MOVIES

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This article was published 07/06/2015 (4095 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ALOHA

Grant Park, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 105 minutes.

Bradley Cooper plays a military contractor whose return to Hawaii initiates a reckoning with a lost love (Rachel McAdams) and the possibility of a new relationship with the major (Emma Stone) assigned to watchdog him. It’s a shambling, lurching Hawaiian comedy full of big-name actors making long, rushed, declamatory speeches. ** (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

 

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital. 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. ***

 

CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA

Grant Park. 14A. 87 minutes.

Juliette Binoche is an actress cast in a stage version of the film that made her a star 20 years earlier, except this time, she is asked to play the role of an older character while a young up-and-comer (Chloe Grace Moretz) assumes the part of her old character. Kristen Stewart also stars in this film by Olivier Assayas, a richly imperfect piece about the vagaries to be found in a life spent working in film. *** 1/2 (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

 

DEBUG

Bandwidth. 14A. 87 minutes.

This cheap, derivative Canadian horror film — call it Alien Matrix — places a crew of imprisoned hackers on a derelict spacecraft where they are expected to clean out the ship’s operating system, only to find themselves up against the powerful rogue artificial intelligence (Jason Momoa). Boring and dumb, this is the kind of stuff that could give might give cheap Canadian horror films a bad name. *

 

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. *** 1/2

 

HOME

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. ** 1/2 (Reviewed by Lindsay Bahr)

 

HOT PURSUIT

Polo Park. PG. 88 minutes.

An over-her-head cop (Reese Witherspoon) gamely tries to protect the widow (Sofa 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. * 1/2

 

I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS

Grant Park. PG. 97 minutes.

A former songstress (Blythe Danner) decides to change her life, a plan that includes romancing a new man (Sam Elliot) and befriending a pool cleaner (Martin Starr) It’s got a dream cast and a dreamy plot, but it hangs on a screenplay as random as a dream. ** 1/2 (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

 

INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 3

McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A. 98 minutes.

This prequel toggles between the supernatural crisis of a haunted teen (Stefanie Scott) haunted by a malevolent spirit after trying to contact her dead mother, and a seasoned psychic Elise (Lin Shaye) as she attempts to abandon the spirit-world business after one too many terrifying encounters. The chief spectre is referred to as “the man who can’t breathe” and the whole film is a little wheezy when it comes to trotting out the elements that enlivened past Insidious entries, such as startling, aged, scary faces and figures popping in and out of the frame with physics-defying impunity. ** 1/2

 

LOVE & MERCY

Polo Park. 14A. 122 minutes.

This bold approach to the celebrity biopic tells the bifurcated story of Beach Boy Brian Wilson, portrayed by Paul Dano in the half detailing his mental collapse at the height of his fame, and by John Cusack as an older Brian attempting to come back to living while under the thumb of a dubious therapist (Paul Giamatti). Dano is excellent, and the use of music is especially effective, relentlessly charting Wilson’s journey from pop prince to burned-out madman. *** 1/2

 

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, McGillivray VIP, 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. ****

 

PHOENIX

Cinematheque. PG. 98 minutes.

A concentration-camp survivor (Nina Hoss), unrecognizable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches ravaged postwar Berlin for the husband (Ronald Zehrfeld) who may or may not have betrayed her to the Nazis. Director Christian Petzold handles the Vertigo-like plot with admirable restraint, abetted by a lovely performance from Hoss. *** 1/2

 

PITCH PERFECT 2

Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital. 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. *** 1/2 (Reviewed by Jocelyn Noveck)

 

POLTERGEIST

Kildonan Place, Polo Park, Towne. 14A. 93 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. *** 1/2 (Reviewed by Justin Lowe)

 

SAN ANDREAS

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

Dwayne Johnson is a Los Angeles Fire Department chopper pilot obliged to rescue his womenfolk (Carla Gugino as his estranged wife and Alexandra Daddario as his daughter) when a massive earthquake tears California apart. Notwithstanding all the digital mayhem, San Andreas has a soothing subtextual message in this age of global warming and ongoing toxic pollution, that tells audiences that no matter how horrific the disaster may be, humans aren’t to blame for the environmental chaos herein. A more appropriate title might have been San Andreas: It’s Not Our Fault. **

 

SPY

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, McGillivray VIP, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A. 120 minutes.

Melissa McCarthy is a CIA analyst who must go undercover when her fellow agents are compromised on a mission to stop a deadly arms dealer (Rose Byrne). The spy spoof featuring an unlikely secret agent is practically a genre unto itself, but in that crowded field, writer-director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) wisely deploys McCarthy as a real, original and occasionally hilarious Bond wannabe. *** 1/2

 

TOMORROWLAND

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. *** 1/2