Friday, January 14, 2011

GoErie.com: Movie Capsules - Movie capsules: What's playing at Erie's Tinseltown, Millcreek 6 and Movies at Meadville, Dec. 23-Dec. 30

CHECK IT OUT. The movie listing feature at GoErie.com/events has movie times and more.

NOTE. Movie schedules are subject to change. Check Showcase movie ads and check online for last-minute changes.

Tinseltown: "The Dilemma." "The Green Hornet" in 2-D, 3-D.

Movies at Meadville: "The Dilemma." "The Green Hornet" in 2-D, 3-D. "Black Swan."

Millcreek 6: "Burlesque." "For Colored Girls." "Due Date." "Megamind" in 3-D. "The Warrior's Way."

Movies at Meadville: "Gulliver's Travels" in 3-D. "How Do You Know." "Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader" in 2-D.

Millcreek 6: "Paranormal Activity 2." "Legends of the Guardian." "Morning Glory." "Secretariat."

THE DILEMMA. Ronny (Vince Vaughn) struggles with whether to tell his best friend Nick (Kevin James) that his wife (Winona Ryder) is having an affair with a hunk named Zip (Channing Tatum). Directed by Ron Howard. (PG-13 for mature thematic elements involving sexual content.)

THE GREEN HORNET. Following the death of his father, Brit Reid, heir to his father's large company, teams up with his late dad's assistant Kato to become a masked crime-fighting team. With Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz, Cameron Diaz; directed by Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.") (1:59. PG-13 for sequences of violent action, language, sensuality, drug content.)

BLACK SWAN. A thriller that zeros in on the relationship between a veteran ballet dancer (Natalie Portman) and a rival (Mila Kunis) who are both up for the same role in "Swan Lake." (1:50. R for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use.)

BURLESQUE. A small-town girl with big dreams arrives in Hollywood and wows the world with her talent. But not everyone has her best interest at heart, so she'll have to cling tight to her values to figure out whom she should trust. And she'll do it ... in song! They should provide a cliché checklist at the door of "Burlesque." Sure, this song-and-dance extravaganza is sufficiently shiny and sparkly, an explosion of sequins and feathers and sass. "Burlesque" is never the juicy diva smackdown of "Showgirls," but it's good enough as a guilty pleasure. (1:59. PG-13 for sexual content including several suggestive dance routines, partial nudity, language and some thematic material.)

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER. Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace where they meet up with Prince Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk and a band of lost warriors before reaching the edge of the world. Helmed by Michael Apted, this may be best "Narnia" yet. (1:56. PG for some frightening images, fantasy scenes.)

COUNTRY STRONG. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Kelly Canter, whose boozy benders are legendary. Her husband-manager (Tim McGraw) pulls her out of rehab early to put her back on the road. Along for the ride are the honky-tonk hipster with whom she's having an affair (Garrett Hedlund) and a beauty queen with her own dreams of stardom (Leighton Meester). What follows is a series of flirtations and dalliances, breakdowns and inebriated episodes, none of which seems to carry any more significance than any other. Still, the music is enjoyable if not earth-shattering and is actually sung by its stars. (1:57 PG-13 for thematic elements involving alcohol abuse and some sexual content.)

DUE DATE. Robert Downey Jr. is miserable, stuck on a cross-country drive with a creepy Zach Galifianakis. It's easy to imagine how he feels: It's often torturous just sitting through the movie, and we're not the ones trapped in the middle of Texas with the guy. The script comes from Director Todd Phillips ("The Hangover") and three other writers. But "Due Date" lacks the consistent hilarity and originality of that last-summer hit. (1:35. R for language, drug use, sexual content.)

THE FIGHTER. A terrific ensemble cast elevates this look at the early years of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his brother (Christian Bale) who helped train him before Micky went pro in the mid 1980s. Also with Amy Adams as Ward's fierce girlfriend and Melissa Leo as his controlling mother. (1:54. R for language throughout, some drug content, some violence and sexuality.)

FOR COLORED GIRLS. Each of the women portray one of the characters represented in the collection of 20 poems that the film is based on. They reveal different issues that affect women in general and women of color in particular. Adapted from the play and directed by Tyler Perry with Thandie Newton, Janet Jackson, Kimberly Elise, Loretta Devine, Kerry Washington. (1:34. R for some disturbing violence, including a rape, sexual content, language.)

