Film fests for San Diego’s Asians, Germans and cyclists

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

That’s not all. On Thursday, Oct.20, the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park is teaming up with the San Diego County Bicycle Foundation and South Park’s Velo Cult for Greatest Hits of the Bicycle Film Festival, 12 short films that have appeared in the touring Bicycle Film Festival during the past 11 years. This is MoPA’s POP Thursdays, which means cocktails. Be there for the 7 p.m. start time, but make sure you’ve sobered up before pedaling home.

Wait, there’s more. Also at MoPA, the German Currents San Diego Film Festival makes its local debut on Friday, Oct. 21. I interviewed the director, Mona Mukherjea-Gehrig, months ago, and she was clearly pained to be kicking off the same weekend as SDAFF, but a number of prints— most of what they’re screening is in 35mm—were unavailable any other weekend. There are a couple of kidfriendly films on the docket, but the three features are interesting and impressive. Almanya—Willkommen in Deutchland looks at Germany’s Turkish population, while Mahler on the Couch is about the famed composer’s sessions with Sigmund Freud. Most impressive is the closing night film, 3, the latest picture from Tom Tykwer, who made Run Lola Run and The international. This marks the San Diego premiere of his new one, which is not a bad get for a fledgling film festival.

—Anders Wright

Opening

The Blackpower Mixtape: 1967-1975: This collection of 16-mm footage of the leaders of the Black Power movement was shot by Swedish journalists and, until recently, languished in a basement.

Finding Joe: The “Joe” here is Campbell, and this documentary features interviews with tons of people who have been affected by his work.

Johnny English reborn: Rowan Atkinson plays the bumbling agent a second time.

Margin Call: Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons and a slew of high-profile talents play the 1-percenters on the eve of the financial meltdown. See our review on Page 72.

The Mighty Macs: Carla Gugino stars as Cathy Rush, who took the small-time Immaculata College basketball team on a serious Cinderella run in 1971. Think Hoosiers at Catholic school.

Paranormal Activity 3: The guys who made Catfish helmed the latest iteration of the popular found-footage horror show.

The Skin I Live In: Antonio Banderas stars in Pedro Almodovar’s drama as a plastic surgeon desperate to create a synthetic skin for his wife, who was badly burned years ago. Thing is, he needs a human subject, and he’d rather try it out on someone else before he tries it out on her.

The Three Musketeers: This adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ novel was directed by the guy behind the Resident Evil movies.

We Were Here: This documentary looks at the early days of AIDS in San Francisco and how the gay community faced the future and rose to the occasion.

Where Soldiers Come From: Director Heather Courtney follows several young men who grew up in small midwestern towns, went to Afghanistan and then returned home to the same small town.

One Time Only

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Do the time warp, yet again, at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

Ghostbusters: Halloween must be coming. Get slimed at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct.20, at Plaza Bonita and Grossmont Center.

The Man Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock remade his own film with this 1956 version, about a family—including James Stewart and Doris Day—on vacation in Morocco that stumbles upon an assassination plot. Screens at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, at Reading Cinemas Town Square.

Goldfinger: Who knows where that finger’s been? See James Bond find out at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, through Saturday, Oct. 22, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

The Third Man: Classic noir stars Joseph Cotton as Holly Martins, a man traveling to post-war Vienna only to find that the friend who invited him, Harry Lime (Orson Welles), has died under mysterious circumstances. Screens at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, at the Central Library, Downtown. Free.

Zombie: Lucio Fulci’s undead classic gets a restoration and makeover. The zombies are still seriously ugly, though. Screens at midnight, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21 and 22, at the Ken Cinema.

The Renaissance of Mata Ortiz: Director Scott Petersen will be on hand to discuss his documentary about a collaboration between an American anthropologist and a Mexican artist, which led to an artistic revival in Mata Ortiz, Mexico. Screens at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Museum of Man in Balboa Park.

Rear Window: Laid-up photojournalist James Stewart witnesses a murder when he starts spying on his neighbors. Screens at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at Reading Cinemas Gaslamp.

Forks Over Knives: Documentary that suggests that almost all diseases we face come from eating meat. So have a salad, fatty. Screens at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, at the Central Library, Downtown.

The Human Resources Manager: An unhappy HR manager for Jerusalem’s largest bakery travels to Romania to visit the family of an employee who was killed by a suicide bomber. Presented by the San Diego Jewish Film Festival at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in La Jolla.

The Colors of the Mountain: In this Colombian film, a 9-year-old boy has to find the best way to retrieve his soccer ball from a minefield. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, at the Central Library, Downtown.

