Now Showing
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
“Ted” * * *
Reviewed on Page 1C
“People Like Us”
* * ½
Reviewed on Page 5C
“The Invisible War” * * *
Reviewed on Page 5C
“Your Sister’s Sister” * * *
Reviewed on Page 6C
“Magic Mike” * * *
Reviewed on Page 7C
“A Cat in Paris” * * *
Reviewed on Page 5C
“Gerhard Richter Painting”
* * *
Reviewed at
“Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection”
Not reviewed
CONTINUING
Here are selected mini-reviews of films in theaters, listed alphabetically.
“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”
Action horror. * * R. This Timur Bekmambetov-directed film rules the film school. It’s home to some beautifully bloody visuals, especially those of the 16th U.S. president (played by a slightly wooden Benjamin Walker) carrying out his (mostly) secret double life as an angst-filled, trench coat-wearing vampire hunter. But getting there is hardly a treat. The movie — based on a book by Seth Grahame-Smith, the same mind behind the similarly playful “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” — has a difficult time with narrative. And even though it lends itself to Bekmambetov’s hyperstylized production, the disconnect between intention and final product is a head scratcher. (Baca) 105 minutes
“Bel Ami”
Romantic drama. * * R. This film continues the aura of mystery that has enveloped Robert Pattinson since the “Twilight” pictures. That mystery involves why this actor, whose default mode is passive brooding, has been cast as a man irresistible to women. One can barely accept that a naive high school girl might fall to his strong, silent vampire, but in “Bel Ami,” he successfully seduces three of the most powerful beauties in Paris society, despite having no talent, no money and no conversation. The movie, set in 1890, is based on a Guy de Maupassant novel about Georges Duroy, son of an illiterate peasant who serves in the French army in Algeria and then finds himself in Paris. At the Denver Film Center/Colfax. (Ebert) 102 minutes
“Brave”
Princess adventure. * * * PG. Pixar’s latest adventure is gorgeous to be sure: all Scottish vale and inlet and forest. But the whiz-bang company’s first feature spotlighting a female protagonist feels like a throwback gussied up as reinvention. Kelly Macdonald provides the feisty brogue of princess Merida, whose father encourages her wildness while her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), loses points for reining in her crimson-haired daughter in. (Kennedy) 95 minutes
“Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted”
Animated animal joyride. * * * ½ PG-13. Vivid and wisecrackingly enjoyable, this sequel finds Central Park Zoo escapees Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) homesick for their New York enclosures. When last we saw them, their indefatigable penguin compatriots had left them in Africa as they and their chimp-powered plane set a course for a Mediterranean casino. At the start of “Madagascar 3,” the foursome catch up with the penguins in Monte Carlo. They also attract the attention of an out-of-control animal-control officer (Frances McDormand) who wants a lion for her overcrowded trophy wall. Better than ever before, “Madagascar 3” makes a persuasively dear argument for the power of friendship. (Kennedy) 93 minutes
“Marvel’s The Avengers”
Superhero flick. * * * ½ PG-13. Leave it to director/writer Joss Whedon to find potent, wry, even touching chemistry in a bickering collection of superheroes used to going it alone. The creator of Buffy, slayer of vampires, knows his way around bold action, special effects that earn the moniker, and character above all. The gang’s all here, marshaled on screen by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Franchisees Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk, as well as Black Widow and Hawkeye. (Kennedy) 143 minutes
“Men in Black 3”
Fantasy sequel. * * ½ PG-13. While not exactly essential, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones’ return as the titularly clad operatives comes with the charm of reprised, well-liked characters and a “didn’t-see-that-coming” conclusion that makes up for sci-fi ride’s early sequelitis. Josh Brolin proves to be understated fun as the younger K and the arrival of multidimension-gleaning character Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg) adds touchingly to this space-time ride. (Kennedy) 106 minutes
“Monsieur Lazhar”
Classroom drama. * * * ½ PG-13. In an opening scene of “Monsieur Lazhar,” one of this year’s Academy Award nominees in the foreign language category, it is Simon’s day to pick up cartons of milk and deliver them to his Montreal fourth-grade classroom before the school day begins. Looking in through the door, he realizes that his teacher has hanged herself from a ceiling pipe. This incident, reported in a Quebec newspaper, is the inspiration for Bachir Lazhar (Fellag) to present himself at the office of the school principal and volunteer to teach the class. (Ebert) 94 minutes
“Moonrise Kingdom”
Coming-of-age tale. * * * ½ PG-13.
The contradiction inherent to all Wes Anderson films — the juxtaposition of the meticulous artificiality of the settings and the passionately wistful emotions that are longing to burst free — is at its most effective in a while in “Moonrise Kingdom.” The director and co-writer’s tale of first love, filled with recognizable adolescent angst and naive fumblings, feels at once deeply personal and universally relatable. (Lemire) 94 minutes
“Prometheus”
Sci-fi. * * * R. Ridley Scott’s quasi-prequel, starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron, has muck-in-the-dark menace. And this space-travel misadventure also has the gaping mouthed beasts of Scott’s sci-fi/horror classic “Alien” that so resemble a Freudian fright mashup of sex organs. But if you’re hoping for a visceral reprise of “Alien,” you’re bound to be thwarted. (Kennedy)124 minutes
“Rock of Ages”
Musical. * * * ½ R. With its tale of young lovers working in a legendary rock club on L.A.’s Sunset Strip, Adam Shankman’s adaptation of Chris D”Arienzo’s Broadway musical makes a ridiculously tasty hash of corn and sleeze. (Kennedy) 123 minutes
“Safety Not Guaranteed”
Time-travel comedy. * * * ½ R.
Few descriptions of this film will do it justice. It’s a more ambitious and touching movie than seems possible given its starting point, which is a classified ad in an alternative newspaper about time travel. The ad comes up at a story conference for Seattle magazine. A writer named Jeff (Jake Johnson) volunteers to try to track down whoever placed the ad. He demands two interns to help him, and is assigned Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni). She’s an intense, quirky loner. He’s a virginal nerd with big glasses. The team goes to Ocean View, Wash., and fairly easily finds the guy who placed the ad: a mid-30s grocery clerk named Kenneth (Mark Duplass). (Ebert) 94 minutes
“Seeking a Friend for the End of the World”
Dramedy. * * * ½ R. Making popcorn entertainment out of humankind’s demise is a bad habit Hollywood can’t seem to break. But screenwriter Lorene Scafaria’s directorial debut, starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley as neighbors who embark on a sentimental journey as the clock tics, keeps it authentic, not with digitally rendered images of disaster but with believable, messy emotions. Their roadtrip is less fraught with danger than rife with strange characters. After all, there would probably be as many individual responses to an end we see coming as there are differentiated snowflakes. (Kennedy) 101 minutes
“Snow White and the Huntsman”
Fairy-tale action. * * PG-13. “Snow White and the Huntsman” is a too earnest (if action-packed) return to one of the Brothers Grimm’s enduring and vexing heroines. Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron have a pretty face-off as Snow White and the malevolent queen out to get her. Chris Hemsworth portrays the tracker of the title. Giant talents Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins and Ray Winstone as the famous dwarfs. (Kennedy) 126 minutes
“That’s My Boy”
Comedy. ½ R. Lowbrow comedy goes subterranean in this product of the Adam Sandler movie factory unpolluted by a trace of ambition or wit. (Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune) 114 minutes
