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EDMONTON suN

SHOWBIZ FRIDAY, JuLY 8 2011

OutGoing
MOVIES
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
The Amazing Spider- Man is a reboot of the popular comic book character, with this time Andrew Garfield taking the role of troubled teen Peter Parker who ends up becoming the super-hero. Emma Stone takes on the role of Gwen Stacy, Parkers love interest, and Rhys Ifans is the villain, The Lizard. The character interaction in The Amazing Spider-Man is believable and there is a sufficient amount of action to keep this flick entertaining. *** than the character the film is named for. ***

The weekend guide

is the American Dream of rags to riches, brought to its logical conclusion. ****

THE cAMPAIGN
Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis star in The Campain, a funny-enough comedy about a North Carolina Congressional District race that turns into a bloodsport of mud-slinging. Problem is that real-life politics is plenty funny already, and many of the movies gags and gaffes are outright hacked off the evening news. ***

as a happy couple. She gets a terrific job opportunity in L.A. and he offers to drive her to her job interview. There is a problem: Charlie is in the witness protection program. Hes supposed report to the marshall (Tom Arnold) charged with protecting him and prepare to testify against some bad guys. But he goes to L.A. anyway. Hit & Run is a jumble of romance, drama and comedy that lacks a plot. **

HOPE SPRINGS
Hope Springs is a sweet, slight, domestic drama about a 31-year married couple Kay and Arnold (Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones) who havent had sex in years and who finally seek counselling. Celebrity marriage guru, played by Steve Carell, runs a pricey couples retreat and after an ultimatum, Arnold has a change of heart. Hope Springs is a good-hearted film aimed at an older audience. ***

cElESTE AND JESSE FOREVER

Rash ida Jo ne s st ars i n Celeste and Jesse Forever as Celeste, a wanna-have-it-all professional who divorces her underachieving husband Jesse (Andy Samberg) because she cant envision him as the father of her children. But she keeps him at arms length in their guest house so they can still have a platonic relationship. Its a sour-tasting ostensible romance, that in the end seems to be more about settling than about finding true love. **

Garner) and Jim Green (Joel Edgerton) have fertility issues and have been told they will never have children. Thanks to a bit of magic, Timothy (CJ Adams) pops up. Hes about ten or 11, and he has little green leaves growing out of his legs. He came from the garden. The Odd Life of Timothy Green concerns how Cindy and Jim adjust to being parents and what they learn from Timothy. Its a bit fluffy and is overshadowed by the films unhappy union between comedy and drama. **

RObOT AND FRANk

In Robot & Frank, Frank Langella plays a cantankerous, aging cat burglar with incipient Alzheimers, who is given an unwelcome helper robot by his worried offspring. Turning the tables, Frank teaches his robot-buddy the tricks of the trade and turns him into an accomplished safecracker. Robot & Frank is a short, slight story, sweetly told and gently and believably acted. ***

PARANORMAN
ParaNorman is a 3D stopmotion wonder to behold. Norman (Kodi Smit- McPhee) is a little boy who can speak to ghosts and goblins. Not surprisingly, he is teased and bullied at school. In the bathroom, the ghost of his deceased uncle (John Goodman) bursts through the toilet to tell Norman that he must hold back the witchs curse that hangs over their little town. Otherwise, the dead will rise up. Coming along for the ride are Normans older sister (Anna Kendrick), a friends older brother (Casey Affleck) and a local bully (Christopher MintzPlasse). Its too bad ParaNormans story and characters are so weak. **

SPARklE
Sparkle is a remake of a movie about the rise of a girl group and the exigencies of fame. Sparkle stars Jordin Sparks, Carmen Ejogo and Tika Sumpter as the singing siblings. In her final film performance, Whitney Houston plays the girls mother, a former singer herself who disapproves of their ambition. Though sometimes hokey and melodramatic, this Sparkle is probably as big a crowd-pleaser as the original. **

THE APPARITION
The Apparition involves a malevolent entity that, its explained, existed long before demons and devils. It harasses suburbanite Kelly (Ashley Greene) and her boyfriend Ben (Sebastian Stan). What Ben hasnt told Kelly is that he used to be involved in paranormal experiments with a researcher named Patrick (Tom Felton) to contact the other side. The Apparition is one of the most boring horror movies of all time. *

IcE AGE: cONTINENTAl DRIFT

That prehistoric gang of animals is back for a fourth go, this time separated by dividing land masses and desperate to reunite with loved ones. Wooly mammoth Manny (Ray Romano) drifts off on a chunk of ice with Diego (Denis Leary), Sid (John Leguizamo) and Sids aged granny (Wanda Sykes) and before they get back home, their adventures include tidal waves, evil sirens and pirates. Kids will enjoy this. ***

