Friday movie roundup: Big game, little movies | The Cricket | The Salt Lake Tribune
Get breaking news alerts via email

Click here to manage your alerts
The Cricket
Sean P. Means
Sean is the movie critic and columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @moviecricket.
Photos
Friday movie roundup: Big game, little movies
image
In this film image released by CBS Films, Daniel Radcliffe is shown in a scene from the supernatural thriller "The Woman in Black." (AP Photo/CBS Films, Nick Wall)
Published on Feb 3, 2012 10:04AM

Hollywood knows what you're doing on Sunday -- staying home and watching the Super Bowl -- so the studios aren't throwing out any big movies to fight against it.

"The Woman in Black" marks the beginning of Daniel Radcliffe's post-"Harry Potter" career, as he plays a Victorian-era lawyer assigned to sort out the will of a widow woman in a creaky country mansion. The movie is robustly old-fashioned in its scares, though it loses some brainpower as it goes.

"Chronicle" is another "found footage" thriller, this one with superhero-origin trappings. Three high-school friends discover some glowing thingee in the woods -- and, after touching it, discover they have telekinetic abilities. The storyline follows too-familiar contours, as one of the teens succumbs to the dark side of his new powers. The effects are pretty cool, although the "found footage" gimmick gets a little stretched.

"Big Miracle" is a family-friendly tale of three grey whales trapped under the ice near Alaska, who receive aid from a TV reporter (John Krasinski), a Greenpeace activist (Drew Barrymore) and others. The Cricket didn't see the movie (it screened while he was still in Park City for the Sundance Film Festival), but Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel quite liked it.

This week's big art-house movie is "Shame," the controversial (and NC-17-rated) drama in which Michael Fassbender plays a New York metrosexual with a severe sex-addiction problem. Fassbender's performance is intense, as is Carey Mulligan's as his troubled sister, but the glossy sheen applied by British director Steve McQueen saps the emotional energy from the film.

Lastly, the Clark Planetarium is debuting an educational IMAX documentary, "Space Junk 3D," which points out the dangers of too much stuff -- defunct satellites, lost space tools, etc. -- orbiting the planet. The Tribune's Scott D. Pierce reviews it.

Reader comments on sltrib.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Salt Lake Tribune. We will delete comments containing obscenities, personal attacks and inappropriate or offensive remarks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. If you see an objectionable comment, click the red "Flag" link below it. See more about comments here. What are those badges some users have next to their names?
 
Jobs
Shopping
Missing your paper? Need to place your paper on vacation hold? For this and any other subscription related needs, click here or call 801.204.6100.
Affiliates and Partners
MediaOne of UtahUtah RidesMoving CompaniesKen Garff Hyundai
Willey HondaWise Food StorageVivint Inc. Inside Sales JobsUtah Business Magazine
MediaOne Real EstateWasatch WomanUtah Real EstateDiscovery Gateway
Local MoversCustom Gaming ComputersTeleperformanceUtah Cars
Utah UtesICU MedicalHometown ValuesHolmes Homes
Hanks & Mortensen, P.C.UtahsRight.comClark PlanetariumSalt Lake Valley Buick GMC
Now Salt LakeBathroom VanitiesMoversIn This Week