Roger Ebert Movie Review - 03/05/10, 20:31

Roger Ebert Movie Review

Weekend Box Office: February 26-28, 2010

Shutter Island tops the box office with $22.7 million

Daily Box Office: Thursday, March 4, 2010

Avatar tops Thursday's box office with $1.6 million

"Alice in Wonderland" (PG, 108 minutes). Tim Burton's brilliant re-visualization of Lewis Carroll's fantasy, with Alice (Mia Wasikowska) now grown up, and the mordant denizens of Wonderland still basking in peculiarity. Beautifully drawn and told, except for the third-act surrender to formula action. The 3-D adds nothing, drains color, is a distraction. Three stars.

A Prophet / **** (R)

"A Prophet" (R, 154 minutes). An unformed young man is imprisoned, and behind bars he terrifyingly comes of age. A remorseless consideration of the birth of a killer. With Tahar Rahim as the clueless young prisoner and Niels Arestrup as the powerful boss of the gang controlling the prison. Swept the 2010 Cesar awards ("the French Oscars"), won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes 2009, a 2010 Oscar nominee for best foreign film. Directed by Jacques Audiard. Four stars

Brooklyn's Finest / *** (R)

"Brooklyn's Finest" (R, 140 minutes). Three cops, three journeys to what looks like doom. They aren't bad guys, precisely, but they occupy a world of such unremitting violence that they're willing to do what it takes to survive. Well-crafted, good performances, but a screenplay that pulls strings little too obviously. Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes. Three stars.

The Good Guy / *** (R)

"The Good Guy" (R, 90 minutes). A team at a Wall Street firm are power are Masters of Trading and party animals, as quiet Daniel (Bryan Greenberg), who'd rather spend his evenings with a good book, is promoted top their level. The team leader (Scott Porter) takes him out to teach him how to party, and to meet his girl (Alexis Bledel). Still waters run deep. Smart, knows about trading, a little formulaic; we don't often see men at work. Three stars.

Terribly Happy / *** (No MPAA rating)

"Terribly Happy" (Unrated, 100 minute). There's a new marshal in town, but this town isn't ready to be tamed. A cop from Copenhagen is sent to the sticks as punishment, and walks into am eerie situation. People disappear--some say into the bog outside town. The locals aren't impressed by a cop. The town beauty has a sinister husband. A strange film noir from Denmark. Three stars

The Ghost Writer / **** (PG-13)

"The Ghost Writer" (PG-13, 124 minutes). In Roman Polanski's thriller, a man without a past rattles around in the life of a man with too much of one. Ewan McGregor plays a ghost writer hired by a former British prime minister (Pierce Brosnan), whose previous ghost has mysterious drowned. In a rain-swept house on Martha's Vineyard, McGregor meets the PM's wife (Olivia Williams) and his assistant/mistress (Kim Cattrall), as an international controversy swirls. A splendidly acted and crated immersive story. Four stars

Cop Out / *1/2 (R)

"Cop Out" (R, 110 minutes). An outstandingly bad cop movie, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as partners who get suspended (of course) and then try to redeem themselves by overthrowing a drug operation while searching for the valuable baseball card Willis wants to sell to pay for his daughter's wedding. Morgan plays an unreasonable amount of time dressed as a cell phone, considering there is nothing to prevent him from taking it off. Kevin Smith, who directed, has had many, many better days. One and a half stars

The Crazies / **1/2 (R)

"The Crazies" (R, 101 minutes). People in friendly Ogden Marsh, Iowa, start lurching around and killing tier love donnas, and it's up to the sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) and his doctor wife (Radha Mitchell) to figure out why--and survive. Well enough made and acted, but zombies for me have worn out their interest. They lurch at you, you kill them, and maybe they're dead. Two and a half stars

District 13: Ultimatum / *** (R)

"District 13: Ultimatum" (R, 100 minutes). A preposterous but well-made French action thriller, centering on the newly popular martial art of parkour, which means "the art of flight." There's a plot to blow up a ghetto outside Paris and profitably rebuild it by the "Harriburton Corporation," and two hero cops race to stop this, which involves leaps from tall buildings, sliding down wires, climbing walls, breaking into prisons, and so on. The co-star is David Belle, well known in parkour circles because he named the art. The stunts and effects are sensational, and edited so you can actually see actors completing entire movements. Three stars.

North Face / *** (No MPAA rating)

"North Face" (Unrated, 126 minutes). Riveting story of two teams trying to climb the unconquered north face of the Eiger. Their climb and difficulties are shown in heart-stopping detail and realism. The film is weakened, however, by unnecessary subplots involving romance and Nazism. Three stars