Psycho: Like you need another reason not to shower. Screens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, at Reading Cinemas Gaslamp.

13 Ghosts: In the library’s latest edition of Schlockfest, a family’s magic specs allow them to see the ghosts that are haunting the house they just inherited. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at the Central Library, Downtown.

Oxhide 2: UCSD’s ArtPower! Film teams up with the San Diego Asian Film Festival to present Liu Jiayin’s second up-close look at life in a Chinese apartment. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at The Loft at UCSD.

Edward Scissorhands: Tim Burton’s modern fable is about individuality in the face of conformity, but it’s easier to think of it as that movie where Johnny Depp has those long scissors instead of hands. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

Little Shop of Horrors: FilmOut, San Diego’s LGBT film festival, screens the 1986 version starring Rick Moranis as Seymour, a geeky florist who harbors a giant man-eating plant. Screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at the Birch North Park Theatre.

Now Playing

Footloose: The good news is that this remake is directed by Craig Brewer, who made Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan, and he’s able to coax some contemporary sensibility out of what could have been a diabetes-causing disaster.

The Thing: Technically a prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 classic, this new one has some good ideas but can’t duplicate the success of the movie it’s trying to emulate.

America the Beautiful II: The Thin Commandments: In his first film, filmmaker Darryl Roberts examined our fascination with beauty. This time, he’s taking on weight.

The Big Year: Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson face late-life, mid-life and no-life crises, respectively.
Blackthorn: Some people think Butch Cassidy survived the hailstorm of bullets that ended Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In this film, Sam Shepard plays an aging Butch, trying to finally return home to the states, only to run into trouble one last time.

The Dead: An American engineer finds himself stranded in Africa during a major zombie outbreak.

No other Woman: A man is caught between his wife and his mistress in Horton Plaza’s latest Filipino film.

Sarah Palin: You Betcha!: Documentary filmmaker / provocateur Nick Broomfield, who’s made films about Kurt Cobain and Aileen Wournos, turns his lens on Palin, who has made a ton of money recently by not being in politics.

Take Shelter: Michael Shannon is tremendous as a man whose mental illness compels him to build a storm shelter in his backyard.

Trespass: Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman play a couple whose family gets even more dysfunctional when they’re held for ransom in their own home.

The Way: Emilio Estevez directed his dad, Martin Sheen, in this film about a father who heads to Europe to try to recover the body of his estranged son.

Weekend: A one-night stand develops into something much more important for a pair of gay men.

Thunder Soul: Jamie Foxx produced this documentary about alumni of Houston’s Kashmere High School Stage Band, who visited their 92-year-old band leader after 35 years.

1911: Jackie Chan co-directed this historical epic about the overthrow of the last Dynasty and the founding of the modern-day Republic of China.

Africa: The Serengeti: Nowhere in this IMAX look at this incredible wildlife sanctuary will you find the incredible Toto song. Screens on Fridays at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.

Grand Canyon Adventure: This IMAX movie takes you on a rafting trip down the Colorado River, which, by the way, no longer makes it all the way to the ocean. Screens on Fridays at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.

The Ides of March: George Clooney, who’s always worn his politics on his sleeve, directs and stars in his latest film, about the death of idealism in a young political consultant played by Ryan Gosling. It’s well-made, but not as important as it thinks it is.

Margaret: It’s been more than a decade since Kenneth Lonergan released his first film, You Can Count on Me. This follow-up stars Anna Paquin as a New York teen who’s almost sure that a deadly traffic accident is her fault.

The Mill and the Cross: This is the story behind Pieter Bruegel’s painting “The Way to Calvary.” Rutger Hauer is Bruegel, Michael York plays his patron and Charlotte Rampling is the Virgin Mary.

Real Steel: In the future, when boxers are replaced by robots, Hugh Jackman resurrects his career as a trainer by teaching a worthless piece of junk how to get all rock-’em, sock-’em.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil: This movie does for slasher films what Shaun of the Dead did for zombies. Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine are a couple of good ol’ boys mistaken for psycho killers by some good looking college kids who still manage to die in seriously gory ways.

Under the Sea: Go underwater and see some of the planet’s most gorgeous ecosystems, before it’s too late, since we’re gradually destroying pretty much everything. Screening at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.

50/50: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Adam, a 28-year-old who learns he has cancer. Seth Rogen is his best friend, so it’s got the R-rated raunch-comedy thing going on, but JGL’s performance is so good you won’t care.

