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Capsule reviews of feature films

20.05.12

ADDICTION INCORPORATED 2 stars. A documentary that recounts the legal battles against American Big Tobacco. It's a long, studious film. 1 hr. 42 PG-13 (adult themes) - David Hiltbrand </p><p> THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN 3 stars. Wow moviemaking, bringing the comic book exploits of Herge's boy reporter hero and his colorful gang of friends and foes to life with state-of-the-art motion-capture wizardry. The effect is a little trippy, a lot of fun. With the voices, and physical performances, of Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig, Andy Serkis and more. 1 hr. 47 PG (cartoon violence, alcohol, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> ALBERT NOBBS 3 stars. Oscar-nominated for her turn as a 19th century Irish hotel butler - a small, fearful character whose whole life has been a lie - Glenn Close wrings surprising poignancy out of this odd, and oddly charming, film. 1 hr. 53 R (adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> THE ARTIST 4 stars. Everything old is new again in this deft, delightful black-and-white silent film set in late 1920s Hollywood, as the industry transitions to talking pictures - leaving some of its biggest stars behind. With Jean Dujardin as a screen idol and Berenice Bejo as the ingenue he mentors and falls for, as her career takes off, and his plummets. 1 hr. 40 PG-13 (adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> BEING ELMO 3 1/2 stars. This documentary looks at Kevin Clash, the man from working-class Baltimore who created the lovable Muppet. 1 hr. 16 PG (mild language including a brief drug reference) - Carrie Rickey</p><p> CARNAGE 3 1/2 stars. Roman Polanksi's deliciously nasty take on coupledom and class conflict, as a pair of New York elites (Christoph Waltz, Kate Winslet) visit a Brooklyn husband and wife (John C. Reilly, Jodie Foster) to make peace after a bullying incident involving their respective sons. Peace does not ensue. Adapted from the stage play, "The God of Carnage." 1 hr. 20 R (profanity, adult themes) - Steven Rea</p><p> CHRONICLE 3 1/2 stars. Smart, fun, and increasingly dark, this reality-grounded sci-fi tale finds three high school friends climbing into a hole - and emerging with telekinetic powers. But instead of using their newfound abilities to fight crime, they just do what guys in high school would do if they could levitate stuff and crush stuff and hurl stuff through the air. 1 hr. 23 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> CONTRABAND 2 stars. Mark Wahlberg, with Popeye biceps and broody stares, stars as an ex-smuggler forced to go back and do one last job in order to stop a twitchy, tattooed thug from menacing his family. Kate Beckinsale is the wife, Giovanni Ribisi the baddie, and Ben Foster the old partner with the fancy loft apartment. Gritty, pulpy, predictable. 1 hr. 50 R (violence, profanity, drugs, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> CORIOLANUS 3 1/2 stars. A visceral, vital modern-dress interpretation of one of Shakespeare's lesser known plays, about a Roman general and his rise, fall, and revenge. Ralph Fiennes takes the title role with command, and is commanding behind the camera in his directorial debut, too. With Gerard Butler, Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain and a formidable Vanessa Redgrave. 2 hrs. 02 R (violence, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> A DANGEROUS METHOD 3 stars. David Cronenberg time-travels to early 20th century Vienna and Zurich, to see what the daddy and granddaddy of psychoanalysis - Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) - are up to. Jung, for one, is up to an ill-advised liaison with one of his patients (Keira Knightley). A beautiful, but icy film. 1 hr. 39 R (sex, nudity, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> THE DESCENDANTS 4 stars. George Clooney in one of the most satisfying performances of his career - angry, sad, vulnerable, loving, foolish, comically discombobulated - as a Hawaiian lawyer coping with a family crisis and a daunting inheritance. From Alexander Payne, of "Sideways" and "About Schmidt" fame. Satisfying on every level. 1 hr. 55 R (profanity, drugs, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> EXIT STRATEGY 2 stars. Incompatibility becomes a relationship stumbling block after an evicted man moves in with his girlfriend of three months in this micro-budget romantic comedy from Philly native son, actor-writer Jameel Saleem. 