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on him. His alter ego, Otis Lort (Hedges) is a boy wonder GETTING OVER ✪ FROZEN II is already hooked on booze and pills.It’s not hard to see ONE IN A CROWD “A GRIEVANCE WITH GRAVITY” D: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee; with the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Sterling K. Brown, Evan Rachel where his self-destructive habits came from: when he Wood, Martha Plimpton, Jason Ritter, Jeremy Sisto, Alfred Molina. was a 12-year-old kid (Jupe) with exemplary comedy Like many artists, Austin’s creative com- timing, holding down a TV sitcom, while sharing a motel munity is increasingly turning to crowdfund- (PG, 104 min.) “Into the Unknown” goes this sequel’s insta-anthem. room with his bitter ex-rodeo cowboy father (LaBeouf very ing platforms to cover developmental Ice Queen Elsa (Menzel) is still pretty conflicted about literally puts himself into his father’s shoes). It’s a bold costs. For potential backers, it can be hard where best she fits in. A mysterious environmental crisis and compassionate decision to play his own dad as a to navigate all the sites out there, so we makes the decision for her, sending Elsa north on a quest conflicted pile of shoulda, coulda, woulda: A lousy, loving do the sorting for you and find some of the to an enchanted forest with her spunky sister Anna (Bell) father whose son can’t help but adore him. What Honey Boy says about intergenerational trauma has to be seen newest, freshest projects that need your and Anna’s steady Kristoff (Groff), where they meet an imprisoned indigenous people, an ice horse, rock giants, to be understood, but LaBeouf puts it all out there for the help. Remember, do your own due dili- and a tiny Toothless the dragon knockoff with plush toy world to recognize. (11/22/2019) gence before you back anything. ambitions. Of course it’s about the songs, and Olaf the HHHHn – Richard Whittaker ARBOR, BARTON CREEK SQUARE, CINEMARK 20, CM CEDAR PARK, CM HILL Snowman gets the best tunes again. However, the cute- COUNTRY GALLERIA, VIOLET CROWN Who’s raising the funds? ness hides a surprisingly deep and dark story which may Austin filmmaker Kelli Horan for her new Target? not sell another gajillion princess dresses but is surpris- THE IRISHMAN short “A Grievance With Gravity.” The team is just under halfway to raising ingly impactful. (11/22/2019) D: Martin Scorsese; with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Ray their goal of $4,850 by Sunday, Dec. 15. HHH – Kimberley Jones Romano, Harvey Keitel, Jesse Plemons, Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Most of the budget will go to pay the cast ALAMO LAKELINE, ALAMO MUELLER, ALAMO SLAUGHTER LANE, ALAMO Graham, Anna Paquin, Lucy Gallina. (R, 210 min.) What’s the project? S. LAMAR, ALAMO VILLAGE, BARTON CREEK SQUARE, CINEMARK 20, CM Scorsese wades into James Ellroy territory – most and crew, but if anyone wants to help with CEDAR PARK, CM HILL COUNTRY GALLERIA, FLIX BREWHOUSE, HIGHLAND, Zoe (Kelsey Thomas, who starred in Horan’s GATEWAY, IPIC, METROPOLITAN, MOVIEHOUSE, MOVIEHOUSE & EATERY especially the mob vs. Kennedy vs. Cuba vs. the Teamsters first film as a writer, Summer League) is catering, there’s a hungry production that LANTANA PLACE, SKY CINEMAS, LAKE CREEK 7 dynamic of the Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy. Yet where Ellroy struggling to deal with a big problem: Gravity needs feeding. openly fictionalizes, inserting made-up characters into THE GOOD LIAR real-life events, Scorsese directly adapts I Heard You Paint no longer applies to her. This may sound What are the perks? D: Bill Condon; with Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, Mark Lewis Jones, Houses, attorney Charles Brandt’s recounting of the life of cool, but when you have to wear breeze- Russell Tovey, Jim Carter. (R, 109 min.) Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, a Teamster boss and mob blocks on your feet instead of things, being You can feel like a superhero with a cus- Well-to-do widower Betty McLeish (Mirren) and mis- goon who claimed to have killed Jimmy Hoffa. It’s framed different can stop being fun really fast. The tomized digital movie poster of your chievous smoothie Roy Courtnay (McKellen) meet cute as the reminiscences of a crippled old man (De Niro as film features a coterie of local talent in front crime-fighting alter ego for only $10, but over an online dating app. But Roy is more than an aging Sheeran), alienated from his family and telling his stories lothario: He’s a professional swindler who, along with his of and behind the camera, including editor for you real art lovers, $500 gets you a of his mob glories to an unseen audience. While The unique woodburned piece by Horan. partner in crime Vincent (Carter), is out to divest Betty Irishman is a summation of many of Scorsese’s ongoing Phillip Lybrand (director of The Trolls and of her not inconsiderable life savings. However, there’s a obsessions (the protagonist as insider-outsider, unreliable Maybe Shower), producer Elena Weinberg You can contribute now at www.seedand spanner in the works in the form of Betty’s son Stephen narrators, and old-man Catholicism) he remains Calogero (director, A Room Full of Nothing), and actor/ spark.com/fund/a-grievance-with-gravity, (Tovey), a collegiate history major who immediately senses in A Bronx Tale, the wide-eyed boy a little in awe of the professional wrestler Ricky Starks (currently or head over to austinchronicle.com/ a fox in the proverbial henhouse but whose protestations neighborhood toughs. (11/08/2019) screens/one-in-a-crowd/ to find - headlining the revived NWA Powerrr). – almost overnight Roy ingratiates his way into the seem HHH – Richard Whittaker more local crowdfunded projects. ingly gullible Betty’s spare bedroom – are just as quickly IPIC, LAKE CREEK 7 shot down by his mother. All, of course, is not as it seems. Elevated above the mundane by the delightfully wicked ✪ JOJO RABBIT sense. Haynes looks for the poison in the heartland, whether lead duo, it’s a pleasantly playful thriller hiding a seriously D: Taika Waititi; with Taika Waititi, Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin FIRST RUNS it be homophobia, racism, or domestic violence – or, as in shady history close to its benighted heart. (11/22/2019) McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell. (PG-13, 108 min.) this case, the true story of how a chemical company poi- HHH – Marc Savlov With the real world in literal flames, Taika Waititi’s *Full-length reviews available online at soned the whole world. It’s a rare film that not only makes CM CEDAR PARK, GATEWAY newest sounds like treacherous territory for the Thor: austinchronicle.com. Dates at end of reviews you feel sorry for corporate lawyers, but even has you rooting Ragnorok director. In Nazi Germany circa 1944, meek indicate original publication date. for them, yet Dark Waters pulls off that miracle as Robert ✪ HONEY BOY but fervently pro-Nazi Jojo (the excellent, cherubic Davis) ✪ Bilott (Ruffalo at his angry best) goes to war with DuPont. D: Alma Har’el; with Shia LaBeouf, Lucas Hedges, Noah Jupe, FKA lives alone with his mother Rosie (Johansson), a vibrant A BEAUTIFUL DAY As Ruffalo half-cries in what should be his inevitable Oscar Twigs, Byron Bowers, Laura San Giacomo, Natasha Lyonne, Maika and vital force in a household lacking a father figure – a IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD nomination clip, the system won’t protect us. We protect us. Monroe, Clifton Collins Jr., Martin Starr. (R, 93 min.) gap he fills with his imaginary friend, Hitler (Waititi as a D: Marielle Heller; with Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi So maybe the real heroes will always be the Bilotts, the slow Semi-autobiography/therapy session Honey Boy slapstick führer). Jojo and his imaginary ideologue are Watson, Chris Cooper, Tammy Blanchard. (PG, 109 min.) and steady people of conviction. (11/29/2019) opens with a joke – and writer LaBeouf knows the joke’s naturally aghast to discover that mom’s hiding a young A movie about a children’s entertainer is not necessar- HHHHn – Richard Whittaker Jewish girl, Elsa (McKenzie), in the walls upstairs. But that ily a film for children. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood ALAMO LAKELINE, ALAMO S. LAMAR, ARBOR, BARTON CREEK SQUARE, discovery and the tentative steps toward mutual semi-un- may be about Fred Rogers, the creator of Mister Rogers’ CINEMARK 20, CM CEDAR PARK, CM HILL COUNTRY GALLERIA, GATEWAY, IPIC, LAKELINE, METROPOLITAN, MOVIEHOUSE, MOVIEHOUSE & EATERY derstanding kindle the undoing of both Jojo’s corrupted Neighborhood and epitome of kindness for generations of kidhood worldview and his goofy, goonish imaginary American children, but it’s a mature and poignant charac- LANTANA PLACE, SKY CINEMAS, WESTGATE Dial Code Santa Claus D: René Manzor; with Brigitte Fossey, Louis Ducreux, Hitler. This is a coming-of-age story unlike any other, filled ter study – albeit one with puppets. Based loosely on Tom ✪ FORD V FERRARI Patrick Floersheim. (1989, R, 87 min.) Terror Tuesday. with the director’s trademark heart and a soul-stirring Junod’s highly lauded 1998 profile of Rogers for Esquire, D: James Mangold; with Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Caitriona Previously only available on bootleg VHS, this French argument against the ever ready darkness of unswerving the script makes Rogers the supporting character, explain- Balfe, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Jon Bernthal. (PG-13, 152 min.) holiday horror (aka 3615 Code Père Noël, aka Deadly “patriotic” nationalism. (10/25/2019) ing him by what he meant to others: In this case, burned- An old-fashioned American can-do spirit drives this Games) features a murderous Santa Claus who picks HHHH – Marc Savlov out journalist Lloyd Vogel (Rhys), still carrying trauma from crowd-pleaser about the legendary 1966 showdown at the the wrong chimney and the wrong kid to mess with. ALAMO MUELLER, ALAMO SLAUGHTER LANE, ALAMO S. LAMAR, ARBOR, Ten-year-old Thomas fights the home invader with the his broken relationship with his father. By changing that crown jewel of endurance races, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. METROPOLITAN, SKY CINEMAS, LAKE CREEK 7 focus, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood brings that tactics of Kevin McCallister and the Karate Kid. The title implies a dust-up between the blue-collar American @Alamo S. Lamar, Tuesday, 9:30pm. essential essence of Fred Rogers to life, and reminds us by car manufacturer and Italian masters of speed, but it’s really ✪ KNIVES OUT his example how important it is to like people just the way fueled by the fights between Ford Motor Company suits D: Rian Johnson; with Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, they are. (11/22/2019) bankrolling the high-performance Ford GT40 and the two Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer, Ana de Armas, Don Johnson, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, HHHH – Richard Whittaker dedicated but independent-minded experts – Texas-twanged ALAMO LAKELINE, ALAMO MUELLER, ALAMO SLAUGHTER LANE, ALAMO Jaeden Martell, Noah Segan, Edi Patterson. (PG-13, 130 min.) S. LAMAR, ARBOR, BARTON CREEK SQUARE, CINEMARK 20, CM CEDAR promoter Carroll Shelby (Damon) and British driver Ken Miles The secluded Victorian mansion in Rian Johnson’s PARK, CM HILL COUNTRY GALLERIA, FLIX BREWHOUSE, HIGHLAND, (Bale) – they hire to make it happen. While the movie has its whodunit is an architecturally ideal setting for this throw- GATEWAY, IPIC, METROPOLITAN, MOVIEHOUSE, MOVIEHOUSE & EATERY share of racetrack thrills, it’s the personal and professional LANTANA PLACE, SKY CINEMAS back murder mystery. The body comes courtesy of wealthy friendship between Shelby and Miles that gives the movie crime novelist and publisher Harlan Thrombey (Plummer) traction. It’s the rare movie that doesn’t trivialize a platonic ✪ DARK WATERS and unsurprisingly each family member at the party has a male relationship with buddy film tropes. (11/15/2019) financial motive for killing the old man. It’s up to Benoit D: Todd Haynes; with Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, HHHHn – Steve Davis Bill Camp, Victor Garber, Mare Winningham. (PG-13, 126 min.) ALAMO LAKELINE, ALAMO SLAUGHTER LANE, ALAMO S. LAMAR, ALAMO Blanc (Craig), the dapper, Dixie-drawling sleuth private A dour courtroom procedural about a slow-moving envi- VILLAGE, BARTON CREEK SQUARE, CINEMARK 20, CM CEDAR PARK, CM eye with the name of a cheap Chardonnay, and enchanting ronmental disaster may not seem like the most obvious proj- HILL COUNTRY GALLERIA, FLIX BREWHOUSE, HIGHLAND, GATEWAY, IPIC, de Armas’ Marta, the dead man’s naive caretaker whose ect for Todd Haynes. Yet Dark Waters really makes absolute LAKELINE, METROPOLITAN, MOVIEHOUSE, MOVIEHOUSE & EATERY LANTANA regurgitative reaction to untruthfulness is an amusing PLACE, SKY CINEMAS, LAKE CREEK 7, VIOLET CROWN

50 THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE DECEMBER 6, 2019 austinchronicle.com