Movies

BLOOMBERG THE WASHINGTON POST Enlarge Image

BEING ELMO: A PUPPETEER�S JOURNEY

Recommended

BEING ELMO: A PUPPETEER'S JOURNEY

Enlarge Image

Corionanus (POSTMEDIA)

Cinematheque. G

This documentary follows the inspiring career of Kevin Clash, a Baltimore kid whose love of puppetry led to a gig with Jim Henson's Muppets and one of the most iconic puppets in the Sesame Street realm. Clash is a quiet and unassuming man, but his story is an illuminating lesson in hard work, perseverance, and following your heart. I can't imagine a child who wouldn't benefit from seeing this movie. It ends Saturday. HHHH

Starting tomorrow.

AMIGO

Cinematheque. Subject to classification.

Director John Sayles examines the Philippine-American war (1899-1902) from the perspective of a small-town mayor Rafael (Joel Torre) obliged to seek a minimum of damage between occupying American forces led by Col. Hardacre (Chris Cooper) and Rafael's revolutionary brother (Ronnie Lazaro).

CORIOLANUS

Globe. Subject to classification.

Ralph Fiennes directed and stars in this adaptation of the Shakespeare play about a Roman hero who turns against his country and conspires with his one-time enemy. Co-starring Gerard Butler.

JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND

Kildonan Place, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG

This 3-D sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth revisits Jules Verne's fabulous fiction. The young adventurer Sean (Josh Hutcherson) teams with his mom's boyfriend (Dwayne Johnson) to track his missing grandfather (Michael Caine) to the primitive island filled with strange, exotic life forms.

PINA

Grant Park. G

This Oscar-nominated 3-D documentary by Wim Wenders -- eight words you probably never expected to see in sequence -- examines the work and legacy of the legendary choreographer Pina Bausch through provocatively staged performances of her work.

SAFE HOUSE

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A

The caretaker of a CIA safe house (Ryan Reynolds) in Cape Town is forced to join forces with a fugitive rogue agent (Denzel Washington) in this action thriller from director Tony Scott.

STAR WARS EPISODE ONE: THE PHANTOM MENACE

Grant Park, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG

Jar Jar Binks as he was meant to be seen! Kidding. George Lucas's 1999 franchise reviver has its liabilities -- Jar Jar and a talentless child actor in the role of the juvenile Darth Vader among them -- but on the plus side, you've got to like the spectacle of Darth Maul and Ewan McGregor's vigorous Obi-Wan jumping off the screen.

THE VOW

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG

This love story concerns a husband (Channing Tatum) who struggles to win the love of his wife (Rachel McAdams) after she suffers memory loss following a car accident.

NOW PLAYING

The following movies have been previously reviewed by Free Press movie critic Randall King, unless otherwise noted.

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

Polo Park. G

The Belgian comic book hero comes to three-dimensional life in Steven Spielberg's elaborately realistic motion-capture animated film. In fact, the movie is so faithful to the source material, the comic books by Hergé that it may risk alienating North American audiences. Animation frees Spielberg to the extent the action may be a tad too elaborate, but this is still good, stylish fun. HHH1/2

ALBERT NOBBS

Globe. 14A

Glenn Close and Janet McTeer earned a pair of Oscar nominations for portraying two women masquerading as men in this drama set in 19th century Ireland. Close (who co-scripted) and director Rodrigo Cortez work a kind of magic with the character of Albert, leaving us simultaneously enraptured and disoriented by his/her tragedy. HHH1/2

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 3D

St. Vital. G

Truth be told, 3-D doesn't really do much to enhance this 1991 Disney musical. Computer animation is more conducive to 3-D than traditional cel animation which, at best, resembles a moving Viewmaster tableau. But the movie itself stands up as a quality screen musical with great songs and great characters. HHHH

BIG MIRACLE

Kildonan Place, Polo Park, Towne. G

A family film based on the 1988 incident when three whales were trapped beneath Alaskan ice and in danger of dying. It's a story of pluck and animal-love, but it has a surprisingly astute view of how such incidents are used to promote the careers of the reporters, politicians, oil companies and everyone else who jumps in to help. HHH1/2 (Reviewed by Jay Stone)

CHRONICLE

Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG

Teenagers acquire superpowers and, being teenagers, videotape themselves as they learn what they can do in this entertaining comic-book movie without the comic book. Even when it follows a predictable path, it takes a detour, making this a semi-serious sci-fi romp, lighter and more fun than many of the comic-book movies that it steals from, a superhero movie in which nobody ever crusades or wears a cape. HHH (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

