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Anna Karenina Joe Wright's misguided and miscast version of the Tolstoy classic uses a host of distancing devices - namely doing the movie as though it took place on a stage - but the effect is to render something cold that should have been warm. Affleck plays the CIA operative who aims to fly out six Americans posing as a film crew for a fake movie. The Big Picture Based on Douglas Kennedy's 1997 novel, this ambitious French thriller focuses on a Parisian lawyer (Romain Duris) who kills his wife's lover, a photographer, then assumes his identity and goes on the lam. Chasing Ice This documentary presents striking visual evidence of global warming in the form of time-lapse photo sequences of glaciers melting and breaking up. The Flat This remarkable movie, about a Jewish family's exploration of a friendship between their grandparents and a Nazi officer and his wife, feels more like a thriller than a documentary. Flight One of the best plane crash sequences in all of film highlights this drama about a gifted pilot, suffering from alcoholism, on a collision course with authorities and his own illness. Generation P This Russian mind-bending comedy, about an out-of-work poet struggling to find his way in post-Communist Russia, plays like a metaphysical Moscow version of "Mad Men" - on acid. Hitchcock This account of Alfred Hitchcock's making of "Psycho" is brisk and entertaining, and it does right by his wife, Alma Reville, who was an integral part of his creative process. Holy Motors The latest unclassifiable film from the eccentric French director Leos Carax follows a man as he drives around in a limousine and stops in various places where, in disguise, he playacts (or lives; it's not always certain) a variety of identities and encounters. In the Family Patrick Wang's first feature, in which he stars, is an astonishing mix of great and awful, the story of a gay father (Wang) in a custody battle with the family of his deceased lover. Just 45 Minutes From Broadway Henry Jaglom's latest, a comic melodrama about actors addicted to theatrics both on and off the stage, tries to meld theater life with real life, but the results are more stagy than cinematic. Killing Them Softly Brad Pitt stars as a hit man who has come to town to straighten out a crisis of confidence within a gambling community, in a clever, dramatic and yet often very funny crime drama with parallels to the 2008 financial crisis. Lay the Favorite A bawdy, fun and occasionally touching true story about a young woman (Rebecca Hall) who moves to Las Vegas in the hope of becoming a cocktail waitress and instead ends up involved in a world of high-stakes gambling. Lincoln An amazing film from Steven Spielberg featuring one of the year's best performances, with Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, working every possible angle to pass the 13th Amendment in the waning days of the Civil War. North Sea Texas This delicate but sensual coming-of-age tale, about a neglected Belgian lad who pines for the boy next door, is not highly original, but first-time director Bavo Defurne has such an assured hand and visual flair that everything seems fresh. [...] in "The Other Son," French writer-director Lorraine Levy generally succeeds in creating a compelling, humanistic family drama, even if some viewers may reject the movie's final note of optimism. Playing for Keeps This is a somewhat engaging romantic comedy about a former soccer star who tries to get reacquainted with his ex-wife and son, while coaching soccer and having soccer moms fling themselves at him. Rise of the Guardians This new DreamWorks Animation film has a spunky charm, even as the story gets lost in a flurry of action and emotional cues. Children will enjoy the barrage of visual stimulation, and adults will appreciate the fact that there's no bathroom humor or back-talking teenagers in the North Pole. The Sessions John Hawkes plays a polio victim who can't move his arms or legs but wants to experience sex for the first time, so he hires therapist Helen Hunt, in this well-acted, humane and sexually explicit drama. Skyfall A good-enough action movie, but a disappointing James Bond entry, with a sober, somber, downbeat Bond, trying to protect M (Judi Dench) from a maniacal terrorist (Javier Bardem). Waiting for Lightning A breezy, entertaining documentary about famed skateboarder Danny Way, capped by a fantastic jump over the Great Wall of China, doesn't transcend its subject the way "Exit Through the Gift Shop" transcends graffiti art. Way's life - he's from a broken home and has dealt with tragedy - could have gone in a dramatically different direction but for a survival instinct he shares with fellow extreme sports stars Laird Hamilton and Travis Pastrana (both interviewed in the film). Wreck-It Ralph This tribute to arcade gaming is delightfully off the rails, offering a merger of styles and grown-up-friendly themes that is reminiscent of Disney's 1988 homage to noir, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." Movie extrasArtists Television Access Thurs.: CCSF Directing Students Showcase. 8 p.m. Fri.: USF Student Film Showcase. 8 p.m. Sun.: Small Press Traffic: Reported by SFGate 4 days ago.
