December 2011

THE HANGOVER PART II (R: a, gd, gl, bgn, bs) Comedy
American dentist Stu (Ed Helms) is all set to marry his fiancée, Lauren (Jamie Chung), in her homeland of Thailand, and has invited his friends, Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Doug (Justin Bartha), to come along for the big day. But he's extremely reluctant to offer a similar invite to Doug's brother-in-law, Alan (Zach Galifianakis), a passive-aggressive man-child who still lives at home with his parents. Stu agrees to have Alan tag along and they all set off for Thailand. There, they meet Lauren's family, including her stern father (Nirut Sirichanya) who disapproves of Stu, especially in comparison to Lauren's 16-year-old, pre-med, cello-playing brother, Teddy (Mason Lee). The guys decide to take him out for the night before the wedding, and despite their precautions, rather than Doug disappearing (at his bachelor party), it's Teddy who goes MIA. They try to find him, all while dealing with the return of Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong), a drug-peddling capuchin monkey, a silent monk, and other figures and developments that threaten to derail Stu's pending wedding. 102 min.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (PG-13: v) Action Sci-Fi/Drama
An origin story set in present day San Francisco.Will Rodman (James Franco) is a genetic researcher working on a gene therapy serum he believes might cure Alzheimer's, a disease his father, Charles (John Lithgow), suffers from. He has been testing the serum on a chimpanzee which has shown remarkable increases in intelligence. But she goes berserk and must be shot dead. Will then discovers that the rampaging chimp had just given birth and he secretly takes home its infant. Named Caesar (motion capture performance by Andy Serkis), the chimp grows up there and shows that he inherited his mother's modified genes and intelligence. Will becomes romantically involved with a local veterinarian (Freida Pinto) and also discovers that his serum has seemingly cured his father. All seems well until Charles' disease returns and a well-meaning act by Caesar puts him in an ape sanctuary. Caesar's intelligence continues to increase to the point that he begins to organize his fellow apes and plot a rebellion. With Brian Cox, and Tom Felton. 110 min.

THE HELP (PG-13: m) Drama
Adaptation of the best-selling novel set in the early 1960s. Skeeter (Emma Stone) has come home from college to Jackson, Mississippi, and gets a job at the local newspaper. She is reunited with her ailing mother, Charlotte (Alison Janney), and father, Robert (Brian Kerwin). At the same time, Skeeter is put off by the racist behavior of her former childhood friends, Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Elizabeth (Ahna O'Reilly). Skeeter feels for the housekeepers in their employ, namely Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer). Her dream has always been to write novels, so she gets the idea to tell their story as a means of getting published and to enact some social change. At first Aibileen and Minny are reluctant to talk. Minny's insubordination recently compelled Hilly to fire her. The only one who will employ Minny is the "white trash" town outcast, Celia (Jessica Chastain). They all come into conflict when Skeeter's book, "The Help," is published and the author is listed as "Anonymous." With Sissy Spacek and Cicely Tyson. 137 min.

KUNG FU PANDA 2 (PG) Animated Comedy/Action
Po (Jack Black) has become firmly entrenched as the fabled Dragon Warrior, fighting enemy threats alongside his former idols, the Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Crane (David Cross), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Monkey (Jackie Chan). Po, though, learns that he still needs the tutelage of Kung Fu Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman).When Po's father, Mr. Ping (James Hong), tells him he is adopted and that the identity of his real parents is a mystery, Po starts to have brief flashbacks and even nightmares of his real mother and father under attack by some unseen force. Meanwhile, a great evil arises in China in the form of the power-hungry peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), who has ignored the warnings and advice of the Soothsayer (Michelle Yeoh), Shen's family cast him out years earlier for seeking to transform their beloved Chinese fireworks into explosive weapons so that he could rule the entire land unchallenged. Po and the Furious Five rush to fight Shen and his forces. 91 min

THE SMURFS (PG) Comedy/Fantasy/Animation
In the enchanted Smurf Village, a group of 100 little blue, gnome-like creatures live in a utopian bliss, preparing for a Blue Moon Festival. Meanwhile, evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria) and his cat, Azrael, plot to find and destroy the Smurfs' hidden home. After Clumsy Smurf (Anton Yelchin) accidentally leads Gargamel to the village, the powerful Blue Moon creates a vortex that sucks in Clumsy, Papa (Jonathan Winters), Gutsy (Alan Cumming), Grouchy (George Lopez), Brainy (Fred Armisen), and Smurfette (Katy Perry), with Gargamel and Azrael tumbling in after them. They land in New York City's Central Park, where cosmetics executive Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris) is throwing a party for his overbearing boss (Sofia Vergara). After Clumsy falls into one of Patrick's boxes, the other Smurfs follow him home and reveal themselves to Patrick and his wife, Grace (Jayma Mays). While the Smurfs attempt to find a way to conjure themselves back home, Gargamel tries to track them down and steal their powerful, youth-providing essence. 102 min.

