Arts & Entertainment
The Getaway, The Heat and You're Next: Movie Reviews
Let Ankeny Patch help you decide what movie to see this weekend. Find movie reviews, showtimes and more. Movies to choose from include "Elysium," "Mortal Instruments," "We're the Millers," and more.
Movie information aggregated from moviefone.com and prepared by Stephen Schmidt
Any of these spark your interest? Springwood 9 Theaters will be playing all of these flicks. Check out the Moviefone widget for showtimes.
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The Heat
Run Time: 117 mins.
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Starring: Sandra Bullock , Melissa McCarthy , Kaitlin Olson
Director: Paul Feig
Reviews
If The Heat is about more than being a well-oiled delivery system for impressive and effective comedy, it's in part about what it means to be a good cop — including the question of how gender does or doesn't factor into that. Full Review
Every foul-mouthed joke [McCarthy] cracks, every unexpected physical gag she underplays, is so funny you forget how often we’ve seen this setup. Or, when it comes to women, how rarely. Full Review
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Run Time: 92 mins.
Starring: One Direction: Harry Styles , Niall Horan , Zayn Malik , Louis Tomlinson , Liam Payne
Director: Morgan Spurlock
What’s the opposite of warts-n-all? ‘No warts’ doesn’t even begin to describe Morgan Spurlock’s fly-on-the-wall film about One Direction. No warts, no acne – there’s not even a pimple on the butt of this on-tour portrait of the reality-bred boy popsters. Full Review
The director is known for visually quirky choices and offbeat interviews and asides. These techniques can be a mixed bag; sometimes they help lighten up a deadly serious segment, other times they seems silly. But it’s distinctive, and “This Is Us” could have used more of it. Full Review
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The Getaway
Run Time: 90 mins.
Starring: Ethan Hawke , Selena Gomez , Jon Voight , Paul Freeman , Rebecca Budig
Director: Courtney Solomon
Thanks to the improbable success of the "Fast & Furious" franchise, car chase movies are apparently back in vogue. That's still no explanation for "Getaway," a laughably terrible grindhouse thriller masquerading as a "major" motion picture. This is a film that goes to the trouble of staging a certifiably insane amount of car crashes, wrecks, stunts and tricks and then buries them under a hyperactive visual style that ensures audiences can't see a damn thing. It's destruction porn run amok -- not so much a movie as a 90-minute headache. ~ Hitfix (Read Full Review)
Easily one of the dopiest major studio releases since Elie Samaha got out of the business, “Getaway” marks the not-very-anticipated return to the director’s chair of low-budget horror producer Courtney Solomon, whose prior helming credits include the risible 2000 adaptation of “Dungeons & Dragons” and 2005’s wan historical ghost story “An American Hunting” (where the scariest special effect was the squandering of stars Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland). Here, Solomon tries for his best Kathryn Bigelow or George Romero, thrusting us straight into the action, in medias res, with Hawke and the aforementioned Shelby careening wildly through a crowded Sofia park and adjacent pedestrian mall crowded with Christmas shoppers. ~ Scott Foundas, Variety (See Full Review)
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Despicable Me 2
Run Time: 98 mins.
Starring: Voices of Steve Carell , Russell Brand , Miranda Cosgrove , Steve Coogan
Director: Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
Trailer
"The minions give good mayhem and the twig-armed animation’s lovely. Despite the coolest submarine-car since Bond’s Lotus Esprit, though, Despicable Me 2 is light on gadgets – and surprises, too." Total Film. Full Review
"It falters in the middle and hesitates unnecessarily in setting up the love story, but Gru still has charm and kids will adore the Minions." Helen O'Hara, Empire. Full Review
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You're Next
Run Time: 96 Minutes.
Starring: Sharni Vinson , Joe Swanberg , A.J. Bowen , Nicholas Tucci , Barbara Crampton
Director: Adam Wingard
One of the smartest and most terrifying films in years, 'You're Next' reinvents the genre by putting a fresh twist on home-invasion horror. When a gang of masked, ax-wielding murderers descend upon the Davison family reunion, the hapless victims seem ... Read More
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Mortal Instruments: City of Bone
Run Time: 130 mins.
Starring: Lily Collins, Robert Maillet, Kevin Durand, Lena Headey, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers
Director: Harald Zwart
Though imaginatively directed by Harald Zwart, Mortal Instruments, which is adapted from Cassandra Clare's YA novels, is marred by significant flaws. Full Review ~ David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer The storyline is at times muddled and incoherent. This won't bother readers much since they have the "inside track" on what's happening. Then again, the narrative is so predictable that maybe it doesn't matter. Full Review James Berardinelli, ReelViews Everything chugs along briskly and reasonably entertainingly until running off the rails a bit with a wildly overcomplicated finale. Full Review Bruce Ingram, Chicago Sun-Times
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The Butler
Run Time: 126mins.
Starring: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack
Director: Lee Daniels
"Make no mistake, Daniels is gunning for awards here; the movie has that sheen, that Big Important Feel. But the performances keep it grounded. Let someone else decide winners and losers. Just enjoy “The Butler” for the sometimes-moving experience it is." Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic. Full Review "Crudely powerful. You can object to the thuggish direction and the script that’s a series of signposts, but not the central idea, which is genuinely illuminating." David Edelstein, New York Magazine. Full Review
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Elysium
Run Time: 109 mins.
Starring: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley
Director: Neill Blomkamp
"Hollywood loves these apocalypse-soon stories, however, because they function as blank canvases for ruin porn, and if nothing else, Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium gives us the realistically trashed tomorrow we suspect we deserve." David Fear, Time Out New York. Full Review "Not perfect, but a much more satisfying Earth-in-ruins film than Oblivion or After Earth. It is a little more conventional than District 9 (what isn’t?), but confirms Blomkamp as one of the potential science-fiction greats of this decade." Kim Newman, Empire. Full Review Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was! - - - - - Paranoia
Run Time: n/a
Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Gary Oldman, Amber Heard
Director: Robert Luketic
No reviews are available at this time. Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was! - - - - -
We're The Millers
Run Time: 110 mins.
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Emma Roberts
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
"Though the cast partially eschews the family-friendly timidity that the film defers to in the end, this would-be wild thing remains little more than a rowdy endorsement of the status quo." Chris Cabin, Slant Magazine. Full Review "Get past the comedy and there's something almost weird at the movie's core - a deep cynicism about family and a longing for family, both at the same time." Mike LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle. Full Review
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Planes
Run Time: 92 Mins.
Director: Klay Hall
Starring: Jon Cryer , Stacy Keach , Dane Cook , Carlos Alazraqui , Val Kilmer
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The Smurfs 2
Run Time: 105 min
Starring: Christina Ricci , J.B. Smoove , Neil Patrick Harris , Brendan Gleeson , Hank Azaria
Director: Raja Gosnell
Bruce Ingram, Chicago Sun-Times "The Smurfs 2 probably isn’t any worse than you might expect. On the other hand, it’s almost certainly not any better. It’s just a matter of figuring out how much punishment you’re willing to endure for the sake of the small child you’re taking to the movies." Full Review Claudia Puig, USA Today "This insipid, and sometimes awkward, blend of animation, computer generation and live action wastes a ton of talent and lacks a true sense of whimsy." Full Review
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