'Journey 2' an easy romp for the family | 2 ½ stars

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.

'Safe House': Denzel does it again | 3 stars

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."

'Safe House'

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00 CST

Movie Mom | 'The Vow,' 'Journey 2,' 'Safe House,' 'Chronicle'

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00 CST

Information for parents deciding which movies are best for kids ages 2 to 18:

'The Vow'

Schwarzenegger joins Stallone in 'The Tomb'

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:57 CST

It's an action superstar reunion: Arnold Schwarzenegger is joining Sylvester Stallone for the thriller "The Tomb."

Forget fast food toys: 'Lorax' gets green tie-ins

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:02 CST

The Lorax, perhaps the most famous anti-industrial crusader from children's literature, is getting support from companies that are willing to go green.

Now showing | Feb. 10-16

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00 CST

MOVIES

Best bets Feb. 10-16

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00 CST

WE GAVE THESE * * * 1/2

'The Vow': A tame weeper | 2 ½ stars

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.

Animated shorts: Wonderful new worlds | 3 ½ stars

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.

Live-action shorts full of surprises | 3 stars

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.

Today's popcorn box: Phun 'Phantom Menace' facts and a new Spidey photo

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00 CST

The studio didn't screen today's re-release of "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" for critics, so we can't say if 3-D makes Lil' Vader, played by Jake Lloyd, any more or less tolerable. But we did turn up these nuggets in our exhaustive research (OK, we visited IMDB.com):

'The Vow' is expected to sweep audiences off their feet

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00 CST

The new romantic drama "The Vow" is poised to steal the hearts of moviegoers this weekend.

'Vow' co-stars McAdams and Tatum make the lovin' look easy

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00 CST

LOS ANGELES - Although they're just co-stars in the new tear-jerker romance "The Vow," if you didn't know any better it'd be easy to think Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams are an old married couple.

Dog-on-it: Another Hollywood awards show

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:00 CST

With Uggie stealing hearts in "The Artist," snagging the spotlight at celebrity events and reportedly preparing for a sketch with Oscar host Billy Crystal, Hollywood really has gone to the dogs this year. There's even a brand-new awards show honoring canine performers.

Repeated 'Vow': Comas, amnesia and romance in the movies

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00 CST

Rachel McAdams can't remember. She can't remember the car wreck involving a Meat Loaf song, she can't remember her hottie husband and she can't remember making "The Notebook." Like "The Vow," opening Friday, lovers have been dealing with amnesia and the deepest of slumbers on the big screen since Disney's first full-length feature.

Secrets revealed on the new 'Twilight: Breaking Dawn' DVD

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:00 CST

When it comes to driving a speedboat, Robert Pattinson is not nearly as suave as vampire Edward Cullen. And you might think Kristen Stewart is no dummy, but she is, at least in some scenes.

Free films, special shows | Feb. 10-16

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00 CST

"REMEMBER THE TITANS" Denzel does high school football. 1 p.m. today, KC Westport Library.

'Pina': The glories of dance in 3-D | 3 ½ stars

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.

'Woman in Black': A black mark for Radcliffe | 1½ stars

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.

'Chronicle': A different sort of superhero | 3 stars

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.

'Big Miracle': A whale of a tale | 3 stars

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.

'The Grey': Thrills and chills | 3 stars

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.

'One for the Money': Katherine Heigl only gets worse | 1 star

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:00 CST

On today's edition of "Smart Women, Stupid Choices": Katherine Heigl! She left a halfway decent medical soap opera for a string of increasingly mediocre, decreasingly romantic "comedies" pairing her with increasingly bland leading men.

'Man on a Ledge': A thriller short on thrills | 2 stars

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.

'Albert Nobbs' not believable | 2 stars

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.

'Dangerous Method': Freudian slips, Jung lust | 3 stars

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.

'Red Tails' a bumpy flight | 2 stars

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.

'Extremely Loud': Plenty to love and hate | 2½ stars

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.

'Haywire': What the hay? | 1½ stars

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.

'Shame': Anatomy of a twisted sibling bond | 3 stars

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.

