MOVIES
OPENING THIS WEEK
CONVICTION
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST
In the final (made-in-Sweden) chapter of Stiegg Larsson's best-selling trilogy, goth computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (the furious Noomi Rapace) is hospitalized with a bullet to the head -- and awaiting trial for murder, leaving it up to journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) to prove her innocence. In Swedish with English subtitles. At Village Square (148 min.) R; strong violence, sexual material, brief profanity.
MADEMOISELLE CHAMBON
In this award-winning romantic drama, a happily married contractor ("Pour Elle's" Vincent Lindon) falls for the title character (Sandrine Kiberlain), his son's beguiling homeroom teacher. In French with English subtitles. At Village Square. (101 min.) NR; sexual situations.
THE TILLMAN STORY
This acclaimed documentary, which debuted at this year's Sundance film festival, focuses on the death in Afghanistan of NFL player turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman, the military's cover-up of the circumstances behind it -- and the Tillman family's efforts to expose the truth. At Suncoast. (94 min.) R; profanity.
SAW 3D
In the seventh, presumably final chapter of the "Saw" saga -- the first in 3-D -- several of the diabolical Jigsaw's victims must deal with his deadly legacy, including a self-help guru with his own dark secrets. Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor and Cary Elwes return, joining Sean Patrick Flanery in the starring cast. At multiple locations; in 3-D at select locations.
ALREADY IN THEATERS
Movies are rated on a letter-grade scale, from A to F. Opinions by R-J movie critic Carol Cling (C.C.) are indicated by initials. Other opinions are from wire service critics.
ALPHA AND OMEGA
(C-) Two wolves at opposite ends of their pack's social order (voiced by Justin Long and Hayden Panetierre), transferred to an Idaho park, must work together to find their way home to Canada in an animated adventure that boasts advanced 3-D but a script that's a let-down in the humor and heart department. (88 min.) PG; rude humor, mild action.
CASE 39
(D+) A social worker (Renee Zellweger) fights to save a girl ("Twilight Saga: Eclipse's" Jodelle Ferland) from her abusive parents, only to discover that the situation is more dangerous than she ever expected, in a long-delayed chiller featuring Bradley Cooper and Ian McShane. An ineffective horror movie, full of cheap jolts and ho-hum effects; the scariest thing about it is how Zellweger's career has deteriorated. (109 min.) R; violence and terror, disturbing images.
CATFISH
(B+) Hooked: Filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost follow Ariel's brother Nev, a New York photographer, and Abby, an 8-year-old Michigan girl who contacted Nev via Facebook, requesting permission to make a painting from one of his photographs. The result is a movie that moves from comedy to romance to places beyond that we shouldn't mention. Is it true? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, "Catfish" remains well worth catching. (94 min.) PG-13; some sexual references.
DESPICABLE ME
(B) Assisted by a legion of jabbering, goggle-eyed Minions, the villainous Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) plots to outwit a nerdy rival (voiced by Jason Segal) by committing the world's most dastardly crime -- until a trio of adorable orphan girls changes his focus from bad to dad in a cheeky computer-animated tale that combines impish slapstick humor and expert use of 3-D. (95 min.) PG; rude humor, mild action. (C.C.)
DEVIL
(C) M. Night Shyamalan indulges his preachy side as creator and producer (but not screenwriter or director) of this quasi-religious supernatural thriller, a tidy tale about Satan himself picking off folks (Geoffrey Arend, Bojana Novakovic, Bokeem Woodbine, Jenny O'Hara, Logan Marshall-Green) trapped in an elevator in a Philadelphia high-rise while cops and security guards (Chris Messina, Jacob Vargas, Matt Craven) look on in horror via closed-circuit TV. (80 min.) PG-13; violence and disturbing images, thematic material, profanity, sexual references.