CONTRABAND

Kildonan Place, Polo Park. 18A

Mark Wahlberg stars as a smuggler-turned-family man obliged to resume his old occupation in this remake of an Icelandic thriller. Things go amok with all the progressively unlikely complications. One senses there was a story meeting where a hundred ideas were thrown in the mix and none of them were rejected. Fortunately, there is sufficient novelty here to make what the showbiz trade papers call an "OK timewaster." HH1/2

THE DESCENDANTS

Grant Park. 14A

George Clooney, who was never better, plays a Hawaiian businessman whose wife is in a coma in this tragicomedy from Alexander Payne. The film moves expertly between humour and heartbreak, you really will laugh and cry. HHHH1/2 (Reviewed by Jay Stone)

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

St. Vital. 18A

A journalist (Daniel Craig) and a punkish investigator with a huge chip on her shoulder (Rooney Mara as the titular tattoo-bearer) attempt to unravel a decades-old disappearance. Despite an infusion of Hollywood cash, stars and prestige director David Fincher, this is an entirely redundant movie compared to the Swedish original. Mara is worth watching, certainly, but the rest of the cast, including Craig, doesn't match the original authentic Swedes. HHH

THE GREY

Polo Park, St. Vital. 14A

Liam Neeson stars as a haunted professional hunter obliged to gather survivors of a plane crash in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and fend off attacks by a pack of hungry wolves. The title implies some ambiguity, but a reasoned response to the movie is to love it (as a solid survival drama) and to hate it (for the ridiculous way it portrays wolves as monsters). HH1/2

HUGO

Grant Park. G

In Paris in 1931, an orphan (Asa Butterfield) who lives in the train station seeks to unravel the riddle of his life's purpose. That quest takes him into the path of an irascible old toy merchant (Ben Kingsley) with a surprising history of his own. Director Martin Scorsese's adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret is part Dickensian tale and part film history, with some of the smartest use of 3-D since the gimmick's recent revival. HHHH

THE IRON LADY

Grant Park. PG

This film bio of British prime minister Margaret Thatcher encompasses her ambitious youth and her frail widowhood in addition to her years in power. Meryl Streep is predictably marvellous in the role, but the movie does Thatcher a disservice in squeezing so much history into such a minuscule time. HH1/2

MAN ON A LEDGE

Polo Park. PG

A loopy drama about an escaped convict (Sam Worthington) who tries to prove his innocence by going out on a window ledge as his accomplices plan a complicated robbery. It makes about as much sense as that, and Worthington doesn't have the charisma to make us care. HH (Reviewed by Jay Stone)

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL

Polo Park. PG

In this fourth instalment of the franchise, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his fellow IMF operatives must go underground when they are implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin. Director Brad Bird directed The Iron Giant and like that film's title character, the movie is a big, beautiful shiny machine with a tenuous grasp on humanity. HHH1/2

MONSIEUR LAZHAR

Globe. PG

Canada's Oscar-nominated feature for best foreign language film is a drama about an Algerian immigrant (Mohamed Fellag) who steps in as a substitute to replace a beloved elementary school teacher who died tragically. In the hands of a less talented filmmaker, this could have ended up a syrupy tear-jerker. But writer-director Philippe Falardeau avoids the maudlin at all costs. HHHH1/2 (Reviewed by Brendan Kelly)

ONE FOR THE MONEY

Polo Park, St. Vital. PG

This adaptation of a mystery novel by Janet Evanovich stars Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum, a newly unemployed lingerie saleswoman who tries her hand in the field of tracing fugitives for her cousin's bail bond business. For a crime thriller, it looks an awful lot like a rom-com, and Heigl doesn't help. As the mouthy New Jersey heroine, she has all the grit of a banana pudding. HH

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

Grant Park. 14A

Gary Oldman is Smiley, a put-to-pasture spymaster suddenly responsible for uncovering a Russian mole buried deep in the cagey community of British intelligence. Populated with the cream of the English acting community (including Colin Firth and Tom Hardy), it's understated, intricate, and gloomy as a month of rainy days. HHHH1/2

UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING

Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 18A

Latex-clad vampiratrix Selene (Kate Beckinsale) escapes imprisonment and find herself in a world where humans are engaged in all-out war with both vampires and wolfy "Lycans." At last: Beckinsale in 3-D! Not reviewed.

THE WOMAN IN BLACK

Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG

Daniel Radcliffe stars as a widowed lawyer sent to settle an estate where sightings of a spectral presence has tragic consequences for the citizens of a nearby town. This more traditional spook-o-rama is designed to unsettle, and succeeds, yet it's almost comforting to see a spirit engaged in more traditional pursuits: appearing in windows, blowing out candles, winding up creepy Victorian wind-up toys and sending tots to their deaths. HHH1/2

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 9, 2012 E14