CHEAP SEATS
Capsule reviews of second-run films now showing at Calgary theatres
Arthur Christmas out of five
A clever animated film about how Santa’s youngest son delivers a forgotten present on Christmas Eve. It’s filled with eccentric jokes and inventive ideas.
Courageous ½
Four cops face the consequences of both good and absentee fatherhood in this faith-based drama.
The Darkest Hour
Two Americans (Emile Hirsch and Max Minghella) are drowning their sorrows in Moscow when they meet a pair of friends (Olivia Thirlby and Rachael Taylor). Next thing you know, aliens attack.
The Devil Inside
Twenty years after her mother confessed to three brutal murders, a woman travels to Italy and recruits two young exorcists to find out what really happened.
Happy Feet Two ½
This film about dancing penguins is somewhat convoluted — something about global warming — but
the 3-D animation is breathtaking.
J. Edgar Leonardo Dicaprio delivers an intense performance as the paranoid founder of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover. A fascinating and unflattering biopic.
Jack and Jill A lazy paint-by-numbers Adam Sandler movie led by two uninteresting and annoying characters and lacklustre writing.
Moneyball Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane,
The Ides of March ½ A satisfying drama about the press secretary (Ryan Gosling) of a presidential candidate (George Clooney). What starts in idealism ends in betrayal, making the drama a metaphor for politics itself.
Midnight in Paris ½ This Woody Allen film, nominated for three Academy Awards, stars Owen Wilson as a writer with a romantic notion of the City of Lights. a baseball manager who tries to change the traditions of the game.
New Year’s Eve An all-star cast, including Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Zac Efron, struts across the screen in this painfully scripted movie from Garry Marshall about the last night of the year.
The Sitter Jonah Hill plays babysitter Noah Griffith in David Gordon Green’s comedy. Noah’s way with the little ones makes the cast of The Hangover look responsible caregivers.
Tower Heist Ben Stiller stars in this movie. Without a shred of original content, the movie feels like everything it set out to criticize.
Puss in Boots ½ Antonio Banderas puts on the boots again as the lead in this Shrek spinoff that gives us the background story on Puss, a cat who became a hero.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking
Dawn — Part 1 The first part of the two-movie finale does something that no previous Twilight movie achieved: draws you close and keeps you there. Young Bella (Kristen Stewart) finally marries the vampire of her dreams (Robert Pattinson).
The Way Martin Sheen plays a grieving father trying to let go of his son in this writer-director effort from Sheen’s real-life son, Emilio Estevez.
We Bought a Zoo Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson star in this big-screen adaptation of Benjamin Mee’s real-life story. A former journalist who shelved the keyboard for a pair of rubber boots and a job as a zookeeper.
Young Adult ½ Charlize Theron proves she can make even the most beautiful people seem convincingly ugly, playing a high-school beauty queen who decides she wants to reclaim her old flame. Amusingly awkward and dead-pan funny.