Films

Fri., Dec. 4, 2009

Capsule reviews with star ratings are written by reviewers for the Philadelphia Inquirer (PI) and the Associated Press (AP).

Opening today:

Armored

Employees at an armored-transport business plan a heist against their own company. Running time: 1:25 Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, disturbing images)

Airway Heights: 11:30 a.m., 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30. NorthTown Mall: 11:45 a.m., 2:40, 4:55, 7:15, 10:10. River Park Square: 11:50 a.m., 3:45, 6:10, 9. Riverstone: 1:45, 4:45, 7:45, 10:25. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:25, 2:35, 4:45, 6:55, 9:10. Wandermere: 11:30 a.m., 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30.

Brothers

A drifter (Jake Gyllenhaal) cares for the wife and family of his presumed-dead brother (Tobey Maguire). Running time: 1:44 Rating: R (language, violence)

NorthTown Mall: 12:45, 4:30, 7:45, 10:25. River Park Square: 11:20 a.m., 2:05, 4:40, 7:20, 10:05. Riverstone: 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:05. Wandermere: 11:15 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15.

Everybody’s Fine

A widower (Robert De Niro) goes on a road trip to reconnect with each of his adult children. Running time: 1:35 Rating: PG-13 (language)

Airway Heights: 11 a.m., 1, 3:10, 5:15, 7:20, 9:35. River Park Square: 11:10 a.m., 1:35, 3:55, 6:50, 9:30. Riverstone: 2:05, 4:50, 7:35, 9:55. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:05, 2:25, 4:35, 6:50, 9:05. Wandermere: 11 a.m., 1, 3:10, 5:15, 7:20, 9:35.

Transylmania

College students arrive for class at a centuries-old, vampire-infested castle. Running time: 1:35 Rating: R (crude and sexual content, drug use, language, nudity, violence)

River Park Square: 11 a.m., 1:25, 3:40, 6:45, 9:15. Wandermere: 11:40 a.m., 2, 4:25, 6:50, 9:20.

Continuing:

2012

••1/2 Roland Emmerich sure knows how to make a doomsday movie with a happy ending. This preposterously diverting film starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Cusack and Danny Glover is a wild ride that says, it’s OK if 8 billion die as long as eight movie stars and the dog live. (PI) Running time: 2:38 Rating: PG-13 (disaster sequences, language)

Airway Heights: noon, 3, 6:10, 9:10. Hayden: 1:30, 5:10, 8:20. NorthTown Mall: noon, 3:20, 6:40, 10. River Park Square: 10:35 a.m., 2:05, 5:30, 9:05. Riverstone: 1:05, 4:25, 7:55. Spokane Valley Mall: 11:50 a.m., 3:10, 6:30, 9:50. Wandermere: noon, 3, 6:10, 9:20.

The Blind Side

••1/2 Writer-director John Lee Hancock wisely lets the true story of Michael Oher – the African-American teen who found a home and, eventually, football stardom after being adopted by a wealthy Memphis couple (Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw) – speak for itself. (AP) Running time: 2:08 Rating: PG-13 (violence, drug references, sexual references)

Airway Heights: 10:45 a.m., 1:20, 4, 6:40, 9:20. Hayden: 12:45, 3:25, 6:05, 8:45. NorthTown Mall: 12:15, 4:15, 7, 9:55. River Park Square: 10:30 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 1:30, 3:15, 4:25, 6:20, 7:25, 9:20, 10:15. Riverstone: 1, 1:10, 4, 4:15, 7, 7:30, 9:50, 10:20. Spokane Valley Mall: 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15. Wandermere: 10:45 a.m., 1:20, 4, 6:40, 9:20.

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

The McManus brothers return to Boston to avenge the murder of their priest. Running time: 1:55 Rating: R (bloody violence, language, nudity)

Magic Lantern: 9:30

Coco Before Chanel

Seamstress Coco Chanel develops a style that takes her to the heights of haute coutoure. Running time: 1:45 Rating: PG-13 (sexual content)

Magic Lantern: 7:20

Couples Retreat

•• A tropical vacation turns out to be a relationship workshop for four couples. Vince Vaughn, Malin Akerman, Kristen Bell and Faizon Love are part of a large cast in a skimpy comedy that is more adult than its rating indicates. (PI) Running time: 1:54 Rating: PG-13 (language, sexual content)

Wandermere: 4, 6:30, 9:10.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol

•• Robert Zemecki’s visually immersive, emotionally uninvolving animation of the Charles Dickens evergreen features motion capture performances by Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman and Robin Wright Penn. Lost in the video-game effects and ghostly grotesquerie is the redemptive saga of the man who learns that his stinginess has spiritually deformed him. (PI) Running time: 1:35 Rating: PG (scary images)

Wandermere: 11:15 a.m., 1:40.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol 3D: Airway Heights: noon, 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 9. NorthTown Mall: 11:50 a.m., 2:30, 4:45, 7:05, 9:35. River Park Square: 1:35, 3:50. Riverstone: 1:35, 4:10, 7:05, 9:30. Spokane Valley Mall: noon, 2:20, 4:40, 7:10, 9:30. Wandermere: noon, 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 9.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol: An IMAX 3D Experience: River Park Square: 11:30 a.m., 1:50, 4:15, 6:30, 9:10.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

•• • The fur flies in Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animation gem about an erudite predator and his burrowing brood. With the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray, this adaptation of a Roald Dahl book is the best animated film of the year, and maybe the best film, period. (PI) Running time: 1:28 Rating: PG (slang humor)

Airway Heights: 12:15, 2:30, 4:40, 6:50, 9. NorthTown Mall: 12:10, 3, 5:15, 7:25, 9:45. River Park Square: 11:30 a.m., 1:45, 3:55, 6:35, 9:15. Riverstone: 1:50, 4:20, 6:50, 9:35. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:20, 2:30, 4:50, 7:20, 9:45.

Forces of Nature

Natural disasters are the focus of this IMAX film, namely volcanoes, earthquakes and tornadoes. Never has the power of a volcanic eruption seemed more in-your-face awesome. Running time: :40 Rating: not rated

IMAX (Riverfront Park): noon, 3:25.

G-Force

•• Disney’s dud about a team of high-tech guinea pig spies is a perpetual motion machine of meaningless action, as a squad of elite rodents tries to thwart a housewares industrialist’s plan of world domination. A mix of CG and live action, with real humans Bill Nighy and Zach Galifianakis, and the voices of Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Sam Rockwell and Tracy Morgan. (PI) Running time: 1:28 Rating: PG (rude humor)

Garland: 5:05.

Inglourious Basterds

•• Quentin Tarantino’s tonally schizoid Jewish revenge fantasy rewrites World War II history to give Brad Pitt and company a chance to do a lot of jive riffing, while the movie mashes up the combat exploits of the “Dirty Dozen,” the madcap slapstick of “Duck Soup” and “Hostel” gore. (PI) Running time: 2:32 Rating: R (sexuality, language, graphic violence)

Garland: 9:30. Riverstone: 6:40, 10.

Julie & Julia

•••1/2 In Nora Ephron’s captivating film about Julia Child and her influence, Meryl Streep’s performance as Child is cuisine disguised as comfort food, a complex preparation yielding effects both broadly entertaining and subtly moving. With Amy Adams as Julie Powell, the cook-blogger besotted by Child, plus Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina. (PI) Running time: 2:04 Rating: PG-13 (language, sensuality)

Garland: 7:05.

The Light Before Christmas

Animated family film explains how Christmas is more than just presents. Running time: :28 Rating: not rated

IMAX (Riverfront Park): 1, 1:50, 2:40, 4:25, 5:15.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

••• George Clooney, Jeff Bridges and Ewan McGregor star in this nutty based-on-true-stuff farce about a gang of psychic-powered military men going about their remote viewing business during Operation Iraqi Freedom. (PI) Running time: 1:33 Rating: R (nudity, language, drug content)

River Park Square: 11:40 a.m., 2:30, 4:50, 7:30, 9:55. Wandermere: 11 a.m., 1, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30, 9:45.

