Reel Picks

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The Guard (R)

There’s something nice about this buddy-buddy comedy with Brendan Gleeson as a quirky, unpredictable, often insulting small-town Irish cop teamed with Don Cheadle, as an uptight FBI agent trying to break up a ring of European drug traffickers.

The Ides of March (R)

The backstabbing, media manipulations, and scandals of insider politics, directed by and starring George Clooney. Ryan Gosling plays the opportunistic press secretary to Ohio Governor Mike Morris (Clooney), who promises a yes-we-can kind of government. Marisa Tomei, as a New York Times reporter, Philip Seymour Hoffman as the governor’s campaign manager, and Evan Rachel Wood as the sexy office intern. Well done.

Immortals (R)

The ambitious and brutal King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) sends his army rampaging across Greece so he can replace the Gods of Olympus. A stonemason, Theseus (Henry Cavill), with the help of the oracle Phaedra (Freida Pinto), is the key to halting the destruction.

Moneyball (PG-13)

In the Oakland Athletics 2002 season, after 11 losses, general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) uses a recruiting technique formulated by young Yale grad, Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), based on statistical cost-benefit analysis of baseball players. Philip Seymour Hoffman as team manager, Art Howe. Homerun.

Puss in Boots (PG)

Dreamworks produced this animated adventure of the notorious Puss in Boots, a loveable outlaw who becomes a hero trying to save the town with help from Humpty Dumpty and Kitty Softpaws.

The Rum Diary (R)

From gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s 1998 autobiographical book. Reed (Johnny Depp) came to work for the Daily News in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1960, and defying his boss (Richard Jenkins), wrote stinging portraits of American colonialists. Teamed with a flashy PR man (Aaron Eckhart) and his girlfriend (Amber Heard), Reed, in a drunken haze, concocts one wild scheme after another, and brings general havoc. So why isn’t this more fun?

The Three Musketeers (PG-13)

The all-for-one group is back, but this time despite the swagger and swashbuckle, Athos (Matthew Macfadyen), Aramis (Luke Evans), Porthos (Ray Stevenson), and D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman) don’t add up to much excitement as they try to outmaneuver the Duke of Buckingham (Orlando Bloom) and the evil Milady (Milla Jovovich).