Movies

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This article was published 14/07/2016 (3709 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RECOMMENDED

LOVE & FRIENDSHIP

Grant Park. G. 94 minutes.

The delightfully amoral Lady Susan (ably played by Kate Beckinsale) is a beguiling deceiver and master manipulator in this adaptation of Jane Austen’s early novella Lady Susan by American filmmaker Whit Stillman, who really draws out Austen’s screwball-comedy side. Combining killingly funny dialogue with an unsparing eye for human folly, this delicious literary romp could help dispel Austen’s (totally undeserved) reputation for being prim and proper. ★★★★★(Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

 

STARTING FRIDAY, JULY 15

GHOSTBUSTERS

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 117 minutes.

This reboot of the ‘80s supernatural comedy skews feminine with the team consisting of Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon taking on a plague of ghosts haunting New York City.

 

HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE

McGillivray. PG. 101 minutes.

Defiant city kid Ricky gets a fresh start in the New Zealand countryside wher he unexpectedly feels at home with his new foster family including cantankerous Uncle Hec (Sam Neill). When a tragedy strikes that threatens to ship Ricky to another home, both he and Hec go on the run in the bush as a national manhunt ensues in this comedy from director Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows).

 

OUR KIND OF TRAITOR

Grant Park. 14A. 108 minutes. 

A Russian money launderer (Stellan Skarsgard) asks a vacationing couple (Ewan McGregor and Naomie Harris) to help him defect to Britain, a proposition that turns out to be trickier than expected. Based on the novel by John le Carré.

 

 

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THE BFG

Kildonan Place, Polo Park, Towne. G. 118 minutes.

Steven Spielberg directs this adaptation of a beloved Roald Dahl book about a plucky orphan (the winning Ruby Barnhill) who finds herself in the benign clutches of a Big Friendly Giant (a game-changing motion-capture performance by Mark Rylance). The late screenwriter Melissa Mathison, who penned E.T. for Spielberg, did not quite succeed in giving a solid film structure to Dahl’s source material, but one can’t deny the visual delights of this doggedly episodic film, especially in Rylance’s beautiful, beatific performance as the titular behemoth. ★★★1/2 (Reviewed by Randall King)

 

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE

Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park. PG. 108 minutes.

Robbie, a bullied nerd in high school, grows up to be a lethal spy (Dwayne Johnson) who drafts his one friend, Calvin (Kevin Hart), to participate in a deadly caper. In the role of a physical powerhouse with nerdly teen obsessions, Johnson does make for a uniquely weird action hero, and Hart pings off that weirdness with the instinctive expertise of a Pong master. But notwithstanding his character’s obvious man-crush on Calvin, director-co-screenwriter Rawson Marshall Thurber stops short of making Robbie gay, a choice that might have elevated the film’s satiric value beyond that of just another studio summertime action-comedy.★★1/2 (Reviewed by Randall King)

 

THE CONJURING 2

Polo Park. 14A. 134 minutes.

In this sequel to the 2013 hit, married demonologists (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) travel to England and get more than they bargained for when investigating the case of a young girl apparently possessed by a malevolent spirit. Director James Wan goes light on the gore and heavy on the bumps in the night and creepy children’s toys. The results are uneven and overlong but still nicely crafted and satisfyingly scary. ★★★ (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

 

FINDING DORY

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. G. 97 minutes.

This sequel to the 2003 Pixar hit Finding Nemo sees Marlon and Nemo accompanying forgetful blue tang Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) on her own journey to track down her forgotten parents. The plot is a tad redundant, but there’s lots of fun to be had courtesy of Dory’s friendship with a grumpy octopus (Ed O’Neill) committed to his own mission to move to a nice, safe Cleveland aquarium. The animation is gorgeous, of course, which compensates for a plot turn that too frequently tips the fish scales into melodrama. ★★★1/2 (Reviewed by Randall King)

 

INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE

McGillvray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 120 minutes.

Twenty years after Will Smith sucker-punched an alien invader, director Roland Emmerich is back with an incoherent, overlong and unnecessary sci-fi action sequel. As a now-unified Earth prepares to fight off a bigger but duller outer-space threat, Emmerich blows more stuff up, with the help of the returning cast members Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum and Brent Spiner, along with some generic younger additions, including Liam Hemsworth, Jessie T. Usher, Maika Monroe and Angelababy. (Smith chose not to re-up, and his charisma is much missed.) The aliens might have had two decades to prepare, but the slovenly script seems to have been thrown together in a day or two, and without the original’s sense of escapist fun or fresh use of special effects, the sequel’s destructo CGI spectacle feels hollow. ★★ (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

 

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 110 minutes.