1 hr. 16 No MPAA rating (mature themes) - Tirdad Derakhshani</p><p> EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE 3 stars. Thomas Horn stars as an 11-year-old who loses his father on 9/11 and who, over a reconnaissance expedition that takes him to all five boroughs,negotiates peace with tragedy. 2 hrs. 09 PG-13 (disturbing images, profanity) - Carrie Rickey </p><p> THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO 3 1/2 stars. David Fincher's beautifully taut, terrifying adaptation of the Stieg Larsson megaseller is faithful to its source, and offers a star-making turn from Rooney Mara as the asocial, bisexual, genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Daniel Craig is Mikael Blomkvist, the bookish investigative journalist who partners with the pierced, punked-out heroine to dig into a decades-old murder case. 2 hrs. 38 R (violence, sexual violence, nudity, sex, profanity, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> THE GREY 2 1/2 stars. Liam Neeson is a soul-torn sharpshooter in the Alaskan outback, trying to lead a band of fellow plane crash survivors across snowbound, sub-zero terrain, when a pack of wolves descend. They're not wearing Team Jacob T-shirts, but they're snarling and mean. R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> HAYWIRE 3 stars. Mixed Martial Arts champ Gina Carano makes her big screen debut in Steven Soderbergh's sleek, sophisticated action thriller, about a hitwoman on the run from a bunch of double- and triple-crossing guys (Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGraegor, Channing Tatum). Cool stuff. 1 hr. 32 R (violence, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> HUGO 3 stars. Martin Scorsese adapts "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," the Caldecott-winning graphic novel for kids, diving headlong into a magical world of old silent cinema and a bustling 1930s Paris train station, where the title character lives - and looks for clues to the mysterious machine his father left in his care. Movie buffs will delight in the homage to early cinema; kids may get a little restless, but it is a spectacle to behold. 2 hrs. 07 PG (violence, menace, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY 3 stars. Angelina Jolie makes her directorial debut in this determinedly tough political film, set against the brutal backdrop of the 1990s Bosnian conflict, with a Muslim artist and a Serb Army officer thrown together as atrocities swirl all around them. 2 hrs. 07 R (violence, sexual violence, nudity, profanity, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> THE IRON LADY 3 stars. Meryl Streep is uncanny as Margaret Thatcher - as an old and mentally shaky retiree, and then as the grocer's daughter who defied the mostly male and mostly upper-crust British political establishment to become the country's first female prime minister. A surprisingly moving portrait of one of the 20th century's most controversial leaders. 1 hr. 45 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> J. EDGAR 2 1/2 stars. Clint Eastwood directs Leonardo DiCaprio in this surprising but arduous biopic of the iconic D.C. lawman. It's a love story, really, as Hoover and his second-in-command, Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer), carry on an unspoken romance down through the turbulent decades. Lots of aging makeup, not enough depth. 2 hrs. 17 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> JOYFUL NOISE 2 1/2 stars. Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton co-star in this Gospel-inflected "Glee" about a church-choir competition. The musical numbers are exuberant fun in Todd Graff's otherwise threadbare film that co-stars Keke Palmer and Jeremy Jordan. 1 hr. 57 PG-13 (sexual innuendo and references, brief profanity) - Carrie Rickey </p><p> THE MAN NOBODY KNEW 3 1/2 stars. At once a deeply personal film and an important historical document, Carl Colby's portrait of his father, former CIA chief William Colby, offers insights into the world of old-school espionage, but also into the trickier territory of morality and truth. How does someone whose livelihood depends on deception function in the "normal" spheres of everyday life? 1 hr. 44 No MPAA rating (violence, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> MELANCHOLIA 3 1/2 stars. Lars von Trier's storm-tossed meditation on depression begins with a comically elaborate wedding reception and ends with a newly discovered planet on a collision course for Earth. Kirsten Dunst is simply remarkable, and the great, eccentric cast includes Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Stellan Skarsgrd, Alexander Skarsgrd and Kiefer Sutherland. 2 hrs. 15 R (profanity, sex, nudity, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> MISS BALA 3 stars. Taut, terrifying crime thriller about a young beauty pageant contestant inadvertently caught up in the chaos and carnage of the Mexican drug wars. 1 hr. 53 R (violence, sex, nudity, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> MOZART'S SISTER 3 stars, Exquisitely sad tale of the older sibling to little Wolfgang, herself a prodigy, writing sonatas and singing and playing the harpsichord and violin like a master. Marie Feret, daughter of the filmmaker, stars. No MPAA rating (adult themes) - Steven Rea</p><p> MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL 3 stars. IMF agent Ethan Hunt is back, and "The Incredibles" director Brad Bird has him, in the fourth, and cartooniest title in the Tom Cruise action franchise. But it's cartoony in a good way, and the Burj Khalifa sequence - with Cruise scaling the reflective glass skin of the world's tallest building - is suspenseful, cinematic, a total kick. 2 hrs. 13 PG-13 (violence, action, profanity, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> THE MUPPETS 3 stars. Jason Segel stars with Amy Adams and a little felt guy named Walter in this rollicking reboot of the late Jim Henson's furball franchise. Goofy song-and-dance numbers, slapstick silliness, winking we-know-this-is-a-movie cut-up asides - and all of it with heart. And with Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo and Animal, too. 1 hr. 38 PG (mildly rude humor, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> MY WEEK WITH MARILYN 2 1/2 stars. Michelle Williams is immensely touching as Marilyn Monroe in 1956, in England to make "The Prince and the Showgirl" with Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). The screenplay, based on a memoir by Colin Clark, the third assistant director, is cardboard, the performances dimensional. 1 hr. 39 R (profanity, brief nudity) - Carrie Rickey</p><p> PARIAH 3 1/2 stars. Dee Rees' accomplished feature debut is a coming-of-age-and-coming-out story of a 17-year-old Brooklyn girl expressively played by newcomer Adepero Oduye. 1 hr. 26 R (sexual themes, profanity) - Carrie Rickey </p><p> PINA 4 stars. A shockingly beautiful and moving tribute to the late German choreographer Pina Bausch, by her friend, the filmmaker Wim Wenders. The Oscar-nominated doc is in 3-D, and it's easily the 3-D experience of the year. 1 hr. 46 PG (adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> RED TAILS 2 1/2 stars. George Lucas produces a simplified, heavy-on-the-aerial-combat account of the all-African-American Tuskegee Airmen's triumphs in World War II - in the air, where they shot down Nazis, and on the ground, where they shot down the institutional racism of the military. Cartoonish, but the dogfights are exhilirating. 2 hrs. PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> SAFE HOUSE 3 stars. Denzel Washington is a former top op gone rogue and Ryan Reynolds is the CIA newbie assigned to keep watch over him, when all heck breaks loose. A smart, propulsive espionage thriller, with jolting chase sequences (shot in Cape Town), even if it eventually falls back on spy movie conventions. 1 hr. 55 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - Steven Rea</p><p> THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY 4 stars. This captivating animation from Japan's Studio Ghibli is based on "The Borrowers," Mary Norton's children's fantasy about micro-beings who live beneath the floorboards. As lovingly written as it is beautifully rendered. 1 hr. 35 G - Carrie Rickey. </p><p> A SEPARATION 3 1/2 stars. The foreign language Oscar nominee from Iran is an understated, complicated tale of legal and familial strife, as a middle-class, secular Tehran couple in the throes of breaking up are pitted against a poor, devout couple full or rage and righteousness. 2 hrs. 03 PG-13 (adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> SHAME 3 stars. Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan are superb in Steve McQueen's compelling double portrait of dysfunction. He a sexually compulsive businessman who wants to disconnect; she's an emotionally famished singer hungry for connection. 1 hr. 39 NC-17 (frontal nudity, graphic sex, profanity, violence) - Carrie Rickey </p><p> SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS 2 stars. The sequel's afoot, with Robert Downey Jr. returning as the Victorian era action hero, Jude Law playing his dutiful, doctorly sidekick, Watson, and Jared Harris as the evil mastermind Moriarty. Lots of stop-and-start fight scenes, lots of explosions, lots of pseudo-ratiocinating smartypants talk. 2 hrs. 09 PG-13 (violence, action, drugs, adult themes) - Steven Rea</p><p> THE SKIN I LIVE IN 3 stars. In this melodramatic and haunting film from Pedro Almodovar, Antonio Banderas is a commanding and unspeakably creepy Spanish plastic surgeon who keeps as prisoner and lab rat the lovely Elena Anaya, for whom he crafts a luminous new skin. Like "Silence of the Lambs," the movie makes the heart race and the skin crawl. R (violence, sexual violence, surgical violence, graphic nudity, drugs, language, surgical candor) - Carrie Rickey</p><p> THIN ICE 3 stars. Greg Kinnear stars as a sleazeball insurance agent trying to scam an absent-minded old farmer (Alan Arkin) out of a prized violin. Larceny and murder ensue in this nicely turned, increasingly dark morality tale. With Billy Crudup, Lea Thompson. 1 hr. 33 R (profanity, violence, sex, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> THIS MEANS WAR 2 1/2 stars. Unbeknownst to lovelorn Reese Witherspoon, the men she is dating (Tom Hardy and Chris Pine) are both CIA agents and best friends embroiled in a race for her affections. Intermittently amusing, this is a bromantic comedy in the clothes of a romantic one. 1 hr. 38 PG-13 (sexual content, profanity) - Carrie Rickey. </p><p> TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY 3 stars. Gary Oldman stars as mild-mannered MI6 mastermind George Smiley in this concise, precise and very, very gray adaptation of the John le Carre spy thriller. 2 hrs. 07 R (violence, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> TOMBOY 3 stars. Written and directed by Celine Sciamma. With Zoe Heran, Jeanne Disson and Mathieu Demy. Sun-dappled account of a young French girl who moves to a new suburb and pretends to be a boy. 1 hr. 24 PG-13 (brief nonerotic adolescent nudity) - Carrie Rickey</p><p> UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING 2 1/2 stars. Kate Beckinsale returns as the trigger-happy vampiress Selene. The body count rises quickly when humans threaten her kind with extinction. 1 hr. 29 R (intense violence, gore, profanity) - David Hiltbrand </p><p> THE VOW 2 1/2 stars. Rachel McAdams is a perky, artsy spouse who flies through a car window and then awakens from her coma with no memory of the man she loves. That would by Channing Tatum, who cries man tears and does everything in his power to make his amnesiac wife remember who he is. 1 hr. 44 PG-13 (nudity, adult themes) - Steven Rea</p><p> WAR HORSE 3 stars. Steven Spielberg's unashamedly old-fashioned adaptation of the popular children's novel and hit stage play - a horse and his boy story set against the big, bloody backdrop of the First World War. Heart-tugging, tear-jerking, hooves-thundering. 2 hrs. 26 PG-13 (battlefield violence and gore, adult themes) - Steven Rea </p><p> W.E. 2 stars, This two-tiered romance flashes back to the relationship between Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII and springs forward to an unhappily married woman whose newfound interest in Wallis Simpson influences her own actions. Directed and co-written by Madonna. 1 hr. 59 R (some nudity, sexuality, sexual violence) - Carrie Rickey.</p><p> THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2 stars. Daniel Radcliffe stars in this pallid Victorian ghost story. Slow-moving, old-fashioned and not terribly scary. 1 hr. 39 PG-13 (violence, disturbing images) - David Hiltbrand </p><p> YOUNG GOETHE IN LOVE 2 1/2 stars. A swirl with exuberance and exaggeration, this handsome widescreen period piece offers a colorful account of the romance that set the great German author on the path to literary stardom. The Heath Ledger-esque Alexander Fehling has the title role, and the red-tressed Miriam Stein plays the farmgirl with whom he falls hopelessly, and doomfully, in love. 1 hr. 42 No MPAA rating (sex, nudity, adult themes) - Steven Rea</p><p> RATINGS:</p><p> 4 stars: Excellent; 3 stars: Good; 2 stars: Fair; 1 star: Poor</p><p> </p><p> 2012, The Philadelphia Inquirer.</p><p>Visit Philadelphia Online, the Inquirers World Wide Web site, at http://www.philly.com/

Source: Kansas City Star