MOVIES

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This article was published 14/09/2014 (4356 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

McGillivray, Polo Park, Towne. 14A. 93 minutes.

A research mission in the creepy catacombs beneath Paris transforms into a non-stop supernatural nightmare in this hopeless mishmash-up blending the claustrophobic scares of The Descent and the found-footage contrivances of [Rec]. ‘Ö’Ö (Reviewed by Jordan Mintzer)

BOYHOOD

Grant Park. 14A. 166 minutes.

This unique Richard Linklater film was 12 years in the making, delineating the growth of boy (Elar Coltrane) from age six to 18, coming to terms with his parents’ marital breakup, enduring a new alcoholic stepdad and flirting with drugs, alcohol and girls. Given an opportunity to engage in real-world nostalgia, Linklater doesn’t take that bait. The emphasis is on an organic coming-of-age tale where the audience is spared the typically jarring transition in which a child actor is suddenly replaced by a different teen actor. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

CALVARY

Towne. 14A. 101 minutes.

Brendan Gleeson plays a much-loved Irish priest threatened with murder by an enraged anonymous parishioner abused years earlier by a different cleric. As in director John Michael McDonagh’s last collaboration with Gleeson, the unsung comedy The Guard, the writing here is wonderfully sharp and the performances uniformly excellent. Gleeson is especially magnificent as a decent man visited upon by the sins of other Fathers. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

THE CAPTIVE

Grant Park, McGillivray, Polo Park. PG. 112 minutes.

Canadian director Atom Egoyan, no stranger to tragedies involving children (Devil’s Knot, The Sweet Hereafter) and video voyeurism (Family Viewing, The Adjuster) combines those elements in this chronologically fractured drama detailing the disintegration of married couple Matthew and Tina (Ryan Reynolds and Mireille Enos) in the wake of their daughter’s kidnapping by voyeuristic pedophile degenerate Mika (Kevin Durand). Reynolds and Enos are fine, but the movie is unmoored by Durand’s ultra-evil, vaguely ludicrous villain, who appears to have blundered in from a different movie. ‘Ö’Ö

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Polo Park, St. Vital. 14A. 101 minutes.

The genetically enhanced apes introduced in the franchise reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) are back and beginning to take control of the world. This action-packed epic is a moving sci-fi allegory rendered in broad, lush strokes by the latest state of the computer animator’s art. But it’s all in service of an utterly conventional story, one you’ll be three steps ahead of even if you have no memories of the ’70s Apes movie this is largely based on. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

DOLPHIN TALE 2

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

In this sequel, the dolphin Winter, with his prosthetic tail, loses his surrogate mother but gains an orphaned baby dolphin named Hope. The gentle pacing of the film is too laid-back at times, particularly in a few overlong underwater swimming scenes that start out lovely but conclude as apparent filler material. But that’s a small quibble with a movie that’s this sweet and cheesy. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö (Reviewed by Sandie Angulo Chen)

THE DROP

Grant Park, Polo Park. 14A. 106 minutes.

Tom Hardy and the late, great James Gandolfini, in his last screen role, play a couple of Brooklyn barkeeps who get in up to their necks in trouble when their establishment — a drop bar for Chechen mob money — becomes a target for thieves on a potentially lucrative Super Bowl Sunday. Belgian director Micha´l R. Roskam delivers a unique noir package with Hardy’s soulful but somehow dangerous presence and Noomi Rapace’s troubled, jittery damsel. The most compelling reason of all to see it is Gandolfini’s funny-sad crime-caper swan song. Requiescat in pace, Tony Soprano. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

THE EXPENDABLES 3

St. Vital. PG. 126 minutes.

Sly Stallone rounds up the usual aging action star suspects (including Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes, Jet Li and Arnold Schwarzenegger) to take on the rogue co-founder of the Expendables (Mel Gibson). This entry essentially sucks all the marrow from the old bone of ’80s action movie tropes, leaving behind the dry, bleached bones of the genre. ‘Ö’Ö

THE F WORD

St. Vital. 14A. 98 minutes.

Daniel Radcliffe stars as a medical-school dropout who befriends a charming animator (Zoe Kazan) but must tamp down his percolating sexual attraction for her out of respect for her relationship with her live-in boyfriend. Director Michael Dowse (Goon, Fubar) himself tamps down his own raw comic instincts to create a surprisingly sweet romantic comedy. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, McGillivray VIP, Polo Park, Polo Park Imax, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 121 minutes.

Marvel Studios dares to give us a one-off about an obscure band of heroes familiar to few but the most committed comics geeks, consisting of a thief (Chris Pratt), a glamourous assassin (Zoe Saldana), a muscle-bound “maniac” (Dave Bautista), a super-intelligent, genetically enhanced raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and a tree creature (Vin Diesel). Employing a wise-ass sensibility, a penchant for sardonic dialogue, and a soundtrack of all-’70s hits, director James Gunn makes it work very well by locating a heart in all the lovingly rendered comic-book mayhem. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY

Grant Park, McGillivray VIP. G. 123 minutes.

Helen Mirren plays the persnickety owner of a snooty French restaurant who goes on the attack when an Indian restaurant, the Maison Mumbai, opens within 100 feet of her establishment, a problem that amplifies when her sous-chef (Charlotte Le Bon) falls in love with the Maison’s gifted chef Hassan (Manish Dayal). It’s a nice concoction, but director Lasse Hallstrom makes it all relentlessly pretty, whether in its depiction of racism or kitchen procedure. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö

IF I STAY

Kildonan Place, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 107 minutes.

