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Amour This is without doubt some kind of good movie - about the rapid decline of a woman in her 80s (Emmanuelle Riva) - and a memorable cinematic experience that you will probably never regret. Anna Karenina Joe Wright's misguided and miscast version of the Tolstoy classic uses a host of distancing devices - namely doing the movie as though it took place on a stage - but the effect is to render something cold that should have been warm. Argo That Ben Affleck can direct a film this smart, this gripping, is no surprise any longer, but still - his account of a rescue effort during the Iran hostage crisis is as precise as it is suspenseful. Affleck plays the CIA operative who aims to fly out six Americans posing as a film crew for a fake movie. California Solo This indie drama is mainly worth seeing as a showcase for appealing Scottish actor Robert Carlyle, who plays a has-been rocker reduced to scratching out a living on an organic farm in Southern California. The film's third act is less compelling than what precedes it, but Carlyle ("Trainspotting," TV's "Once Upon a Time") makes us feel for a character who might strike some viewers as unworthy of their sympathy. Django Unchained Quentin Tarantino's spaghetti Western, about an escaped slave (Jamie Foxx) who teams up with a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to rescue his wife from an evil plantation lord (Leonardo DiCaprio), is the most consistently entertaining film of the year, full of dazzling dialogue, imaginative story turns and moments of high tension. Gangster Squad In post-World War II Los Angeles, a cop, newly back from the war, recruits a crew to act as a vigilante squad in pursuit of gangster Mickey Cohen's criminal empire. Hitchcock This account of Alfred Hitchcock's making of "Psycho" is brisk and entertaining, and it does right by his wife, Alma Reville, who was an integral part of his creative process. Hyde Park on Hudson Authentic period detail can't elevate this small and rather sordid story, of an FDR cousin (Laura Linney) who has a peculiar sexual affair with the president in the days preceding World War II. Jack Reacher A pretty good action movie, elevated by the presence of Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike, about a drifter and a lawyer (respectively), who team up to investigate what seems to be a random sniper shooting in Pittsburgh. Lincoln An amazing film from Steven Spielberg featuring one of the year's best performances, with Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, working every possible angle to pass the 13th Amendment in the waning days of the Civil War. Monsters, Inc. 3-D Pixar's 2001 animated comedy, about monsters who are fearful of human children, is rereleased in 3-D. [...] the script offers no surprises - this is the kind of movie where the writers get out of a comedic jam by hitting Crystal in the testicles with a baseball bat and putting Midler on a stripper pole. The Perks of Being a Wallflower In writer-director Stephen Chbosky's beautifully painful adaptation of his own novel, a suffering, introverted ninth-grader (Logan Lerman) falls in with a tribe of offbeat seniors. Promised Land The latest from Gus Van Sant is a satisfying, atmospheric and topical film, with Matt Damon and Frances McDormand as salespeople for a fracking company who descend on a small town and try to buy land rights. Rise of the Guardians This new DreamWorks Animation film has a spunky charm, even as the story gets lost in a flurry of action and emotional cues. Children will enjoy the barrage of visual stimulation, and adults will appreciate the fact that there's no bathroom humor or back-talking teenagers in the North Pole. Rust and Bone Marion Cotillard is remarkable in this thoroughly unconventional French love story about a killer whale trainer who loses her legs in an accident and the bouncer/street fighter who becomes her friend. The Sessions John Hawkes plays a polio victim who can't move his arms or legs but wants to experience sex, so he hires therapist Helen Hunt, in this well-acted, humane and explicit drama. Skyfall A good-enough action movie, but a disappointing James Bond entry, with a sober, somber, downbeat Bond, trying to protect M (Judi Dench) from a maniacal terrorist (Javier Bardem). Tchoupitoulas This exceptional documentary, which follows the wanderings of three young African American brothers during a single night in New Orleans, can be viewed as simply a kind of impressionistic travelogue. Texas Chainsaw 3-D A young woman (Alexandra Daddario) who travels to Texas to collect an inheritance has a chilling experience with a chain-saw-wielding killer in the latest installment of the horror franchise. Wreck-It Ralph This tribute to arcade gaming is delightfully off the rails, offering a merger of styles and grown-up-friendly themes that is reminiscent of Disney's 1988 animated homage to noir, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." Zero Dark Thirty Jessica Chastain gives what may be an Oscar-winning performance in this story, supposedly based on facts, about the CIA agent who devised a way to find Osama bin Laden. First United Methodist Church Sat.: "Precious Knowledge,""Sin Pais" and "Which Way Home." Reported by SFGate 21 hours ago.
