MOVIES

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This article was published 24/05/2015 (4102 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE AGE OF ADALINE

Polo Park. PG. 113 minutes.

A young woman (Blake Lively) stays frozen in the age of 29 for nearly a century, keeping her anomalous biology from nosy authorities until a romance with a young tech entrepreneur (Michiel Huisman) threatens her secret. Lively sets a classy tone: Blond, elegant and immaculately put together, she looks like a Hitchcock heroine dropped into the 21st century. Meanwhile Harrison Ford, as the hero’s dad, attacks his role with the vigour of a much younger actor. That’s kind of the point of a movie that promises a nice escapist romantic fantasy, while delivering an affirmation that, even if our bodies grow old, passion abides. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, McGillivray VIP, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 141 minutes.

The gang — Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye — reassembles to face an unstoppable, artificially intelligent nemesis in this sequel to the 2012 Marvel blockbuster. Director Joss Whedon ticks off all the right boxes, but in this second go-round, the thrill is diminished. Befitting the robot of the title, this feels more like a machine than a movie, with an Iron Man battery where its heart should be, especially coming in the wake of last year’s Marvel blockbuster The Guardians of the Galaxy, which proved a superhero movie could possess a sense of freewheeling fun. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö

EX MACHINA

Polo Park. 14A. 109 minutes.

An eccentric tech billionaire (Oscar Isaac) enlists a programmer (Domnhall Gleeson) to administer a Turing test on a cyborg (Alicia Vikander) more demonstrably human than her creator. This impressive directorial debut from screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Dredd) may lack the spectacle of Avengers: Age of Ultron, but the film’s ideas about artificial intelligence are much more intelligently and provocatively explored, with the cast offering up a particularly adventurous perspective of humanity considering only two characters are technically human. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

Grant Park. PG. 119 minutes.

This new adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel stars a radiant Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene, a woman who strives for independence in Victorian England, even as she is pursued by three suitors, a farmer (Matthias Schoenaerts), a respected landowner (Michael Sheen) and a volatile soldier (Tom Sturridge). Hardy’s source material could have facilitated an overheated costume melodrama, but director Thomas Vinterberg opts for a cool, classic, contemporary rendition anchored by Mulligan’s subtle performance. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2

FURIOUS 7

McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 138 minutes.

Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) get the band together to fight the vengeful brother (Jason Statham) of the vanquished villain from the last movie. Horror director James Wan makes the big jump into action/event movie savvy to its requirements, particularly having his camera gloat over cars and semi-nude women with pornographic abandon. But the fast-car fantasy this franchise churns out — the notion no car crash is so bad the good guy can’t walk away from it — casts a decided chill given the circumstances of Walker’s real-world death. ‘Ö’Ö 1/2

GET HARD

Towne. 14A. 101 minutes.

Will Ferrell plays an investment millionaire faced with hard time at San Quentin when convicted of fraud. So he hires his car-wash guy Darnell (Kevin Hart) to prepare him for life in prison, under the racist assumption he has done hard time in his past. While the comedy has offended a few critics, it’s a modestly entertaining burlesque, adeptly satirizing racism and, less successfully, homophobia. Remember: All this is within the context of a movie that invites us to laugh at the frequent display of Ferrell’s buttocks. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö

GOOD KILL

Polo Park. 14A. 103 minutes.

Ethan Hawke plays a drone pilot who carries out remote-control missions in the Middle East from a trailer facility in Las Vegas, but even that world-away distance doesn’t prevent combat stress. You have to hand it to director Andrew Niccol for tackling a subject Hollywood would prefer to ignore. If the film’s portrayal of domestic dissolution is excessively familiar, there is much to admire, too, especially as it draws closer to its conclusion and we see more unsettling aerial shots, not of Afghanistan but of Vegas, a chilling indicator that it may be just a matter of time before drone warfare won’t necessarily be so one-sided. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö

HOME

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital. G. 94 minutes.

This animated comedy follows the adventures of a lonely alien named Oh (voiced by Jim Parsons) who finds himself on Earth helping a young girl (Rihanna) on a quest of her own. The bright-colour palette and bubble motifs are appealing, but without the magic of superior animated films, the candy colours start to have a numbing effect by the end. Home has a good heart, and yet, much like Oh, its valiant efforts to be fun just fizzle. ‘Ö’Ö 1/2 (Reviewed by Lindsay Bahr)

HOT PURSUIT

McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital. PG. 88 minutes.

An over-her-head cop (Reese Witherspoon) gamely tries to protect the widow (Sofia Vergara) of a drug cartel lieutenant against assassins in this comedy directed by Anne Fletcher (The Proposal). Between them, Witherspoon and Vergara have decent comic chops, which makes it doubly disappointing that this comedy yields so few laughs, partly because both actresses are as much at cross purposes as their characters. ‘Ö 1/2

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A. 121 minutes.

