Opening This Week
Thomas Horn and Tom Hanks star as son and father in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close ★★★ The central story elements — the 9/11 attacks; a grieving family; a mysterious, mute neighbor — are the stuff that make critics numb with fear of emotionally manipulative preciousness, but the sentimentality here has an unexpected edge. The adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel casts Thomas Horn as 11-year-old Oskar Schell, whose father (Tom Hanks) died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. One year after the attacks, a still-mourning Oskar finds among his dad’s belongings a key bearing the enigmatic label “BLACK,” launching Oskar on a quest through New York City to find its meaning. Oskar’s one big collection of quirks as a character, and the suggestion is that he’s somewhere on the autism spectrum. That single-mindedness helps bypass potential sad-boy stumbling blocks, with director Stephen Daldry finding off-kilter ways to explore the search for closure. Max von Sydow (as the aforementioned mysterious mute neighbor) adds gravitas to another oddball character; the story never has as much impact once he leaves. But give Daldry and company credit: It’s a tearjerker that somehow doesn’t leave you feeling like you’ve been jerked around. (PG-13) (AMC Dutch Square; Carmike Wynnsong)
Haywire A black ops super soldier (Gina Carano) seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission. (R) (AMC Dutch Square; Regal 7; Regal Sandhill) Red Tails ★★★ For all his fascination with cutting-edge visual effects, as a storyteller George Lucas is as resolutely old-fashioned as contemporary filmmakers get — and both sides of that cinematic identity get a workout in this Lucas-produced WWII drama. It’s the fact-based story of the 332nd Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps, the first wave of black fighter pilots from the pioneering Tuskeegee Airmen. Director Anthony Hemingway bounces between the flyboys themselves — including the obligatory hot-headed hotshot (David Oyelowo) and his hard-drinking captain (Nate Parker) — and the senior officers (Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr.) advocating for them to see real action in opposition to institutional bigotry about the capabilities of “negroes.” Plenty of tin-eared dialogue and whoop-it-up take-it-to-jerry action ensue, the kind that almost dares you to snicker at its unapologetic use of war-movie tropes older than World War II itself. The characters are thin, but the dogfights are well-staged, and the throwback sensibility is surprisingly disarming. If Lucas could ever embrace movies where people talk like, well, people, he’d really be on to something. (PG-13) (AMC Dutch Square; Carmike Wynnsong; Regal Sandhill) Underworld: Awakening When human forces discover the existence of the Vampire and Lycan clans, a war to eradicate both species commences. The vampire warrioress Selene (Kate Beckinsale) leads the battle against humankind. (R) (AMC Dutch Square; Regal Columbiana Grande; Regal Sandhill)
Now Playing
The Adventures of Tintin ★★★ Adapting the comic-book series created by the Belgian writer and artist Hergé in 1929 into motion-capture animation, Steven Spielberg follows the titular hero (Jamie Bell), a young investigative reporter, seeking a lost treasure connected to the perpetually inebriated Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis). Visually, Tintin offers an exponential leap in the potential for the technology, with action set pieces — most notably the remarkable, dizzying centerpiece chase through a Moroccan seaside village — that it’s hard to imagine any other filmmaker pulling off as effectively. But Tintin suffers from a central character who’s a bland engine of determined, cowlick-haired pluckiness. While supporting players provide occasional energy and humor, our hero simply grinds from one plot point to another whenever stuff isn’t flying or exploding. It’s like Raiders of the Lost Ark, if Indiana Jones had been played by Taylor Lautner. (PG) (AMC Dutch Square; Carmike 14; Carmike Wynnsong; Regal Sandhill)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked ★ Hey, kids! You’ve wasted enough money watching excruciatingly formulaic kid-flicks; why not make one instead and take advantage of suckers instead of being one? It’s easy! First, grab some sort of familiar characters (e.g., the Chipmunks) that you can turn over to computer animators. Then, generate a random conflict, like having them stranded on an island, unaware that their “father,” Dave (Jason Lee, who at least had the good sense to spend most of the previous film in traction) and antagonistic ex-record mogul Ian (David Cross) are similarly marooned. Choreograph some vaguely amusing slapstick chases. License the rights to a half-dozen pop hits that can be recorded in helium-high cover versions. Waste the talents of people like Anna Faris and Amy Poehler on unrecognizable voices. Be sure to add a couple of pop-culture references that only parents will get (here, a couple of nods to Cast Away). Then just market the hell out of it and wait for lazy parents to throw their cash at you! C’mon, the rights to Hong Kong Phooey and Captain Caveman are just sitting out there with dollar signs all over them. (PG) (AMC Dutch Square; Carmike Wynnsong; Regal Columbiana Grande; Regal Pastime; Regal Sandhill)
