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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.
“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
“The Boys Are Back”
Drama. ***. PG-13. Clive Owen tries on a very different role and it fits quite nicely. John Warr is a sportwriter and single father of two boys from two marriages in this masculine weepy based on Simon Carr’s novel about the death of his wife and the raising of his sons. Scott Hicks directs. (Kennedy) 90 minutes
“Bright Star”
Poetic Drama. ***. PG. In 1818, poet John Keats was smitten by neighbor Fanny Brawne. Writer-director Jane Campion casts their aching love as a cinematically stunning “story poem” full of potent silences and deft cadences. It stars Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish. (Kennedy) 119 minutes
“The Burning Plain”
Drama. ** 1/2. PG-13. Writer Guillermo Arriaga debuts as a director with a compelling drama about three women bound by events in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Structurally, emotionally, the film — starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger — has the intricate weave and guilt-ridden pains of the movies the gifted screenwriter has penned: “Babel” and “21 Grams” among them. If the end comes together a little too neatly, it’s not a failure so much as a sign of Arriaga’s unerring belief in the power of parables to tell contemporary stories. (Kennedy) 111 minutes
“Capitalism: A Love Story”
Documentary. **. R. Michael Moore stars in a Michael Moore doc about the wages of capitalism. Having just marked the anniversary of the $700 bailout of Wall Street, the timing is spot on. But overly familiar jests (showing up at the AIG headquarters blowhorn in hand demanding our money back) and jousts (talking to a Wall Street Journal columnist who values the free market over democracy) don’t make Moore’s assault on greed as informative or entertaining as his own works. Moore’s the pity. (Kennedy) 127 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
“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
“The Invention of Lying”
Comedy. *** 1/2. PG-13. “The Invention of Lying” is a remarkably radical comedy. It opens with a series of funny, relentlessly logical episodes in a world where everyone always tells the truth, and then slips in the implication that religion is possible only in a world that has the ability to lie. Then it wraps all of this into a sweet love story. Ricky Gervais plays a pudgy everyman named Mark, whose secretary, Tina Fey, tells him she has loathed every day she worked for him. (Roger Ebert) 99 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
“Play the Game”
Comedy. * 1/2. PG-13. A sex romp starring Andy Griffith? The good news is that the seemingly perennial TV fixture is still funny and sharp and folksy. The bad news is that he lost the bet, or whatever it was that got him into this smarmy, lackluster comedy. “Play the Game” stars several older TV stars — Griffith, Doris Roberts, Liz Sheridan — opposite youngsters Paul Campbell and Marla Sokoloff, the dull point being that human beings of any age will scheme, finagle and conspire to get in bed beside the one they love. (John Anderson, Washington Post) 105 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
“Whip It”
Sports Comedy. ***. PG-13. Bliss Cavender follows her bliss in Drew Barrymore’s rousing, bright directorial debut about a potentional pageant contestent bent on trading in a tiara for roller skates. Ellen Page is Bliss. Marcia Gay Harden is terrific as her disapproving but complicated in her own rights mom. As teammates and rivals Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis and Eve all take spins and deliver blows in the rink. (Kennedy) 111 minutes
“Zombieland”
Zombie Comedy. ***. R. We pity the foolish zombie who tries to take a bite out of Tallahassee in this comedy that values the prey over the predators. Woody Harrelson is the gun-toting zombie slayer. Jesse Eisenberg endears as Columbus, the guy who proves flight might be just as effective as fight. Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone are sister survivors Little Rock and Wichita the women they meet on the road. In a world in which loved ones (or the cute girl next door) turn ravenous, trust is an issue. (Kennedy) 81 minutes
