LITTLE ROCK — At area theaters 68 ARMORED, PG-13 A crew of officers at an armored transport security firm risk their lives when they embark on the ultimate heist - against their own company. With Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Skeet Ulrich; directed by Nimrod Antal. (88 minutes) 77 ASTRO BOY, PG A young robot with incredible powers, created by a brilliant scientist, learns the joys and emotions of being human and gains the strength to embrace his destiny. Animated. (94 minutes) 85 AVATAR, PG-13 A former Marine confined to a wheelchair becomes a half-human, half Na’vi “avatar” and tries to help save a civilization on a distant world against corporate interests who want to strip-mine the place for valuable ore. With Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez; directed by James Cameron. (160 minutes) 86 THE BLIND SIDE, PG-13 Sandra Bullock plays a well-to-do white woman who takes in a homeless black youngster (Quinton Aaron) from a broken home and helps him fulfill his potential on and off the football field.
Based on a true story. (126 minutes)80 THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY, R When a priest is murdered in Boston, the MacManus brothers (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus) abandon their secluded life in Ireland to look into the case. (117 minutes) 86 BROTHERS, R When his older Marine brother (Tobey Maguire) is reported missing and presumed dead in Afghanistan, the family “black sheep” (Jake Gyllenhaal) takes care of his sister-in-law (Natalie Portman) and her children - until the brother’s unexpected return. With Sam Shepard, Mare Winningham; directed by Jim Sheridan. (110 minutes) 68 THE BOX, PG-13 Cameron Diaz plays a teacher faced with a terrible choice: a box with a button that, if pushed, will bring her a million dollars but will also simultaneously take the life of someone she doesn’t know.
(116 minutes) 80 A CHRISTMAS CAROL, PG Disney’s animated trip through Christmas past, present and future with miserly Ebenezer Scrooge (voice of Jim Carrey, who also does the voices of all three ghosts), who must learn to unlock his cold, money-grubbing heart before it’s too late. (96 minutes)88 CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE’S ASSISTANT, PG-13 When a 16-year old and his buddy stumble upon a traveling freak show, a vampire turns the youngster into something, well, bloodthirsty. (120 minutes) 88 CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, PG A geeky scientist invents a device that causes food to rain from the sky. Animated. (81 minutes) 75 COUPLES RETREAT, PG-13 Four Midwestern couples on a group-rate vacation to a tropical island discover that the resort’s couples therapy is not optional. (107 minutes) 75 DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS?, PG-13 Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker play a highly successful Manhattan couple whisked off by the FBI to a tiny town in Wyoming under the witness protection program, which may help them restore their dissolving marriage. With Sam Elliott, Mary Steenburgen, Wilford Brimley; directed by Marc Lawrence. (103 minutes)86 AN EDUCATION, PG-13 In a London suburb, post-war and pre-Beatles, a bright schoolgirl is torn between studying for a place at Oxford and the more exciting alternative offered to her by a charismatic older man. (99 minutes) 81 EVERYBODY’S FINE, PG-13 Robert De Niro plays a widower who embarks on an impromptu road trip to reconnect with each of his grown children, only to discover that their lives are far from picture-perfect. With Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell;
directed by Kirk Jones. (95 minutes) 90 THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX, PG Three unsophisticated farmers, tired of sharing their chickens with a crafty fox, decide to dispose of him and his family. Based on the story by Roald Dahl. Animated. (87 minutes)85 G-FORCE, PG Highly trained guinea pigs are the secret weapons in a government espionage program.
Animated. (90 minutes) 83 INVICTUS, PG-13 Newly elected South African President Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman), believing he can bring his racially and economically divided people together through the universal language of sport, rallies post-apartheid South Africa’s underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup championship. (134 minutes) 79 THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, R A reporter (Ewan McGregor) in search of his next big story encounters an enigmatic Special Forces operator (George Clooney) on a mind-boggling mission. (90 minutes) 70 NINJA ASSASSIN, R One of the world’s deadliest assassins (Rain) breaks free of the group that transformed him into a trained killer, preparing to exact his revenge on the clan that executed his friend. (99 minutes)69 OLD DOGS, PG Best friends - one unlucky-in-love divorced man (Robin Williams) and the other a fun-loving bachelor (John Travolta) - have their lives turned upside down when they’re unexpectedly forced to take care of 7-year-old twins while on the brink of the biggest business deal of their lives.
(88 minutes) 89 PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, R A young, middle-class couple move into what seems like a typical suburban “starter” tract house and become increasingly disturbed by a possibly demonic presence that is most active in the middle of the night. (99 minutes) 79 PLANET 51, PG In this animated comedy, an American astronaut finds the planet he’s just landed on is inhabited, with the residents happily living in a little-green-people, white-picketfence existence, not unlike America in the 1950s. (91 minutes)88 PRECIOUS, R Gabourey Sidibe plays a 16-year-old in 1987 Harlem, pregnant for the second time by an absent father, who must wait hand and foot on her abusive mother and who gets a chance at a way out when a teacher at an alternative school gives her the attention she desperately needs. (109 minutes) 87 THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, G A beautiful New Orleans girl agrees to kiss a frog who desperately wants to be human again, but their road to a happy ending first takes an adventurous twist through the Louisiana bayous. Animated. (95 minutes) 88 THE ROAD, R The film version of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel about a son and his father struggling to survive in a damaged world.
With Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Kodi Smit-McPhee; directed by John Hillcoat. Market Street Cinema. (119 minutes)70 SAW VI, R Jigsaw-like schemes kill more people. (120 minutes) 70 THE STEPFATHER, PG-13 In this remake of a 1987 film, a young man just back from military school begins to suspect that his mother’s seemingly loving new boyfriend could be hiding a dark side. (101 minutes) 83 2012, PG-13 Nostradamus and the Mayans, among others, predict the end of the world by the end of 2012;
this movie posits a global cataclysm and a heroic struggle by the survivors.
(158 minutes) 77 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, PG-13 The second installment of the Twilight series continues the romance between vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) and mortal Bella (Kristen Stewart), whose childhood friend has a supernatural secret of his own. (130 minutes) 88 ZOMBIELAND, R Two guys trying to survive in a world overrun by zombies have to decide which is worse: being eaten or having to rely on each other.
(81 minutes)
Movie-rating
point system
Movies are rated on
a scale from 50 to
100. Guidelines for
moviegoers:
96-100 Transcendent
90-95 Exceptional
80-89 Better than most to remarkable
70-79 Average
60-69 Awful to mediocre
50-59 Irredeemable
MovieStyle, Pages 33 on 12/25/2009