Some reviews originate at other newspapers that do not award star ratings. Ratings range from zero to four stars.
OPENING THIS WEEK
“Win Win” Reviewed on Page 1D
“Source Code”Reviewed on Page 6D
“The Music Never Stopped” Reviewed at right
“Hop” Reviewed at right
“Insidious” Reviewed on Page 6D
“Heartbeats” Reviewed on Page 6D
“HappyThankYouMorePlease” Reviewed online only
“Cracks” Reviewed online only
CONTINUING
Here are selected mini-reviews of films in theaters, listed alphabetically.
“Battle: Los Angeles”Space invasion PG-13. That strange meteor shower over L.A.? Turns out it’s the first wave of a brutal alien attack. Staff Sgt. Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) and his unit are tasked with rescuing a group of civilians trapped in an abandoned police station behind enemy lines in Santa Monica. They’ve got three hours to get them out. (McClatchy Newspapers) 116 minutes
“Beastly”Teen fantasy PG-13. “Beastly” is a high-school updating of “Beauty and the Beast.” Witty, warm, well-cast and often wickedly funny, it lets Vanessa Hudgens shine. (Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel) 95 minutes
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules”Comedy PG. The antihero of the series is Greg Heffley, a put-upon 12-year-old who sees his life as an unending series of humiliations. He’s a bit of a whiner and a jerk, but always shows his human side, and we relate and forgive him because we’ve all been there. (Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune) 96 minutes
“Hall Pass”
Comedy R. Two married guys get a week’s freedom from their chains to have a ball. Owen Wilson and Jenna Fischer, Jason Sudeikis and Christina Applegate play the couples. (Kennedy) 98 minutes
“I Am Number Four”Science fiction PG-13. Nine aliens who resemble humans flee to hide on Earth. They are each provided a guardian and develop superhuman powers as they become adults. (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) 110 minutes
“Jane Eyre”Literary romance PG-13. Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” with Mia Wasikowska as Jane and Michael Fassbender as the storm warning known as Edward Rochester. Jane is bullied, beaten, cowed, humiliated and marginalized by her guardians, her Lowood schoolmasters and the wider world around her, only to arrive at Thornfield Hall to be governess. (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune) 121 minutes
“The Last Lions”
Animal thriller PG. A lioness in exile fights to make a life for herself and her cubs in naturalists Dereck and Beverly Joubert’s wrenching, wondrous and eco-cautionary tale set in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. (Kennedy) 88 minutes
“Limitless”Contemporary sci-fi PG-13. Eddie Morra’s adventures begin after he is given a pill that puts his entire brain online. This sort of mental progression has inspired a lot of movies; the difference here is that Morra remains himself, and all that changes is his ability to recall everything he ever saw or heard. (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) 105 minutes
“The Lincoln Lawyer”Legal thriller R. How Matthew McConoughey got his groove back doesn’t matter. But the twangy charmer’s back in agile form as Mick Haller in this purring, revving adaptation of Michael Connelly’s thriller about a defense attorney whose office is his Lincoln Town Car. When Haller graduates to a better class of client (Ryan Phillippe), he faces fresh doubts. Ace cast with Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy and Michael Peña. (Kennedy) 119 minutes
“Of Gods and Men”Religious drama. PG-13. Based on the true story of nine Roman Catholic monks whose lives were disrupted by an outbreak of Islamic extremist violence near their monastery in Algeria. (Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle) 122 minutes
“Paul”Alien comedy R. Dial back any stratospheric hopes for this comedy by the gifted writers-actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and director Greg Mottola (“Superbad”). A couple of deep laughs and a sprinkle of chuckles can’t save this geeks-meets-alien road-chase movie from being a close encounter of the middling kind. Seth Rogen voices Paul. Kristen Wiig is a Jesus freak along for the ride of her life. (Kennedy) 104 minutes
“Take Me Home Tonight”Comedy R. Topher Grace plays a prime specimen of science- club zero, a bashful sweetheart recently graduated from MIT but stuck in emotional limbo. The movie is a winning rag bag of gags. (Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune) 114 minutes