Beauty and the Beast 3-D ★★★★ I was surprised to learn that Disney’s Beauty and the Beast would be re-released in 3-D, because in my mind, it has ever been thus. Twenty years removed from being the last animated feature to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination, the fairy-tale romance between the smart, bold Belle (Paige O’Hara) and the surly, isolated Beast (Robby Benson) is still gloriously charming in its eficiency. The songs by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman are among the finest in the entire Disney canon, from the exuberant “Be Our Guest” to Angela Lansbury’s lovely performance of the title song. But I’m not sure I ever fully appreciated the character animation of Belle; watch for slight eye movements and wrinkles of the nose that convey an emotional range in keeping with the magnificent music. While technology might only now be allowing Beauty and the Beast to be in actual 3-D for the first time, see it again to appreciate how much depth it always offered in so many ways. (G) (Carmike 14; Regal 7; Regal Pastime)
Contraband ★★ There’s a flicker of hope when Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) — a reformed talented smuggler forced back into “the life” from workaday domesticity to help pay off his screw-up brother-in-law’s debt to a criminal (Giovanni Ribisi) — admits that he’s actually excited about his return, because he’s missed it. But director Baltasar Kormákur — who starred in the Icelandic thriller of which this is a remake — quickly abandons character dynamics for tangled plot machinations and a grittiness that doesn’t blend well with the attempts at Ocean’s Eleven-style heist shenanigans. Predictability isn’t exactly the issue, as the narrative weaves into funky, unexpected territory and the supporting cast features funky work from Ribisi, J.K. Simmons, Diego Luna and others. It simply grinds along without paying off on the idea of a criminal who still romanticizes “the life” suddenly confronting the darker side. (R) (AMC Dutch Square; Carmike Wynnsong; Regal Columbiana Grande)
The Darkest Hour In Moscow, five young people lead the charge against an alien race that has attacked Earth via its power supply. (R) (Carmike 14; Regal Sandhill) The Devil Inside In Italy, a woman becomes involved in a series of unauthorized exorcisms during her mission to discover what happened to her mother, who allegedly murdered three people during her own exorcism. (R) (AMC Dutch Square; Regal 7; Regal Columbiana Grande; Regal Pastime; Regal Sandhill)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ★★★ The riveting opening credits convey everything director David Fincher could bring to Stieg Larsson’s über-bestseller — while the rest of the film reminds us how much he can’t change. The centerpiece remains the intersection of disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) and enigmatic hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) during an investigation into a girl’s long-ago disappearance. Superficially, the material feels like a good fit for Fincher; there’s impressive visual style at work, and Fincher’s masterful pacing had me gripping armrests during scenes where I knew exactly what was coming. But structurally, it’s a plot-heavy potboiler with long stretches of expository interviews occasionally punctuated by sex scenes, and a 20-minute denouement that loses all momentum from the true climax. Larsson deserves credit for introducing an iconic pop-culture character, but it’s not always worth slogging through 150 minutes for parceled-out doses of Lisbeth. (R) (AMC Dutch Square; Carmike Wynnsong; Regal Columbiana Grande; Regal Sandhill)
The Iron Lady ★★★ The opportunity to see Meryl Streep — America’s answer to Shakespearean acting royalty — play Margaret Thatcher is the main reason for checking out this biopic. And, as it turns out, really the only reason. Director Phyllida Lloyd and screenwriter Abi Morgan open in 2009, with a retired Thatcher living under supervised care in the early stages of dementia, before her memory spins her back to her youth and political career. The setup offers hope that the narrative might ditch the relentlessly chronological structure that mires so many cinematic life stories in Wikipedia-entry detail. Then there’s the slump-in-the-chair moment when it turns resolutely conventional. Even as the timeline shifts between 2009 and the past, Lloyd and Morgan focus on the most obvious and least interesting bullet points of each era. It’s disappointing because Streep’s performance is most compelling when she’s conveying the ferocity of Thatcher’s convictions — whether at a time when she has the power to do something about them, or when she no longer does. Streep’s presence guarantees you won’t doubt for a moment that you’ve seen the story of Margaret Thatcher; the rest of the film can’t decide what that story is. (PG-13) (AMC Dutch Square; Regal Columbiana Grande; Regal Sandhill)
