Arriving at England’s Shepperton Studios in the summer of 1956, Marilyn Monroe is at the height of her star power and notorious for her unreliable nature on film sets. She is there to play an unchallenging, bubbly role for the great actor/director Laurence Olivier in his production The Sleeping Prince. Tellingly, the movie will arrive in 1957 as The Prince and the Showgirl in order to play up Marilyn’s presence and the promise of her legendary allure. Michelle Williams takes on the daunting task of embodying a true icon – a woman documented and analyzed from every angle in a deluge of biographies since her death. One of those books is a firsthand anecdote from Colin Clark – third assistant director on The Sleeping Prince – that fondly recalls My Week with Marilyn.

A posh young man from a good family, Clark (played in the film by Eddie Redmayne) finds his way onto the movie set through a willful determination and by gaining favor with Olivier’s wife Vivien Leigh (Julia Ormond). Olivier (Kenneth Branagh in comical pancake makeup) is in his waning days as a relevant presence in a film era that saw the emergence of American Method actors Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, and Monroe herself. Yes, Marilyn Monroe. I believe that one of the main points of My Week with Marilyn is that aside from her prescriptions and romantic failures, Monroe was a female pioneer in deploying the intense emotional lessons of the New York school of acting which clashed with the old guard professionalism of Oliver’s generation.

With her bohemian acting coach Paula Strassberg (Zoë Wanamaker) and playwright husband Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott) in tow, Marilyn brings a foreign brand of neurotic artistry to Oliver’s set, driving him to distraction with her late call times and habitual line flubbing, while ruddy Mr. Clark becomes a confidant and eventually a romantic fling that could very well have been just part of the actresses’ research for a romantic role. Williams perfects certain flirty mannerisms in her portrayal, never quite making us believe that she has the supernatural x-factor that Monroe did. Where the actress does impress is in her “off” moments when Norma Jean is allowed to shine through.

Though Monroe is recalled as a fragile, tragic figure, My Week with Marilyn is polite about dwelling on her darker side. The film is a surprisingly light trifle for the most part – Judi Dench makes her requisite British film appearance offering sage advice and cuttingly humorous remarks as Dame Sybil Thorndike, Branagh mugs and preens in an overwrought caricature of the distinguished Olivier, and Emma Watson is underused in a throwaway romantic subplot with Colin. Plenty of small moments of grace and levity make the film enjoyable, but director Simon Curtis’s background in television is evident in the shorthand storytelling and lack of cinematic scope – it ultimately feels like a TV movie with a stronger pedigree of acting talent and a showy central role for Michelle Williams.

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Hugo, which doubles as Martin Scorsese's first family film and his first project in 3D, is a beautiful picture in just about every way. It's lovingly designed and photographed and tells an engaging and wonderful story, while also sneaking in a brief for the director's pet cause of film preservation.

Based on Brian Selznick's kid-oriented 2007, graphic novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Hugo tells the story of the 12-year-old boy of that name (Asa Butterfield), living in the clock of a train station in 1930s Paris. Hugo's adventure takes him to a young girl (Chloe Grace Moritz, from Let Me In and Kick Ass), and he's later introduced to the long-lost director of turn-of-the-20th-century short films. There's also a mysterious automaton and a vengeful, Javert-like train station cop (Sacha Baron Cohen).

After a year of lazy 3D blockbusters, Hugo has by far the most elaborate and well-considered 3D design of the year; it'll be an upset if Dante Ferretti's production design and Robert Richardson's cinematography don't become Oscar favorites (the same goes for Howard Shore's score.) The train station set, in particular, is a wonder to behold.

The movie, a clear labor of love for Scorsese, masterfully repeats visual and tonal motifs, while subtly foreshadowing all sorts of future events. It's also probably the first kids film in history to double as a propaganda film for the cause of classic film preservation. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Of course, it's also nice that after the silent era was ignored by Hollywood for decades, there are two movies released within a couple weeks of each other (Hugo and The Artist) that are both amazing films and pay loving tribute to that period of cinema. (*You can go see the automaton that was the inspiration for the movie right here in Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute, which was also where I saw the film.)

The Muppets
Also hitting theaters this week,The Muppets, the first big screen outing by Jim Henson's beloved characters in 13 years, is a loving, faithful and very entertaining adaptation that gets what the Muppets are about and why people love them.

Co-written and shepherded to the screen by actor Jason Segel, the new Muppet film is an earnest attempt to bring the Muppet universe back to prominence and recapture the magic of the '70s Muppet Show and the trio of big screen films made prior to Henson's 1990 death.

To disclose my biases: I love the Muppets and have my entire life. It's a love that I've passed on to my 22-month-old son through the magic of YouTube clips of from old Sesame Street and Muppet Show episodes as well as the movies. Kermit is my son's favorite character, to the point where he screams for "Frog!" whenever he as much as sees my computer.

So as you can guess, I'm pretty invested in this movie. Which means it would have greatly upset me if the filmmakers had screwed it up.

They didn't screw it up.

Written by Segel and Nicholas Stoller and directed by Da Ali G Show and Flight of the Conchords veteran James Bobin, the movie is very much in the spirit of the three Henson-associated Muppet films, especially The Muppets Take Manhattan, which I consider the entire franchise's gold standard.

Segel plays Gary, a Muppet fan living in a small Midwestern town along with his brother Walter, who is himself a Muppet (the film never gets around to explaining how it is that a human and a Muppet came to be brothers).

Along with Segel's girlfriend (Amy Adams), Gary and Walter travel to Los Angeles on vacation, during which they discover the decrepit Muppet Theater, and must reunite the old gang in order to save it from destruction by an evil oilman (Chris Cooper).

The new film borrows the plot of Christopher Guest's A Mighty Wind, as the Muppets are portrayed as stars from a different, long-ago time, reuniting for one final show, with Kermit and Miss Piggy, of course, in the Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara roles. The film also finds the time for Walter to undertake a Dreams From My Father-like quest to discover his identity, as brilliantly examined in a musical number called "Am I a Man, or a Muppet?"

The movie, indeed, is a full-fledged musical, featuring first-rate songs by Bret Mckenzie, also from Flight of the Conchords. Some old favorites ("The Rainbow Connection," "Mahna Mahna" and of course the "Muppet Show" theme song) are sprinkled in too, and there's a subtle homage to "Just One Person" – the song famously sung by the Muppets and their puppeteers at Henson's memorial service – that almost made me stand and applaud.

Perhaps best of all, the movie is true to these characters and understands what's great about them. Notwithstanding recent complaints from Frank Oz and other old Muppet hands, there aren't any character moments that don't feel right.

Which isn't to say every choice is the right one. There are a few times when the film goes all meta and the characters comment on what's happening; true, this keeps with Muppet tradition but it gets a bit too cute. Nothing about an extended running gag involving Jack Black is particularly funny, there's absolutely no excuse for using Starship's "We Built This City" unironically, and the less said about Chris Cooper's rap number, the better.

I say this not to denigrate the ensuing Muppet films, which weren't entirely worthless; I was in a wedding last year in which the bride and groom used a song from Muppet Christmas Carol as part of the service. But it's just so exhilarating to know that the Muppets are back, in an entertaining and worthy movie clearly made by people who love the characters as much as we do.

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Blaming Home Alone for the past two decades of truly terrible family-friendly movies is probably unfair, though not entirely off base. During the 1980s, kids movies like Return to Oz, Labyrinth, and even The Goonies (not the biggest fan of that one) featured children who acted like kids going on adventures and solving their predicaments with childlike wonder and enthusiasm. Home Alone changed the landscape, and subsequent films featured the child star as smarter and/or more mature than the adult villains, saving the day with extreme amounts of cartoon violence and product placement. This tendency continued throughout the subsequent decade, but thanks to Shrek, these movies got to add already out-of-date pop culture references to their repertoire.

However, a change has started to happen, and we probably have Pixar to thank for beginning to remind us that a double entendre amidst hit-in-the-balls jokes does not make a child’s movie suitable for adults. Over the past several years, kids movies have started to grow up. These don’t make the majority of the genre, but they far and away make up the best of it. Spike Jonze and Wes Anderson, primarily R-rated directors, temporarily switched focus to PG fare and created Where The Wild Things Are and The Fantastic Mr. Fox; both incredible films that relished the opportunity to create new worlds and did not dumb down their content to appeal to all audiences. With Hugo, Martin Scorsese continues this new tradition.

