(2011, Universal; 118 minutes) Without any doubt the most cockamamie plot I’ve witnessed in many a moon. The aliens are throwbacks to classic Bug-Eyed Monsters. I liked the Western material more than the aliens, but then that’s the way I am. As preposterous money-makers go, it’s wildly inventive. Rated PG-13. (Roger Ebert)
‘The Debt’★★½
(2011, Miramax; 112 minutes) A celebrated 1965 raid by three agents of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, is celebrated by the publication of a book in 1997, unfortunately just as new facts are emerging. A good cast, but the older and younger versions of the characters don’t match up well, and the plot loses its way. Rated R. (Ebert)
‘Friends With Benefits’★★★
(2011, Screen Gems; 109 minutes) Follows rom-com formulas as if directed on autopilot, but that’s not to say it isn’t fun. Mila Kunis plays Jamie, an executive headhunter in New York City. Justin Timberlake plays Dylan, the hot shot behind a popular website. They agree to have sex without emotional attachment, and you know how well that works. But they’re both the real thing when it comes to light comedy. Not a great movie, but I enjoyed them in it. Rated R. (Ebert)
‘The Hangover Part II’★★
(2011, Warner; 101 minutes) Not merely a sequel to the 2009 hit, but literally a remake, with the same story transported laterally from Las Vegas to Bangkok. This time Stu (Ed Helms) is the groom to be, and his buddies (Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha and Zach Galifianakis) are in the wedding party. Galifianakis has many of the best moments, but the film plays like some kind of a test of how much raunch a weekend movie crowd can tolerate. Rated R. (Ebert)
‘The Help’★★★
(2011, Disney; 146 minutes) A story of African-American maids in the South during Jim Crow days, how they view their employers and how they empower a young white woman to write a best-seller about them. A good film, involving and wonderfully acted. Rated PG-13. (Ebert)
‘Life, Above All’★★★★
(2011, Sony; 102 minutes) A drama inspiring tears, centering on the 12-year-old Chanda (Khomotso Manyaka), who takes on the responsibility of holding her family together after her baby sister dies. Her mother is immobilized by grief and illness and her father by drink. Gravely and powerfully acted, good-hearted and brave. Rated PG-13. (Ebert)
‘Point Blank’★★★
(2011, Magnolia; 84 minutes) An ingenious thriller that doesn’t make much sense but doesn’t need to, because it moves at breakneck speed through a story of a man’s desperation to save his pregnant wife after she has been kidnapped. This is the kind of movie where you get involved first and ask questions later. Rated R. (Ebert)
‘Mr. Popper’s Penguins’★½
(2011, Fox; 97 minutes) A stupefying dumb family movie proving that penguins have limited charisma as pets, with Jim Carrey as a rich man who inherits the penguins from his father and takes them into his duplex co-op in Manhattan. Based on a classic children’s book; maybe children who like the book will like the movie, although penguins are more entertaining as a concept in a story than as characters on a screen. PG, 97 min. (Roger Ebert)
‘Rapt’★★★
(2011, Lorber; 125 minutes) A millionaire industrialist is kidnapped, and the event strips the cover from his private life of adultery and gambling losses. He finds that few people really ever loved him, and that without his public facade, he can no longer command a corporation. He begins the film as a powerful animal, becomes a haggard victim and ends as a pitiful case study. No MPAA rating. (Ebert)
‘The Smurfs’★½
(2011, Sony; 86 minutes) This latest version of the Smurfs combines an enchanted world of magical animated characters with live-action New York City and manages to get the worst of both worlds. It tries to appeal to kids with pratfalls, potty humor and the substitution of “Smurf” for every possible noun, verb and adjective. For the adults, there are pointless cameos by Tim Gunn and Joan Rivers. Rated PG. (Nell Minow)
Also Available
•“Law & Order: Season 9”
•“Portlandia: Season 1”
•“Big Love: Season 5”
•“The Simpsons: Season 14”
•“The Lucy Show: Season 5”
•“Designing Women: Season 5”
•“The Game: Season 4”
•“The King of Cool: The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show”
•“Dragon Tattoo Trilogy: Extended Edition”
•“Mission: Impossible Trilogy”
•“Talking Heads: Chronology”
•“Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy”
•“Surrogate Valentine”
•“Mangus”
No comments:
Post a Comment