EASY A
(B) A sarcastic, witty teen ("Zombieland's" winning Emma Stone) uses her high school's rumor mill to enhance her bad-girl reputation when word gets around that she's no longer a virgin. This smart, sassy teen comedy (featuring Amanda Bynes, "Hellcats' Aly Michalka and "Gossip Girl's" Penn Badgley) hearkens back to those golden '80s days of John Hughes -- right down to scene-stealing adult performances from the likes of Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci and Lisa Kudrow. (93 min.) PG-13; mature thematic elements involving teen sexuality, profanity, drug material. (C.C.)
THE EXPENDABLES
(D+) Veteran tough guys Sylvester Stallone (who also co-writes and directs), Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren (alias Sly's "Rocky IV" opponent Ivan Drago), Randy Couture and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin flex their muscles as mercenaries heading South American way on a mission to overthrow a corrupt general (David Zayas) and a rogue CIA agent (Eric Roberts). Like an aged hair band that can't pack away the spandex, this is an exercise in nostalgia for a bygone era. (103 min.) R; strong action and bloody violence, profanity.
HEREAFTER
(B) Director Clint Eastwood's psychological drama focuses on a blue-collar American (Matt Damon) with a special connection to the afterlife, a French journalist (Cecile de France) who survives a near-death experience and a London schoolboy (twins George and Frankie McLaren) desperate to connect with his dead brother. Not the emotional knockout it might have been, but this thematic departure for Eastwood nevertheless showcases his trademark easy, elegant storytelling. (129 min.) PG-13; mature thematic elements, including disturbing disaster and accident images, brief profanity.
I WANT YOUR MONEY
(C) Equal parts hagiography and hatchet job, outspoken talking-heads commentary and animated political cartoon, this agitprop documentary from filmmaker Ray Griggs (who hosts and narrates) salutes capitalism and "this great country that we call America," offering a pointed counterpoint to the output of "Hollywood liberals (who) criticize the very system they profit from." (92 min.) PG; thematic elements, brief profanity, smoking.
IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY
(C+) Kind of an OK movie: A clinically depressed teen ("United States of Tara's" bland Keir Gilchrist) checks himself into a psychiatric ward and gets a new view of life from his fellow patients -- played by, among others, Emma Roberts and a dialed-down Zach Galifianakis, whose sensitive performance is by far the best reason to see this middling comedy-drama. Usually insightful filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden ("Sugar," "Half Nelson") have good intentions, but their approach is far too tidy for the kind of emotional anguish they're addressing. (101 min.) PG-13; mature themes, sexual content, drug material, profanity. (C.C.)
JACKASS 3D
(C) Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O and the rest of the "Jackass" gang are comin' at you with a third big-screen round of in-your-face mayhem that's even more in-your-face than ever before, thanks to 3-D. But more often than not, this installment (directed, as always, by Jeff Tremaine) doesn't take advantage of its visual potential; very little occurs in "Jackass 3D" that wouldn't have sufficed in 2-D. (94 min.) R; male nudity, extremely crude and dangerous stunts throughout, profanity.
LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA'HOOLE
(C+) Director Zack Snyder ("300," "Watchmen") switches from live-action to animation with this adventure (based on books by children's author Kathryn Lasky) about a kidnapped owlet (voiced by Jim Sturgess) caught up in an epic battle between the noble Guardian owls and the evil Pure Ones. A derivative script and sequences too scary for little kids undermine the classy vocal cast (Helen Mirren, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving and Anthony LaPaglia) and stunning visuals that look even more stunning in 3-D and IMAX 3D. (90 min.) PG; scary action.
LET ME IN
(B) A bullied boy ("The Road's" Kodi Smit-McPhee) befriends a young vampire girl ("Kick-Ass' " Chloe Moretz), living in secrecy with her enigmatic guardian (Richard Jenkins), in an English-language revamp of 2008's Swedish vampire tale "Let the Right One In." Director Matt Reeves ("Cloverfield") amps up the explicit violence, unnecessarily, but retains the original's intensity, stillness and strange sweetness, as two lonely misfits strengthen each other, despite the sad realization that their friendship can't possibly last. (115 min.) R; strong bloody horror violence, profanity, brief sexual situations.
