http://www.kansascity.com/710/index.xml News, sports and entertainment from The Kansas City Star en-us Copyright 2012Kansas City Star Movie Reviews 60 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:42:48 CST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys 1.1.fi feedback@kansascity.com (Feedback) http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/09/3418326/safe-house-denzel-does-it-again.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/09/3418326/safe-house-denzel-does-it-again.html#storylink=rss Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:00 CST Denzel Washington is back with a vengeance in "Safe House," a lively, gritty thriller that provides his strongest role since 2007's "American Gangster." http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/09/3418331/journey-2-an-easy-romp-for-the.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/09/3418331/journey-2-an-easy-romp-for-the.html#storylink=rss Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:00 CST The new "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" is an agreeable, family-friendly adventure that benefits from an appealing cast. Dwayne Johnson uses his physical gifts and cheeky charm to create a persona that can be form-fitted to all kinds of situations. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/09/3418357/the-vow-a-tame-weeper-2-stars.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/09/3418357/the-vow-a-tame-weeper-2-stars.html#storylink=rss Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:00 CST "The Vow" is like a Nicholas Sparks novel with a dash of wit, a hint of edge and a smidgen less sap. It's a romance in "The Notebook" tradition -- "inspired by true events" and scripted by committee. But as such concoctions go, it's not half bad. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/10/3421049/star-wars-phantom-menace-3d-as.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/10/3421049/star-wars-phantom-menace-3d-as.html#storylink=rss Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:00 CST Oh, yeah: Jar Jar Binks. And aliens in rubber masks recycled from '70s children's TV. And lines that are recycled ("I've got a bad feeling about this"). We don't want to remember "Star Wars: Episode 1--The Phantom Menace" is pretty bad. Then we do. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/09/3418345/animated-shorts-wonderful-new.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/09/3418345/animated-shorts-wonderful-new.html#storylink=rss Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:00 CST Magic, whimsy, a fair amount of darkness (loneliness, aging, death, zombie apocalypses) and a wonderful mix of old-school cartooning and digital animation are on tap as the five 2012 Academy Award nominees for animated shorts are available for viewing at the Tivoli Cinemas. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/09/3418347/live-action-shorts-full-of-surprises.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/09/3418347/live-action-shorts-full-of-surprises.html#storylink=rss Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:00 CST Where feature films conform to the three-act structure of drama, movie short subjects are more like short stories. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/08/3416766/pina-the-glories-of-dance-in-3.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/08/3416766/pina-the-glories-of-dance-in-3.html#storylink=rss Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00 CST Like the great Pele, Pina was a one-name person, a groundbreaking dancer and choreographer with accomplishments so one-of-a-kind that to her admirers no surname was necessary. But whether you're familiar with Pina Bausch's work or not, the new film "Pina" is a knockout. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/02/3404439/woman-in-black-a-black-mark-for.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/02/3404439/woman-in-black-a-black-mark-for.html#storylink=rss Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:00 CST Toys made during the turn of the last century sure were creepy. Good thing, too. Because without cutaway shots to such tin and porcelain playthings, this dreary horror movie would provide even fewer scares. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/02/3404399/chronicle-a-different-sort-of.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/02/3404399/chronicle-a-different-sort-of.html#storylink=rss Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:00 CST Teenagers acquire superpowers and, being teenagers, videotape themselves as they learn what they can do in "Chronicle," an entertaining comic-book movie without the comic book. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/02/3404395/big-miracle-a-whale-of-a-tale.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/02/3404395/big-miracle-a-whale-of-a-tale.html#storylink=rss Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:00 CST The title isn't an exaggeration. It's no small miracle that the story of that nearly forgotten moment, the plight of a family of gray whales, makes for a delightful family movie. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/26/3392245/the-grey-thrills-and-chills-3.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/26/3392245/the-grey-thrills-and-chills-3.html#storylink=rss Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:00 CST Few fears go unexploited in "The Grey," a harrowing tale of survival in the Alaskan wilderness. Anyone who has experienced nightmares about getting ripped apart by wolves or freezing/falling/drowning to death will find this action-drama tough but rewarding to sit through. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/26/3392255/man-on-a-ledge-a-thriller-short.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/26/3392255/man-on-a-ledge-a-thriller-short.html#storylink=rss Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:00 CST Say this much for "Man on a Ledge": It sure is about a man on a ledge. The audience, on the other hand, never quite gets that anything-can-happen feeling from this preposterous action thriller. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/26/3394141/albert-nobbs-not-believable-2.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/26/3394141/albert-nobbs-not-believable-2.html#storylink=rss Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:00 CST Glenn Close may have been convincing as a woman posing successfully as a man in the play of "Albert Nobbs" almost 30 years ago. But the camera is simply too intimate and unforgiving for it to work onscreen. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/25/3392219/a-dangerous-method-freudian-slips.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/25/3392219/a-dangerous-method-freudian-slips.html#storylink=rss Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:00 CST David Cronenberg has, in films as nutty as "The Fly," as hallucinogenic as "Naked Lunch" and as hauntingly fierce as "A History of Violence," explored the way our subconscious works, the way we repress, and suppress, natural urges -- the constant battle between the rational and the instinctive, the civilized and the wild. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/19/3378190/red-tails-a-bumpy-flight-2-stars.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/19/3378190/red-tails-a-bumpy-flight-2-stars.html#storylink=rss Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:00 CST "Red Tails" never takes off. It's derivative of other World War II movies and entirely mechanical in its appeal. Emphatically mainstream in style and substance, it honors those exceptional fliers but denies viewers a challenging portrait of our own history. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/19/3378178/extremely-loud-plenty-to-love.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/19/3378178/extremely-loud-plenty-to-love.html#storylink=rss Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:00 CST Featuring mainstream stars and an art-house director, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" joins the likewise teamed "Melancholia" and "The Tree of Life" as the most divisive films of recent months. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/19/3378188/haywire-what-the-hay-1-stars.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/19/3378188/haywire-what-the-hay-1-stars.html#storylink=rss Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:00 CST Wrong-headed in every way, "Haywire" fails both as a spy thriller and as a throwback to '70s exploitation flicks. Chief among its liabilities is its star, mixed martial arts champ Gina Carano. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/19/3378193/shame-anatomy-of-a-twisted-sibling.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/19/3378193/shame-anatomy-of-a-twisted-sibling.html#storylink=rss Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:00 CST A man, precisely dressed in shades of gray and blue that mirror the colorless, chilly quiet of his presence, gazes at a stranger: a pretty woman on a Manhattan subway. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/11/3365358/contraband-exciting-not-original.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/11/3365358/contraband-exciting-not-original.html#storylink=rss Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:59 CST Ah January, the dumping ground for low-budget horror flicks, Kate Beckinsale movies and remakes of foreign films you never knew existed. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/12/3365339/beauty-and-the-beast-still-enchanting.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/12/3365339/beauty-and-the-beast-still-enchanting.html#storylink=rss Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:00 CST That "tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme" returns to the screen, now in 3-D. But "Beauty and the Beast," the greatest animated film ever made and one of the screen's great musicals, hardly needs sprucing up.