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Here are selected minireviews of films in theaters, listed alphabetically.
Some reviews originate at other newspapers that do not award star ratings.
“Angels & Demons”
Thriller. **. PG-13. Professor Robert Langdon returns to interpret dark signs and obscure symbols in Ron Howard’s latest adaptation of a Dan Brown conspiracy tale. Tom Hanks stars, along with Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor and Armin Mueller-Stahl in a tale that features a dead pope; a murdered physicist; a vengeful secret society called the Illuminati; and a bomb of antimatter pulsing beneath Vatican City. With dialog that is often exposition, “Angels & Demons” might well be the most expensive audio book ever. (Kennedy) 138 minutes
“Away We Go”
Comedy. ** 1/2. R. We have our protagonists — a rootless, pregnant couple feeling their way into the world of adult responsibility on a road trip to scout the best environment in which to raise their child. And yet as the ambivalent pair visit Miami, Montreal and elsewhere in search of their destiny, nothing resembling a fleshed-out movie emerges. While the film is amusing in short bursts and boasts some sharp dialogue, it’s weak on plot and drama. With an excellent Maggie Gyllenhaal, brassy, hare-brained Allison Janney, comedy champs Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara, and John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph as the pregnant couple. (Colin Covert, Monneapolis Star Tribune) 97 minutes
“Brüno”
Mockumentary. ** 1/2. R. Sacha Baron Cohen, the knave of punk’d who made Kazazh journalist Borat an unlikely but oddly likeable star, returns to the big screen, this time as Brüno. The self-described “gay fashionista” heads from Austria to American for fame, only he’s too lame to know when to quit. The same can be said for his portrayer. (Kennedy) 82 minutes
“Food Inc.”
Documentary. ****. PG. The documentary offers a none-too-comforting look at how the FDA and USDA have been rendered powerless by legislation and court rulings, and how a revolving door between international food corporations and the federal government has led to lax health and safety controls. Another startling issue is secrecy: the lack of basic information available to consumers about what they are eating. (Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer) 93 minutes
“The Girl from Monaco”
French Dramedy. ** 1/2. R. This recent French flick deals with murder, messy family histories and a sexy TV weathercaster. Lawyer Bertrand falls madly for Audrey, the disco-dancing vixen who does the forecasts on the local news. But she is already involved with the man who is his bodyguard. (Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer) 95 minutes
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
Magical Adventure. *** 1/2 PG. Love and menace are in the air. And both get their unnerving due as Harry James Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), dear friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, as well as rival Draco Malfoy, return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Director David Yates writer Steve Kloves approach the sixth installment of J.K. Rowling’s page-turners with an appreciation of shadow and light, grief and hope, that makes these adaptations joyous and weighty. New to the gifted cast: Jim Broadbent as a former Hogwart’s professor. Horace Slughorn may hold the clue to the mystery of Thomas Riddle, the student who became “He who must not be named.” (Kennedy) 153 minutes
“The Hurt Locker”
Psychological Thriller. *** 1/2. R. “The Hurt Locker,” directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal, is the most intense and jarring experience of the summer thus far. War films have not done particularly well theatrically during our long years in Afghanistan and Iraq, a fact that makes kind of sorry sense. Yet, “The Hurt Locker” deserves and earns our edgy attention. The action is taut, intelligent. The performances, in particular Jeremy Renner’s as a maverick detonation expert, are wounded, credible and riveting. Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty also star. (Kennedy) 130 minutes
“I Love You, Beth Cooper”
Teen Comedy. * 1/2. PG-13. As the object of high school valedictorian, “Heroes” star Hayden Panettiere can’t rescue this woefully famiiar teen romantic comedy. When Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) announces his long-term crush in a commencement address a night of mishaps and bonding are set in motion. Jackson T. Carpenter plays Denis’ best friend, Rich, who isn’t gay, he insists, really. (Kennedy) 104 minutes
“Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”
Animated. ** 1/2. PG. The third in a thinning franchise, “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” plunges its loving, affably voiced herd of animals into two daunting worlds (rendered in 3D, natch): that of parenthood and that of hungry dinosaurs. Mammoths Ellie and Manny are expecting. Saber-toothed tiger Diego, possums Crash and Eddie, and a sloth named Sid wrestle with their changing roles, while trying to get back from the movie’s land of the lost. The greatest joys come from the show-within-a-show slapstick of Scrat vying with a flirtatious squirrel-rat for his acorn. She loves me, she loves me nut. (Kennedy) 94 minutes