Chlo´ Moretz plays a 17-year-old cellist who finds herself trapped between life and death following a car accident and is forced to decide for herself if she wants to die or live The filmmakers evidently all they needed to do was cast the most appealing couple they could find and stay faithful to the story, so the kids should be happy. If only the dialogue worked as well. Shauna Cross’s script lapses into syrupy platitudes far too often. Just as a scene is building, you may suddenly feel as if you’ve walked into a life-size Hallmark card. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Jocelyn Noveck)

INTO THE STORM

St. Vital. PG. 89 minutes.

A weather disaster movie in the tradition of Twister, this summer epic is centred on a small town hit by a series of ever-worsening cyclones where a group of high school students recklessly decide to hang around and document the effects of the high winds. The most unbelievable accomplishment here is that it makes viewers long for the preposterous, over-the-top camp gore of the Sharknado TV films. ‘Ö’Ö (Reviewed by Kevin Prokosh)

LET’S BE COPS

Kildonan Place, McGillvray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A. 105 minutes.

Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. play two Ohio losers in L.A. who experience an upswing in popularity and excitement when they dress up as cops, only to find themselves in conflict with the Russian mob. The laughs are loud, lewd and infrequent in a comedy that is pretty much the definition of an August comedy release: a month designated as a dumping ground for titles for which the studios don’t have high hopes. ‘Ö’Ö (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

LIFE ITSELF

Cinematheque. PG. 121 minutes.

This biographical documentary examines the life and career of film critic Roger Ebert, encompassing enough material to inspire a dozen movies. Unlike Ebert himself, the film is a bit long-winded. But in this digital media world, it’s a grand testament to a life lived loving movies. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

LUCY

Polo Park, St. Vital. 14A. 90 minutes.

Scarlett Johansson stars in this Luc Besson action movie as a reluctant drug mule who accidentally ingests an overdose of a new chemical concoction that allows her to use her brain to superhuman effect. It comes off as the kind of science fiction created by someone who never actually read a book on science. Besson’s intellectual energy went into making this a calculatedly international hit, designed as a three-prong attack on Asian, European and American audiences, with Johansson at the calm centre, going from panicky tourist to ass-kicking demi-goddess with aplomb. ‘Ö’Ö1/2

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT

Grant Park. G. 97 minutes.

Woody Allen’s latest comedy — as awkwardly stagey as a drawing-room comedy from the 1920s — assigns a cynical professional illusionist (Colin Firth) the task of debunking a winsome young medium (Emma Stone) suspected of fleecing Europe’s wealthiest denizens. ‘Ö’Ö 1/2

NO GOOD DEED

McGillivray. McGillivray VIP, Polo Park. 14A. 84 minutes.

A woman (Taraji P. Henson) finds herself fending off a home invasion by a charming psychopath (Idris Elba) in this thriller. Not reviewed.

THE NOVEMBER MAN

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, McGillivray VIP, Polo Park, Towne. 14A. 108 minutes.

As Pierce Brosnan never got to say his goodbye to the James Bond franchise, his role as professional assassin Peter Devereaux may be the next best thing. Alas, the story here is pure boilerplate spy thriller, with Brosnan’s retiring spy brought unwillingly back into the game when he is betrayed by the CIA and the people he loves are threatened by the political ascent of an evil Russian war criminal. Pity. The sheer unoriginality of it all undercuts the nostalgic pleasure of seeing Brosnan back in the spy game. ‘Ö’Ö

OBVIOUS CHILD

Cinematheque. 14A. 84 minutes. Jenny Slate (Parks and Recreation) plays an aspiring standup comedian in her late 20s who finds herself pregnant after a fling. She knows she’s just as unprepared to be a mother as he is inappropriate to be her partner, so she chooses to have an abortion. It’s rare to find a film like this that discusses such a divisive issue with such maturity, but it’s even more rare these days to find a romantic comedy that is both romantic and a comedy. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Jill Wilson)

PLANES: FIRE AND RESCUE

St. Vital. G. 84 minutes.

This sequel to last year’s unexpected hit Planes offers up the return of racer Dusty Crophopper (voiced by Dane Cook) facing a forced retirement from competition and entering the world of aerial firefighting. A couple of flight sequences take us over majestic deserts and amber waves of grain — beautiful animated scenery. Other than that, there’s not much to this. But its predecessor was so story- and laugh-starved, there was nowhere to go but up. ‘Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR

Polo Park. 18A. 102 minutes.

This sequel to Robert Rodriguez/Frank Miller’s hardboiled Sin City offers return engagements by Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson and Bruce Willis with new blood (literally in most cases) supplied by Joseph Gordon Levitt, Josh Brolin and, vying for the role of the most fatale femme ever, Eva Green. It’s all a textbook example of too much of a good thing. If the first film allowed for a naughty skinny dip in comic artist Miller’s fatalistic realm, the second one has you soaking in it, leading to the panicky sensation you may never come clean again. ‘Ö’Ö

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 101 minutes.

This reboot from producer Michael Bay combines martial arts action with turtle power, starring Bay’s formerly exiled Transformers leading lady Megan Fox as reporter April O’Neil. It captures some of the thrills of the much-loved comic book franchise, but is hampered by miscasting and some baffling action sequences bearing Bay’s stamp. ‘Ö’Ö

THE TRIP TO ITALY

Polo Park. 14A. 109 minutes.

In this sequel to the hilarious travelogue The Trip, mildly antagonistic comics Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon do a culinary tour of Italy. Either on the road or at the dinner table, the two are a delight to watch because their onscreen friendship pings with a credible affection coupled with a surging undercurrent of competition and animosity, all improvised. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö