TAGGED AS: Certified Fresh
This week at the movies, we’ve got a record six Certified Fresh movies, including a Muppet caper (The Muppets, starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams), a special delivery (Arthur Christmas, with voice work from James McAvoy and Hugh Laurie), and a cinematic fantasia (Hugo, starring Asa Butterfield and Chloe Moretz). What do the critics have to say?
It’s been more than a decade since the Muppets were in multiplexes, but critics say it was worth the wait: they find The Muppets to be a joyous musical comedy that preserves the sunny spirit of Jim Henson’s creations while managing to bring the gang into the 21st Century. Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, and the rest of the Muppets are coaxed out of retirement by Walter (as well as non-Muppets Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams), a huge fan who’s afraid their old theater is about to be destroyed by shady developers. The pundits say the Certified Fresh Muppets was clearly a labor of love for writer and star Segel, and his respect for the Muppets combined with smartly self-reflexive storytelling results in a movie that should please old fans and young viewers alike. (Check out this week’s Total Recall, in which we run down all of Jim Henson’s movies, and find out Kermit and Miss Piggy’s Five Favorite Films.)
The good folks at Aardman have made plenty of delightfully offbeat animated films, and critics say the trend continues with Arthur Christmas, a sweet and eccentric dose of yuletide cheer. It’s the story of Santa Claus’ son Arthur (James McAvoy), who must deliver a present to a sad little girl after Papa Noel neglects to visit her house. Along the way, we learn about Santa’s state-of-the-art headquarters up at the North Pole. The pundits say the Certified Fresh Arthur Christmas is endlessly inventive, filled with witty sight gags, wonderful vocal performances, and an unconventional but undeniable sense of holiday cheer.
Martin Scorsese made a family movie? In 3D? He sure did, and critics say Hugo is a dazzling affair, visually rich and emotionally heartfelt in equal measure. Hugo (Asa Butterfield), and orphan living in a Paris train station, teams up with some new friends on a quest to find a secret left to him by his father. The pundits say the Certified Fresh Hugo is an extravagant, elegant fantasy with an innocence lacking in many modern kids’ movies, but it’s also an intensely personal film for Scorsese, one that emanates an unabashed love for the magic of cinema.
The French import The Artist, a crowd-pleasing homage to the last days of the silent film era, is Certified Fresh at 97 percent.
My Week with Marilyn, starring Michelle Williams as the legendary bombshell during a week away from the spotlight, is Certified Fresh at 86 percent.
David Cronenberg‘s A Dangerous Method, starring Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender as pioneering psychotherapists under the spell of a troubled woman, is Certified Fresh at 81 percent.
House of Pleasures, drama about the last days of an elegant Parisian brothel, is at 80 percent.
Rampart, starring Woody Harrelson in a drama about a crooked cop with a very messy home life, is at 79 percent.
Romantics Anonymous, a comedy about a pair of incredibly shy people who share a passion for chocolate, is at 75 percent.
Crazy Wisdom, a documentary on famed Tibetan Buddhist leader Chogyam Trungpa, is at 60 percent.
