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

Review: Wish You Were Here

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/06/46993/

A must to avoid for those planning a trip to Southeast Asia, Wish You Were Here is bound to impact weekend getaways to Phnom Penh in much the same way Midnight Express put the kibosh on Turkish tourism. At least this time, we’re allowed to suffer in style.

In their pursuit of oblivion, four friends vacationing from Australia (Joel Edgerton, Felicity Price, Teresa Palmer, and Anthony Starr) party the night away at a remote Cambodian holiday destination only to wake the next morning with big heads, minus a chum, and unable to recall the events of the previous evening.

“A holiday to remember became a trip they would never forget.” Even the tagline reeks of a lifetime of Lifetime Channel one-offs, right? The best way to describe the film in commercial terms is The Hangover for people longing to be challenged mentally, not the other way around. Not only are the female leads allowed to develop beyond their cup-sizes, there is more virtuoso storytelling at work in the exquisitely elucidative opening credit sequence (don’t come late!) than you’ll find in many of this summer’s thrillers combined.

It’s not an implausible whodunit - that’s why God gave us Now You See Me - nor is it a conventional mystery. The complex flashback structure — designed by first time writer-director Kieran Darcy-Smith and his wife, leading lady, and co-author Price — skillfully (and succinctly) weaves in and out of time frames and locations without once having to rely on intertitles to clutter its path. We don’t begin to learn the ‘how’ or ‘why’ until well over halfway through the picture, and by that time we are so caught up in the lives of others that our raison d'être has all but evaporated.

Like a pair of veteran Vegas dealers, Darcy-Smith and Price cut and shuffle the exposition, doling out just the right amounts of clarification to keep audiences on their toes. In terms of box office, this gnawing thriller will never amount to more than a termite on a Hollywood tentpole. But for discerning filmgoers, this summer’s thrills are Here. I wish you’d see it.

Reader Rating: Four stars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFHDO6w6IBI

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

Previous article

Trump names local supporter new Border Czar

Another Brick (Suit) in the Wall

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/06/46993/

A must to avoid for those planning a trip to Southeast Asia, Wish You Were Here is bound to impact weekend getaways to Phnom Penh in much the same way Midnight Express put the kibosh on Turkish tourism. At least this time, we’re allowed to suffer in style.

In their pursuit of oblivion, four friends vacationing from Australia (Joel Edgerton, Felicity Price, Teresa Palmer, and Anthony Starr) party the night away at a remote Cambodian holiday destination only to wake the next morning with big heads, minus a chum, and unable to recall the events of the previous evening.

“A holiday to remember became a trip they would never forget.” Even the tagline reeks of a lifetime of Lifetime Channel one-offs, right? The best way to describe the film in commercial terms is The Hangover for people longing to be challenged mentally, not the other way around. Not only are the female leads allowed to develop beyond their cup-sizes, there is more virtuoso storytelling at work in the exquisitely elucidative opening credit sequence (don’t come late!) than you’ll find in many of this summer’s thrillers combined.

It’s not an implausible whodunit - that’s why God gave us Now You See Me - nor is it a conventional mystery. The complex flashback structure — designed by first time writer-director Kieran Darcy-Smith and his wife, leading lady, and co-author Price — skillfully (and succinctly) weaves in and out of time frames and locations without once having to rely on intertitles to clutter its path. We don’t begin to learn the ‘how’ or ‘why’ until well over halfway through the picture, and by that time we are so caught up in the lives of others that our raison d'être has all but evaporated.

Like a pair of veteran Vegas dealers, Darcy-Smith and Price cut and shuffle the exposition, doling out just the right amounts of clarification to keep audiences on their toes. In terms of box office, this gnawing thriller will never amount to more than a termite on a Hollywood tentpole. But for discerning filmgoers, this summer’s thrills are Here. I wish you’d see it.

Reader Rating: Four stars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFHDO6w6IBI

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

The Interviewer's Anxiety at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla: An Interview with Wim Wenders, Pt. 2

Next Article

Paradise Patio, Lost and Found

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