CHECK IT OUT. The movie listing feature at GoErie.com/events has movie times and more.
NOTE. Movie schedules are subject to change. Check Showcase movie ads and check online for last-minute changes.
Tinseltown: "Limitless." "The Lincoln Lawyer." "Paul." "Lord of the Dance" in 3-D.
Movies at Meadville: "Limitless." "The Lincoln Lawyer." "Paul." "The Grace Card."
Millcreek 6: "No Strings Attached." "The Rite." "The Mechanic." "Yogi Bear" in 3-D.
Tinseltown: "Take Me Home Tonight." "Unknown." "The King's Speech."
Movies at Meadville: "Beastly." "Unknown." "Just Go With It."
Millcreek 6: "The Fighter." "The Dilemma." "Megamind."
LIMITLESS. A copywriter (Bradley Cooper) discovers a top-secret drug, MDT-48, that enhances intellect and other abilities. As his usage begins to change his life, he begins to consider the drug's shadowy origins. Meanwhile, a group of killers trail his every move. (1:45. PG-13 for thematic material involving a drug, violence including disturbing images, sexuality and language.)
THE LINCOLN LAWYER. In Los Angeles, Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) is a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car. And while his latest case could be his most high-paying in years, it also brings him close to unexpected evil. (1:59. R for some violence, sexual content and language.)
THE LORD OF THE DANCE. Filmed, 3-D version of the Irish-dance classic, which tells a timeless story based on Irish folklore of good versus evil. With show creator Michael Flatley, Tom Cunningham, Bernadette Flynn, Ciara Sexton. (1:30. Unrated.)
PAUL. Two British comic-book geeks (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) who are traveling across the U.S. encounter an alien outside Area 51. With the unexpected companion aboard their RV, they find themselves chased by federal agents and the father of the young woman that the trio accidentally kidnaps. (1:44. R for language including sexual references, and some drug use.)
THE GRACE CARD. When Mac McDonald loses his son in an accident, the ensuing 17 years of bitterness and pain erodes his love for his family and leaves him angry with God and everyone else. Mac's rage stonewalls his career in the police department and makes for a combustible situation when he's partnered with Sam Wright, a rising star on the force who happens to be a part-time pastor and a loving family man. (1:41. PG-13 for violence and thematic elements.)
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt fall in love and flee shadowy figures in this immensely stylish romantic thriller about the nature of free will. The film, based on a Philip K. Dick story, features crazy-sexy chemistry between Blunt and Damon, stark cinematography and elaborate obstacles. But it wraps things up with a fizzle. (1:46. PG-13 for brief strong language, some sexuality, and a violent image.)
BATTLE: LOS ANGELES. Jonathan Liebesman's West Coast version of alien invasion distinguishes itself as an urban warfare film and a patriotic ad for the Marines. A dozen alien ships land on Earth; we only care about the one just off L.A. In the ensuing carnage, a platoon of Marines is sent into the fray to rescue a handful of civilians. The talented Aaron Eckhart and Liebesman manage to pull off the ultra-seriousness for much of the film, before a laughable speech of teary-eyed inspiration finally does them in. (1:56. PG-13 for intense, sustained war violence and destruction, language.)
BEASTLY. One day, Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) crosses classmate Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen), who may or may not be a witch. She places a curse on him that renders him "ugly." Suddenly, his head is shaved and he's covered with facial tattoos and scars. The thing is, Kyle's markings are so artful and stylized, they're actually cool-looking. "Beastly" is just as superficial and obsessed with looks as the characters and the mindset it rails against. (1:26. PG-13 for language, brief violence, drug references.)
CEDAR RAPIDS. Tim Lippe has no idea what he's in for when he's sent to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to represent his company at an annual insurance convention. He soon finds himself under the "guidance" of three convention veterans. Amusing comedy features fine, poignant performance from Ed Helms as the naive Lippe. John C. Reilly is a scream as a wild, push-the-envelope party animal, yet takes his character beyond caricature. (1:27. R for crude and sexual content, language, drug use.)
THE DILEMMA. Chicago engineers and buddies Ronny Valentine (Vince Vaughn) and Nick Brannen (Kevin James) each have long-term partners: Ronny's girlfriend, Beth (Jennifer Connelly), and Nick's wife, Geneva (Winona Ryder). After Ronny sees Geneva cheating on Nick with another man (Channing Tatum), he descends into a world of infidelity where seemingly everyone is cheating. Ron Howard's comedy begins and ends in hokey cliché, but for a brief period it carries a slight hint of Billy Wilder, playing uncomfortable stuff for not entirely dumb laughs. (1:50. PG-13 for mature thematic elements involving sexual content.)
