STILL IN TOWN
2 Guns ★★★ 14A Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington become unlikely allies in this revisionist western that features corrupt lawmen, avuncular drug lords and redneck yokels. The leads share sassy man banter, ensuring this rather violent movie remains entertaining, even when it’s knee-deep in cliché. (Katherine Monk) The Conjuring ★★★ 14A A horror movie supposedly based on the true story of a family that moves into a haunted house. Lili Taylor has some good moments, and Vera Farmiga is strong as a clairvoyant. There are some effective scenes, but it’s like a combination of every horror movie ever made. (Jay Stone) The Croods ★★★ 1/2 G Emma Stone stars in this animated effort about cave dwellers who encounter a stranger who carries fire but preaches a different gospel of survival. A smart movie with political layers, The Croods also works as an eye-popping 3D cartoon for kids. (Katherine Monk) Despicable Me 2 ★★★ 1/2 G A sequel that lacks the narrative punch of the first film. Super-villain Gru (Steve Carell), who has become a devoted father, is recruited by agent Lucy (Kristen Wiig) to capture a new criminal. It lacks the heart of the first film, but the madcap anarchy never stops. (Jay Stone) Elysium ★★★ 14A Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi action thriller pushes the concept of the income gap to its logical conclusion: Rich people live on a pristine space station with access to medical attention while the billions of poor people live on a toxic Earth and work for slave wages without health care. The idea that medical attention defines humanity brings our current reality into razor-sharp focus. (Katherine Monk) Grown Ups 2 ★ 1/2 PG Adam Sandler returns with most of the same cast as the first Grown Ups movie for a story about juvenile husbands who do idiotic things but love their families. The result is a lot of fart jokes and kicks in the crotch, told artlessly. Sandler fans, though, will be in heaven. (Jay Stone) The Heat ★★ 1/2 14A A dream cast — prim Sandra Bullock and vulgar Melissa McCarthy — can’t get much chemistry going in this buddy film about two mismatched police officers on the trail of a drug gang. Director Paul Feig seems to be trying to get laughs from the very idea, resulting in a onenote comedy. (Jay Stone) The Hunt ★★★★ 14A Thomas Vinterberg directs this elegant but disturbing story about a kindergarten teacher falsely accused of molesting a student. Though it functions well on the surface as a dramatic thriller, the deeper story indicts society at large, and our insatiable thirst for villains worthy of ceremonial destruction. (Katherine Monk) Jobs ★★ 14A Starring Ashton Kutcher as Apple founder Steve Jobs, Jobs is simply a reasonable simulacrum of what might have happened during the founding and rise of Apple, devoid of anything like insight, information or ethos. It’s series of images designed to tell you nothing more than “this happened.” (David Berry) Kick-Ass 2 ★★★ 14A The sequel to the moderately successful 2010 film Kick-Ass brings back Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a high-school student turned masked vigilante. This time he must square off against Red Mist. Jim Carrey joins the cast for some violent, sometimes funny stuff that ultimately falls short of the original. (Chris Knight) The Last Reef 3D ★★★★ STC An Imax film about the universe of the reef, where strange creatures — some swimming off the screen — live in symbiotic harmony. It’s a warning about a disappearing undersea treasure and a record of our strange world. (Jay Stone) Lee Daniels’ The Butler
★★★ 14A A combination of black history lesson and melodrama with Forest Whitaker as a butler in the White House who served presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan. His story — and the parallel tale of his son, an angry activist — provide a cross-section of the civil rights movement that seems more pedantic than personal. (Jay Stone) Man of Steel ★★★ PG 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, but it loses some of the fun of the saga. (Jay Stone) Monsters University ★★★ G Designed as a prequel to Monsters, Inc., this reel lacks the imaginative power of its predecessor but it still proves entertaining as it gives us the backstory behind Mike and Sully’s friendship, two monsters who dream of inhabiting children’s nightmares. (Katherine Monk) Now You See Me ★★ 1/2 PG Excellent cast, who do what they can with a lacklustre script about mysterious magicians. But in the end, it’s missing that magic. (Chris Knight) Paranoia ★★ PG A corporate thriller with bells and whistles but no substance. Liam Hemsworth — and his bare chest — stars as a high-tech striver who agrees to spy for a billionaire (Gary Oldman) on his rival (Harrison Ford) to steal the plans for a new cellphone. It’s silly, but Oldman and Ford are fun to watch. (Jay Stone) Pacific Rim ★★★ 1/2 PG Director Guillermo del Toro blends the best of Godzilla and Blade Runner in this story of a war between extraterrestrial monsters and human beings. Though it’s loud and silly, del Toro crafts a film that exploits B-movie tradition with intelligence and humour. (Katherine Monk) Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters ★★★ PG This second instalment in the Percy Jackson series about a young demigod (Logan Lerman) trying to save the world — again — is a bit all over the map. But that, and its sly sense of humour, is part of what makes this adventure story appealing — both for children and adults. (Vanessa Farquharson) Planes ★★ G In this animated Disney offering, Dusty Crophopper is a lowly crop-dusting plane with dreams of winning an around-the-world aerial race. The problem? He is afraid of heights. With the support of his mentor and a host of new friends, Dusty sets off to make his dreams come true. (David Berry) Red 2 ★★★ PG Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren head the cast in this sequel to the comic book yarn about Cold War spies recruited to save the day one more time. It tries to cook up a romantic comedy side dish that goes nowhere while the rest of the movie cruises on the gag of action movie cliché played out by older folk. (Katherine Monk) R.I.P.D. ★★★ PG Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges star as deceased cops who continue their work in the afterlife, collaring dead people who illegally squat in the land of the living. It’s an interesting philosophical notion, but the movie is more concerned with ripping off Men in Black and destroying wide swaths of Boston. Still pretty fun though. (Chris Knight) The Smurfs 2 ★★ 1/2 G In the Smurfs sequel, the scheming Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette. It isn’t for everyone — especially if your legs reach the cinema floor — but the characters remain as lovable as ever, and will likely entertain the desired pint-sized demographic even if they leave neglected parents a little, well, blue. (Manori Ravindran) Turbo ★★★ 1/2 G Ryan Reynolds voices the character of Turbo, a little garden snail with big dreams of winning the Indianapolis 500. Without reinventing the kids’ animation wheel, director David Soren and his cast still come up with enough new turns to keep this underdog story from becoming summer roadkill. (Katherine Monk) We’re the Millers ★★★ 14A A goofy, vulgar, but somewhat lovable comedy about a pot dealer who hires a group of strangers and acquaintances to pose as his family in order to smuggle drugs across the border. Though predictable, there’s enough naked charm and social commentary to make it past the checkpoint. (Katherine Monk) The Wolverine ★★★ 1/2 PG Picking up the story of Logan/ Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), this 3D action spectacle — an X-Men spinoff — takes us to Japan, where a billionaire offers a gift of mortality. The frames are moody, Jackman is muscular and Mangold’s direction makes it meaty. (Katherine Monk)