Arts & Entertainment

Movie Reviews: 'Kick-Ass 2', 'Jobs', 'Paranoia' and More

Movie reviews and movie times for theaters in the Cedar Rapids and Marion area, including "Elysium" and "We're The Millers." Let Patch help you decide what you're going to see this weekend.

Movie information aggregated from moviefone.com

Kick-Ass 2

"A fun if sporadically schizoid return to one of the brighter, brasher comic-bookers of recent years." Total Film. Full Review

"The film doubles down on the love-hate relationship with ultra-violence that typified its predecessor, but A History of Violence this is not." Chris Cabin, Slant Magazine. Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

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Jobs
"The movie is constantly at war with attempts to provide an honest portrayal, almost as if its subject were reaching beyond the grave to steer any negativity back in the direction of a hagiography." Eric Kohn, IndieWire. Full Review

"Ultimately, Jobs is a prosaic but not unaffecting tribute to the virtues of defiance, nonconformity, artistry, beauty, craftsmanship, imagination and innovation, qualities it only intermittently reflects as a piece of filmmaking." Justin Chang, Variety. Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

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Paranoia
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!

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The Butler
"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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Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
"This "Percy Jackson" is a gentler-spirited, less flashy enterprise, though it still presents a natural world that can morph at the whim of a god. I like that." RogerEbert.com Full Review

"In Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, choosing the dumbest character is a colossal task." Connie Ogle, Miami Herald. Full Review

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We're The Millers
"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

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

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2 Guns
"2 Guns is a much-needed reminder that the best summer surprises can come when you least expect them." Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly. Full Review

"There’s nothing about 2 Guns that doesn’t feel prefab, like someone poured a packet of Insta-Movie into a glass of water." Gabe Toro, The Playlist. Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

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Elysium
"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!

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The Smurfs 2
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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The Conjuring
"Like the wood-grained farmhouse itself — a beautiful piece of production design by Julie Berghoff — The Conjuring has an analog solidity that makes the terror to come almost unbearable." Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York. Full Review

"Though The Conjuring claims to be based on a true story, in truth it's based on every horror film that's come before it." Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine. Full Review

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Despicable Me 2
"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

"I
t 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
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

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Any of these spark your interest? Galaxy 16 in Cedar Rapids has most of these and Collins Road Theatres also has several choices.

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