GNOMEO & JULIET. This animated riff on "Romeo and Juliet," with yard gnomes standing in for our star-crossed lovers, doesn't have a single original idea in its pointy, ceramic head. Spirited and brisk as this family film can be, its energy cannot disguise the fact that it's an awkward mash-up of Shakespeare puns, hackneyed pop culture references and familiar Elton John songs. "Gnomeo & Juliet" does feature a strong voice cast, though, led by James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine and Maggie Smith, with cameos from the likes of Dolly Parton, Hulk Hogan and Ozzy Osbourne (1:24. G, suitable for all audiences.)
THE GREEN HORNET. Based on the 1930s radio show, "The Green Hornet" stars Seth Rogen as Britt Reid, playboy heir to the Los Angeles publishing empire built by his father (Tom Wilkinson). But when his father dies suddenly, Britt realizes he has a chance to use his fortune for good and decides to become a vigilante crime fighter with the help of his father's mechanic, the soft-spoken but ever-resourceful Kato (Jay Chou). With Michel Gondry, known for visually inspiring films, at the helm, this looked promising. But it's a surprisingly generic, bombastic action movie with no 3-D excitement. (1:59. PG-13 for sequences of violent action, language, sensuality and drug content.)
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. Travel writer Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black) takes an assignment in Bermuda, but ends up on the island of Lilliput, where he towers over its tiny citizens. (1:52. PG for brief rude humor, mild language and action.)
HALL PASS. The Farrelly brothers haven't made a truly funny film since "There's Something About Mary" in 1998. This misses the boat, too. Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis co-star as longtime friends Rick and Fred, who are trapped in stereotypically stagnant marriages. Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate play their wives, Maggie and Grace, who are clichéd, spiteful nags. They give their husbands a "hall pass" -- a week off from marriage to pursue all the hotties they've been surreptitiously ogling. Naturally, these guys have no idea what to do -- because the Farrelly brothers have no idea what to do with them. (1:45. R for crude and sexual humor throughout, language, some graphic nudity and drug use.)
JUST GO WITH IT. Adam Sandler plays a plastic surgeon and supposedly nice guy who has spent two decades pretending to be a mistreated husband so he can score with sympathetic women (yeah, real nice guy). When he finally falls for somebody, he enlists his assistant (Jennifer Aniston) to pose as the wife he's divorcing. This romantic comedy is idiotic, even by Sandler's low big-screen standards, stuffed with unpleasant narcissists saying and doing the dumbest, often cruelest things in hope of cheap laughs. (1:57. PG-13 for frequent crude and sexual content, partial nudity, brief drug references and language.)
JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER. Part biopic, part concert film and all crowd pleaser, this celebration of the pop phenom knows exactly what it needs to do to send its target audience of tween girls into a tizzy of giddy screams. That includes an effective use of 3-D, so get ready for plenty of shots of Bieber looking longingly into the camera, reaching out to grab your hand while singing one of his infectious tunes. Home movies from Bieber's small town outside Toronto, early YouTube clips and interviews with the people who discovered him, show him as preternaturally gifted, freakishly poised and incessantly hardworking. And he genuinely seems like a good kid; it's hard not to like him. (1:45. G, suitable for all audiences.)
LITTLE FOCKERS. Meet the latest in Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller's comedy franchise. Grit your teeth through the fairly short though agonizing duration of its stay. Director Paul Weitz delivers a string of dumb episodes as De Niro's father-in-law from hell again puts Stiller's nervous son-in-law under surveillance. The whole gang returns, including Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Owen Wilson, Teri Polo and Blythe Danner, with Jessica Alba, Laura Dern and Harvey Keitel joining the cast. Hopefully, the Fockers will call it quits after this. (1:38. PG-13 for mature sexual humor and language.)
MARS NEEDS MOMS. A young boy named Milo gains a deeper appreciation for his mom after Martians come to Earth to take her away. This motion-captured animated adventure would have been better as a live-action film. It looked plastic and is sadly lacking in humor. Voiced by Seth Green, Joan Cusack, Dan Fogler. (1:28. PG for sci-fi action and peril.)
MEGAMIND. A dastardly supervillain who turned evil because of a bad upbringing finds himself seduced to the good side to defeat an even worse guy. The latest action comedy from DreamWorks Animation features dazzling computer-animated design and action. Yet despite a clever hook -- what's a villain to do when he manages to defeat his superhero nemesis? -- it's a thin story that feels familiar and unfolds with no surprises. The movie offers an amiably goofy voice cast led by Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey and Jonah Hill. (1:36. PG for action, some language.)
