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H H 1/2 I I
R; crude and sexual content, pervasive language, graphic nudity, drugs, drinking
Time: 1:30
Here’s another binge comedy, taking rude to a new level of crude, a post-racial romp through an epic night on an Asian American collegian’s 21st birthday. – Roger Moore
AMOUR
PG-13; disturbing act, language
Time: 2:07
“Amour” is a perfect storm of a motion picture with an icy, immaculate director (Michael Haneke) taking on deeply emotional subject matter: What happens to a lifelong, harmonious marriage when the wife suffers a series of debilitating strokes that changes the couple’s life beyond recognition. – Kenneth Turan
The Call
H H 1/2 I I
R; violence, disturbing content, language
Time: 1:30
This thriller goes completely wrong at almost precisely the one-hour mark. Which is a crying shame, because for an hour, this is a riveting, by-the-book kidnapping, an “Amber Alert” with a Hollywood budget and a director with a sense of urgency and camera lenses that put action, fear and horror in your face. – Roger Moore
Chasing Ice
Not reviewed
PG-13; brief strong language
Time: 1:15
Acclaimed National Geographic photographer James Balog was once a skeptic about climate change. But through his Extreme Ice Survey, he discovers undeniable evidence of our changing planet.
Dark Skies
Not reviewed
PG-13; violence, terror, sexual material, drug content, language – all involving teens
Time: 1:35
As the Barret family’s peaceful suburban life is rocked by an escalating series of disturbing events, they come to learn that a terrifying and deadly force is after them.
Dead Man Down
Not reviewed
R; language, violence, scene of nudity
Time: 1:50
Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace star as two strangers who are irresistibly drawn to one another by their mutual desire for revenge.
Django Unchained
* *
R; strong graphic violence throughout, a vicious fight, language, nudity
Time: 2:45
Quentin Tarantino’s penchant for excess runs away with him in “Django,” an anti-slavery spaghetti Western that intends to comment on the odious nature of slavery. But it so revels in its carnage that the filmmaker’s larger point is drowned in a sea of blood. – Soren Andersen
Emperor
* * *
PG-13; violent content, strong language, smoking (historical)
Time: 1:45
Hirohito sat on the Chrysanthemum Throne through the Japanese invasion of China, the attack on Pearl Harbor and all through World War II. Douglas MacArthur, supreme commander of the Allied powers in the Pacific, ruled Japan as a potentate, overseeing reforms that turned the country away from militarism and feudalism. “Emperor” is about both men. – Roger Moore
Escape from Planet Earth 3-D
Not reviewed
PG; action, rude humor
Time: 1:29
Brendan Fraser lends his voice to Scorch Supernova, a beefcake space hero who defends his planet against the nefarious villain Shanker (voiced by James Gandolfini) in this computer-animated Weinstein Co. release.
A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD
* *
R; violence, language
Time: 1:37
Starring Bruce Willis – and a million bullets. It’s the fifth go-round for Willis on the “Die Hard” merry-go-round. It’s “A Good Day To Die Hard,” aka “We’ve Got No Story To Speak Of But We Do Have an Infinite Special Effects Budget and We’re Not Afraid To Spend It.” – Soren Andersen
HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS
* *
R; strong fantasy horror violence and gore, sexuality, nudity, language
Time: 1:26
This film is more Gatling guns and grenades than The Brothers Grimm. It takes the kidnapped kiddies into adulthood, where they’ve parlayed their fame at cooking a witch’s goose into a business. Got a witch problem? Call H&G, the extermination experts. High-concept pitch or no, the movie doesn’t really work. – Roger Moore
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
* * *
PG-13; extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, frightening images
Time: 2:49
For those who simply cannot get enough of Middle Earth, Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” promises to be the ultimate Travel New Zealand miniseries. Scenes and sequences are rich, but they go on too long, which turns this “Hobbit” from a brisk stroll into a slog. – Roger Moore
IDENTITY THIEF
H H 1/2 I I
Rated: R; sexual content, language
Time: 1:50
“Less is more” might have helped this cumbersome comedy that has Sandy, Jason Bateman’s mild-mannered office drone, trying to wrestle Diana (Melissa McCarthy) across the country to save his job, clear his criminal and credit records, and make this opportunistic crook see the consequences of her actions. There are some huge laughs in this. But making Sandy as testy as Diana, straight off, denies this road trip of its comic tension. – Roger Moore
THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE
H H 1/2 I I
Rated: PG-13; sexual content, dangerous stunts, drug-related incident, language
Time: 1:40
An all-star comedy that leans on its stars to conjure laughs out of thin air, “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” is about veteran magicians who find themselves suddenly less relevant when Mr. New and Edgy shows up and upstages them on the Vegas Strip. Few jokes take us by surprise, but enough comic haymakers land to make “Burt Wonderstone” credible, if not exactly “incredible.” – Roger Moore.
JACK THE GIANT SLAYER
H H 1/2 I I
PG-13; intense scenes of fantasy action violence, frightening images, brief language
Time: 1:53
“Jack the Giant Slayer” is a genial, watchable and somewhat violent version of “Jack and the Beanstalk” that lacks much in the way of magic, romance or wit. For all of director Bryan Singer’s expertise at making the fantastic real, all we’re left with here is an expensive-looking bauble worth eyeing, but not really anything to treasure. – Roger Moore
The Last Exorcism Part II
Not reviewed
PG-13; horror violence, terror, language
Time: 1:28
Continuing where the first film left off, Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell) is found terrified and alone in rural Louisiana. Just as Nell begins the difficult process of starting a new life, the evil force that once possessed her is back with other, unimaginably horrific plans that mean her last exorcism was just the beginning.
Life of Pi
* * * *
PG; emotional thematic content, scary action sequences, peril
Time: 2:05
Yann Martel’s fantastical folk parable about faith and spirituality makes the journey to the big screen more or less intact, a meditative Ang Lee film with many of the same virtues and shortcomings of the novel. Lee, whose last film grasped at but never got the “moment” of Woodstock, is on surer ground with this magical movie, a floating parable for a spiritually adrift age. – Roger Moore
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL
H H H 1/2 I
PG; sequences of action, scary images, mild language
Time: 2:10
“Oz the Great and Powerful” is a winning back-engineering of the Oz fantasy, a “How the Wizard got to be wonderful” romp that is a stunning update of effects and the most gorgeous use of 3-D since “Alice in Wonderland.” – Roger Moore
QUARTET
H H H 1/2 I
PG-13; brief strong language, suggestive humor
Time: 1:39
Dustin Hoffman’s dainty, adorable and adorably predictable film adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s play. It’s a celebration of great old actors set in a world of once-great singers, and Hoffman’s affection for them and the material shows in every frame. Hoffman doesn’t break the mold or shock or awe anyone with his treatment of this comfort-food comedy. – Roger Moore
Safe Haven
H H 1/2 I I
PG-13; threatening behavior, violence, sexuality
Time: 1:55
The movies based on the novels of Nicholas Sparks always emphasize simple pleasures. A quiet locale, a leisurely stroll down the beach, a romance that doesn’t begin in a bar and end in bed that same night. Those simple pleasures are in the forefront of “Safe Haven,” another treacly tale from the author who gave us “The Notebook.” There’s another beach town, a pair of lovers and “big secrets.” – Roger Moore
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
H H H H 1/2
R; language, sexual content, nudity
Time: 1:55
Bradley Cooper plays a mentally ill man who probably got out of the psych ward too early, and Jennifer Lawrence is a young cop’s widow who isn’t really coping with that fact. The typical Hollywood ending is written all over it. However, the ending this film delivers will be unexpected. – Roger Moore
Snitch
H H 1/2 I I
PG-13; drug content, sequences of violence
Time: 1:52
In this thriller, the pacing is off and too many scenes lack dramatic punch and play like filler. But Dwayne Johnson is pretty good at being a guy in over his head, sharing scenes with flinty pros like Susan Sarandon, Benjamin Bratt and Barry Pepper. – Roger Moore
WARM BODIES
H H 1/2 I I
PG-13; zombie violence, language
Time: 1:32
Imagine a “Twilight” where the panting, flirting teens were in on the joke. That’s “Warm Bodies,” a funny teen romance set against the aftermath of the Zombie Apocalypse. Jonathan Levine has turned Isaac Marion’s teen romance novel into an often amusing, tongue-in-cheek romantic comedy. – Roger Moore
West of Memphis
H H H 1/2 I
R; disturbing and violent content, language
Time: 2:26
Director Amy Berg pulls together a riveting story built on a notorious murder case. In 1993, three young boys were murdered in West Memphis, Ark. The West Memphis Three, socially outcast teenagers, spent nearly two decades in prison despite rampant evidence of incompetence and misconduct. – Roger Moore
ZERO DARK THIRTY
* * *
R; strong violence, brutal images, language
Time: 2:35
The movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden will have plenty to show us. Unlike typical Hollywood thrillers, there was nothing neat and quick about this hunt, or about the raid that Navy SEAL Team Six carried out at its culmination. – Roger Moore