Oddly enough, what Scorsese, Anderson, and Jonze have done in their respective works is return the innocence to children films. Innocence does not mean empty, fluffy, or devoid of dark or challenging material. Like the greatest films, the best family films do not need to shy away from difficult topics. What innocence refers to in this context is eliminating most of the peripheral baggage and viewing upsetting, tragic elements through the simplicity of a child’s eyes, without snarkiness, cynicism, or farts. These movies remember that kids (well some kids) are not just consumers, but human beings with their own values, emotions, and questions, which often complement those of adults.

Set in France after The Great War, Hugo stars Asa Butterfield (who looks like he came from a much earlier era, much like the rest of the movie) as Hugo Cabret, an orphan who secretly lives in a train station, sets its clocks, and steals stuff to survive while avoiding the cruel Station Master (Sacha Baron Cohen). Combine these elements with Hugo’s secret passageways throughout the station that allow him to spy through numbers in the clocks, and it’s a perfect setup for a darker children’s tale.

However, his granddaughter Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moritz who between this film, Kick-Ass, and Let Me In proves herself as a remarkably talented young actor) takes a liking to him. The film wisely avoids any romantic insinuations between the two, keeping their relationship as friendship and co-adventurers, without forcing any modern (or postmodern) complexities or nuances. Along the way, they (along with help from film scholar Rene Tabard (Michael Stuhlbarg of A Serious Man and Boardwalk Empire)) learn about the truth behind Papa George’s past and his contributions to the early days of film.

A visually outstanding film (worth the price of 3D), Hugo is a love letter to imagination and invention, the thrill of books and movies, of discovering things for yourself and the freedom to do so. Cogs of various sizes occupy many scenes, and seeing Hugo hammer a shell into shape or figuring out how one piece of the automaton fits into another shows off the pleasure of actual creation.

It’s about the joy of tinkering with your hands rather than rendering on a computer, building rather than coding. Sure, Hugo uses computer effects, but a lot of the film seems to utilize practical effects, models, incredible set design, and color schemes to form its universe (and Hugo has developed its own world, simultaneously imposing, confusing, and fascinating). Even side characters have distinct looks, and Scorsese knows when to let scenes play out naturally or when to cut them in the style of a silent movie. To the best of my knowledge, it is unlike anything that Martin Scorsese has ever done before (it looks more like a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film than a Scorsese one), and for those less than enthusiastic about the director’s recent offerings, Hugo can re-excite you about the filmmaker again.

Although not as cerebral as Where the Wild Things Are, Hugo also displays an honesty in emotion. Sadness pervades the film and many of its characters, but never becomes overwhelming. Hugo, George, and the Station Master do not wear their hearts on their sleeves, but when facades crack (and they only “crack,” never completely collapse), the scenes are not overdone. People don’t cry to the heavens, they subdue themselves or the film cuts away.

Admittedly, I’m not a fan of looking for directors’ autobiographical elements in their films, not the least because it’s impossible for an outsider to distinguish between the persona and the person. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to see both Hugo and Papa George as quasi-avatars of Scorsese himself. Very few filmmakers love movies as much as he does, and with Hugo you truly get a sense of just how much Scorsese appreciates the magic of all elements of cinema. Although Hugo is not his best film or his best-written or best-plotted movie, it’s difficult to imagine anything else in his oeuvre that captures his passion as well as this one does.

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"My Week With Marilyn," starring Michelle Williams as the blond bombshell, is as mercurial a film as its subject, Marilyn Monroe, was a star. It's lush and vibrant when Williams is onscreen, mostly fussy British discontent when she's not.

Whatever the flaws, the truth is nothing else much matters since Williams is Marilyn, and Marilyn had a way of outshining everything around her. It is magnetic to watch the actress move seamlessly between the many faces of Monroe, the movie star she became, the wounded girl she was growing up. Capturing those changing moods was challenging enough — a sort of internal on-off switch was required. But it is in revealing the complicated enigma of Monroe's character, the intelligence that was always lurking behind the sexy pouts and poses, the unquenchable need for reassurance, that Williams is divine.

The story is a true one, based on the diaries of the late arts documentary filmmaker Colin Clark. It was directed by Simon Curtis, a veteran of the U.K.'s classier TV-movie stream, with screenwriter Adrian Hodges, who co-wrote 1994's "Tom & Viv," adapting. The week in question is slight, a few minor days in the life of a megastar, and the director treats it as such.

Clark, played with great charm and cheek by Eddie Redmayne, chanced to have a working flirtation with Monroe in 1956 when he was 23. She was in London to film "The Prince and the Showgirl" opposite the great British thespian Laurence Olivier in hopes Hollywood would take her more seriously. Clark was the film's third assistant director, a grand title for his job as Olivier's gofer. For a few days, he became Monroe's chief ally on and off the set, and he did not forget a breathless moment of his time with the movie star or the details of the movie-making.

"My Week" moves between Monroe's friction with Olivier ( Kenneth Branagh) during production, her struggle with depression away from the set and the machinations of the small circle of sycophants always around her. A clearly smitten Clark becomes her shoulder to lean on, a trusted advisor, and her co-conspirator in escaping, at least briefly, the star machine.

The whole notion of "movie star" as we think of it now — all the adoration and attention, some welcome, some not — was just beginning to congeal in a significant way back then. Using Clark's observations, that cultural shift almost comes to life in the film — the claustrophobic crush of fans, the press of the celebrity press and her own ambivalence about it.

The movie Olivier and Monroe were working on in '56 was a light comedy. Curtis gives us a faithful representation of a film that wasn't very good even then. Its most memorable scene — the showgirl caught unaware in a bouncy dance — is as daffy and delightful here as it was in the original. But as soon as Monroe's out of sight, the film within the film turns tedious and flat.

A jowly Branagh plays an overbearing Olivier, who is playing an overbearing prince of a fictional Balkan kingdom in "The Prince and the Showgirl" — strangely, he's better as the prince than as the legendary actor. In contrast, Judi Dench is portraying the acclaimed stage actress Dame Sybil Thorndike, who is cast as the addled Queen Dowager — and any way you cut it, her moments are among the brightest in either film.

There are all the other tension-inducing players in Monroe's life — the churlish new husband, Arthur Miller ( Dougray Scott); the antsy business partner, Milton Greene ( Dominic Cooper); the brown-nosing acting coach, Paula (Zoë Wanamaker). But they are brushed past so lightly you wonder if it might have been better to drop them entirely.

With all those personalities and Olivier such a pain, you can't blame Monroe for wanting to escape. And with Clark's help, she does, and this is when the film is at its most endearing. A week, and one particularly enchanting day, that begins with the royal library and ends with a skinny dip in the Thames. It gives us a rare glimpse of Monroe trying on an ordinary life for a change. But like Clark, it's only a brief flirtation; she simply can't resist the affection of a crowd.

Catching all of those light and dark shades is director of photography Ben Smithard ("The Damned United"). He shoots Williams like Monroe — as if the camera cannot get enough of her, as if there is no bad side. He gives Redmayne almost equal treatment, so that you understand why Monroe would be drawn to Clark, would want to bask for a while in his schoolboy crush. Redmayne manages to look smitten but not silly, adoringly attentive but not cloying.

For Williams, despite a string of exceptional performances, "Blue Valentine" and "Brokeback Mountain" among them, it was a risky gambit taking on such an iconic star, one who had such luminous power on screen, such a heartbreaking story off. One that certainly paid off. It's hard to imagine a more unforgettable Monroe than the one Williams has given us — except for the original, of course.

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What do you think of when you think of Twilight? You think of screaming teenage girls; you envision the crazies sitting outside in the rain for 2 days before the L.A. premiere, the 40-something women who gasp at the site of a teenage boy’s bare chest. You think of Mormons, tabloids, and truly terrible writing. What you probably don’t think about is that, while Stephenie Meyer is no genius, she sure did strike a collective nerve with her overwrought saga. We live in a world where marriage rates are declining and people are choosing not to start families. One in which the economy is in the toilet, Occupy Wall Street protests are creeping ever closer, and women’s healthcare is under a constant barrage of malicious darts from conservatives. So really, what better way to engage your mind than a fairy tale? The Twilight saga is a fairy tale romance, complete with shape-shifters, vampires, raging hormones, and an entirely unassuming protagonist. (I prefer the Harry Potter series, myself, but someone had to fill that void following the culmination.)

Breaking Dawn Part 1 is the fourth film in the series, based on the fourth book. It’s also the series’ fourth director; Summit ousted Catherine Hardwicke after the first movie, replaced her with The Golden Compass’s Chris Weitz for New Moon, and then got 30 Days of Night’s David Slade to helm last year’s Eclipse. When Summit somehow enticed Bill Condon to direct Breaking Dawn, heads turned all about Hollywood. Condon is an Oscar winner who consistently churns out critically acclaimed work. So what on earth is he doing directing a YA supernatural romance series? Well, though he can’t redeem the series, he does his best.

When last we left off, that ethereal angel Edward (Robert Pattinson) had proposed marriage to his one true love, the clumsy and “completely average” Bella (Kristen Stewart). This entails Bella’s one true desire: that she be turned into a vampire too, and before she gets too old, thanks. Poor Jacob (Taylor Lautner), the shape-shifter (werewolf with no need of that pesky full moon) who’s also head over heels for Bella, ran off to Canada to be alone for awhile. Breaking Dawn zips straight through the traditional wedding and into the honeymoon. Logistics of vampire sex aside (inquiring minds want to know, if you have no heartbeat, how does blood get to the places necessary for the act itself?), Edward fears he’ll hurt Bella with his rock-hard muscles if they have sex before she becomes a vampire. However, unable to help themselves, they indulge in hazy, peach-colored lovemaking on Isle Esme, a private island off the coast of Brazil. It isn’t until a few days later that Bella realizes she’s pregnant…and already beginning to show.

What’s growing inside her is a monster, a thing capable of shattering her bones and reducing her to a corpse. And yet she won’t consider letting anyone touch it. So when the thing decides it’s coming, ready or not, it actually eats Bella from the inside out. And – get this – Edward has to bite her body all over to turn her into a vampire before she dies of massive hemorrhaging. What is actually a really brutal birth scene in the book translates quite well to a PG-13 format with some smart editing and fuzzy filters.

Meanwhile, Jacob’s tribe of shifters, the Quileute, experiences a massive upheaval when Jacob flip-flops on the subject of Bella. He finally decides to splinter from the main pack, bringing with him totally adorable fifteen-year-old Seth Clearwater (Booboo Stewart) and his shrewish sister Leah (Julia Jones). When the pack thinks Bella has died, breaking the long-standing peace treaty between sworn enemies vampires and shifters, alpha dog Sam stages an attack on the Cullens. Fortunately, though, Jacob has imprinted on Bella and Edward’s newborn baby girl, Renesmee. Yes, a seventeen-year-old boy has fallen deeply, irrevocably in love with a newborn. All of this is pretty twisted, but Condon and writer Melissa Rosenberg focus on Jacob’s visions of “future Renesmee” to make the whole situation a little less uncomfortable.

In case the abstinence-before-marriage and anti-abortion stances weren’t clearly sketched for you, here they are: kids, sex can be a lovely and wonderful thing – but don’t do it until you’re married, remember you might get pregnant, and that if you do you better plan on keeping that thing forever, even if it’s a danger to you and the world at large. And then when your best friend falls in love with it, you better just incorporate him into your family, too. Phew. Did I lose you yet?
Frankly, as much as I jest, the story is one that’s so ridiculous it’s hard not to keep reading/watching. Meyer’s fantasy is a too-perfect fairy tale with a too-neat culmination, but between the covers of books one and four, the events that come to pass are seriously twisted and totally engrossing (so long as you can ignore the 25% of the books that is Bella’s describing Edward as an archangel).

In Breaking Dawn, the Twilight cast is coming into its own. Pattinson and Stewart, who are no longer trying to hide the fact they’re dating in real life, have real chemistry in the film; though they have trouble with the awkward sex scenes and lengthy, deep kisses, it’s clear they actually enjoy one another’s presence. Lautner has genuine charisma as impetuous, lovable smartass Jacob. Up in the Air’s Anna Kendrick, who was the best part of the first movie, gets a few choice opportunities to run with her comedic charm. Billy Burke is, as always, thoroughly entertaining as protective, downtrodden dad Charlie (I wrote in my notes that his face does more acting all by itself than the rest of the cast put together, but that’s a little unfair).

The film’s pacing is extremely erratic – it dodders along when it should be sprinting, and it sprints when it should take its time. Each time it could end, there’s another segment still to come. Carter Burwell’s score is entirely wrong for the movie – more often than not it’s a distraction, an upbeat piano jangling in the background of a meaningful scene. In Breaking Dawn, the wolves look more realistic than in the previous films. Guillermo Navarro’s cinematography takes full advantage of the beautiful Washington forests and Brazilian beaches. All in all, the movie is better than the last by far…which maybe doesn’t say much.
Most sane people wouldn’t brave the theater on opening night of a Twilight movie. Luckily, that’s what I’m here for. I couldn’t go to a midnight show (and wouldn’t have even given the choice), and the crowds on opening night were more subdued at this film than the last two. Perhaps the Twilight phenomenon is dying out; perhaps people are growing weary of the studio’s blatant attempt to reach into your pocket by dividing one book into two films. One way or another, the theater was packed with young women in UGG boots and sweatpants, Converse and skinny jeans. It was chock full of mothers leading gaggles of preteens, bored-looking boyfriends who surely wish their girlfriends would turn their starry eyes away from Edward and Jacob and back to the real world. But why would they do that?

Meyer’s fable is convoluted and strange, as unsexy as True Blood is oversexed. But in a world devoid of Muggles and Death Eaters, in a country plagued by serious cultural and economic difficulties, it’s a damn good way to turn off your brain for a few hours. Bill Condon’s talented hand lends an air of elegance to the series, tamping down the camp and turning up the heat (for better or worse). With one more movie yet to come, the series isn’t quite done yet – and the highly anticipated movie versions of The Hunger Games series will then take its place. While Breaking Dawn Part 1 may leave fans eagerly awaiting Bella’s transformation into vampiric magnificence, the rest of us aren’t holding our breath.

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The penguins are as adorable as ever in "Happy Feet Two."Yet a couple of shrimp-like krill at the bottom of the food chain almost steal the show in this animated sequel that sticks to the formula of the original while adding enough variety to give it a life of its own.

It helps to have Brad Pitt and Matt Damon voicing the krill with great energy and companionability as they join a vocal cast that includes returning stars Elijah Wood and Robin Williams.

Director and co-writer George Miller, who handled the same chores on the 2006 Academy Award-winning first film, keeps the focus on penguins in peril while adding an interesting nature-in-perspective angle with the side journey of those tiny krill trying to find their place in a world of bigger, hungrier things.

The sequel, which opened Friday at most theaters nationwide, delivers the key ingredients that made its predecessor such a hit — lovable characters that audiences young and old will want to follow; a rich blend of pop tunes employed in show-stopping song-and-dance numbers; and remarkable photo-realistic Antarctic landscapes whose bleak beauty pops off the screen even more than in the original.

The snowy crags and peaks seemed tactile in "Happy Feet." In "Happy Feet Two" (rated PG), you feel you could reach up and touch them, while the deep blue skies, with their billowy clouds, look real and right outside the window, rather than computer creations projected on a movie screen.

With co-stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman out of the picture, "Happy Feet Two" is a next-generation story that follows the misfits-finding-their-place pattern of part one.

Once a freak for his tap-dancing skills in a colony where singing was the supreme talent, emperor penguin Mumble (Wood) is part of the establishment now that hoofing has joined crooning as a prized gift.

Mumble and his mate, Gloria (pop star Pink) have a tyke of their own, whose identity issues seem too pat a repetition of those his dad once faced.

Young Erik (adorably voiced by Ava Acres) hasn't got rhythm, you see, an embarrassment for the son of the local lord of the dance. Running away with a couple of friends as they chase after Mumble's buddy Ramon (Williams) on the return to his own penguin colony, Erik meets the amazing "flying penguin" Sven (Hank Azaria), whose can-do attitude makes him the idol of the youngster, to Mumble's detriment.

Miller again shovels on an eco message as a colossal iceberg cast adrift by climate change endangers the entire colony of emperor penguins. Once the crisis arrives, the action bogs down a bit, the movie lingering a long while on its penguins-on-the-precipice menace without a whole lot happening.

But with its interspecies collaboration, as birds, elephant seals and even the little krill contribute to a happy ending, the movie is a stirring, if kind of sappy, endorsement for the good that can result when everyone rows together.

