Reel to Reel | Week of June 28, 2012

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER

See full review page 49. Rated R. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

THE AVENGERS 3D

A team of superheroes including Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk and Thor unite to save the world.

Rated PG-13. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Los Angeles Times/MCT

Kumaré is an enlightened guru from the East who builds a following of disciples in the West, but he is not real. He is an American filmmaker named Vikram Gandhi who has transformed himself as the centerpiece of a social experiment designed to explore and test one of the world’s most sacred taboos. What starts as a lark ends up changing lives in this playful yet genuine and insightful look at belief and spirituality. At Boedecker. — Boedecker Theater

BEL AMI

The historical drama based on the 1885 novel of the same name by Guy de Maupassant is the story of George Duroy (Robert Pattinson), who travels through 1890s Paris. From cockroach-ridden garrets to opulent salons, he uses his wits and powers of seduction to rise from poverty to wealth, from a prostitute’s embrace to passionate trysts with wealthy beauties. At Denver FilmCenter/ Colfax. — Denver Film Society

BERNIE

Filmmaker Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Before Sunset) returns to his Texas roots for this delightfully pokerfaced black comedy — based on a true story — about East Texas assistant funeral home director Bernie Tiede (Jack Black). Everyone loved and appreciated Bernie, so it came as no surprise when he befriended Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine), an affluent widow who was as well known for her sour attitude as her fortune. Driven by her cruelty to put four bullets in her, Bernie goes to great lengths to keep up the illusion that she’s still alive. At Chez Artiste. — Landmark Theatres

THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

A group of British retirees (Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith) decide to “outsource” their retirement to less expensive and exotic India. Enticed by advertisements for the newly restored Marigold Hotel, they arrive to find the place a shell of its former self. At Esquire. — Landmark Theatres

BOY

It’s 1984, and on the rural East Coast of New Zealand “Thriller” is changing kids’ lives. This is the hilarious and heartfelt coming-of-age tale about heroes, magic, and Michael Jackson. Boy is a dreamer who lives with his brother, a tribe of deserted cousins, and his grandmother. His father is the subject of fantasies as a deep sea diver, war hero and close relation of Michael Jackson. In reality he is an inept, wannabe gangster who has been in jail. When he returns home after seven years, Boy is forced to confront the man he thought he remembered. At Boedecker. — Boedecker Theater

BRAVE

Brazenly red-headed Merida, princess, skilled archer and general nuisance at the royal dinner table, accidentally unleashes a curse on her kingdom. She then fights bravely — get it? — to defend her kingdom. Rated PG. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

CHILDREN OF PARADISE

Children of Paradise is the tale of a woman loved by four different men. Deftly entwining theater, literature, music and design, director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert resurrect the tumultuous world of nineteenth-century Paris, teeming with hucksters and aristocrats, thieves and courtesans, pimps and seers. At Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. — Denver Film Society Infamously media-shy, he agreed to appear on camera for the first time in 15 years for a 2007 short by filmmaker Corinna Belz. At Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. — Denver Film Society

HIDE AWAY

Directed by Chris Eyre, Hide Away follows the story of a successful businessman (Josh Lucas) attempting to resurrect his life. Entering an idyllic harbor as a broken and haunted man, he buys and boards the dilapidated sailboat Hesperus. At Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. — Denver Film Society

ELENA

This is a gripping, modern twist on the classic noir thriller. Both in second marriages, Vladimir and Elena uneasily share his palatial Moscow apartment. A sudden illness and an unexpected reunion threaten the dutiful housewife’s potential inheritance, and she must hatch a desperate plan. At Boedecker. — Boedecker Theater

FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH

First-time screenwriter Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire, Say Anything…) went undercover as a high school student and came back with the straight dope on sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll in this romantic and funny cult classic. At Esquire. — Landmark Theaters

GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING

One of the world’s greatest living painters, the German artist Gerhard Richter has spent over half a century experimenting with a tremendous range of techniques and ideas, addressing historical crises and mass media representation alongside explorations of chance procedures.

HYSTERIA

A lighthearted romantic comedy that tells the surprising story of the birth of the electro-mechanical vibrator at the very peak of Victorian prudishness. At Esquire. — Landmark Theatres

THE INTOUCHABLES

The Intouchables, by French writer/directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, is the inspiring true story of two men who should never have met — a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects. At Mayan. — Landmark Theatres

JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI

Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s best sushi chef, is the proprietor of a 10-seat sushi restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. As his son faces the pressure of stepping into his father’s shoes and taking over the legendary restaurant, Jiro relentlessly pursues his continuing quest of mastery of his art in this poetic treasure. At Boedecker. — Boedecker Theater

LOLA VERSUS

Greta Gerwig (Damsels in Distress) plays Lola, a 29-year-old woman dumped by her longtime boyfriend Luke (Joel Kinnaman) just three weeks before their wedding. With the help of her close friends Henry (Hamish Linklater) and Alice (co-writer Zoe Lister-Jones), Lola embarks on a series of desperate encounters in an attempt to find her place in the world as a single woman approaching 30. At Chez Artiste. — Landmark Theaters

MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE’S MOST WANTED 3D

The quest continues as zoo animals struggle to return to New York. This time, the path from Africa to America swings through Europe and tags along with a traveling circus. Rated PG. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

MAGIC MIKE

While it would be great to think that a movie about male strippers would be for women what movies like Striptease and Showgirls were for men, the loose threads of a plotline here suggest that Magic Mike really is just about encouraging more men to womanize and more women to fall for their ploys. Rated R. At Century.

