Beyond the Lights PG-13
Groomed by her unrepentant “mom-ager” (Minnie Driver) to become a pop star, British singer Noni (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is poised on the cusp of major stardom when she is overcome with depression and prepares to jump to her death from a Los Angeles upper-story hotel room. Saved by hunky Kaz (Nate Parker), the earnest young LAPD officer assigned to guard her room, Noni’s crisis is brushed under the rug by all those around her as she continues her whirlwind American tour. Determined to get to know the vulnerable, beautiful woman he has saved, Kaz signs up to be her bodyguard, and an unlikely romance develops. Though hampered by melodrama and sentimentality, the film sheds such constraints when depicting the heartless recording industry, and its horrendous treatment of female musicians. (Lisa Miller)
Dumb and Dumber To PG-13
Twenty years after the original Dumb and Dumber, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reunite as a pair of imbecilic best friends for a sequel. Harry (Daniels) learns that his best friend Lloyd (Carrey), a mental hospital patient for the past 20 years, has been faking mental illness as a practical joke. Highly amused, Harry brings Lloyd home, where they find an old letter informing Harry that he has a daughter who would now be 20 years old, but who was given up for adoption at birth. With Lloyd vowing to help him find the young woman, the pair set off on an odyssey of idiocy and self-discovery. Who are they trying to kid? They’re morons lacking enough funny jokes to justify this nearly two-hour dumbfest! (L.M.)
Little Red Not Rated
Making superb visuals from the frigid landscape of Milwaukee in winter, filmmaker Tate Bunker (and screenwriter Susan Kerns) reimagines Little Red Riding Hood as a contemporary teen (Hannah Obst) who runs away to Florida and encounters a wolf in the form of a stalker (Mark Metcalf). The contrast between images of here and there is artful, and there are snakes in the palm-fringed Eden. Satire (a drive-in church warning of “false prophets…like ravenous wolves”) merges with beautifully wrought fantasy in this 83-minute feature. (David Luhrssen)
7 p.m., Nov. 14, UW-Milwaukee Union Theatre.
Rosewater R
Newsweek’s London-based, Iranian-born correspondent Maziar Bahari was arrested in Teheran on trumped-up espionage charges after appearing on Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show.” His plight drew international attention and became the subject of Stewart’s debut as a director. Gael García Bernal plays Bahari with natural grace and ease, even in the first days of captivity. Nuanced and often visually interesting, Rosewater explores the psychology of the interrogators as well as their victims. It also presents a vivid picture of Iran’s 2009 presidential election, stolen from the country’s voters by the ruling theocrats. (D.L.)
