GireWire

Sita the cheetah watches over her cubs in Walt Disney’s amazing new nature documentary “African Cats.”

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I sat in awe of what my eyes beheld.

There on the river bank stood a mighty male lion defending his pride from an aggressive crocodile attempting to interrupt their dinner.

With inches between their noses, the lion and crocodile play a deadly game of chicken. The lion cuts loose with bloodcurdling bellows. The reptile hisses.

The lion advances. The crocodile slowly backs off. Then, with one final snap! of its jaws in protest, the reptile retreats into the water.

The mighty lion stands down, and I started breathing again.

“African Cats” is filled with scenes like this one. Incredible, wonderful, frightening, tense and insightful scenes that drop us into the lives of the wild cats that roam the hostile and unforgiving land of Kenya.

This doc, co-directed by Keith Scholey and Alastair Fothergill, assembles some of the most moving and educational animal kingdom footage since “March of the Penguins.”

It took his crew more than two and a half years of filming in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve to get what we see here, and their patience and persistence pay off handsome entertainment dividends for us. (Read more…)

Union soldiers escort Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) to trial where she faces charges of plotting to assassinate President Lincoln in Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator.”

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Had Oliver Stone directed the Lincoln assassination drama “The Conspirator,” historical accuracy might have suffered in the service of creating political paranoia and some loopy visuals.

But “The Conspirator” was directed by Robert Redford as an earnest, plodding, hopelessly chatty chronicle of the unjust and immoral actions of the U.S. leadership in the aftermath of the president’s murder.

Civil war hero and now attorney Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy, armed with a suitable American accent) is surprised when his law mentor (Tom Wilkinson) pushes him to take the case of Mary Surratt (a supremely pale Robin Wright), one of eight people arrested in the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln.

It’s instantly apparent the Union military is willing to throw justice under the stagecoach to make someone — anyone with Southern leanings — an example, and so poor Aiken seemed doomed opposite the biased judge General Hunter (Colm Meaney), prosecuting General Holt (slithery villainous Danny Huston) and vengeful Secretary of War Stanton (Kevin Kline).

Redford doesn’t seem all that excited about telling this story, and it shows in the narrative’s measured pace, its bland sepia tone and Mark Isham’s score that does little for our emotional investment. (Read more…)

Linda (voiced by Leslie Mann) teaches Blu the bird (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) to brush his beak in the 3-D animated comedy “Rio.”

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“Rio” presents a blandly generic story pumped full of life by bright and crisp animation — despite being dimmed by 3-D glasses — plus a bouncy musical score equipped with a few serviceable but forgettable original songs.

The script runs the gamut from sassy, humorous dialogue to a disappointing dependence on kid movie clichés. (Do we really need more tired advice like “Be yourself” or more sight gags of males hurting themselves where it really hurts?)

At least “Rio” boasts strong voice talents, so even the silliest of nonsensical sentences — such as Raphael the toucan’s advice, “Flying isn’t what you think up here, but what you feel in here!” — sound almost like wisdom.

At the start of “Rio,” poachers in Brazil birdnap a blue baby macaw that hasn’t even learned to fly, then whisk him off to market in the United States. His cage falls out of a truck while traveling through snowy Minnesota.

That’s where a little girl named Linda (voiced by Leslie Mann) discovers him, names him Blu and takes him home to be her best friend for many years.

Inexplicably, a comically overenthusiastic Brazilian bird specialist named Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) somehow locates the now adult Linda and tells her she must bring Blu back to the rain forest. (Read more…)

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) struggles to keep an edge on her relationship with a serial killer in “Scream 4.”

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I realize that “Scream 4” is supposed to be a self-aware post-modernistic comic horror film, because two soon-to-be skewered blondes tell us this in the film’s fatal opening segment.

But must all the characters in “Scream 4” be as clueless as the camping teens in “Friday the 13th,” when they’re supposed to be aware of the very horror film clichés that they’re now propagating?

Take Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott, who has already survived longer than most of her peers from three previous “Scream” movies. She should be proud of her track record and cash in her chips.

