Bilbo shines amid more action

Speciality Theatre

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (3D)

***

Stars: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage.

Directors: Peter Jackson. 

Rated: PG

Showing: Fri 6pm, 9:30pm; Sat 2:30pm, 6pm, 9:15pm;  

Sun 2:30pm, 5pm, 8:30pm;  

Mon-Tues 2:30pm, 6pm, 9:30pm; Wed 6pm, 9:30pm;  

Thurs 2:30pm, 6pm, 9:30pm.

Runtime: 161 minutes

Adventure, drama, fantasy.

Bilbo turns tougher and more cunning and The Hobbit turns altogether more entertaining in The Desolation of Smaug, Peter Jackson’s livelier, funnier and action-packed middle film in his trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s slight delight of a novel.

It looks more like a fantasy — fantastical, with more murk and the otherworldly light of those mass-produced Thomas Kinkade paintings. Characters feel more distinct, with Martin Freeman’s Bilbo making the transition from mere passenger on this dwarf’s quest “beneath the Lonely Mountain” to the brains of the motley crew. And there’s just more going on. Jackson and company wisely tamper with the Holy Writ of Tolkien to invent a lady elf and to find Orlando Bloom’s elf Legolas a part to play. 

They’re more concerned with making this all a prelude to The Lord of the Rings, so foreshadowing and the suspicions of Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) step to the fore.

The padded scenes that allowed them to stretch this brief book into three films are obvious.

But its engagingly desolate and absorbingly back-engineered to prefigure The Lord of the Rings, a movie that clips along and amuses as it does.

Look for Jackson’s cameo in the opening, which sets the tone. Call it another visual triumph for New Zealand’s vision of Middle Earth.

Still, the national tourism board shouldn’t start counting the cash from another uptick in visitors, thanks to this. The Land of the Kiwis never looks so digitally desolate. 

Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas

***

Stars: Tyler Perry, Chad Michael Murray, Tika Sumpter.

Director: Tyler Perry.

Rated: PG-13

Showing: Fri 2:30pm, 6:30pm; Sat 3pm, 6:30pm, 9:30pm; Sun 2:15pm; 6:15pm, 9pm; Mon-Wed 2:45pm, 6:15pm, 9:15pm; Thurs 6:15pm, 9:15

Runtime: 122 minutes

Comedy, drama.

Madea gets coaxed into helping a friend pay her daughter a surprise visit in the country for Christmas, but the biggest surprise is what they’ll find when they arrive. 

Neptune Theatre

Frozen (3D)

***

Stars: Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Idina Menzel. 

Directors: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee. 

Rated: PG

Showing: Fri 7pm; Sat 2:30pm, 4:30pm; Sun 2:30pm, 4:30pm; Mon-Thurs 6:30pm.

Runtime: 108 minutes

Animation, comedy.

Disney is on to something pretty cool with its latest princess picture, Frozen. It’s evolving a solid story template that will give its girl movies an identity distinct from the studio’s boy films.

The new movie is roughly based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen. Compelling interpretations of classic stories is what built Disney’s brand. It’s good to see that they’re still on the job. 

Liberty Theatre

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

****

Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth. 

Director: Francis Lawrence. 

Rated: PG-13

Showing: Fri 1:30pm, 7:30pm; Sat 2:30pm, 7:30pm; Sun 5:30pm; Mon-Thurs 1:30pm, 6pm.

Runtime: 146 minutes

Action, adventure, sci-fi.

There’s trouble in the districts once again.

And this is a satisfying second instalment in the promised quadrilogy based on Suzanne Collins’ megaselling series about life in a dystopian land where a select group of boys and girls kill each other for the entertainment of the masses.

Catching Fire is bigger, better and broodier than the first film. 

Southside

Last Vegas

***

Stars: Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline. 

Director: Jon Turteltaub

Rated: PG-13

Showing: Call 297-2821 for show times.

Runtime: 105 minutes

Comedy. 

Even if this is the safest Vegas romp of them all, this cast never lets us forget we’re in good hands. 

All reviews by MCT