Into the Wild
Director Sean Penn takes his penchant for brooding and his powerful grasp on what makes an aching performance and turns them into his most fluid film yet. Emile Hirsch is Christopher McCandless. In 1990, the college grad headed west from a Washington, D.C., suburb on a two-year walkabout. In his 1998 best seller, Jon Krakauer made the 22-year-old’s ecstatic-tragic trek unforgettable. After years of trying to secure the rights to the story, Penn has made a muscularly sentimental film about liberation, anger and youthful hubris. Catherine Keener and Hal Holbrook deliver nomination-worthy turns as folk touched by Alex Supertramp, McCandless’ seeking alter-ego. R; 2 hours, 33 minutes.
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
It doesn’t seem quite charitable to wish for more magic from this fantasy about 243-year-old Magorium (Dustin Hoffman), who wants to permanently retire and hand over his lively, uncanny business to his assistant. Blame rests with writer-director Zach Helm. The talented scribe wrote the highly original “Stranger Than Fiction.” For all its zany energy and winning toys, his directorial debut doesn’t have the fine rhythms of an instant family classic. Natalie Portman plays Molly, the wavering assistant. Eric (Zach Mills) is the wise child who helps the adults figure out their soulful needs. Humorless Henry (Jason Bateman) arrives pen and calculator in hand for a once-in-a-lifetime audit. Grown-ups will see the resolutions coming from the get-go. But credit Helm with reminding wee audiences why toys can matter. They’re our first tools for a wondrous engagement with the worlds of fantasy and beyond. G; 1 hour, 33 minutes
Things We Lost in the Fire
Halle Berry and David Duchovny are touchingly believable as Steve and Audrey Burke. They live in the Pacific Northwest with their young children with wild hair and expansive personalities. When Steven meets an unjust end, Audrey asks Jerry, his oldest childhood friend, a lawyer and now junkie (Benicio Del Toro), to come to the funeral. Soon after she asks him to live with her and the children. Danish director Susanne Bier’s American debut is about the shadows of grief, the dark nights of addiction and glimmers of recovery. With hand-held camerawork that occasionally makes abstract portraits of its characters’ faces, the movie poses questions about intimacy. Lovingly and with emotional fortitude, the movie’s trio of performers try to answer them for their characters — and for us. R; 1 hour, 59 minutes