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT
(C) Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel play mismatched singles forced together when their mutual best friends die in an accident -- and name them guardians of their baby daughter, leading to antics with diapers, anxious speeches over kitchen sinks and (Spoiler Alert!) gradual heartwarming toward each other and their makeshift family. Heigl and Duhamel have looks and chemistry; they're pleasant to watch, which is more than we can say for this overly familiar comedy. (113 min.) PG-13; sexual material, profanity, drug content.
MACHETE
(C+) In the first movie (so far) spawned by those hilarious "Grindhouse" trailers, Danny Trejo plays a former Mexican cop on a vengeful rampage against drug dealers, brutal politicians and other assorted baddies. Co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis (who edited "Planet Terror," Rodriguez's half of "Grindhouse") maintain a fair amount of the wicked humor and every bit of the savage bloodshed promised in the trailer, but (like most of Rodriguez's' movies), this one's never as fun, or funny, as he thinks. (105 min.) R; strong bloody violence, profanity, sexual content, nudity.
MAO'S LAST DANCER
(C+) A Chinese peasant boy trains at the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy, goes to the U.S. on a cultural exchange -- and defects when he falls in love with an American -- in a fact-based drama featuring Chi Cao, Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan and Joan Chen. Director Bruce Beresford ("Driving Miss Daisy") packs this tale of artistic aspirations and international politics with more corn than an Iowa silo. (117 min.) PG; brief violent image, sexual references, profanity, incidental smoking.
MESRINE: PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE
(B+) After exploring the rise of French gangster Jacques Mesrine (charismatic Vincent Cassel) in "Killer Instinct," this second chapter of the fact-based saga follows the title character through the 1970s, when his determination to play the part of notorious bank robber and prison escapee leads to his downfall. A gangbusters drama grounded in gritty, meaty realism. In French with English subtitles. (133 min.) R; bloody brutal violence, sexuality, pervasive profanity.
MY SOUL TO TAKE
(D) A serial killer returns to his hometown to stalk seven children born the night he supposedly died in the latest (and far from greatest) chiller from "Scream" writer-director Wes Craven. A dumb, derivative teen slasher movie (pointlessly rendered in 3-D) that would be uninspiring coming from any writer-director, let alone a genre master like Craven. (106 min.) R; strong bloody violence, sexual references, pervasive profanity.
N-SECURE
(C+) A control-freak Desert Storm veteran (Cordell Moore) finds himself embroiled in a series of troubled romantic relationships that ultimately lead to betrayal -- and murder. A movie that almost begs the audience to talk back to the screen as a series of beautiful young women (Essence Atkins, Denise Boutte) place themselves in jeopardy at the strong hands of the trigger-tempered protagonist, this won't win any awards, but sympathetic audiences will get a kick out of its plot twists and unabashed dramatics. (109 min.) R; profanity, sexual content, brief violence.
NOWHERE BOY
(B) John Lennon's pre-Beatles Liverpool youth inspires a poignant biopic that would be absorbing even if its title character hadn't grown up to be one-quarter of the Fab Four. "Kick-Ass' " Aaron Johnson looks nothing like Lennon, but expertly captures his confusion, pain -- and pain-in-the-butt rebelliousness. But the real standouts here are Anne-Marie Duff ("The Last Station") as his troubled mother Julia and Kristin Scott Thomas as his stern Aunt Mimi, who raised him. (97 min.) R; profanity, sexuality, smoking. (C.C.)
THE OTHER GUYS
(B-) Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg make an amusingly arresting team as mismatched New York City detectives -- one a by-the-book desk jockey, the other a street guy itching for action -- who stumble onto Wall Street chicanery. Not the bust-a-gut buddy-cop spoof it wants to be -- it careens between action and comedy too much for that -- but its intermittent goofiness makes it easy enough to go along for the ride. (107 min.) PG-13; crude and sexual content, profanity, violence, drug material. (C.C.)
