A&E | Short Takes Special screenings
> smooth operators J.B. Smoove (left) and Chris Rock in Top Five.
Bolshoi Ballet 12/21, The Nutcracker, 12:55 pm, $16-$18. Theaters: COL, SF, SP, ST, VS. Info: fathomevents.com. Cinemark Classic Series Sun, 2 pm; Wed, 2 & 7 pm, $7-$10. 12/21, 12/24, It’s a Wonderful Life. Theaters: ORL, ST, SF, SP, SC Erotic Movie Night Fri, 7 pm, free. Erotic Heritage Museum, 3275 Industrial Road, 702-794-4000. Midnight Brewvies Mon, movie plus popcorn, midnight, free. Elixir, 2920 N. Green Valley Parkway, Henderson, 702-272-0000. Sci Fi Center Mon, Cinemondays, 8 pm, free. 12/19, Star Trek slumber party featuring episode screenings, costumes, games, more, 8 pm-2 am. 12/20, Blade Runner, 8 pm, free. 12/20, Let the Right One In, 10 pm, free. 12/25, Doctor Who Christmas Special, 6 pm, free. 5077 Arville St., 702-792-4335, thescificenter. com. Tween Movie Party 12/19, Rise of the Guardians, 3 pm, free. Summerlin Library, 1771 Inner Circle Dr., 702-507-3863.
New this week Annie aaccc Quvenzhané Wallis, Jamie Foxx, Rose Byrne, Cameron Diaz. Directed by Will Gluck. 118 minutes. Rated PG. See review Page 45. Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, COL, DI, FH, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, TS, TX Foxcatcher aabcc Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo. Directed by Bennett Miller. 134 minutes. Rated R. See review Page 44. Theaters: DTS, SC, TS The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies aabcc Martin Freeman, Luke Evans, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellen. Directed by Peter Jackson. 144 minutes. Rated PG-13. See review Page 43. Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, DI, FH, GVL, GVR, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, TS, TX Night at the Musem: Secret of the Tomb aaccc Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Dan Stevens. Directed by Shawn Levy. 98 minutes. Rated PG. See review Page 45. Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, COL, DI, FH, GVL, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, TS, TX PK (Not reviewed) Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh Rajput. Directed by Rajkumar Hirani. 153 minutes. Not rated. In Hindi with English subtitles. A childlike stranger visits the big city and causes chaos. Theaters: ST, VS Wild aaaac Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Thomas Sadoski. Directed by JeanMarc Vallée. 115 minutes. Rated R. See review Page 44. Theaters: AL, BS, COL, DTS, ORL, PAL, SC, SP, TS, TX
Now playing Action Jackson (Not reviewed) Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha, Yami
Gautam. Directed by Prabhudeva. 144 minutes. Not rated. In Hindi with English subtitles. A small-time criminal gets involved with a mysterious woman. Theaters: VS Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day aabcc Ed Oxenbould, Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner. Directed by Miguel Arteta. 81 minutes. Rated PG. In order to turn Judith Viorst’s 1972 children’s book into a live-action feature, producers have abandoned almost everything about it except the concept of a bad day, which now extends to young Alexander’s entire family. Viorst’s book is a beloved classic; the movie is destined for afternoon filler on the Disney Channel. –JB Theaters: TC, VS Big Hero 6 aabcc Voices of Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, T.J. Miller. Directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams. 108 minutes. Rated PG. Based loosely on an obscure Marvel comic book, this Disney animated adventure features a bright, friendly world and some exciting action sequences, plus a very entertaining character in cuddly robot Baymax. But its superhero-team origin story is bland and familiar, with Scooby-Doo-level plotting and underdeveloped characters. –JB Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, COL, DI, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SP, TS, TX Birdman aaabc Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts. Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. 119 minutes. Rated R. Keaton gets a much-needed
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comeback vehicle in Iñárritu’s entertaining chamber piece, playing a washed-up actor—famous for playing a Batman-like superhero called Birdman—who’s now directing and starring in a chaotic Broadway play. Seemingly composed of a single continous shot, the film also boasts Norton, Watts and Andrea Riseborough as fellow actors. –MD Theaters: GVR, ORL, ST, VS
Rated R. Poitras’ documentary chronicles the first meetings between journalists and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, which gives it an appealing you-are-there quality, but it quickly turns into a tiresome behind-thescenes rehash of old news, with tedious scenes of Snowden fussing around his hotel room, and nothing new to say about the NSA scandal. –JB Theaters: VS
Antoine Fuqua. 131 minutes. Rated R. Washington is convincingly worldweary and taciturn as a former government operative, living a quiet life until he decides to take on the men who beat up a local prostitute (Moretz). Washington’s wry presence enlivens what can be a drab, dreary film, an overlong adaptation of the 1980s TV series. –JB Theaters: BS, DI, VS
The Book of Life aaccc Voices of Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum. Directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez. 95 minutes. Rated PG. This animated movie tells a bland story about a love triangle connected to the Mexican Day of the Dead. With corny jokes, flat dialogue, a thin plot, blocky animation and a soundtrack full of lazily mariachi-fied versions of pop songs, it’s a weak representation of a rich cultural tradition. –JB Theaters: TC
Dracula Untold abccc Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon, Dominic Cooper. Directed by Gary Shore. 92 minutes. Rated PG-13. Focused on the title character before he was worth making a movie about, Untold takes place in the 15th century, with Vlad the Impaler (Evans) going to unspeakable lengths to defend his homeland of Transylvania. Untold is a generic medieval action epic, filled with garish CGI clutter and ironically bloodless violence. –JB Theaters: ST
Exodus: Gods and Kings aaccc Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley. Directed by Ridley Scott. 150 minutes. Rated PG-13. Exodus lacks the boldness and personality of Darren Aronofsky’s recent biblical film Noah, instead plodding dutifully through the story of Moses’ liberation of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. Not that the movie doesn’t deviate from and embellish the biblical narrative, but it does so only in service of typical blockbuster bombast. –JB Theaters: AL, CAN, CH, COL, DI, GVL, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS
The Boxtrolls aaabc Voices of Isaac Hempstead Wright, Ben Kingsley, Elle Fanning. Directed by Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi. 97 minutes. Rated PG. The title characters, trolls who wear cardboard boxes like turtle shells, are actually quite friendly and cute, but a diabolical exterminator wants to eradicate them. The third film from stop-motion animation studio Laika, The Boxtrolls isn’t quite as affecting or idiosyncratic as the studio’s first two, but it’s still entertaining and inventive. –JB Theaters: TC Citizenfour aaccc Directed by Laura Poitras. 114 minutes.
Dumb and Dumber To abccc Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Rob Riggle. Directed by Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly. 109 minutes. Rated PG-13. Dim-witted friends Harry (Daniels) and Lloyd (Carrey) return to search for Harry’s long-lost daughter. Directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly do their best to recapture the first movie’s appeal 20 years later, but the effort comes across as desperate and sad, with meager laughs and sloppy storytelling. –JB Theaters: CH, COL, DI, ORL, SF, ST, TX, VS The Equalizer aabcc Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz. Directed by
Fury aaacc Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman. Directed by David Ayer. 135 minutes. Rated R. Five American soldiers take on what seems like the entire SS in this ultraviolent World War II epic, written and directed by David Ayer (End of Watch). At once refreshingly old-fashioned and disturbingly modern, Fury is perched midway between grave and grotesque, and constantly threatens to topple over. –MD Theaters: ORL, SF, ST, VS Gone Girl aaabc