Reel Picks

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Alpha and Omega (PG)

Animated tale of two anthropomorphic wolves, the bossy Kate (Alpha) and good-time Humphrey (Omega), trying to get home where rival packs threaten war. Yeah, but we don’t really care.

2 shells

Easy A (PG-13)

Hilarious satire. Emma Stone is wonderful as the outcast Olive, a virgin who creates a phony reputation as a sexually promiscuous hottie — inspired by author Hawthorne, she embroiders red As on her T-shirts — and becomes super cool. Great characters, great cast: Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, Thomas Haden Church, Lisa Kudrow, Amanda Bynes, and Penn Badgley.

4.5 shells

Life As We Know It (PG-13)

So predictable. So sit-com. So cute. A couple, Holly (Katharine Heigl – hasn’t she done this before?) and Messer (Josh Duhamel) who can’t stand each other are made guardians of their friends’ baby, Sophie, and wind up having to raise her together. Diaper gags, confused new-parent gags, sexual tension disguised as bickering, and way too many montage sequences.

2.5 shells

The Town (R)

Ben Affleck (bank robber). Jon Hamm (FBI). Boston (the tightly knit Hood of Charlestown). Romance (Rebecca Hall). Loyalty and betrayal. Powerful.

4.5 shells.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (PG-13)

Oliver Stone’s tense sequel is set in 2008, after the world economy has tanked. After eight years in prison, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, an Oscar winner for this role in ’87) slowly plots to get back in on the double-dealing action while nice guy trader Jake (Shia LaBeouf), about to marry Gekko’s estranged daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan), has his own agenda: teaming up with Gekko (don’t tell Winnie), revenge on the villainous Bretton James (Josh Brolin) who destroyed his firm, and reuniting father and daughter. With Susan Sarandon, Eli Wallach, Frank Langella. Here’s to greed and excess.

3 shells

These reviews are based on a consensus of published ratings.