Ninja Assassin

•1/2 Korean pop star Rain and Naomie Harris lead the cast of this film about a rogue hit man who betrays his clan of assassins. Director James McTeigue (“V for Vendetta”) is clearly more interested in spraying geysers of digital blood than in establishing the ninja as a foe to be taken seriously. (AP) Running time: 1:39 Rating: R (language, bloody violence)

Airway Heights: 12:30, 2:45, 5, 7:20, 9:35. Hayden: 12:55, 3:05, 5:20, 7:25, 9:30. NorthTown Mall: 12:50, 3:10, 5:30, 7:55, 10:15. River Park Square: 11 a.m., 11:55 a.m., 1:40, 2:30, 4:20, 5, 6:50, 7:25, 9:25, 10. Riverstone: 1:40, 4:40, 7:40, 10:15. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:35, 2:55, 5:15, 7:55, 10:20. Wandermere: 12:30, 2:45, 5, 7:20, 9:35.

Old Dogs

•1/2 In case anyone in the audience isn’t sure when to cackle, coo, snicker or sigh, the makers of this dead stray of a family comedy have provided a handy on-screen prompt: It’s an old dog, reacting with grunts of canine confusion or curiosity over the antics of Robin Williams and John Travolta in this rubbish about middle-aged buddies caring for young twins one of them never knew he fathered. (AP). Running time: 1:28 Rating: PG (rude humor)

Airway Heights: 11:15 a.m., 1:15, 3:15, 5:15, 7:15, 9:15. Hayden: 1:05, 3:10, 5:25, 7:30, 9:25. NorthTown Mall: 11:55 a.m., 12:25, 2:15, 2:55, 4:35, 5:25, 7:40, 9:50. River Park Square: 11:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 1:45, 2:15, 4:10, 4:40, 6:25, 7:15, 9:10, 9:40. Riverstone: 1:10, 1:25, 4:05, 4:35, 7:10, 9:40. Spokane Valley Mall: 11:55 a.m., 1:10, 2:05, 3:30, 4:20, 7:45, 9:55. Wandermere: 11:15 a.m., 1:15, 3:15, 5:15, 7:15, 9:15.

Paris

A heart condition forces a dancer (Roman Duris) to re-evaluate his life. Running time: 2:08 Rating: R (language, sexual references)

Magic Lantern: 7

Pirate Radio

•• Awash in nostalgia and amped-up male camaraderie, writer/director Richard Curtis’ merry misfire takes a great story the hugely popular offshore radio stations that illegally broadcast pop and rock in 1960s Britain – and turns it into an aggressively irritating floating frat party romp. (PI) Running time: 1:56 Rating: R (nudity, language, sexual content)

River Park Square: 10:50 a.m., 1:25, 4:10, 6:45, 9:20.

Planet 51

•1/2 This animated sci-fi family tale offers passable computer imagery but is an aborted liftoff when it comes to the lame story of a human astronaut among little green aliens who, for some reason, are living the serene “Ozzie and Harriet” life of 1950s America. (AP) Running time: 1:31 Rating: PG (mild sci-fi action, suggestive humor)

Airway Heights: 10:50 a.m., 1, 3:10, 5:15, 7:20, 9:25. Hayden: 1:15, 3:15, 5:15, 7:15, 9:15. NorthTown Mall: 11:35 a.m., 2:10, 4:20, 6:30, 9:30. River Park Square: 11:35 a.m., 2, 4:15, 6:30, 9:05. Riverstone: 1:55, 4:55, 7:25, 9:45. Spokane Valley Mall: 1:05, 3:20, 5:35, 7:50, 10:05. Wandermere: 10:50 a.m., 1, 3:10, 5:15, 7:20, 9:25.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

•1/2 Fans will turn out in blockbuster legions for the latest sequel in Stephenie Meyer’s vampires-vs.-werewolves series, but it’s really two half moons – or two halves of a movie that don’t quite fit. (AP) Running time: 2:10 Rating: PG-13 (language, sexual references, drug use)

Airway Heights: 11 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7, 9:40. Hayden: 12:50, 3:30, 6:10, 8:50. NorthTown Mall: 11:30 a.m., 12:30, 2:20, 3:30, 5:10, 6:45, 7:30, 8, 9:40, 10:20. River Park Square: 10:45 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 2, 3, 3:50, 5, 6, 6:25, 7, 8, 9, 9:30, 10. Riverstone: 1:15, 2, 4:15, 5, 7:15, 8, 10:10. Spokane Valley Mall: 1, 1:30, 4, 4:30, 6, 7, 7:30, 9, 10. Wandermere: 11 a.m., 1, 1:40, 3:40, 4:20, 6:20, 7, 9.

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