By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
In Amarillo theaters this week: A sci-fi masterpiece's week-long reissue, plus period dramas and a Spanish-language comedy.
New in theaters
Cézanne et Moi
Paul Cézanne's post-Impressionist style was hardly appreciated during his lifetime in 19th-century France, but his influence has stretched for decades. Writer/director Danièle Thompson's French-language film (with subtitles) examines the close and fractious relationship between Cézanne and author Emile Zola. "(T)his historical drama primarily becomes a bushy-bearded bromance between two hugely gifted and ambitious men whose personalities were as polarized as those of Oscar and Felix in The Odd Couple," writes RogerEbert.com's Susan Wloszczyna. The biopic has its flaws, but cinematographer Jean-Marie Dreujou's camera does masterful work, Wloszczyna writes: "There are the turquoise skies, chalky red-brown earth, delicately verdant leaves swaying on branches and, his favorite centerpiece, the muscular and majestic Montagne Sainte-Victoire. Somehow, you can smell the bright pools of paint on Cézanne’s palette; savor the fresh ripe tomatoes, slices of sausage and just-peeled garlic that sit nearby; feel the warmth of the sun; and sniff the freshness of the air." The film kicks off the season for indie movies at the Westgate Mall theater, where a new one will open the first and third Fridays through May. (R for language, sexual references and nudity; click here for showtimes at Premiere Cinemas Westgate Mall 6, 7701 W. Interstate 40)
Hazlo Como Hombre
This Spanish-language comedy (the title translates to Do It Like an Hombre) is a smash hit in Mexico and comes to America in a wide release. In writer/co-director Nicolás Lopez's film, Santiago (Alfonso Dosal) comes out of the closet on the eve of his wedding to his longtime girlfriend (Aislinn Derbez) — much to the shock of his best friend Raul (Mauricio Ochmann). Lopez hopes to make fun of homophobic attitudes — even going so far as to organize a National Anti-Machista Day to promote the film in Mexico — but the execution leaves something to be desired, writes CinePremiere's Mabel Salinas. "Its intention is to be a mirror through the characters that embody it to let us see that maybe we are not as open as we thought and that we all have something monstrous; (h)owever, the incongruity of the ensemble, the tone and the conduction are unfavorable and end up being a distractor of the central mission," Salinas writes in her Spanish-language review. (R for sexual content throughout; click here for showtimes at Cinemark Hollywood 16, 9100 Canyon Drive)
Tulip Fever
This period drama, based on the popular 2000 novel by Deborah Moggach, took years to film — then years more to actually get a release date. (The movie's cursed route is amusingly detailed here.) Now that it's finally reaching theaters, audiences will see Oscar winner Alicia Vikander as an orphaned young woman in 17th century Amsterdam, forced to marry an older, wealthy man (Christoph Waltz) to survive. She's swept up in an affair ith a painter (Dane DeHaan), and their attempt to start a life together finds them seeking their own fortune in the tulip market. Reviews have yet to be released. (R for sexual content and nudity; click here for showtimes at United Artists Amarillo Star 14, 8275 W. Amarillo Blvd.)
Special engagements
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Director Steven Spielberg's 1977 film is widely considered one of the best sci-fi movies ever made, and for its 40th anniversary, it gets a week-long rerelease — a 4K restoration of his director's cut. Richard Dreyfuss stars as an electrical lineman who believes he has seen a UFO, becoming more and more obsessed until he travels to Wyoming and discovers a remarkable truth. (PG; click here for showtimes at Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16)
Marvel's Inhumans
The new ABC television series gets a sneak preview in IMAX-only screenings beginning Aug. 31 at the Amarillo Star 14. It'll screen for a week here, presumably making room for It. For those not in the know, the Inhumans are a super-powerful, secluded race in the Marvel Universe, led by Black Bolt (Anson Mount), whose whisper can level cities. Others can control the elements, teleport and have super-strong, pliable hair. The TV series premieres Sept. 29 with additional footage. Should you spend IMAX-level prices for the show, though? TV and movie critics are ... wary, to say the least. (NR)
Extraordinary
This faith-based drama, inspired by a true story, depicts an ultra-marathon runner (Leland Klassen) as he attempts to run across the country following an open-heart surgery. The screening will end with a discussion on marriage. (NR; click here for showtimes at Amarillo Star 14)
Opening Sept. 7
Advance tickets are on sale now for It, the new adaptation of Stephen King's clownariffic horror novel, and Home Again, a new romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon as a recent divorcée who lets three young men move into her home.
Still in theaters
All Saints (AS-14, H-16); Annabelle: Creation (AS-14, H-16 and Tascosa Drive-In, 1999 Dumas Drive); Baby Driver (AS-14); The Big Sick (AS-14); Birth of the Dragon (AS-14, H-16); Captain Underpants: The Epic First Movie (WM-6); Cars 3 (AS-14, H-16); The Dark Tower (AS-14); Despicable Me 3 (H-16); Dunkirk (AS-14, H-16); The Emoji Movie (AS-14, H-16); 47 Meters Down (WM-6); Girls Trip (H-16); The Glass Castle (AS-14); Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (WM-6); The Hitman's Bodyguard (AS-14, H-16); Kidnap (H-16); Leap! (AS-14, H-16); Logan Lucky (AS-14, H-16 and TDI); The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (AS-14, H-16); Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (WM-6); Spider-Man: Homecoming (AS-14, H-16); and Wind River (AS-14, H-16). (Click on titles for my reviews and on theaters for showtimes.)
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