MEN IN BLACK III

Seeing Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones reprise their roles as Agent J and Agent K, two representatives from a clandestine organization that protects us from aliens, is nothing new. But the addition of Josh Brolin as a younger version of Agent K and a surprisingly fun screenplay is something entirely different for the franchise.

Let’s not call it good, but it’s light years from bad. Rated PG-13. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — The Reader of Omaha, Neb.

MODERN TIMES

The beginning of the sound period in the movies was “officially” 1929, but Chaplin avoided synchronized sound until this film, seven years later. The story is about the struggle of The Tramp to survive during The Great Depression. He gets a job as a singing waiter, but what can this character do, having never uttered a sound? The ending is magnificent, but so is the rest. At Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. — Denver Film Society

MONSIEUR LAZHAR

Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag) plays the title character in Monsieur Lazhar, a film that deals with grief in a way that feels surprisingly upbeat. As an Algerian immigrant who inherits a classroom of children whose last teacher killed herself while on the clock, Lazhar works through his own personal loss while helping them come to grips with theirs. At Chez Artiste. — Landmark Theaters

MOONRISE KINGDOM

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, director/ co-writer Wes Anderson’s comic romance/drama tells the story of two 12-year-olds, Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward), who fall in love, make a secret pact and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore. At Century and Mayan. — Landmark Theatres

OPERA: CARMEN

Lies. Lust. Murder. Bizet’s masterpiece sizzles in this modern-day production from Barcelona, starring Roberto Alagna, Erwin Schrott and Beatrice Uria-Monzon. At Boedecker. — Boedecker Theater

OTTER 501

As an abandoned otter pup is rescued and returned to the wild, we get to tag along with a young marine biologist in learning about the plight of sea otters, the ocean ecosystem and the efforts to save this species from the brink of extinction. At Boedecker. — Boedecker Theatres

PEACE, LOVE & MISUNDERSTANDING

Jane Fonda makes a triumphant return to the screen in this comedy about reunion and second chances. Catherine Keener stars as Diane, a conservative New York City lawyer who is in desperate need of an escape after her husband asks for a divorce. Along with her two children (Elizabeth Olsen and Nat Wolff), she takes refuge at her estranged hippie mother Grace’s (Fonda) farmhouse. At Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. — Landmark Theatres

PROMETHEUS 3D

Mid-21st century anthropologists discover cave paintings in Great Britain that share impossible similarities to other cave paintings from the same time period. The reason? Aliens! Humanity sends a spaceship out to the likely source of the alien life, and chaos ensues. All the stars aligned for Ridley Scott’s first science fiction film since the 1982 classic Blade Runner to be a great film, but Prometheus is nothing but a black hole of undeveloped characters and gaping plot gaffes. Rated R. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

THE QUEEN HAS NO CROWN

The Queen Has No Crown is a documentary film of Tomer Heymann’s that navigates the intimate lives of five brothers and their mother as they experience the pains of exile and the joys of family bonding. Three of the Heymann sons take their families and leave Israel, one after the other, for “better” lives in America. They fulfill their dreams, but shatter those of their mother. A divorcee, she is left alone in Israel with her two bachelor sons — one straight, and the other, Tomer, gay. At Denver FilmCenter/Colfax. — Denver Film Society

ROCK OF AGES

See full review page 49. Rated PG-13. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

The longest-running midnight movie of all time. At Esquire. — Landmark Theaters

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED

Do you need to know more than that this film was created by the producers of Little Miss Sunshine? No. But OK. Three jaded magazine employees set out on a quest to get the story behind a bizarre classified ad. They’ll be funny, and they’ll be a little bit sad. Rated R. At Century.

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD

Steve Carell and Keira Knightley in an apocalypse film that tries to haul some of the trappings of a rom-com through the not-zombie-related end of humanity. Rated R. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

When Snow White (Kristen Stewart) escapes imprisonment by the wicked queen (Charlize Theron), she is chased down by the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), which turns out to be a pretty good thing. Featuring most of the same characters and general plot points as the beloved classic story, this retelling slaps a coat of gritty seriousness on the whole affair, resulting in a visually thrilling if overly simple experience. Rated PG-13. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — The Reader of Omaha, Neb.

TED

Because crass humor from tubby-bellied men isn’t enough to keep drawing the slap-happy masses back to the theatres, Ted turns to a talking teddy bear. Said bear, animated with all the filthy Seth MacFarlane Family Guy humor possible, interferes with a man’s ability to quit being a little boy. Rated R. At Century.

THAT’S MY BOY

Adam Sandler plays an idiot dad, instead of an idiot son or idiot boyfriend. Rated R. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

YOUR SISTER’S SISTER

In the dramatic comedy Your Sister’s Sister, Mark Duplass (co-director of Jeff, Who Lives at Home and Cyrus) stars as Jack, a slacker who’s still emotionally unstable a year after his brother Tom’s death. When he makes a scene at a memorial party, Tom’s ex-girlfriend, Iris (Emily Blunt), offers up her family cabin on an island in the Pacific Northwest so Jack can seek catharsis in solitude. Once there, he runs into Iris’ sister, Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), a lesbian reeling from the abrupt end of a seven-year relationship. At Esquire Theatre. — Landmark Theaters