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"Elysium" * * *½ 

"Blue Jasmine" * * * ½

"Lovelace" * * *

"Planes" * *

"We're the Millers" * ½

"Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters" * * ½

"Dealing with Idiots" * * ½

"Wasteland" * *

"Europa Report" * *


Selected mini-reviews of films in theaters, listed alphabetically:

"The Attack"


Drama. * * * * R. The Israeli-Arab conflict is stripped to its most intensely personal level in "The Attack," a haunting and heartbreaking meditation on violence, choice, love and duty that is one of the most remarkable films of the year. At the Chez. (Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram) 102 minutes

"The Conjuring"


"Despicable Me 2" Family. PG. "Despicable Me" had two big things going for it — heart and humor. "Despicable Me 2" doesn't have nearly as much heart, but it makes up for that deficiency with a lot more humor. (Rick Bentley, The Fresno Bee) 98 minutes

"Fruitevale Station" Reality-based drama. * * * ½ R. Michael B. Jordan's has made it onto 2013's list of likely Academy Award contenders for his portrayal of Oscar Grant III in writer-director Ryan Coogler's richly observed, beautifully performed and conscience-rattling debut feature. In 2009, Grant, 22, was lethally shot on a San Francisco train platform by a BART transit cop early New Year's Day. To remind audiences who Grant was before he became a headline, Coogler focuses not on the incident but on the 26 hours prior. With Octavia Spencer and Melonie Diaz. (Lisa Kennedy, The Denver Post) 84 minutes

"Red 2" Action comedy. * * * PG-13. Most of the cast from 2010's sleeper hit is here for an even more absurd if unexpectedly endearing ride. (Kennedy) 107 minutes

"The Smurfs 2"

Animated sequel. PG. There's so much torture and suffering in this movie it feels like "Zero Dark Smurfy." There was a sporadic wit to the first "The Smurfs," and lead actor Neil Patrick Harris made an honest effort playing live action foil to the animated Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Clumsy Smurf and friends. Gone from is the charm of Smurf Village. Gone is the prospect of daylight. At least 90 percent of the sequel seems to be filmed in gloomy basements, darkness and torture chambers. (Peter Hautlaub, San Francisco Chronicle ) 104 minutes

"Still Mine"

Drama. * * * PG-13. An obstinate man meets an immovable bureaucracy in the Canadian drama "Still Mine" and, as painful as that clash is, we are all the better for it. James Cromwell gives a first-rate turn as farmer Craig Morrison. When his wife of 60-plus years shows signs of memory loss, he throws himself headlong into a project: Build a home on their 2,000-acre spread that can accommodate her frailty but also give her a view of a nearby bay she's hankered for. Building permits be damned. So begins the loggerheads. Geneviève Bujold does sweet work as the strong, then faltering, then strong then faltering again, Irene. It's clear, she knew (still does on her better days) how to gentle her headstrong husband. Campbell Scott also stars. At the Chez. (Kennedy) 103 minutes

"Two Guns"

Action flick. * * * R. The biggest guns this action flick brandishes are stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg who have very different acting styles that work surprisingly well together. Think peanut butter and chocolate. Or as DEA agent Bobby Trench (Washington) and naval intelligence officer Michael "Stig" Stigman joke, the ebony and ivory keys on a piano. "2 Guns" builds its buddy flick atop the notion that its buddies really don't much trust each other. As the movie starts, Bobby and Stig seem like a team. They're casing a bank in a dusty Texas border town. The wrinkle here is each man — unbeknownst to the other — is a lawman working to entrap his partner.That's just one twist in a film rife with them. Without plunging into the labyrinth of plot, let's just say the two come to accept that they've been double-crossed by people they put their trust in. Edward James Olmos, James Marsden and a ill-cast Paula Patton also star. (Kennedy) 109 minutes




"The Way, Way Back"


"The Wolverine" Action. * * * PG-13. Within five minutes, it's apparent that the audience, and "The Wolverine," are in good hands. The Wolverine is asked to travel to Japan, in order to say goodbye to the man whose life he saved in Nagasaki. He soon gets involved in a tangled and dangerous conflict over the old man's will. Tao Okamoto also stars. (Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle) 120 minutes