The Vintage & Handmade Market
Check this out
All power to the people: All good lefties know a little something about William Kunstler, and if they don’t, they probably should. He was the legendary civil-rights lawyer who defended Abbie Hoffman and the rest of the Chicago 7, eventually earning himself a prison sentence for contempt of court. He also defended the rioting prisoners at Attica (unsuccessfully) and the Native Americans who took over Wounded Knee (successfully), along with countless others he saw being oppressed by the government amid the civil-rights and anti-Vietnam War movements. But by the time his daughters Emily and Sarah came along, Kunstler was in his mid-50s and had turned from (at least in their minds) protecting the weak and downtrodden to simply making his living as a New York defense attorney.
As they were growing up, the Kunstler girls felt their dad was, as they say, defending clients “accused of rape, terrorism, organized crime and cop-shooting.” They’ve made a documentary about him, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, in an effort to reconcile the man he was before they existed with the man they knew as their father.
There are interviews with Alan Dershowitz, Julian Bond, Phil Donahue, Tom Hayden, Bobby Seale, Harry Belafonte and plenty of others, most of whom recall Kunstler as a larger-than-life personality, if not a hero. But his daughters also remember pleading with their dad not to represent Yusef Salaam, a black teenager accused of taking part in the 1989 gang rape of a white jogger in Central Park. He took the case, a fact they could never accept, and he lost.
The personal side of the film, the examination into their relationship with their father, is less interesting than the insight into Kunstler’s own history. Did Kunstler, who died in 1995, always do the right thing? Pick the right client? Win the right case. No. He certainly wasn’t perfect. But this was a man who was at the forefront of the anti-war, anti-racism, anti-establishment movements for years, who stood up for the rest of us even when we didn’t realize we needed standing up for, and that sometimes meant representing people who were accused of, and sometimes guilty of, heinous crimes.
Even the people we think are guilty deserve good counsel. Salaam, that teenager whose case he didn’t win? After serving seven years behind bars, he was exonerated by DNA evidence. Turns out Kunstler got that one right.
Opening
The Book of Eli: Denzel Washington stars in the new film from the Hughes brothers, fighting his way across scorched earth to save a fancy book.
The Lovely Bones: Peter Jackson films Alice Sebold’s novel about young Susie Salmon (Saorsie Raorsin), who narrates the picture after being raped and murdered by her creepy neighbor. Jackson works hard, but books are referred to as “unfilmable” for a reason. See our review in this week's issue.
The Spy Next Door: Jackie Chan is a retired spy who ends up babysitting the kids next door. And, you know, taking them on spy missions.
One time only
The Birdcage: Robin Williams and Nathan Lane are a Miami couple who have to pretend to be straight lest they freak out Williams’ son’s future in-laws (a terrifically uptight Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest). Presented by FilmOut, it screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13, at the Birch North Park Theatre.
Good Morning Vietnam: Another Robin Williams joint. This time, he’s real-life deejay Adrian Cronauer, whose stint in Vietnam galvanized the troops and pissed off the brass. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma. Free.
In Deep: The latest ski flick from Matchstick Productions screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13, at the Price Center Theater on the UCSD Campus.
Classic Mexican Cinema: The Museum of Photographic Arts kicks off a yearlong series celebrating the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence and the 100th anniversary of the Mexican revolution. Screens at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, at MoPA in Balboa Park.
The General: This one’s tasteful, so dress nice. The San Diego Symphony presents Buster Keaton’s silent classic with live accompaniment. Screens at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, at Copley Symphony Hall.
Adams Wall: The San Diego Jewish Film Festival gears up for February with this story about a Jewish boy and a Lebanese girl who fall for each other in Montreal. Like Romeo and Juliet, oui oui! There’s a reception at 6:15 p.m., and the film screens at 8 at the Garfield Theater in the La Jolla Jewish Community Center.
The Royal Tenenbaums: All of Wes Anderson’s movies are about dysfunctional families, but none of them are as dysfunctional as the Tenenbaums. Screens at midnight, Saturday, Jan. 16, at the Ken Cinema. For more, see Page 9.
Pulp Fiction: Inglourious Basterds is pretty good, but Tarantino’s best will always be Pulp Fiction. Screens at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 18, at the Birch North Park Theatre.
The Princess Bride: If you’ve seen Rob Reiner’s 1987 fantasy and didn’t like it, you have no soul. There’s a reason it’s one of the ultimate date films. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma. Free.
Now playing
Crazy Heart: Sure, it’s a clean-and-sober story, but Jeff Bridges is guaranteed an Oscar nomination for playing faded country singer and legendary drunk Bad Blake.
Daybreakers: A virus has turned the bulk of the population into vampires, the human blood supply is dwindling and the only man who can save us is Ethan Hawke. Yes, we’re doomed.
I Love You Goodbye: The latest entry in the Filipino film series at Horton Plaza.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: Terry Gilliam’s latest is also Heath Ledger’s last. It’s a strange, fascinating and flawed piece, an examination of good (Christopher Plummer) versus evil (that’d be Tom Waits) with Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law filling in for Ledger, who died midway through shooting.