Joyful Noise ★★ Writer and director Todd Graff’s would-be-uplifting musical dramedy theoretically revolves around a small-town Georgia church choir and its efforts to win a national competition, with the rivalry between the new choir director (Queen Latifah) and the widow of the previous director (Dolly Parton) acting as a loose anchor. But in practical terms it bounces between a half-dozen melodramatic plot threads: the romance between Latifah’s daughter (Keke Palmer) and Parton’s grandson (Jeremy Jordan); the struggles of Latifah’s autistic younger son; economic hardships hitting the choir’s town; tension between Latifah and her soldier husband (Jesse L. Martin). It’s like Glee for audiences who don’t want to have to watch gay characters. Of course, there’s plenty of talk about God’s will and plenty of big gospel-funk production numbers attempting to persuade us it’s all about something bigger than a vanity project for the two female leads, each of whom gets a solo spotlight song. Tossing in enough gratuitous naughtiness to land a PG-13 rating while simultaneously scolding the idea of gratuitous naughtiness, it’s a movie where the only thing distracting from its narrative incoherence is the cynical insincerity with which it panders to its Christian target audience. (PG-13) (AMC Dutch Square; Carmike Wynnsong; Regal Columbiana Grande; Regal Pastime; Regal Sandhill)
Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol ★★★ There was once a time at the movies when the merely spectacular was enough — but that was decades and several generations of CGI ago. Impressively choreographed action abounds in the latest installment in this espionage thriller series, in which Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team (Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Simon Pegg) become international fugitives while trying to track down nuclear terrorist Hendricks (Michael Nykvist). The finest moment comes from Ethan’s dizzying climb up the side of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper, which director Brad Bird (The Incredibles) turns into a breathtaking showcase for IMAX viewings. But the strong romantic relationship and killer villain that invigorated 2006’s Mission:Impossible 3 are both lacking here; there’s almost no effort made to make Hendricks’ motivations a central plot element. And the bantering interaction between Cruise and company are amusing while doing little to establish strong connections. For two hours, it’s almost entirely about showing off cool technology — and in an age where most of us carry around cool technology in our pockets, we need to expect a little more from our action movies. (PG-13) (AMC Dutch Square; Regal 7; Regal Columbiana Grande; Regal Pastime; Regal Sandhill)
The Muppets ★★★★ Maybe you have to love everything the Muppets were in their late-’70s heyday to appreciate why five chickens performing an all-clucked version of Cee Lo Green’s “F#!k You” is so quintessentially Muppet-tastic: musical, silly and subversive in equal measure. Co-writer and star Jason Segel and writing partner Nicholas Stoller tell the story of a Muppet fan named Walter (Peter Linz), whose brother Gary (Segel) helps him reunite the long-retired Muppets for a benefit show. The resulting plot is a mix of Muppet Movie road trip, Andy Hardy “Let’s put on a show” musicals, and the “We’re putting the band back together” premise of The Blues Brothers, allowing for 97 minutes of puns, broad visual gags, self-referential asides, hilarious musical numbers and genuine warmth — and nearly every last bit of it works. It’s hard not to ponder how much nostalgia plays into one’s response, but this a brand of nostalgia that comes from showing such a deep respect for your source material that you allow another generation to fall in love with them for the exact same reason the previous generation did. Segel and Stoller loved the Muppets enough to give them a showcase that’s a clucking masterpiece. (PG) (Regal Columbiana Grande)
My Week With Marilyn ★★★ There’s a certain safety to nostalgic tales of a wide-eyed kid meeting a show-biz legend — My Favorite Year, Me and Orson Welles — but they keep delivering the goods. Based on the memoir by Colin Clark, My Week With Marilyn tells of how the 23-year-old Colin (Eddie Redmayne) uses family connections to land a job as production assistant for the 1956 filming of Laurence Olivier’s (Kenneth Branagh) The Prince and the Showgirl in London. That means a chance to meet Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), and Colin become her confidant when her erratic behavior alienates the rest of the crew. Director Simon Curtis and screenwriter Adrian Hodges find an effective balance between the Colin-Marilyn relationship and the on-set scenes, the latter a terrific showcase for Branagh as the increasingly infuriated Olivier. And while Williams is likely to earn awards attention simply because she’s playing a famous person, she finds a unique way under the skin of a woman who understands the fiction of her own persona enough to ask “Should I be her?” when meeting a bunch of fans. There’s nothing revelatory either in approach or execution, but it’s as effortlessly easy to watch as Marilyn herself. (R) (Carmike Wynnsong; Regal Columbiana Grande)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows ★★★ It was far from elementary that director Guy Ritchie would try to improve on a formula that banked $200 million in 2009, so give him credit for coming up with something more satisfying than its predecessor. A more streamlined plot finds Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Watson (Jude Law) investigating the connection between the cunning Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) and a series of bombings that have pushed Germany and France to the