MOVIES

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This article was published 16/09/2012 (5043 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE BOURNE LEGACY

Grant Park, Polo Park, St. Vital. PG

A Bourne movie without Jason Bourne feels like a squeeze at the franchise cash cow: The Bourne Lactation. But this fourth entry adds something fresh into the mix with a new tormented hero, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), and a different dynamic: The Bourne Legacy is largely an oft-riveting old-school damsel-in-distress story, courtesy of an endangered scientist played by Rachel Weisz. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

THE CAMPAIGN

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

Will Ferrell plays a slothful incumbent Democrat congressman in the fight for his life when he is challenged by a nebbish Republican (Zach Galifianakis). We’re used to politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths. This is a political comedy that attempts that feat. It’s a rude and crude farce but movies that step on that third rail of filmgoer appeal — politics — always pull their punches. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER

Globe. 14A

Rashida Jones co-wrote and stars in this rom-com about a woman who attempts to maintain a close friendship with her about-to-be-ex-husband (Andy Samberg). It’s debatable if you can even call this a romantic comedy given it’s about a protracted break-up, but given the option between this and the usual Boy-meets-Girl/Boy-loses-Girl/Boy-gets-Girl-back formula flick, we’ll take C+J gladly. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Polo Park, Portage Place IMAX, St. Vital. 14A

Christopher Nolan completes his Batman trilogy in style with this apocalyptic tale of class warfare in Gotham City, as Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is forced out of exile by a mysterious terrorist known as Bane (Tom Hardy), as well as the feline cat-burglar Catwoman (Anne Hathaway). Even at its most outrageous, there is a recurrent ping of realpolitik plausibility here that distinguishes this movie from all other superhero movies and summer blockbusters in general. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

THE EXPENDABLES 2

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

A group of over-the-hill action heroes — Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren et al. — and their more modern confreres (Jason Statham, Liam Hemsworth) return for another impossible, high-velocity mission. It’s explosive and absurd, but it has a certain nostalgia value. ‘Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Jay Stone)

FINDING NEMO 3D

Grant Park, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. G

Pixar’s 3D processing of their back catalogue continues with this 2003 feature about a panicky clownfish (voiced by Albert Brooks) intent on finding his lost son in the big blue ocean. It’s the details that stand out whenever a classic film is converted to 3-D. With this one, the shimmering sea surface, scratches on the lens of a diver’s goggles and smudge marks Nemo the clown fish makes when he mashes his face up against the glass wall of the aquarium that imprisons him all pop off the screen in this stellar reissue of Pixar’s undisputed masterpiece. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

HIT AND RUN

Kildonan Place, Polo Park. 14A

A former getaway driver (Dax Shepard) abandons the Witness Protection Program to drive his girlfriend (Kristen Bell) to Los Angeles so she can land her dream job, resulting in violent comic hijinks. Actor-turned-writer-co-director Shepard attempts to splice Tarantino-esque dialogue with action out of Smokey and the Bandit so it should not be a surprise the movie, while occasionally amusing, never really gels. ‘Ö’Ö1/2

HOPE SPRINGS

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

Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones are a 31-years-married couple whose relationship is in need of a shakeup. You don’t have to be married for 31 years to feel inspired by the film’s message about the importance of keeping your relationship alive. Without a single special effect or explosion, this is an unexpected summer movie with real punch. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Christy Lemire)

ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT

Polo Park, St. Vital. G

Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Denis Leary) and Sid (John Leguizamo) are back for another round of extinction-themed hijinks. The script is the weakest in the franchise, but there’s something darkly compelling about watching evolutionary Armageddon dressed as family fluff. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö (Reviewed by Katherine Monk)

IRON SKY

Towne. 14A

Iron Sky reimagines the history of Nazi Germany with a lunar twist. In a delectably demented plot, a group of renegade Nazis eludes capture and sets up camp on the dark side of the moon, where they live in relative peace until a visitor from Earth convinces them the time is right to return to their native planet and launch an attack. It’s as silly as string but an entertaining ride, nonetheless. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö (Reviewed by T’Cha Dunlevy)