'Contraband': Exciting, not original | 2½ stars

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.

'Beauty and the Beast' still enchanting in 3-D | 4 stars

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.

'The Vow'

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00 CST

When a movie calls itself "The Vow," you know it takes its love and its relationships seriously. And that's certainly the case with the new romantically and medically challenged weepie starring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum.

'2001's' visual effects put Douglas Trumbull on the motion picture map

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00 CST

LOS ANGELES - Visual effects visionary, director and producer Douglas Trumbull has a "broad" philosophy of film. He believes that everything in a movie is, in essence, a special effect.

'2012 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action'

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00 CST

Where feature films conform to the three-act structure of drama, movie short subjects are more like short stories.

3-D film brings viewer into the space of dance

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00 CST

ST. LOUIS - Recently, 3-D has begun to shake off its reputation for gimmickry and be taken seriously as a means of cinematic expression by esteemed filmmakers from Martin Scorsese ("Hugo") to Werner Herzog ("Cave of Forgotten Dreams"). Still, "Pina" is something special.

'The Vow'

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00 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.

Repeated 'Vow': Comas, amnesia and romance in the movies

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00 CST

Rachel McAdams can't remember. She can't remember the car wreck involving a Meat Loaf song, she can't remember her hottie husband and she can't remember making "The Notebook."

'Safe House'

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00 CST

He must have joined "The Agency" with an eye toward excitement, exotic locales and danger. But in Capetown, a backwater as far as foreign intrigue goes, agency newcomer Matt Weston is stuck - a one-man show, running a never-used "safe house" in the C.I.A.'s real-estate portfolio.

'Safe House'

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00 CST

Is any place less safe than a safe house? In the entire lexicon of movie locations, is any setting more likely to be visited by chaos and destruction on a biblical scale? Not very likely.

Kansas City Star: Movies

'Journey 2' an easy romp for the family | 2 ½ stars

'Safe House': Denzel does it again | 3 stars

'Safe House'

Movie Mom | 'The Vow,' 'Journey 2,' 'Safe House,' 'Chronicle'

Schwarzenegger joins Stallone in 'The Tomb'

Forget fast food toys: 'Lorax' gets green tie-ins

Now showing | Feb. 10-16

Best bets Feb. 10-16

'The Vow': A tame weeper | 2 ½ stars

Animated shorts: Wonderful new worlds | 3 ½ stars

Live-action shorts full of surprises | 3 stars

Today's popcorn box: Phun 'Phantom Menace' facts and a new Spidey photo

'The Vow' is expected to sweep audiences off their feet

'Vow' co-stars McAdams and Tatum make the lovin' look easy

Dog-on-it: Another Hollywood awards show

Repeated 'Vow': Comas, amnesia and romance in the movies

Secrets revealed on the new 'Twilight: Breaking Dawn' DVD

Free films, special shows | Feb. 10-16

'Pina': The glories of dance in 3-D | 3 ½ stars

'Woman in Black': A black mark for Radcliffe | 1½ stars

'Chronicle': A different sort of superhero | 3 stars

'Big Miracle': A whale of a tale | 3 stars

'The Grey': Thrills and chills | 3 stars

'One for the Money': Katherine Heigl only gets worse | 1 star

'Man on a Ledge': A thriller short on thrills | 2 stars

'Albert Nobbs' not believable | 2 stars

'Dangerous Method': Freudian slips, Jung lust | 3 stars

'Red Tails' a bumpy flight | 2 stars

'Extremely Loud': Plenty to love and hate | 2½ stars

'Haywire': What the hay? | 1½ stars

'Shame': Anatomy of a twisted sibling bond | 3 stars

'Contraband': Exciting, not original | 2½ stars

'Beauty and the Beast' still enchanting in 3-D | 4 stars

'The Vow'

'2001's' visual effects put Douglas Trumbull on the motion picture map

'2012 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action'

3-D film brings viewer into the space of dance

'The Vow'

Repeated 'Vow': Comas, amnesia and romance in the movies

'Safe House'

'Safe House'