Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Dark Horse, Puerto Ricans in Paris, Warcraft, The Conjuring 2, and more

New movies opening this week

Team Durotan!
Team Durotan!
Movie

Warcraft **

thumbnail

Well now, looky here — a fantasy story, heavy on the CGI and based on an existing (video game) property — that somehow doesn’t feel like brand management, fan service, or even boilerplate hackwork. Instead, you’ve got a complicated, unexpected hero in the orc chieftan Durotan, who starts having second thoughts about conquering the world of humans after he discovers rot at the top of the orcish chain of command. (Even a marauding barbarian should pause where magic is concerned, even when that magic is employed to revive his stillborn son.) Of course, our natural sympathies are with humanity under siege — the brave king, the dashing knight, the youthful sorcerer — but there are hard choices on both sides, choices that involve real costs. Less real: the strange hyper-crisp, super-saturated depiction of armor, fur, skin, and greenery. But if it feels slightly fake, it’s gorgeously so, like the too-red blood of old horror films. There are plenty of flaws — an overabundance of storylines chief among them, followed by the occasional slip into silly action and/or overdone effects — but what fun to discover some virtues to set against them. Directed by Duncan Jones.

Find showtimes

Vanity Fair film critic Richard Lawson did not like the based-on-a-video-game fantasy pic Warcraft. I know this because of the headline: “Game Turned Movie Warcraft Fails on Every Single Level.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

But his review is actually kinder than that. Viz: “This cold open is bracing and tense and cleverly filmed, which raised my hopes for the rest of the film...Admirably, the film — written by Jones and Charles Leavitt — aims for deadly serious high fantasy, a tricky genre that hinges on a decidedly un-cool earnestness. It’s a grand idea...Here’s a movie that — despite its based-on-a-video-game origins in corporate synergy — feels genuinely uncynical...The battles are there, the zooming flights on some sort of griffin thing are there, the glowing magic spells and eye-popping landscapes are all there. (At times, the film looks genuinely lovely.)”

In the end, he decides that all these good bits don't manage to add up to anything good. I can see his point. It's a clunky film, hampered by its indebtedness to its sprawling source material. And most critics agree with him about its overall failure. But to me, the strong parts were so strong that I forgave a lot of faults. The handling of the orc hero alone was enough to make me sit up and smile. That's the critical horse race.

Lots of other more obviously good stuff opening this week as well. Scott had good things to say about the class warfare documentary Dark Horse, the Luis Guzman vehicle Puerto Ricans in Paris, and even the political refugee drama-thriller (driller?) Dheepan. Only the dragshow entry Viva disappointed.

On the sequel front, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The Conjuring 2 and unsurprised by how little I enjoyed Now You See Me 2.

There may be a few straggler reviews showing up in the comments, but other than that, cheers and happy weekend to you.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Classical Classical at The San Diego Symphony Orchestra

A concert I didn't know I needed
Next Article

Live Five: Sitting On Stacy, Matte Blvck, Think X, Hendrix Celebration, Coriander

Alt-ska, dark electro-pop, tributes, and coastal rock in Solana Beach, Little Italy, Pacific Beach
Team Durotan!
Team Durotan!
Movie

Warcraft **

thumbnail

Well now, looky here — a fantasy story, heavy on the CGI and based on an existing (video game) property — that somehow doesn’t feel like brand management, fan service, or even boilerplate hackwork. Instead, you’ve got a complicated, unexpected hero in the orc chieftan Durotan, who starts having second thoughts about conquering the world of humans after he discovers rot at the top of the orcish chain of command. (Even a marauding barbarian should pause where magic is concerned, even when that magic is employed to revive his stillborn son.) Of course, our natural sympathies are with humanity under siege — the brave king, the dashing knight, the youthful sorcerer — but there are hard choices on both sides, choices that involve real costs. Less real: the strange hyper-crisp, super-saturated depiction of armor, fur, skin, and greenery. But if it feels slightly fake, it’s gorgeously so, like the too-red blood of old horror films. There are plenty of flaws — an overabundance of storylines chief among them, followed by the occasional slip into silly action and/or overdone effects — but what fun to discover some virtues to set against them. Directed by Duncan Jones.

Find showtimes

Vanity Fair film critic Richard Lawson did not like the based-on-a-video-game fantasy pic Warcraft. I know this because of the headline: “Game Turned Movie Warcraft Fails on Every Single Level.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

But his review is actually kinder than that. Viz: “This cold open is bracing and tense and cleverly filmed, which raised my hopes for the rest of the film...Admirably, the film — written by Jones and Charles Leavitt — aims for deadly serious high fantasy, a tricky genre that hinges on a decidedly un-cool earnestness. It’s a grand idea...Here’s a movie that — despite its based-on-a-video-game origins in corporate synergy — feels genuinely uncynical...The battles are there, the zooming flights on some sort of griffin thing are there, the glowing magic spells and eye-popping landscapes are all there. (At times, the film looks genuinely lovely.)”

In the end, he decides that all these good bits don't manage to add up to anything good. I can see his point. It's a clunky film, hampered by its indebtedness to its sprawling source material. And most critics agree with him about its overall failure. But to me, the strong parts were so strong that I forgave a lot of faults. The handling of the orc hero alone was enough to make me sit up and smile. That's the critical horse race.

Lots of other more obviously good stuff opening this week as well. Scott had good things to say about the class warfare documentary Dark Horse, the Luis Guzman vehicle Puerto Ricans in Paris, and even the political refugee drama-thriller (driller?) Dheepan. Only the dragshow entry Viva disappointed.

On the sequel front, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The Conjuring 2 and unsurprised by how little I enjoyed Now You See Me 2.

There may be a few straggler reviews showing up in the comments, but other than that, cheers and happy weekend to you.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tigers In Cairo owes its existence to Craigslist

But it owes its name to a Cure tune and a tattoo
Next Article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader