Some reviews originate at newspapers that do not award star ratings; some movies are not screened in advance for critics. Ratings range from zero to four stars.
OPENING THIS WEEK
“Red Tails” * * *
Reviewed on Page 1D
“Pariah” * * *
Reviewed on Page 7D
“Haywire” * * ½
Reviewed on Page 8D
“Underworld Awakening”
Reviewed online at
“16-love” Not reviewed
“Fullmetal Alchemist”
Not reviewed
CONTINUING
Here are selected mini-reviews of films in theaters, listed alphabetically.
“The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn”
Animated adventure. * * * ½ PG. The freelance journalist and his intrepid dog Snowy are well-known figures with an eye for trouble. And being modestly famous doesn’t keep them out of danger. One of the great conceits of the Herge comic book this is based on is that Snowy, a white wire fox terrier, is usually a couple of clues ahead of his master. So Snowy has to wait for Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) to figure out that the model sailing ship he bought from a street vendor has a hidden clue in it, a clue to the lost treasure of that very ship — the Unicorn. (Roger Moore, McClatchy News Service) 107 minutes
“The Artist”
Silent movie. * * * ½ PG-13. There is vigorous praise for this 1927 tale of a silent-era star struggling against the tide of the talkies. Stars include Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman and Penelope Ann Miller. (Lisa Kennedy, The Denver Post) 100 minutes
“Carnage”
Drama. * ½ R. Roman Polanski’s adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s Tony-winning play “God of Carnage” gets almost everything wrong. The movie version, retitled “Carnage,” takes place over a single morning in a well-to-do Brooklyn apartment, where two sets of couples meet to discuss a violent playground altercation between their sons. Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly star. (Christopher Kelly, McClatchy Newspapers) 79 minutes
“Contraband”
Thriller. * * * R. Mark Wahlberg delivers the goods in “Contraband,” a B-movie about smuggling in boozy, corrupt New Orleans. Wahlberg plays a smuggler who has gone legit selling household alarm systems. His wife (Kate Beckinsale) runs a beauty salon. They have two kids. He’s wised up and left “the life” behind. But his wife’s younger brother (Caleb Jones) hasn’t. (Roger Moore, McClatchy-Tribune News Service) 99 minutes
“A Dangerous Method”
Psychodrama. * * * R. Psychoanalysis has two dads in Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. In David Cronenberg’s elegant period drama their collaboration and falling out are put on the couch thanks to a catalyst named Sabina Spielrein. Keira Knightley is the young Russian who becomes Jung’s patient and paramour — and finally a psychoanalyst in her own right. One wishes screenwriter Christopher Hampton had found a way to bring more cultural context into the mix. Even so, there’s plenty of insight and fine turns by Michael Fassbender as Jung and Viggo Mortensen as his vexing mentor. (Kennedy) 99 minutes
“The Darkest Hour”
Sci-fi. PG-13. Two Internet entrepreneurs (Emile Hirsch and Max Minghella) are sent to Moscow to finish a business deal. When they learn that a Swedish opportunist (Joel Kinnaman) has stolen their idea, they head to a nightclub to lick their wounds and distract themselves with perky female tourists (Olivia Thirlby and Rachael Taylor). There the four — and the scheming Swede — will remain for the next few days as fireballs from outer space transform most of humanity into untidy piles of cremains. (Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times) 89 minutes
“The Devil Inside”
Horror. * R. This film joins a long, woozy-camera parade of found-footage scare pictures. Twenty years after killing three meddlesome Catholic exorcists, an American woman possessed (Suzan Crowley) and confined to an asylum in Rome is visited by her grown daughter (Fernanda Andrade). The daughter and a documentary filmmaker along for the ride want the truth. (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune) 87 minutes
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Crime thriller. * * * ½ R. David Fincher and writer Steven Zaillian bring Steig Larsson’s indelible serial-crime-solving duo to the multiplex. Rooney Mara gives brooding genius Lisbeth Salander a kind of youthful waver beneath her hard Goth armor. Daniel Craig makes muckraking journalist Mikael Blomkvist a more virile animal. Hey, he can’t help it; he’s Craig, Daniel Craig. (Kennedy) 138 minutes
“Joyful Noise”
Comedy. * * ½ PG-13. There’ s plenty of corn and Christ in this music -infused comedy about two women who square off over the fate of a church choir in a Georgia town. Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton bring their respective talents for ferocity and Southern charms as Vi Rose Hill and G.G. Sparrow. While they’re bumping heads, the teens in their lives share a spark. (Kennedy) 118 minutes
“In the Land of Blood and Honey”
