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
“Undefeated” * * * ½
“Rampart” * * * *
“21 Jump Street” * * *
“Casa de Mi Padre” * *
“Jeff, Who Lives at Home” * *
“Crazy Horse” * * *
“On the Ice”
Not reviewed
“The FP”
Not reviewed
CONTINUING
Here are selected mini-reviews of films in theaters, listed alphabetically.
“Act of Valor”
Action. * * ½ R. The early version of this film, starring actual Navy SEALs, was intended as a training or recruitment film, and was made outside the usual Pentagon guidelines for motion pictures. It now emerges as a thriller involving two (non-factual) scenarios, one about a SEAL mission to free a kidnapped CIA operative (Roselyn Sanchez), the other about a plot to smuggle terrorists into the U.S. through tunnels from Mexico constructed by drug cartels. (Roger Ebert, Universal Uclick) 101 minutes
“Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax”
Animated environmentalism. PG. Like “An Inconvenient Truth” for the 12-and-under crowd, “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax” is a cautionary environmental tale with a thin veneer of entertainment on top. Based on Seuss’ 1971 picture book, this musical adaptation is in eye-popping 3-D CGI. The film opens in the polluted, futuristic town of Thneedville, where trees don’t grow anymore and where the only fresh air comes in plastic jugs. It’s simultaneously silly and preachy, and with precious little room for fun. Voices are provided by Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Betty White and Danny Devito. (Michael O’Sullivan, The Washington Post) 86 minutes
“Friends With Kids”
Relationship comedy. * * ½ R. Don’t let the trailer touting “Bridesmaids” cast members fool you. This relationship comedy, written, directed and starring Jennifer Westfeldt, is more conventional, less hilarious. And it’s not Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Jon Hamm and Chris O’Dowd who lend charm to this story of two 30-something best friends who decide to have a baby together while remaining romantically apart. No, that feat belongs to the slim, dark-haired, emotionally nimble Adam Scott, who plays Jason to Westfeldt’s Julie. (Lisa Kennedy, The Denver Post) 100 minutes
“In Darkness”
Holocaust drama. * * * ½ R. This Oscar-nominated film about a Polish sewer worker and a small group of Jews who escape the liquidation of the Lvov ghetto by living in the bowels and tunnels of that Polish city is rooted in a true story. Initially, the hardworking but opportunistic Leopold Socha and his co-worker extort from the Jews. He won’t be confused with Miep Gies. Yet director Agnieszka Holland quietly insists that it is precisely on the burly shoulders of Socha and his ilk that the hopes for human decency rest from time to time. In Polish and Hebrew with English subtitles. (Kennedy) 148 minutes
“John Carter”
Adventure. * * ½ PG-13. What we have here is a rousing boy’s adventure story, adapted from stories that Edgar Rice Burroughs cranked out for early pulp magazines. Amazingly, this is the first John Carter movie, but it is intended to foster a franchise, and will probably succeed. Burroughs’ hero is a Civil War veteran who finds himself in Monument Valley, where he has an encounter that transports him to the red planet Mars. This is not the Mars that NASA’s rovers are poking into, but the Mars envisioned at the time Burroughs was writing, which the astronomer Percival Lowell claimed was crisscrossed by a system of canals. (Ebert) 132 minutes
“Norwegian Wood”
Romance. * * * Not rated. There’s something depressing about a young couple helplessly in love. Their state is so perfect it must be doomed. They project such qualities on their lovers that only disappointment can follow. Perhaps such truths help explain the success of Haruki Murakami’s international best seller “Norwegian Wood.” It’s easier to identify with loss than love because we have had so much more experience with it. Here he begins with two best friends and the girlfriend of one of them. Life is joyous and carefree. Then one of them commits suicide. Do suicidal young lovers realize that romance is short but death is long? At the Denver Film Center/Colfax. (Ebert) 133 minutes
“Project X”
Teen party adventure. * * * * R. “Project X” is an astounding, superlative movie about adolescence — a brutal, unapologetic comedy about the fantasy every high school kid carries around in his head about being popular, cool and beloved. The movie was inspired by the real-life exploits of Corey Delaney, an Australian teenager who threw a house party that got so out of control the riot police had to be called in. Director Nima Nourizadeh uses the found-footage approach (one of the characters in the movie is filming everything with his camera) to tell a similar story. When his parents go away on vacation, the likable nerd Thomas (Thomas Mann) and his pals Costa (Oliver Cooper) and JB (Jonathan Daniel Brown) decide to throw the mother of all bashes. (Rene Rodriguez, McClatchy Newspapers) 88 minutes
“Silent House”
Horror. * * * R. A dad. A daughter. An unseen intruder in a locked lake house. Such is the setup for the jitters-inducing, impressively suspenseful “Silent House,” starring Elizabeth Olsen as the fetching, frightened resourceful Sarah. But the real draw is that the film unfolds in real time and in one continuous shot. Directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau adapted into English Gustavo Hernandez’s gimmicky 2011 Uruguayan chiller, purportedly based on a true story. (Kennedy) 88 minutes
“Thin Ice”
Twisting narrative. * * * R. Greg Kinnear plays Mickey Prohaska, an insurance salesman in Kenosha, Wis., who drives a flashy Cadillac, but is deep in debt and estranged from the wife (Lea Thompson). He calls on a client, a farmer named Gorvy Hauer, played by Alan Arkin as a man wandering in the fog of his own befuddlement. Gorvy needs insurance on his TV so he can call a guy to get it to work; Mickey observes that it’s not plugged in, but signs him up anyway for a high-priced package. Billy Crudup stars as an installer of security systems, he also has a police record. Mickey, who can resist anything but temptation, seems to have found a partner in crime. (Ebert) 93 minutes
“Wanderlust“
Comedy. * ½ R. Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston play a New York couple who, at the height of the real estate market, invest all their money in a West Village apartment. But then he loses his job and she doesn’t get the windfall she expected. The real estate market drops, and their mortgage is underwater. Basically everything bad that can happen to people in a recession happens to them. The struggling couple ends up living in a hippie commune. (Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle)98 minutes
“W.E.”
Drama. * * ½ R. Not everybody is smitten with the love story of Prince Edward and Wallis Simpson as unhappy New York housewife Wally Winthrop. Or her creator Madonna, who co-wrote and directed this tale of now and then, Wally and Wallis. Abbie Cornish portrays Wally, who obsessively visits Sotheby’s on the eve of its 1998 auction of the Duke and Duchess of York’s items. Oscar Isaac is the Ukranian security guard who has his eyes on her. She takes refuge in Simpson and the prince’s affair. She even makes an imaginary BFF of Wallis (Andrea Riseborough). (Kennedy) 118 minutes
GIANT SCREEN
IMAX — Denver Museum of Nature & Science
“Tornado Alley 3D” and “Flying Monsters 3D.” Dates, times and tickets vary. 2001 Colorado Blvd., 303-322-2009,
IWERKS — The Wildlife Experience “Turtle Vision 3D,” “Sharks 3D,” “The Alps” and “Alaska Dogs.” Dates, times and tickets vary.10035 S. Peoria St., Parker, 720-488-3300,
