SPORTS LIFE AUTOS In theaters this weekend TRAVEL
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USA TODAY - L awrence J ournal -W orld FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015
MOVIES
Compiled from reviews by USA TODAY film critics
Rating; the good and the bad
The Age of Adaline
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Plot: A 29-year-old woman (Blake Lively) has a bizarre accident in the 1930s and remains the same age until 2014. Director: Lee Toland Krieger
1 hour, 49 minutes
Home
Rating: PG-13 Upside: Intriguing concept, poignant relationship between mother and daughter (Ellen Burstyn) Downside: Conventional, superficial, treacly romance
Plot: A species of aliens invades Earth, and one of its members befriends an Earth girl. Director: Tim Johnson
2 hours, 30 minutes
Insurgent
Rating: PG-13 Upside: Plenty of zingy humor, delightful cast, well-choreographed action scenes Downside: Bloated length, occasionally murky plot, overstuffed with characters
Plot: Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) are on the run from evil leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet) in this second installment of the Divergent series. Director: Robert Schwentke
2 hours, 17 minutes
It Follows
Rating: R Upside: Impressive cast, teriffic performance by Hardy Downside: Sluggish, unfocused story, underdeveloped characters
Plot: A college student (Maika Monroe) is haunted by a relentless, shape-shifting supernatural force after a sexual encounter. Director: David Robert Mitchell
1 hour, 45 minutes
Unfriended
Rating: PG Upside: Splendid visuals, strong performances, uplifting message Downside: A couple of cartoonish performances
Plot: A clique of teenagers is being cyberstalked by an unseen figure. Director: Levan Gabriadze
2 hours, 20 minutes
The Water Diviner
Rating: PG-13 Upside: Eye-popping vehicular stunts, edge-of-the-seat excitement, loving memorial to Paul Walker Downside: Ridiculous dialogue, overlong and nonsensical story
Plot: A father (Russell Crowe) leaves his native Australia and goes to Turkey to bring home the bodies of his three sons, who fought in the Battle of Gallipoli. Director: Russell Crowe
1 hour, 40 minutes
Woman in Gold
Rating: R Upside: Deals slightly with income inequality Downside: Too much focus on prison rape, bogs down with a slew of unfunny jokes and racist stereotypes
Plot: True story of a Jewish émigrée who reclaims a valuable painting stolen by Nazis. Director: Simon Curtis
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DIYAH PERA, LIONSGATE
Avengers: Age of Ultron
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Plot: The heroic crew must stop a robot created for peacekeeping but bent on world destruction. Director: Joss Whedon
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Plot: A principled Soviet agent (Tom Hardy) chases down a child killer. Director: Daniel Espinosa
Rating: PG Upside: A likable, strong protagonist in Rihanna’s character, Tip; some laughs courtesy of Steve Martin Downside: Frenetic pace, forced zaniness
DREAMWORKS ANIMATION
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JAY MAIDMENT, MARVEL
Child 44
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Plot: Lily James stars in a live-action reimagining of the classic tale. (Showing with this film is the animated short Frozen Fever.) Director: Kenneth Branagh
ANDREW COOPER, LIONSGATE
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Plot: The seventh entry in the Fast and Furious franchise takes the returning cast (Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson) to Azerbaijan, London, L.A. and Abu Dhabi to catch a villain. Director: James Wan
RADIUS
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Plot: A wealthy hedge-fund guy (Will Ferrell) is convicted of a white-collar crime and hires a straight-arrow black man (Kevin Hart) to toughen him up for prison. Director: Etan Cohen
1 hour, 22 minutes Rating: R Upside: Smart, suspenseful, innovative Downside: Repetitive, gory
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Get Hard
1 hour, 47 minutes Rating: R Upside: An excellent and original premise for a scarefest Downside: The teenagers are horror-movie dumb at times
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JONATHAN OLLEY, DISNEY
Furious 7
1 hour, 58 minutes Rating: PG-13 Upside: Strong supporting performances by Winslet, Naomi Watts and Octavia Spencer Downside: Lack of chemistry between Woodley and James, relentlessly humorless, blah special effects
LARRY HORRICKS, SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT
Cinderella
1 hour, 33 minutes
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1 hour, 51 minutes Rating: R Upside: Strong visuals, nimble performance by Crowe Downside: Melodramatic, contrived, unconvincing love story
MARK ROGERS, WARNER BROS. PICTURES
PATTI PERRET, WARNER BROS. PICTURES
LIFELINE
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1 hour, 50 minutes Rating: PG-13 Upside: Strong acting, stirring moments, fascinating story Downside: Simplistically told, rather stodgy
ROBERT VIGLASKY, THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY
MOVIES
HOW WAS YOUR DAY? GOOD DAY DR. SEUSS FANS Ellen DeGeneres has announced she is producing a new animated series based on the classic book ‘Green Eggs and Ham.’ The 13-episode series will be available exclusively on Netflix and is due in 2018.
