By Ryan M. Painter
(KUTV) Recommended films showing in Salt Lake City for the week of February 1 – February 7, 2013

Mainstream
1. Zero Dark Thirty (R)
2. Lincoln (PG-13)
3. Silver Linings Playbook (R)
4. Warm Bodies (PG-13)
5. Les Miserables (PG-13)
 
Family
1. Frankenweenie (PG)
2. Life of Pi (PG)
3. Rise of the Guardians (PG)
4. Wreck-It Ralph (PG)
5. ParaNorman (PG)
 
Art House
1. Argo (R)
2. Rust and Bone (R)
3. The Impossible (PG-13)
4. The Sessions (R)
5. Quartet (PG-13)

Warm Bodies
3.5 out of 5 Stars
Director • Jonathan Levine
Starring • Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer and John Malkovich
Rated • PG-13
Recommended to • Those looking for an inventive twist on the zombie genre.

R (Nicholas Hoult) is a zombie who lives in an abandoned airport with hundreds of his kind. However, unlike the other living dead, R wants to find a sense of purpose and meaning from life. While munching on the brains of a young man R falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer), his victim’s girlfriend, and inadvertently reconnects with his lost humanity.
With “50/50” director Jonathan Levine introduced an element of comedy into a drama about a man who is given a 50/50 chance of survival after being diagnosed with cancer. You shouldn’t be able to make a comedy about a person dying of cancer; that’s exactly what Levine did and the results were heartfelt and hilarious.

With “Warm Bodies” Levine again sets out to do something new by introducing an element of romance into the zombie genre. Working from Isaac Marion’s novel, Levine has made a film that has the comedic tone of “Zombieland” but its ideas and social commentary point back to George A Romero's seminal “Day of the Dead.” He hasn’t thrown out the book on zombies, many of the rules remain, but he’s also added an unexpected addition: hope and the ability for those thought lost to reclaim themselves.

The film does have some pacing issues, particularly when we’re trapped in an airport during the movie’s first act, and the tone is a little more goofy than I had hoped it would be, but over-all I’d consider “Warm Bodies” a success.
 
Stand Up Guys
2.5 out of 5 Stars
Director • Fisher Stevens
Starring • Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin
Rated • R
Recommended to • Those willing to accept mediocrity from a cast capable of so much more.

Val (Al Pacino) has spent the last 28 years in prison after taking the fall for his friends Doc (Christopher Walken) and Hirsch (Alan Arkin). Now that he is a free man, Val looks to celebrate with a night of debauchery, but his past crimes might make his first night out his last night on earth.
“Stand Up Guys” has a great cast and a very mediocre script that wanders in circles and never really goes anywhere. Pacino, Walken and Arkin try their best, but the majority of the jokes fall flat and there isn’t enough action or heart to make up for the lack of laughs. 

Rust and Bone
4 out of 5 Stars
Director • Jacques Audiard
Starring • Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts and Armand Verdure
Rated • R
Recommended to • Those looking for a wonderful performance from Marion Cotillard in a rather bleak drama. 

Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) wants to be a professional kick boxer, but his dead end life has forced him into living with his sister with his young son. Stephanie (Marion Cotillard) works as killer whale trainer, but a tragic accident causes her to lose her legs. Fate pushes these two wandering souls together with explosive consequences.

What is most interesting about “Rust and Bone” is that it isn’t a traditional love story where the troubled are saved kindness. Ali brings out the worst in Stephanie. He feeds her sorrow and exploits her weaknesses. Together they embark on a dark journey of self-destructive tendencies. Their love is a physical, grimy thing. The performances are masterful, which only makes the film effectively unpleasant and engrossing at the same time.

(Copyright 2013 Sinclair Broadcasting Group)
Box Office: Recommended Films February 1-7, 2013