Movies

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Disney/Pixar Brave (POSTMEDIA)

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Madagascar 3 (POSTMEDIA)

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Niko Tavernise / eOne Films Jared Gilman in Moonrise Kingdom. (POSTMEDIA)

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Tracy Bennett/Columbia Picture Adam Sandler in That�s My Boy (CP)

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Recommended

MOONRISE KINGDOM

Polo Park. PG

Wes Anderson's latest follows a pair of young teen runaways (Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman) in love, tracing the ripples of their blossoming, forbidden love affair among a scout leader (Edward Norton), a lonesome lawman (Bruce Willis) and the girl's bickering lawyer parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand). In the foreground, the movie is a celebration of youthful passion and purpose, but lurking behind that, the adults in the cast offering a wistful, sad forecast of estrangement, doubt and compromise to come. ëëëë

Starting tomorrow

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER

Grant Park, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 18A

It turns out the Great Emancipator did not extend his liberating sensibilities to vampires, as we learn in this historical horror fantasy from director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted).

BERNIE

Globe. PG

Jack Black plays Bernie, a much loved assistant funeral director in a small rural Texas town accused of the murder of a sour widow (Shirley MacLaine) whose relationship with Bernie proved to be complicated. Based on a true story and directed by Richard Linkater (School of Rock).

BRAVE

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

Pixar Animation turns its high technology to the service of an old-fashioned adventure about a Scottish princess whose rebellion against an arranged marriage results in a perilous, magic-infused mission.

HIGH SCHOOL

Globe. Subject to classification.

The day after soon-to-be valedictorian Henry Burke (Matt Bush) samples pot for the first time, his school principal institutes a zero-tolerance drug policy and administers a mandatory drug test for all students. So Henry devises a plan to spike the school's bake-sale brownies with high-powered weed purloined from a dealer named Psycho Ed (Adrien Brody) with potentially dangerous results.

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD

Polo Park. 14A

With a cataclysmic, world-ending event about to take place, an unlucky-in-love guy (Steve Carrell) decides to track down the love of his life with an assist from a weird neighbour (Keira Knightley), who proves to have appeal of her own.

Starting Saturday

ON THE ICE

Cinematheque. 14A

In Barrow, Alaska, two teenagers find their bond tested when a seal-hunting trip goes wrong, resulting in the death of their friend.

REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR

Cinematheque. G

A sequel to Who Killed the Electric Car? in which director Chris Paine examines the current reality of the consumer-driven electric car.

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

THE AVENGERS

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

Superhero franchises, assemble! This witty, thrilling comic book movie from writer-director Joss Whedon elegantly combines four existing Marvel movie franchises -- Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans) and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) -- for an action spectacle that still manages to be smart and savvy. ëëëë

THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

Globe. PG

The cream of elder English actors (Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson) play retirees who travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel, only to discover their new home is less luxurious than advertised. This movie would have been little more than an episode of Fantasy Island with English accents, but thanks to great detail work from the cast and a gentle hand from director John Madden, Marigold Hotel proves you're never too old to bloom. ëëë (Reviewed by Katherine Monk)

MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED

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

An animated film that's vertiginous, explosive, ridiculous, frantic, and anti-Canadian (they joke about our "worth ethic.") Inspired 3D and non-stop silliness make this the most fun you can have at the movies so far this summer. ëëëë (Reviewed by Jay Stone)

MEN IN BLACK 3

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

Will Smith rejoins the summer movie circus in this franchise entry featuring a time travel plot, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin as a much younger, '60s-era Tommy Lee Jones. It may come in 3D, but this is very much the same eccentric, wide-angle approach as the previous entries, with the added value of Brolin's comic flare in a deft impersonation of Jones. ëëë

PROMETHEUS

Grant Park, Polo Park, Polo Park IMAX, St. Vital, Towne. 14A

Director Ridley Scott returns to the sci-fi realm that put him on the map, culture-wise, with this prequel to Alien in which a space crew (including Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender) travel to a distant planet that promises to explain the source of humanity. It may lack Alien's primal terror and no-frills narrative, but it is weirdly rich in biblical imagery and tantalizing subtext, enough to justify a second viewing. ëëëë

ROCK OF AGES

Kildonan Place, Polo Park, St. Vital. PG

The Broadway jukebox musical plays the rock anthem hits of the '80s against a backdrop of a tawdry, on-the-edge-of-bankruptcy club where rock god Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) has scheduled his band's last gig and a couple of young musicians (Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta) are falling in love. Rock of Ages is not so much an organic movie musical but a calculated two-pronged effort to grab a demographic of middle-aged former metalheads and Glee fans. Yet it is not without its unlikely pleasures, including Cruise bringing his star quality to bear on the dissipated rock god. ëë1/2

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

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

The storybook heroine Snow White (Kristen Stewart) gets made over as a kick-ass warrior princess taking arms against an evil queen (Charlize Theron) with the aid of the huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) who has been assigned the task of killing her. The somber Lord of the Rings-meets-The Brothers Grimm tone is preferable to earlier ninny burlesque Mirror Mirror, but the pace is cumbersome and Kristen Stewart lacks both the classical beauty and the gravitas to qualify as the fairest of them all ... although we might accept her as the fairest of the mall. ëëë

THAT'S MY BOY

Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 18A

Adam Sandler's new movie is a gross-out comedy of witless penis and poop jokes that nonetheless seems to delight his fans. He plays a wasted man who had a son from an affair with his junior high teacher and now wants to reunite with him. The idea of child abuse is just one of the gags. ë (Reviewed by Jay Stone)

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 21, 2012 E14