soft-light time known as the magic hour, tapping and twirling. This must have been what it was like to see Astaire and Rogers dance for the first time, and one hopes it will appeal to contemporary moviegoers. While “La La Land” engages with nostalgia, it also passionately speaks to the present. (PG-13, 2:08)
“Lion” ***
“Lion” is the incredible true story of two remarkable journeys that Saroo Brierley took in his life — one far away from home, and his return trip. Based on his memoir, “A Long Way Home,” the film is split in two. The first half depicts the travels of young Saroo (Sunny Pawar), who is just 5 when he becomes separated from his brother in Khandwa and ends up 900 miles away in Kolkata. Two decades later, after he’s been taken from an orphanage and adopted by an Australian couple, he returns as the adult Saroo (Dev Patel) in the emotional journey, using modern technology to find his family. Both Pawar and Patel are impressive in their portrayal of Saroo young and old, and Nicole Kidman, as his adoptive mother, Sue, in a brief but juicy role, is luminous as a woman who demonstrates her boundless love in sharing a son with another mother. (PG-13, 2:00)
“Live by Night” **1/2
In “Live by Night,” writer, director and star Ben Affleck wears too many hats — he wears a lot of them in this Prohibition-era flick — and there’s the sense that he was spread too thin. This tale has bank robber Joe mixed up with Irish and Italian mobs of Boston before he takes over the rum-running trade in Tampa on behalf of the Italians. Hell-bent on enacting revenge on an Irish boss, whom he blames for the death of a shared lady love, he seeks more and more power, partnering with Cubans, driving out the Klan, and securing the gambling industry while wrestling religious conservatives. The film doesn’t sink deeply into one issue, merely skipping along the surface. And what a surface — the production and costume design and cinematography are gorgeous. But that can’t overcome the hurried pace, multitude of characters and muddled plot. (R, 2:08)
“Manchester by the Sea” ****
Dramatist-turned-filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan’s screenplay is character-driven, focusing on people the world normally doesn’t give much scrutiny to. Casey Affleck portrays a gruff Lee, who’s OK getting by on minimum wage as a custodian at a Boston condo complex. A family emergency concerning his brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) draws Lee back to his hometown, gradually unearthing a calamity in his own life. Joe’s son Patrick (Lucas Hedges), now a sarcastic high-schooler, is left in uncle Lee’s unwilling care, but Lee can’t stand remaining in Manchester, while Patrick refuses to leave his school, hockey team, rock band and two girlfriends. That strained relationship teaches both of them that amid harrowing disasters, life goes on. (R, 2:17)
“Master”
Not reviewed
Korean action-adventure film about an investigation of a massive fraud case at a major company. In Korean with English subtitles. (Not rated, 2:23)
“Moana” ***
Those fretting over the depiction of Polynesian cultures in “Moana” shouldn’t trouble themselves. The movie itself is not realistic. It’s fantasy, magical, with a cave of magic canoes and an anthropomorphic ocean. Kamehameha Schools student Auli‘i Cravalho does a wonderful job as the voice of Moana, bringing depth and heart to the character. Moana feels the ocean is calling to her, but her father, Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison), forbids her to set sail. Suddenly, her island has no fish, and coconuts become infected with a blight, so Moana jumps on a canoe and sets sail. Her quest includes finding the powerful Maui (Dwayne Johnson), returning a green stone heart to a creation goddess, learning wayfinding and stopping the blight. Maui, meanwhile, needs to get his magic fis**ook back, but what he really wants is for mortals to admire him for his wondrous feats. (PG, 1:53)
“Monster Trucks” *1/2
“Monster Trucks” starts out with a relatively adult, science fiction premise: that fracking threatens underground creatures unknown to us. Then the film overwhelms this idea with a childish conceit: These same creatures — a cross between Jabba the Hut and Jaws — just love big trucks. One of them inhabits a truck that lonely high school student Tripp (Lucas Till, looking far too old for the role) has been working on. The film is reminiscent of “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” but the crucial relationship between Tripp and the creature falls flat. We don’t care what happens to Tripp, and while the monster-in-the-truck adventure makes for a decent set piece, it does not a movie make. The film in some ways is too complex for the kids, yet leaves the adults feeling left out too. (PG, 1:44)
“Moonlight” ****
The extraordinary film “Moonlight” uses restraint, quiet honesty, fluid imagery and an observant, uncompromised way of imagining one outsider’s world so that it becomes our own. “Moonlight” traces the life of an African-American male — played in three segments, each by a different actor — growing up in Miami. Alex Hibbert portrays the boy, known as Little, who faces the dilemma of trusting a drug dealer (Mahershala Ali) who befriends him, acting as a father figure while serving crack to his mother (Naomie Harris, who is riveting), a loving, hostile paradox of a wreck. In segment two, Little, now called Chiron (superb young actor Ashton Sanders), has a clandestine sexual encounter with childhood friend Kevin, but is betrayed when Kevin joins in on a beating with some bullies. In the third act, Chiron is called Black (Trevante Rhodes); he gets a call out of the blue from Kevin. Their extended, nearly real-time conversation is reason enough to champion the film. (R, 1:50)
“Patriots Day” ***
Peter Berg’s film about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings may strike some as fuel on a political fire, but its only goal is to provide the thrills of an action-blockbuster. It raises the question of whether real-life tragedy should serve as entertainment, but there’s no question that “Patriots Day” does its job. It’s an intense, bruising cinematic experience. Mark Wahlberg plays fictional Boston police Sgt. Tommy Saunders, whose morning at the marathon turns into a bloody nightmare when runners and spectators are shredded by shrapnel. “Patriots Day” really kicks into gear when the manhunt begins, with a carjacking and a riveting shootout providing stomach-churning suspense. Berg turns the two bombers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, into the film’s most interesting figures. The older Tamerlan (Themo Melikidze) is a fanatic, but Dzhokhar (Alex Wolff, subtly effective) mostly thinks about rap music or texting his buddies. “Patriots Day” does plenty of flag-waving, but this is not an intentionally vengeful film. As Wahlberg’s Sgt. Saunders says, in the face of evil, “the only thing you can fight back with is love.” (R, 2:13)
“Passengers” **
In Morten Tyldum’s “Passengers,” stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt have been handed a faulty flight log. Pratt plays Jim Preston, one of a few thousand people in suspended animation on a starship on autopilot for a distant colonized planet. A big asteroid dings the ship, opening Preston’s pod 30 years into a 120-year trip, like a bear awakened from hibernation too soon. He goes through various stages reconciling himself to his fate, but eventually his gaze turns toward one of the sleeping passengers, Aurora Lane, played by Lawrence. His decision to wake her is a cosmic mix of creepy, amoral and understandable. A courtship follows, but Tyldum fails to reconcile the central twist of Jon Spaihts’ screenplay with the lighter tone he’s seeking. (PG-13, 1:42)
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” ***1/2
The Force is strong with this spinoff, which provides a solid prequel to the original, taking us to a galaxy of new planets shrouded by ice or cloud-capped fog, drenched in rain or adorned by towering palm trees, all property of the evil Empire. At the center is rebel Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and her allies, whose goal is to capture the blueprints for the Imperial Death Star, designed by her father (Mads Mikkelsen), or perhaps to assassinate him for aiding the totalitarians. As in every “Star Wars” film, the focus is the little guy fighting the big guy. This time the combat leaves palpable scars coated in filth; you experience them and wince. Of course, authoritarians are still entirely evil. Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn is the gold standard of personified malice as the main villain, Krennic. (PG-13 2:13)
“Sing” ***
What “Sing” might lack in originality of concept — “American Idol” with animated animals — it more than makes up for in execution. The story revolves around Buster Moon (a koala voiced by Matthew McConaughey), a theater owner who’s run into tough times. Buster scrapes together $1,000 for a singing contest, but a typo on the fliers raises it to $100,000. Hordes show up to audition, giving voice to characters like Rosita (Reese Witherspoon), an overworked mama pig; Johnny (Taron Egerton), a gorilla trying to break free of his father’s criminal gang; Ash (Scarlett Johansson), a talented teen porcupine with a jerky boyfriend; and Mike (Seth MacFarlane), a spendthrift rat with a Sinatra-esque croon. A series of inappropriate animal/pop song mash-ups, like a snail singing “Ride Like the Wind,” makes the film sing. (PG, 1:48)
“Sleepless”
Not reviewed
Jamie Foxx stars as an undercover police officer in Las Vegas who battles corrupt colleagues and gangsters while trying to save his kidnapped son, but he’s sadly miscast. He is not a natural-born action hero, which worked to his advantage in “Collateral” opposite Tom Cruise, but not here. The film itself is a formulaic spectacle, with director Baran bo Odar orchestrating the smashing of bodies and automobiles with a moody, Michael Mann-esque panache. But the intense atmospherics start to feel like the work of a filmmaker on genre autopilot. (R, 1:35)
“Underworld: Blood Wars”
Not reviewed
The latest Kate Beckinsale film pits her deadly character, the vampire Selene, fighting to end a war between two clans of supernatural beings, including the vampire group that betrayed her. (R, 1:31)
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
The Metropolitan Opera: “Romeo et Juliette”
12:55 p.m. Jan. 21 and 6:30 p.m. Jan. 25, Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18. $19-$25
The Met’s production of the Charles Gounod setting of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy stars German soprano Diana Damrau and Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo. “In scene after scene these exciting and charismatic artists disappeared into their characters, emboldening each other to sing with white-hot sensuality and impassioned lyricism,” said the New York Times.
“Sailor Moon R: The Movie”
11 a.m. Jan. 22 and 7 p.m. Jan. 23, Consolidated Kapolei 16. $15
In this 1993 movie starring the popular Japanese manga figures, Sailor Soldiers face off against a revenge-seeking stranger who plans to drain the world of its life energy with a flower-based weapon hidden on an asteroid hurtling toward Earth.
Bolshoi Ballet: “The Sleeping Beauty”
12:55 p.m. Jan. 22, $15-$19, Dole Cannery
The famous Russian ballet company presents the classic fairy tale, set to music by Tchaikovsky, with choreography by Yuri Grigorovich, set design by Ezio Frigerio, and Nina Kaptsova and Artem Ovcharenko in the lead roles.
DORIS DUKE THEATRE
Honolulu Museum of Art, 532-6097, honolulumuseum.org; $8-$10
10th Annual Bollywood Film Festival
Ends Sunday. All films in Hindi with English subtitles.
>> “Shivaay”
1 p.m. Friday and Saturday
A fearless Himalayan mountaineer, whose devotion to the Hindu god Lord Shiva (The Destroyer) is so deep that his body is emblazoned with Lord Shiva tattoos, takes on Destroyer-like superpowers after his 9-year-old daughter is kidnapped in Bulgaria. (2016, India, 2:38)
>> “Sultan”
7 p.m. Friday and Saturday
The dreams and aspirations of two wrestling legends striving for romance and fame are intertwined and aligned, but they will soon learn the path to glory is an uphill battle. (2016, India, 2:50)
ACM Animation Retrospective
6 p.m. Monday ($5)
The University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Academy for Creative Media, with its three tracks of study, presents a collection of original films created by students in the animation program over the past decade. Some films are not suitable for young children.
“Cinema Angel”
1 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
On the day a 122-year-old movie theater is slated to shut down, a cinema employee is approached by a mysterious old man who knows everything about the theater. In Japanese with English subtitles. (2016, Japan, 1:34)
MOVIE MUSEUM
3566 Harding Ave., 735-8771; $5, $4 members
“Unindian”
11:15 a.m. and 3 and 6:45 p.m. Friday
Meera is a divorced single mother who finds herself “too Aussie” or “too Indian” to simply fall for tall, blond English teacher Will; meanwhile, her parents are intent on setting her up with Samir, an arrogant cardiologist. For ages 12 and older. (2015, Australia, 1:44)
“Umrika”
1:15, 5 and 8:45 p.m. Friday
In the mid-1980s in India, young Udai leaves his tiny village to work in “Umrika” (also known as America) and sends letters back home that leave everyone wanting more. When the letters cease, Udai’s younger brother sets off on a journey to find him. For ages 12 and older. In Hindi with English subtitles. (2015, India, 1:38)
“The Girl on the Train”
11 a.m. and 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday
Adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ novel about a drunken divorcee who fantasizes about a happy couple she sees during her daily train commute. One morning she becomes upset after she sees the woman kissing another man and blacks out, only to learn the following day the woman has disappeared and she may be a suspect. With Emily Blunt and Haley Bennett. Rated R. (2016, 1:52)
“The People vs. Fritz Bauer” (“Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer”)
Noon, 3:30, 5:30 and 9 p.m. Sunday
Based on a true story about a gay Jewish Holocaust survivor seeking justice in a government full of Hitler supporters, leading to the capture of Adolf Eichmann, one of the main instigators of the Holocaust. Rated R. In German with English subtitles. (2015, Germany, 1:45)
“A Pig Across Paris” (“La traversee de Paris”)
2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday
In Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II, ex-cabbie Martin persuades ex-painter Grandgil to help him haul four suitcases full of black-market pork through the blackout. (1956, France/Italy, 1:20)
“Kabukicho Love Hotel” (“Sayonara Kabukicho”)
12:15, 4:30 and 8:45 p.m. Monday
This comedy-drama is filled with stories of staff and guests of a Tokyo love hotel over the course of one day. For ages 15 and older. In Japanese with English subtitles.(2014, Japan, 2:15)
“A Stranger of Mine” (“Unmei janai hito”)
2:45 and 7 p.m. Monday
Comedy about a private detective who gets into trouble with the yakuza as he tries to set up his unlucky-in-love childhood friend with a lonely nurse. For ages 12 and older. In Japanese with English subtitles. (2005, Japan, 1:38)
“Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot”
11:30 a.m. and 3:15 and 9 p.m. Thursday
Love story adaptation of Dahl’s “Mr. Hoppy,” about a shy American man who finds it hard to express his love for fun-loving widow Mrs. Silver, who lives in the apartment below. With Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench. For all ages. (2015, U.K., 1:28)
“A Time in Quchi” (“Shu jia zuo ye”)
1:15, 5 and 7 p.m. Thursday
Guan, a 10-year-old Taipei boy, is sent by his divorcing parents to spend the summer with his grandfather in the rural Quchi countryside. Without high-speed internet and other urban luxuries, Guan ventures throughout the picturesque river community and makes friends along the way. For ages 10 and older. In Mandarin with English subtitles. (2013, Taiwan, 1:49)
SUNDAY SUPPER CINEMA @ WISP
7 p.m. Sunday, WISP Restaurant & Lounge, Lotus Hotel, second floor; doors open 5:30 p.m. (for dinner). $5. Reservations: 436-4326.
“Sweet Bean”
Bakery owner Sentaro sells pancakes infused with “an,” a red bean paste, to a group of loyal customers. After he reluctantly hires a 76-year-old woman for a measly wage, she reveals a secret recipe for bean paste that sends Sentaro’s business to new heights. In Japanese with English subtitles. (2015, Japan, 1:53)