reel to reel | Week of Feb 2, 2012

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Addiction Inc

In the 1980s, Victor DeNoble was a research scientist at a major tobacco company, where he was given the task of finding a substitute for nicotine that would not cause heart attacks. He succeeded, but in the process he proved something that the industry had been denying for years: that cigarettes were addictive. At Boedecker Theater. — Boedecker Theater

The Adventures of Tintin

When an intrepid young reporter purchases a model ship that holds the key to a mystery, he and his dog embark on a globe-trotting adventure. Rated PG. At Colony Square. — Los Angeles Times/MCT

Albert Nobbs

Glenn Close stars in this emotional and thought-provoking tale of a woman forced to live as a man, Albert Nobbs, in order to work and survive in 19th-century Ireland. After 30 years of keeping up the charade, a new love threatens to destroy everything she’s worked so hard to build. At Century and Esquire. — Landmark Theatres

The Artist

Hollywood 1927. Silent movie matinee idol George Valentin is enjoying the good life, although he seems fonder of his faithful dog than of his trophy wife. He meets funny, sexy young extra Peppy Miller, a dancer set for a big break, and sparks fly. With the advent of the talkies George’s career nosedives, while Peppy’s takes off. At Century and Chez Artiste. — Landmark Theatres

Ballet: Sleeping Beauty – Bolshoi

The second of Tchaikovsky’s three ballets, Sleeping Beauty garnered more accolades at its premiere than Swan Lake. Sadly, the composer did not live long enough to see its success outside of Russia. At Boedecker Theater. — Boedecker Theater

Beauty and the Beast

A three-dimensional version of the classic animated tale about a princess taken captive by a monster who may be more than meets the eye. Rated G. At Century and Twin Peaks. — Los Angeles Times/MCT

Big Miracle

Amid the Cold War, a small-town reporter and his environmentalist ex-girlfriend lead an unlikely international coalition to save a family of gray whales trapped in the Arctic circle.

At Century. — Los Angeles Times/MCT

Broken Embraces

Mate Blanco is a film director who was blinded and lost the love of his life in a brutal car accident 14 years earlier. He has become a successful writer, living under a pseudonym. After his secretary’s son is injured, Harry takes care of him and begins to tell him of the events of 14 years ago. At Boedecker Theater. — Boedecker Theater

Chico & Rita

Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Their journey — in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero — brings heartache and torment. A sensual animated love story set to seductive Latin rhythms. At International Film Series. — IFS

Chronicle

After making a surprising discovery, three high school students develop uncanny powers and begin to lose control. At Century.

— Los Angeles Times/MCT

The Conquest

The Conquest covers the facts surrounding French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s dramatic rise to power — his service under Jacques Chirac, his rivalry with Dominique de Villepin, and his subsequent election (against all odds) to highest office in 2007 — amid personal turmoil. At Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. — Denver Film Society

Contraband

A former international smuggler is forced to re-enter the criminal underground to settle his brother-in-law’s debt and protect his own family. Rated R. Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Los Angeles Times/MCT

A Dangerous Method

Drawn from true-life events, A Dangerous Method takes a glimpse into the turbulent relationships among fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung, his mentor Sigmund Freud and Sabina Spielrein, the troubled but beautiful young woman who comes between them. At Mayan. — Landmark Theatres

The Descendants

From Alexander Payne, creator of the Oscar-winning Sideways, comes The Descendants, a sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic journey for Matt King (George Clooney), a distracted husband and back-up parent to two girls who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a life-threatening boating accident off of Waikiki. At Century, Colony Square and Esquire. — Landmark Theatres

DOGGIEWOGGIEZ! POOCHIEWOOCHIEZ!

Those krazed VHS-hunting pupz from Everything Is Terrible! (everyone’s favorite found footage chop shoppe) are back with their third inner-eye-opening feature — containing a feat never before attempted in either human or canine history. At Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. — Denver Film Society

Drive

Breakout Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn throttles into the fast lane with this precision-crafted action caper, winner of the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival. Ryan Gosling stars as Driver, a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt-driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. At Boedecker Theater. — Boedecker Theater

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Stephen Daldry (The Hours) directs this adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel about a young boy (Thomas Horn) trying to make sense of the world after his father (Tom Hanks) is killed in the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Rated PG-13. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Rene Rodriguez/MCT

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Mikael Blomkvist and his colleague, the heavily pierced bisexual fantasy pin-up Lisbeth, go about nailing a killer of women. All roads lead to a rich family led by Henrik Vanger, whose relatives have a lot to hide. Rated R. At Century. — Michael Phillips/TMS

The Grey

See full review Page 37. Rated R. At Century, Colony Squre and Twin Peaks.

Haywire

Mixed martial arts star and model Gina Carano holds her own in this sauntering, multi-city film that’s slyly funny at times as various men in the spy game underestimate agent Mallory Kane (Carano). Or don’t underestimate her. Rated R. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

Hugo

To write off this dreamy, overwhelmingly beautiful movie as mere kids’ stuff would be an injustice. This adaptation of Brian Selznick’s illustrated children’s book The Invention of Hugo Cabret (John Logan wrote the screenplay) is as much of a personal Martin Scorsese picture as Raging Bull or Taxi Driver. Rated PG. At Century and Colony Square. — Rene Rodriguez/MCT

In the Land of Blood and Honey

Set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War that tore the Balkan region apart in the 1990s, In the Land of Blood and Honey is the story of Danijel and Ajla, two people from different sides of a brutal ethnic conflict. At Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. — Denver Film Society

Into the Abyss

Into the Abyss is Werner Herzog’s latest documentary. Never afraid to tackle difficult subjects, he uses a triple homicide case to probe the human psyche and ask why people kill and why a state kills. At Boedecker Theater. — Boedecker Theater

The Iron Lady

This biopic presents a portrait of Margaret Thatcher, the only woman to be prime minister of the United Kingdom. Rated PG-13. At Century, Colony Square and Mayan. — Los Angeles Times/MCT

Kevin Smith: LIVE from Behind

A live and interactive Q&A with independent filmmaker Kevin Smith. At Century.

