Movies: in theatres this week

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This article was published 16/02/2017 (3514 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RECOMMENDED

JOHN WICK 2
Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 18A. 122 minutes.

In this sequel to the stylish killfest John Wick, Keanu Reeves’ reluctant assassin must return to his career when a shadowy figure from his past calls in a marker, meaning Wick must carry out an especially difficult execution. The movie has the same lovingly designed mayhem as the first film, but scriptwriter Derek Kolstad offers up enjoyable variations of the assassin movie tropes. The action itself, usually shot in long takes, is impressive enough to take the irony out of the term “fight choreography.”

★★★½ (Reviewed by Randall King)

 

 

STARTING FRIDAY, FEB. 17

A CURE FOR WELLNESS
Grant Park, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 18A. 146 minutes.

Dane DeHaan plays an ambitious young executive sent to retrieve his company’s CEO from a sinister “wellness centre” in the Swiss Alps, where he himself becomes diagnosed with a dubious malady. Directed by Gore Verbinski.

 

 

FIST FIGHT
Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A. 91 minutes.

A well-meaning high school teacher (Charlie Day) is forced into an after-school fight when he gets a hot-headed fellow teacher (Ice Cube) fired.

 

 

THE GREAT WALL
Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 103 minutes.

Matt Damon plays a European mercenary embroiled in the defence of the Great Wall of China against a horde of monstrous creatures in this fantasy-adventure from director Yimou Zhang.

 

 

THE SALESMAN
Grant Park. PG. 120 minutes.

An Oscar nominee for best foreign language film, this French-Iranian production focuses on a young couple, Emad and Rana who play the lead roles in a local rendition of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman as their personal relationship suffers after they move into a house previously inhabited by an alleged prostitute.

 

 

STARTING SATURDAY, FEB. 18

ALL GOVERNMENTS LIE: TRUTH, DECEPTION AND THE SPIRIT OF I.F. STONE
Cinematheque. PG. 91 minutes.

This documentary by Vancouver-based filmmaker Fred Peabody explores the life and legacy of the maverick American journalist I.F. Stone, whose long one-man crusade against government deception is carried on by filmmakers and journalists including Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, David Corn and Matt Taibbi.

 

NOW PLAYING

 

A DOG’S PURPOSE
Kildonan Place, Polo Park, St. Vital. PG. 100 minutes.

Adapted from W. Bruce Cameron’s bestselling novel, this film by Lasse Hallström follows a dog named Bailey through various incarnations, interacting with humans and all the while questioning his purpose in the universe. Hallström, who has directed a couple of dog-themed movies before this one, is a seasoned hand at tear-jerking melodrama (Dear John, Safe Haven) but less assured in the realm of comedy, which is one reason why the film’s frequent moments of canine slapstick tend to fall flat. The movie requires an even ratio of laughter to tears, but it weighs heavier on the melancholy side. But the film’s good intentions count. Without unduly anthropomorphizing its multiple canine heroes, the film succeeds in giving the audience a way to deeply consider canine consciousness.

★★★½ (Reviewed by Randall King)

 

FIFTY SHADES DARKER
Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 18A. 117 minutes.

In this sequel to the sado-masochist romp Fifty Shades of Grey, kinky billionaire Christian Grey (Irish dreamboat Jamie Dornan) attempts to woo the scared Anastasia (a pretty adorable Dakota Johnson) back into his life. The more playful, flirtier Darker is actually lighter than its predecessor. Christian seems like a human being, not a handsome, chilly automaton, and there’s some semblance of a real relationship between him and Ana, which naturally translates to a sexier vibe. Their relationship, however, still suffers from all kinds of ick that prevents the film from being enjoyed as escapist entertainment. It makes Christian a deviant and Ana a sexual saint who, merely through the force of her pure love, transforms him into something “better” than he was. If you need to make such fundamental changes to your Prince Charming, maybe he’s not meant to be your happy ending.

★½ (Reviewed by Jill Wilson)

 

HIDDEN FIGURES
Grant Park, Polo Park. PG. 127 minutes.

This drama is based on the true story of the female African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) and her two colleagues, Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), whose groundbreaking calculations helped NASA catch up in America’s space race with the Soviet Union, allowing John Glenn (Glen Powell) to become the first American astronaut to successfully make a complete orbit of the Earth. Unlike many sob-inducing holiday releases, this gets off to a spirited start and rarely lets up, sharing with viewers a little-known chapter of history as inspiring as it is intriguing.

★★★★ (Reviewed by Ann Hornaday, Washington Post)

 

LA LA LAND
McGillivray, Polo Park. PG. 128 minutes.

This wistful musical directed by Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a jazz pianist and an actress who fall in love while struggling to find success in Los Angeles. It’s a slight, often affecting story that mixes the confusion of contemporary life with nostalgic yearning for a time when the whole boy-meets-girl thing was less complicated. Beautifully shot and elegantly choreographed, the film’s last, perfect moments are a seamless swell of pure emotion.

