MOVIES

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THE INTOUCHABLES

Globe. 14A

This hit film from France focuses on angry young man with a criminal past (Omar Sy) who finds himself given the job of caring for a wealthy aristocrat (Franßois Cluzet) rendered quadriplegic after a paragliding accident. Sy is a charmer: he won a French César award as best actor, besting Jean Dujardin of The Artist. While some North American critics have been quick to take offence at perceived racial stereotypes, this stands as a refreshing Gallic variation of an American buddy movie formula. Starts tomorrow. HHH1/2

Starting tomorrow

ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT

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

Manny the Mammoth, Sid the sloth, and Diego the sabre-tooth tiger (voiced respectively by Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary) find themselves adrift on an iceberg and encounter prehistoric pirates and other seagoing creatures as they attempt to get back to land.

TO ROME WITH LOVE

Grant Park. PG

Woody Allen's latest is a quartet of comic vignettes set in the ancient city. Alec Baldwin plays a middle-aged architect who witnesses a younger man (Jesse Eisenberg) repeating the same romantic mistakes he made in his youth; Penélope Cruz is a prostitute obliged to pass herself off as the bride of a newlywed; Roberto Benigni is a white-collar shmuck who finds himself suddenly, inexplicably famous; Allen himself plays a former opera impresario who discovers his daughter's new father-in-law is a brilliant tenor only capable of singing in the shower.

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

THE AVENGERS

Polo Park. 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. HHHH

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

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

Director Marc Webb relaunches the Spidey origin story with Mary Jane Watson, J. Jonah Jameson and the Green Goblin nowhere in sight. Webb eschews the more baroque style of director Sam Raimi's recent trilogy for dramatic naturalism in the scenes not involving clashing mutants. This amounts to entertaining summer diversion, to be sure, but Webb's insistence on playing Spider-Man straight results in a movie that comes off as dour and rather joyless by comparison. HHH

THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

Grant Park. 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. HHH (Reviewed by Katherine Monk)

BRAVE

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. In so doing, Brave bravely steps away from that kind of boys-and-their-toys material of their past in favour of material that is more nuanced, more beautiful, and decidedly more feminine in its perspective. HHHH

DARK SHADOWS

Portage Place IMAX. 14A

The gothic soap opera of the SSRq60s gets cinematic, courtesy of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, who plays Barnabas Collins, an 18th-century vampire released from entombment to reunite with the Collins clan in the future wonderworld of 1972. The movie's best comedy is purely visual. Blocking actors in soap-opera style gives Burton the opportunity to pose his cast like figures from an Edward Gorey storybook in a perverse blend of gothic with macramé owls, beanbag chairs and shag carpeting: Kitsch relics dwelling among the kitsch relics. HHH

HEADHUNTERS

Globe. 18A

Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) is a little-guy art thief who uses his position at a headhunting firm to case the houses of his wealthy clients. Proving just how much you can do with a good idea, a moderate budget, and unexpected characters, this little thriller from Norway is a timely reminder to every struggling cinematic tradition that you can compete with Hollywood and win -- as long as you're smarter than your competition. HHH1/2 (Reviewed by Katherine Monk)

KATY PERRY: PART OF ME

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

Part 3D concert film, part behind-the-scenes reality show, this Katy Perry production offers tantalizing glimpses of a big-time music tour, and the heartache the pop songstress suffered as her marriage to Russell Brand collapsed in the process. Given Perry's background (coming from a strict Christian family) and her current travails, this might have made for an interesting doc, but since Perry exercises as much control over the film as she does over her wardrobe, this ultimately feels more of a feature-length electronic press kit for the Katy Perry brand. HH

MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED

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 3-D and non-stop silliness make this the most fun you can have at the movies so far this summer. HHHH (Reviewed by Jay Stone)

MAGIC MIKE

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

Channing Tatum shows off his many talents as a male stripper in this entertaining, if somewhat predictable, romantic drama based on his own life. Mike thought he had it all until he introduced a struggling buddy (Alex Pettyfer) to the world of buff dancing and watched it change him for the worse. Director Steven Soderbergh maps every cliché, and elegantly avoids most, as he offers an entertaining piece of escapism that gently pokes at gender-based hypocrisy. HHH1/2 (Reviewed by Katherine Monk)

MOONRISE KINGDOM

Globe, Kildonan Place. 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. HHHH

PEOPLE LIKE US

Globe, Grant Park. PG

While putting his deceased father's estate in order, a fast-talking salesman (Chris Pine) is forced to re-evaluate his life when he discovers he has a 30-year-old sister (Elizabeth Banks) he's never known. An example of that increasingly rare kind of film: an adult drama. The filmmakers seem so nervous about this prospect that they fill the movie with action-film editing and a camera that moves so restlessly through domestic life that you'd think it lost its keys. But they also keep it entertaining, rendering a familiar, heart-rending melodrama as a gauzy and mostly pleasant diversion. HHH1/2 (Reviewed by Jake Coyle)

PROMETHEUS

Polo Park. 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. HHHH

SAVAGES

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

Oliver Stone directs this adaptation of Don Winslow's book about a pair of Southern California dope growers (Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson) obliged to fend off the intrusion of a Mexican drug cartel after their mutual girlfriend (Blake Lively) is kidnapped. Strangely enough, Stone somehow fails to click with the material, adding lots on unnecessary and confusing material and copping out with an ending that suggests the characters aren't the only ones making a deal with the devil. HH1/2

TED

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

A crude comedy with Mark Wahlberg as a 35-year-old slacker who's being held back by his best friend and roommate, a talking teddy bear (voiced by director Seth MacFarlane). The vulgar jokes push envelopes you didn't know existed, but there's a sweetness to the film, and it's often very funny. HHH1/2 (Reviewed by Jay Stone)

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 12, 2012 E14