In Theaters
B+ |
*** |
+1|
Teens & Up
His suit may be iron, but he’s still got feet of clay. Tony Stark may not be the same narcissistic jerk he was at the beginning of
Iron Man two years ago, but that doesn’t mean he’s someone completely different either. The road to redemption is seldom so straight as that.
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A |
***½ |
+3|
Kids & Up
Everyone should see
Babies. Even people who have cats instead of children should see
Babies. There are a number of cats in this movie, and some feline moments that must be seen to be believed, especially for cat lovers.
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C- |
**½ |
+1-2|
Teens & Up*
Once again a peasant hero reminds us that no man is a knight or peasant but thinking makes him so, and a blacksmith or a stonemason can, and in all likelihood will, shape the destiny of nations. Would you be astonished to learn that there is a proto-feminist heroine who dons armor for the climactic battle? That not only is Richard the Lionheart’s brother John a degenerate, perfidious schemer, Richard himself (briefly seen at the end of
Kingdom of Heaven at the outset of his crusade) is a cruel and venal marauder, as bereft of honor as of funds?
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B |
*** |
+2|
Kids & Up*
After three
Shrek films aimed squarely at adolescents, I’m mildly surprised to find that DreamWorks has made a final chapter aimed more or less at middle-aged men, and specifically husbands and fathers. You know, undemanding middle-aged men going to a
Shrek movie. But still.
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C- |
*½ |
+0|
Kids & Up*
Are there five less inspiring words in the English language than “based on a video game”?
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Alejandro Amenábar’s
Agora is a work of hagiography, and, for that matter, of anti-hagiography. Among its burdens are that Hypatia of Alexandria, the celebrated neo-Platonic philosopher and mathematician, is worthy of veneration, and also that Cyril of Alexandria, saint and doctor of the Church, is not. Neither of these theses is without prima facie plausibility, or unworthy of serious-minded and nuanced exploration.
Agora is serious-minded to a fault, but nuance, while not absent, is lacking.
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C- |
** |
-2|
Adults
The new movie, alas, is basically what you’d expect, by which I mean it’s a mess: chaotic, loud, overwrought, mindless, violent, visually incoherent — pretty much an archetypal example of everything that’s wrong with Hollywood today. Was the show this dumb? Does it matter? A movie’s job is not to live down to its source material.
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B- |
**½ |
+1|
Teens & Up
This
Karate Kid may not be competing at the same level as the original, but it respects the tradition, and if it doesn’t really have anything new to say, it still says it in a reasonably engaging way.
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A- |
*** |
+2|
Kids & Up
At times
Toy Story 3 feels a bit less fleet-footed than its predecessors, though there’s nothing that doesn’t work. Lee Unkrich, who co-directed
Toy Story 2,
Monsters, Inc. and
Finding Nemo, directs with a sure hand. The story is stuffed with wit and invention, such as a couple of premise-bending applications of the Potato Heads’ modular body parts and some hilarious riffing on Ken and Barbie.
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C- |
** |
-2|
Adults
Little things like plot holes and leaps in logic shouldn’t matter that much when a movie like this is working. Watching Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in
Charade is a lot of fun even if you’re not completely sure afterward exactly what happened. If
True Lies works for you, it’s because of how Arnold and Jamie Lee Curtis sell it, not because the story makes so much sense. When you find yourself nit-picking plot points and character motivations, it’s a sign the movie isn’t working.
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B |
*** |
+2|
Kids & Up
To his suburban neighbors, Gru is a grumpy bald guy whose house looks like the Haunted Mansion and whose ride makes the Dark Knight’s Batmobile look like a Prius. He’s the one who makes tasteless “jokes” about killing your dog if it goes on his lawn again and pretends not to be home when girls come around selling cookies. You know the type.
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B |
*** |
+0|
Kids & Up*
The first good thing about
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is that it isn’t called
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: Oath of the Dragon Ring or
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: Nesting Dolls of Doom.
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A |
**** |
+2-2|
Adults
Inception is the most audacious and multifaceted Hollywood entertainment for grown-ups I’ve seen in years: a brainy, bravura achievement inviting comparison to the most inspired work of Hollywood visionaries from Michael Mann and Charlie Kaufman to Ridley Scott and the Wachowskis.
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B- |
*** |
-2|
Teens & Up*
Salt is tasty in moderation, though you wouldn’t want to make it a big part of your diet.
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B+ |
*** |
+2|
Kids & Up
Faithful to the spirit if not the letter of Beverly Cleary’s
Ramona books,
Ramona and Beezus borrows eclectically from multiple books rather than sticking to one, but gets right what most matters, above all Ramona herself.
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