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The Dark Knight Rises is dominating movie theatres this week. (HANDOUT)

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. 4 stars

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, Polo Park, 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. 3 stars

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, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel proves you're never too old to bloom. 3 stars (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. 4 stars

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

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

Christopher Nolan completes his Batman trilogy in style with this apocalyptic tale of class warfare in Gotham City, as Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is forced out of exile by a mysterious terrorist known as Bane (Tom Hardy), as well as the feline cat-burglar Catwoman (Anne Hathaway). Even at its most outrageous, there is a recurrent ping of realpolitik plausibility here that distinguishes this movie from all other superhero movies and summer blockbusters in general. 4 stars

ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT

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

Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Denis Leary) and Sid (John Leguizamo) are back for another round of extinction-themed hijinks. The script is the weakest in the franchise, but there's something darkly compelling about watching evolutionary Armageddon dressed as family fluff. 'Ö'Ö'Ö (Reviewed by Katherine Monk)

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 offense at perceived racial stereotypes, this stands as a refreshing Gallic variation of an American buddy movie formula. 3 1/2 stars

MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED

Polo Park. 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. 4 stars (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. 3 1/2 (Reviewed by Katherine Monk)

MOONRISE KINGDOM

Globe. 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 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. 4 stars

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. 2 1/2 stars

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. 3 1/2 stars (Reviewed by Jay Stone)

TO ROME WITH LOVE

Grant Park. PG

Woody Allen's latest is a quartet of comic and not-so-comic vignettes set in the Eternal 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. It's a comedown after Midnight in Paris, but its most rewarding moments involve Cruz, the contemporary embodiment of the Loren-style Italian lollapalooza, and Allen himself, whinging in classic style. 2 1/2 stars

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 22, 2012 A13