Movie Reviews »

David Mamet’s Redbelt gives kung fu films a kick.: By Curt Holman posted May 08, 2008 12:00 AM; Playwright and filmmaker David Mamet holds a purple belt in jujitsu, which you might not guess from his work. Jujitsu involves deflecting the strength of your opponent’s attacks, while the... read on»; Comments: 0

Thomas McCarthy’s follow-up to The Station Agent deals with immigration issues.: By Anders Wright posted May 08, 2008 12:00 AM; Thomas McCarthy has made two films that stand out not just for their sharp, emotional observations, but also because of the lead actors. Instead of focusing on the traditional movie... read on»; Comments: 0

Leading-man status doesn’t suddenly turn Made of Honor’s Patrick Dempsey into a charismatic star.: By Scott Renshaw posted May 01, 2008 12:00 AM; It must all seem like some wonderful McDream to Patrick Dempsey. Twenty years ago, he was playing the improbable pizza-delivering gigolo in Loverboy, and the guy who had to rent... read on»; Comments: 0

The documentary Young@Heart follows a group of seniors who become revitalized by singing contemporary rock songs.: By Steve Davis posted May 01, 2008 12:00 AM; Adocumentary about a choral group of lovable octogenarians whose repertoire includes songs by Sonic Youth and the Talking Heads? It sounds gimmicky, scary even. But despite an occasional lapse into... read on»; Comments: 0

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Movie briefs, reviews and trailers »

Baby Mama

96 min. • Comedy

Rated PG-13

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It’s easy to imagine Baby Mama’s surrogate pregnancy plot as a multiple-episode, sweeps-month arc on 30 Rock. It’s also painful to imagine, because the 30 Rock story would be snappy and insightful, whereas Baby Mama is leaden and obvious. Former Saturday Night Live writer Michael McCullers wrote and directed Baby Mama, and though he tailors the film to Fey’s gifts, he doesn’t live up to the standard that Fey clearly sets for herself. Reviewed by CH.

Movie Times:

Century Cinemas Del Monte Center : 10:10am; 12:35; 3:05; 5:30; 7:55; 10:30
Maya Cinemas : 11:35am; 1:45; 3:50; 6:00; 8;10; 10:35
Northridge Cinemas : 12:15; 2:45; 5:15; 7:45; 10:15

Forbidden Kingdom

113 min • Action / Adventure / Comedy / Fantasy

Rated PG-13

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Pairing these two martial-arts legends (Jackie Chan and Jet Li) in a story that is essentially one long homage to the great Shaw Brothers films of yore allows The Forbidden Kingdom plenty of leeway for comic moments (courtesy, as always, of Chan) and some seriously kickass fight scenes (choreographed by Kill Bill's Yuen Woo-ping). There's also plenty of the traditional wirework and not nearly as much CGI (which almost always feels like a cheat in the fantastical world of traditional Hong Kong knockabouts) as you'd expect. The plot is negligible, but that's fine since it's really only a way to get from one set-piece to another. Li, playing both a grave monk and the outlandishly entertaining Monkey King, and Chan, riffing on his own character of the Drunken Master of blotto-fu, play dueling Mr. Miyagis to Michael Angarano's Kung-fu Kid, and the results are respectable if not classic. Reviewed by MS.

Movie Times:

Century Cinemas Del Monte Center : 10:40am; 1:20
Maya Cinemas : 2:10; 7:05
Northridge Cinemas : 11:35am; 2:20; 5:05; 7:50; 10:35

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

112 min. • Comedy

Rated R

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At the beginning of Nicholas Stoller’s (writer of Fun with Dick and Jane) film Peter (Jason Segel) is unceremoniously dumped by Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), the star of a CSI-like TV detective drama. For solace Peter seeks the comfort of other women and the advice of his brother (Bill Hader), but the constant stream of ads for the TV show doesn’t allow thoughts of Sarah escape him. As a last ditch effort to get everything about her out of his mind, he decides to go on vacation in Hawaii. Big mistake. Upon arrival he has a meet cute with a receptionist named Rachel (Mila Kunis), but to his misfortune he soon sees Sarah there with her new boyfriend, rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Awkward and amusing encounters ensue, and layers of truth that bring a new, fresh perspective to what could have been an ordinary romantic comedy are cleverly revealed. Reviewed by DH.