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2
(D+) 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. This slightly Hollywood-ized sequel follows similar gender lines, as a family of four (Sprague Grayden and Brian Bolden play the parents) wilt when a malevolent presence haunts their house. Once again, almost everything we see is from surveillance cameras, a perspective that makes the sequel's frights seem natural -- and almost everything else seem boring. (91 min.) R; profanity, brief violent material.
RED
(C+) When a mysterious hit squad tries to take out a former CIA black-ops agent (Bruce Willis), he rounds up a few "Retired, Extremely Dangerous" colleagues (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren) to find out why in yet another comic-book adaptation with the accent on run-and-gun fun. Its top-chop cast (which also include Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss and Brian Cox), seems to be having a collective blast, but "Red" keeps interrupting them for cartoony action sequences we've seen a zillion times before. (110 min.) PG-13; intense action violence, brief profanity. (C.C.)
RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE
(D) With the world ravaged by a viral infection that transforms its victims into the Undead, Alice (Milla Jovovich) continues her quest to find survivors and lead them to safety -- and her battle with the Umbrella Corp. Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Boris Kodjoe, Wentworth Miller co-star for director Paul W.S. Anderson (Jovovich's husband), a serious contender for worst filmmaker in the biz. This fourth installment of the "Resident Evil" franchise is the first to go 3-D, but that doesn't improve this witless workout. (90 min.) R; strong violence, profanity.
SALT
(C+) Who is Salt? Who cares? When a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy, CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) goes on the run. This hyperkinetic thriller shows off Jolie's action chops -- and those of director Philip Noyce ("Clear and Present Danger"), who delivers a muscular, gritty action tale that's also utterly ludicrous and lacking the slighted shred of humanity. (100 min.) PG-13; intense sequences of violence and action. (C.C.)
SECRETARIAT
(B-) Get a horse: In the early '70s, feisty housewife Penny Chenery Tweedy (Diane Lane) literally bets her family's deep-in-debt horse farm on the success of a rangy =thoroughbred who turns out to be the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. Both Secretariat and Tweedy deserve better than this illustrated lecture, full of important Life Lessons in which Penny and her wonder horse show everyone what being a champion is all about. Yet "Secretariat's" thrilling racing sequences capture both the beauty and the pulse-pounding suspense of the title character's awe-inspiring feats. (116 min.) PG; brief mild profanity. (C.C.)
THE SOCIAL NETWORK
(A-) Facebook's contentious birth in a Harvard dorm, as inventive but socially inept Mark Zuckerberg (a memorably unsympathetic Jesse Eisenberg) comes up with a revolutionary way for others to connect online -- alienating and/or betraying his own friends in the process. Andrew Garfield ("Never Let Me Go") and, of all people, Justin Timberlake anchor a standout supporting cast, while director David Fincher demonstrates his flair for fluid visual storytelling and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin delivers trademark biting dialogue. Overall, a sharply observed study of how, and why, some people prefer virtual life to the real thing. (120 min.) PG-13; sexual content, drug and alcohol use, profanity. (C.C.)
STONE
(C-) Together again for the first time since 2001's "The Score," Robert De Niro and Edward Norton can't save this strained, strangely unfocused drama about a calculating convict (Norton) trying to manipulate his world-weary parole officer (De Niro) into recommending his release -- with more than a little help from his semi-slutty, semi-nutty wife (a cartoonish Milla Jovovich). Despite earnest stabs at moral ambiguity, "Stone" sinks under the weight of its overblown philosophical musings -- and its initially intriguing, ultimately annoying characters. (105 min.) R; violence, sexual situations, nudity, profanity. (C.C.)
