"BIG MOMMAS: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON" Not yet reviewed. (PG-13) Century Northgate, Century Rowland Plaza. In this comedy directed by John Whitesell, FBI agent Malcolm Turner (Martin Lawrence) and his stepson Trent (Brandon T. Jackson) dress up as women to investigate a murder at an all-girls performing arts school. Also starring Jessica Lucas, Michelle Ang and Portia Doubleday. 107 minutes.
"EVEN THE RAIN" Not yet reviewed. Not rated. Smith Rafael Film Center. 103 minutes. In this drama from director Iciar Bollain and writer Paul Laverty, a film crew arrives in a Bolivian town to shoot a controversial film about Christopher Columbus just as local people are rising up against water privatization. Starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Luis Tosar and Karra Elejaide.
"I AM NUMBER FOUR" HH1/2 (PG-13) Century Cinema, Century Northgate, Century Rowland Plaza, Fairfax Theatre. As action films aimed at this audience go, "Number 4" falls midway between "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" and "Twilight" — edgier than "Jackson,"
mockingly self-aware, but without the white-hot sexual tension of the vampire movies. From Orlando Sentinel. 108 minutes.
"UNKNOWN" HH (PG-13) Century Regency, Century Rowland Plaza, Fairfax Theatre, Tiburon Playhouse. Liam Neeson plays a scientist who has his briefcase, his wife and his identity stolen from him while in Berlin to attend a conference. His wife (January Jones) claims she's never seen him before. Aidan Quinn plays a man who claims he's her real husband. Diane Kruger plays a Bosnian refugee taxi driver who saves his life more than once. The movie starts on a nice Hitchcockian note, but grows tangled in a web of absurd improbability until we finally just stop caring. From Roger Ebert. 113 minutes.
2011 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS Not yet reviewed. Not rated. Smith Rafael Film Center. Three separate programs — live actions shorts, animated shorts and documentary shorts — featuring short films nominated for the upcoming 83rd Academy Awards.
"ANOTHER YEAR" HHHH (PG-13) CineArts Marin. Tom and Gerri (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen) are long and happily married. Their frequent visitor is Mary (Lesley Manville), an unhappy woman with a drinking problem who needs shoring up with their sanity. Mike Leigh's new film is one of his best, placing as he often does recognizable types with embarrassing comic and/or dramatic dilemmas. One of the year's best films. From Roger Ebert. 129 minutes.
"BARNEY'S VERSION" HHH1/2 (R) Century Regency, CineArts Marin. Paul Giamatti stars as an unremarkable Montreal TV producer who drinks too much, smokes too many cigars, and discards two women in quick divorces before finding at last one far too good for him (Rosamund Pike). Dustin Hoffman has a smallish but particularly good role as his father. Giamatti won the 2011 Golden Globe award as best actor. From Roger Ebert. 132 minutes.
"BIUTIFUL" HHH (R) Century Regency. Javier Bardem stars as a low-level criminal in Barcelona who is told by his doctor he has little time to live. He works as a middleman in an industry that makes fake luxury items in sweatshops and sells them to tourists through sidewalk vendors. A man who means well in a mean world, he loves his children and tries to help his workers, but reality conspires against him. Set in the slums of Barcelona, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. From Roger Ebert. 148 minutes.
"BLACK SWAN" HHH1/2 (R) Century Regency, Lark Theater. Natalie Portman in a bravura performance as a driven perfectionist, a young ballerina up for a starring role at Lincoln Center. Her life is shadowed by a smothering mother (Barbara Hershey), an autocratic director (Vincent Cassel), a venomous rival (Mila Kunis) and her deposed predecessor (Winona Ryder). A full-bore melodrama, told with passionate intensity, gloriously and darkly absurd. Directed by Darren Aronofsky. From Roger Ebert. 108 minutes.
"BLUE VALENTINE" HHH1/2 (R) CineArts Marin. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as Dean and Cindy in two seasons of marriage: Six years ago when love was fresh, and today, when love proves unable to support the weight of real life. Director Derek Cianfrance closely observes the details as this couple fails to comprehend the larger picture. Dean thinks marriage is the station. Cindy thought it was the train. From Roger Ebert. 120 minutes.