Amour This is without doubt some kind of good movie - about the rapid decline of a woman in her 80s (Emmanuelle Riva) - and a memorable cinematic experience that you will probably never regret. Anna Karenina Joe Wright's misguided and miscast version of the Tolstoy classic uses a host of distancing devices - namely doing the movie as though it took place on a stage - but the effect is to render something cold that should have been warm. Argo That Ben Affleck can direct a film this smart, this gripping, is no surprise any longer, but still - his account of a rescue effort during the Iran hostage crisis is as precise as it is suspenseful. Affleck plays the CIA operative who aims to fly out six Americans posing as a film crew for a fake movie. California Solo This indie drama is mainly worth seeing as a showcase for appealing Scottish actor Robert Carlyle, who plays a has-been rocker reduced to scratching out a living on an organic farm in Southern California. The film's third act is less compelling than what precedes it, but Carlyle ("Trainspotting," TV's "Once Upon a Time") makes us feel for a character who might strike some viewers as unworthy of their sympathy. Django Unchained Quentin Tarantino's spaghetti Western, about an escaped slave (Jamie Foxx) who teams up with a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to rescue his wife from an evil plantation lord (Leonardo DiCaprio), is the most consistently entertaining film of the year, full of dazzling dialogue, imaginative story turns and moments of high tension. Gangster Squad In post-World War II Los Angeles, a cop, newly back from the war, recruits a crew to act as a vigilante squad in pursuit of gangster Mickey Cohen's criminal empire. Hitchcock This account of Alfred Hitchcock's making of "Psycho" is brisk and entertaining, and it does right by his wife, Alma Reville, who was an integral part of his creative process. Hyde Park on Hudson Authentic period detail can't elevate this small and rather sordid story, of an FDR cousin (Laura Linney) who has a peculiar sexual affair with the president in the days preceding World War II. Jack Reacher A pretty good action movie, elevated by the presence of Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike, about a drifter and a lawyer (respectively), who team up to investigate what seems to be a random sniper shooting in Pittsburgh. Lincoln An amazing film from Steven Spielberg featuring one of the year's best performances, with Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, working every possible angle to pass the 13th Amendment in the waning days of the Civil War. Monsters, Inc. 3-D Pixar's 2001 animated comedy, about monsters who are fearful of human children, is rereleased in 3-D. [...] the script offers no surprises - this is the kind of movie where the writers get out of a comedic jam by hitting Crystal in the testicles with a baseball bat and putting Midler on a stripper pole. The Perks of Being a Wallflower In writer-director Stephen Chbosky's beautifully painful adaptation of his own novel, a suffering, introverted ninth-grader (Logan Lerman) falls in with a tribe of offbeat seniors. Promised Land The latest from Gus Van Sant is a satisfying, atmospheric and topical film, with Matt Damon and Frances McDormand as salespeople for a fracking company who descend on a small town and try to buy land rights. Rise of the Guardians This new DreamWorks Animation film has a spunky charm, even as the story gets lost in a flurry of action and emotional cues. Children will enjoy the barrage of visual stimulation, and adults will appreciate the fact that there's no bathroom humor or back-talking teenagers in the North Pole. Rust and Bone Marion Cotillard is remarkable in this thoroughly unconventional French love story about a killer whale trainer who loses her legs in an accident and the bouncer/street fighter who becomes her friend. The Sessions John Hawkes plays a polio victim who can't move his arms or legs but wants to experience sex, so he hires therapist Helen Hunt, in this well-acted, humane and explicit drama. Skyfall A good-enough action movie, but a disappointing James Bond entry, with a sober, somber, downbeat Bond, trying to protect M (Judi Dench) from a maniacal terrorist (Javier Bardem). Tchoupitoulas This exceptional documentary, which follows the wanderings of three young African American brothers during a single night in New Orleans, can be viewed as simply a kind of impressionistic travelogue. Texas Chainsaw 3-D A young woman (Alexandra Daddario) who travels to Texas to collect an inheritance has a chilling experience with a chain-saw-wielding killer in the latest installment of the horror franchise. Wreck-It Ralph This tribute to arcade gaming is delightfully off the rails, offering a merger of styles and grown-up-friendly themes that is reminiscent of Disney's 1988 animated homage to noir, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." Zero Dark Thirty Jessica Chastain gives what may be an Oscar-winning performance in this story, supposedly based on facts, about the CIA agent who devised a way to find Osama bin Laden. First United Methodist Church Sat.: "Precious Knowledge,""Sin Pais" and "Which Way Home." Reported by SFGate 21 hours ago.