MOVIE S CLOSE - UPS
OPENING THIS WEEK
EPIC ★★★ 1/2
Amanda Seyfried voices a young woman who becomes a latter-day Alice in Wonderland after she shrinks to the size of an insect and becomes embroiled in a war between noble Leafmen, defenders of the forest, and the dreadful Boggans, who turn everything to rot. Thanks to crafty writing and a few nicely rendered character moments, this eco-themed movie from Ice Age director Chris Wedge delivers big entertainment on a microscopic level. (Katherine Monk)
FAST & FURIOUS ★★
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker act their macho hearts out in this sixth instalment of the turbo-charged franchise about a group of rogue street racers with a talent for saving the world. Despite the slick direction and some thick moments of manly bonding, Justin Lin’s latest offering doesn’t touch a single emotional cog as it takes a drive-thru approach to human bonding. (Katherine Monk)
THE HANGOVER III ★★★
Part III ditches the substance-abuse/ amnesia angle in favour of extortion. A criminal kingpin (John Goodman) kidnaps Doug (Justin Bartha) and holds him hostage until his friends track down Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong). What follows is a trip to Tijuana and a climax in Las Vegas because, in this series, all roads lead there. With some very funny parts, Hangover III outclasses Hangover II, which was essentially a pale copy of Hangover I. (Chris Knight)
RENOIR ★★★ 1/2
A gorgeous, if drifting, French film about the last days of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and the early cinematic stirrings of his son, Jean. Their lives are disrupted by a beautiful model who affects both in a story that struggles to explain the artistic imagination. (Jay Stone)
RECENT RELEASES
THE COMPANY YOU KEEP ★★ 1/2
Robert Redford directs this ambitious story of an aging radical trying to clear his name several decades after the fact. Loosely based on the real story of ’60s radical group, the Weather Underground, The Company You Keep wanted to be a Sidney Lumet-styled thriller with political teeth but, like the generation it depicts, leaves a legacy of unrealized potential. (Katherine Monk)
THE CROODS ★★ 1/2
Emma Stone stars in this animated effort about cave-dwellers who encounter a mysterious stranger who carries fire but preaches a different gospel of survival. A smart movie with endless political layers, The Croods also works as an eye-popping 3-D cartoon for kids. (Katherine Monk)
THE GREAT GATSBY ★★★
Baz Luhrmann’s version of the classic novel is a highly stylized exercise in production design. Leonardo DiCaprio is charming as the mysterious millionaire, and Carey Mulligan brings warmth to Daisy, the love of his life, but the real star is the glitzy art decoration. It’s The Fabulous Gatsby. (Jay Stone)
THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE ★★ 1/2
Steve Carell stars in this send-up of professional magicians in Las Vegas. While this sounds like a funny idea, the movie quickly devolves into a lacklustre series of comedy clichés without any heart or soul. Jim Carrey makes a nice comeback as the over-the-top villain. (Katherine Monk)
IN YOUR DREAMS ★★ 1/2
A documentary about the making of the Stevie Nicks album In Your Dreams, which was produced by Dave Stewart. Fans will be in heaven — there is a making-of segment on every song — but the tone of self-regard gets hard to take after a while. (Jay Stone)
IRON MAN 3 ★★★
Shane Black, who co-wrote the super-flop called Last Action Hero, writes and directs this third instalment in the Iron Man franchise starring Robert Downey Jr. as playboy billionaire Tony Stark. While Downey is always fun to watch, this story of a new weapon and a bearded terrorist feels déjà vu. Not even the interpersonal, dramatic content has novelty. Nonetheless, thanks to a few great moments of scene work and a hint of cultural criticism, Iron Man survives to see a new day, and sell more product. (Katherine Monk)
JACK THE GIANT SLAYER ★★★
A film about giants that’s too big. Feckless Nicholas Hoult plays a naive farm boy who climbs a beanstalk into the land of giants to rescue a princess (Eleanor Tomlinson). The special effects are better than expected, but the thin plot can’t support Bryan Singer’s epic storytelling. (Jay Stone)
LOVE, MARILYN ★★★
By no means a conclusive take, Liz Garbus’s documentary Love, Marilyn sheds light on the inner world of the iconic sex symbol while keeping the larger aura of her mystery intact. Crafted from archival footage and interviews, the real novelty is the inclusion of Monroe’s own words — delivered by an all-star cast of participants including Uma Thurman, Ellen Burstyn, Marisa Tomei and others — who read selections from Monroe’s recently discovered personal papers. (Katherine Monk)
MUD ★★★ 1/2
Matthew McConaughey may get the lead credit on this new movie from Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter), but it’s really young star Tye Sheridan who offers a breakthrough performance as Ellis, a kid who stumbles into a charismatic fugitive in the middle of the Mississippi. Tipping its hat to Huck Finn with a nod to modern interpretations of the American dream, Mud’s biggest forces lie just beneath the surface as Nichols tries to reconcile old-fashioned American ideals with systematic disenfranchisement. It’s subtle, but it’s there, and thanks to Sheridan, Mud becomes a worthy meditation on what we believe, and why. (Katherine Monk)
NO ★★★★
Gael Garcia Bernal stars as an ad executive heading a pro-democracy campaign in Chile, circa 1988. Based on the true story of Augusto Pinochet’s decline at the hands of a national referendum, this Oscarnominated drama from Pablo Larrain recreates more than a historic milestone, it conjures the ambient and abstract fear of living under a dictatorship for years and suddenly feeling the fresh wind of change brush across your face. Memorable and sophisticated, No is a definite yes. (Katherine Monk)
PAIN & GAIN ★★ 1/2
Michael Bay’s over-inflated version of a true story about three weightlifters (Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie) who kidnap a man and see their grand plans for wealth fall apart. The film is too big and too violent to work. (Jay Stone)
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
★★★ 1/2
J.J. Abrams fires up the warp engines of Gene Roddenberry’s intergalactic baby and takes a joyride through the galaxy of action genre and classic fable in this second Trek mission. While the movie hits all the required marks, it spins in one too many directions to accommodate all its plot points and starts to feel a little random and unfocused. Not that anyone will notice the lack of gooey humanity in this popcorn extravaganza when there’s this much razzle-dazzle, but hardcore Trekkies may yearn for a few more quiet moments to flesh out the interpersonal drama. (Katherine Monk)
STILL MINE ★★★
James Cromwell and Geneviève Bujold star as an aging couple in this new movie from Michael McGowan that takes on the real life story of a New Brunswick man who fought City Hall in a bid to build his own house. While the performances are strong and beautiful, the denouement lacks a sense of transformation, which makes this undeniable one-way street of life feel like a dead end. (Jay Stone)