"THE EAGLE" HHH (PG-13) Century Northgate, Century Rowland Plaza. Channing Tatum plays a Roman centurion, circa A.D. 140, who determines to discover why the Ninth Legion, led by his father, disappeared into Scotland and was never heard of again. Joined by a slave (Jamie Bell) whose life he saved, he ventures north on a secret mission. A rip-snorting adventure tale told on a somewhat plausible scale, with interesting characters and CGI replaced mostly by flesh and blood. Directed by Kevin Macdonald ("The King of Scotland"). From Roger Ebert. 114 minutes.
"THE FIGHTER" HH1/2 (R) Century Larkspur Landing, Century Northgate, CineArts Marin. Colorful supporting performances help, but a vaguely defined lead diminishes the power you'd expect in this story based on a real fighter. Mark Wahlberg plays Micky Ward, Christian Bale is his goofy crackhead half-brother, Melissa Leo is his possessive mom, and Amy Adams is the barmaid who knows he'll never get anywhere until he frees himself of his family. The hero comes across as such a victim of lifelong domination that even when he wins, he feels like a loser. Directed by David O. Russell. From Roger Ebert. 115 minutes.
"GNOMEO AND JULIET" HH1/2 (G) Century Larkspur Landing, Century Northgate, Century Rowland Plaza, Fairfax Theatre. "Gnomeo & Juliet" is a daft and generally deft British animated retelling of the star-crossed romance set in adjacent English backyard gardens and set to the music of Elton John (he and his Rocket Films produced it). And if it's not an unerringly faithful adaptation of Shakespeare's play, it still manages enough wit and charm to come off. Kids will get a kick out of the gnome-fu fighting and lawnmower racing and such. And adults will grin at the bulldog, chased out of the yard with "Out! OUT damned Spot!" From Orlando Sentinel. 82 minutes.
"THE GREEN HORNET" H (PG-13) Century Northgate. An almost unendurable demonstration of a movie with nothing to be about. Pointless dialogue scenes go nowhere much too slowly, and then pointless action scenes go everywhere much too quickly. Seth Rogen deserves much of the blame. He co-wrote and stars as Britt Reid, a spoiled little rich brat who grows up the same way; Jay Chou is Kato, the role Bruce Lee played on TV. Together, they devise a damn fool plan to fight crime by impersonating criminals. With Christoph Waltz ("Inglourious Basterds") as the local crime lord and Cameron Diaz as young Reid's would-be secretary with nothing to do. From Roger Ebert. 108 minutes.
"THE ILLUSIONIST" HHHH (PG) Smith Rafael Film Center. A magician named Tatischeff fails in one music hall after another, and ends up in Scotland, where a young woman takes care of him and believes in him, even when he's reduced to performing in store windows. An animated film based on the final screenplay of Jacques Tati, and directed by Sylvain Chomet ("The Triplets of Belleville"). From Roger Ebert. 90 minutes.
"INSIDE JOB" Not yet reviewed. (PG-13) Lark Theater. The new documentary from Charles Ferguson (director of the Oscar-nominated "No End in Sight") examines the 2008 economic crisis and the resulting global financial collapse through interviews with insiders, politicians and journalists. Narrated by Matt Damon. 108 minutes.
"JUST GO WITH IT" H (PG-13) Century Larkspur Landing, Century Northgate, Century Rowland Plaza, CineArts Marin, Fairfax Theatre, Tiburon Playhouse. This film's story began as a French farce, became the Broadway hit "Cactus Flower," was made into a 1969 film and now arrives gasping for breath in a witless retread with Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston and Brooklyn Decker. The characters are so stupid it doesn't seem nice to laugh at them. From Roger Ebert. 116 minutes.
"JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER" HH1/2 (G) Century Northgate, Century Rowland Plaza. A heartfelt thank-you from 16-year-old singer Justin Bieber to his millions of fans, and an equally sincere plea for them not to forget him when the next doe-eyed cutie-pie rolls around, the concert film "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" manages the neat trick of making a mass-marketed pop act seem like the kid next door. No matter how far away he looks on that stage, Bieber belongs to you, and you and you. From Newsday. 105 minutes.
"THE KING'S SPEECH" HHHH (R) Century Larkspur Landing, Century Regency, Century Rowland Plaza, CineArts Sequoia, Fairfax Theatre, Tiburon Playhouse. After the death of George V and the abdication of his brother Edward, Prince Albert (Colin Firth) becomes George VI, charged with leading Britain into World War II. He is afflicted with a torturous stammer, and his wife (Helena Bonham Carter) seeks out an unorthodox speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) to treat him. Civilized and fascinating, this is the story of their unlikely relationship. (The R rating, for language, is absurd; this is an ideal film for teenagers.) From Roger Ebert. 118 minutes.
