Muppets hit the road

Speciality Theatre

Muppets Most Wanted

**

Stars: Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, Tina Fey

Director: James Bobin

Rated: PG

Showing:  Fri 2:45pm, 6:15pm; Sat 1:15pm, 4pm, 6pm; Sun 2:15pm, 5pm; Mon-Thurs 2:30pm, 5:45pm.

Runtime: 107 minutes

Adventure, comedy, crime.

The new Muppet movie is as sweet as a bowl of tapioca. And about as interesting.

Putting Jim Henson’s beloved felt, fur and fuzz creations at centre stage, Muppets Most Wanted loses much of the charm generated by Jason Segal and Amy Adams in the series’ dazzling 2011 reboot The Muppets. With engaging live performers at the forefront, that movie had the verve of a classic musical comedy. The follow-up relies on premises and gags that could charitably be called tried-and-true. It’s not a washout, but it doesn’t quite make the grade. 

Divergent

***

Stars: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet

Director: Neil Burger

Rated: PG-13

Showing: Fri 2:30pm, 6pm, 9:15pm; Sat 2:30pm, 6:30pm, 9:30pm; Sun 2pm,  5:15pm, 7:30pm; Mon-Thurs 2:15pm, 6pm, 8:30pm.

Runtime: 139 minutes

Action, adventure, sci-fi.

In the futuristic world of Divergent, the notion that you can do anything, be anyone and go anywhere does not apply. At age 16, Chicagoans are forced to pick their lifelong path from one of five “factions” or groups: Abnegation, whose members are selfless; Amity, peaceful; Candour, honest; Erudite, intelligent; and Dauntless, brave.

The carefully constructed society is about to be upended by the darker side of some of the factions in this movie naturally being compared to the Twilight and The Hunger Games franchises. 

Liberty Theatre

Noah

***

Stars: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins.  

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Rated: PG-13

Showing: Fri-Sat 2:30pm, 6pm, 9:30pm; Sunday 2:30pm, 5:30pm; Mon-Tues 7pm; Wed 2:30pm, 7pm; Thurs 2:30pm, 7pm.

Runtime: 138 minutes

Adventure, drama.

Big, beatific and (more or less) Biblical, Darren Aronofsky’s Noah is a mad vision of a movie, an action/adventure take on The Flood that cleansed the Earth. Aronofsky (Black Swan) envisions this epic through the lens of Hollywood, interpreting the Bible as myth and telling one of its most fantastical tales as a grand and dark cinematic fantasy.  

Neptune Theatre

Mr Peabody & Sherman

****

Stars: Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Stephen Colbert.  

Director: Rob Minkoff

Rated: PG

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

Runtime: 92 minutes

Animation, adventure,
comedy.

With Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Dreamworks Animation sets its “Wayback Machine” to the early 1960s and charmingly revives one of the most popular features of the old Rocky & Bullwinkle Show — the one about a dog and his boy. 

Tyler Perry's The Single Mom's Club

****

Stars: Nia Long, Amy Smart.

Director: Tyler Perry.

Rated: PG-13

Showing: Fri 9pm; Sat 8pm; Sun 5:30pm; Mon-Thurs 7:30pm.

Runtime: 111 mins

Comedy, drama.

Five women must set aside their differences to work on a school fundraiser as penitence for the crimes of their children. Tyler Perry blends all the elements into one pleasing concoction.