TAKERS
(C) Lifestyles of the rich and lawless: When smooth criminals (Idris Elba, Hayden Christensen, Paul Walker, Michael Ealy and Chris Brown) pull off a Los Angeles bank heist, a dogged detective (Matt Dillon) gives chase in a movie that recycles the usual cops-and-robbers claptrap in a routine workout that's not exactly redeemed by its attractive cast or rock-'em, sock-'em action sequences. (107 min.) PG-13; intense violence and action, sexual situations, partial nudity, profanity, drug references. (C.C.)
THE TOWN
(B) In an arresting crime thriller co-written, directed by and starring Ben Affleck, two wild cards threaten the continuing success of a blue-collar Boston heist crew: a hard-charging FBI agent ("Mad Men's" Jon Hamm) and the fact that the crew leader (Affleck) is falling for a witness (Rebecca Hall) who could put them all in jail. "Hurt Locker's" electrifyingly intense Jeremy Renner steals the movie from actor Affleck, but it's a mark of honor that director Affleck lets him get away with it. (125 min.) R; strong violence, pervasive profanity, sexual situations, drug use. (C.C.)
VAMPIRES SUCK
(D) What's in a name? An all-too-accurate description of the movie when it's "Vampires Suck," a scene-by-scene vamp of the Stephenie Meyer "Twilight" movies -- with the odd "True Blood," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Gossip Girl," Kardashian and Lady Gaga gag tossed in -- from the folks who brought you "Disaster Movie," "Date Movie" and other lame parodies. Even by the standards of these things, which rely on an onslaught of jokey references to float, "Suck" s(t)inks. (88 min.) R; crude sexual content, comic violence, profanity, teen partying.
WAITING FOR 'SUPERMAN'
(B) Davis Guggenheim, director of the Oscar-winning "An Inconvenient Truth," puts a human face on another daunting problem -- the wretched state of America's public schools -- in a documentary that focuses on children victimized by a broken system and education reformers trying to fix it, with suspense and heartbreaking human drama as five kids (four from impoverished areas) hope to win coveted spots in alternative schools. Even if you don't have kids of your own, you'll find it hard not to get sucked in emotionally. (102 min.) PG; thematic material, mild profanity, incidental smoking.
WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS
(B) Greed is still (pretty) good: Michael Douglas reprises his Oscar-winning role of Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's timely sequel to 1987's "Wall Street," as just-out-of-prison Gekko tries to reconcile with his estranged daughter ("An Education's" Carey Mulligan), who's involved with a young Wall Street whiz (Shia LaBeouf) negotiating shark-infested investment waters. Frank Langella and Josh Brolin (Stone's "W." star) deliver sterling support as Wall Street titans old and new in an overstuffed tale that's surprisingly entertaining, despite its topical-depression subject matter. (133 min.) PG-13; brief profanity, thematic elements. (C.C.)
YOU AGAIN
(C-) When bad movies happen to good people: Despite stars Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kristin Bell, this strained comedy -- about two generations of high-school frenemies destined to clash at a family wedding -- traps its talented cast members in a mechanical, predictable romp that arranges the inevitable complications like dominoes carefully designed to fall on cue. Not even the presence of Betty White, as hot-to-(fox)trot Grandma Bunny, can help. (105 min.) PG; brief profanity, rude behavior. (C.C.)
YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER
(B) When a long-married couple (Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones) splits, he tries to recapture his youth with a randy "actress" (Lucy Punch) while she consults a psychic; their daughter (Naomi Watts) develops a crush on her dashing boss (Antonio Banderas), while her husband (Josh Brolin), a struggling novelist, finds himself drawn to a new neighbor ("Slumdog Millionaire's" Freida Pinto). And so it goes in writer-director Woody Allen's latest, a deceptively droll diversion that revisits several of his favorite themes, from the occult's mysterious allure to the amazing ability of seemingly rational adults to justify the most unjustifiable behavior -- as long as it's theirs. (98 min.) R; profanity, sexual references. (C.C.)
