Rubik’s masters take note: Movie Monday is offering free popcorn to anyone who can solve a cube in under five minutes at their screening of Cubers this week

Weekly Film Listings - June 11-17

Not all film updates were available at press time. Please check with theatres to confirm titles and times.

OPENING

★★½ Adoration -(Odeon) The latest from Atom Egoyan (Ararat) is a complicated, typically cerebral drama involving a high school student who presents a provocative—but fictional—family history to his fellow students, an act with wide-reaching consequences. Starts Fri. See review.

The Taking of Pelham 123 -(Odeon/SilverCity/Uni 4) Denzel Washington plays a NYC subway manager dragged into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a very bad guy (John Travolta) who will start killing off subway hostages unless his ransom demands are met. Starts Fri.

Imagine That -(Odeon/SilverCity) Eddie Murphy seems desperate to continue his long string of turkies with this family-friendly comedy about a failing business executive who finds that the secret to success lies in entering the fantasy world of his 8-year-old daughter. Starts Fri.

★½ Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - (Roxy, 7:15) The increasingly shallow Matthew McConaughey is well cast as a Lothario who is visited by Christmas Carol-style ghosts who torment him with visions of his childhood sweetheart’s marriage. This is malignant sludge, alternately vulgar and sentimental. Costarring Jennifer Garner and Michael Douglas.

★½ Obsessed - (Roxy, 9:00) A successful, happily married businessman finds his life turned upside down after he starts getting stalked by a pretty secretary who briefly temped for him. This is a glossy, paint-by-numbers thriller of the Fatal Attraction school. NOTE: No matinees at the Roxy this week.

CONTINUING

★★½ Angels & Demons -(Capitol/SilverCity) Combining apocalyptic antimatter and a vengeful secret sect known as the Illuminati, this sequel to the wildly lucrative Da Vinci Code is fast paced but repetitive as Tom Hanks once again penetrates religious secrets to unearth all-too-human (and nasty) truths.

★Dance Flick -(Capitol) Those wackily vulgar spoofmeisters the Wayans Brothers are back, this time doing a truly lousy job of trashing teen dance movies like Step Up.

★★★½ Drag Me to Hell -(Odeon) Before Spider-Man, writer-director Sam Raimi was an auteur of horror flicks and he returns to his roots with this ghastly—and hilarious—riff on the old “gypsy curse” trope. This is a marvelously well-made B-movie that loves wallowing in its own icky love of schlocky splatter.

★★ The Hangover -(Capitol/SilverCity/Uni 4/Caprice) Las Vegas provides the setting for this wild, energetically vulgar (but rather flat-footed) comedy about four friends on a bachelor bender—unfortunately, when they wake up the next morning there is lots of chaos but no groom. Ooops!

★★½ Land of the Lost -(Odeon/SilverCity/Uni 4/Caprice) Will Ferrell plays a wacky scientist who gets sucked into a “time vortex” and ends up in a prehistoric era being pursued by dinosaurs and space aliens. Very silly, but Ferrell is in top form. Ten-year-old boys will be thrilled.

My Life in Ruins -(Odeon) Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) actually heads to Greece for this comedy about a female travel agent who discovers the bittersweet wonder of romance while on tour.

★★ Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian -(SilverCity) Ben Stiller reprises his role as a hapless yet brave security guard, in a noisy and less-than-charming comedy sequel co-starring Owen Wilson, Robin Williams, Amy Adams and Eugene Levy.

★★¼ The Soloist - (Capitol) This true story features an L.A. journalist (Robert Downey Jr., predictably witty and brilliant) who loses all his objectivity when he begins to profile a mentally ill street person (Jamie Foxx) who used to be a brilliant cellist from Juilliard. Far from the predictable “uplifting” story you’d expect from Hollywood, and directed with elegance (albeit sometimes too studied and poetical) by Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice).

★★★★ Star Trek -(Odeon/SilverCity) Another “origins” flick, this one showing us younger versions of James Kirk, Spock, and all the other inter-galactic icons who call the USS Enterprise home. Directed by J.J. Abrams (Lost) with humour, pace and a rollicking sense of style: it’s The Magic Flute of space operas!

★★½ Terminator: Salvation - (Capitol/SilverCity) It might be time terminate this reboot of the increasingly tired series about killer cyborgs and an imminent global apocalypse.

★★★½ Up -(Capitol/SilverCity/Uni 4/Caprice) The latest Pixar triumph is this animated feature about a crusty old geezer who, when faced with the prospect of being forced into a care home, literally floats off into a series of wacky adventures in South America. Not Pixar’s best, but still an admirably original combination of hilarity and heart.

LEAVING THURSDAY

★½ Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - (Odeon)

★★★ X-Men Origins: Wolverine - (Odeon/SilverCity)

IMAX

★★★★ Africa: The Serengeti - (10am, 1:00, 4:00, 7:00) Out of the vault comes this classic IMAX film celebrating the largest animal migration on earth, 1.5 million wildebeests thundering across 500 miles of the Serengeti in an annual search for water and the promise of new life. Animal loves have got to see this stunner. See review.

★★½ Journey to Mecca -(11am, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00) Muslims undertaking the Hajj, an annual pilgrimmage to Mecca, are depicted in a film that, while interesting, suffers from a clunky historical reenactment that occupies much of the running time.

★★★½ Ocean Oasis - (noon, 3:00, 6:00) This film takes you swimming with dolphins and manta rays in Mexico’s Sea of Cortes, then goes soaring above the nearby tropical desert of the Baja. This is a lyrical immersion into a special part of the natural world.

SCREENINGS

Jump! - As part of their Jumpcuts youth film workshop weekend, the Victoria Film Festival is offering a free showing of this competitive jump-rope doc that was a hit at this year’s fest, 9pm FRIDAY in Centennial Square. 389-0444. victoriafilmfestival.com

Movie Monday - screens Cubers. This documentary take an affectionate look at the devoted cultists of the Rubik’s Cube who gather in conventions and race to solve the cube in just a few minutes—even blindfolded. Yikes! Showtimes are 6:30 pm MONDAYS. 2326 Trent. By donation. 595-FLIC. moviemonday.ca

Hawaiian starlight - Celebrate the International Year of Astronomy with this cinematic symphony of time-lapse celestial imagery taken from Hawaii’s Mauna Kea observatory. 7:30pm TUESDAY in room B150 of UVic’s Bob Wright bldg. Free. 250-721-7700.

CINECENTA

Cinecenta at UVic screens its films in the Student Union Building. Tickets are available 40 minutes prior to showtime. Info: 721-8365. cinecenta.com

★★★ Act of God -(Wed.-Sat., June 10-13: 7:10, 9:00) The latest from Victoria-raised documentary filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal (Manufactured Landscapes) is an examination into how survivors of seemingly random lightning strikes have changed their views of the world.

Nightwatching -(Sun.-Mon., June 14-15: 7:00 only) Fans of eccentric director Peter Greenaway (The Pillow Book) will enjoy this lush and mysterious speculation about the secret meaning behind a famous Rembrandt painting.

★★★★ The Class -(Tues., June 16: 6:45, 9:15) This Oscar-nominated French film, halfway between fiction and autobiography, details a year in the life of a teacher whose class of 14-year-olds is drawn from a tough, racially mixed neighbourhood in Paris.

★★★★ Fellini’s Amarcord -(Wed.-Thurs., June 17-18: 7:00, 9:25) The title means “I remember,” and this wryly tender and highly fabulistic memoir by Italy’s most renowned filmmaker is set during his adolescence in the mid-’30s.