Yet another cinematic go-round for Edgar Rice Burroughs’ ape-man pulp hero, starring Alexander Skarsgaard as the loin-clothed one, torn from his new home in Victorian England to save his wife Jane (Margot Robbie) from the machinations of a Belgian envoy (Christoph Waltz) intent on enslaving the African populace of the Congo. The story of Tarzan is one of the greatest adventures ever told and, doubtless, it’s difficult to duplicate on the big screen and keep things believable. That said, this wasn’t a bad try. Skarsgaard is a solid actor, and certainly physically trained enough to look like a guy who swings from trees and battles apes. But he approached the role as if Tarzan was a stoic and unfeeling character, without a sense of humour, which isn’t the same thing as being a strong character. It’s the film’s biggest flaw. ★★★ (Reviewed by Tony Hicks, San Jose Mercury News)

 

MAGGIE’S PLAN

Grant Park. 14A. 99 minutes.

Greta Gerwig is adorably daffy — as usual — as Maggie, who schemes to get her formerly married lover (Ethan Hawke), a hotshot in the “ficto-critical anthropology” world, back with his formidable ex-wife (Julianne Moore). Deftly following her super-smart but not necessarily self-aware characters, director Rebecca Miller pulls off a sweetly neurotic comedy about postmodern love. ★★★★ (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

 

MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A. 99 minutes.

A pair of disaster-prone brothers (Zac Efron and Adam DeVine) attempt to find a couple of nice girls to take to their sister’s wedding in Hawaii, except the gals they find (Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick) turn out to be lady reprobates on the make. On this wildly uneven roller-coaster ride, the lows far outweigh the highs. ★★ (Reviewed by Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service)

 

NOW YOU SEE ME 2

St. Vital. PG. 129 minutes.

This sequel picks up a year after the magic-based renegades the Four Horsemen delivered a combination send-off show and heist and then disappeared from view. Once again, we’re drawn into a world where “nothing is what it seems,” with Jack (Dave Franco), the street-hustling card sharp, Daniel (Jesse Eisenberg), the smart, fast-talking ringmaster and Merritt (Woody Harrelson), the old guy of the group, a hypnotist who’s seen better days but can still put you in a trance with a few whispered words. The departure of the 2013 film’s Isla Fisher is neatly explained in the first few minutes, making way for Lula (Lizzy Caplan), geek-comedy magician and self-described “Girl Horseman.” (Horsewoman?) The franchise, which deals with the sleight-of-hand shenanigans of a gang of renegade illusionists, relies on two kinds of magic — the magic of “nothing-up-my-sleeve” tricks and the magic of movies. Each kind can be wonderful on its own, but taken together, they tend to cancel each other out. ★★1/2 (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

 

THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR

Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A. 109 minutes.

The third entry in the Purge series sees a U.S. senator (Elizabeth Mitchell) with presidential aspirations attempting to end the annual 12-hour period of lawlessness, only to find herself trapped on the streets of Washington, with only her head of security (Frank Grillo) standing between her and certain death. The wacko Halloween-on-steroids style of the trilogy is amplified, and some of the set pieces seem simply provocative, rushing by in morbid vignettes. If these films are overtly political, Election Year is even more so. The message here about racial and economic inequality is relevant and accessible, but not necessarily revelatory, if you’ve been paying attention. ★★★★ (Reviewed by Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service)

 

THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. G. 86 minutes.

This animated comedy examines what goes on among the pet population when the humans aren’t looking. Basically a pet version of Toy Story, this animated adventure from some of the Despicable Me and Minions crew is not particularly original. Its broad comedy and hyperactive pacing don’t leave much room for Pixar-style pathos, and the animation is an aggressive hodgepodge of stylized characters and realistic environments. But boring it ain’t. ★★★ (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

 

THE SHALLOWS

Polo Park. 14A. 86 minutes.

A surfer (Blake Lively) on a remote beach is trapped 200 metres from shore by a circling, ravenous shark in a thriller described as Jaws meets 127 Hours. On a hot day, you won’t be sorry to duck into this quick 86-minute caper of bikini-clad aquatic peril that’s just silly enough to be the perfect summer thriller. ★★★ (Reviewed by Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service)

 

SWISS ARMY MAN

Polo Park. 14A. 97 minutes.

A suicidal loner (Paul Dano), apparently shipwrecked, finds and befriends a flatulent corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) who holds the promise of saving him from exile and reintegrating him into human society. Co-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert get a tremendous boost from Dano and Radcliffe in humanizing an outlandish premise, but by the time we get to the third act, Dano’s reticent charm wanes, and Radcliffe runs out of gas. ★★1/2 (Reviewed by Randall King)

 

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

Polo Park. 14A. 143 minutes.

Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and his X-Men are obliged to do battle with the resurgent “first mutant” Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) in a battle that forces the morphing Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) to choose sides. While battles between heroes are an X-Men tradition, warring among the ranks has become a superhero trope this season, at play in both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War. Like similarly dressed beauties in celebrity magazines, it becomes a case of who wore it better — and that’s an unfair burden on what is ultimately a satisfying conclusion to the rebooted trilogy. It just can’t match the magic of the latest Avengers movie, with multiple characters carefully inter-developed over more than a dozen films. ★★★ (Reviewed by Sandy Cohen, The Associated Press)