 

COWBOYS & ALIENS (PG-13: v) Action/Sci-Fi/Western
In the Old West, a gunfighter named Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the middle of the Arizona desert with no memory of who he is, how he got there, or what the strange device on his wrist is. He makes his way to the town of Absolution where he runs afoul of Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), a local cattle baron, and his hotheaded son Percy (Paul Dano); is shadowed by a mysterious woman named Ella (Olivia Wilde); and is arrested by Sheriff John Taggart (Keith Carradine) for robbing a stagecoach. As he is about to be taken off to prison, Absolution suddenly comes under attack by extraterrestrials who kidnap several of the town's residents and lay waste to many of its buildings. His son among the missing, Dolarhyde teams up with Lonergan and forms a posse to go hunt the aliens. That includes Meachem (Clancy Brown), the town's preacher; Doc (Sam Rockwell), the local saloon owner; and Nat Colorado (Adam Beach), a Native American. Based on the graphic novel. 118 min.

MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS (PG) Comedy
In Manhattan, Mr. Popper (Jim Carrey) is a workaholic executive who specializes in acquiring old landmark properties that his private equity firm transforms into more profitable uses. His latest target is Tavern on the Green in Central Park, owned by the demanding Mrs. Van Gundy (Angela Lansbury). She will sell it only to the kind of family-oriented concern that will keep it going. Popper pulls out all the stops, but he fails to charm the woman. Popper has an equally hard time connecting to his two kids, bratty teenager Janie (Madeline Carroll) and grade-schooler Billy (Maxwell Perry Cotton), who he sees only on weekends. He also still cares for his ex-wife Amanda (Carla Gugino), even though she is moving on with new boyfriend Rick (James Tupper). Into his life come six penguins, which he inherits from his recently deceased explorer father. The birds turn Popper's life upside down. But may end up teaching the Poppers the real meaning of family and caring. Modern-day version of the 1938 book. 95 min.

DOLPHIN TALE (PG) Drama
In Florida, Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble) is a sad-eyed young boy still reeling from his father abandoning him and his mother, Lorraine (Ashley Judd), five years earlier. Having gotten terrible grades in school, Sawyer is ordered to attend summer school. One morning he comes across an injured dolphin and gets in touch with a rescue center. Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.) and his young daughter Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) quickly arrive and take the dolphin back to their facility. They name him Winter, but his tail has become so infected that Dr. Haskett has to amputate it. Unable to swim properly, Winter risks greater injury the longer he is in the water. Sawyer and his mom meet Dr. McCarthy (Morgan Freeman) who specializes in creating prosthetic limbs for amputees. They challenge him to make a prosthetic tail for Winter so that he can learn to swim properly again. But Dr. Haskett's facility is running out of money. With Kris Kristofferson. Inspired by a true story. 112 min.

 

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS (R: m, gd, gl, s) Comedy/Romance
Dylan (Justin Timberlake) strikes up a friendship with Jamie (Mila Kunis) after she recruits him from Los Angeles to New York to serve as art director for GQ Magazine. Both have just recently been dumped by their significant others and have a long history of failed relationships. Dylan is the child of divorce, while Jamie's mother, Lorna (Patricia Clarkson), has never revealed to her the identity of her father. Dylan and Jamie decide to add sex to their friendship, with both promising not to become emotionally attached to the other -- something Dylan's new friend, the magazine's gay sports editor, Tommy (Woody Harrelson), says is not possible. Eventually, Jamie begins dating a successful doctor named Parker (Bryan Greenberg) who turns out to be a jerk. Trying to be sympathetic, Dylan decides to have Jamie accompany him home to meet his ailing father (Richard Jenkins), and sister (Jenna Elfman). In L.A., romance blossoms but Dylan can't handle it. Jamie returns to New York, and Dylan is forced to finally confront his intimacy issues. 109 min.

