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At the movies: June 29, 2012
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New in theaters Great Escape 14 Stadium Cinemas, Moline: -- "Magic Mike" (R) -- "People Like Us" (PG-13) -- "Ted" (R) -- "Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection" (PG-13) Rave Motion Pictures 53, Davenport: -- "Magic Mike" (R) -- "People Like Us" (PG-13) -- "Ted" (R) -- "Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection" (PG-13) Nova 6 Cinemas, Moline: -- "What to Expect When You're Expecting" (PG-13) Central Theater, Geneseo -- "Rock of Ages" (PG-13) Putnam Museum Giant Screen: -- "Rescue 3D" (No rating) Galva Autovue, Galva -- Friday and Saturday: "Brave" (PG) and "The Avengers" (PG-13) -- Friday and Saturday: "Snow White & The Huntsman" (PG-13) and "Battleship" (PG-13) -- Sunday: "Brave" (PG) or "Snow White & The Huntsman" (PG-13) Minireviews These are Roger Ebert's mini-reviews (unless otherwise noted) of movies currently playing in the Quad-Cities area: "Magic Mike" (R, 110 minutes). Steven Soderbergh's film is a crafty mixture of comedy, romance, melodrama and some remarkably well-staged strip routines involving hunky, good-looking guys. I have a feeling women will enjoy it more than men. Channing Tatum stars as the title character, Matthew McConaughey is the no-nonsense impresario, Alex Pettyfer is a kid recruited into the business, and Cody Horn is his protective sister. Starts as a backstage comedy, and enters darker realms. Rating: 3 stars. "Ted" (R, 106 minutes). The funniest movie character so far this year is a stuffed teddy bear. And the best comedy screenplay so far is "Ted," the saga of the bear's friendship with a 35-year-old man-child. Mark Wahlberg stars as the teddy's best friend, Mila Kunis is his long-suffering girlfriend, and director Seth McFarlane ("The Family Guy") does Ted's potty-mouthed Beantown accent. The movie doesn't run out of steam. McFarlane seems unwilling to stop after the first payoff of a scene and keeps embellishing. (Definitely not for kids. Trust me on this.) Rating: 3 1/2 stars. "People Like Us" (PG-13, 115 minutes). A slick salesman from New York (Chris Pine) flies home to LA after the death of his father, and is given a shaving kit holding $150,000 and instructions to deliver it to the half-sister (Elizabeth Banks) he never knew he had. He manages to "meet" her at an AA meeting, befriends her little boy (Michael Hall D'Addario), and confides in her. The movie's flaw is that he waits so long to reveal their relationship that it stops being a human fact and grows into a tiresome plot device. Still, that aside, a good-hearted and well-intentioned film. Rating: 2 1/2 stars. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection" (PG-13, 114 minutes). After being set up as the fall guy for a mob-backed Ponzi scheme, a mild-mannered investment banker enters the federal witness protection program with his family and heads to the South. With Eugene Levy, Doris Roberts, Tom Arnold and Tyler Perry. Written and directed by Perry. No rating. (MCT) "Rescue 3D" (No rating, 45 minutes). This documentary plunges audiences into the hard, but inspiring work of saving lives in the face of a natural disaster. Behind the scenes, the film follows a Canadian naval commander, two pilots, and a volunteer rescue technician as they train for action. When an earthquake strikes Haiti, creating one of the biggest humanitarian disasters of the century, the audience is swept along, joining with the massive effort that brings military and civilian responders and hardware from around the world. "Rescue 3D" is a journey of real-world disaster and emergency response with unprecedented scale and impact for the giant screen. (Putnam Museum) Last week: "Brave" (PG, 100 minutes). The new animation from Pixar poaches on traditional Disney territory. Instead of such inventive stories as "Up" and "WALL-E," we get a spunky princess, her mum the queen, her dad the gruff king, an old witch who lives in the woods and so on. The artistry looks wonderful. Kids will probably love it, but parents will be disappointed if they're hoping for another Pixar ground-breaker. With the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters and Robbie Coltrane. Rating: 3 stars. "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" (R, 101 minutes). An asteroid 70 miles wide will slam into the Earth in three weeks. Steve Carell plays a lonely insurance agent whose wife has taken this opportunity to leave him, and Keira Knightley is the neighbor who joins him on a road trip. Writer-director Lorene Scafaria uses the approaching apocalypse as the occasion for satire and some sweet, melancholy romance. Also starring Adam Brody, Rob Corddry, Patton Oswalt, Derek Luke. Rating: 3 stars. "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" (R, 105 minutes). Vowing vengeance after a vampire kills his mother, Abe Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) learns the skills of vampire-killing while a young law student in Springfield and goes on a murder spree, chopping off the heads of six vampires with the silver blade of his ax, which he can twirl like a baton. During the Civil War, the Union faces defeat because the vampires are fighting on the Confederate side, but Lincoln' quick thinking and vampire expertise turns the tide of battle at Gettysburg. The movie handles these matters with straightforward seriousness, which may be the only way they could possibly work. A scene on a speeding train is genuinely thrilling, and the movie is surprisingly entertaining, if you forget everything you know about American history. Co-starring Anthony Mackie, Dominic Cooper, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell. Based on the best-seller by Seth Grahame-Smith. Rating: 3 stars. Coming to video Tuesday, July 3: "Seeking Justice" (R, 105 minutes, 2012). Not only does the movie have holes big enough to run a truck through, it has the trucks, too -- big honking and swerving ones about to cream Nic Cage as he leaps into traffic from an expressway bridge. Preposterous thriller in which he's offered revenge against the attacker of his wife (January Jones) by a sinister creep (Guy Pearce) whose secret organization apparently has unlimited resources. Shot in New Orleans. Should have been buried there. Rating: 1 1/2 stars. "In Darkness" (R, 143 minutes, 2012). A sewer worker in Lvov takes advantage of the Nazi occupation of his city to make profits by selling food and supplies to a small group of Jews hiding in the sewers. But after witnessing unspeakable Nazi atrocities, his original anti-Semitism gives way to a genuine desire to save their lives. A righteous story of conversion, but told in a film too long and repetitious, with dimly lit sewer scenes that are an ordeal to wait through. Rating: 2 1/2 stars. 
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Today is Friday, May 24, the 144th day of 2013. There are 221 days left in the year.
1863 -- 150 years ago: A military escort will be at the square at 9 a.m. tomorrow forthe funeral of Lieut. Joseph Eaton. The county judge is absent in Chicago, which willaccount for his not being in the procession.
1888 -- 125 years ago: Rock Island's City Council last night appropriated $95,000 forexpenses for the 1888 and 1889 fiscal year.
1913 -- 100 years ago: Mrs. F.W. Reimers last night was re-elected president of the RockIsland Musical Club at a meeting in the New Harper Hotel.
1938 -- 75 years ago: Seven members of Boy Scout Troop 21 got their Eagle badges lastnight. They were Ralph Hurt, Robert Nelson, Howard Schersten, Cecil Nelson, RobertFryxell, Clarence Stone and Rollin Hurt.
1963 -- 50 years ago: Mayor Morris Muhleman has resorted to a form letter in an effort toanswer objections to the wheel tax increase. "It was my hope that I could, in some way,restore the faith of the citizens in our city. In order to do this I knew I must face the factthat I would become very unpopular."All they are trying to do is protect the citizensproperty and build their town.
1988 -- 25 years ago: RICCA, the Rock Island County Council on Addictions, inconjunction with the Quad City Downs, will hold its annual "Night at the Races" June 2.The benefit "Night at the Races" will raise funds locally to assist in maintaining the twohalfway houses, New Hope Lodge (for women) and Beacon House (for men).
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