THE MECHANIC. This remake starring Jason Statham is better than the 1972 original. Statham is better in the lead role than Charles Bronson was. The hit men at the center of both pull off assassinations that don't look like assassinations. They function in a world where morals and rules don't seem to apply and where law enforcement is practically nonexistent. Director Simon West and screenwriter Richard Wenk move the action to steamy New Orleans in a movie that's slicker and sleeker, leaner and meaner -- not in an idiotic way, but rather to reflect the actor and the times. (1:33. R for strong brutal violence throughout, language, some sexual content and nudity.)
NO STRINGS ATTACHED. A guy (Ashton Kutcher) and girl (Natalie Portman) try to keep their relationship strictly physical. It's not long before they learn that they want something more. What's intriguing about it is the girl, a young doctor played by Portman, is the one who suggests this arrangement, and the guy, an aspiring TV writer played by Kutcher, is the one who breaks the rules and falls in love. The flip in gender roles could have daring and different. Except, we're not. (1:48. R for sexual content, language, some drug material.)
RANGO. Johnny Depp voices the title character, a theatrically inclined chameleon who's bounced from his pet lizard tank and cast into the Mojave Desert. Arriving in the critter-populated town of Dirt, he dons the role of gunslinger and does it well enough that he's made sheriff. Gore Verbinski ("Pirates of the Caribbean") has crafted a relentlessly inventive film. Yes, it's a PG-rated animated kids movie, but it's also an extremely cinematic and a witty slapstick comedy. (1:47. PG for rude humor, language, action, smoking.)
RED RIDING HOOD. The classic fairy tale turns into a medieval love triangle in this misfire from "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke. Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) would rather be with the bad boy she loves than the good guy she's been arranged to marry. They all live in a tiny village on the edge of a dark, dangerous forest, where a werewolf has just attacked. If the kids from "Twilight" got dressed up and went to the Renaissance Faire, it'd be "Red Riding Hood." That is not a good thing. (1:40. PG-13 for violence, creature terror, some sexuality.)
THE RITE. Anthony Hopkins classes this up. But even his otherworldly powers can make this overly familiar demonic possession thriller engaging for so long. Colin O'Donoghue plays Michael Kovak, an aspiring Catholic priest suffering a spiritual crisis. Following his mother's death, Michael joins his father (Rutger Hauer) in the family mortuary business. The script is reasonable and even-tempered, but the intelligent setup makes the over-the-top climax feel like even more of a letdown. (1:54. PG-13 for disturbing thematic material, violence, frightening images, and language including sexual references.)
TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT. Topher Grace stars as Matt Franklin, a recent MIT grad. It's 1988, and instead of landing some prestigious engineering job, he's working at a mall video store and living at home. When he sees a chance to hook up with Tori (Teresa Palmer), the prom queen he's secretly loved, he lies and says he's a big-time banker. This nostalgic homage to the romantic-comedy romps of the 1980s cycles through the conventions of the genre without offering characters who are developed well enough to make us care about them. (1:54. R for language, sexual content, drug use.)
UNKNOWN. Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) travels to Berlin for a scientific conference, but a car crash places him in a four-day coma. When he awakens, his wife (January Jones) insists she doesn't know him and another man (Aidan Quinn) has assumed his identity. Martin seeks help from the cabdriver (Diane Kruger) to piece together what happened. It's a chilly little thriller about amnesia, mistrust and lost identity, with the kinds of chases and explosions you've seen countless times before. To be fair, the film from Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra has its suspenseful moments, including the startling, precisely staged taxicab accident that puts Harris into a coma. (1:53. PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, brief sexual content.)
YOGI BEAR. A documentary filmmaker travels to Jellystone Park to shoot a project and soon crosses paths with Yogi Bear (voiced by Dan Aykroyd), his sidekick Boo-Boo (voiced by Justin Timberlake), and Ranger Smith (voiced by Tom Cavanagh). (1:26. PG for some mild rude humor.)
CAPSULE REVIEWS have been excerpted from the Associated Press. Previews are courtesy of the Internet Movie Database.
RATINGS by the Motion Picture Association of America are G for general audiences; PG parental guidance because of material possibly unsuitable for children; PG-13 parents are strongly cautioned to give guidance for attendance of children younger than 13; R restricted, younger than 17 admitted only with parent or adult guardian; NC-17 no one younger than 17 admitted.
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