 

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (PG-13: bd) Comedy/Romance/Fantasy
On a trip to Paris with his jaded, pampered fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams), Hollywood screenwriter Gil (Owen Wilson) grows enamored once more of what he dreams is a true writer's life: to live in Paris and finish his novel. Inez wants none of that, but he loves Paris and longs for the golden age of artists there back in the 1920s. He gets an unexpected chance to experience just that, when at the stroke of midnight while lost in the city by himself, up pulls an old sedan. Its occupants offer him a ride and take him to a party where he ends up meeting F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston) and his wife, Zelda (Alison Pill), Pablo Picasso (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo) and one of his mistresses, Adriana (Marion Cotillard). Others include Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll) and Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), who wants to read his novel. But when Gil leaves the establishment, he finds himself back in the present day. Gil's daily walks at midnight take him further from the woman he's about to marry and may lead to a new romance. 134 min.

FINAL DESTINATION 5 (R: m, l, gv) Horror/Thriller
Sam (Nicholas D'agosto) works at a paper company for Peter (Miles Fisher) and their big boss, Dennis (David Koechner) His coworker and girlfriend, Molly (Emma Bell), and others head off for a corporate retreat. As they make their way toward the retreat, Sam has a vision of a horrific bridge collapse incident where everyone but Molly dies. When the real thing then seems to be starting, Sam gets Molly and runs for the end of the bridge, followed by his boss and various coworkers. As a result, they barely avoid dying in the calamity, an incident that rouses the interest of federal Agent Block (Courtney B. Vance) who thinks it's suspicious that Sam knew it was going to happen in advance. But none of that comes as a surprise to the Coroner (Tony Todd) who claims that Death doesn't like to be cheated and thus is coming back after those who were supposed to die. From that point on, and as the workers die in the order they did in Sam's initial vision, he and the others try to avoid anything that might lead to their demise. 95 min.

 

COLOMBIANA (PG-13: m, bl, v) Action/Thriller
In 1992, young Cataleya (Amanda Stenberg) witnesses her mother and Father Murdered By The Henchmen Of Crime Lord Don Luis (Beto Benites). His right-hand man, Marco (JORDI MOLLA), is ordered to bring her back alive as she is the only one who knows the whereabouts of a microchip containing incriminating evidence that her father had gathered. She escapes, uses the chip to gain entry to the United States, and promptly disappears to go with live with her Uncle Emilio (Cliff Curtis) in Chicago. Emilio himself is a criminal, and he takes the young girl under his wing and teaches her to be a contract assassin. Flash-forward 15 years later, and the grown-up Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) is an efficient killing machine who has become dismayed that Don Luis is now under protective custody of the CIA. She goes on a killing spree to try and flush him and Marco out. Cataleya is pursued by an FBI agent (Lennie James), while she has a tentative relationship with an artist (Michael Vartan), who has no idea what she does for a living. 107 min.

THE DEBT (R: m, l, bs, v) Drama/Suspense
It's 1997 and former Mossad agents Rachel (Helen Mirren) and Stefan (Tom Wilkinson) have been brought together by a new book written by their adult daughter. It details the efforts that they and fellow agent David (Ciaran Hinds) took long ago to capture a Nazi war criminal and return him to Israel to stand trial. Flashback to Berlin in 1966 when Rachel (Jessica Chastain) arrives to join fellow agents Stefan (Marton Csokas) and David (Sam Worthington), posing as the latter's wife. They've found Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), a.k.a. "The Surgeon of Birkenau" -- so named for the horrible medical experiments he performed on concentration camp prisoners during WWII -- who's now working as a gynecologist.
Their goal is to capture and then smuggle him out of the city. After they nab him, however, they must then wait and take turns watching Vogel who ends up playing mind games with all of them, especially Rachel. That leads to a turn of events that they couldn't have expected and with which they must then live with the next 30 years. 113 min.

FRIGHT NIGHT (R: m, bgd, l, gv) Horror/Comedy
Set in suburban Las Vegas. After years of climbing to reach the top of the social ladder, high school senior Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) finally rules the roost, and starts dating the most popular girl in their class (Imogen Poots). But his old nerdy friend, "Evil" Ed Thompson (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), keeps pestering him to hang out. Even worse, Ed has been trying desperately to convince Charley that his new next-door neighbor, Jerry Dandridge (Colin Farrell), is a vampire. Jerry is an outwardly amiable guy with a quick smile and a sharp wit. But when Ed vanishes without a trace and Charley sees a side of Jerry that everyone else seems to miss, the nouveau popular teen becomes convinced that the nice-guy act is a cover for something truly sinister. Unable to convince his mother (Toni Collette) that Jerry is a genuine bloodsucker, Charley turns to Las Vegas magician Peter Vincent (David Tennant) to help exterminate the demon before he drinks the entire neighborhood dry. Remake of the 1985 film. 86 min.

