She Likes to Watch

See Lola. See Lola run. Run, Lola, run.

We’ve all had bad days. Even horrible ones.

But the 20-minute period endured by the flame-haired heroine in “Run Lola Run” has to be one of the worst.

When Manni loses 100,000 Deutsche Mark belonging to a powerful gangster on the subway, it’s up to his devoted girlfriend, Lola (future “Bourne Identity” love interest Franka Potente), to recoup the money by any means possible — or watch Manni die.

In three alternative storylines, Lola begs, borrows and steals to get the cash, each time racing against the clock and against fate.

Director Tom Tykwer keeps the tempo tense with clever cuts, freeze frames, interwoven storytelling and even an animated sequence or two. It’s fast-paced fun — definitely one of the more innovative German films of the past decade.

Tykwer went on to direct “The Princess and the Warrior” (also starring Potente), “Heaven” and “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.”

“Run Lola Run” plays tonight at The Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. Showtimes are 7 and 9:15 p.m.

Tickets are $7.50.

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“Run Lola Run” kicks off a whole new Palm Wednesday series at the Palm Theatre. It’s a bit gentler and more girl-friendly than the previous run.

Here’s the rest of the schedule:

July 30: “American Beauty”

Aug. 6: “Moulin Rouge”

Aug. 13: “Garden State”

Aug. 20: “Spirited Away”

Aug. 27: “Donnie Darko”

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Photo courtesy of InfoLab.

Remember when Guy Ritchie was known for something other than being Madonna’s husband?

Back in 1998, he was Hollywood’s hottest new find, the director of the funny, fast-paced crime blitz known as “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.”

The movie, about four working-class stiffs who find themselves mixed up in high-stakes poker, pot and the search for two antique guns, made stars out of former Olympic diver Jason Statham and footballer-turned-actor Vinnie Jones.

It also set a new standard for British action flicks — and some unforgettable lines and one of the best movie soundtracks in years.

“Snatch,” released in 2000, ups the ante with more stars, more violence and and an even more confusing plot.

This time, a tangle of boxing promoters, bookmakers, amateur thieves, gangsters and jewelers are all after the same sparkling 84-carat rock.

Ritchie’s music-video-on-acid visual style makes for a wild time.

There are big names, like Benicio Del Toro and Dennis Farina, as well as a few familiar faces from “Trainspotting” and “Lock, Stock.”

But the most unexpected standout is Brad Pitt.

Pitt, playing an Irish-Gypsy prizefighter, is hilarious here — a tough scrapper with a nearly unintelligible accent and a deep love for “dags” (dogs) and “me mam” (his mother).

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Watch “Snatch” tonight at The Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. Showtimes are 7 and 9:15 p.m.

Tickets are $7.50.

Next in the Palm Wednesday movie series is “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” on July 2.

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Photo courtesy of MovieWeb.com.

It’s hot.

Sticky. Sweaty. Sweltering.

As The Tribune reported, my home city saw temperatures in the mid-80s as early as 8 a. m. yesterday. In fact, San Luis Obispo reached a record high of 99 degrees — topping the previous record of 98 degrees in 1981.

Today we could see triple digits.

I like the sun as much as the next person. But when the mercury hits 85 degrees by the time I’ve slurped down my breakfast cereal, it’s too damn hot for me.

This time of year, the best place to beat the heat is in a nice, air-conditioned movie theater.

Give me a mega-sized soda and I’ll trade a poolside lounge chair for a cushy movie seat any day of the week. (This philosophy might explain my unnatural pallor and less-than-impressive physique.)

Fortunately, studios are already kicking out some pretty decent summer flicks: “Iron Man,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “Prince Caspian” among them.

Now there’s another hit in theaters: “The Fall.”

Directed by Tarsem Singh, who helmed the visually stunning but muddled “The Cell,” “The Fall” took nearly two years to reach local movie theaters. Now playing at the Palm Theatre, it is simply not to be missed.

Set in 1920s Los Angeles, “The Fall” centers around two patients recovering at a country hospital.

One is silent movie stuntman Roy Walker (Lee Pace), injured in a fall from a railroad bridge. The other is Alexandria (Cantinca Untaru), a gutsy Romanian girl with a boundless imagination and a tenuous grasp on the English language.

