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Up To Date

What's Showing In Independent, Foreign & Documentary Film, January 15

Find the joy in creating a new mop, and skate on the edge of the real estate bubble. Watch a few love stories not bound by traditional gender roles. Up to Date's indie, foreign and documentary film critics have a few ideas about this year's Oscar nominees and the films showing on area screens this week.

Lamb, not rated, AMC Studio 28, Town Center, Barrywoods

  • Cynthia Haines: You find this problem with someone who wants to write it, direct it and star in it. You lose perspective, you lose focus, and that's exactly what I think happened to him. 
  • Steve Walker: It's very queasy. The only thing in its favor is that there is some truth in the capture of his personality in the way pedophiles groom kids. This is kind of a repellent movie.
  • Bob Butler: I think the problem with the film is that... this Partridge fellow never got a handle on exactly what this guy was. It's skin-crawling in a lot of ways, but the little girl is fantastic... she runs circles around every adult in this film. 

The Danish Girl, R, Tivoli, Glenwood Arts, Regal Kansas City Stadium, AMC Studio 28, Town Center, Barrywoods, Independence Commons

  • Steve: You sort of see the psychic weight being lifted off him as he becomes more and more comfortable dressing as Lili.
  • Bob: Eddie Redmayne does a tremendous job of depicting someone who is finally, after years and years of suppression, accepting who he is... I like everything it’s doing on principle, but it never gripped me quite like I wanted it to.

Joy, PG-13, Glenwood Arts, Regal Kansas City Stadium, Standees, AMC Studio 28, Barrywoods, Independence Commons, B&B Northland, Lee's Summit, Shawnee, Overland Park 

  • Cynthia: I think there’s a real emptiness to having your life revolve around a mop. I couldn’t wait for this to be over... I just didn’t see any dynamic change from parts (Jennifer Lawrence) played in American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook. 
  • Steve: I think Jennifer Lawrence is terrific. I don’t know who else in the world could have played this woman and made you feel her journey… it's a wonderfully-arced narrative. She’s got pluck and moxie.
  • Bob: There’s also a dark side to this movie…the last moment of the film is a scene set more or less in the present… there’s a sense of isolation there that suggests that even the greatest American success story can have an emptiness at the center of it.

Carol, R, Tivoli, Glenwood Arts, Regal Kansas City Stadium, AMC Town Center, B&B Shawnee

  • Cynthia: I thought it was somewhat of a groundbreaking film, in terms of how beautifully it was shot-- the set design, costumes and everything-- and the story that it told.
  • Steve: I just think it's a beautiful, sublime, moving film, capturing this conflict in this time.
  • Bob: Watching the film, I never got the sense that this was a “lesbian love story.” I got the sense it was a love story that happened to be about two women. I have never seen a film that so nailed the look and feel of the early 1950s.

The Big Short, R, Glenwood Arts, Screenland Crossroads, Cinemark Palace, Cinemark 20, Regal Kansas City Stadium, AMC Studio 28, Barrywoods, Independence Commons, Ward Parkway, B&B Lee's Summit, Alamo Drafthouse

  • Cynthia: It is a terrific movie, but it’s pretty uneven. It’s a bit frenetic in terms of trying to tell the story. Steve
  • Bob: Most people leave indignant, angry, teed off. That’s the point.

The Hateful Eight, R,  Alamo Drafthouse, Regal Kansas City Stadium, Cinemark 20, Cinemark Palace, AMC Studio 28, Town Center, Barrywoods, Independence Commons, Ward Parkway, Legends, B&B Northland, Lee's Summit, Overland Park 

  • Bob: Quentin Tarantino-- his movies don’t say anything, but the style with which he doesn't say anything usually gets him through. I think he’s met his match this time. The movie is pretentious beyond belief. It’s sexist; it’s violent; it’s racist too, I think. 
  • Steve: It’s very stagey… it’s a gorefest. 

 

When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.