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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.
“Amelia”
Bio-pic. **. When Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra takes off to soaring music, it might have been a sign of rousing things to come for this biopic starring Hilary Swank as the aviator and Richard Gere as her husband, the publisher and PR inventor George P. Putnam. Instead it stalls, never really connecting audiences to Earhart’s passion for flight. Directed by Mira Nair, “Amelia” isn’t a flying machine with an adventurer at the wheel. It’s more like an Airbus with attractive passengers. (Kennedy) 111 minutes
“Bronson”
Prison Drama. *** 1/2. R. Highly stylized and embellished film biography of a man known as the most famous prisoner in Britain. Born Michael Peterson in 1952, Bronson has spent all but a few months of the last 35 years in prison, mostly in solitary confinement. “Bronson” invites you to admire its protagonist as a pure, muscular embodiment of anarchy. And perhaps you will, but you may also be glad that he’s still behind bars. (A. O. Scott, New York Times) 92 minutes
“Astro Boy”
Sci-fi. ***. PG. The hero, who is about the same age as his target audience, is smarter, braver and stronger than the adults in his world. Toby is also a quick learner; after he dies in an accident, he’s reborn inside a robot that looks just like him and retains all of his memories. (Roger Ebert) 90 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
“Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant”
Horror. ** 1/2. PG-13. Darren is a good kid with good parents but a boy under the influence classmate Steve. Steve recognizes Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) from his vampire books and is eager to escape his miserable life by joining the undead. But the guy whose “destiny” it is to join the vampires in their war is Darren. Reilly is well cast as a playful, seen-it-all blood-sucker who explains what awaits Darren if the kid chooses to earn his fangs. (Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel) 108 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
“Coco Before Chanel”
Bio-pic. ***. PG-13. Director Anne Fontaine takes seriously the life and talents of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel without ever sacrificing the film’s refreshing elan. Audrey Tautou is soft-eyed and tough-minded as the orphan whose rough upbringing shaped her inventive designs. Benoît Poelvoorde brings enjoyble frisson as Étienne Balsan, Coco’s patron and pragmatic paramour. Also featured: Emmanuelle Devos and Alessandro Nivola as the man called “Boy.” (Kennedy) 110 minutes
“An Education”
Coming-of-age. *** 1/2. PG-13. Director Lone Scherfig and vivacious newcomer Carey Mulligan are terrifically in sync in this adaptation of Lynn Barber’s memoir. A good thing. Because this truimphant coming-of-age story about 16-year-old Jenny’s relationship with older suitor David (Peter Sargaard) set in a London suburb in 1961 requires finesse. Afred Molina and Cara Seymour are funny-sad as parents a little too willing to be conned. At the Mayan. (Kennedy) 95 minutes
“Good Hair”
Docu-comedy. *** 1/2. PG-13. Astute jester Chris Rock combs through the tangle of issues concerning black women and hair. There are Laughs aplenty. That was expected. But, Rock and director Jeff Stilson make a case for how touching the touchy subject can be? Al Sharpton, Maya Angelou, Nia Long and Ice-T are just a few of interviews. (Kennedy) 90 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
“Law Abiding Citizen”
Revenge. * 1/2. R. This is a glib, brutal and preposterous revenge fantasy, a take-the-law-in-your-own-hands rabble rouser that taps into a lot of fears and genuine gripes about the American legal system. A man survives the slaughter of his family by thugs and sets out to get even, and then some. Gerard Butler has the title role as Clyde Shelton, a “tinkerer” who is stabbed during a home invasion. Jamie Foxx is the politically ambitious Philadelphia prosecutor who lets one of the killers get off easy so the other will be executed. (Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel) 107 minutes
“Michael Jackson’s This Is It”
Almost-concert Film. ***. PG. This film was undertaken too soon to be the watershed documentary the extraordinary performer deserved. The movie is less a full-on portrait than a tantalizing sketch of an artist at work. And the movie is for — and of — fans. There’s an astonishing precision to Jackson and Travis Payne’s choreography. (Kennedy) 90 minutes
“New York, I Love You”
10 Short Films. ***. R. Ten directors, ten short films, all take place in New York City. Look at the cast and credits to form an idea of the directors and actors at work here. By its nature, “New York, I Love You” can’t add up. It remains the sum of its parts. If one isn’t working for you, wait a few minutes, here comes another one. (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) 110 minutes
“A Serious Man”
Period Drama. ** 1/2. R. Joel and Ethan Coen’s quietly amusing, philosophically rich tale about a beset family man is set in a Minnesota suburb 1967, a time when the Coens themselves were coming of age outside Minneapolis. Michael Stuhlbarg is Larry Gopnick. The physics professor isn’t Job. These days it doesn’t take as much to send a man of faith reeling. But he does embark on a journey to understand God’s will leads him to three rabbis and one divorce lawyer. The ensemble is pitch perfect: especially Richard Kind as Larry’s beleaguered Gopnick brother and Fred Melamed as his wife’s lover. (Kennedy) 105 minutes
“Visual Acoustics”
Documentary. ***. Not Rated. “Visual Acoustics” is nominally about the life and career of landmark Southern California architectural photographer Julius Shulman, but it’s more about the buildings he photographed than it is about him. (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) 83 minutes
“Where the Wild Things Are”
Children’s Classic. *** 1/2. PG. Spike Jonze adapted Maurice Sendak’s beloved kids book about a boy named Max who journeys to a place inhabited by creatures that declare him king. Jonze not only finds his inner “rumpus,” to borrow a word, he goes wild. Dave Eggers cowrote this artful celebration of the unruly. Flush with its own peculiar energy, the movie stars the voice talents of James Gandolfini, Catherine O’Hara, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper to name a few, as the wild things. Max Records impresses as sweet, impossible, hurting, creative Max. Catherine Keener plays his mother. (Kennedy) 101 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
