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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.
“(500) Days of Summer”
Romantic comedy. ****. PG-13. Boy meets girl. It seems so simple. Even so in director Marc Webb’s super debut (wondrous screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Webber), it’s 500 days of joy and disaster as Tom and Summer prove how love can be a figment of yearning and utterly real — sometimes at the same moment. Joseph Gordon-Levitt continues to trace the arc of subtle but true stardom. Zooey Deschanel is all eyes and smart talk as she rebuffs romantic nonsense at every turn. (Kennedy) 96 minutes
“9”
Animated sci-fi. **. PG-13. The animated sci-fi film “9,” not to be confused with the non-animated sci-fi “District 9,” or the non-animated non-sci-fi musical “Nine” – is a perfect example of a thin idea stuffed with filler until it loses much of its charm. Shane Acker’s film is built on his 2005 short animation of the same title, an almost magical and mysterious little movie about animated rag dolls in a post-apocalyptic future struggling to “survive” the terrors of their ruined world. (Roger Moore, The Orlando Sentinel) 77 minutes
“Adam”
Romantic Drama. ***. PG-13. A sensitive film of much charm, “Adam” stars Hugh Dancy in the title role as a brilliant young electronic engineer. He’s nice-looking but awfully uptight. Not long after the death of his father, with whom he shared a Manhattan apartment, Adam meets new neighbor Beth (Rose Byrne), who’s beautiful and outgoing. Beth gradually attempts to break through his perplexing shell. In time, she gains Adam’s trust and he at last explains that he has Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. (Kevin Thomas. Los Angeles Times) 99 minutes
“All About Steve”
Comedy. ** 1/2. PG-13. Look who’s stalking. In this slight comedy, Sandra Bullock is Mary Horowitz, a crossword puzzle constructor who misses brush-off cues and follows her heart and news cameraman Steve. Bradley Cooper of the incandescent eyes plays the object of Mary’s disconcerting desire. Thomas Haden Church is the field reporter who goads Mary on until disaster strikes. (Kennedy) 99 minutes
“Big Fan”
Obsessed Fan Drama. ***. R. “Big Fan” is a poignant, dead-on character study, an examination of a crisis in the life of the most die-hard of die-hard New York Giants football fans. A 36-year-old resident of Staten Island who watches his team on a TV in the stadium parking lot, Paul’s day job is manning the booth at a parking garage. What he really lives for, however, are his New York Giants and being a call-in voice on “The Zone,” a late-night sports talk radio program. (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) 86 minutes
“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
Animation. *** 1/2. PG. This is a delicious farce and a backhanded slap at America the Obese, it may be the funniest animated film of the year. “Meatballs” is about fathers and sons, daring to be smart and the price of gluttony. And in between the Jell-O mold diving, ice-cream sledding and the derivative, overdone action finale, the movie deliverS a biting message that parents should love — celebrate smartness and ease up on the “easy” (junk) food before it kills you. (Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel) 81 minutes
“Cold Souls”
Science Fiction. **. PG-13. Would an actor sell his own soul for a great performance? No, but he might pawn it. Paul Giamatti is struggling through rehearsals. His soul is weighed down; it tortures him; it makes his wife miserable. He hears about a new trend: People are having their souls extracted for a time, to lighten the burden. Dr. Flintstein’s Soul Storage service will remove the soul (or 95 percent of it, anyway) and hold it in cold storage. He’s the type of medical professional who focuses on the procedure and not the patient. Giamatti questions the procedure but signs up. (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) 101 minutes
“District 9”
Sci-fi. *** 1/2. R. “Go home E.T. Quick!” Might have been the message in this aliens among us ride. Neill Blomkamp’s visceral film follows Wikus van de Merwe (Shartlo Copley), in the days after the bureaucrat was exposed to alien DNA while evicting non-human refugees from a vast shanty town. With its mashup of visual styles (documentary, news reel, straight on action) and its fearless tussle with hot-button issues, “District 9” has the acrid tang of a classic. Time will settle that. But already, newcomer Blomkamp is a director to be reckoned with. (Kennedy) 115 minutes
“Extract”
Comedy. ***. R. To borrow a gag from his factory setting comedy, writer-director Mike Judge keeps the conveyor belt of marriage gags and workplace shenigans going without anything crashing down. Jason Bateman is the maritally frustrated hubbie and thoughtful boss at the center of the action, which included a dumb-as-a-post gigolo, a big-eyed conwoman (Mila Kunis) and a drug-dispensing pal, played by Ben Affleck. (Kennedy) 92 minutes
“The Informant!”
