The Austin Chronicle

  • FILM

Pick of the Week

First Position

First Position

NR   90 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

This lovely documentary follows six international ballet hopefuls, ages 10 to 17, as they compete for the Youth America Grand Prix.

New This Week

Chernobyl Diaries

Chernobyl Diaries

R   86 min.   Showtimes

When adventuresome tourists visit the town that housed most of the workers at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, they discover they are not alone.

Daruvu

NR   130 min.   Showtimes

This Telugu action movie is billed as a "social fantasy."

Men in Black 3

Men in Black 3

PG-13   104 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Josh Brolin's spooky good impersonation of the younger Tommy Lee Jones is the only fresh thing happening in this sequel.

First-Run Movies

American Reunion

American Reunion

R   112 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Thirteen years after American Pie jump-started sexual innuendo for a new generation, this sequel is the best one in the series.

Battleship

PG-13   130 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Crass and hugely dumb aliens vs. multiple earthling navies: Must mean the start of summer movies has arrived.

Bernie

Bernie

PG-13   110 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, and Matthew McConaughey star in Richard Linklater's latest film – an East Texas true-crime story with a comic touch.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

PG-13   124 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

A troupe of top-tier British thesps raises this crowd-pleasing pap into something enjoyable,

Bully

Bully

PG-13   98 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

The documentary Bully is devastatingly effective when it comes to putting faces on harassed children and giving them a voice.

The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods

R   105 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Cabin in the Woods is the most intoxicating morsel to hit the horror circuit since Scream or, at least, Paranormal Activity.

Casa de mi Padre

R   84 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Will Ferrell commits 100% to this goofy, all-Spanish-language soap opera-cum-horse opera.

Chimpanzee

G   78 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

The Planet Earth filmmakers turn their cameras on an orphaned chimp.

Chronicle

Chronicle

PG-13   83 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Like a marriage of Cloverfield and Carrie, Chronicle blends faux-naif techniques with a teen telekinesis plot and gets fresh results.

Dark Shadows

PG-13   112 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Sometimes it might be best to let sleeping vampires lie.

Darling Companion

PG-13   103 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Diane Keaton leads a wonderful cast in this so-so story about a lost dog and its unmoored people.

The Dictator

R   84 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Sacha Baron Cohen opts for scripted comedy this time and lands many good jokes and new offenses, but the target is soft and unmissable.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

PG   101 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Even though it's primarily a cautionary ecological tale, this animated film is fun and visually pleasing.

The Five-Year Engagement

The Five-Year Engagement

R   124 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

This romcom starring Emily Blunt and Jason Segel possesses something rare: rational, relatable adults.

Gabbar Singh

NR   153 min.   Showtimes

Girl in Progress

PG-13   101 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

The roles of mother and daughter get mixed up in this old story told in a smart way.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

PG-13   142 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

The wait is over. Katniss Everdeen finally graces our screens.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home

R   83 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

The Duplass brothers return with this finely observed slice of life starring Jason Segel, Ed Helms, and Susan Sarandon.

John Carter

John Carter

PG-13   132 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Old-school "Gosh, wow!" sense-of-wonder filmmaking is in short supply these days, but now John Carter has arrived to fill the void.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

PG   94 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Michael Caine zips around on a giant bumblebee and Dwayne Johnson is a pectoral spectacle in this family-friendly, fantasy-island adventure tale.

Lockout

PG-13   95 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

In this Luc Besson-produced thriller, a man must rescue the president's daughter from a prison in outer space that has been taken over by the inmates.

The Lucky One

PG-13   101 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

This latest adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks bestseller is timelessly shopworn.

Mansome

PG-13   84 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Will Arnett and Jason Bateman are our guides in this Morgan Spurlock documentary that looks at men's relationship with their body hair in contemporary America.

Marvel's The Avengers

Marvel's The Avengers

PG-13   143 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Excelsior! This Marvel adventure knocks it out of the universe.

Mirror Mirror

PG   107 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Holding on to the Snow White fairy tale's most tiresome aspects, this iteration has some visual sass but is devoid of wit.

October Baby

PG-13   105 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

This faith-based film soft-pedals the Christianity while playing to the anti-abortion faithful.

The Pirates!: Band of Misfits

PG   88 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Whether it's Pirates or Wallace and Gromit or Chicken Run, Aardman's stop-motion animation delivers the goods.

The Raven

R   111 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

John Cusack plays Edgar Allan Poe in this historically imaginative but dull and off-putting detective story set in old Baltimore.

Safe

R   94 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

The (Jason) Stathamization of action filmmaking continues with the star's latest.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

PG-13   107 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt are delightfully matched in this offbeat romantic comedy from the director of Chocolat.

The Secret World of Arrietty

The Secret World of Arrietty

G   94 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

This new animated film from Japan's Studio Ghibli is based on The Borrowers, a story about 4-inch-tall people who live undetected among their human hosts.

Sound of My Voice

R   84 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

This festival favorite marks an impressive film debut for its director and star, but its sum total is less satisfying than its parts.

Think Like a Man

PG-13   122 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

This romantic comedy is based on comedian Steve Harvey's book, "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man."

The Three Stooges: The Movie

PG   92 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

All three leads are adequate, but the attempt to re-create the madcap aura of the original Stooges’ brotherly sadomasochism is doomed from the get-go.

21 Jump Street

R   110 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum go back to high school in this new take on the old TV series.

Tyler Perry's Good Deeds

PG-13   110 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

Tyler Perry also stars in his latest film, playing a wealthy businessman whose orderly life comes undone as the result of a good deed.

What To Expect When You're Expecting

PG-13   110 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

The gamut of the modern babymaking experience is explored by a small batallion of entertainers.

Wrath of the Titans

PG-13   99 min.      Full Review   Showtimes

The Greek gods of antiquity must be angry: this sequel is merely loud and uninspired.

Chrontourage