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At the Movies: ‘Promised Land,’ ‘Not Fade Away,’ more

For more movie content, see Friday’s Today section in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

OPENING

‘Promised Land’
A respected schoolteacher and the leader of a grass-roots campaign band together when a natural gas company wants to tap into the community’s resources. (R, 106 minutes)

‘Texas Chainsaw 3D’
A continuation of the legendary story of the homicidal Sawyer family that picks up where the 1974 horror classic left off — in Newt, Texas, where for decades people disappeared without a trace. (R, 95 minutes)

LIMITED RELEASE

‘Not Fade Away’
An homage to rock ‘n’ roll from “Sopranos” creator David Chase, following a young man (John Magaro) as he forms a band, escapes suburban New Jersey and encounters romance, adventure and a dose of reality in New York City, clashing with his father (James Gandolfini) along the way. At Consolidated Pearlridge and Koko Marina. (R, 112 minutes)

The Metropolitan Opera: ‘Les Troyens’
Berlioz’s vast epic, last performed at the house in 2003, stars Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham and Marcello Giordani portraying characters from the Trojan War. One showing: noon, Saturday, at Regal Dole Cannery Stadium. (Not rated, 345 minutes)

‘The Impossible’ 1/2
Parents and their three children are separated during a Christmas vacation in Thailand after a tsunami destroys the coastal zones. They survive and begin a desperate search to reunite. Based on a true story. At Consolidated Kahala. (PG-13, 114 minutes)

‘Hyde Park on Hudson’ 1/2
The story of the love affair between Franklin D. Roosevelt and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley, portrayed during a weekend in 1939 when the king and queen of the United Kingdom visit New York City. At Consolidated Kahala. (R, 94 minutes)

NOW PLAYING

‘Django Unchained’
With the help of his mentor, a slave-turned-bounty hunter sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner. There’s something gleefully satisfying in watching evil people get what they have coming, but “Django Unchained” is Tarantino at his most puerile and least inventive. Tarantino always gets good actors who deliver, though, and performances by Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson make “Django Unchained” intermittently entertaining. (David Germain, Associated Press) (R, 165 minutes)

‘The Guilt Trip’
Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen star in this comedy about an inventor whose quick stop at his mom’s house turns into an unexpected cross-country journey with her along for the ride. It’s a warm and delightful movie, and the two actors are completely convincing as mother and son. (Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle) (PG-13, 95 minutes)

‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ 1/2
A curious hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, journeys to the Lonely Mountain with a vigorous group of dwarves to reclaim a treasure stolen from them by the dragon Smaug. It’s both visually dazzling and utterly distracting, and at more than three hours, the movie is overstuffed with prologues, a sidestepping back story and boring, drawn-out scenes. The first of a trilogy, this may pay off by the time the finale arrives in the summer of 2014, but right now it looks like something that would’ve been better told in one movie. (Christy Lemire, Associated Press) (PG-13, 169 minutes)

‘Jack Reacher’
“Jack Reacher” features one of those effortless badass performances from Tom Cruise that remind us that he is indeed a movie star, first and foremost. He plays Reacher, a homicide investigator digging deep into a case involving a military sniper who shot five random victims. Christopher McQuarrie’s film — the first he’s directed and written since 2000′s “The Way of the Gun” — moves so fluidly and with such confidence, it’ll suck you in from the start. (Christy Lemire, Associated Press) (PG-13, 130 minutes)

‘Les Miserables’ 1/2
Director Tom Hooper’s sweeping adaptation of the Broadway musical is destined, one suspects, for box-office glory. Based on Victor Hugo’s hefty classic set in 19th-century France, it exposes the suffering of the poor during the dawn of the industrial age, given an operetta treatment that can be soaring and glorious — or, when the lyrics slip into anachronistic vernacular, wincingly lame. This big-budget movie musical summons the mighty forces of CGI to create vast tableaux of castles and monasteries, shipyards and slums — France in the tumultuous first half of the 19th century. “Les Miserables” also summons the mighty tonsils of Hugh Jackman, the multitasking Australian, in the role of Jean Valjean, along with fellow Aussie Russell Crowe and a scene-stealing Anne Hathaway. (Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer) (PG-13, 157 minutes)

‘Life of Pi’ 1/2
Ang Lee’s latest film is about a young man who survives a disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor, a fearsome Bengal tiger. The film is gorgeous, ruminative, soulful, provocatively entertaining and the most artful use of digital 3-D technology to date. (David Germain, Associated Press) (PG, 127 minutes)

‘Lincoln’
As the Civil War continues to rage, America’s president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield and fights with many inside his own Cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves. Steven Spielberg’s splendid film stars Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role and is less a biopic than a political thriller, a civics lesson that is energetically staged and alive with moral energy. (A.O. Scott, New York Times) (PG-13, 149 minutes)