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. Travel writer Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black) takes an assignment in Bermuda, but ends up on the island of Lilliput, where he towers over its tiny citizens. (1:52. PG for brief rude humor, mild language, action.)

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART I. Doom and gloom permeate nearly every minute of the beginning of the end of the behemoth boy-wizard series. This seventh film in the franchise begins with nearly suffocating tension as Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) finds himself face-to-face with his destiny: being the target of the evil Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) deadly wrath. Friends and allies will have to band together to protect him; some of them won't make it out alive. The film thrills at the start, repeatedly sags in the middle and picks up at the cliffhanger climax. (PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence, frightening images, brief sensuality.)

HOW DO YOU KNOW. Reese Witherspoon stars as a professional softball player who's just been cut from the U.S. team. She's torn between Paul Rudd, who plays a corporate executive wrongfully under federal investigation, and Owen Wilson as an endearingly cocky pitcher for the Washington Nationals (not believable for one second). Jack Nicholson goes to waste in a handful of scenes as Rudd's father and boss. Nothing about this would-be romantic comedy ever gels -- neither the romance nor the comedy and, worst of all, not the characters. Rare misfire from writer-director James L. Brooks. (2:01. PG-13 for sexual content, some strong language.)

LIFE AS WE KNOW IT. Katherine Heigl has again been saddled with an unexpected baby. Unlike Heigl's "Knocked Up" co-star Seth Rogen, Josh Duhamel is in her league. They have good, believable chemistry as opposites pushed together through fate. Their handsome movie-star presences keep the movie entertaining, even though its familiar story passes with nothing to distinguish itself from the many other similarly plotted films and sitcoms. (1:55. PG-13 for sexuality, drug use.)

LITTLE FOCKERS. Meet the latest in Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller's comedy franchise. Grit your teeth through the fairly short though agonizing duration of its stay. Director Paul Weitz delivers a string of dumb episodes as De Niro's father-in-law from hell again puts Stiller's nervous son-in-law under surveillance. The whole gang returns, including Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Owen Wilson, Teri Polo and Blythe Danner, with Jessica Alba, Laura Dern and Harvey Keitel joining the cast. Hopefully, the Fockers will call it quits after this. (1:38. PG-13 for mature sexual humor and language.)

MEGAMIND. A dastardly supervillain who turned evil because of a bad upbringing finds himself seduced to the good side to defeat an even badder guy. The latest action comedy from DreamWorks Animation features dazzling computer-animated design and action. Despite a clever hook -- what's a villain to do when he manages to defeat his superhero nemesis? -- it's a thin story that feels familiar and unfolds with no surprises. The movie offers an amiably goofy voice cast led by Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey and Jonah Hill. (1:36. PG for action, language.)

MORNING GLORY. Rachel McAdams is plucky, driven Becky Fuller, a young producer who has dreamed of working at the "Today" show since she was 8. Instead, she's asked to help keep the fourth-place "Daybreak" alive, with prickly co-hosts played by Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton. This romantic comedy is glossy, moves quickly enough and has a few enjoyable personalities. But afterward you realize it crams a lot of vapid stuff into one compact time frame. (1:47. PG-13 for some sexual content, language, brief drug references.)

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2. If there was any lesson to draw from the first "Paranormal Activity," it's that men should take their girlfriends' concerns seriously, especially when it comes to encounters with the demonic. The sequel follows similar gender lines, as a family of four wilts under the threat of a haunting demon in their house. Most everything we see is from surveillance cameras, a perspective that gives the film's frights a naturalism, but most everything else is boringness. (1:31. R for some language, brief violent material.)

RED. This spy caper admirably rejects the frenzy of many modern action thrillers, slowing things down to a digestible pace appropriate for vintage-bordering-on-geriatric heroes Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren. Yet despite the impressive cast, this latest adaptation of a hip graphic novel fails to fill in the spaces between the action with anything terribly interesting. (1:51. PG-13 for intense action sequences, brief language.)

