Addicted R
Attractive gallerist Zoe (Sharon Leal) risks her relatively happy marriage to a hunky husband she adores (Boris Kodjoe) as well as her idyllic family life for an affair with a talented young artist (William Levy). Though she promises herself and her therapist she’ll stop at least a dozen times, she’s too addicted to the rush to stop voluntarily. Since Zoe’s lover is neither threatening to destroy Zoe nor her marriage, it’s difficult to see how this film will thrive or why Tyler Perry, who’s become the Lionsgate Studio king of happy-sad movies about marriage, didn’t think of this one first. (Lisa Miller)
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day PG
The 1972 story by Judith Viorst is expanded to include the no good, very bad day befalling all the members of Alexander’s family. With his 12th birthday party scheduled the next day, Alexander learns the most popular kid in school is throwing a competing bash. On top of that, Alexander (Ed Oxenbould) oversleeps and awakens with gum stuck in his hair. Unemployed dad Ben (Steve Carell) takes the baby along for his big job interview with snarky potential bosses half his age. Mom Kelly (Jennifer Garner) supervises a high-profile event for her extremely difficult boss, while teen brother Anthony (Dylan Minnette) must pass his driving test to secure a hot date for the junior prom and sister Emily (Kerris Dorsey) stars as Peter Pan in a school production. Everything that can go wrong does so in the worst possible way, but happily, Alexander and his family members all have one another’s support. (L.M.)
Dracula Untold PG-13
Purporting to tell the heretofore-unknown origin story of Dracula, we meet Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans) as he prepares to go to war after the new Turkish Sultan (Dominic Cooper) and demands 1,000 Transylvanian youths as conscripts for his army. World-weary Prince Dracula defies the edict and while marching off to battle, Vlad stumbles upon an ancient ur-vampire (Charles Dance) who makes Vlad practically invincible. The catch is that Vlad’s new strength is accompanied by an insatiable appetite for blood, and the moment he partakes, Vlad will become a vampire permanently. Oh the suspense is killing me... (L.M.)
The Judge R
The two Roberts, Duvall and Downey Jr., make a great antagonistic father-son team in The Judge. They are supported with a sensitive performance by Vincent D’Onofrio as the half-disgruntled other son. But half-disgruntled is a symptom of the film’s problems. Written and rewritten by too many hands, The Judge is too long, too unsteady in tone and with too many clichés packed into a promising story about how high-flying Chicago attorney Hank Palmer (Downey Jr.), home in small-town Indiana for his mother’s funeral, ends up defending his surly father, Judge Joseph Palmer (Duvall), in a murder trial. (David Luhrssen)