‘Monsters, Inc. 3D’ 1/2
Billy Crystal voices Mike Wazowski, a one-eyed working stiff (monster) and comic foil to Sulley (John Goodman) and beau of the long-suffering and equally one-eyed Celia (Jennifer Tilly). Mike is the guy who keeps the monsters in tip-top scaring shape — until that fateful day that a teeny tot nicknamed “Boo” isn’t scared, and follows them back through the door, scaring the dickens out of monsters. This movie hits the spot, benefiting from perfect timing and the best running sight gag ever: big, hairy monsters, all scared to death by a burbling, giggling, “kitty”-shrieking tyke (voiced by Mary Gibbs). (Roger Moore, McClatchy Newspapers) (G, 92 minutes)

‘Parental Guidance’
Billy Crystal is a minor-league baseball announcer who’s canned for being an old shtick in the mud (he doesn’t tweet), then develops a new relationship with his daughter and grandkids, teaching everyone a lot of lessons. It’s revenge of the geezer — and it could be worse, and would be without Bette Midler or Marisa Tomei. (Manohla Dargis, New York Times) (PG, 104 minutes)

‘Rise of the Guardians’
The latest project from DreamWorks Animation is about a group of immortal beings who team up to protect the innocence of children around the world when an evil spirit launches an assault on Earth. It’s an attractively designed but overly busy and derivative mishmash of kid-friendly elements. (Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter) (PG, 97 minutes)

‘Silver Linings Playbook’
This exuberant new movie from David O. Russell does almost everything right. The story tracks the feverish, happy, sad, absurdly funny ups and downs of a head case named Pat Solatano, played by a surprisingly effective, intensely focused Bradley Cooper, just as he returns to his parents’ home after eight months in a mental institution, longing to win back his estranged wife. When a neighbor, Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence, aching, tender, lovely), enters the picture, she at once disturbs Pat and gives him fresh purpose. At Consolidated Kahala. (Manohla Dargis, New York Times) (R, 122 minutes)

‘Skyfall’
In the latest James Bond movie starring Daniel Craig, Bond’s loyalty to his boss M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, Agent 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. This movie is a mixed bag. Some of it is terrific and some of it is spectacular. It succeeds in restoring the Bond saga to life, delivering all the kinetic satisfaction of a taut action thriller with a mature sophistication rare in blockbuster films. (Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune) (PG-13, 143 minutes)

‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2′
It’s the final chapter of the Gothic tween fantasy/romance story, and the franchise finally embraces its own innate absurdity with a gleefully over-the-top conclusion. After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens gather other vampire clans to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi. This movie is entertaining in a totally nutso way. (Christy Lemire, Associated Press) (PG-13, 115 minutes)

‘This Is 40′ 1/2
Judd Apatow returns to the edgy rom-com territory of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” with “This Is 40,” a good-natured and warm-hearted but only intermittently funny look at middle-age domesticity. Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann reprise their roles as Pete and Debbie from “Knocked Up,” a married couple with two daughters. There are some chuckle-worthy small moments, as when the couple argue over Pete’s use of a drug to enhance his sexual performance or when Pete tries to figure out how to keep his record label alive. There are few laugh-out-loud scenes. Yet maybe that’s the point — that life isn’t about the grand gesture, but the little day-to-day details that keep us grounded and human. (Cary Darling, McClatchy Newspapers) (R, 134 minutes)

‘Wreck-It Ralph’ 1/2
The latest Disney animated feature is about a video game villain who wants to be a hero and sets out to fulfill his dream, but his quest brings havoc to the whole arcade where he lives. The studio takes a page out of Pixar’s well-worn playbook and ends up with a screwball farce with a novel setting and more edge than your average Disney ‘toon. (Roger Moore, McClatchy Newspapers) (PG, 108 minutes)

ARTHOUSE

DORIS DUKE THEATRE

Honolulu Museum of Art, 900 S. Beretania St., entry on Kinau Street (532-8768); $10 general and $8 museum members (tickets also available online at honolulumuseum.org)

‘Chasing Ice’
1 p.m. Jan. 4; and 1, 4 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 5
Winner of the Excellence in Cinematography award at Sundance, Jeff Orlowski’s documentary follows National Geographic photographer James Balog on his epic, five-year mission to gather visual evidence of the Earth’s melting ice, placing cameras across three continents. (2012, 75 minutes)

‘Opera in Cinema: Carmen, Royal Opera House, London’
1 and 6 p.m. Jan. 6
The Royal Opera House production by director Francesca Zambello of one the world’s most popular operas. (150 minutes, plus two intermissions; performed December 2006)

‘Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters’
1 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 8, 9 10 and 11
Acclaimed photographer Crewdson creates surreal and elaborate portraits of suburban life. (2012, 79 minutes)