Movie Times:

Century Cinemas Del Monte Center : 10:25am; 1:15; 4:05; 7:45; 10:35
Maya Cinemas : 11:40am

Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

100 min • Comedy

Rated R

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Sequels to lowbrow cult-stoner-bathroom-sex comedies aren’t supposed to work; Guantanamo Bay, however, breaks the mold, following in the outlandish footsteps of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle while expanding on its predecessor’s mandate to push the boundaries of racial insensitivity. Once again the lion’s share of the credit for this goes to Kal Penn as Kumar, who is pure, unfiltered, unapologetic id. Unfortunately for the more strait-laced Harold (a wonderfully deadpan John Cho), his friend’s devotion to self-indulgence often leaves them both in a lurch, as it does when Kumar brings a homemade bong on their flight to Amsterdam. A little post-9/11 paranoia and a lot of racial confusion later, and Harold and Kumar are on the run from the military prison and setting off on a road trip across the American South to prove their innocence. The film saves its most stinging comic attacks for the ultrapatriotic, post-9/11, willfully ignorant American male, personified by Rob Corddry's federal law-enforcement agent. Reviewed by JR.

Movie Times:

Century Cinemas Del Monte Center : 4:40; 7:30; 10:10
Maya Cinemas : 1:50; 4:00; 6:10; 8;20; 10:40
Northridge Cinemas : 12:25; 2:55; 5:25; 7:55; 10:30

Iron Man

126 mins • Action

Rated PG-13

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Bloodied but unbowed, wounded but walking, Robert Downey Jr.'s sly take on Marvel Comics' cold warrior Iron Man elevates everything about this film. The actor's real-life troubles merge with those of Iron Man's alter ego, Tony Stark, the billionaire playboy and military industrialist with a drinking problem, and the result is, no pun intended, riveting. As a comic-book character, Iron Man never quite scaled the dime-store racks like some other lantern-jawed megamen. Director Jon Favreau's screen version, however, is a magnificent origin story that holds its own just fine against Bryan Singer's convoluted X-Men and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, and there are moments of both stunning action and earnest, subtle emotion. It's Downey Jr.'s show all the way, though. He twins the self-involved Stark with his own personal history to create a semi-autobiographical un-Superman. Kudos, too, to Jeff Bridges, who, as baddie munitions magnate Obadiah Stane, almost (but not quite) steals a scene or two out from under his clanking co-star. Reviewed by MS.

Movie Times:

Century Cinemas Del Monte Center : 10:00am; 11:00am; noon; 1:00; 2:00; 3:00; 4:00; 5:00; 6:00; 7:00; 8:00; 9:00; 10:00; 11:00
Maya Cinemas : 1:30; 4:30; 7:30; 10:30
Maya Cinemas : 11:45am; 12:45; 2:45; 3:45; 5:45; 6:45; 8:45; 9:45
Northridge Cinemas : 11:40am; 12:40; 1:40; 2:40; 3:40; 4:40; 5:40; 6:40; 7:40; 8:40; 9:40; 10:40

Made of Honor

101 min. • Romantic comedy

Rated PG-13

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In Made of Honor, Patrick Dempsey plays Tom Bailey, a New Yorker who got rich by inventing that little brown “coffee collar” on Starbucks cups. This leaves him plenty of time to indulge in his favorite activities: sleeping with as many women as possible utterly commitment-free, and getting together with Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), the girl who dissed him in college 10 years ago and has been his best friend ever since. But when Hannah takes off on a long professional trip to Scotland, Tom realizes that he actually feels something more for her. And unfortunately, this revelation coincides with Hannah returning from her trip with a fiancé named Colin (Kevin McKidd), and a request that Tom serve as her “maid” of honor. Yes, it’s a gender-reversed spin on the 1997 Julia Roberts rom-com My Best Friend’s Wedding, but that’s only one way in which this script blurs into its genre cousins. Reviewed by SR.