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It's time to play the music . . . it's time to light the lights . . . it's time to meet the Muppets after . . . well, more than a decade. The Muppets, starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams, doesn't open until January 12 but Access All Areas got a sneak peek of the new film and thinks it will be a big hit with fans of the original show.

The new movie features all the old characters, a couple of classic Muppets songs and some new musical numbers, not to mention plenty of cameos, including Neil Patrick Harris, Whoopi Goldberg and a rather famous rock star. (We'll leave that one as a surprise).

The film centres on Gary (Segel), his girlfriend Mary (Adams) and Muppet brother Walter who take a trip to Los Angeles only to discover the old Muppet Theatre is under threat from an evil tycoon who plans to bulldoze the site and drill for oil.

In an effort to stop him, the trio encourage Kermit the Frog to get back in touch with his Muppet mates, who have all gone their separate ways - Fozzie Bear now performs in a tribute band called the Moopets, Animal is in an anger management clinic - for a reunion show to raise $10 million to save the theatre. The last time we saw the Muppets in a movie was in 1999 when they headed into space.

With plenty of fun gags and references to the good old days, this Muppets movie takes us on an even more enjoyable adventure. Pixar - and indeed Glee - fans will also be pleased to know a new Toy Story short is an appetiser to The Muppets.

Small Fry sees Buzz Lightyear get left behind at a fast-food restaurant when his kids' meal toy alter ego takes his place. Plenty of laughs ensue when Buzz finds himself in a support group for discarded toys, headed by a mermaid therapist voiced by Jane Lynch.

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Review in a Hurry: George Clooney explores death and infidelity with just the right amount of hilarity in writer-director Alexander Payne's follow-up to his Oscar-nominated Sideways. Sort of a Terms of Endearment for dudes, Matt King (Clooney) must find a way to live his life without his wife of 20 years. The Descendants is subtle, unabashedly sweet and, above all, honest.

With a great role for a movie star, an idyllic setting and the best dialogue of the year—this might be the year's Oscar frontrunner.

The Bigger Picture: After his wife is left comatose from a boating accident off Waikiki, husband and father of two Matt re-examines his life's meaning (or the lack thereof). Turns out his spouse had been cheating on him. But Matt will never be able to confront her since the doctor says she'll never wake up. Matt decides her friends and family should come say goodbye to her. He, however, has other plans: confronting the man who slept with his wife.

All of Payne's films (Election, About Schmidt) explore the bitterness that comes from having family, friends and rivals. They usually (except Sideways) take place in the grey-skied dreariness of the Midwest. With Hawaii as a backdrop, that dreariness is still present, but there's not a grey sky to be found. And that's part of what makes the film so effective. As Matt and his two daughters travel the islands to find out more about this mystery man (all they know is he's a tacky realtor) the gorgeous vistas of Hawaii are inescapable. Sometimes, it feels like the scenery is almost mocking sad-sack Matt.

The other part that makes the film soar: the characters, specifically Matt and his teen daughter Alexandra (newcomer Shailene Woodley). Clooney is charming as usual and as Matt he's clearly sympathetic, at least at first. The more we know him the more we can kinda see why his wife has strayed. Here's where Clooney surprises, he suddenly seems like a different person, not just the cool perennial bachelor.

Also making a great impression, Shailene goes toe-to-toe with George in her breakout role. The performances and the script excel at exposing both individuals as vulnerable and extremely flawed. Laced with Payne's trademark dialogue, every exchange resonates.

The key to Payne's films (and probably why he's critic catnip) is that even though his characters are going through major life-changing moments he relishes the small scenes. They deliver the biggest impact. We're waiting to see just what Matt will do when he finally meets the other man in his wife's life, but along the way there are many moments that surprise.

Through all this there are a lot of laughs, too. The loser real estate D-bag is nicely played by goofball Matthew Lillard. The supporting cast includes Robert Forester, Beau Bridges and Judy Greer, who keep Clooney's character from being too emotionally wrecked. He is emotionally wrecked but in an awkward and funny sort of way. And Payne knows this is the best way for his type of therapeutic cinema to go down, with plenty of smiles and a few tears.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Payne's real gift as a writer and director, going right to the brink of uncomfortable and letting it out with genuine laughter, isn't for everyone.

