RATINGS
5 Outstanding
4 Very Good
3 Good
2 Fair
1 Poor
OPENING
Total Recall
(Cineplex Odeon Westshore, Empire Capitol 6, SilverCity) In the future, a factory worker's role-playing mental vacation as a super-spy goes awry, leaving him a hunted man and blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel. PG
Crooked Arrows
(Star) Although mixed-blood Native American Joe Logan has ideas for modernizing the reservation, he first has to prove himself to his traditionalist father by becoming the coach of the reservation's high school lacrosse team. G
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
(Cineplex Odeon Westshore, Empire Capitol 6, Empire University 4, SilverCity) An adolescent boy tries to survive summer misadventures in such fraught situations as swimming at the public pool and going camping. Starring Zachary Gordon and Steve Zahn. G
Hope Springs
(Cineplex Odeon Victoria, Empire University 4, SilverCity, Star) After 30 years of marriage, a middle-age couple attends an intense, weeklong counselling session to work on their relationship. Starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. PG
Hysteria
Rating 3
(Star) A likable contrivance with none of the heat its subject suggests. Hugh Dancy stars as Dr. Mortimer Granville, the Victorian physician who invented the vibrator, and Maggie Gyllenhaal plays an early feminist to whom he is drawn. It's a sexual history lesson for the whole family. Jay Stone. 14A
Safety Not Guaranteed
(Star) Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel. Starring Aubrey Plaza, Jake Johnson and Karan Soni. PG
The Campaign (opens Aug. 9)
(Cineplex Odeon Victoria, SilverCity) In order to gain influence over their North Carolina district, two CEOs seize an opportunity to oust long-term congressman Cam Brady by putting up a rival candidate. Their man: naive Marty Huggins, director of the local tourism centre. Starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis. 14A
CONTINUING
The Amazing Spider-Man 3D Rating 3 1/2
(Cineplex Odeon Westshore, Empire Capitol 6, SilverCity) A reboot of the superhero franchise with Andrew Garfield as a leaner, more intense Spider-Man and Emma Stone as his love interest. It's a more intimate telling of a familiar story, including the part about a giant lizard that threatens New York. - Jay Stone. PG
Beasts Of the Southern Wild Rating 4
(Cineplex Odeon Victoria) Winner of the Grand Jury prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Behn Zeitlin's feature directing debut tells the story of a six-year-old named Hushpuppy who lives on the bayou with her daddy. When a great storm approaches, and her father gets sick, Hushpuppy is forced to use her wits to survive in an increasingly hostile landscape. A bleak fairy tale with elements of Southern Gothic and black martyrdom, Beasts of the Southern Wild is a memorable, if contrived, window into the 21stcentury American soul. - Katherine Monk. PG
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Rating 3
(Empire University 4) An all-star cast of veterans led by Judi Dench and Maggie Smith stars in this new film from John Madden that takes us to an old-folks home in India. Hoping to revitalize his dilapidated hotel with English guests, Sonny (Dev Patel) takes on a group of crusty personalities who eventually transform the hotel, as well as each other. Contrived and laden with cliché, the movie still pulls off some gentle comedy because the acting is so solid. - Katherine Monk. G
Brave Rating 3 1/2
(Empire Capitol 6, SilverCity, Star) This new Pixar movie is a spectacularly rendered fable about a young Scottish princess (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) who rejects her mother's plans for her to get married. There are exciting scenes of archery, a witch's magic spell and fearsome bear attacks, but the movie never becomes the defining legend it is trying to be. - Jay Stone. G
The Dark Knight Rises Rating 4 1/2
(Cineplex Odeon Westshore, Empire Capitol 6, Empire University 4, SilverCity Imax, Star) Christopher Nolan delivers everything his third Bat-movie required as he pits Bruce Wayne against his own alter ego, and the world against a raving madman in a mask.