Movie Times:

Century Cinemas Del Monte Center : 10:15am; 11:15am; 12:45; 1:45; 3:20; 4:15 (except Wed); 5:50; 7:20 (except Wed); 8:15; 9:45 (except Wed); 10:45
Maya Cinemas : 11:30am; 1:40; 3:35; 5:55; 8:05; 10:15
Northridge Cinemas : 11:45am; 2:15; 4:45; 7:15; 9:45

Married Life

90 min • Drama

Rated PG-13

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Corruption, immorality, decadence, secrecy, loyalty, selfishness, selflessness, murder, love, sex, and indigestion are all swirling around one another in Married Life. Chris Cooper plays Harry Allen, whose love for his wife (Patricia Clarkson) is a testament to murky ethics and self-satisfied delusion. After starting an affair with a beautiful young widow (the miraculously doe-eyed Rachel McAdams), Harry becomes convinced that his wife won’t survive without him, so he decides it would be more decent to murder her than subject her to the indignity and loneliness of divorce. Meanwhile, his best friend (Pierce Brosnan), a cad and philanderer who accepts his own indecencies and moral flexibility as others might accept their height or hair color, develops eyes for Harry’s mistress. This wonderful, amoral resignation and gleeful responsibility-dodging makes Married Life so deliciously different from other modern crime stories. With its 1950s decor and upbeat ending (clever camouflage all), Married Life is one of the more ethically dubious films to come along in years. Reviewed by JR.

Movie Times:

Osio Cinemas : 12:10; 4:45; 9:45

My Blueberry Nights

90 min • Drama

Rated PG-13

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"The stories have all been told before," Norah Jones croons in the opening and closing of director Wong Kar-wai's English-language debut. Indeed, the stories told within—of heartbreak and addiction and addiction to heartbreak—uniformly have an also-ran feel to them, something I never would have accused the Hong Kong filmmaker of before. As a first-time actress, Jones is entirely pleasant, and pleasant to look at in her retro heels, but is frankly a terrible choice to play Elizabeth, a woman undone by a straying boyfriend. The script (by Wong and mystery writer Lawrence Block) leans almost entirely on the obvious. It all looks gorgeous, but here, too, we're in familiar territory, the Wong romantic lexicon of slo-mo and time-lapse, red-light-district gels and iconic songs on endless replay, not to mention a high-fashion fetish. My Blueberry Nights can be sexy as hell, but for the first time in a Wong film, I felt duped for being so easily seduced. Reviewed by KJ.

Movie Times:

Osio Cinemas : 12:45; 3:00; 5:10; 7:20; 9:30

Prom Night

88 min • Horror / Mystery / Thriller

Rated PG-13

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This do-over of the 1980 Prom Night isn't so much an improvement over the original as lousy in a whole new direction, a nearly bloodless slasher film with fewer surprises than a broken jack-in-the-box. It's blandly scripted by J.S. Cardone, who adds nothing new to a genre that has already expired and been resurrected more times than Jason Voorhees. Hairspray's Brittany Snow plays high school senior Donna, whose entire family was gutted three years earlier by maniac teacher Richard Fenton (Jonathon Schaech), who has since been locked away, presumably, in the same inescapable madhouse Michael Myers keeps escaping from. Now, with the big night at hand, Donna, dull beau Bobby (Scott Porter), and a quartet of their BFFs are stalked and ceremoniously exsanguinated (offscreen, no less), with nary a shred of suspense or even mild annoyance as the still-statutory crush'n prof carves a virtually goreless path toward his favorite co-ed. Reviewed by MS.

