RECENT RELEASES

BEFORE MIDNIGHT ★★★★

The third film in Richard Linklater’s series that started in 1995 with Before Sunrise, this effort once again stars Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke as lovers navigating the narrows of commitment. Now in their 40s with two kids, Jesse and Celine face the biggest challenge of any relationship: Can love survive romance, or will they drift apart as a result of ebbing hormones and a latent slide into routine? (Katherine Monk)

THE BLING RING ★★★

Sofia Coppola’s entertaining take on a real-life group of Los Angeles teenagers who broke into the homes of celebrities like Paris Hilton to steal her stuff. It was their way into the shallows of tabloid culture, and Coppola can’t find any depths beyond the obvious cry of “Oh my God.” (Jay Stone)

THE EAST ★★★

Despite some sexy textures and another captivating performance from writer-star Brit Marling, this movie about a woman who goes undercover to expose a group of environmental activists fails to make us care about character. Without a strong point of sympathy, the movie feels like an intellectual meditation on the nature of personal responsibility. It’s a smart, self-aware and well-written treatise, but it comes at the price of an emotional climax. (Katherine Monk)

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 INTERNSHIP ★★★

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson star as two recently unemployed salesmen who realize they’re becoming dinosaurs in a changing job market. Looking to reinvent themselves, they land jobs at Google, where they come face-toface with the next generation and its insecurities, as well as its unfathomable arrogance. Funny and surprisingly tender-hearted, The Internship is far better than it had any right to be given its sexist bits and formulaic pieces. (Katherine Monk)

IRON MAN 3 ★★★

Shane Black, who co-wrote the superflop 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)

MAN OF STEEL ★★★

Zack Snyder’s reboot of the Superman legend stars Henry Cavill as an absurdly muscled superhero, Michael Shannon as a campy villain and Amy Adams as the perky Lois Lane. It’s a darker story with more realistic concerns (how will the world react to an alien in their midst?), but it loses some of the fun of the saga. (Jay Stone)

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY ★★★

Designed as a prequel to the massively popular Monsters, Inc., this new reel lacks the imaginative power of its predecessor, but it still proves entertaining as it gives us the backstory behind the friendship of Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sully (John Goodman), two monsters who dream of inhabiting children’s nightmares. (Katherine Monk)

NOW YOU SEE ME ★★ 1/2

Unfortunately, the best act in Now You See Me — about a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their acts — is the first one. In the opening minutes of the film, card-marvel J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) tells a woman to pick from the deck he’s about to riffle before her eyes. Woody Harrelson is mentalist Merritt McKinney. Isla Fisher plays escape-artist Henley Reeves. Dave Franco is Jack Wilder, pickpocket extraordinaire. Excellent cast aside, there’s too much buildup, too many layers of unnecessary deception, and too little character development. (Chris Knight)

THE PURGE ★★★

Director-writer James DeMonaco (Assault on Precinct 13) spins a modern morality tale as he paints a picture of a not-too-distant future where social problems have been reduced through an annual “purge” that allows citizens to kill each other without penalty. Family man James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) never worried about the purge before, but when his son lets a stranger into the house to save his life, he’s forced to question the status quo as he struggles to stay alive. Great suspense and a solid social metaphor make for a fun, gory ride. (Katherine Monk)

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)

THIS IS THE END ★★★ 1/2

Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel star in this apocalyptic comedy about a group of Hollywood comic actors trapped in James Franco’s house when the world ends. There’s a lot of crude fun, even if you get the sneaking suspicion that the actors are enjoying it more than we are. (Jay Stone)

TO THE WONDER ★★★

Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams and Olga Kurylenko star in this latest Terrence Malick piece that will make you wonder about a lot of things as your mind wanders through the nooks and crannies of his spinning labyrinth of textures and fragmented narrative. With this ambitious, beautiful and finally disappointing movie, Malick may be winking at the constant failure of the human endeavour by failing himself, but you can never be sure. You can only wonder. (Katherine Monk)

WORLD WAR Z ★★★

Brad Pitt stars as a UN investigator who attempts to save humankind from a virus that turns people into rabid, flesh-eating zombies. Despite the great production values and Pitt’s larger-than-life presence, this Marc Forster movie is little more than a baseline action adventure because it fails to develop the human side of the drama, and gets lost in the gears of its hyperbolic machinery. (Katherine Monk)