film

0
Ernest and Celestine

A BIRDER’S GUIDE TO EVERYTHING 

A 15-year-old birding fanatic thinks that he’s made the discovery of a lifetime. So, on the eve of his father’s remarriage, he escapes on an epic road trip with his best friends to solidify their place in birding history. Ben Kingsley co-stars in this warm and funny movie about youth, birding, friends, love, loss, forgiveness and a duck. At Boedecker. — Boedecker Theater

CYBER-SENIORS 

Proving you’re never too old to learn something new, Cyber-Seniors follows a group of initially reluctant seniors as they discover the wonders of the world-wide-web with the help of their teenage mentors. Boulder County Aging Services co-presents this heartwarming, humorous and candid documentary about the challenges and victories of seniors as they dive into the digital world. At Boedecker. — Boedecker Theater

ERNEST & CELESTINE Deep below snowy, cobblestone streets, tucked away in networks of winding subterranean tunnels, lives a civilization of hard-working mice, terrified of the bears who live above ground. Unlike her fellow mice, Celestine is an artist and a dreamer — and when she nearly ends up as breakfast for ursine troubadour Ernest, the two form an unlikely bond. But it isn’t long before their friendship is put to the test by their respective bear-fearing and mice-eating communities. Magical and funny, Ernest & Celestine joyfully leaps across genres, propelled with brilliant comic timing, to capture the kinetic possibilities of animated storytelling. At Mayan Theatre. — Landmark Theatres

GOODBYE WORLD 

Living off the grid, James and Lily raise their young daughter in a safe haven of comfort and sustainability. After a crippling, apocalyptic cyber attack crosses the country, their home transitions from peaceful refuge to a fortress for the old friends seeking protection and community. This unexpected community gathering is soon compromised by personal histories and exchanges as well as the threat of a locally grown new world order. At Boedecker. — Boedecker Theater

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL 

Writer/director Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Royal Tenenbaums) returns with The Grand Budapest Hotel, which recounts the adventures of Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes), a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori), the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The dramatic comedy involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune — all against the backdrop of a suddenly and dramatically changing continent. All-star ensemble cast also includes F. Murray Abraham, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody, Tilda Swinton, Mathieu Amalric, Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, Jude Law, Jeff Goldblum, Saoirse Ronan and Edward Norton. At Esquire. — Landmark Theatres

INTERNATIONAL FILM SERIES (CU) 

This week at the IFS: Criss Cross; Child’s Pose; Philomena; The Galapagos Affair

LE WEEK-END 

Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent (Iris) and Lindsay Duncan (Mansfield Park) give exquisite performances as Nick and Meg, a long-married British couple revisiting Paris for the first time since their honeymoon in an attempt to rekindle their relationship. During a two-day escapade, diffident, wistful Nick and demanding, takecharge Meg careen from harmony to disharmony to resignation and back again as they take stock of half a lifetime of deep tenderness — and even deeper regret. A surprise invitation from Nick’s old friend Morgan (Jeff Goldblum), an amusingly boorish American academic with a fancy Parisian address, soon leads them to an unexpectedly hopeful vision of what their love and marriage might still become. This magically buoyant, bittersweet comedy-drama is a new peak in the ongoing collaboration between Notting Hill director Roger Michell and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi. At Chez Artiste. — Landmark Theatres

THE LUNCHBOX 

In the romantic drama The Lunchbox, middle-class housewife Ila (Nimrat Kaur) is trying once again to add some spice to her marriage, this time through her cooking. She desperately hopes that a new recipe will finally arouse some kind of reaction from her neglectful husband. She prepares a special lunchbox to be delivered to him at work, but, unbeknownst to her, it is mistakenly delivered to another office worker, Saajan (Irrfan Khan, Life of Pi), a lonely man on the verge of retirement. Curious about the lack of reaction from her husband, Ila puts a little note in the following day’s lunchbox, in the hopes of getting to the bottom of the mystery. This begins a series of lunchbox notes between Saajan and Ila, and the mere comfort of communicating with a stranger anonymously soon evolves into an unexpected friendship. Gradually, their notes become little confessions about their loneliness, memories, regrets, fears and even small joys. At Chez Artiste. — Landmark Theatres