Leap Year: Apparently, here’s an Irish tradition that says a guy must accept if he’s proposed to on Feb. 29. So Amy Adams goes to Dublin to try to snag Matthew Goode in the year’s first stupid romantic comedy.
Mr. Hulot’s Holiday: A newly restored print of the Jacques Tati 1954 slapstick classic. Ends Jan. 14.
Youth in Revolt: Michael Cera is Nick, the antihero of this adaptation of C.D. Payne’s novel, a sex-obsessed teen desperate to hook up with Sheeni (Portia Doubleday). When she rebuffs his advances, he creates Francois, a mustachioed player who is also his alter-ego.
3 Idiots: The enormous Bollywood comedy blockbuster finds its way into American theaters.
Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman: Dustin Hoffman narrates this documentary about Julius Shulman, the world’s greatest photographer of architecture. Ends Jan. 14.
Sherlock Holmes: Robert Downey Jr. is great, as usual, even if his Sherlock Holmes is more brawn than brains.
A Single Man: Colin Firth delivers on the role of a lifetime in fashion designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel: Another sign of the pending apocalypse.
Broken Embraces: The new one from Pedro Almodovar stars Penelope Cruz as the former mistress of a blind film director musing on his past.
It’s Complicated: A romantic comedy starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. Yet another sign of said pending apocalypse.
Nine: Rob Marshall, the guy who brought you Chicago, goes back to the Broadway trough for Nine. And even though this film adaptation of a stage adaptation of Fellini’s 8 1/2 stars Daniel Day-Lewis as a film director dealing with all the women in his life, it feels long, boring and lifeless.
The Young Victoria: The Devil Wears Prada’s Emily Blunt stars as, well, a young Queen Victoria.
Avatar: James Cameron’s sci-fi magnum opus is too long and has an inevitable love story. But, for once, when they say you’ve never seen anything like it, they’re right. This is a film and a truly rendered alien planet that must be seen on the big screen and in 3D.
Invictus: You might think Morgan Freeman would be the perfect guy to play Nelson Mandela in a film directed by Clint Eastwood about how the South African rugby team, led by Matt Damon, united the country shortly after the end of Apartheid. You’d be wrong.
The Princess and the Frog: Two notable facts here: 1) Disney has returned to 2-D animation and 2) the new film, set in jazz-era New Orleans, features an African-American heroine. Both are admirable, but the new movie doesn’t live up to the Golden Age of Disney films.
Up in the Air: George Clooney is at his charmiest (charm + smarmy) as Ryan Bingham, flown in to fire employees at companies he has nothing to do with and aspiring to little more than more frequent flier miles. He’s a lock for a Best Actor nomination.
Brothers: When Marine and solid family man Tobey Maguire is presumed dead in Afghanistan, his black-sheep brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) steps in to look after his wife (Natalie Portman) and kids. That can’t end well.
Fantastic Mr. Fox: Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic story, which features stop-motion animation and performances from George Clooney and Meryl Streep, really is fantastic.
The Road: The last time someone made a Cormac McCarthy book into a movie, No Country for Old Men won the Best Picture. And this one, about a man and his son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic U.S., won the Pulitzer.
The Blind Side: The book this is based upon is about the economics of football and an enormous, poverty-stricken young black man—adopted by a white family—who has the potential to be a highly paid professional athlete. So, of course, they turned it into a Sandra Bullock movie.
Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire: Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry helped produce this film about an obese Harlem teen in the 1980s, which is being talked up as a Best Picture possibility.
Twilight: New Moon: Either you dismiss the Twilight franchise as being for tweens and their moms or you’ve been drinking the blood-red Kool-aid.
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day: The sequel to the cult classic. This time, with more guys getting shot!
An Education: Nick Hornby of High Fidelity fame wrote the script and does a 180 by writing about a girl who desperately wants to grow up and thinks she may have found a shortcut in a good-looking charmer twice her age.
Where the Wild Things Are: Let the wild rumpus begin! Only at La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas.
A Serious Man: The Coen brothers offer up an examination of faith that moves in mysterious ways.
The Hurt Locker: Kathryn Bigelow’s tense new film focuses on an Iraq unit that specializes in defusing bombs. Well-made, well-written and well-acted—not what you expect for an summer action movie.
Ongoing
Reuben H. Fleet Science Center Space Theater: After undergoing significant renovations, the Fleet is re-opening its dome Imax theater, complete with a kick-ass new screen. Films vary week-to-week. Showtimes and prices can be found at www.rhfleet.org.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: No, it’s not a time warp—the love-it-or-hate-it camp classic continues its midnight run in its 37th year of release. When the lead character of the film is a transvestite scientist named Dr. Frank-N-Furter, you know you’re in for some seriously trashy viewing. And, of course, this is the one movie where you want the audience shouting at the screen. Screens Fridays at midnight at La Paloma Theater in Encinitas.