Drama. * R. Writer-director Angelina Jolie’s first narrative feature is a mix of the powerful and the ridiculous, and eventually the ridiculous wins. The movie deals with a big subject that has received scant treatment in movies — the genocide in Bosnia in the 1990s — giving voice and testimony to what happened there. But the ill-conceived fictional elements take the picture right off the rails. (Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle) 122 minutes
“The Iron Lady”
Biopic. * * ½ PG-13. See this drama about Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s Prime Minister and the first female leader of a western nation, not because it’s an incisive history lesson. It’s too rushed to serve that purpose. Instead see it for Meryl Streep. One of the supernovas of acting, Streep is typically impressive portraying the conservative maverick’s rise in Britain’s political establisment. But she is astoundingly touching as the octogenarian whose once-great intellectual powers are flickering. Jim Broadbent plays husband Denis. (Kennedy) 105 minutes
“Melancholia”
Apocalyptic drama. * * * R. Kirsten Dunst stars as a women who disappears into melancholy as the Earth is on a collision course with another planet. (Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times) 135 minutes
“Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol”
Action. * * * PG-13. Director Brad Bird and screenwriters André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum tell a simple, good-guys-against-bad-guys story complete with a bullet train of action and an arsenal of cool gadgets. The movie starts with a clever jailbreak by Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, stuck in a Moscow prison. He is dispatched to infiltrate the Kremlin along with agents Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg). It’s all a setup by madman Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist), who is trying to cover his theft of a Russian nuclear launch device. (David Germain, The Associated Press) 132 minutes
“My Week With Marilyn” Drama. * * * R. In 1956, a young and eager Colin Clark was third assistant editor on the London set of “The Prince and the Showgirl.” Based on Clark’s memoirs, this well-acted drama, starring Michelle Williams, doesn’t illuminate the mystery of Monroe so much as remind us how complicated, demanding and intimate the role of spectator can be. At the core of “My Week With Marilyn” is the time Clark (Eddie Redmayne) spent squiring Monroe around the English countryside after husband Arthur Miller departed for New York
. (Kennedy) 99 minutes
“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”
Victorian bromance. * * ½ PG-13. Less could have been so much more in this sequel that introduces audiences to Sherlock Holmes’ most capable enemy, Professor James Moriarty. Even so, Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law charm again as the steampunk versions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s supersleuth, Sherlock Holmes, and his partner in crime solving, Dr. John Watson. Former girl with the dragon tattoo Noomi Rapace plays a gypsy ally. As Moriarty, Jared Harris provides nicely low-key menace. (Kennedy) 129 minutes
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Suspense. * * * * R. An expertly crafted rendering of the classic John le Carre espionage novel about trickery in the lofty upper reaches of British intelligence, with Gary Oldman in the title role. (Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle) 127 minutes
“War Horse”
Friendship saga. * * * ½ PG-13. Robustly entertaining, “War Horse” brings to the big screen Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 children’s novel about a young man named Albert, his horse, Joey, and the war that separates them and rends Europe — the first World War. (Kennedy) 140 minutes
“We Bought a Zoo”
Family adventure. * * * PG. Matt Damon portrays Benjamin Mee, who buys a zoo and moves his children to the shambling, 18-acre property. The film is inspired by the real-life Mee’s 2007 memoir. (Kennedy) 126 minutes
“Young Adult”
Dramedy. * * * R. Mavis Gary is, well, mean and Charlize Theron isn’t afraid to go there in this bitter pill of a comedy from director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody. There is her hometown, where she plans on winning back her high-school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson). Patton Oswalt is terrific as the conscience of the movie. (Kennedy) 94 minutes
GIANT SCREEN
IMAX — Denver Museum of Nature & Science
DinoMax 3-D double feature: “Dinosaurs Alive!” and “Waking the T. Rex: The Story of SUE”; “Under the Sea 3D” and “Born to Be Wild 3D.” Dates, times and tickets vary. 2001 Colorado Blvd., 303-322-2009,
IWERKS — The Wildlife Experience “Turtle Vision 3D,” “Sharks 3D,” “The Alps” and “Heli Skiing: Living the Dream.” Dates, times and tickets vary. 10035 S. Peoria St., Parker, 720-488-3300,