Anna Karenina Joe Wright's misguided and miscast version of the Tolstoy classic uses a host of distancing devices - namely doing the movie as though it took place on a stage - but the effect is to render something cold that should have been warm. Affleck plays the CIA operative who aims to fly out six Americans posing as a film crew for a fake movie. The Big Picture Based on Douglas Kennedy's 1997 novel, this ambitious French thriller focuses on a Parisian lawyer (Romain Duris) who kills his wife's lover, a photographer, then assumes his identity and goes on the lam. Chasing Ice This documentary presents striking visual evidence of global warming in the form of time-lapse photo sequences of glaciers melting and breaking up. The Flat This remarkable movie, about a Jewish family's exploration of a friendship between their grandparents and a Nazi officer and his wife, feels more like a thriller than a documentary. Flight One of the best plane crash sequences in all of film highlights this drama about a gifted pilot, suffering from alcoholism, on a collision course with authorities and his own illness. Generation P This Russian mind-bending comedy, about an out-of-work poet struggling to find his way in post-Communist Russia, plays like a metaphysical Moscow version of "Mad Men" - on acid. Hitchcock This account of Alfred Hitchcock's making of "Psycho" is brisk and entertaining, and it does right by his wife, Alma Reville, who was an integral part of his creative process. Holy Motors The latest unclassifiable film from the eccentric French director Leos Carax follows a man as he drives around in a limousine and stops in various places where, in disguise, he playacts (or lives; it's not always certain) a variety of identities and encounters. In the Family Patrick Wang's first feature, in which he stars, is an astonishing mix of great and awful, the story of a gay father (Wang) in a custody battle with the family of his deceased lover. Just 45 Minutes From Broadway Henry Jaglom's latest, a comic melodrama about actors addicted to theatrics both on and off the stage, tries to meld theater life with real life, but the results are more stagy than cinematic. Killing Them Softly Brad Pitt stars as a hit man who has come to town to straighten out a crisis of confidence within a gambling community, in a clever, dramatic and yet often very funny crime drama with parallels to the 2008 financial crisis. Lay the Favorite A bawdy, fun and occasionally touching true story about a young woman (Rebecca Hall) who moves to Las Vegas in the hope of becoming a cocktail waitress and instead ends up involved in a world of high-stakes gambling. Lincoln An amazing film from Steven Spielberg featuring one of the year's best performances, with Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, working every possible angle to pass the 13th Amendment in the waning days of the Civil War. North Sea Texas This delicate but sensual coming-of-age tale, about a neglected Belgian lad who pines for the boy next door, is not highly original, but first-time director Bavo Defurne has such an assured hand and visual flair that everything seems fresh. [...] in "The Other Son," French writer-director Lorraine Levy generally succeeds in creating a compelling, humanistic family drama, even if some viewers may reject the movie's final note of optimism. Playing for Keeps This is a somewhat engaging romantic comedy about a former soccer star who tries to get reacquainted with his ex-wife and son, while coaching soccer and having soccer moms fling themselves at him. Rise of the Guardians This new DreamWorks Animation film has a spunky charm, even as the story gets lost in a flurry of action and emotional cues. Children will enjoy the barrage of visual stimulation, and adults will appreciate the fact that there's no bathroom humor or back-talking teenagers in the North Pole. The Sessions John Hawkes plays a polio victim who can't move his arms or legs but wants to experience sex for the first time, so he hires therapist Helen Hunt, in this well-acted, humane and sexually explicit drama. Skyfall A good-enough action movie, but a disappointing James Bond entry, with a sober, somber, downbeat Bond, trying to protect M (Judi Dench) from a maniacal terrorist (Javier Bardem). Waiting for Lightning A breezy, entertaining documentary about famed skateboarder Danny Way, capped by a fantastic jump over the Great Wall of China, doesn't transcend its subject the way "Exit Through the Gift Shop" transcends graffiti art. Way's life - he's from a broken home and has dealt with tragedy - could have gone in a dramatically different direction but for a survival instinct he shares with fellow extreme sports stars Laird Hamilton and Travis Pastrana (both interviewed in the film). Wreck-It Ralph This tribute to arcade gaming is delightfully off the rails, offering a merger of styles and grown-up-friendly themes that is reminiscent of Disney's 1988 homage to noir, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." Movie extrasArtists Television Access Thurs.: CCSF Directing Students Showcase. 8 p.m. Fri.: USF Student Film Showcase. 8 p.m. Sun.: Small Press Traffic: Reported by SFGate 4 days ago.