Now-a-Dollar Aug 17 | Buzz Blog
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Thursday, August 16, 2012

A&E / Culture

Now-a-Dollar Aug 17

Posted By on August 16, 2012, 10:20 AM

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Animals running away with the circus and a princess running into the woods are the most notable debuts at second-run theaters this week. ---

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted finds the quartet of zoo pals -- Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) -- hiding from a relentless animal-control officer by joining a traveling circus. And it may be the most interesting and entertaining of the Madagascar films, a wonderfully surreal and candy-colored piece of funky fun that takes the situations in unexpected directions. It's not your typical summer kid-flick.

Far less successful is Snow White and the Huntsman, with Kristen Stewart as the fairest of them all trying to re-take her kingdom from her usurping wicked stepmother (Charlize Theron). Aside from Theron's sporadically amusing hamming it up, there's just not much here that proves worth anyone's time, piling on the atmospheric gloominess to the point where even a who's-who of the U.K.'s best actors, digitally turned into dwarfs, can't liven things up.

Finally, there's Jack Black reuniting with his School of Rock director Richard Linklater for Bernie, the fact-based dark comedy about a mortician who befriends a wealthy widow. Then murders her. Then tries really hard to preserve the illusion that she's still alive. Our Eric D. Snider praised Linklater for infusing the story with an authentic Texas feel, and described it as "irreverent, off-kilter fun."

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About The Author

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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