Le Havre

In this warmhearted portrait of the French harbor city that gives the film its name, fate throws a young African refugee into the path of a well-spoken bohemian who works as a shoeshiner. A heart-wrenching but ultimately inspirational film. At International Film Series. — IFS

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult. The horror aesthetic — that the unseen is more frightening than the seen — is carried to a merciless extreme in this unnerving debut by Sean Durkin. At International Film Series. — IFS

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

The latest in the “M:I” franchise begins with a Moscow prison break, proceeds to a terrorist bombing of the Kremlin, skedaddles off to Dubai and the world’s tallest building, and then heads to Mumbai, chasing nuclear  madmen, goons and Mrs. Patton’s cleavage. Rated PG-13. At Century and Colony Square. — Michael Phillips/TMS

Man on a Ledge

See full review Page 37. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

My Week With Marylin

In the early summer of 1956, 23-year-old Colin Clark came down from Oxford determined to make his way in the film business. He worked as a lowly assistant on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl, the film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller. At Mayan. — Landmark Theatres

One for the Money

A newly divorced, recently laid-off woman lands a job with a shady bail-bond business and gets swept up in a world of murder and deception. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Los Angeles Times/MCT

Pariah coming soon A good student at her local high school with a flair for poetry, Alike is quietly but firmly embracing her identity as a lesbian. With the sometimes boisterous support of her best friend, out lesbian Laura (Pernell Walker), Alike is especially eager to find a girlfriend. At Chez Artiste. — Landmark Theatres

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

If you enjoyed the first Guy Ritchie retelling of Sherlock, then you’ll likely leave the sequel feeling satiated. If you hated the first one, you’ll probably find so little pleasure in this that, sometime around the seventh gamer-style action sequence, you may ponder: Is this doing permanent damage to the medium? At Century and Twin Peaks. — Michael Phillips/MCT

Silent Souls

This Russian drama unfolds as a series of perplexing, fascinating snapshots, yet the predominant story about saying goodbye — to people and customs — are universal.At International Film Series. — IFS

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is the feature film version of John le Carré’s classic bestselling thriller. The Cold War of the mid-20th century continues to threaten international relations. Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) is striving to keep pace with other countries’ espionage efforts. At Century and Chez Artiste. — Landmark Theatres

The Tree of coming Life soon 

The Tree of Life is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950s. At Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. — Landmark Theatres

Underworld: Awakening

After skipping the previous film, Kate M Beckinsale  returns  to the werewolf-versus vampire franchise she helped make famous,  this joining thrope pals to bagthe most dangerous game of all: humans. Rated R. At Century, THURSDAy Colony jANUARy Square and 26 @ Twin 7 & 9:30 Peaks. PM — Rene Rodriguez/MCT

Perfect 

Perfect is pure 1980s fluff, complete with a swingin’ John Travolta (mousse-filled hair and all) as Adam, a magazine journalist looking to expose the fitness and aerobic-class craze as nothing but a replacement the 1970s polyester-filled singles bar faze. At Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. — Denver Film Society

Red Desert

Thematically, Red Desert is a distillation of Antonioni’s preferred themes and imagery: alienation, anxiety, modern life and industrialized landscapes. At International Film Series. — IFS  

Producer George Lucas labored for years to make this film about the crew of African- American pilots (including Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard and Method Man) in the Tuskegee training program who were called into action THURSDAy in World & fRiDAy War II. Rated PG-13. At fEbRUARy 2-3 @ 7 & 9 PM Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

Shame

Brandon shuns intimacy with women but feeds his desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his wayward younger sister moves into his apartment, stirring memories of their shared painful past, Brandon’s insular life spirals S Pout O Nof Scontrol. O R SAt Chez Artiste. — Landmark Theatres

War Horse

During World War I, a horse is separated from the young man who tamed and trained him, threatening their special bond and sending the fRiDAy & SATURDAy animal on jANUARy an extraordinary 27-28 @ 7 & journey. 9 PM Rated PG-13. At Century. — Los Angeles Times/MCT

The Way Martin Sheen plays an American doctor who comes to France to collect the remains of his adult son (played by Emilio Estevez), killed SUNDAy in the Pyrenees in a storm   while walking the Camino de Santiago. Rather than return home, he decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage. At Boedecker Theater. — Boedecker Theater

The Woman in Black

When a widowed  lawyer is sent to a remote village to settle the affairs of a deceased eccentric, he discovers the place holds a deadly secret. At Century. — Los Angeles Times/MCT

Young Goethe in Love

Germany 1772 young and tumultuous JohannGoethe 2-3 aspires to be a poet but after failing his law exams is sent by his father to a sleepy provincial court to mend his ways. A lively, deeply felt film that convinces us a historical figure’s life was as compelling as the work he achieved. At International Film Series. — IFS