SEASON OF THE WITCH. After killing untold numbers of men in the name of God during the Crusades, Nicolas Cage's character, Behmen, and his wisecracking sidekick, Felson (Ron Pearlman), decide to pack it in. But to avoid being imprisoned for desertion, they must transport a suspected witch (Claire Foy) to a faraway abbey for trial. You expect this kind of schlock in January, but "Season of the Witch" isn't even bad in an enjoyable way.

SECRETARIAT. The tale of legendary racehorse Secretariat is one of a kind. Too bad the Hollywood version with Diane Lane as owner Penny Chenery is just another one of the pack. Director Randall Wallace plays it completely safe, offering a classy but standard Disney-fication of the tale, whose thrilling race scenes are offset by some of the blandest "you can do it if you try" dialogue. (2:03. PG for brief mild profanity.)

THE SOCIAL NETWORK. David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin have created an epic tale based on ... well, minutiae. The story of Facebook is filled with high drama, betrayal, and rage -- just one of the many contradictions that make the film so smart, meaty and compulsively watchable. With Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake. (2:00. PG-13 for sexual content, drug and alcohol use, profanity.)

TANGLED. "Rapunzel" gets the modern treatment, complete with 3-D rendering, digital animation and a slacker rogue in place of the traditional knight. The story gets her out of the tower and on the road, where the wide-eyed Rapunzel takes in the world, include a tavern full of theatrical thugs and moments of budding romance. "Tangled," Disney's 50th animated feature, is not in the league of the studio's best, though Donna Murphy shines as passive-aggressive Mother Gothel. Still, it's sturdy and pleasantly executed by the animation machine. (1:40. PG for brief mild violence.)

TRON LEGACY. Director Joseph Kosinski's feature film debut is thrilling and cool-looking for about the first half. But its races, games and visuals eventually grow repetitive, which only draws attention to how flimsy and preposterous the script is. "Tron: Legacy" is a mishmash of pop culture references and movie rip-offs, Eastern philosophy and various religions, and one insanely cute, strategically placed Boston terrier. With the return of Jeff Bridges, there's plenty of Dude-ishness for you fans of "The Big Lebowski." (2:05. PG for sequences of sci-fi action violence, brief mild language.)

TRUE GRIT. While Joel and Ethan Coen's "True Grit" is entertaining, it also lacks emotional resonance, as well as the intriguing sense of ambiguity expected in Coen pictures. Only toward the end does it feel like anything is at stake, but at least it's enjoyable while you're waiting. Hailee Steinfeld in her film debut is a revelation as Mattie Ross, the 19th-century pioneer teenager who demands vengeance for her father's murder with the help of U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). Matt Damon again proves he can do anything as a preening Texas Ranger. (1:50. PG-13 for some intense sequences of western violence.)

UNSTOPPABLE. Finally, here is the ideal use for Tony Scott's hyperkinetic, headache-inducing filmmaking style: a movie about a runaway train, barreling through small Pennsylvania towns filled with hardworking, unsuspecting people -- and schoolchildren. Oh, and the train is a half-mile long and it's carrying hazardous material. Sounds insanely implausible, but that's part of the fun: How many layers of danger can they pile on here? There's only one man who can stop it and save all those innocent lives: Denzel Washington. With some help from Chris Pine. (1:38. PG-13 for sequences of action and peril, some language.)

THE WARRIOR'S WAY. A warrior-assassin is forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands after refusing a mission. With Dong-gun Jang, Kate Bosworth and Geoffrey Rush. (1:40. R for strong bloody violence.)

YOGI BEAR. A documentary filmmaker travels to Jellystone Park to shoot a project and soon crosses paths with Yogi Bear (voiced by Dan Aykroyd), his sidekick Boo-Boo (voiced by Justin Timberlake), and Ranger Smith (voiced by Tom Cavanagh). (1:26. PG for some mild rude humor.)

CAPSULE REVIEWS have been excerpted from the Associated Press. Previews are courtesy of the Internet Movie Database.

RATINGS by the Motion Picture Association of America are G for general audiences; PG parental guidance because of material possibly unsuitable for children; PG-13 parents are strongly cautioned to give guidance for attendance of children younger than 13; R restricted, younger than 17 admitted only with parent or adult guardian; NC-17 no one younger than 17 admitted.

Source: http://www.goerie.com

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