Now a Dollar Feb 24 | Buzz Blog
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Thursday, February 23, 2012

A&E / Culture

Now a Dollar Feb 24

Posted By on February 23, 2012, 12:20 PM

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Early 2012 releases start trickling into second-run theaters, along with a couple of family-oriented refugees from 2012. ---

From late last year comes We Bought a Zoo, Cameron Crowe's adaptation of the true story of a widower trying to restore a remote, run-down animal park. Crowe's distinctive brand of emotionalism is on clear display, but the film rarely feels maudlin, an uneven but generally satisfying redemption tale.

There's little that's redeeming about Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, the latest invasion by the CGI rodents. Here, they're stranded on a deserted island -- and with any luck, they'll never come back.

January releases making a quick turnaround to the dollar houses include Mark Wahlberg as a reformed smuggler pulled back into the business in Contraband, and the musical drama Joyful Noise. The former aims for gritty realism but finds only a few original moments between predictable action/suspense beats; the latter is even worse, a bumbling attempt at making Glee for an audience that doesn't actually want to have to watch gay characters. Even a couple of dollars -- plus two hour s-- might be too steep a price to pay.

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Scott Renshaw

Scott Renshaw
Bio:
 Scott Renshaw has been a City Weekly staff member since 1999, including assuming the role of primary film critic in 2001 and Arts & Entertainment Editor in 2003. Scott has covered the Sundance Film Festival for 25 years, and provided coverage of local arts including theater, pop-culture conventions, comedy, literature,... more

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