★★★★ (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

 

THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE
Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 104 minutes.

In this animated comedy, Batman (voiced by Will Arnett) must get past his lone wolf habits if he hopes to defeat the Joker (Zach Galifianakis), forcing him to lean on sidekick Robin (Michael Cera) and butler Alfred (Ralph Fiennes). In Lego movie terms, this sequel doesn’t have the bite of the first, which somehow managed to be a toy-based neo-Marxist critique of consumer capitalism. As a Batman movie, however, this smart, self-aware, fast and very funny outing is just made to puncture the self-serious, overinflated mythos of the post-Nolan Bat.

★★★★ (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

 

LION
Grant Park, McGillivray. PG. 119 minutes.

A vulnerable boy becomes hopelessly lost when he is trapped on a train that transports him to the other side of India. When he is adopted by an Australian family, he grows up haunted by his previous life and becomes obsessed with tracking his journey via Google Earth. Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) gives a star-quality performance in this drama that embraces the good technology can do.

★★★½ (Reviewed by Randall King)

 

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
McGillivray. 14A. 137 minutes.

This film by Kenneth Lonergan stars Casey Affleck as a Boston janitor obliged to return to his hometown when he unexpectedly finds himself given custody of the teen son of his recently deceased older brother. Lonergan’s third film as a writer-director, Manchester by the Sea is a difficult, delicate, almost unbearably affecting drama about men not talking about stuff. Lonergan’s approach to his characters is sensitive and sincere but never sentimental. These are suffering, inarticulate people who don’t suddenly find words for their pain or ways to overcome it just because some screenwriter wants them to.

★★★★½ (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

 

RINGS
Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A. 103 minutes.

In this reboot/decade-later sequel to the horror franchise, Julia (Matilda Lutz) intervenes when her boyfriend explores the dark urban legend of a cursed videotape that kills the watcher seven days after viewing. Like the other recent reboot/sequel The Blair Witch, this competently directed thriller faithfully replicates the scare tactics of its inspiration — in this case Gore Verbinski’s 2002 movie The Ring — but doesn’t bring anything fresh to the game, save a technological upgrade from VHS to digital.

★½ (Reviewed by Randall King)

 

SPLIT
Kildonan Place, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A. 117 minutes.

James McAvoy stars in director M. Night Shyamalan’s latest as a kidnapper who slowly reveals his extreme personality disorder to the three teen girls he has locked up in his windowless lair. You might describe this as Shyamalan’s ponderous homage to Psycho, except his psychologically fractured antagonist has not two, but 23 personalities. The plot would actually be a rich premise for a decent science-fiction movie, but unfortunately, Shyamalan is very much stuck in the mode of lurid horror, complete with three terrified heroines in various stages of undress, undercutting the movie’s thematic ambitions with Slumber Party Massacre trappings. But to give credit where it’s due, McAvoy sells it. The actor manages to invest each of his characters’ personalities with laudably complex shadings of mannerism.

★★ (Reviewed by Randall King)

 

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY
Polo Park, St. Vital. PG. 133 minutes.

For the geeks, this film by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) answers the question posed between the events of Star Wars: Episode III (including the destruction of the Jedi Order) and the beginning of Episode IV: how did the Rebel Alliance get their hands on the plans for the Death Star? The answer involves a young rebel (Felicity Jones) with a personal connection to the Death Star’s architect. By the time it all plays out, Rogue One stands as a serviceable entry in the Star Wars franchise, but it adds unexpected notes of maturity in taking on some of the less fantasy-based aspects of war.

★★★½ (Reviewed by Randall King)

 

SING
Polo Park, St. Vital. G. 108 minutes.

In this animated feature set in a candy-coloured world populated by animals, koala Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) tries to save his crumbling theatre by staging a singing contest. A menagerie of contestants turns out, including Rosita the housewife pig (Reese Witherspoon), Mike the surly mouse (Seth MacFarlane) and Ash the punky porcupine (Scarlett Johansson). The film combines “Let’s put on a show” enthusiasm with an over-the-hill American Idol concept, but the result veers between manic and dull. The singing is on key, but the animation is flat, and the plot is tone-deaf.

★★ (Reviewed by Jill Wilson)

 

XXX: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE
Polo Park. 14A. 106 minutes.

Vin Diesel returns to the daredevil, anti-007 character he introduced back in 2002, this time enlisted to stop an evil organization’s plot to hijack the world’s military satellites. The movie boasts a contingent of empowered, fierce women equal to their male counterparts, and the movie even passes the Bechdel test. But that progressive streak bumps up against the hormonal-teenage-boy instincts the film can’t shake, the camera repeatedly scanning female torsos, Xander grunting lascivious words of seduction. It’s cheesy and not sexy in the least. But the appeal of this film lies in its outlandish action.

★★★ (Reviewed by Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service)