Sidney is in a house when she sees a reflection of a dark silhouette behind her.

Does she run? Call the cops? Arm herself?

Nope.

She investigates and, finding nobody, simply shrugs and goes about her business, despite the fact that she just saw someone in her house while a sadistic serial killer wearing a ghostface mask is butchering the good people of Woodsboro.

The “Scream” movies have finally exhausted writer/producer Kevin Williamson’s original premise to parody mad slasher movie clichés while simultaneously entertaining us with those very same elements.

Creative rigor mortis has set in. (Read more…)

Saoirse Ronan stars as “Hanna,” a lethal teenager on a mission from dad.

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If you see Joe Wright’s amazing action movie “Hanna,” pay close attention to a scene where Hanna’s father, Erik (played by Eric Bana), arrives at a bus station.

In one single, glorious, meticulously crafted shot, the camera follows Erik all over the station, through the crowds, down a long staircase and into an open area, where he confronts several would-be assassins in a breathtaking, masterfully choreographed fight for survival.

This accomplished sequence and others like it are why film critics will do cartwheels over “Hanna,” and why fans of action films will be impressed with this movie, one that poses the question, “What if Jason Bourne had a kid sister?”

Wright has put together impressive tracking shots before, such as the lengthy beach landing sequence from his excellent period drama “Atonement,” starring a young Saoirse Ronan.

Now, a more grown-up Ronan stars in “Hanna,” a slick and slightly futuristic thriller that straddles the line between an art house drama and a popcorn pleaser feature.

“Hanna” opens with a teenage Hanna hunting and killing a moose with a bow, arrow and a gun in some remote, snowy realm of the world, suggesting she has been well-trained in survival tactics.

Her father Erik, clearly some kind of uber-soldier or secret agent in a prior life, coaches her in the art of staying alive. (Read more…)

Arthur Bach (Russell Brand) consoles his ailing nanny (Helen Mirren) in the embarrassingly dated, lackluster romantic comedy “Arthur.”

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Of all the movies from the early 1980s, Steve Gordon’s rom-com “Arthur” would seem the least likely to justify a remake in 2011.

Yet, here it is, a dated dud of a movie eking by on the limited ingratiating charms of Russell Brand, stuck with the unenviable responsibility of rendering an irresponsibly insensitive character lovable.

In 1981, Dudley Moore played Arthur, an affectionately cheery, perpetually drunk New York zillionaire who does nothing but get into trouble, feed his adolescent appetites and throw money around as if it meant nothing to him, because it indeed meant nothing to him.

This Oscar-winning film (for John Gielgud and Christopher Cross’ song “Arthur’s Theme”) came out at the start of Reagan-era America, back when alcoholism could still be funny and squandering a fortune on nothing could be fantasy fulfillment.

Jason Winer’s remake, adapted by Peter Baynham, doesn’t change much of the basic story, but does err in replacing Arthur’s male valet (a perfectly cast Gielgud) with a female nanny, Hobson (Helen Mirren, pushing her Oscar-winning talents to the max to keep from being engulfed by soggy material).

Brand’s Arthur lives the life of a childish Hugh Hefner, except he doesn’t publish anything or operate businesses. His mother Vivienne (Geraldine James) has had it with Arthur’s embarrassing public behavior and scandals, because the stockholders of her megacompany worry what will happen should Arthur take over one day. (Read more…)

Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson, left) and his wife Renai (Rose Byrne) must save their son from evil spirits in “Insidious.”

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“Insidious” is so confident it will scare the Pop Tarts out of us that it begins with a cheesy opening scene suggesting it’s going to be just another stupid, PG-13-rated horror movie.

While a boy quietly sleeps in his bedroom, Joseph Bishara’s over-the-top score hits every nerve-jangling, dissonant trill of the strings.

Then the camera slowly pans to the window.

There! In the window! Some old woman with yechy hair and a candle stands looking into the bedroom!

So what’s scary about that?

Nothing, except the overblown music.