KILLER JOE

Grant Park. 18A

Desperate drug dealer Chris (Emile Hirsch) puts a hit out on his own mom after she steals his stash, but his contract with the titular hitman (Matthew McConaughey) involves making Chris’s fey younger sister Dottie (Juno Temple) collateral. Not recommended for a relaxing night out at the movies, but there is much to love in director William Friedkin’s most vivid expression of misanthropy since To Live and Die in L.A. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

LAWLESS

Grant Park, Polo Park, Towne. 14A

This tale of a moonshine war in Franklin County, Virginia between crafty hicks and vicious city-slickers is partly undone by its mismatched cast, including Shia Labeouf as the youngest brother of a moonshining family, Tom Hardy as the clan’s taciturn leader, and Guy Pearce offering an unwelcome revival the ’70s staple character, the homosexual psycho villain. ‘Ö’Ö

LEGEND OF A WARRIOR

Cinematheque. PG

A portrait of celebrated martial artist Frank Lee, the man who brought White Crane kung fu to North America, as seen through the eyes of his filmmaker son Corey Lee. It’s helpful to think how this would have been done if this was a Hollywood fiction, because Lee’s film departs from the expected tale of father-son bonding in unexpected ways. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN

St. Vital, Towne. G

An achingly sweet but oddly emotion-free tearjerker about a small-town couple (Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Garner) who long to have a child of their own. It strains to find the magic, joy and heartbreak in a story manufactured with those traits in mind. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Roger Moore)

PARANORMAN

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

A lavish stop-motion adventure about an outcast young boy who sees dead people, and comes to the realization he may be the only one who can save his town from marauding Puritan zombies and a vengeful witch. It’s darker than the usual kiddie fare, but also more rewarding in its elegant dissection of how fear is the most destructive monster of all. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

THE POSSESSION

Kildonan Place, Polo Park, Towne. 14A

A divorced couple (Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick) are alarmed when their younger daughter (Natasha Calis) starts to behave strangely after acquiring a mysterious locked box at a yard sale. One of the film’s more disturbing visual effects is how the demon pushes a victim’s eyeballs around every which way during possession. That aside, this movie’s box of tricks is mostly filled with genre clichés and the only rolling eyes you’ll encounter are your own. ‘Ö’Ö

PREMIUM RUSH

Polo Park, St. Vital. 14A

A reckless bicycle courier (Joseph Gordon Levitt) accustomed to risking his neck actually finds his life on the line when he is given a special delivery envelope for which some shady individuals are willing to kill to acquire. It’s silly yet satisfying B-movie entertainment that moves with the swiftness of a Schwinn — a ride made fun particularly by Michael Shannon’s enthrallingly comic performance as a dirty cop in mad pursuit of a bike messenger’s cargo. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2 (Reviewed by Jake Coyle)

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

Globe. 14A

In anticipation of the upcoming Blu-ray release of the Indiana Jones collection comes this newly restored edition of the Steven Spielberg-directed 1981 adventure classic. It’s not the IMAX version screening in other North American cities, but seeing this on any bigger-than-your-TV screen is still a treat. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö’Ö

RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION

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

Alice (Milla Jovovich) continues her desperate battle against legions of the undead and the vicious Umbrella Corporation, this time coming up against weirdly reincarnated manifestations of former allies, which explains the presence of the first film’s presumed dead Michelle Rodriguez. Individual scenes are lovely to watch, thanks largely to Jovovich, but as usual, writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson riddles bullets into narrative coherence and fires grenade launchers at conventional notions of plot and character. ‘Ö’Ö

THE WORDS

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

Writer Rory Jannsen (Bradley Cooper) achieves literary successs after publishing a novel he didn’t write, forcing him into a reckoning for stealing another man’s work. It’s bad enough the writer-directors shoot their movie like a lifestyle commercial sustained over 96 minutes., the film is utterly devoid of humour and employs a too-clever narrative device that tends to subvert its own momentum. ‘Ö1/2