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Apollo 18 (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - A faux-documentary thriller that finds director Gonzalo López-Gallego almost too good at the mock-footage thing, because between the shaky, grainy images and the frequently indecipherable dialogue, I spent half the movie just wondering what the hell was going on.
Born to Be Wild 3D (G, Putnam Museum & IMAX Theatre) - Running a brisk 40 minutes, the film is an ideal entertainment for when you’ve got a bit of time to kill between other activities – a perfectly pleasant excuse to chill out with adorable animals and the dulcet baritone of Morgan Freeman.
Bridesmaids (R, Nova 6 Cinemas) - Kristen Wiig is allowed her first starring role -- Hooray! -- in a female-driven Judd Apatow comedy that has the rare distinction of being smarter than it is funny... and it's plenty funny.
Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (R, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)
Cars 2 (G, Nova 6 Cinemas) - Visually, this continuation by directors John Lasseter and Brad Lewis is rather extraordinary, but in the end I enjoyed the film just as much as I enjoyed its predecessor, which means it’s in a dead-heat tie for my least favorite Pixar release to date.
The Change-Up (R, Nova 6 Cinemas) - An appallingly smutty and juvenile slapstick, but amazingly, not an uninteresting one.
Contagion (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - With inspiring dramatic economy and absolute realism, Steven Soderbergh visualizes the means by which fear, paranoia, misinformation, and public panic lead to worldwide chaos; the director’s control is so assured that while you barely have time to catch your breath, you never feel the narrative rushing past you.
Cowboys & Aliens (PG-13, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - Every narrative beat in this predictable, retrograde wannabe-blockbuster lands right on schedule, and its tonal vacillations between tongue-in-cheek comedy and portentous seriousness are so random that you don’t how how to take the movie – except as another bland, big-screen genuflection at the altar of executive producer Steven Spielberg.
Crazy, Stupid, Love (PG-13, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - Nimbly directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and smartly written by Dan Fogelman, it’s a rom-com about actual humans, and in the lightly touching, supremely funny work of Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, and Marisa Tomei, a more inspired group of humans you’d be hard-pressed to encounter.
The Debt (R, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - This passionately-acted tale of espionage and vengeance toggles between 1966 Berlin and 1997 Tel Aviv, and is the rare international spy thriller that’s less about mechanics than character, though its expertly crafted mechanics are nothing to sniff at.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (R, Great Escape Theatre) - A mostly serious-minded scare flick that keeps your innards in knots almost throughout, but not because you’re trying to avoid screaming. It’s because you’re trying to avoid laughing.
Drive (R, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)
Friends with Benefits (R, Nova 6 Cinemas) - For about an hour, this tale of besties who attempt a sexual relationship without emotional attachment is knowing and funny, but it eventually winds up embracing every hoary rom-com device it initially dissed.
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (PG-13, Nova 6 Cinemas) - I was absolutely knocked out by the epic grandeur and unabashed emotionalism of director David Yates’ Harry Potter closer, a culminating adventure so thrillingly wrought and deeply, unexpectedly moving that it left me a little shaken.
The Help (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - This Civil Rights-era drama is easy to complain about, but all it takes is one of the magnificent Viola Davis’ fierce, tearful stares – or a blast of Octavia Spencer’s anger, or a flash of Emma Stone’s heartbreak, or a burst of Jessica Chastain’s joy – to make your complaints feel moot.
Horrible Bosses (R, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - The motor-mouthed riffing and knockabout brio of Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day help turn a fairly clever revenge comedy into one that borders on the inspired; they smack each other with fists and open palms, and slap each other with insults, and are still nimble enough to tickle each other – and us.
I Don't Know How She Does It (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)
The Lion King (G, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)
Mr. Popper's Penguins (PG, Nova 6 Cinemas) - Against all expectation (and despite its considerable flaws), this fast-paced and agreeably goofy slapstick works, and leading a thoroughly winning cast, Jiim Carrey gives a comic performance that's actually quite wonderful.
Our Idiot Brother (R, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - Considering it’s little more than a moderately risqué, big-screen take on that Brady Bunch episode in which Cindy can’t stop snitching, director Jesse Peretz’s outing is easy enough to sit through, and lead Paul Rudd is wonderful throughout.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (PG-13, Putnam Museum & IMAX Theatre) - The film's mermaids, who shoot seaweed from their wrists and ensnare hapless pirates from afar, kick ass. The rest of the movie just kinds of bites it.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - Its dialogue is filled with clunkers, and its narrative is awfully spotty. Happily, however, the film has a goodly share of giggly yet potent imagery, and its San Francisco locales provide our furry protagonists with an extraordinary playground in which to shriek, bounce, and terrorize the citizenry.
Shark Night 3D (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - Even if you enter expecting nothing more than cheesy exploitation dreck – and could anyone enter expecting anything else? – you’re liable to be shocked at how appallingly inept this sub-B-movie actually is.
Sharks 3D (not rated, Putnam Museum & IMAX Theatre) - An IMAX edu-tainment designed for grade-schoolers, and for what it is, a smooth and gracefully shot underwater exploration, featuring a playful score and a few truly remarkable exploitations of 3D; you’ll have to restrain yourself from swatting those jellyfish away from your eyes.
The Smurfs (PG, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - If the movie were designed to inspire kids to say “Smurf you, Mom, I’m not eating my Smurfing peas!” instead of the alternative, I wholeheartedly approve, and can consequently forgive the movie for being such a crass, annoying, synthetic time-waster.
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (PG, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)
Warrior (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - A gloriously shameless audience-pleaser, and as spectacularly powerful and affecting as any of the countless Rocky wannabes over the years – including director Gavin O’Connor’s own Miracle from 2004 – has ever been.
Zookeeper (PG, Nova 6 Cinemas) - Whenever its human stars are on-screen, the movie is terminally bland and actively unfunny; whenever its animal characters speak, it's painfully obnoxious and excruciatingly unfunny.
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