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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Choirs combine in 'songs with a purpose' Ashland man gets five years in stabbing case Are you prepared for the next great Cascadia quake? OLCC sets 'marijuana listening session' for Ashland Bowling for knowledge Education Bowling for knowledge Sharing black culture It's alive! SOU students create thought-provoking art SOU students targeted in Drive Less campaign Environment GMO opponents can join Jackson County in defending ban Grant will help restore 'legacy' oak habitat in Southern Oregon and Northern California Mt. Ashland Ski Area crew dips to five Mt. Ashland Ski Area announces layoffs The top five conservation success of 2014 Business Ride & Drive: 2015 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack Silvio Calabi: Range Rover Sport, the off-road GT Where do Ashland’s top chefs go to dine? 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Herb Rothschild Jr.: A good day for peace Guest Opinion: A message to my health care colleagues Revels Latest Stories Bleep Bloop Community blog: Charles Darwin at the Ashland Library 'A Most Violent Year' is a taut, cerebral film Steep Ravine, T Sisters play the Unitarian Fellowship Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhibits by regional artists Theater Looking inside yourself and finding a character is magic Classics, premiers highlight 2015 season for OSF Roy Orbison tribute hits high note Music Frisell brings fine-tuned act to Armory The Farr Side: Trainor building a music niche A laid-back chat with Marilyn Manson Roy Orbison tribute hits high note Visual Art Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhibits by regional artists Movies Movie review: New ‘SpongeBob’ movie mops up with surrealistic goofiness Movie review: The Wachowskis rebound with sci-fi epic ‘Jupiter Ascending’ Movie review: A slow but sturdy study of corrupt politics and fragile families in ‘Leviathan’ 'A Most Violent Year' is a taut, cerebral film Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas Food and Drink Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories For the love of books Carol Link: How to make sure yucca plants are gone Shayne Looper: Give your message ‘street cred’ Food for Thought: Whole grains keep you moving Episode 21: An interview with a zombie Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs Business NEWS NOW For the love of books ... Ashland man gets five years in stabbing case ... Are you prepared for the next great Cascadia quake? ... For the love of books ... Ashland man gets five years in stabbing case ... Are you prepared for the next great Cascadia quake? ... Movie review: The Wachowskis rebound with sci-fi epic 'Jupiter Ascending' By Ed Symkus More Content Now DailyTidings.com By Ed Symkus More Content Now Posted Feb. 6, 2015 @ 12:01 am By Ed Symkus More Content Now Posted Feb. 6, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2324,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> It’s good to be able to plan ahead. I’ve been sitting here thinking about my top-10 list for the films of 2015. “Jupiter Ascending” has already secured a spot on it. Written and directed by the Wachowskis, it’s the follow-up to the amazing but, for general audiences, too challenging “Cloud Atlas” (which I’ve seen six times), and while that film took some dips into the realms of science fiction, this one jumps into full-blown SF and never looks back. Mila Kunis plays Jupiter, a Russian emigrant living in Chicago, where she and her mom work as drudges cleaning homes, and living in cramped quarters with an extended family. Jupiter is unhappy with her dull life. Until the day she’s attacked by a bunch of creepy little alien creatures who try to kill her ... until she’s rescued by the hunky, Spock-eared Caine (Channing Tatum), a “tracker” who swoops down in his anti-gravity boots to bring her to some other planet where he’s supposed to deliver her to a waiting member of royalty. She is, after all, though she doesn’t know it, the “Queen of the Universe,” or something like that. Anyone who’s seen the Wachowskis’ “Matrix” trilogy knows this ain’t gonna be a simple joy ride. Viewers will need to pay attention to follow things clearly, but this is a romp that’s worth it. Caine is mostly human, but he’s been spliced with a bit of wolf DNA, which gives him some extra abilities. He’s also a disgraced solider who has lost his wings (you can see the scars when he’s shirtless, and he’s shirtless a lot), which is why he needs the anti-gravity boots to fly. Jupiter is a Recurrence, a human with the exact gene pattern of a recently deceased Queen of the Universe, which is why the former queen’s offspring want to meet Jupiter. OK, it’s more complicated than that. The film is about comparisons and contrasts between families. Jupiter is a Bolotnikov. There’s some warm and funny and slightly outrageous time spent with that boisterous group sitting and yakking around a crowded dinner table. The late queen’s adult kids are the Abrasax family – Balem (Eddie Redmayne), Titus (Douglas Booth), and Kalique (Tuppence Middleton). Kalique is vain, Titus is a slick playboy, and Balem is just plain evil. They’re at each other’s throats, and they don’t just want to meet Jupiter. Hell, she’s a threat to them. They don’t want her to ascend to queendom. They want to kill her. It’s a good thing Caine keeps taking his shirt off and saving her. The details of the story get a bit more down and dirty and grim than just killing one woman, especially when those three Royals let on how they make use of the rest of Earth’s inhabitants. Yet the Wachowskis prove that they can also comfortably slip into goofy mode. When Jupiter is told she must fill out certain forms before she can become queen, she goes through some hellishness in a DMV-like office on another world, where a disgruntled civil servant is bogged down in paperwork. Not only is the scene reminiscent of the bureaucratic morass of Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil,” the Wachowskis got Gilliam to play the civil servant. But at its epic heart, “Jupiter Ascending” is an action movie, and it rarely lets you forget that. Just after Jupiter is first rescued by Caine, she’s unwillingly involved in an astounding chase along the streets, under the water, and through the skies of Chicago, courtesy of those anti-gravity boots, with nasty aliens blasting at them along the way. Later, during the nonstop action of the last 20 minutes, the Wachowskis don’t just pull out all the stops, they keep on making up new ones, then pull those out, too. Among the script’s suggestions are: There are many inhabited planets out there, the birthplace of the human race was not Earth, bees are genetically designed to recognize royalty, and the choice of the most important things in the universe are family, profit, immortality, love or anti-gravity boots. There’s so much going on in this movie, it demands a second viewing. I’ve got no problem with that. I’m going again next week. Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now. JUPITER ASCENDING Written and directed by the Wachowskis With Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth Rated PG-13 By Ed Symkus More Content Now DailyTidings.com By Ed Symkus More Content Now Posted Feb. 6, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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