THE MISSING PICTURE 

Director Rithy Panh was 13 in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia into a murderous experiment in ideology. He and his family were sent to starve in a rural re-education work camp. The Missing Picture explores Panh’s quest to create the missing images of that period, of his family and the life he recalled, as a celluloid act of remembrance. He comes up with a unique and inventive way to tell his story: he uses hundreds of intricately detailed clay figurines set up in diorama scenes, intercut with what archival propaganda footage he could find, to show what is indelibly recorded in his memory; he creates the missing pictures of what does not exist in photograph or film. Surprisingly effective, the film’s impact is mesmerizing and poetic. At Mayan. — Landmark Theatres

THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTEN 

Fresh out of college, Kermit, Fozzie and the entire Muppet cast of Kermit’s musical “Manhattan Melodies” head to the Big Apple with plans to turn the show into a big hit. They suffer rejection and heartache, but Kermit’s perseverance eventually pays off. Then, just when the lights of the Great White Way are within view, Kermit disappears. The third Muppet movie is notable for the introduction of the Muppet Babies as well as the long-anticipated “marriage” of Kermit and Piggy. At Esquire. — Landmark theatres

NYMPHOMANIAC VOLUME I & II 

Lars von Trier’s much-anticipated motion picture event Nymphomaniac will be released as two full-length feature films. Volume I is the story of Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac who is discovered badly beaten in an alley by Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård), an older bachelor who takes her into his home. As he tends to her wounds, she recounts the erotic story of her adolescence and young-adulthood (portrayed in flashback by Stacy Martin). Volume I also stars Shia LaBeouf, Uma Thurman, Christian Slater, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Connie Nielsen and Udo Kier. Nymphomaniac marks von Trier’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed film Melancholia, and is his third consecutive collaboration with Gainsbourg. A groundbreaking filmmaker for more than two decades, von Trier’s other films credits include Antichrist, Dogville, Dancer in the Dark and Breaking the Waves. Note: Nymphomaniac contains graphic depictions of sexuality to a degree unprecedented in a mainstream feature film. At Mayan. — Landmark Theatres

OPERA: MANON — BERLIN STAATSOPER 

“Dream team” Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón have long since conquered the entire world of music, and continue to do so in this production at the Berlin Staatsoper. Manon, the tragic heroine of Massenet’s work, is torn between flirtatiousness and profound love, between frivolity and deep commitment. Netrebko seems predestined for this role, with her body language alternating between girlish, introspective and carefree, and her voice radiating brilliance, warmth, mystery and longing. As the impoverished young nobleman Des Grieux, Rolando Villazón compellingly depicts the burning passion of an ultimately doomed lover with his glowing, supple, slender tenor voice. At Boedecker. — Boedecker Theater

PARTICLE FEVER 

Imagine being able to watch as Edison turned on the first light bulb, or as Franklin received his first jolt of electricity. For the first time, a film gives audiences a front row seat to a significant and inspiring scientific break-through as it happens. Particle Fever follows six brilliant scientists during the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, marking the start-up of the biggest and most expensive experiment in the history of the planet, pushing the edge of human innovation. As they seek to unravel the mysteries of the universe, 10,000 scientists from over 100 countries joined forces in pursuit of a single goal: to recreate conditions that existed just moments after the Big Bang and find the Higgs boson, potentially explaining the origin of all matter. But our heroes confront an even bigger challenge: have we reached our limit in understanding why we exist? Directed by Mark Levinson, a physicist turned filmmaker, and masterfully edited by Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, The Godfather trilogy), Particle Fever is a celebration of discovery, revealing the very human stories behind this epic machine. At Mayan. — Landmark Theatres

TIM’S VERMEER 

Tim Jenison, a Texas-based inventor and the visionary behind the desktop video revolution, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did 17th century Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer (“Girl with a Pearl Earring”) manage to paint so photo-realistically — 150 years before the invention of photography? The epic research project Jenison embarks on to test his theory is as extraordinary as what he discovers. At Chez Artiste. — Landmark Theatres

WALKING THE CAMINO: SIX WAYS TO SANTIAGO 

Come along for an up-close look at one of humanity’s most timehonored traditions. By following pilgrims from all walks of life as they attempt to cross an entire country on foot with only a backpack, a pair of boots and an open mind, we witness a magnetic and miraculous power, which changes lives. Driven by an inexplicable calling and a grand sense of adventure, each pilgrim throws themselves heart-and-soul into their physical trek to Santiago and, most importantly, their personal journey to themselves. At Boedecker and Chez Artiste. — Boedecker Theater 

 Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com