Now Showing
Some reviews originate at newspapers that do not award star ratings; some movies are not screened in advance for critics. Ratings range from zero to four stars.
OPENING THIS WEEK
“Scatter My Ashes at
Bergdorf’s” * * ½
Reviewed above
“After Earth” * ½
Reviewed at
“Stories We Tell” * * * ½
Reviewed at
“Now You See Me” * *
Reviewed at
“I Killed My Mother”
Not reviewed
“The Source Family” * * *
Reviewed at
“Sightseers”
Reviewed at
Continuing
Selected mini-reviews of films in theaters, listed alphabetically:
“Epic”
Animation adventure. * * PG. This solid family-friendly animated adventure is well-polished, well-intentioned and filled with plenty of rousing action for short attention spans. (Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle) 102 minutes
“Fast & Furious 6”
Vroom flick. * * ½ PG-13. After Diesel — Vin Diesel, that is — the most potent fuel this 12-year-old franchise has is Justin Lin. This is the director’s fourth time behind the wheel, and it’s clear he loves the quasi-heroic rebels, led by Dom (Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker). Dwayne Johnson returns as Fed Hobbs (a fierce Gina Carano plays his back-up). In 2D and 3D. (Kennedy) 130 minutes
“Frances Ha”
Comedy drama. * * * R. Noah Baumbach keeps making his own kind of movie and getting better at it each time. His latest — a collaboration with actress Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote the screenplay — isn’t big on plot, but it’s full of incident, tension and emotion; and by the time it’s over, there’s no doubting that something true and lovely has just happened on screen. At the Mayan. (Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle) 86 minutes
“The Great Gatsby”
Literary adaptation. * * PG-13. Baz Luhrmann’s lavishly hollow adaptation of “The Great Gatsby,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, Carrie Mulligan as Daisy and Tobey Maguire as Gatsby’s chronicler, Nick Carraway. At area theaters in 2-D and 3-D. (Kennedy) 142 minutes
“The Iceman”
Hitman drama. * * * R. Hitman Richard Kuklinski occupies (almost seamlessly) parallel universes. In one, he works for Gambino family associate Roy DeMeo. Ray Liotta is in typically unnerving form as the Jersey mobster who initiates Kuklinski into his gang with a mix of charm and cruelty. In the other world, Kuklinski (Michael Shannon in a chilling, commanding turn) dotes on wife Deborah (Winona Ryder) and their two daughters. Director Ariel Vromen’and his star offer an engrossing study in compartmentalization, so authentically acted and well paced that it almost makes you forget that the real-life Kuklinski, featured in two documentaries about his crimes, was also a pathological liar. At the Mayan. (Kennedy) 103 minutes
“The Hangover Part III”
Dramedy. * * * R. “The Hangover Part III” goes to darker and more dangerous places than its predecessors. It dares to alienate the very audience that made “The Hangover” the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time because, well, it isn’t exactly a comedy. (Christy Lemire, The Associated Press) 100 minutes
“Kon-Tiki” Adventure. * * * PG-13. The real-life story of Thor Heyerdahl’s remarkable 1947 sea voyage from South America to Polynesia, a journey that takes 101 days and 4,300 miles on a balsawood raft. At the Esquire. (Walter Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle) 118 minutes
“Love Is All You Need”
Romantic comedy. * * ½ PG-13. Director Susanne Bier’s entertaining rom-com explores what happens after the flustered mother of a bride runs into the prickly father of a groom as they head off to Italy for their children’s nuptials. At the Esquire. (Kennedy) 110 minutes
“The Place Beyond the Pines”
Drama. * * * ½ R. Director Derek Cianfrance has re-teamed with “Blue Valentine” co-star Ryan Gosling, to tell the tale of two men united by a moment of violence and the consequences of that meeting for them and their sons. At the Mayan. (Kennedy) 140 minutes
“Renoir”
Drama. R. Gilles Bourdos’s compassionate late-life portrait of this French Impressionist painter, infirm with rheumatoid arthritis. At the Sie FilmCenter. (Stephen Holden, The New York Times) 111 minutes
“The Sapphires”
Finger-snapping drama. * * * PG-13. Four young aboriginal women entertain troops during the Vietnam War. At the Chez Artiste. (Kennedy) 99 minutes
“Star Trek Into Darkness”
Sci-fi adventure. * * * ½ PG-13. In 2009, director J.J. Abrams and his starfleet of writers and actors breathed relevant but not too hagiographic life into a beloved (to put it mildly) 1960s television sci-fi adventure series with “Star Trek.” At area theaters and IMAX, 2-D, 3-D. (Kennedy) 132 minutes
“What Maisie Knew”
Family drama. R. Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel have created a smart — and smarting — film based on the novel by Henry James. At the Chez Artiste. (Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times) 98 minutes
