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This article was published 26/09/2010 (5516 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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

AGORA

Globe. 14A

Set in the ancient city of Alexandria circa the fourth century AD, the movie is steeped in a deep, ponderous, 21st-century sense of existential dread as it relates the story of mathematician and philosopher Hypatia (Rachel Weisz), branded a witch and forced to pay for her crime of possessing human intellect. For students of history, this movie could be considered rousing entertainment. For the rest of us, Agora feels like watching your favourite horse break a leg in slow motion: Heartbreaking, and unstoppable. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Katherine Monk)

ALPHA AND OMEGA

Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. G

Hayden Panettiere and Justin Long lend their voices to this thoroughly mediocre tale of star-crossed carnivores in Jasper National Park. Just before alpha wolf Kate (Panettiere) is set to mate with a vain, possibly impotent, suitor, the leader-in-training is abducted by park rangers along with pack clown Humphrey (Long) in an effort to re-populate an Idaho park. An intermittently amusing jaunt back to Canada follows, with bit parts for Danny Glover and, in a final kick to a once-great career, Dennis Hopper. ‘Ö’Ö (Reviewed by Barry Hertz)

THE AMERICAN

Grant Park, Polo Park. 14A

This too-cool-for-school crime thriller stars George Clooney as a morally haunted black market gunsmith for hire at the service of international assassins, signing up for one last assignment in Italy. There, he is befriended by a priest and a prostitute. Assuming you buy into the assumption that a guy who looks like George Clooney may be forgiven any sin, no matter how egregious, you may still be turned off by the movie’s sheer pretentiousness. ‘Ö’Ö1/2

DEVIL

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

M. Night Shyamalan produced (but did not direct) this horror thriller about a quintet of strangers on an elevator. Bad news: Rescue workers can’t access the elevator. Worse news: The devil is among them. For all its preaching about guilt, redemption, punishment and salvation, Devil delivers its chills in a compact, efficient package of extreme close-ups, decently timed surprises and the terror of dread-anticipation. It’s not great, but it’s not bad. ‘Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

EASY A

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

This contemporary comic variation of The Scarlet Letter stars Emma Stone as a virginal high school wallflower who, reasoning that a slutty reputation is better than no reputation, allows word to get out that she’s no angel. Stone has great comic chops and projects a fiercely sardonic undercurrent that belies the cutie-pie facade. It’s a good time, but note that the movie is also worthy of a class discussion as a timely look at how viciousness is spread in the age of Twitter, as well as a timeless portrait of sexual hypocrisy that persists over centuries. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

THE EXPENDABLES

Polo Park, St. Vital. 18A

Sylvester Stallone can no longer move his eyebrows. The rest of the cast looks like it’s having problems moving its bowels. It’s not pretty, but it fits as visual motif, because everything about The Expendables feels either over-stretched or all-too bloated — from the lame story about a South American dictator who gets into bed with the CIA, to the parade of aging action stars strutting their arthritic limbs across the frame. ‘Ö (Reviewed by Katherine Monk)

GET LOW

Globe. PG.

An old backwoods coot (Robert Duvall) plans his own funeral — while he’s still alive — as a means to clearing up some misunderstandings in his Tennessee community and Bill Murray co-stars as the cash-strapped mortician who agrees to handle the arrangements. The two actors have been known to fall back on actorly shtik, but this satisfying, leisurely-paced drama allows them each to work in subtler shadings. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

INCEPTION

Polo Park, St. Vital. PG

Writer-director Christopher Nolan believes a big summer movie doesn’t have to be stupid, and follows through on that premise with this big, challenging blockbuster about a gang of thieves (led by Leonardo DiCaprio) who invade the minds of their targets via their dreams. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE

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

This epic animated adventure focuses on a barn owl named Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess) who seeks the legendary owl guardians when an owl fascist dictatorship kidnaps his family. Visually, it’s a hoot as director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) employs his talent for mayhem in the realm of owls, but the story is a tad too familiar, the all-owl cast notwithstanding. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

MACHETE

Towne. 18A

Robert Rodriguez cobbles together an entire feature film from the revenge melodrama movie trailer he submitted for Grindhouse back in 2007. Danny Trejo plays the titular Mexican-American avenger. It’s both a gory goof and a cutting-edge spoof of ’70s B-movies — a Hispanic-American version of a blaxploitation film of the Super Fly school, with bloody action, titillating nudity and a catch-phrase riddled script. ‘Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

THE OTHER GUYS

Kildonan Place, St. Vital, Towne. PG

The cop-buddy movie takes a turn for the surreal as Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg attempt to break into the crime-fighting big leagues. Ferrell’s comedy stylings are often an acquired taste, but teamed onscreen with Wahlberg as an ambitious hothead and offscreen with director-writing partner Adam McKay (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy), this one has a decent yield of yuks. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE

Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 18A

Milla Jovovich gets well and truly in your face in this latest hotties-vs.zombies offering, shot in the same 3-D process as Avatar. Unfortunately, it’s a humourless movie of morphing zombies (they take on beastly attributes), phoned-in performances and trite dialogue. The 3-D is mainly used to hurl shell-casings into the audience. ‘Ö (Reviewed by Roger Moore.)

THE TOWN

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

Ben Affleck directed this crime drama as well as starring as a bank robber who forms a romantic relationship with a traumatized bank manager (Rebecca Hall) whom, unbeknownst to her, he took hostage during the course of a heist. After redeeming his Hollywood career directing Gone Baby Gone, Affleck doubles the achievement here, turning in a solid crime thriller and offering up a decent performance as the tortured hero in the bargain. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

TOY STORY 3

Polo Park. G

Woody, Buzz and the rest of Andy’s toys face the inevitable when Andy packs up for college, but it turns out being accidentally donated to a daycare centre lands them in serious peril. This third and reportedly final entry in the franchise stays firmly in the tradition of the first two, which is to say, it’s darn near perfect. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

THE VIRGINITY HIT

Kildonan Place, Towne. 18A

The Blair Witch Project Meets American Pie? Yep, this comedy produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay follows four guys with a video camera documenting the efforts of one of their number to lose his virginity.

WALL STREET 2: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS

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

Michael Douglas reprises his role as the lovable but greedy eel, Gordon Gekko, in this sequel that picks up the narrative 23 years later. This time around, Gekko has to rebuild his fortune, but he can’t do it without the help of his estranged daughter (Carey Mulligan) and a young trader (Shia LaBeouf). Despite the newsy content, the delivery is facile and patronizing, and drains the movie of dramatic energy. Fortunately, Douglas is brilliant as the broke baron and — along with the David Byrne soundtrack — redeems the entire reel. ‘Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Katherine Monk)

YOU AGAIN

Grant Park, Polo Park, St. Vital. G

Button-cute Kristen Bell plays a young woman who believes she must intercede when she learns her brother is engaged to her bitchy high school nemesis (Odette Yustman). The plot contrivances are so screamingly obvious, and despite the presence of a solid supporting cast, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver and Betty White, no one can overcome the stupid, trite screenplay. ‘Ö1/2