‘English Vinglish’
12:30 and 6 pm. Jan. 12; 4 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13
An Indian housewife, living in New York, enrolls in an English class to overcome her insecurities. (2012, 134 minutes)

‘Diwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’
12:30 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 15 and 16
A wealthy playboy falls for a prim and proper girl while on a European vacation. In Hindi and English with English subtitles. (1995, 192 minutes)

‘Barfi!’
12:30 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17 and 18
A heartwarming tale about a deaf and mute boy who gets mixed up with an autistic girl, who is also a spoiled heiress. (2012, 151 minutes)

‘Cocktail’
12:30, 4 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 19
An incorrigible flirt, a girl with traditional values and a party girl are perfect roommates until friendship becomes confusing and love becomes complicated. In Hindi with English subtitles. (2012, 146 minutes)

MOVIE MUSEUM

3566 Harding Ave. (735-8771): $5 general and $4 members; reservations recommended

‘A Taxing Woman (Marusa no Onna)’
4:30 and 6:45 p.m. today
A tax agent, promoted to an investigator position, pursues a big-league tax cheat. In Japanese with English subtitles. (1987, 127 minutes)

‘Angele et Tony’
Noon, 1:30, 3 and 9 p.m. today; and 4, 5:30 and 7 p.m. Jan. 7
A woman with a past meets a fisherman who lives with his widowed mother. She begins work as a fishmonger and the unlikely pair’s relationship blossoms. In French with English subtitles. (2010, 83 minutes)

‘Looper’
Noon, 2:15, 4:30, 6:45 and 9 p.m. Jan. 5
A time-traveling assassin who works for the mob is assigned to kill his future self. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis. (2012, 119 minutes)

‘Pitch Perfect’
Noon, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Jan. 6
Beca, a freshman at Barden University, is persuaded to join her school’s all-girls singing group. Its members challenge their male rivals in a campus competition. Starring Jason Moore and Anna Kendrick. (2012, 112 minutes)

‘Silence (Hiljaisuus)’
Noon, 2 and 8:30 p.m. Jan. 7; 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. Jan. 11
During World War II, four men and three women work in a retrieval center near the border between Finland and Russia, collecting the bodies of fallen soldiers from Finland to prepare them for burial in their home country. In Finnish with English subtitles. (2011, 107 minutes)

‘A Quiet Life’
Noon, 1:45, 3:30 and 5:15 p.m. Jan. 10
A Japan-based writer travels with his wife to Australia, leaving his grown daughter in charge of her mentally handicapped brother. In Japanese with English subtitles. (1995, 99 minutes)

‘Secret Reunion’
Noon, 2:15 and 8:30 p.m. Jan. 11; and 4 and 8:30 p.m. Jan. 14
A former South Korean special agent is fired for letting a ruthless North Korean assassin and his colleague escape. Six years later, he is running a detective agency when he spots the assassin, who is still at large. In Korean with English subtitles. (2010, 116 minutes)

‘Archangel’
7:15 p.m. Jan. 10; 12:30, 3, 5:30 and 8 p.m. Jan. 12
Daniel Craig stars in this thriller, an adaptation of Robert Harris’ best-seller, as American academic Fluke Kelso, whose encounter in Russia with a former Soviet Secret Police agent points the way to one of the world’s most dangerous secrets. In Russian with English subtitles. (2005, 133 minutes)

‘Arbitrage’
Noon, 2 and 6 p.m. Jan. 13
Richard Gere plays the role of a hedge-fund tycoon who is in over his head trying to complete the sale of his trading empire before his fraud is revealed. Susan Sarandon stars as his loyal wife. (2012, 107 minutes)

‘Little Red Flowers’
4 and 8 p.m. Jan. 13
This 1950s drama set in Beijing focuses on a 4-year-old boy who rebels against kindergarten. Although he is an independent, self-reliant lad, he still deeply wants to win the little red flowers that are awarded for good behavior. In Mandarin with English subtitles. (2006, 92 minutes)

‘Three Wives (Tre mogli)’
Noon, 2 and 6:30 p.m. Jan. 14
Three Roman wives of different backgrounds are joined in a common cause — tracking down their wayward spouses in Argentina. All three wives were left by their husbands, who worked at the same bank — which happens to be missing a lot of cash. In Italian with English subtitles. (2001, 105 minutes)

MONDAY MOVIE CAFE

The Venue, 1146 Bethel St. (436-4326): $10; $5 students

‘Na Naia: Legend of the Dolphins’
7 p.m. Jan. 7
Cinematography captures dolphins’ dramatic journey through the oceans adjoining Hawaii, the Bahamas, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mozambique and Brazil. The film tells the tale of majestic creatures who once lived on land and took over the sea as the Great Dolphin Tribe, until continents shifted and the tribes were divided, bringing the species to eight corners of the world. (2011, 92 minutes)