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
“Albert Nobbs” * * *
Reviewed on Page 8D
“The Grey” * * * ½
Reviewed on Page 8D
“The Conquest”
Reviewed online at
“One for the Money”
Reviewed online at
“Paul Goodman Saved My Life” Reviewed online at
“Man on a Ledge”
Reviewed online at
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. (Roger Moore, McClatchy Tribune News Service)107 minutes
“The Artist”
Silent movie. * * * ½ PG-13. There is vigorous praise for this 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
“Contraband”
Thriller. * * * R. Mark Wahlberg delivers the goods in “Contraband,” a B-movie about smuggling in boozy, corrupt New Orleans. He 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
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Drama. * * * ½ PG-13. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth made sacrifices in adapting Jonathan Safron Foer’s 9/11 novel for the big screen. Yet they’ve made a balm of a movie. The film is less concerned with national trauma than it is with communal healing. It tightens the focus on Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), a grieving child on a search for a lock that fits the key his father left him. Sandra Bullock plays Oskar’s mother, and Tom Hanks the father killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center.
(Kennedy) 129 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. (Kennedy) 138 minutes
“Haywire”
Action. * * ½ R. Steven Soderbergh cast Gina Carano, a mixed-martial-arts star/model, in this film and surrounded her with experienced actors because he wanted to see an action movie starring a woman who could credibly beat the living daylights out of legions of guys who got in her way.
(Roger Moore, McClatchy-Tribune News Service)93 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. 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 the genocide in Bosnia in the 1990s. 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. Streep is 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. (Kennedy) 105 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.
(Kennedy) 99 minutes
“Pariah”
Drama. * * * R. Adepero Oduye gives a subtly natural performance as a 17-year-old Brooklyn girl who’s struggling to come out as a lesbian. Each day at school, she dresses the way that makes her feel comfortable — in baggy T-shirts and baseball caps, and she pals around with her brash best friend, Laura (Pernell Walker), who’s already happily out. But on the bus ride home, she must transform herself into the young lady her mother, Audrey (Kim Wayans), approves of and loves. (Christy Lemire, The Associated Press) 86 minutes
“Red Tails”
Action. * * ½ PG-13. Despite stunning aerial scenes and good intentions, the George Lucas-produced film is grounded by clumsy dialogue, a meandering plot and the occasional jarring anachronism. It’s an inspired-by tale of the Tuskegee Airmen that wanders from wildly entertaining to schoolroom instructive to one-note flatness. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard star. (Tish Wells, McClatchy Newspapers) 120 minutes
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Suspense. * * * * R. An expertly crafted rendering of the classic John le Carré 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
GIANT SCREEN
IMAX — Denver Museum of Nature & Science
“Tornado Alley 3D,” “Flying Monsters 3D” and “To the Arctic 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,