Movie Times:

Maya Cinemas : 11:35am; 4:35; 9:35
Northridge Cinemas : Noon; 2:30; 4:50; 7:10; 9:35

Redbelt

99 min. • Martial Arts Drama

Rated R

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(Reviewed this issue.) Reviewed by CH.

Movie Times:

Century Cinemas Del Monte Center : 10:20am; 12:55; 3:50; 7:25; 9:55
Maya Cinemas : 12:20; 2:50; 5:10; 7:30; 10:00
Northridge Cinemas : 12:05; 2:35; 5:00; 7:25; 9:55

Sea Monsters (3D)

40 min • Documentary / Animation / Adventure

Rated NR

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This story has a sturdy backbone, which is fitting for a story about palentologists unearthing skeletons from a one-time massive inland sea that covered much of the U.S. 80 million years ago. In other words, it's not just about the bone-snapping 3D action that evolves when massive sharks, menacing crocodile-like lizards and creatures that look like pterodactyl-penguins roamed the sea (and the space between the screen and a rapt audience). It's about piecing together prehistoric clues—a shark tooth lodged in a fin is particularly important in this sage—to construct a facinating saga of life long ago. The only problem: the riveting centuries-long adventure only lasts 40 minutes. Reviewed by MCA.

Movie Times:

Cannery Row IMAX Theatre : 11:00am; 12:15; 1:30; 2:45; 4:00; 5:15

Shine a Light

122 min. • Documentary

Rated PG-13

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Director Martin Scorsese’s Shine a Light will prompt myriad reactions—shock, awe, glee—but dismissal will be in the minority. Shock comes courtesy of the frontline’s Grand Canyon character lines, disbelief from the soon-to-be 65-year-old frontman’s sheer physical specimen, and roller-coaster thrills via a 17-song set that starts with “Jumping Jack Flash” and concludes on “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” "Marty” opens backstage, cuts in primo archival footage of the band, then lets a full concert leave its brand. Now well into their 60s, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts still emit that which has beckoned generations of filmmaking fanatics, so Scorsese uses New York’s intimate Beacon Theatre to get into everyone’s craggy face except Charlie Watts, whose “Sympathy for the Devil” never creased his impassivity. Reviewed by RH.

Movie Times:

Osio Cinemas : 2:15; 7:00

Smart People

95 min • Comedy / Drama / Romance

Rated PG-13

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Intelligence runs in the Wetherhold family DNA. Smart People’s curmudgeonly protagonist, Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid), indifferently teaches literature at Carnegie Mellon University, where his bright son (Ashton Holmes) is a student. His daughter Vanessa (Juno’s Ellen Page), a high school senior and control freak, runs the homestead with an iron fist. Meanwhile, Lawrence’s dim adopted brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) can barely earn a living, but he knows how to express his feelings and enjoy life. Reviewed by CH.

Movie Times:

Osio Cinemas : 12:30; 5:00; 9:30

Speed Racer

129 min • Action

Rated PG

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(Not reviewed this issue.) A boy grows up in a racing family and vows to win the cross-country car race that took the life of his brother. Written and directed by the creators of The Matrix trilogy, the Wachowski brothers, the film stars Emile Hirsch as Speed Racer and Susan Sarandon as his mother. Reviewed by RC.

Movie Times:

Century Cinemas Del Monte Center : 10:05am; 11:10am; 1:10; 2:10; 4:10; 5:10; 7:10; 8:20; 10:15
Maya Cinemas : 11:30am; 12:15; 12:50; 2:15; 3:00; 3:50; 5:00; 6:00; 6:40; 7:45; 9:00; 9:40; 10:25
Northridge Cinemas : 11:15am; 1:15; 2:25; 4:25; 5:35; 7:35; 8:45; 10:45

Speed Racer (Spanish Subtitles)

• Action

Rated PG

Buy Tickets

(See above) Reviewed by RC.

Movie Times:

Northridge Cinemas : 12:20; 3:25; 6:35; 9:45

The Counterfeiters

98 min • Crime / Drama / War

Rated R

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In the opening scenes of The Counterfeiters, Sally (Austrian TV star Karl Markovics) and his underworld associates in 1936 are busy making their usual fistfuls of Deutschmarks running the rackets, and so when Inspector Herzog (Devid Striesow) arrests him and he's sent to the notorious Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, at first it doesn't dawn on Sorowitsch what kind of a jam he's really in. As king of the counterfeiters, he knows there are ways out of the Third Reich for slick operators like himself, so why leave now when there's money to be made? Reviewed by KV.

Movie Times:

Osio Cinemas : 2:20; 7:10

The Visitor

108 min • Drama

Rated PG-13

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(Reviewed this issue.) Reviewed by AW.

Movie Times:

Osio Cinemas : Noon; 2:30; 4:50; 7:15; 9:40

Then She Found Me

100 min • Comedy

Rated R

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(Not reviewed this issue.) A 39 year-old New York schoolteacher, who had been adopted as a child, has a strong wish to have a baby. The teacher's life turns topsy-turvy as her husband has other ideas, her true mother enters the picture and a new romance simmers. Reviewed by RC.

Movie Times:

Osio Cinemas : 12:15; 2:30; 5:00; 7:15; 9:30

U2-3D

85 min • Documentary / Music

Rated G

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U2-3D is a concert film showcasing one of the biggest bands in pop history, filmed during U2’s “Vertigo Tour” in 2006. The first-ever live-action movie to be shot, produced, and screened with digital 3-D technology includes performances of “Beautiful Day”, “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” and “With or Without You.” Reviewed by TK.

Movie Times:

Cannery Row IMAX Theatre : 6:30; 8:30; 10:30 (Sat only)

What Happens in Vegas...

99 min • Romantic Comedy

Rated PG-13

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(Not reviewed this issue.) Two strangers go to Las Vegas for a night to remember and have a morning after they'll never forget. One wins a jackpot with the other's quarter, an argument and romance ensue. This comedy stars Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. Reviewed by RC.

Movie Times:

Century Cinemas Del Monte Center : 10:15am; 11:30am; 12:50; 2:15; 3:15; 4:45; 5:45; 7:15; 8:10; 9:40; 10:40
Maya Cinemas : 11:40am; 12:30; 2:00; 2:40; 3:20; 4:10; 4:50; 5:30; 6:10; 7:00; 8:00; 8:20; 9:20; 10:20; 10;45
Northridge Cinemas : 11:30am; 12:45; 2:00; ; 3:15; 4:30; 5:45; 7:00; 8:15; 9:30; 10:45

Young@Heart

107 min. • Documentary

Rated PG

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A documentary about a choral group of lovable octogenarians whose repertoire includes songs by Sonic Youth and the Talking Heads? It sounds gimmicky, scary even. But despite an occasional lapse into nudge-nudge jokes about old age, Young@Heart eschews the clichés for something that we can all relate to: our own mortality. Shot in a straightforward style that feels deceptively simple, this documentary spends two months with these senior citizens as they prepare for a concert. During the course of these eight weeks, the drama of everyday life runs the gamut from the comical to the heartbreaking. Songs like Bowie’s "Golden Years" and the Bee Gees’ "Stayin’ Alive" take on an altogether different (often tongue-in-cheek) meaning when sung by someone with gray hair and wrinkles. The film suggests that the secret to growing old is to feel young, and—based on what you see in this film—there may be some truth to that platitude. Reviewed by SD.

Movie Times:

Osio Cinemas : Noon; 2:20; 4:40; 7:00; 9:20

Now Showing »

Movie Times »

Century Cinemas Del Monte Center

1700 Del Monte Center, Monterey

373-8080

Iron Man

10:00am; 11:00am; noon; 1:00; 2:00; 3:00; 4:00; 5:00; 6:00; 7:00; 8:00; 9:00; 10:00; 11:00

What Happens in Vegas...

