Calgary Herald

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Capsule reviews of first-run films now showing at Calgary theatres

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The Amazing Spider-Man

★★★ ½ out of five

A reboot of the superhero franchise with Andrew Garfield as a leaner, more intense SpiderMan and Emma Stone as his love interest. It’s a more intimate telling of a familiar story, including the part about a giant lizard that threatens New York.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

★★★★

A Winner of the Grand Jury prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Behn Zeitlin’s feature directing debut tells the story of a six-year-old named Hush puppy who lives on the bayou with her daddy. When a great storm approaches, and her father gets sick, Hush puppy is forced to use her wits to survive in an increasing­ly hostile landscape. Beasts of the Southern Wild is a memorable, if contrived, window into the 21stcentur­y American soul.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

★★★

An all-star cast of veterans led by Judi Dench and Maggie Smith stars in this new film from John Madden that takes us to an oldfolks home in India. Hoping to revitalize his dilapidate­d hotel with English guests, Sonny (Dev Patel) takes on a group of crusty personalit­ies who transform the hotel, as well as each other.

The Bourne Legacy ★★★ ½

Jeremy Renner steps into the Bourne series as Aaron Cross, a government agent who has been geneticall­y altered to be smarter and stronger. Naturally, the government wants to kill him, and the film is a long chase — by computer, and then by motorcycle — told with wordy complexity and watchable excitement.

Brave ★★★ ½

The new Pixar movie is a spectacula­rly rendered fable about a young Scottish princess (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) who rejects her mother’s plans for her to get married. There are exciting scenes of archery, a witch’s magic spell and fearsome bear attacks, but the movie never becomes the legend it is trying to be.

The Campaign ★★★

When it’s not slo-mo slugging babies, The Campaign is actually quite a sharp satire. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianak­is indulge in their share of cheap laughs, but the line between reality and raunchy is precarious­ly thin. Perfectly timed for the looming U.S. presidenti­al election.

The Dark Knight Rises ★★★★ ½

Christophe­r Nolan delivers everything his third Bat-movie required as he pits Bruce Wayne against his own alter ego, and the world against a raving madman in a mask. Smart, cinematic and skilfully executed l, The Dark Knight Rises proves you can make a socially provocativ­e and politicall­y subversive statement and sell it as top-notch escapism. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

★★★ ½

The film may not stand up to much logical scrutiny, but there are mild pleasures to be found in the episodic adventures of Greg (Zachary Gordon) and his best friend Rowley (Robert Capron) as they while away their summer after finishing Grade 7.

Hope Springs ★★★

Hope Springs breaks no new ground, but it comes from a very real place — loss of intimacy.

Tommy Lee Jones uses his ‘gripealogu­es’ to good effect, while Meryl Streep squeezes all the nuances from her character. Occasional­ly racy, it’s the words not deeds that provide some of the funniest moments.

Ice Age Continenta­l Drift ★★★ Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Denis Leary) and Sid (John Leguizamo) are back for another round of extinction-themed hijinks. The script is the weakest in the franchise, but there’s something darkly compelling about watching evolutiona­ry Armageddon dressed as family fluff.

The Intouchabl­es ★★★ A sentimenta­l but wry French buddy comedy about an uneducated black immigrant (Omar Sy) who becomes the caregiver to a rich white connoisseu­r (Francois Cluzet). They both learn lessons in an obvious but undeniably charming way.

The Lady ★★★ ½ Luc Besson directs veterans Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis in this inspiratio­nal story of the real-life Burmese leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi. A sprawling biopic that covers several decades of history, there are moments when the film loses steam. But, thanks to Besson

and his cast, The Lady slips the noose of hagiograph­y and tells a human story in compelling, often heartbreak­ing detail.

Magic Mike ★★★ ½ Channing Tatum shows off his many talents as a male stripper in this entertaini­ng romantic drama based on his own life. Mike thought he had it all until he introduced a struggling buddy (Alex Pettyfer) to the world of buff dancing and watched it change him for the worse. Director Steven Soderbergh maps every cliche, and elegantly avoids most, as he offers an entertaini­ng piece of escapism.

Marvel’s The Avengers ★★★ ½ With Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and The Hulk sharing screen time, director Joss Whedon is forced to spend most of his time dealing out the dramatic cards — without creating genuine dramatic suspense. A movie that seems to hover without effort, The Avengers looks good suspended in the sky, but goes nowhere.

Moonrise Kingdom ★★ ½ Wes Anderson tells the story of two outsider kids who fall in love during the summer of 1965 and attempt to realize the happyever-after ending. Although the movie looks good, and the performanc­es from an ensemble cast that includes Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis and Ed Norton are solid, the movie feels like a work in miniature.

Ruby Sparks ★★ ½ When writer Calvin WeirFields (Paul Dano) realizes he’s completely unable to come up with a good sentence, he creates a fictional character to get his juices flowing. The scheme works — but just a little too well as Calvin ends up face-toface with a woman (Zoe Kazan) he imagined in his own mind. Though this second feature from the co-directors of Little Miss Sunshine attempts some degree of philosophi­cal depth by touching on Frankenste­in themes, it finally feels a little too creepy to truly embrace.

Savages ★★ Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Blake Lively and John Travolta are a few of the stars headlining this ambitious but finally moronic effort from Oliver Stone. When two pot growers are forced to face off with the Mexican mob, they must use their yin-yang dynamic to free the girl, settle the score and survive endless rounds of gunfire. Stone keeps us dazzled by spectacle and stupidity.

Step Up Revolution ★★ Step Up Revolution is the fourth instalment in the film franchise. Kathryn McCormick is the poor little rich girl who wants to dance her way into an establishe­d troupe, while Ryan Guzman plays the leader of a flash mob who gives her some edge.

Ted ★★★ A crude comedy with Mark Wahlberg as a 35-year-old slacker who’s being held back by his best friend and roommate, a talking teddy bear (voiced by director Seth MacFarlane). The vulgar jokes push envelopes, but there’s a sweetness to the film, and it’s often very funny.

Total Recall ★★ ½ The sci-fi movie’s plot feels like a watered-down version of the original’s, which was not exactly a hearty stew to begin with. But Recall redux — starring Colin Farrell as our confused hero and Bryan Cranston as a silky villain — does feature certain popcorn pleasures, particular­ly for those who haven’t seen the original and will never think of breast augmentati­on in the same way.

The Watch ★★ Ben Stiller plays a Costco manager who starts a neighbourh­ood watch when the local Costco becomes the headquarte­rs for an alien invasion. A genre comedy that tries to pile every lame, formulaic ingredient into an overladen shopping cart.

The Woman in the Fifth ★★★ ½ Ethan Hawke does a tremendous job of being both creepy and empathetic in this new film from Pawel Pawlikowsk­i that explores one man’s mental state as he wanders through Paris, trying to reconnect with his daughter. Kristin Scott Thomas also stars as a mysterious woman who becomes his lover in this well-made, extremely sharp piece of suspense.

 ?? Barry Wetcher/columbia Pictures-sony ?? Meryl Streep plays Kay Soames, left, and Tommy Lee Jones plays Arnold Soames in Hope Springs.
Barry Wetcher/columbia Pictures-sony Meryl Streep plays Kay Soames, left, and Tommy Lee Jones plays Arnold Soames in Hope Springs.

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