“My Sister’s Keeper”
Drama. *** 1/2. PG-13. Anna Fitzgerald walks into a lawyer’s office and asks that he represent her in a suit against her loving parents. They want her to donate a kidney to her older sister who is battling leukemia. The 9-year-old doesn’t want to contribute any longer to her sis’ survival. Based on Jodi Picoult’s best-selling novel about a kid born to provide healthy cells, bone marrow, even an organ to her ailing sibling, “My Sister’s Keeper” humanizes vexing questions about medical ethics without sacrificing rattling family drama. (Kennedy) 109 minutes
“Moon”
Sci-Fi Thriller. *** 1/2. R. Moon mining station on the far side is manned by a single crew member, Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell). He’s working out the final days of a three-year contract and is close to cracking from loneliness. “Moon” is a superior example of that threatened genre, hard science fiction, which is often about the interface between humans and alien intelligence. (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) 97 minutes
“The Proposal”
Romantic Comedy. **. PG-13. Sandra Bullock is chilly, demanding book editor Margaret Tate. Ryan Reynolds plays her overly dedicated assistant, Andrew. When she finds herself about to be deported to Canada, they agree on a fake marriage. To seal the deal they head to Alaska where his parents (Craig T. Nelson and Mary Steenburgen) and willy-zany grandma (Betty White) live. Predicatable gaffs and some laughs ensue. Choreographer turned director Anne Fletcher (“17 Dresses”) never gets this tale, with all the diagrammed moves of a dance-step chart, to tango and glide. Evenso, winner Reynolds gets and gives the best lines. (Kennedy) 104 minutes
“Surveillance”
Thriller. *** R. A prairie highway in daylight couldn’t be more different than the cabin in the dark woods movies similar to this brutal thriller so often unfurl. But that’s exactly where the mayhem occurs in director Jennifer Lynch and cowriter Kent Harper’s tale of serial killing and unreliable witnesses. Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond are strange and mesmerizing as FBI agents who arrive at a police station to interrogate three witnesses to carnage. The performances are sharp. And there’s a rough elegance in Peter Wunstorf’s camerawork. (Kennedy) 90 minutes
“The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3”
Action thriller. ***. R. Kinetic director Tony Scott balances his need for speed and flash with fleshed-out drama, making this return to seventies flick “The Taking of the Pelham 1 2 3” the best of his recent outings. Writer Brian Helgeland’s adaptation of John Godey’s rough and raw 1973 novel transforms a heist drama into a dynamic, psychological face-off between John Travolta’s borderline sociopath and Denzel Washington’s decent guy. It’s a tense rivalry of vastly different forces and — as it should be when two actors dig into the muck and grit of their characters — it’s a pleasure to watch. (Kennedy) 106 minutes
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
Action. ** 1/2. PG-13. Sporadically fun, “Transformers” more often lumbers – loudly, proudly – as it delves into the ancient antagonisms of the decent alien Autobots and deadly Decepticons. Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam Witwicky, the kid the Autobots sought out in their ages-old fight with the Decepticons. The movie also stars Julie White, Kevin Dunn and Megan Fox. (Kennedy) 147 minutes
“Treeless Mountain”
Drama. ***. Not Rated. American indie up-and-comer So Yong Kim returned to the nation of her birth to compose this tone poem about Jin and Bin. The sisters’ mother leaves them in the care of a hard aunt in hopes of finding their father. It’s a quiet, observant work the sort that lures one into thinking not a lot happens. Except of course so much is at stake for the children, who are played unerringly true by Hee Yeon Kim and Song Hee Kim. In Korean with English subtitles. Exclusively at the Starz FilmCenter. (Kennedy) 89 minutes
“Up”
Animated. *** 1/2. PG. A codger and a kid take us up-up-and-away in a house carried aloft by balloons in this buoyant tale about aging and adventure, youth and sweet wisdom. Ed Asner and newcomer Jordan Nagai soar as retired balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen and Wilderness Explorer Russell. Directed by Pete Docter, “Up” screens in 35mm and Digital 3D. Regardless the format, it’s the multidimensional storytelling that endears and endures. Bob Peterson (codirector and cowriter) provides howlingly amusing riffs as Dug, a dog with a collar that translates his thoughts into speech. Christopher Plummer also stars. (Kennedy) 96 minutes
“Whatever Works”
Comedy. ** 1/2. PG-13. Woody Allen returns to New York after four films abroad (two his best in years). Yet, in this minor work featuring Larry David as a disagreeable crank who falls for a Southern runaway, the writer-director still manages to riff on foreigners: this time Southerners. Evan Rachel Wood is guile-less Melody. Her Bible-quoting, Tennesse Williams enucianting folks are played by Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr. (Kennedy) 92 minutes
