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OPENING THIS WEEK
“The Circle”
“Their Finest”
“Frantz”
“Tommy’s Honour”
“How to Be a Latin Lover” (Not reviewed)
Gigolo Maximo (Eugenio Derbez) get the surprise of his life when his much-older wife dumps him in his middle age. Desperate, he moves in with his estranged sister (Salma Hayek). (Rated PG-13. 1:55)
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“Beauty and the Beast”
***1/2 (PG, 2:09)
This live-action/digital hybrid, directed by Bill Condon and starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in the title roles, is more than a flesh-and-blood revival of the 26-year-old cartoon, and more than a dutiful trip back to the fairy tale.
The cast is stellar. Watson perfectly embodies Belle’s compassion and intelligence, while Stevens, blandly handsome as a prince, is a splendid monster. Emma Thompson is wonderful as Mrs. Potts, the singing teakettle, while Stanley Tucci and Audra McDonald are the excitable harpsichord and the operatic wardrobe; Ewan McGregor and Ian McKellen are the suave candelabra and the anxious clock. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is the lissome feather duster. The singing and banter are so vivid and so natural that you almost take for granted that they are mechanical objects sharing the frame with human characters. There’s also the obligatory scene-stealing villain — Gaston (Luke Evans), a narcissistic former soldier who is sweet on Belle — and his comical sidekick LeFou (Josh Gad). The awkward business about imprisonment turning into true love is handled smoothly.
There are a few moments where the digital seams show; most of the time, though, you are happily enchanted. Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s songs still inspire joyful dance routines, with “Be Our Guest” backing a choreographic extravaganza that enfolds decades of Disney history (all the way back to “Snow White” and “Fantasia”) in contemporary cinematic craft.
“Colossal”
***1/2 (R, 1:50)
This subversive, wildly ambitious creature feature ditches every classic trope and screenwriting rule from Asian “kaiju” films, turning the monster-movie genre into something darkly witty and weirdly modern, simultaneously sincere and screwball absurd. There are dazzling sequences of a skyscraper-tall, roughly humanoid wild thing battling a massive robot foe as Seoul’s street crowds look on aghast. But there’s much, much more going on here than a Godzilla vs. Optimus Prime smack-down.
The focus goes to star turns by Oscar winner Anne Hathaway and “Saturday Night Live” veteran Jason Sudeikis, both in excellent form and great together. Hathaway’s character, Gloria, has tanked as a writer, and her off-the-rails drinking has banished her from her boyfriend’s Manhattan apartment. Moving back into her parents’ empty old New Hampshire house, Gloria is warmly remembered by her childhood classmate, Oscar (Sudeikis), who’s pleased enough by her return to trail her like a benign stalker and hire her as a waitress in his tavern. Gloria isn’t thrilled in his company, but he’s amusing, and even if he is paying her just a minimum-wage salary, it comes with access to the liquor cabinet.
Meanwhile, a big, building-busting thing is clumsily clumping around Seoul. Who may be the world’s biggest metaphor. And who deepens the bond between Oscar and Gloria in the worst way imaginable.
Spanish writer-director Nacho Vigalondo navigates his story away from the rocks of cliche, pulling us into romantic entanglements between deeply flawed, relatable human beings. Hathaway plays the outspoken black sheep like she was born to it, and Sudeikis captures microscopic moments of emotional pain like a pro. The deep subject of “Colossal” is what misunderstood creatures we are and what destructive monsters we can become. It’s an amazing experience.
“The Lost City of Z”
***1/2 (PG-13, 2:20)
Modest and majestic at once, the films of James Gray patiently burrow their way into the souls of their characters and, maybe, into you.
His latest is a period film with a pulse and a now-ness the genre often lacks. In it, Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) is a British officer craving action, assigned in 1906 on a mapmaking mission to the “blank spaces” of Bolivia. He travels across the Atlantic in search of glory and redemption. But while Fawcett’s journey is grueling and frightful, he finds not madness in the jungle, but wonder.
Believing that he found evidence of an ancient civilization, he returns to London, where he’s hailed as a hero — but also mocked, urged not to raise the stature of “the savage.” The jungle becomes Fawcett’s compulsion, and, to the detriment of all else, he swells with ambition. More trips follow, as does World War I, but the tension that moves to the fore in “The Lost City of Z” is over the sacrifices necessitated by his dreams. With Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson. (PG-13, 2:20)
Quick pick: “Born in China.” John Krasinski narrates this nature documentary that looks at a panda and her growing cubs. (Rated G. 1:16)
ARTHOUSE
DORIS DUKE THEATRE
Honolulu Museum of Art, 532-6097, honolulumuseum.org; $8-$10
“Dekalog” (Saturday)
The 10-hour Polish miniseries will be shown in a marathon screening: Episodes 1-2 will be shown at noon, Episodes 3-4 at 2:30 p.m., Episodes 5-6 at 5 p.m., Episodes 7-8 at 7:30 p.m. and Episodes 9-10 at 10 p.m. Cost: $15, $12 for members.
Krzysztof Kieslowski’s restored micromovies are set in 1980s communist Poland and deal with moral issues and the passage of time, with unforeseen circumstances and forces in effect that influence lives. In Polish with English subtitles. (1988, Poland)
Andrzej Wajda Tribute
On Sunday the museum will honor the late Polish filmmaker, who died in October, with a Hawaii premiere of his final film, “Afterimage,” along with two films that helped establish his place in world cinema.
>> “Kanal” (1 p.m.)
Wajda’s film was the first to depict the 1944 Warsaw Uprising by the Polish resistance Home Army (Armia Krajowa) against Nazi occupation. It won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1957. In Polish with English subtitles. (1957, Poland, 1:36)
>> “Ashes and Diamonds” (4 p.m.)
On the last day of World War II, Polish exiles and the occupying Soviet forces face new beginnings. A soldier is ordered to assassinate an incoming commissar, but after a mistake stalls his progress, he meets a beautiful barmaid who provides a glimpse of what his life could be like. In Polish with English subtitles. (1958, Poland, 1:43)
>> “Afterimage” (“Powidoki”) (7:30 p.m.)
Biopic about artist Wladyslaw Strzeminski, who refused to let Stalinist orthodoxy and his own physical impairments get in the way of advancing his progressive ideas about art. In Polish with English subtitles. (2017, Poland, 1:38)
“The Red Turtle” (“La Tortue Rouge”) (1 and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1 p.m. Wednesday)
The milestones of a human being’s life are recounted through the story of a man shipwrecked on a tropical island inhabited by turtles, crabs and birds. An internationally produced Studio Ghibli film. (2016, France/Belgium/Japan, 1:20)
MOVIE MUSEUM
3566 Harding Ave., 735-8771; $5, $4 members
>> “La La Land” (11:30 a.m. and 1:45, 4, 6:15 and 8:30 p.m. today; 11:45 a.m. and 2, 4:15, 6:30 and 8:45 p.m. Sunday)
Hollywood musical about a jazz musician and an aspiring actress who fall in love yet struggle to keep their love alive while trying to make it big. Rated PG-13. (2016, U.S./Hong Kong, 2:08)
>> Hidden Figures (11:45 a.m. and 2, 4:15, 6:30 and 8:45 p.m. Saturday)
African-American female mathematicians contribute to the advancement of space travel in 1962, as the race to space between the Soviet Union and the U.S. is in full swing. Rated PG. (2016, 2:07)
>> “Gugu the Cat” (“Gu-gu Datte Neko de Aru”) (11 a.m. and 3 and 7 p.m. Monday)
A manga writer suffering from writer’s block derives artistic inspiration from the most unexpected sources. For ages 10 and older. In Japanese with English subtitles. (2008, Japan, 1:56)
>> “Listen to My Heart” (“Hikidashi no Naka no Rabu Reta”) (1, 5 and 9 p.m. Monday)
A radio program host learns how to cope with her own heartache after a teenage boy calls in with a problem that stumps her. For ages 10 and older. In Japanese with English subtitles. (2009, Japan, 1:46)
>> “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (11 a.m. and 3:30, 6 and 8:30 p.m. Thursday)
Two unlikely heroes — a scavenger girl and a defecting Stormtrooper — battle the First Order (formerly known as the Empire) with the help of Han Solo and Princess Leia 30 years after Darth Vader’s defeat. Rated PG-13. (2015, 2:15)
>> “Hachi-Ko” (1:30 p.m. Thursday)
Based on the true story of a dog, an Akita named Hachiko, who accompanied his beloved owner to Shibuya train station each morning (and also greeted him each evening for the walk home), and continued the twice-a-day walks even 10 years after his owner’s death. Today a famous statue of Hachi stands at the same station in Tokyo. For all ages. In Japanese with English subtitles. (1987, Japan, 1:48)
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