With our expectations now lower than for a “Red Riding Hood” sequel, director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell — the sadistically inventive team behind all of the popular “Saw” movies — whisk us into a delightfully tongue-in-cheek, old-fashioned horror opus that’s part “Exorcist,” part “Haunting,” and all together creepy.

“Insidious” doesn’t break any new ground in horror.

It doesn’t want to.

Wan and Whannell recycle all the best conventions of nightmare films: the scary attic, the threatening darkness, the tension-filled seance, doors that won’t stay closed, comatose kids walking around in the middle of the night. And a few shocks. (Read more…)

North Shore Chicago parents Will and Lynn Cameron (Clive Owen and Catherine Keener) deal with the aftermath of their daughter’s sexual assault in David Schwimmer’s “Trust.”

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David Schwimmer’s “Trust” methodically, earnestly, painstakingly details a 14-year-old girl’s seduction by an online pedophile, then meticulously chronicles the emotional aftershocks experienced by the teen, her mother and her father.

For a while, you think the girl is the main character. But she’s not.

The father is.

“Trust,” to its credit, immerses us in the guilt of a North Shore dad who failed to serve his prime directive as protector of the family.

The drama also, to its detriment, wags its finger at a culture obsessed with turning children into sex objects. It slaps us around for not being more aware and sensitive to victims of sexual abuse.

Schwimmer, a founder of Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre, directs his second feature (the comic “Run Fatboy Run” was his first) with a zeal that almost feels like a lecture.

Nonetheless, “Trust” is a valuable, honest drama that treats its subject matter with equal parts insight and alarm.

Young and vibrant volleyball player Annie Cameron (a wonderfully cast Liana Liberato, who won best actress at the Chicago International Film Festival last year) goes to New Trier High School. She’s constantly on her phone and computer messaging friends, and we see the messages flash on the screen as if we’re reading them along with her. (Read more…)

E.B. (voiced by Russell Brand) goes looking for a job with his human buddy (James Marsden) in the live-action/animated comedy “Hop.”

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Kids will love “Hop.”

It’s cute.

It’s funny.

It’s clever. In fits and starts.

But I’m guessing the creators of “Hop” are completely oblivious to the stereotyping of their characters, the blatant anti-union message of their story, and the superficial, unearned emotions of its fast and forced finale.

Still, none of that should take away the credit due James Marsden. He really shows his acting chops in “Hop,” a live-action/animation comedy about two characters with arrested adolescence on a quest to find their places in the world.

In every one of his scenes, Marsden gives 150 percent. His tirelessly over-the-top performance carries this film through some pretty shaky moments.

He creates a cartoon character of his own in Fred O’Hare (foreshadowing alert!) a twentysomething man still living with his family members desperate to push him out of the nest.

Dad and Mom (Rolling Meadows High School alum Gary Cole and Elizabeth Perkins) want him to get a job, but Fred just can’t commit to maturity. (Read more…)

Christina (Michelle Monaghan) and Colter (Jake Gyllenhaal) share a hot relationship in the thriller “Source Code.”

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I had no idea where I was, who the characters were, and what was supposed to happen.

It was wonderful, blissful confusion. A mystery. An enigma.

I managed to see “Source Code” knowing nothing about it, beyond its cast and director, Duncan Jones, whose first movie was the impressive, low-budget drama “Moon.”

The Chicago-set “Source Code” turns out to be the sort of challenging, irresistible science-fiction thriller that works best if you allow yourself to get swept up in its outrageous premise and not be too concerned about its head-scratching details that beg for explanation, or its never-ending ending.

I instantly empathized with Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), who feels the same sense of confusion.

The last thing he remembers is being in a helicopter in Afghanistan. Next thing he knows, he wakes up on a Chicago-bound commuter train across from a young woman he’s never met. Her name is Christina (former Columbia College journalism student Michelle Monaghan), and she seems to know him. She calls him Sean.

Stevens doesn’t understand what’s going on or why he’s on a train. He really freaks out when he glimpses himself in the mirror, and he’s some other man he doesn’t know. (Read more…)