MOVIES

ñü

RECOMMENDED

PARANORMAN 'Ö'Ö'Ö 1/2

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

A lavish stop-motion adventure about an outcast young boy who sees dead people, and comes to the realization he may be the only one who can save his town from marauding Puritan zombies and a vengeful witch. It's darker than the usual kiddie fare, but also more rewarding in its elegant dissection of how fear is the most destructive monster of all.

ñü

STARTING TOMORROW

THE APPARITION

Polo Park. PG

This end-of-summer thriller places a young couple Kelly (Ashley Greene and Sebastian Stan) is supernatural peril resulting from a parapsychology experiment gone amok.

THE COLLABORATOR

Globe. Subject to classification.

Actor Martin Donovan also wrote and directed this drama playing a playwright whose troubled world is rocked during an encounter with his former neighbour (David Morse), a right-wing ex-con.

HIT AND RUN

Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne.

A former getaway driver (Dax Shepard) abandons the Witness Protection Program to drive his girlfriend (Kristen Bell) to Los Angeles so she can land her dream job, resulting in violent comic hijinks.

H.P. LOVECRAFT HORRORS DOUBLE BILL

Cinematheque. Subject to classification.

A program of two H.P. Lovecraft-inspired films, The Call of Cthulu and Whisperer in Darkness -- celebrating either the 112th anniversary of the Gothic author's birth or the 75-year anniversary of his death.

NEIL YOUNG JOURNEYS

Cinematheque. PG

As we all know, Neil Young spent some of his formative years in... Omemee, Ont.? Yep, sorry Winnipeg, this film by Jonathan Demme accompanies Young in a 1956 Ford Crown Victoria as he takes the nostalgic trip, culminating in a solo concert in Toronto's Massey Hall.

PREMIUM RUSH

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

A reckless bicycle courier (Joseph Gordon Levitt) accustomed to risking his neck actually finds his life on the line when he is given a special delivery envelope for which some shady individuals are willing to kill to acquire.

ñü

NOW

PLAYING

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

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

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. 'Ö'Ö'Ö

THE BOURNE LEGACY

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

A Bourne movie without Jason Bourne feels like a squeeze at the franchise cash cow: The Bourne Lactation. But this fourth entry adds something fresh into the mix with a new tormented hero, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), and a different dynamic: The Bourne Legacy is largely an oft-riveting old-school damsel-in-distress story, courtesy of an endangered scientist played by Rachel Weisz. 'Ö'Ö'Ö1/2

THE CAMPAIGN

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

Will Ferrell plays a slothful incumbent Democrat congressman in the fight for his life when he is challenged by a nebbish Republican (Zach Galifianakis). We're used to politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths. This is a political comedy that attempts that feat. It's a rude and crude farce but movies that step on that third rail of filmgoer appeal -- politics -- always pull their punches. 'Ö'Ö'Ö (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, Polo Park, Polo Park IMAX, Portage Place IMAX, St. Vital. 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. 'Ö'Ö'Ö'Ö

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS

Kildonan Place, Polo Park. G

Yet another entry in the ongoing film adaptations of author Jeff Kinney's juvenile stories of family, friends and school daze. While this is not the best of the Wimpys, Devon Bostick is still a laugh a minute as Rodrick, the hero's older brother. For an hour the laughs come quick and sure, and for parents and their tweens, that's enough to keep this, the kid-friendliest film franchise of them all, from being a disappointment. 'Ö'Ö (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

THE EXPENDABLES 2

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

A group of over-the-hill action heroes -- Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren et al. -- and their more modern confreres (Jason Statham, Liam Hemsworth) return for another impossible, high-velocity mission. It's explosive and absurd, but it has a certain nostalgia value. 'Ö'Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Jay Stone)

HOPE SPRINGS

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

Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones are a 31-years-married couple whose relationship is in need of a shakeup. You don't have to be married for 31 years to feel inspired by the film's message about the importance of keeping your relationship alive. Without a single special effect or explosion, this is an unexpected summer movie with real punch. 'Ö'Ö'Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Christy Lemire)

ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT

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 ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN

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

An achingly sweet but oddly emotion-free tearjerker about a small-town couple (Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Garner) who long to have a child of their own. It strains to find the magic, joy and heartbreak in a story manufactured with those traits in mind. 'Ö'Ö'Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

TOTAL RECALL

Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A

Colin Farrell stars as a man who plunges into a deadly adventure when he visits a futuristic memory implant boutique and discovers his whole identity may be a lie. This remake of the Paul Verhoeven film from 1990 offers one improvement over the original: Farrell, unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger, can act. But like the middle mammary of a triple-breasted mutant Mars dweller, Total Recall 2012 ultimately feels extraneous. 'Ö'Ö1/2

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 23, 2012 E11