"Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol" (PG-13, 132 minutes, Paramount): Hand it to Tom Cruise: Even on the cusp of 50, he still does his own stunts, looks studly in a suit and has perfect hair. "Ghost Protocol" possesses the requisite number of expertly choreographed how'd-they-do-that scenes, as well as some terrific supporting performances from "Mission: Impossible" veterans and newcomers.
Cruise can actually act, especially when he convincingly plays Ethan convincingly playing a Russian general and then engages a Kremlin guard in some absurdly clever misdirection.
The frenetic action, gargantuan scale and furious scurryings to save the world take their toll - on the audience if not the protagonists, who have managed to barely break a sweat.
"Born to Be Wild 3D" (G, 41 minutes, Warner): The 40-minute film tells the parallel stories of primatologist Birute Galdikas, who rescues orphaned orangutans in Borneo, and Daphne Sheldrick, savior of Kenya's motherless elephant calves. While there's an important story here - how these women take in endangered animals with the intention of later releasing them back into the wild - the main attraction is the general adorableness.
People are also reading…
The primates wrap their spindly arms around their caretakers for a loose hug; a playful elephant pokes its trunk to its sleeping keeper's belly as a wake-up call; the pachyderms trot in single file down a dirt path the way kids in preschool might. "Born to Be Wild" also has some spectacular 3-D moments.
Thanks to an economical run time and a touching story line, "Born to Be Wild" feels like a ready-made afternoon of family fun.
"Shame" (NC-17, 125 minutes, Fox): In director Steve McQueen's mournful portrait of an addict hitting rock bottom, Michael Fassbender plays a man seeking self-annihilation through the compulsive pursuit of sex. Fassbender plays Brandon, a successful New Yorker who may be able to make it anywhere, but even when he's with another person he's alone.
That changes with the sudden arrival of his little sister, Sissy, still wearing a hospital bracelet. Sissy upsets Brandon's rituals, which, it becomes clear, emanate from a wound deep in their shared past. "Shame" leaves motivations and back stories up to the viewer's imagination and focuses with unblinking frankness on the depths of Brandon's most self-loathing behavior.
Whether "Shame" is worth the gloomy descent into Manhattan's scurviest recesses depends on the viewer's tolerance for movies that offer no grand narrative or explicit meaning and instead simply provide a snapshot character study for audiences to ponder on their own.
Also released Tuesday
"Frozen Planet" (BBC/Discovery)
"Treme: The Complete Second Season"
"Bill Moyers: Capitol Crimes"
