New and Noteworthy: Movies

By Steven Rea

Ernest & Celine The Oscar-nominated animated feature, from the book by Gabrielle Vincent, about the friendship between a bear and a mouse. PG

Enemy Jake Gyllenhaal spots his doppelganger on a DVD and goes looking for the guy through the streets of Toronto in a Kafkaesque thriller from the director of Prisoners. R

Noah The Old Testament's ark builder gets a new treatment - from Black Swan and Pi director Darren Aronofsky - with Russell Crowe in the title role, Jennifer Connelly as his wife, and Harry Potter's Emma Watson as a girl who bums a ride on the flood-defying vessel. PG-13

Cesar Chavez This biopic looks at the labor leader's personal life and professional commitment in gaining rights for farmworkers.

  Le Week-End A British couple returns to Paris many years after their honeymoon in an effort to rekindle their marriage.

 Sabotage Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in this thriller about a DEA task force whose members are being killed, one by one, after they rob a drug cartel.

Reviewed by critics Steven Rea (S.R.), Tirdad Derakhshani (T.D.), and David Hiltbrand (D.H.). W.S. denotes a wire-service review.

American Hustle David O. Russell's wild, woolly take on the late-'70s FBI sting operation Abscam is also a wild, woolly love story: Christian Bale and Amy Adams as con artists recruited by the feds, and fated for each other. Throw Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence into the mix and something goes kaboom in just about every scene, brilliantly. R (sex, nudity, profanity, drugs, violence, adult themes) - S.R.

The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson's eighth, and most teeming, film is a between-the- wars comic caper set in a fictitious central European land, where Ralph Fiennes is the concierge of an elegant alpine hostelry. When a wealthy guest dies, and the will is read, a mad dash for money and a prized painting ensues. With Adrien Brody, Willem Defoe, F. Murray Abraham, Saoirse Ronan, and newcomer Tony Revolori. Sublime. R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

The Lego Movie It took 65 years, but finally those little Danish construction toys get their own movie. If the Smurfs can do it, why not these interlocking little bits of plastic? 1 hr. 40 PG (mild action, rude humor) - W.S.

Particle Fever Thousands of scientists gather to perform an experiment that could result in an explanation of the origin of all matter in this brilliantly executed documentary. 1 hr. 39 No MPAA rating (accessible for all ages) - T.D.

12 Years a Slave The remarkable, essential story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was abducted and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War South, won the Academy Award for best picture. British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor gives body and soul in the lead, and Lupita Nyong'o (best supporting actress Oscar), Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, and Brad Pitt are part of a superb supporting cast. 2 hrs. 13 R (violence, nudity, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

The Wind Rises A love song about flight, about childhood obsessions realized, Hayao Miyazaki's latest and possibly last feature (he has announced his retirement, but he's done that before), has the same dreamlike sense of magic that imbues all of the cartoon maestro's work - even though it's a story rooted in fact: the story of aeronautical engineer Jiro Horikoshi. 2 hrs. 06 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.

Bethlehem Former Israeli intelligence officer and philosophy scholar Yuval Adler delivers a veritable masterpiece with his feature debut, a taut, edge-of-your-seat espionage thriller about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cowritten by noted Muslim Palestinian journalist Ali Waked. At once a deeply moving, violent tragedy, a rich character study, and a lacerating critique of both sides in the armed struggle, the film centers on the ambivalent relationship between an Israeli Secret Service officer and a Palestinian teen he cultivates as an informant. It's sure to haunt you. In Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles. 1 hr. 39 No MPAA rating (intense battle scenes, violence, profanity, smoking) - T.D.

Dallas Buyers Club The "inspired by true events" tale of a party-hearty Texas cowboy and self-employed electrician who, in 1985, contracted the AIDS virus. Matthew McConaughey (best actor Oscar) gives a literally transformative performance as this homophobic hellraiser who won't accept the doctors' diagnosis that he has 30 days to live. He proves them wrong, becoming a cash-rich drug dispenser and patients' rights advocate in the process. With Jared Leto (best supporting actor Oscar). 1 hr. 57 R (sex, nudity, drugs, profanity, violence, adult themes) - S.R.

Philomena A surprisingly tough and tender tale from director Stephen Frears, adapted from the true story of a 70-something Irish woman (Judi Dench) looking to find the son she was forced to give up for adoption when she was an unwed teen, and of the cynical veteran journalist (Steve Coogan) who tags along on her quest. 1 hr. 38 R (profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Stranger by the Lake French director Alain Guiraudie's Hitchcockian murder mystery is a stunning, beautiful, and stark minimalist piece set at a provincial lake where gay men meet to sunbathe and hook up. The sexually explicit story is about a love triangle of sorts, between the young, handsome Franck, an older, overweight man whom he befriends, and a dark, mysterious stranger who fascinates Franck - even after the stranger kills another man. 1 hr. 37 No MPAA rating (male nudity, graphic sex acts, profanity, some violence) - T.D.

Tim's Vermeer Fascinating, illuminating documentary about inventor Tim Jenison's obsessive project to prove that the 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer, long hailed for his photorealistic style, used optical devices to get the job, and the art, done. Narrated by Penn Jillette, directed by his less gabby show biz sidekick, Teller. 1 hr. 20 PG-13 (adult themes)  

- S.R.

Bad Words **1/2 Jason Bateman stars as a cynically contemptuous 40-year-old who insists on competing in a national children's spelling bee. Rohan Chand plays his precocious 10-year-old sidekick. Wicked fun until it elects to go sappy. 1 hr. 28 R (pervasive profanity, nudity, sex, crude humor) - D.H.

Divergent *** Dystopian teen drama, with Shailene Woodley as a Katniss Everdeen type, defying the 22nd century postapocalyptic social order, and Theo James as her mysterious, muscle-y warrior mentor. Adapted from the Veronica Roth novel, and directed, surefootedly, by Neil Burger (Limitless, The Illusionist) 2 hrs. 19 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.

The Face of Love *1/2 Annette Bening and Ed Harris are trapped in Lifetime Channel-like mush, about a widow who meets a man who's a dead ringer for her dead husband. Love, longing, and looniness ensue. 1 hr. 32 PG-13 (adult themes) - S.R.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman *** A time-travel movie, a father-and-son movie, a boy-meets-girl movie, a movie that doggedly celebrates the art of the pun. But most significantly, this snappy adaptation of the '60s Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon segments is a movie about the smartest creature on Earth - who just happens to be a beagle - and his adopted human boy. The bowtied canine and his bespectacled kid find themselves ricocheting through the centuries, exploring history firsthand, and firstpaw. PG (cartoon violence) - S.R.

The Muppets Most Wanted **1/2 An evil frog is masquerading as Kermit while the real thing is hopping mad in a Russian gulag. The premise doesn't matter once the songs and gags start flowing. Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, and Ty Burrell costar in this light entertainment. 1 hr. 52 PG (cartoonish action) - D.H.

Need For Speed *** Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul gets his own starring vehicle - and climbs into several, including a Shelby Mustang and a Koenigsegg Agera, in this cross-country road-racing, revenge-taking, stunt-driving cannonball of a movie. PG-13 (intense action, violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

300: Rise of an Empire **1/2 As in the original 300 film, the vastly outnumbered ancient Greeks are trying to hold off the invading Persians. But this time they're fighting on boats - and against a villainess (Eva Green). And as in the original, you get gruesome stylized violence mixed with visual panache. 1 hr. 42 R (strong violence, sex, nudity, profanity) - D.H.