Crime Comedy. *** 1/2. R. A smart, silly corporate-crime comedy. It’s an absurd but true story. Matt Damon plays Mark Whitacre who was a star executive at agri-giant Archer Daniels Midland who tattled on the company’s vast international price-fixing scheme. He smuggled a wire into hundreds of meetings in the 1990s, securing the kind of direct evidence of white-collar conspiracy that prosecutors dream about. (Colin Covert, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) ) 108 minutes
“Inglourious Basterds”
Hebrew Revenge Fantasy. *** 1/2. PG. An inventive, outrageous film of the year, a Hebrew revenge fantasy in which Jewish commandos bring World War II to an abrupt end by targeting the German high command. The misspelled “basterds” of the title are a unit of Jewish GIs recruited by taskmaster Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) for a special job. They’ll parachute into Europe and terrorize the enemy by killing without mercy and scalping the dead. (Robert W. Butler, McClatchy Newspapers) 152 minutes
“It Might Get Loud”
Documentary. **. PG. “It Might Get Loud” is a documentary about boys and their toys — about men and the guitars that have helped catapult them to superstardom. The strength of the Davis Guggenheim-directed film is the miniature portraits of Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, U2’s the Edge and the White Stripes’ Jack White. As he follows the artists around England, Ireland and the American South, Guggenheim uncovers some truly telling pictures and captures some inspired moments of the individuals in their own spaces. (Baca) 97 minutes
“Jennifer’s Body”
Horror. ***. R. Do not let feelings about Megan Fox deter you from some horror fun. The hybrid of low-talent and klieg light overexposure is nearly likable for being so dislikable in this tale of girl friendship and demonic possession. Amanda Seyfried is best friend Needy, who isn’t as passive as the name suggest. Penned by Diablo Cody, directed by Karyn Kusama, the R-rated flick is a riot grrrl-style riff (with some fine riotous moments) on a genre that too often displays its female troubles. (Kennedy) 92 minutes
“Julie & Julia”
Comedy. *** 1/2. PG-13. What a celebration of appetite and marriage Nora Ephron has cooked up using Julia Child’s “My Life in France” and Julie Powell’s cooking memoir “Julie & Julia.” Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci delight as Julia and husband Paul. As Julie and Eric Powell, Amy Adams and Chris Messina capture the pleasures and challenges of being stressed young marrieds living in Queens in 2002. (Kennedy) 123 minutes
“Love Happens”
Comedy. * 1/2. PG-13. “Love Happens” is a comedy in mourning, a romance so sad that even Jennifer Aniston at her most engaging can’t save it. Aaron Eckhart is Burke Ryan, the prototypical lonely man in need of love. He’s a motivational speaker, a guy getting rich running self-help get-over-grief seminars. Jennifer Aniston is the quirky girl who can make him love again. (Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel) 107 minutes
“My One and Only”
Comedy. ***. PG-13. A good-natured screwball road film set in 1953. Renée Zellweger plays Ann Devereaux, a fading Southern belle who drags along her two teenage boys on a nationwide husband-hunting expedition. Crinkling her eyes, smiling coyly and perambulating seductively, Ann belongs to a breed of aggressively glamorous women whose syrupy wiles modern feminism has rendered quaint, and Zellweger inhabits her fully. (Stephen Holden, New York Times) 108 minutes
“Ponyo”
Animated. *** 1/2. G. Boy meets goldfish in animation master Hayao Miyazaki’s charming fable of nature and the nurturing love of a little boy named Sosuke (Frankie Jonas) and a fish named Ponyo (Noah Cyrus). The cast, including Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett and Tina Fey, do swimmingly. (Kennedy) 103 minutes
“The September Issue”
Documentary. *** 1/2. PG-13. Who cares if the demon wears Prada? What makes R.J. Cutler’s documentary mesmerizing is its outstanding portrait of two serious ladies: Vogue’s editor in chief Anna Wintour and creative director Grace Coddington. Taking a “making of” approach to the magazine’s thickest issue to date (at 840 pages it bests “Moby Dick”), the frock-umentary captures the convergence of art and industry and the tango of artist and editorial genuis. (Kennedy) 88 minutes
“Seraphine”
Drama. ****. Not Rated. Seraphine is a bulky, work-worn housecleaner who gets down on her knees in a roomy print dress and fiercely scrubs the floor. She slips away from work to steal supplies to paint in secret, covering panels with fruits and flowers. Seraphine de Senlis, who died in a French mental institution in 1942, today has her paintings in many museums. (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) 126 minutes
“Shorts”
Kids Fantasy. ** 1/2. PG. It’s a connected collection of “shorts” — short films about kids (and adults) who encounter a magical wishing rock deep in the heart of Texas. It mocks America’s Crackberry (and iPhone, etc.) epidemic in a kid-friendly farce about being careful what you wish for. Along the way, parents learn to be a team, a megalomaniac learns that ruling the world isn’t a worthy goal, and kids learn to only wish for the important things in life — world peace, an end to global warming and “a limitless supply of candy bars.” (Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel) 87 minutes
“The Time Traveler’s Wife”
Love Story. ** 1/2. PG-13. Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana play their roles straight and seriously, have a pleasant chemistry, and sort of involved me in spite of myself. They’re just so nice. He’s a time traveler and disappears when you and he least expect it. You have to suspend belief over a lot of the details but all in all it’s a sweet movie. (Roger Ebert) 107 minutes