While it follows genre formula to a T, this epic reel also picks up on the bloody threads of the French Revolution as Nolan gives form to the Occupy movement, and the public desire to hang corporate bankers from the highest tree. Smart, cinematic and skilfully executed at every level, The Dark Knight Rises proves you can make a socially provocative and politically subversive statement and sell it as top-notch escapism. Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman star. - Katherine Monk. PG
Ice Age: Continental Drift 3D
(Cineplex Odeon Victoria, Cineplex Odeon Westshore, Empire University 4, SilverCity) A group of Paleolithic animal pals tries to survive a continental cataclysm in the fourth instalment of the Ice Age series. With the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Queen Latifah. G
The Intouchables Rating 3
(Cineplex Odeon Victoria, Star) A sentimental but wry French buddy comedy about an uneducated black immigrant (Omar Sy) who becomes the caregiver to a rich white connoisseur (Françis Cluzet). They both learn lessons in an obvious but undeniably charming way. In French with English subtitles. - Jay Stone. PG
Katy Perry: Part of Me Rating 2 1/2
(Roxy) This documentary captures Katy Perry's sold-out 2011 tour for Teenage Dream. It also tries to offer a glimpse into Perry's personal life, but the singer caked in makeup reveals little more than fatigue and the odd grumpy moment in this underwhelming portrait of a pop diva.- Katherine Monk. G
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted Rating 4
(Caprice, Roxy) An animated film that's vertiginous, explosive, ridiculous, frantic and antiCanadian (they joke about our "work ethic"). Inspired 3-D and non-stop silliness make this the most fun you can have at the movies so far this summer. - Jay Stone. G
Magic Mike Rating 3 1/2
(Caprice) Channing Tatum shows off his many talents as a male stripper in this entertaining, if somewhat predictable, romantic drama based on his own life. Mike thought he had it all until he introduced a struggling buddy (Alex Pettyfer) to the world of buff dancing and watched it change him for the worse. Director Steven Soderbergh maps every cliché, and elegantly avoids most, as he offers an entertaining piece of escapism that gently pokes at gender-based hypocrisy. - Katherine Monk. 14A
Marvel's The Avengers Rating 3 1/2
(Caprice) This mega-budget action movie features a group of superheroes who band together to stop a hostile takeover of planet Earth. With Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk sharing the screen time, director Joss Whedon is forced to spend most of his time dealing out the dramatic cards - without creating genuine dramatic suspense. A movie that seems to hover without effort, The Avengers looks good suspended in the sky, but it doesn't actually go anywhere. - Katherine Monk. PG
Men in Black 3
(Caprice) With his partner's life and the fate of the planet at stake, a special agent travels back in time to set things right. With Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin. PG
Moonrise Kingdom Rating 2 1/2
(Cineplex Odeon Victoria) Wes Anderson tells the story of two outsider kids who fall in love during the summer of 1965 and attempt to realize the happy-ever-after ending. While the movie looks good, and the performances from an ensemble cast that includes Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis and Ed Norton are solid, the movie feels like a work in miniature where everything is drawn to scale, but carries little emotional heft. - Katherine Monk. PG
Prometheus Rating 4
(Roxy) Noomi Rapace emerges as the logical emotional heir to Sigourney Weaver's Ripley in this Ridley Scott prequel to Alien. Set several decades before the crew of the Nostromo had the beast in their belly, we voyage to the far side of the galaxy with a crew of Earthlings seeking the answers to a Paleolithic mystery, and why cave paintings around the globe feature the same planetary cluster and giant humanoids. Though the film suffers from a lack of character development on the edges, the core trio finds the requisite depth to create a micro-cosmos of human emotion, where our redeeming traits are tested against our drive to survive. Smart, gorgeous and dripping with positive nostalgia, Prometheus sets the Alien franchise ablaze once more. - Katherine Monk. 14A
Savages
(Roxy) Three small-time Southern California pot dealers - a laid-back Buddhist, an ex-Navy SEAL and a beautiful slacker - run afoul of a Mexican drug cartel. With Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively and John Travolta. 18A
Step Up Revolution
(Cineplex Odeon Westshore, Empire Capitol 6, SilverCity) Newly arrived in Miami, an aspiring dancer falls for the leader of a local dance crew, and together they battle a wealthy developer. With Ryan Guzman and Kathryn McCormick. PG
Ted Rating 3
(Caprice, Cineplex Odeon Victoria, SilverCity) A crude comedy with Mark Wahlberg as a 35-year-old slacker who's being held back by his best friend and roommate, a talking teddy bear (voiced by director Seth MacFarlane). The vulgar jokes push envelopes you didn't know existed, but there's a sweetness to the film, and it's often very funny. - Jay Stone. 14A
To Rome With Love Rating 2 1/2
(Cineplex Odeon Victoria, Empire University 4) When Woody hits your eye like a big pizza pie, it's amoré - and probably a little cheese. An entirely formulaic exercise set on the sundappled streets of Rome, this new reel feels like leftovers from Midnight in Paris warmed under a bare light bulb. Despite strong turns from Alec Baldwin, Greta Gerwig, Jesse Eisenberg and Penelope Cruz, Allen's romantic shtick feels stale. - Katherine Monk. PG
The Watch Rating 2
(Cineplex Odeon Victoria, Cineplex Odeon Westshore, SilverCity) Ben Stiller plays a Costco manager who starts a neighbourhood watch when the local Costco becomes the headquarters for an alien invasion. A genre comedy that tries to pile every lame, formulaic ingredient into an overladen shopping cart, The Watch attempts to make us laugh with scenes of incompetent law enforcement, but ends up making us cry with tears of boredom and bad taste. - Katherine Monk. 18A
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (Sat., Cineplex Odeon Westshore)
CINECENTA
The Avengers - (Fri. and Sat., 7 and 9: 40 p.m.)
The Lady - (Sun., Mon., 7 p.m.)
Wings Of Desire - (Tue., 7 and 9: 25 p.m.)
Headhunters - (Wed. and Thur., 7 and 9 p.m.)
IMAX FILMS
Go to imaxvictoria.com for showtimes.
To the Arctic
Rocky Mountain Express
Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia
Born To Be Wild