APOLLO 18 (PG-13: m, bl, v) Sci-Fi/Horror
In 1974, two astronauts, Nathan (Lloyd Owen) and Ben (Warren Christie), are sent on a secret mission to the moon where they are tasked with setting up special equipment that will help keep tabs on the Russians and other threats to American interests. Almost no one back on Earth knows they are there. Not their families, not the public, and only a select few members of NASA and the government. Once they set down on the moon, they quickly discover an abandoned Russian space module. Ben ventures into a nearby crater and finds the corpse of a lone cosmonaut. Back at their own ship, Nathan and Ben start to have strange experiences. They hear sounds outside, and find footprints that do not appear to be human. Something or someone damages their ship and they cannot leave. Nathan attempts to repair the damage from the outside, he starts to struggle and scream that there is something inside his spacesuit. Ben manages to get Nathan back into the module. But soon, it becomes clear that some sort of extraterrestrial creature has infected Nathan. 86 min.

WARRIOR (PG-13: bl, v) Drama/Action
Tommy Reardon (Tom Hardy) and Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) are siblings who haven't seen each other in a very long time due to a family split many years ago. Their father, Paddy (NIck Nolte), was an alcoholic to the point that Tommy left with his mother, while Brendan stayed behind with his dad but also to be with his girlfriend, Tess (Jennifer Morrison). Now, Tommy has returned home to Pittsburg after going AWOL from the Marines, and he wants Paddy to coach him to compete in a mixed martial arts competition where the top prize features a huge payday. Brendan, meanwhile, now lives in Philly as a married family man and high school physics teacher. Since the latter doesn't pay enough to cover his young daughter's past medical expenses, Brendan has returned to his former sport of mixed martial arts fighting to try to make a few bucks in unsanctioned fights. Desperate for money, he decides to enter the MMA championship bout as well. As the brothers train for the big event, they end up on a collision course. 139 min.

 

GLEE: THE 3D CONCERT MOVIE (PG) Documentary/Music
Shot over several nights in June 2011, where performers from the TV show "Glee" reprise their characters and perform in various musical numbers. The show's characters include Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale) and Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss). There's also Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley), Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Brittany S. Pierce (Heather Morris), Noah "Puck" Puckerman (Mark Salling), Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.) and Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz). There are also various fan comments about the TV show including those from real-life fans Janae Meraz, a high school cheerleader and prom queen contender who's also a little person; Trenton Thompson, a gay teen outted in middle school; and Josey Pickering who suffers from Asperger's syndrome. Special appearances were made by Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester) and Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester) for a performance at the Radio City Music Hall. 100 min.

STRAW DOGS (R: m, bd, l, bs, gv) Suspense/Thriller
In the wake of her father's death, Amy (Kate Bosworth) returns to her rural Southern hometown with her husband, David (James Marsden). Her goal is to put her childhood home on the market while David works on his latest screenplay. Meanwhile, David hires Amy's high school boyfriend Charlie (Alexander Skarsgard, TVs “True Blood”) and his crew to rebuild the roof on the secluded country home. But the more time Charlie's work crew spends working on the roof, the greater tensions begin to grow between Amy and David. Every time Amy walks outside, the work stops and the ogling begins. As that plays out, Amy becomes increasingly irritated with David in her opinion that he's not being enough of a man in regard to what's occurring all around them. Eventually, a deadly incident leads up to a violent stand-off, in which David must take up arms to defend his wife and his home. With James Woods. Remake of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 film starring Dustin Hoffman. 110 min.

MARGIN CALL (R: l) Drama
It's 2008. The market is sputtering, profits are down, so headcount needs to be reduced. One of the managers being force reduced is Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), who turns over a pet project to his protégé, Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto), as he's being shown to the door. Peter stays behind after work to flesh out Eric's models, and the results horrify him. He's looking at projections that indicate the near-future losses will exceed The Firm's total market capitalization. He makes a call to his boss, Will Emerson (Paul Bettany). As the clock ticks toward midnight, they return to the office and realize the enormity of Peter's findings. Calls go out to Will's boss, Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey); Sam's boss, Jared Cohen (Simon Baker); and, finally, the CEO, John Tuld (Jeremy Irons), who arrives by helicopter at 4 o'clock in the morning. They have two hours to determine how to unload billions of toxic sub-prime mortgage securities before they destroy a company that is "too big to fail." With Demi Moore. 109 min.