Cherry Bomb!

Rock biopic The Runaways exceeds expectations

(April 29, 2010) Previews

Opening this weekend at the Broadway, Mill Creek, the Fortuna and the Minor: A Nightmare on Elm Street, a remake bringing back prototypical slasher villain Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley) to menace the dreams of frightened teens. Director Samuel Bayer has a long history in rock vids — from Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” — so expect some very kinetic dreamscapes. Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, disturbing images, terror and language. At the Broadway, Fortuna, Mill Creek and the Minor.

The perpetually goofy Brendan Fraser stars in Furry Vengeance, a comedy about a real estate developer who meets resistance from an army of angry forest creatures when he starts building a “green” subdivision in an Oregon nature preserve. Brooke Shields shows up as the developer’s wife. Opens Friday at Mill Creek and the Broadway. Rated PG for some rude humor, mild language and brief smoking. At the Broadway and Mill Creek.

The Minor finally gets Greenberg, the Ben Stiller comedy written and directed by Noah Baumbach, who also did the dysfunctional family tales The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding. Stiller is Roger Greenberg, a neurotic, self-pitying unemployed 40-something carpenter housesitting at the Beverley Hills home of his successful brother, where he’s looked after by a 20-something Girl Friday (Greta Gerwig). Rated R for some strong sexuality, drug use and language. At the Minor.

Opening Friday at the Fortuna Theater: Phish 3D, a concert film shot over Halloween weekend last year at Festival 8 in Indio, where the band from Vermont played eight sets, including an acoustic set and a costumed Halloween night set where they covered The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street. The crew also shot Phish backstage and in rehearsal, all in eye-popping 3D. Fair warning to Phish-heads — this is a limited run, one week only. (Not rated.) Or if country’s more your thing, catch its major star in Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D, playing Thursday and Sunday at the Fortuna.

Saturday afternoon, May 1, at the Fortuna, it’s The Young Media Makers Big Screen Showcase with digital video productions by local youth between the ages of 8 and 22. Two screenings only at noon and 2:30, doors open 11:30 for pre-show reel.

The Humboldt County Dept. of Health and Human Services presents a free screening of The Soloist at noon Saturday, May 1, at the Arkley Center. Based on a book by Steve Lopez, the film tells the true story of Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a talented, but schizophrenic cellist discovered living on the street by a sympathetic Los Angeles Times columnist (Robert Downey Jr.). A panel discussion follows the film. (Rated PG-13.)

When the Talking Heads took their brilliant album Speaking in Tongues on the road and played Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in 1983, they brought in director Jonathan Demme to create a concert film. The result was Stop Making Sense, hailed by critic Leonard Maltin as “one of the greatest rock movies ever made.” With hits like “Psycho Killer,” ” Life During Wartime,” ” Once in a Lifetime” and “Take Me to the River,” guest funksters from Parliament-Funkadelic, and David Byrne in his famous big suit, who’s to argue? See it at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 1, at the Arcata Theatre Lounge.

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