10:15am; 11:30am; 12:50; 2:15; 3:15; 4:45; 5:45; 7:15; 8:10; 9:40; 10:40

Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

4:40; 7:30; 10:10

Made of Honor

10:15am; 11:15am; 12:45; 1:45; 3:20; 4:15 (except Wed); 5:50; 7:20 (except Wed); 8:15; 9:45 (except Wed); 10:45

Baby Mama

10:10am; 12:35; 3:05; 5:30; 7:55; 10:30

Speed Racer

10:05am; 11:10am; 1:10; 2:10; 4:10; 5:10; 7:10; 8:20; 10:15

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

10:25am; 1:15; 4:05; 7:45; 10:35

Redbelt

10:20am; 12:55; 3:50; 7:25; 9:55

Forbidden Kingdom

10:40am; 1:20

Golden State Theater

417 Alvarado St., Monterey

372-4555

Maya Cinemas

153 Main St., Salinas

755-Maya

Iron Man

1:30; 4:30; 7:30; 10:30

What Happens in Vegas...

11:40am; 12:30; 2:00; 2:40; 3:20; 4:10; 4:50; 5:30; 6:10; 7:00; 8:00; 8:20; 9:20; 10:20; 10;45

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

11:40am

Redbelt

12:20; 2:50; 5:10; 7:30; 10:00

Made of Honor

11:30am; 1:40; 3:35; 5:55; 8:05; 10:15

Forbidden Kingdom

2:10; 7:05

Prom Night

11:35am; 4:35; 9:35

Iron Man

11:45am; 12:45; 2:45; 3:45; 5:45; 6:45; 8:45; 9:45

Speed Racer

11:30am; 12:15; 12:50; 2:15; 3:00; 3:50; 5:00; 6:00; 6:40; 7:45; 9:00; 9:40; 10:25

Baby Mama

11:35am; 1:45; 3:50; 6:00; 8;10; 10:35

Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

1:50; 4:00; 6:10; 8;20; 10:40

Northridge Cinemas

350 Northridge Shopping Center, Salinas

449-9101

Iron Man

11:40am; 12:40; 1:40; 2:40; 3:40; 4:40; 5:40; 6:40; 7:40; 8:40; 9:40; 10:40

Made of Honor

11:45am; 2:15; 4:45; 7:15; 9:45

Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

12:25; 2:55; 5:25; 7:55; 10:30

Baby Mama

12:15; 2:45; 5:15; 7:45; 10:15

Forbidden Kingdom

11:35am; 2:20; 5:05; 7:50; 10:35

Prom Night

Noon; 2:30; 4:50; 7:10; 9:35

Redbelt

12:05; 2:35; 5:00; 7:25; 9:55

What Happens in Vegas...

11:30am; 12:45; 2:00; ; 3:15; 4:30; 5:45; 7:00; 8:15; 9:30; 10:45

Speed Racer

11:15am; 1:15; 2:25; 4:25; 5:35; 7:35; 8:45; 10:45

Speed Racer (Spanish Subtitles)

12:20; 3:25; 6:35; 9:45

Osio Cinemas

350 Alvarado St., Monterey

644-8171

The Visitor

Noon; 2:30; 4:50; 7:15; 9:40

My Blueberry Nights

12:45; 3:00; 5:10; 7:20; 9:30

Then She Found Me

12:15; 2:30; 5:00; 7:15; 9:30

Young@Heart

Noon; 2:20; 4:40; 7:00; 9:20

Shine a Light

2:15; 7:00

Married Life

12:10; 4:45; 9:45

Smart People

12:30; 5:00; 9:30

The Counterfeiters

2:20; 7:10

Cannery Row IMAX Theatre

640 Wave St., Monterey

372-4629

Sea Monsters (3D)

11:00am; 12:15; 1:30; 2:45; 4:00; 5:15

U2-3D

6:30; 8:30; 10:30 (Sat only)

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