THE DARk kNIGHT RISES

The Dark Knight Rises is a spectacular conclusion to Christopher Nolans Batman trilogy. Christian Bale portrays Bruce Wayne again, introduced in the beginning as a recluse who hasnt taken the Batman mantle in eight years. When villain Bane (Tom Hardy) arrives to foment a peoples revolution, Batman is forced to emerge from hiding. The excellent core cast is back : Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, while new ones (Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an idealistic Gotham police officer) are welcome additions. The Dark Knight Rises is a cinematic banquet. ****

TED
Lonely little John wishes his beloved teddy bear could be a real friend and presto! the magic of Hollywood makes it so. John grows up to be Mark Wahlberg; the bear grows up to be a pot-smoking, trash-talking, sexist little stuffed animal who is still Johns best friend. To the dismay of his girlfriend (Mila Kunis). Rude, crude hilarious comedy from Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy). ****

THE bEST ExOTIc MARIGOlD HOTEl

Based on a novel, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel concerns a handful of retired Englishmen and women who decide to seek greener pastures in India. They are: a widow (Judi Dench) determined to make her own way; an unhappy couple with no money for retirement (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton); a cougar (Celia Imrie); a High Court judge searching for his past (Tom Wilkinson), an aging rogue (Ronald Pickup); and a terrible old bigot who needs to outsource her health care (Maggie Smith). The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is somewhat hampered by sitcom-ish writing, but the cast turn such dross into gold. ***

THE POSSESSION
In The Possession a girl (Natasha Calis) convinces Dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to buy her a mysterious wooden box. Mom (Kyra Sedgwick) is not consulted. Turns out he book is possessed. The Possession is reasonably entertaining, however, despite logic lapses and lack of vision. **

lAWlESS
The story of notorious bootleggers the Bondurant Brothers is told in Lawless, a film set in the 1930s in Franklin, Va. Jack Bondurant (Shia LaBeouf ) narrates, explaining that his older brothers survived the First World War and the influenza that killed their parents. Older brothers Forrest (Tom Hardy) and Howard (Jason Clarke) run the family moonshine business. Conflict arrives in the person of Special Deputy Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce), a detective from Chicago who sees the Virginia locals as hicks to be controlled. Lawless is steeped in testosterone, a story full of wild characters and wilder events, and its a very satisfying two hours at the movies. ****

TOTAl REcAll
The Total Recall remake is a futuristic tale of an ordinary Joe factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) whose true past is unearthed when he undergoes a mental vacation at a company called Rekall. Quaids wife (Kate Beckinsale) isnt his wife, but a lethal government operative. Quaid himself is apparently a turncoat agent whos joined forces with anti-government rebels (and has had a romantic relationship with one played by Jessica Biel). Total Recall is a noisy, 100-mile-anhour action fest. ***
Ratings out of five

PREMIUM RUSH
Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Wilee, a bike courier in Manhattan in Premium Rush. One day he picks up an envelope for delivery and quickly discovers that hes carrying something important. Theres a guy (Michael Shannon) wholl do anything to get that envelope, and he proceeds to pursue Wilee all over New York City. Premium Rush is an exhilarating ride.***

THE ExPENDAblES 2
The Expendables 2 brings back the crew from the first film (Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis) along with some new faces (such as Chuck Norris and Liam Hemsworth) to unleash a flurry of violence and blood, this time against Jean-Claude Van Damme. Lots of stuff blows up good in this entertaining flick. ****

bOURNE lEGAcY
If only we could all forget as easily as Jason Bourne. Then The Bourne Legacy, the fourth outing in the espionage franchise, could be forgiven for its shortcomings: A sluggish, convoluted first act; action sequences that never achieve the zero-G, out-ofbody urgency of its predecessors; and an anti-hero (Jeremy Renner) who, despite not having his memory erased, registers as more of a blank slate

THE QUEEN OF VERSAIllES

Documentary The Queen Of Versailles concerns David Siegel, 74, and his blonde bombshell wife Jackie, 43. He has megabucks and shes a former model. When the real estate bubble bursts in the U.S. in 2008, the Siegels fall on hard times just like everyone else. The Queen Of Versailles

Reviews by Liz Braun, Bruce Kirkland, Jim Slotek, Kevin Williamson and Steve Tilley

HIT & RUN

Dax Shepard wrote and codirected Hit & Run. Shepard is Charlie Bronson and Kristen Bell is Annie, and they star

THE ODD lIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN

In The Odd Life of Timothy Green Cindy Green (Jennifer