Arts & Entertainment

Movie Reviews: The To Do List, Smurfs 2, Blue Jasmine and More

Movie reviews and movie times for theaters in the West Des Moines area, including "The Wolverine" and "The Conjuring." Let Patch help you decide what you're going to see this weekend.

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Movie information aggregated from moviefone.com

The To Do List

A.A. Dowd, The A.V. Club "The film’s as clumsy yet earnest as a nervous first-timer, groping gracelessly in the dark for ecstasy and meaning." Full Review

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice "Like first sex, writer-director Maggie Carey's debut feature, The To Do List, is quick and messy, fitfully pleasurable, full of promise but not quite adept at getting everyone off." Full Review

Andrew Schenker, Slant Magazine "Essentially the film aims to trade in the awkwardness of teen sexuality, but too often settles for the gross-out gag instead." Full Review

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The Smurfs 2
Bruce Ingram, Chicago Sun-Times "The Smurfs 2 probably isn’t any worse than you might expect. On the other hand, it’s almost certainly not any better. It’s just a matter of figuring out how much punishment you’re willing to endure for the sake of the small child you’re taking to the movies." Full Review

Claudia Puig, USA Today "This insipid, and sometimes awkward, blend of animation, computer generation and live action wastes a ton of talent and lacks a true sense of whimsy." Full Review

Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter "Beyond a few chuckle-worthy one-liners and some amusing visual comedy, there’s not much to engage adults, although the wee ones should be distracted enough." Full Review

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Blue Jasmine
Claudia Puig, USA Today "It's one of the year's finest, most complex portrayals, in one of Allen's best films in years." Full Review

David Denby, The New Yorker "Cate Blanchett, who played Blanche on Broadway only a few years ago, gives the most complicated and demanding performance of her movie career. The actress, like her character, is out on a limb much of the time, but there’s humor in Blanchett’s work, and a touch of self-mockery as well as an eloquent sadness." Full Review

David Ehrlich, Film.com "When Allen conceives of a character this great, it’s hard not to wish for him to slow down and maybe write that extra draft to refine his creation, but Blanchett – at once both repellant and eminently relatable – uses the casual tone to her advantage, the same way that monster movies use miniatures for scale." Full Review

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The Wolverine
"Until a third act that collapses in a harebrained heap, the director largely succeeds in keeping the more cartoonish aspects at bay, roughing up the surface with organically staged fight scenes and, crucially, raising the stakes by stripping his hitherto indestructible hero of his self-healing powers." The Hollywood Reporter. Full Review

"The flat hammerblows of The Wolverine bear little relation to the zing and pop of Matthew Vaughn's colourful treatment. Inconsistency is inevitable in a world that's constantly being dug up and done over, but it leaves us no time to fall in love with anything being flung at us." Henry Barnes, The Guardian. Full Review

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Red 2
"The best thing about RED 2, like its predecessor, is its lightness of tone. Too many movieswith comic-book roots come on too seriously, even when the comics themselves have a loose, fast, jocular wit about them." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly.

"Not that it isn’t entertaining, but the film's premise is certainly well past its “use by” date, resulting in another passably palatable sequel distinguished by a lack of narrative and stylistic coherence that could potentially underpin a really viable franchise." Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter.

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R.I.P.D.
No reviews are available at this time.

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The Conjuring
"Like the wood-grained farmhouse itself — a beautiful piece of production design by Julie Berghoff — The Conjuring has an analog solidity that makes the terror to come almost unbearable." Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York. Full Review

"Though The Conjuring claims to be based on a true story, in truth it's based on every horror film that's come before it." Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine. Full Review

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Pacific Rim
A massive, lumbering behemoth of a movie, Pacific Rim resurrects the 'kaiju,' or giant monster genre, by returning to its roots in Japanese science fiction. Fun enough during its pounding action scenes, Pacific Rim has less to offer when it comes to story and characters. — Daniel Eagan, Film Journal 

After what seems like years of convoluted megamovies whose pretzel-like twists, turns, and double-crosses confound logic and confuse audiences, it’s incredibly refreshing to watch a film where the setup is simple, the mythology straightforward, and the execution consistently clear. — Todd Gilchrist, The Verge

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Grown Ups 2

“The party’s over, fellas,” says Adam Sandler’s character, Lenny, to his buddies in “Grown Ups 2.” “We’re irrelevant.” And though the box office may disagree, his words aren’t far from the truth. The first “Grown Ups,” in 2010, grossed more than $271 million worldwide; the sequel will probably rival that amount, reaping lavish dividends for Mr. Sandler and his co-stars, many of them his fellow “Saturday Night Live” alumni. Once again Mr. Sandler milks middle age for lucre, nostalgia and clunky, ham-fisted humor. But he has cause for concern." ~ Andy Webster, New York Times

In that sense, “Grown Ups 2” may be the ultimate Adam Sandler film. It ain’t high art, as the running gag with the burpsnarts — better not to ask — deftly illustrates. But for what it is, gosh darn it, it works." Adam Graham, The Detroit News

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Despicable Me 2
"The minions give good mayhem and the twig-armed animation’s lovely. Despite the coolest submarine-car since Bond’s Lotus Esprit, though, Despicable Me 2 is light on gadgets – and surprises, too." Total Film. Full Review

"It falters in the middle and hesitates unnecessarily in setting up the love story, but Gru still has charm and kids will adore the Minions." Helen O'Hara, Empire. Full Review
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The Heat
"A bawdy and belligerent comedy, meant mostly for folks looking for nothing more than to enjoy a few laughs." Jeremy Legel, Film.com

"Give it up for Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. You’ll never see them work harder at a comedy than in The Heat, a stumbling, aggressively loud and profane cop buddy picture where they struggle to wring “funny” out of a script that isn’t." Roger Moore, Movie Nation.

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World War ZThis nightmarish travelogue is coy about gore, but it’s still an effective thrill-ride. If the sequel happens, let’s hope it delivers some actual combat. Empire, Full Review
Go big or go home, they say; World War Z picks the wrong choice for its slow fade-out, and, instead of leaving you in fear of being chomped upon as you exit the theater, makes you feel enraged that you’ve been more than a little cheated. David Fear, Time Out New York. Full Review

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Monsters UniversitySpeaking of second chances, Monsters University is exactly the rebound Pixar needed after 2011's "Cars 2" left some wondering if the studio had lost its magic. Entertainment Weekly, Full Review.

It’s easily the most enjoyable animated film so far this year, one that is visually stunning, wickedly subversive, incredibly funny (Day's character is a hoot), and (at times) lump-in-your-throat emotional. Drew Taylor, The Playlist. Full Review
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