Words at the heart of war drama

Neptune Theatre

The Book Thief

**

Stars: Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson.  

Director: Brian Percival

Rated: PG-13

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

Runtime: 131 minutes

Drama, war.

The Holocaust has never looked so beautiful.

In The Book Thief — a World War II melodrama about a German girl who learns to treasure words through her friendship with a young Jewish man hiding in her family’s basement — the clothes are neat and new, the streets gleam, red banners with their black swastikas flap crisply in the breeze, everywhere.

Even when storefront windows are shattered and shop owners beaten during the Kristallnacht of 1938, or grim years later, when Allied bombs come pouring down on Germany, laying low whole blocks, the dust and rubble have a meticulous, art-directed sheen.

The film, adapted from Markus Zusak’s 2005 young-adult bestseller, faithfully maintains the book’s narrative device, deploying an omniscient voice-over — the voice belonging to none other than Death. This chap sounds very British (he is: the busy character actor Roger Allam) and very cool, beginning things by declaring “one small fact — you are going to die”. There is a note of pride in this assertion, but also one of weariness. He rarely gets caught up in the personal struggles of his charges; there are too many of them, too mundane. But little Liesel (Sophie Nelisse) is something else, something special. Death takes an interest.

Liesel has been sent to live with foster parents. She was part of a package deal, but her brother died en route. Rosa Hubermann (Emily Watson) is not pleased; she is strict and stern and scowling. 

But Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush), a house painter by trade and a lovable, accordion-playing, gleam-in-his-eye jokester by instruction of the script, immediately takes to Liesel, and vice versa.

When he realizes Liesel cannot read, he begins to teach her, transforming the basement into a wall-to-wall celebration of language — the letters, the vocabulary, the perfect chalkboard fonts.

When the Hubermanns dare to take in a Jewish refugee named Max (Ben Schnetzer), he endures the endless days and nights of concealment by encouraging Liesel to describe to him the outside world — in vivid, literary detail. He is teaching her to become a storyteller, a writer. “Words are life,” he declares. 

Walking With Dinosaurs in 3D

***

Stars: Charlie Rowe, Karl Urban, Angourie Rice 

Directors: Barry Cook, Neil Nightingale.

Rated: PG

Showing: Fri-Sun 2:30pm.

Runtime: 86 minutes

Animation, action, family.

The BBC series Walking With Dinosaurs gets a kid-friendly big-screen treatment, complete with cutesy story and dino-poop jokes.

Aimed squarely at that dino-crazy demographic (7-12), it pumps a few IQ points into a kid’s film genre sorely in need of them. 

Walking takes care to ID each new dinosaur species introduced, including factoids about what they ate and any special skills they might have had.

Liberty Theatre

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

***

Stars: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Terry Pheto. 

Director: Justin Chadwick.

Rated: PG-13

Showing: Fri-Sat 2:30pm, 6pm, 9:30pm; Sun 2:30pm, 5:30pm; Mon-Tues 2:30pm, 6pm, 9,:30pm; Wed 1:30pm, 6pm, 9:30pm; Thurs 1:30pm.

Runtime: 139 minutes

Biography, drama, history.

As Nelson Mandela, Idris Elba towers over the rest of the cast. That’s literally true and perfectly accurate. Mandela was tall, as is Elba (of the Thor movies and Takers). And Elba manages both the voice and a hint of the presence of the great man.  He tends to tower over the movie, as well, in this comprehensive but generally dry account of one man’s journey from upwardly mobile attorney to activist to revolutionary to statesman. 

Speciality Theatre

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (3D)

***

Stars: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage.

Directors: Peter Jackson. 

Rated: PG

Showing: Fri 2:30pm, 6pm (2D), 9:15pm (3D); Sat 2:30pm, 6pm, 9:15pm (all 3D); Sun 1:30pm (2D), 4:45pm, 8pm (both 3D);  

Mon-Thurs 2:30pm, 6pm, 9:15pm (all 2D).

Runtime: 161 minutes

Adventure, fantasy.

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

Characters feel more distinct, with Martin Freeman’s Bilbo making the transition from mere passenger on this dwarf’s quest to the brains of the motley crew.

They’re more concerned with making this a prelude to The Lord of the Rings, so the suspicions of Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) step to the fore. That ups the ante, creates urgency and sets up a love triangle, just one of several elements that become cliffhangers. 

Tyler Perry’s a Madea Christmas

***

Stars: Tyler Perry, Chad Michael Murray.

Director: Tyler Perry.

Rated: PG-13

Showing: Fri-Sat 2:45pm, 6:15pm, 9:30pm; Sun 2:15pm, 5:15pm, 8:30pm;  

Mon-Thurs 2:45pm, 6:15pm, 9:30pm.

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. 

Southside

Call 297-2821 for details.

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