"NO STRINGS ATTACHED" HH (R) Century Northgate. Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher), who met when they were 6, now meet when they're maybe 26. They're not looking for love, but after they sleep together they decide to be sex buddies as a matter of convenience. Good enough while it lasts, but then romance threatens, and the movie handles it with dreary sitcom predictability. From Roger Ebert. 106 minutes.
"SANCTUM" H1/2 (R) Century Northgate. A terrifying adventure shown in an incompetent way. Scuba-diving cave explorers enter a vast system in New Guinea and are stranded. But this rich story opportunity is lost because of incoherent editing, poor 3D technique, and the effect of 3D dimming in the already dark and murky caves. A "James Cameron Production," yes, but certainly not a "James Cameron Film." From Roger Ebert. 109 minutes.
"TRUE GRIT" HHH1/2 (PG-13) CineArts Sequoia. An entertaining remake of the 1969 film, and more, by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn easily fills John Wayne's boots, and Hailee Steinfeld is very special as young Mattie Ross, who hires the old marshal to help her hunt down the varmint that killed her old man. Not a "Coen brothers film," but a flawlessly executed Western in the grand tradition. Strong support from Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper. From Roger Ebert. 110 minutes.
"WASTE LAND" HHH Not rated. Lark Theater. Nominated for a 2011 Academy Award, this documentary introduces us to the lives of those who pick through the world's largest garbage dump, near Rio de Janeiro, and are responsible for recycling untold quantities of refuse. They are not the wretched of the earth. Indeed, they find use in their work, talk about the environment, and those we meet seem surprisingly cheerful. Our entry point is Vik Muniz, a Brazilian-American artist who is involved in creating portraits of some of the pickers using only materials he finds in the dump. From Roger Ebert. 99 minutes.
"EYES ON THE PRIZE" — College of Marin, 835 College Ave., Kentfield; 485-9648; www.marin.edu. Feb. 22, noon to 2 p.m.: Black History Month celebration with selections from the PBS documentary series about the civil rights movement. Free.
GEOGRAPHY OF HOPE FILM FESTIVAL — Dance Palace, Fifth and B streets, Point Reyes Station; 669-7559; www.inticketing.com/events/136201. Feb. 25 through 27: The theme of the festival's inaugural year is "Reflections on Water." Titles include "The River Why," "Greenlit" and "A Sea Change." $8 to $30; festival pass $100.
"OTHELLO" — St. David's Anglican Church, 7 Mt. Lassen Drive, San Rafael; 444-0392. Feb. 18, 7 p.m.: Film version of Shakespeare's tragedy about the Moor of Venice. Free.
"POR QUE VENIMOS (WHY WE COME)" — Community Media Center of Marin, 819 A St., San Rafael; 924-3227. Feb. 23, 6 p.m.: Locally produced documentary about the lives of Latin American immigrants living in San Rafael's Canal District. Free.
SUNDAY SALON WORLD CINEMA — Lark Theater, 549 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur; 924-5111; www.larktheater.net. Feb. 20, 10:30 a.m.: Emeritus Program at College of Marin salon with a screening of "The Bicycle Thieves," critical commentary, discussion and continental brunch. $15 to $25.
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST — (R, 148 minutes, 2010). Lisbeth Salander spends the first half of the film recovering from what happened at the end of the previous one. That's all right, because a wounded silence is her medium. Now members of the "Section" want to silence her once and for all, and her demented blond giant half-brother is after her, and Mikael is fighting to defend her against insanity charges, and this uptight, ferocious little gamin Lisbeth has won our hearts.STONE — (R, 105 minutes, 2010). Robert De Niro and Edward Norton playing against type and at the top of their forms in a psychological duel between a parole officer and a tricky prisoner who has his number. Milla Jovovich plays the prisoner's wife, who attempts to help her man by playing a mind game with De Niro. Holes in the plot but not in the performances.WELCOME TO THE RILEYS — (R, 110 minutes, 2010). James Gandolfini plays an Indianapolis plumbing contractor who, during a trip to New Orleans, meets an underage hooker (Kristen Stewart) and tries to get her off the life. Melissa Leo plays his wife, who has not left her home in years. Seems like a setup for a well-worn plot, but Jake Scott's film sees each character clearly and allows them to do pretty much the best possible, under the circumstances. Touching.
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