CHEAP SEATS
Capsule reviews of second-run films now showing at Calgary theatres
Beasts of the Southern Wild
It’s a fairy tale, and fairy tales aren’t designed to be true. They’re conceived to help us imagine the world through a new pair of eyes. This film offers a corneal transplant and a new view of America stagnating in shallow, dead water. The Bourne Legacy
½ Jeremy Renner is a government agent who has been genetically altered to be stronger. Naturally, the government wants to kill him, and the film is a long chase.
Brave ½ The movie is a spectacularly rendered fable about a young Scottish princess (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) who rejects her mother’s plans for her marriage. The Dark Knight Rises ½
Smart, cinematic and skilfully executed, the film proves you can make a provocative statement and sell it as top-notch escapism.
Frankenweenie ½ Tim Burton and screenwriter John August create a dark fairy tale about a kid and his quest to reanimate his beloved bull terrier.
Fun Size Fun Size is a comedy without laughs in which adults act like teenagers, teenagers act like eightyear-olds and eight-year-olds have the good sense not to act at all. Here Comes the Boom A middle-aged science teacher tries to save his failing school’s music program by entering a mixed-martial arts fight to raise $50,000.
Hotel Transylvania ½ Adam Sandler lends his vocal talents to this story of a vampire who runs a hotel for monsters, where he can keep his daughter safe from the outside world. The House at the End of the Street ½ A low-cal psychological thriller about single mom Elizabeth Shue and teenage daughter Jennifer Lawrence, who move into a house next door to a place where a horrific murder took place. Ice Age: Continental Drift Manny, Diego and Sid are back for another round of extinctionthemed hijinks.
Looper ½ Rian Johnson’s twisty fantasy stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an assassin of the future who kills people who are sent back in a time machine — until his future self (Bruce Willis) arrives as his target.
ParaNorman ½ An expertly designed stop-motion animated film about a boy who sees the dead, particularly the witches who were hanged 300 years earlier.
Seven Psychopaths ½ Colin Farrell plays a screenwriter seeking inspiration, which he finds in his friends — who are all cuckoo. Christopher Walken and Sam Rock- well play the buddies while Woody Harrelson plays a Mob boss.
Silent Hill: Revelation The magnificently loopy horror film Silent Hill: Revelation 3-D is a sequel to the slightly less-mad horror film Silent Hill, both based on a video game.
Sinister Ethan Hawke stars in this horror film about a writer of truecrime books who moves his family into a house where a horrific murder took place.
Taken 2 ½ Liam Neeson reprises the role of an father and former secret agent who is on the case after Albanian bad guys scoop up his ex-wife and set sights on his daughter. The action is cartoonish without being entirely computer-generated. Trouble with the Curve ½ A contrived father-and-daughter story that benefits from the lean presence of Clint Eastwood.
Skyfall ½ Daniel Craig returns as 007 in this Sam Mendes-directed thriller that stars Javier Bardem as the baddie. When the names of embedded agents fall into the wrong hands, James Bond must find a way to retrieve the information. The only problem is, the villain might be working on the inside. Highly entertaining and Craig is compelling. Twilight: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 The last instalment in the five-film franchise finds Bella (Kristen Stewart) learning how to be a vampire, while the evil Volturi threaten her half-immortal newborn. Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner return as vampire and werewolf, respectively. A treat for the fans, at least.
Wreck-It Ralph ½ A 3-D animated film about a video game villain (voiced by John C. Reilly) who wants to be a hero. He migrates to another game — a children’s candy land fantasy — and helps a little girl (Sarah Silverman) find herself.