Courageous: A bunch of tough cops find out that while they’re great on the job, at home it’s really hard to be dads and Christians at the same time. No, really, that’s what the movie’s about.

Dream House: Newlyweds Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz (in real life) move into a house where most of the family that used to live there was murdered. And, it seems, the killer’s not done yet. Sounds cheesy, but it’s directed by Jim Sheridan, who’s made some terrific films.

Machine Gun Preacher: Gerard Butler is Sam Childers, a real-life former drug dealer who, after finding religion, led armed incursions into dangerous parts of Sudan to rescue conscripted child soldiers. Ends Oct. 13 at Hillcrest Cinemas.

My Afternoons with Margueritte: Gerard Depardieu is Germain, an almost-illiterate man in his 50s whose friendship with the elderly Margueritte (Gisele Casadesus) allows both of them to grow in ways they hadn’t anticipated.

What’s Your Number?: Hopefully, the answer to the question asked in the title of this Anna Faris romcom is 867-530 ni-ee-ine.

Killer Elite: This action thriller, which stars Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro, really wants to be Heat, but it just doesn’t cook.

Abduction: Taylor Lautner tries to break away from the Twilight franchise and take over Shia LaBeouf’s gig as the plucky teenager everyone wants to kill.

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame: A steampunk murder mystery set in ancient China finds a legendary detective trying to solve an epic case on the eve of the Empresses’ coronation. Ends Oct. 20 at Hillcrest Cinemas.

Dolphin Tale: A boy and his dolphin. A family picture with Morgan Freeman and Harry Connick Jr., not to be confused with that weird ’75 Don Johnson sci-fi movie A Boy and His Dog.

Love Crime: Kristen Scott Thomas is a powerful executive who toys with underling Ludivine Sagnier just a little too much.

Moneyball: Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s who shook up baseball by reinventing the way players are valued. Sounds like dry stuff, but the last time someone adapted a Michael Lewis sports-business book for the big screen was The Blind Side, which earned Sandra Bullock an Oscar.

Drive: Ryan Gosling is a wheelman who spends his days doing stunts for the movies and his nights driving the getaway car for crooks. Nicholas Winding Refn’s film also stars Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks as you’ve never seen him before.

Contagion: Stephen Soderbergh’s big-budget virus movie stars everyone from Matt Damon to Kate Winslet to Marion Cottilard to Gwyneth Paltrow. Finally, we know what happened to the bird flu.

The Lion King 3-D: Hakuna matata in another dimension.

Warrior: Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton star as estranged brothers going mano-a-mano for a winner-take-all MMA championship. Gavin O’Connor’s new film has every sports-movie cliché in the book yet still manages to be well-acted, well-shot and totally inspiring.

The Debt: Helen Mirren is a retired Mossad agent forced to revisit her past when developments from a previous operation come to light.

The Help: Based on Kathryn Stockett’s novel, this stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, a ’60s-era college kid who starts interviewing the African-American women in her southern town, something that just wasn’t done at the time.

The Guard: Brendan Gleeson’s portrayal of a corrupt small-town Irish cop trying to take down some major drug traffickers is one of the best of the year, raising this crime comedy, which also stars Don Cheadle, to unexpected success.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes: James Franco, John Lithgow, Andy Serkis and the kid who played Draco Malfoy go bananas.

Crazy, Stupid, Love: Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling headline a good-enough romantic comedy that’s not ashamed of its PG-13 status.

The Smurfs: They’re so hard to get off your shoe when you step on them, especially when they’re in 3-D.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2: It’s tough to say goodbye, but fans will be thrilled with the franchise’s conclusion, which streamlines the final half of the final book and offers up some serious wizardry—in story and special effects.

Horrible Bosses: Put-upon drones Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day decide to murder their employers, played by Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston. It’s a comedy—ha!

Buck: Documentary about Buck Brannaman, one of the leading experts in horses and the inspiration for The Horse Whisperer. Screening at La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas.

Midnight in Paris: Woody Allen’s most charming film in years stars Owen Wilson as a Jazz Age-infatuated screenwriter and aspiring novelist who ends up hanging with the likes of Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

Boto be Wild 3-D: Despite sounding like yet another animated animal movie, this is an IMAX film about baby elephants and orangutans and the people who love them. Oh, and it’s narrated by Morgan Freeman. Collective sigh for the baby monkeys, please.

Tornado Alley: This new IMAX film, which travels into twisters with some professional storm chasers, has to be better than Twister, the movie. At the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: The camp classic continues its ongoing run, Fridays at midnight at La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas.