Go Magazine - Movie Clock

Film events

Polar Express, Nov. 27, 7 p.m., Stadium Theatre, Monument Sq., Woonsocket, RI. Free showing of movie. 401-762-4545 or www.stadiumtheatre.com

Sin Nombre, Nov. 29, 1:30 and 4 p.m., ICA, 100 Northern Ave., Boston. Featuring those who want to leave Mexico for a better future. $10 general, $8, general, students, and seniors. www.icaboston.org.

The Christmas Sweater- A Return to Redemption, Dec. 3 and 10, 8 p.m., various movie theaters. Picks up where the story left off last Christmas and chronicles the overwhelming response he received about the message of redemption. Showing at Patriot Place in Foxboro, Warwick Showcase Cinemas, and Swansea. fathomevents.com

The Polar Express, Dec. 4-10, Cinemaworld, Lincoln, RI. $5, free with donation of new, unwrapped toy to benefit the Lincoln Holiday Basket program. www.cinemaworldonline.com or 401-333-8676.

Classic Holiday Movies, Dec. 6, Remis Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, 100 Huntington Ave., Boston. A CHRISTMAS STORY by Bob Clark (1984) will be shown at 1 p.m.; MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET by George Seaton (1947) will be shown at 3 p.m. Museum admission: $9 general, $8 members, students, seniors, $6 or $7 bargain prices for shows before 5:30 p.m. 617-369-3907 or mfa.org.

Living in Emergency: Doctors Without Borders Uncensored, Dec. 14, 7:30 p.m., various theaters including Warwick Showcase Cinemas, Patriot Place in Foxboro, and Regal-Swansea. Following event will be town hall discussion live from NYC. $12.50. www.FathomEvents.com/doctorswithoutborders.

Mystery of Science Theater 3000, Dec. 16, 8 p.m., . Special guest Weird Al Yankovic. Live showing from California playing at Patriot Place, Warwick Showcase Cinemas, and Swansea. Pre-recorded encore to play Dec. 17, except at Swansea. fathomevents.com.

RIIFF Encore Film Series, 7 p.m., second Wednesday of month, Bell Street Chapel, 5 Bell St., Providence. The Rhode Island International Film Festival's "Best of Fest" showcase of films screened during 2009 festival. Admission/donation $10; RIIFF members $8. www.film-festival.org.

RIIFF You Be the Judge Nights, 7 p.m., third Thursday of month, Brooklyn Coffee & Tea House, 209 Douglas Ave., Providence. Assess new work submitted to Rhode Island International Film Festival. Suggested donation: $5.

'2012': What a disaster

Cataclysmic disaster and apocalyptic doom, as foretold by Hollywood, have a way of bringing together broken families, revealing the unseen heroism of deadbeat dads and neatly disposing of their rivals.

This, too, is the micro-level drama of "2012," the latest nihilistic disaster flick to revel in the destruction of the planet. John Cusack plays the castoff father (Jackson Curtis), a failed novelist getting by as a limo driver. We greet him as he rolls out of bed, spilling his copy of "Moby Dick" as he rushes out the door, disheveled and late for a camping trip with his kids.

His ex-wife, Kate (Amanda Peet), has shacked up with a plastic surgeon named Gordon Silberman (Tom McCarthy) who drives a Porsche, an obvious clue that we're not meant to like him.

When the apocalypse comes, Gordon, for a time, proves quite useful as an amateur pilot. But it's no spoiler to say Gordon is not long for this world - after all, he stands in the way of Jackson's redemption.

The Curtis family may be our ground-level protagonists in "2012," but the ground is shifting. Due to explosions on the sun, neutrinos (that old action movie villain) are heating up the earth's core and will soon destabilize the planet's crust, birthing volcanoes and shifting tectonics.

Hip to this development is government scientist Adrian Helmsley, played by the exceptional Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose gravity - best seen in 2002's "Dirty Pretty Things" - elevates "2012." He alerts the president's chief of staff, Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), who quickly brings Helmsley to the president (Danny Glover, apparently filling in for Morgan Freeman).

The government secretly establishes what Anheuser calls "the most important timetable in the history of mankind" - a schedule for the most important and most wealthy to be evacuated in confidential arks.

Curtis catches wind of the conspiracy theories of a loony radio DJ (Woody Harrelson, perfectly cast to type). Thus, he and his family are just moments ahead of the collapse of Los Angeles. A number of close scrapes follow, as Curtis narrowly steers them through volcanic explosions, earthquakes and, at one point, a subway that somehow soars above their airplane.

California falls into the ocean and much of the world follows suit.

The director of "2012," Roland Emmerich, has destroyed the world before. His films include "The Day After Tomorrow," "Independence Day" and "Godzilla." He seems to enjoy nothing more than seeing the most famous monuments toppled. The White House, vaporized in "Independence Day," here meets its end by not only a tidal wave, but a tidal wave bearing an aircraft carrier.

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