brink of war. The mere presence of the detective’s greatest enemy raises the stakes; the over-the-top action sequences have been toned down such that the climactic confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty takes place mostly in their minds. Most notably, the film commits boldly to a more-than-casual bromance between Holmes and Watson; the two men even share a formal dance as they ponder the details of Moriarty’s plans. Ritchie being Ritchie, the action he does include often feels more frantic than exciting, and some plot explanations make no chronological sense of you take a moment to think about it. But for significant stretches uninterrupted by pointless bombast, A Game of Shadows is fun, witty and — shockingly — occasionally restrained. (PG-13) (AMC Dutch Square; Carmike Wynnsong; Regal Columbiana Grande; Regal Pastime; Regal Sandhill)
The Sitter A college student on suspension is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him. (R) (Carmike 14)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ★★★★ How is it that so many people seem to agree that this new adaptation of John Le Carré’s novel is terrific, even as so many people seem to agree that it’s nearly impossible to follow cleanly? That’s the tangled appeal of this sedate espionage thriller, set in Cold War-era 1970s England, where veteran intelligence agent George Smiley (Gary Oldman) investigates which high-ranking British intelligence official might be a mole feeding secrets to the Soviets. The sensational cast — Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Mark Strong — becomes part of a story that’s less about the whodunit than it is about the personal secrets that make every operation open to compromise. And yet there are also effectively tense set pieces in director Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation, less dependent on overt action than on trying to keep the best poker face. Only the overly complex plot keeps Tinker Tailor from being thoroughly engrossing, leading viewers to stumble their way towards the realization that the spy game is even more of a game — and one without winners — than one might have imagined. (R) (Nickelodeon Theatre)
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part One The Quileute and the Volturi close in on expecting parents Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart), whose unborn child poses different threats to the wolf pack and vampire coven. (PG-13) (Regal Columbiana Grande; Regal Sandhill)
War Horse ★★★ Steven Spielberg’s version of Michael Malpurgo’s book-turned-Tony-winning play follows a thoroughbred named Joey, from an English farm in 1912 with the boy who loves him, Albert (Jeremy Irvine), through adventures in wartime France serving in the cavalry. It’s not easy finding a through-line for a horse’s-eye-view narrative, but Spielberg and his screenwriters do successfully explore different ways to be brave, with some fascinating PG-13 tweaks to the graphic brand of battle scene Spielberg mastered in Saving Private Ryan. He also falls back on old tricks to make sure we grasp capital-S significance: trademark under-the-chin hero shots; glorious landscapes set to John Williams music. It’s risky leaving Albert for a large chunk of the film, because the boy in this boy-and-his-dog tale begins to seem somewhat irrelevant. As effective as some of the episodes might be, War Horse still feels essentially episodic. (PG-13) (Regal 7; Regal Columbiana Grande; Regal Pastime; Regal Sandhill)
We Bought a Zoo ★★★ Cameron Crowe makes the kind of nakedly emotional movies that inspire adoration when they work (Say Anything, Jerry Maguire) and derision when they don’t (Elizabethtown). His adaptation of British journalist Benjamin Mee’s memoir re-casts Mee (Matt Damon) as a Southern Californian, recently widowed and left with two young children. Looking to give the family a fresh start, Mee buys a property that includes a small, run-down wildlife park, and joins the remaining staff in trying to get it operational again. Crowe treads in dangerously sentimental waters here by combining grief, animals and adorable kids (Maggie Elizabeth Jones, as Mee’s 7-year-old daughter, takes the Jonathan Lipnicki torch). But he shows his usual deft touch with dialogue that’s heartfelt yet sharp, and puts together a terrific supporting cast including Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church and Elle Fanning. While the surrogate-family vibe that Crowe seems to be looking for in Mee’s rag-tag bunch of employees doesn’t quite come together, We Bought a Zoo pulls off a nifty trick: It puts a lump in your throat without making you feel that you’ve been given saccharine through a feeding tube. (PG) (AMC Dutch Square; Carmike 14; Regal 7; Regal Sandhill)
Theaters
AMC Dutch Square 14 800 Bush River Rd., 888-262-4386 Carmike Cinemas 14 122 Afton Ct., 781-3067 Carmike Wynnsong 10 5320 Forest Dr., 782-8100 Columbia Place Stadium Cinemas 7201 Two Notch Rd., 419-5454 Monetta Drive-In 5822 Columbia Hwy North, Monetta, S.C., 803-685-7949 Nickelodeon Theatre 937 Main St., 254-3433 Regal Cinema 7 3400 Forest Dr., 790-9001 Regal Columbiana Grande Stadium 14 1250 Bower Pkwy., 407-9898 Regal Pastime Pavilion Cinemas 8 929 North Lake Dr., Lexington, 951-3604 Regal Sandhill Cinemas 16 450 Town Center Place, 736-1811 St. Andrews Road Multi Cinemas 527 St. Andrews Rd., 772-7469