As the two form a tender friendship, Roy spins a fantastic tale about the mysterious Masked Bandit and his crew — an Indian warrior, an escaped slave, an Italian explosives expert and (surprise!) naturalist Charles Darwin.

At first the story is fairly innocuous: courageous outlaws battling an evil governor amidst some of the world’s most gorgeous scenery.

But as narrator Roy grows more and more distraught in real life, his tale gets darker and more disturbing. Characters start dying. Violence mounts.

Finally, young Alexandria teeters on the brink of the tumble referenced in the film’s title: that first trembling fall from innocence.

Lee Pace (”Pushing Daisies,” “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day”) is likeable here as the stuntman with the wounded heart.

The true standout, however, is Untaru, just 9 when “The Fall” was first released.

Unlike wan starlets like Dakota Fanning, Untaru looks, sounds and acts like a real, live girl. She brings an innocence and a transparency to Alexandria that is hard to fake.

Despite beautiful costumes, stunning sets, and some of the year’s most jaw-dropping cinematography, “The Fall” does have a few flaws.

Like many a fairytale, characters here are only lightly sketched. The plot is simplistic. And the film’s conclusion, seemingly created for younger viewers like Alexandria, is both comforting and confusing.

That said, “The Fall” is truly one of the visual treats of the season. This film deserves to be seen.

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“The Fall” is currently playing at the Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo.

You can watch a YouTube interview with actor Lee Pace here.

Who is Keyser Soze?

That’s the riddle at the heart of Bryan Singer’s incredibly clever, fun crime flick, “The Usual Suspects.”

As “The Usual Suspects” opens, police are poking through the wreckage of a boat at a San Pedro pier. They discover 27 bodies and two survivors: a badly burned, terrified Hungarian terrorist and a small-time con man named Verbal Kint.

Kint reluctantly tells his story to the cops. As he explains, the whole thing began six weeks earlier with a seemingly unrelated police lineup.

If you’ve already seen “The Usual Suspects,” you know how this tangled web of career criminals, drug deals and gunplay ends. You know the true identity of criminal mastermind Keyser Soze. You’ve solved the riddle.

That’s not the point.

Watching “The Usual Suspects” is an exercise in critical thinking. Like those murder-mysteries beloved of old ladies, “The Usual Suspects” invites you to follow the clues and draw your own conclusions.

The action is well-paced. The dialog is sharp and frequently funny.

Plus, you couldn’t ask for a better lineup of seasoned character actors: Kevin Spacey (earning his first Oscar), Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollak, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite and Benicio Del Toro. Even Stephen Baldwin acquits himself nicely.

It’s the perfect modern mystery — even after you know that all-important twist.

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“The Usual Suspects” plays tonight at The Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. Showtimes are 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.

Tickets are $7.50.

(Local connection: The Usual Suspects is also the name of a local classic rock band.)

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Photo courtesy of MovieWeb.com.

There’s weird, and then there’s Hunter S. Thompson weird.

Thompson, the godfather of gonzo journalism, left behind a legacy of brilliant, drug-addled literature when he went to that big freakout in the sky a couple years ago.

His essays about American culture and politics are so strange and insightful, so twisted and utterly true that they’re a big challenge to portray on the silver screen.* You’d have to be crazy to even attempt such a feat. In fact, you’d have to be Terry Gilliam.

Perhaps that’s what gave Gilliam — the former Monty Python member behind such quirky gems as “Brazil,” “Time Bandits” and “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” — the courage to make “Fear and Loathing.”

“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” follows Thompson’s alter-ego Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and his lawyer/sidekick (Benicio del Toro) as they travel from Los Angeles to Las Vegas hopped up on every drug known to mankind.

Their journey leads them through a bizarre chain of adult playgrounds, as the fearsome duo examines the dark, psychedelic side of the American dream. It’s a journey well worth taking.**

“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” plays at 7 and 9:15 p.m. tonight at The Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo.

Tickets are $7.50.

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* Many have tried including Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone. As rumor has it, Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando once signed on as Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi considered the project at another point.

** Another screen adaptation of Thompson’s work worth seeing is “Where the Buffalo Roam,” starring Bill Murray as the cigarette-smoking, sunglass-sporting journalist.

Check it out and compare his Thompson to Depp’s version.

Photo above courtesy of MovieWeb.