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t long last, “The Twilight Saga” sinks utterly into camp with “Breaking Dawn: Part 1.”When you’re not giggling at the jokes — and this is the first film in this absurdly self-serious series to take itself lightly — you’ll be rolling your eyes at the dull melodramatics, or rolling on the floor at the big doggie debate amongst the digital wolves.

Bill “Dreamgirls/Kinsey” Condon has a budget that original “Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke would have wept for, but he treats it all as a big joke. And maybe he’s right. Boiled down to its essence and wending its way to a conclusion, Stephenie Meyer’s novels are all about the perils of sex and the evils of abortion — even to save the human momma’s life.

One thing the movies have added is that wish fulfillment fantasy that the sheen of product placement gives “Breaking Dawn.” Bella is marrying well, because let’s face it — the Cullens are the one percent.

“Breaking Dawn” begins with a white wisteria wedding and ends with blood. And in between there’s a lot of discussion of an unplanned pregnancy that all concerned seem to believe is the demon seed. All but Bella, that is.

The tone is flippant through the nuptials — Anna Kendrick gets to toast the couple with how Bella was “totally mesmerized by Edward, or the hair” — and on into the island-off-Rio honeymoon. Kristen Stewart is sort of a bystander to the jokes, and gives Bella a serious case of wedding day terror, enough to make us wonder where the heat is that helps her overcome that fear of vampire sex and vampire conversion. But the heat left this teenaged romance after the first movie.

Edward (Robert Pattinson) is as pretty and soft-spoken and passive as ever. But it’s interesting to see Taylor Lautner, as Jacob, the jilted werewolf who never really had a shot with her, mature into his own. He’s not buying anything Bella says under Edward’s influence.

“You can spout that crap to your bloodsuckers,” he declares. He sees right through it. I could have gone along with the clowning, the one-liners, the goof on the whole saga that Condon seems to have aimed for. But the movie turns deadly dull after the wedding and never really perks back to life, whatever the “stay tuned for part two” finale promises. Unless Condon lays off the laughing gas for “Part Two,” even Twi-hards are going to have trouble keeping a straight face through all the snarling, biting, mating and imprinting to come.


MPAA Rating: PG-13 for disturbing images, violence, sexuality/partial nudity and some thematic elements Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene Credits: Directed by Bill Condon, script by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the Stephenie Meyer novel, a summit Entertainment release. Running time: 1: 48

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Take a bow Steven Spielberg. You have proved once again that you are the best in the business of movie making. Spielberg’s latest offering ‘Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn’ is one of the best 3D film in recent times, Zee News reports. Based on Herge’s popular comic book hero Tintin, the film starts with the first book where ‘boy’ reporter Tintin sets on the high seas to unearth a mystery of a ship called ‘The Unicorn’.

A mystery that he just stumbles upon when he buys a replica of the famed ship at a market and is threatened by an evil Mr Sakharine to give it up or face dire consequences. The film then shows the journey that Tintin embarks upon with his faithful dog, Snowy to unearth the deep dark secrets behind the ship and also to find out what Sakharine is after. While on the ship, he meets Captain Haddock, who becomes his companion in the rest of the adventures.

From the mind boggling graphics to some uber special effects, almost everything in the movie is perfect. The film is engaging from title credits itself and keeps the viewer engaged all throughout with interesting twist and turns. The chase sequences on the streets of Bagga are absolutely stunning and so is the last scene where Captain Haddock and villain Ivanovich Sakharine fight it out at a dockyard is edgy.

The film infuses animation with realism and what we get is a heady concoction which leaves the viewer spell bound. One little complain, the film in some portion seems to drag a bit and could have been edited to a certain extend. For avid Tintin fans, the presence of the bumbling inspector duo Thomson and Thompson are lot more in the book and far less in the film. The humour of Captain Haddock is also less in the movie as it mainly concentrates on establishing Tinitin’s character.

The cast of the film is stellar. Jamie Bell as Tintin and Daniel Craig as Sakharine are definitely the best of the lot. Overall, the film satisfies the thirst of avid animation lovers with some marvellous graphics and top-notch performances. The story of course is the winner with Herge leaving a treasure of adventures, which was waiting to be discovered by filmmakers.

Watch it if you are a Tintin fan, you won’t be disappointed. And if you are new to the world Herge and his wonder boy, then you have just stumbled upon gold.

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