3rd Street Cinema 6

At this point, MGM’s 1939 The Wizard of Oz is so inextricably tangled up with L. Frank Baum's novels that any new adaptation of his work inevitably references the visual motifs, characterizations, and music of Victor Fleming's film. And so Sam... More »

At this point, MGM’s 1939 The Wizard of Oz is so inextricably tangled up with L. Frank Baum's novels that any new adaptation of his work inevitably references the visual motifs, characterizations, and music of Victor Fleming's film. And so Sam Raimi's very good Oz the Great and Powerful is likely to be the only production of 2013 to feature little people clad in satin pantaloons. Raimi packs in his typical mix of kinetic energy and cornball sentiment relating the arrival in Oz of Oscar Diggs (James Franco) -- carnival magician, con-man, and trickster. His abrupt plunge into the Technicolor land of bejeweled cities and flying monkeys is the prophesied coming of the Wizard of Oz, who will save the people from the evil witch Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West. Oscar, a shameless liar and showman, is the only man in Oz who does not believe he's actually the wizard. Enjoined by Glinda (Michelle Williams) to help the oppressed and very silly people of Oz, he travels the yellow brick road befriending a flying monkey (Zach Braff) and a doll named China Girl (Joey King) whose teapot town and family have been smashed by Evanora's minions. Mila Kunis, perhaps the most unlikely actress to follow up Margaret Hamilton's terrifying embodiment of the WWotW, nonetheless delivers an oversized and perfectly hammy performance against a lush visual landscape marred only by Raimi's persistent use of sweeping, impossible "magic camera" shots that zoom for miles across poppy fields and forests and through the windows of castles, making million-dollar CG renders look totally fake, like they cost a buck-fifty. « Less

All Seats $3.50 All Times (1:15 PM), (3:45 PM), 6:15 PM, 8:45 PM

All Seats $3.50 All Times (2:50 PM), 6:45 PM

Director David O. Russell is still doing penance for I Heart Huckabees, a wonderfully nutty 2004 passion project exploring the desperate search for meaning within corporate America. Silver Linings Playbook feels more personal than The Fighter,... More »

Director David O. Russell is still doing penance for I Heart Huckabees, a wonderfully nutty 2004 passion project exploring the desperate search for meaning within corporate America. Silver Linings Playbook feels more personal than The Fighter, his last feature, but it also feels like the movie version of a brilliant but unbalanced mind on too many edge-sanding meds. Released from the psych hospital where he was sent after a marriage-ending manic fit, Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) moves back into his childhood home. Cooper spits out such lines in an unmodulated, rapid-fire assault, his eyes wide and shining. Russell trusts us to draw on, like, every movie we've ever seen to recognize this is what the fearlessness of the mad looks and sounds like; the twist is that Pat's parents-- superstitious amateur bookie Pat Senior (Robert De Niro) and the sweetly overbearing Dolores (Jacki Weaver)-- speak the same way. The scenes in the Solitano home are a cacophony of mile-a-minute monotone. They’re the best, most alive parts of the movie. Like many assholes, Pat brands himself a "truth teller"; he is, of course, the only person who can’t see the truth about himself, which is that he’s incapable of empathy. It comes as no surprise that the vehicle for this transformation is a slow-building romance with a bruised young widow played with feisty authenticity by Jennifer Lawrence. Manic as it might be stylistically, Silver Linings Playbook maintains too even of an emotional keel. It's a film about the alienated that makes sure to alienate no one, a movie depicting wild mood extremes that never rises or falls above a dull hum of diversion. Russell has made a great movie about American malaise; this isn't it. « Less

All Seats $3.50 All Times (2:00 PM), 6:30 PM

All Seats $3.50 All Times (12:15 PM), (2:15 PM), (5:15 PM), 7:15 PM, 9:05 PM

All Seats $3.50 All Times (12:30 PM), 9:15 PM

All Seats $3.50 All Times (1:00 PM), (3:00 PM), (5:00 PM)

Considering the way Fox News raked The Muppets over the coals for its supposed anti-capitalist themes, a similar outrage seems likely when they see Seth Gordon's Identity Thief. It implies that Ayn Rand acolytes are not very nice, and that their... More »

Considering the way Fox News raked The Muppets over the coals for its supposed anti-capitalist themes, a similar outrage seems likely when they see Seth Gordon's Identity Thief. It implies that Ayn Rand acolytes are not very nice, and that their business practices have created a system in which people like the adorably amoral Diana (Melissa McCarthy) are compelled to steal the identity of people like family-man financier Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman). As a comedy, it hits all the expected beats: Sandy tracks down Diana and takes her on a road trip to justice, during which they have wacky adventures and learn to respect each other ... and maybe even themselves. Identity Thief is unexpectedly thoughtful about the current economic climate -- note all the foreclosed houses on Diana's street -- and it also mines some genuine laughs, at least when it aims higher than slapstick violence, jokes about McCarthy's weight (fat people falling down is funny!), or the gender ambiguity of the name "Sandy." And there are plenty of great character actors on hand, such as Breaking Bad's Jonathan Banks as a crime boss, and Robert Patrick as a skip tracer who would fit in perfectly on Justified. Most importantly, watching Identity Thief is more fun than reading The Fountainhead, and better for you. « Less

All Seats $3.50 All Times (11:45 AM), (4:20 PM), 8:50 PM

All Seats $3.50 All Times (2:45 PM), (4:50 PM), 7:00 PM

All Seats $3.50 All Times 6:50 PM, 9:10 PM

All Seats $3.50 All Times (12:45 PM), (4:45 PM), 9:00 PM