AT THE MOVIES
NEW IN TOWN
Horrible Bosses 2: See review, F2 ★★ 1/2
Laggies: See review, F4 ★★★ 1/2 Penguins of Madagascar: The cute, cuddly avian sidekicks from the Madagascar movies get their own film, and it’s 92 minutes of road-runner-paced zaniness. If you watched the entire James Bond franchise while bingeing on sugary cereal, you could probably write something like this supremely silly, energetically entertaining enterprise. (Chris Knight) ★★★ 1/2
Rosewater: See review, F3 ★★
STILL IN TOWN
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) ★★★ Big Hero 6: Disney’s latest combines the look of Japanese animé and the heart of American tradition to tell the tale of an inflatable robot designed to help people, and a young boy who must decide to use his powers for good or evil. It never pushes the limits too hard, but it does ask some tougher questions. (Katherine Monk) ★★★ 1/2 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 Maria (Zoe Saldana). The tale is a touch simplistic, but the visuals, including a brilliant underworld, are worth the price of admission. (Chris Knight) ★★★ The Boxtrolls: When an orphan raised by trolls discovers his best friends and family are considered monsters by the human world above, he tries to prove the boxtrolls are kind. But his plan is wrecked when an human declares war on the monsters. Smart and witty, this piece feels a little weird and soft in the middle. (Katherine Monk) ★★★ 1/2 Citizenfour: Documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras takes us into the Hong Kong hotel room where Edward Snowden revealed how the American government spies on its own people, and others. Even though the news value may seem dated, watching Snowden unburden himself gives us the emotional context we never had. (Katherine Monk) ★★★★ Dolphin Tale 2: It’s a film of torpid amiability, family entertainment in the vein of a carousel: There are enough cute animals and brightness to keep preschoolers distracted while everyone else forces a smile. Winter returns as the squeaky star, alongside Harry Connick Jr. (Chris Knight) ★★ 1/2 Dumb and Dumber To: It’s Bobby and Peter Farrelly’s sequel to 1994’s Dumb & Dumber. Once again Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey play two guys from the shallow end of the gene pool who must drive cross-country to deliver a mystery package to a pretty girl. Occasionally hilarious in spite of itself. (Chris Knight) ★★★ The Equalizer: Denzel Washington stars as a retired secret agent who helps a prostitute escape evil Russian mobsters in this stylistically rich and somewhat irresistible movie that allows the little guy to triumph. Thanks to Antoine Fuqua’s direction, even the formulaic bits find new edges. (Katherine Monk) ★★★ 1/2 Fury: David Ayer’s Second World War movie about a Sherman tank and its crew is an exercise in moral ambiguity. Set inside German lines in the final weeks of the battle for Europe, one young innocent learns about the horrors of war. While Ayer’s angle is brave, the drama feels a little blunt. (Katherine Monk) ★★★ 1/2 Gone Girl: Director David Fincher adapts Gillian Flynn’s bestseller to the big screen with Ben Affleck playing Nick Dunne, the problematic lead. When Nick’s wife disappears, he becomes one of the leading suspects in the investigation. It’s dark and disturbing, yet oddly amusing. (Katherine Monk) ★★★★ Guardians of the Galaxy: 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 all-powerful Orb because he can, and he hightails it across the galaxy with a gang of misfits and miscreants. (Chris Knight) ★★★ 1/2 The Hunger Games/Mockingjay — Part 1: Now hiding with a rebel group, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is tapped to become the face of revolution, but with Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) begging her to lay down her quiver, Katniss must decide what’s more important: one friendship, or the future of humanity. Thanks to Lawrence’s raw charisma, even this bleak chapter ripples with appeal. (Katherine Monk) ★★★★ Interstellar: Matthew McConaughey stars as an accidental astronaut in this space epic. When Earth’s atmosphere begins to degrade from climate change, humanity’s only hope lies in a group of scientists looking for other worlds. It’s an ambitious weave of metaphysics and sciencefiction that proves interesting. (Katherine Monk) ★★★★ John Wick: Keanu Reeves stars as a hit man who is forced out of retirement when a random act of violence leaves him grieving. Though really nothing more than graphic executions and violent exchanges, John Wick still works a certain dark magic as entertainment thanks to Reeves’s screen presence. (Katherine Monk) ★★★ The Judge: Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall star in the story of a small-town judge accused of murder. Downey Jr. does his usual egomaniacal, motormouth thing in defending the judge, his father. The law trades in cynicism and reasonable doubt, and the film captures such moments nicely. (Chris Knight) ★★★ 1/2 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. (Katherine Monk) ★★★ Mommy: Anne Dorval plays Die, mother to Steve (Antoine-Olivier Pilon), a violent son who was tossed from a detention centre for starting a fire. He’s now back home with mommy, and they try to heal each other, but there’s denial in every scene. It’s a somewhat longish, but memorable, take on Greek tragedy. (Katherine Monk) ★★★★ Nightcrawler: Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a self-taught news photographer with a sociopathic edge in this wellexecuted thriller with a jaundiced eye for justice, and a nightmarish vision of the American dream. Rene Russo and Bill Paxton also star in this Dan Gilroy directorial debut. (Katherine Monk) ★★★★ Ouija: The latest based-on-a-Hasbrotoy movie uses one of the toymaker’s oldest acquisitions, an 1890s parlour game. Misused, it leaves one teen dead while her friends try to contact her through the same board. Director Stiles White recycles old horror tropes but adds little that’s new. (Chris Knight) ★★ Pandas 3D: An Imax movie about the Chinese effort to restore the endangered — and adorable — creatures to the wild. It’s a rare piece of good environmental news, and the pandas themselves are irresistible. (Jay Stone) ★★★ 1/2 St. Vincent: Bill Murray stars as a cantankerous old coot who plays Mary Poppins to the kid next door. If you don’t mind comedy fashioned from child-endangerment scenarios, or the waste of Melissa McCarthy’s comic talents, St. Vincent gets a blessing thanks to Naomi Watts, who plays a pregnant Russian stripper. (Katherine Monk) ★★★ The Theory of Everything: Eddie Redmayne stars as Stephen Hawking in this upscale and beautifully executed biopic that focuses on Hawking’s first marriage. With Felicity Jones as Jane Hawking, director James Marsh places two attractive characters at the centre of his frame and allows the laws of attraction to pull us in — only to tear us apart by the end. (Katherine Monk) ★★★★ Warren Miller’s No Turning Back: Not reviewed. Warren Miller releases his 65th ski film, a tribute to mountain culture that documents ski and snowboard stunts shot on the slopes of Niseko, Japan, Mount Olympus in Greece, the French Alps, and the hills of Montana. Featured athletes include Ted Ligety, Ingrid Backstrom and Ulie Kestenholz. (Melissa Hank) Whiplash: Damien Chazelle directs Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons in this story of young jazz drummer striving to make it to the next level. Though phrased like any other mentor-pupil story about meeting one’s potential, Whiplash transcends the immediate clichés. (Katherine Monk) ★★★ 1/2