In this reboot from director George Miller, Tom Hardy assumes the role of Max Rockatansky, the post-apocalyptic road warrior originally played by Mel Gibson. Max finds himself aligned with a warrior woman (Charlize Theron) on a mission to fight her way through hordes of bloodthirsty scavengers to return to her homeland. This is the third mega-franchise entry to come down the pike this year, but demonstrating his mastery of screen action, 70-year-old Miller shows ’em how it’s done. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

MARINONI: THE FIRE IN THE FRAME

Cinematheque. PG. 86 minutes.

This documentary examines the life of Montreal-based cyclist and bicycle builder Giuseppe Marinoni as he prepares, at the age of 75, to break a world record for distance cycled in his age group. Filmmaker Tony Girandin’s one-on-one dynamic facilitates a personal give-and-take that shows Marinoni at his most irascible. But as a film artisan, Girandin is a lot less exacting than the bicycle maker, padding the material with unnecessary interviews and occasionally wobbling on his narrative path. ‘Ö’Ö 1/2

PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2

Kildonan Place, Towne. PG. 94 minutes.

As the titular security guard, Kevin James goes to a Las Vegas landmark for a little rest and relaxation with his college-bound teenage daughter, only to be pulled into action to intercede when a gang of super-criminals attempts to rob the casino-hotel. A lot of comedy ideas are thrown at the wall, but little sticks. James doesn’t help, giving his shlub character an unpleasantly aggressive, in-your-face manner — a Blart of darkness, if you will. ‘Ö 1/2

PITCH PERFECT 2

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, McGillivray VIP, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 115 minutes.

A capella competitors the Barden Bellas suffer a humiliation at the Lincoln Center and resolve to fight their way back by winning an international competition hitherto denied any American teams. All the news is good about this sequel which is, if anything, funnier than the original. It brings back all your favourite folks, most notably the sweetly geeky and adorable Anna Kendrick and the bawdy, nothing-is-sacred Rebel Wilson, whose Fat Amy gets more screen time and makes the most of it. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2 (Reviewed by Jocelyn Noveck)

POLTERGEIST

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 94 minutes.

This remake of the 1982 film by Tobe Hooper again offers up a family in a nice suburban home finding itself under siege by malevolent ghosts that succeed in taking the youngest daughter into their spectral dimension. Director Gil Kenan not only delivers on the promise of Hooper’s original, but significantly raises the stakes. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2 (Reviewed by Justin Lowe)

RED ARMY

Cinematheque. PG. 85 minutes.

This doc by Gabe Polsky examines the dynastic Red Army hockey team from the perspective of its captain, Slava Fetisov. It has a deceptive name for such a charming documentary. Even if you know it’s the story of a legendary hockey team and not the fierce Soviet-era military machine, you will be surprised by its sociopolitical and personal content and the engaging way it tells its story. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö (Reviewed by Kenneth Turan)

TOMORROWLAND

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, Polo Park Imax, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 130 minutes.

A teenage science geek (Britt Robertson) discovers a conduit to a fantastic future world, but needs to enlist a disillusioned scientist (George Clooney) to help her unlock its mysteries in this Disney adventure from director Brad Bird (The Incredibles; The Iron Giant). Narratively awkward, Tomorrowland practically jumps the rails before it has properly begun. But when it gets back on track, it not only delivers the fun ride we expect from a summer-proximity Disney fantasy, but also a rare piece of family entertainment that warrants a discussion afterwards. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö 1/2

TRUE STORY

Towne. 14A. 100 minutes.

A disgraced New York Times reporter (Jonah Hill) discovers a man (James Franco) accused of unthinkable murders has stolen his identity. It might have been more powerful if not for the stunt-casting. One wonders if director Rupert Goold did not have enough faith in the compelling material to have cast lesser-known actors in those key roles. This is a movie about two men facing off on a playing field of ego and hubris. The last thing it needed was a couple of star turns. ‘Ö’Ö 1/2

THE WATER DIVINER

Grant Park. PG. 112 minutes.

Russell Crowe directed and stars in this drama as an Australian father who travels to Gallipoli to learn the fate of his three missing sons in that Allied military disaster of the First World War. Of all the filmmakers with whom Crowe has worked, he seems to be emulating Manitoba director Aaron Kim Johnston, whose Crowe-starring 1993 film For the Moment was likewise a slightly schmaltzy, romantic tale of an Aussie experiencing the horrors of war at arm’s length. That’s not a bad thing: This is fundamentally solid, old-fashioned storytelling with equal emphasis on character, setting and action. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö

WOMAN IN GOLD

Grant Park, McGillivray. PG. 109 minutes.

Helen Mirren stars as a one-time Jewish refugee who challenges Austrian ownership of the titular Nazi-heisted Gustav Klimt painting, and hires a lawyer (Ryan Reynolds) to retrieve it from the Austrian government. It’s based on a true story, but the execution is marred by the lack of chemistry between Mirren and Reynolds, nice actors playing nice characters, either one of whom might have sacrificed some likability for the sake of some much-needed dramatic abrasion. That all makes it harder to accept the film’s very American notion of justice served through dollar-value litigation. ‘Ö’Ö