FREDERICK M. BROWN, GETTY IMAGES
USA SNAPSHOTS©
Disneyland turns 60 Walt Disney opened Disneyland park on July 17, 1955. Since then, the resort has: Expanded to
500 acres
(includes two theme parks, three hotels and Downtown Disney)
MAKING WAVES
DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS, GETTY IMAGES
Rosie O’Donnell split with her wife, Michelle Rounds, in February, and now it sounds as if the divorce is getting contentious. Rounds filed for sole custody of Dakota, 2 — the girl they adopted — Tuesday in New York. She tells ‘Entertainment Tonight’ that the child would live in a “healthier” and “way more protective” environment if she had sole custody. “I just want my child to have the best possible environment to grow up in, a normal life,” Rounds says. “Right now she’s got 24/7 nannies over there at Rosie’s house.” A spokesman for O’Donnell told ‘ET,’ “This is an absurd and desperate attempt to use a child for her own gain.” STYLE STAR Cate Blanchett was stunning at the ‘40 Years of Armani’ fashion show Thursday in Milan. The actress looked chic in a tailored white suit accented with a striking black sash.
Welcomed more than
700 million guests
Sold more than
84 million “Mickey” ears
(the most popular souvenir)
Source Disneyland Resort JOAN MURPHY AND JANET LOEHRKE, USA TODAY
RIPTIDEPIX.COM/ SPLASH NEWS/CORBIS
Compiled by Cindy Clark
‘Avengers’ trio adds emotion to the action A-listers bring bromance and romance to sequel Brian Truitt @briantruitt USA TODAY
Amid the flying magical hammers, psychic blasts and umpteen explosions in Avengers: Age of Ultron lay an epic bromance and an unlikely romance. The superhero sequel (in theaters today) continues the relationship between scientist buddies Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) from the first Avengers movie. And Banner — and his monstrous green alter ego, the Hulk — finds he has romantic feelings for Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), who has a way of taming the raging beast. The Stark/Banner dynamic found a life off the screen as well with movie fans popularizing the “Science Bros” meme. (Downey and Ruffalo have had fun with it themselves on social media.) “They’re the two guys who speak science,” director Joss Whedon says of the tech-savvy pair. “It’s a fun little clique to have within the Avengers.” In Age of Ultron, Avengers Tower is essentially a scientific theme park where the two brainiacs find a home. Stark “knows it’s always good to check your work with an equal. That’s where him and Bruce really get along,” says Downey, 50.
ROBERT HANASHIRO, USA TODAY
Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Jr. make up an unorthodox love triangle in Age of Ultron. “Also, giving Bruce something to do is a good meditation. To keep things the right shade of green.” Still, Stark and Banner birth the villainous artificial intelligence of Ultron (James Spader) after meddling with questionably ethical discoveries, says executive producer Jeremy Latcham. “They have the best intentions. But it becomes sentient.” Ruffalo, 47, says he and Downey work so well together because they’re the “old-timers” in the cast. “There’s an ease there that is comfortable for people and fun for us,” the actor says. “Robert was key in bringing me into the franchise. Certainly when I talked him (before the first Avengers), I was like, ‘I don’t know, Robert,’ and he said, ‘We got this.’ Which is very much the
relationship that Banner and Stark have in a strange way.” Natasha Romanoff has flirted with Stark and Captain America (Chris Evans) in previous movies, but Banner could be her Mr. Right, Johansson says. “They finally get this sense of family amongst the Avengers, as dysfunctional as it may be, that they both are looking for,” says Johansson, 30. “Yet they’re both tethered to this greater calling.” Their emotional scene in a farmhouse — and those where Stark and Banner are just dudes doing experiments — contain the humanity and intimacy Whedon wants at the heart of an actionpacked Avengers movie. “I start small and get bigger, as opposed to, ‘Well, let’s all fight and then we’ll figure out why.’ ”