Drones for Father's Day with 'Eye in the Sky'

Sandpoint is no stranger to drones and we’ve seen firsthand the talents of xCraft and Kochava in our small town. Drone warfare is one of the more unignorable debating points of our time — one with such urgent life-or-death application that we have watched this film brings that to the cinema. “Eye in the Sky” is also, sadly, Alan Rickman’s last screen performance. He portrays a hawkish British general, Gavin Hood’s air-strike thriller isn’t the first film to tackle this topic but this one further explores the impact on the ground.

Treat Dad this weekend to an action movie. This one lasering in with its sights, “Eye in the Sky” gives us a single theater of war — a shantytown in Nairobi, where suicide bombers may be ensconced. Guy Hibbert’s punchy, almost real-time script begins with British army colonel Katharine Powell (a camo-clad Helen Mirren) calling the shots. A dissident she’s been tracking for years is pinpointed to this one hut, which is uncomfortably close to various innocent civilians going about their day.

Captain Phillips’s Barkhad Abdi plays a Somali anti-terror agent on the ground, tasked with getting close enough to send in a spy camera, attached to a remote-controlled “insect drone,” and thereby allowing his colleagues to have a literal fly on the wall. The critical moment nears. And, just then, a young Kenyan girl sets out her bread stall within feet of the blast radius.

The arguments — to strike, or not to strike — zing back and forth in Westminster, where Lt. Gen. Frank Benson (Rickman) more or less backs Mirren’s view that the risk is worth taking. The defense department need legality reinforced, pushing this decision up the chain of command. Shot largely in Hood’s native South Africa, this is a hot-button topic. Here the plotting is clean, and everyone involved has multiple agendas: careers and reputations are at stake, public culpability and personal guilt need to be assuaged. Idaho native Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”) as an American drone pilot, comes close to disobeying Mirren’s direct orders so that he can at least feel he’s doing the right thing. “Eye in the Sky” is a ticking suspense exercise and a plea for reason.

The film is rated R for violence images and language. It is showing at the Panida on Friday, June 18, at 8:30 p.m. and on Sunday, June 19, at 3:30 p.m.

Coming up next week at the Panida is the Peter Travers New York Film Critic Series, which offers an advanced screening of the movie “The Phenom”.

The film is showing at the Panida for one night only — Wednesday, June 22, at 7 p.m.

Independent theater partners are carefully chosen for the film series for their dedication to presenting the finest films available and the NYFCS is granted to a very limited number of theaters. Theaters chosen have demonstrated they take pride in their shows and what they are providing to patrons and the Panida has recently been selected to host the series. The Panida is the first theater selected so far in Idaho.

Movie-goers are treated to a premier advanced screening HD simulcast of a new movie along with a post-screening simulcast Q & A with the stars and creators of the movie. Exclusive interviews that will be facilitated by Peter Travers and broadcast from New York City. Peter Travers introduces the film not yet showing in theaters. This series kicks off at the Panida on Wednesday, June 22, at 7 p.m. Due to the simulcast nature there is only one showing of the film. The first film kicking off this new series will be the pre-release screening of “The Phenom” starring Paul Giamatti, Ethan Hawke, and Johnny Simmons.

In the film, Major League rookie pitcher Hopper Gibbson (Johnny Simmons) has lost his focus. After choking on the mound, he’s sent down to the minors and prescribed sessions with an unorthodox sports therapist (Paul Giamatti) who pushes him to uncover the origins of his anxiety. Beneath it all is his fraught relationship with is overbearing ex-con father (Ethan Hawke), whose tough love is the source of both his success and his paralysis.

“The Phenom” is not your typical sports movie; director Noah Buschel (Glass Chin) brings depth and complexity to this gripping psychological portrait of an athlete at a crossroads in the big league sports grind.

In future series events Sandpoint patrons will have the opportunity to send in questions prior to the screening. NYFCS offers an up-close and personal moment with major movie stars, producers, writers and directors at the screening of the film with this special talent conversation component. Special pricing $10 for all age levels.

Information: Panida, www.panida.org or 263-9191