MOVIE CLOSE -UPS
OPENING THIS WEEK
THE BEST OF ME ★★ 1/2
James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan play two lovers separated by time and predictably tragic circumstance in this latest adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel. Though the film is contrived, over-polished and largely laughable because of the sloppy melodrama, the onscreen talent are all eye-candy, and they put their other talents to good use. (Katherine Monk)
THE BOOK OF LIFE ★★★=
In this riotously colourful tale, two Mexican boys grow up to become a bullfighter (who’d rather play guitar) and a soldier with a secret. Both vie for the heart of the lovely Maria (Zoe Saldana). The tale is a touch simplistic, but the visuals, including a brilliant underworld, are worth the price of admission. (Chris Knight)
FURY ★★★ 1/2
The poster features Brad Pitt looking like the prototypical American war hero, but David Ayer’s Second World War movie about a Sherman tank and its crew is an exercise in moral ambiguity. Stationing the viewer inside German lines in the final weeks of the battle for Europe, we watch one young innocent learn about the horrors of war. While Ayer’s angle is brave and pushes the viewer to question the noble rhetoric, the blade of drama feels a little blunt. (Katherine Monk)
LOVE IS STRANGE ★★★ 1/2
John Lithgow and Alfred Molina play long-term partners suddenly forced to leave the Greenwich Village apartment they called home in this subtle and beautifully acted portrait of aging, relationships and the importance of a brick-andmortar envelope to give us meaning. Director-writer Ira Sachs finds comedy in every human wrinkle, but there’s an existential ache in this movie that persists long after the credits roll. (Katherine Monk)
MEN, WOMEN & CHILDREN ★★★ 1/2
The ambitious subject is nothing less than how we live our lives in an increasingly digital-mediated world. Given the breadth of the story, and director Jason Reitman’s wise choice not to try to connect everybody in Crash-like fashion, some sections of the film work better than others. Yet we’re clearly meant to understand the relative size of our troubles and triumphs in the vastness of the universe. Starring Jennifer Garner, Adam Sandler and Rosemarie DeWitt. (Chris Knight)
RECENT RELEASES ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY ★★★
Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner play parents to a troubled preteen in this slapstick effort that teaches an important life lesson about coping, even if most of the comedy feels a little stale. (Katherine Monk)
ANNABELLE ★ 1/2
Working from a silly script by Gary Dauberman, director John R. Leonetti borrows a little too liberally from the demon-doll cookbook, serving up a platter of half-baked clichés seen in everything from Magic to Child’s Play and beyond, all spiced up with lazy jump scares. Annabelle is not without a modicum of verve. It has its unnerving moments, but they’re outweighed by the sheer stupidity and predictability of the story. (Michael O’Sullivan)
THE BOXTROLLS ★★★ 1/2
When a young orphan raised by trolls discovers his best friends and family are considered monsters by the human world above, he endeavours to bridge the gap by proving the boxtrolls are caring and kind. But his plan runs into a brick of cheese when an ambitious human declares war on the monsters to further his own career, and make it to the coveted cheese-tasting room. Smart and witty, this piece feels a little weird and soft in the middle, but reeks of strong revolutionary sentiment. (Katherine Monk)
DRACULA UNTOLD ★★ 1/2
Luke Evans plays Vlad the Impaler, a man trapped by historical circumstance into raping, pillaging and impaling innocents — but still a family man at heart. When marauding Turks threaten his wife and son, he decides to make a pact with a batlike creature that lives in a cave to save his people. But there are some unforeseen side effects in this entertaining but overstuffed origin story. (Katherine Monk)
THE DROP ★★★ 1/2
The story of a Brooklyn bar taken over by Chechen hoods, The Drop is an atmospheric mystery underpinned with a creeping sense of dread. It’s not a big movie, but it’s a nice, chewy story full of solid performances, including a bittersweet final bow by James Gandolfini. (Chris Knight)
THE EQUALIZER ★★★ 1/2
Denzel Washington stars as a retired secret agent who helps a young prostitute escape evil Russian mobsters in this stylistically rich movie that allows the little guy to triumph. Thanks to Antoine Fuqua’s direction, even the formulaic bits find new edges. And thanks to Washington’s performance, even the heroic sheen finds raw emotional texture. (Katherine Monk)
THE EXPENDABLES 3 ★★★
There are some problems that only white men over 60 can fix, which is why Sylvester Stallone returns as mercenary Barney Ross, the leader of a black-ops gang called The Expendables. Barney has to stop an evil arms dealer, but he needs help from some new kids — as well as some old, old acquaintances. Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mel Gibson co-star. (Katherine Monk)
THE GIVER ★★ 1/2
Jeff Bridges stars in this postapocalyptic story aimed at young adults. This Lois Lowry story focuses on Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), a young man who must learn the lessons of human history from the titular Giver (Bridges). Yet knowledge can be dangerous when it threatens the social order, and Jonas must choose between personal morality and compliance. The ideas are noble, and the cast that includes Meryl Streep and Katie Holmes is brave, but the story is inane. (Katherine Monk)
GONE GIRL ★★★
Director David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network) adapts Gillian Flynn’s bestseller to the big screen with Ben Affleck playing Nick Dunne, the problematic lead. When Nick’s wife (Rosamund Pike) disappears amid suspicious circumstances, he becomes one of the leading suspects in the investigation. Fincher mines this suspense thriller for dark social satire, especially when it comes to the media glare and our desire to declare complete strangers innocent or guilty based on screen presence. It’s dark and disturbing, yet oddly amusing. (Katherine Monk)
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ★★★ 1/2
A new franchise is born — messy, somewhat bloated and a bit too in love with the memory of Star Wars, but still brainless fun. Galactic rogue Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) steals an allpowerful Orb and hightails it across the galaxy with a gang of misfits and miscreants. (Chris Knight)
THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY ★★ 1/2
Helen Mirren stars as the chef of a Michelin-starred, classical French restaurant who rules her domain with a cast iron fist. But when an Indian family opens an innovative eatery nearby, a culinary and cultural war ensues. A lushly filmed, feel-good foodie film. (Nathalie Atkinson)
IF I STAY ★★★
Chloë Grace Moretz plays a young woman on the verge of musical greatness when tragedy strikes, leaving her in a coma. While she fights for her life, she gets to wander through her past like a disembodied soul, measuring the events that give her life shape and purpose, and the people who make it all meaningful. (Katherine Monk)
THE JUDGE ★★★ 1/2
A pair of A-list Roberts — Downey Jr. and Duvall — bring their A game to the story of a small-town judge accused of murder. Downey Jr. does his usual egomaniacal, motormouth thing in defending the judge, his father, after a mysterious car accident. The law trades in cynicism and reasonable doubt, and the film captures such moments nicely. (Chris Knight)
THE MAZE RUNNER ★★★
A group of young men are stuck in a giant maze surrounded by towering walls and filled with danger. When one new arrival insists on exploring with an aim to escape the maze, he sows revolution among the inhabitants and prompts a vicious game of survival. The Maze Runner doesn’t have the intelligence of its genre rivals, but it does have the appeal of a built-in puzzle. (Katherine Monk)
MY OLD LADY ★★★ 1/2
Israel Horovitz adapts his own play, an enjoyable if somewhat predictable romp. Kevin Kline plays a penniless New Yorker who inherits a Paris apartment without realizing that due to obscure French real estate practices, it still has two occupants (Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas). As they get to know one another, family secrets are spilled over expensive wine. (Chris Knight)