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Film Shorts: Valley Cinemas, GCCL, The Worx

Valley Cinemas is holding over the unstoppable Deadpool and adding Zootopia, an unexpected animated feature from Walt Disney.The latter film represents a real break from the conventional animated offering, which usually concerns itself with cute animals taking a trip to rescue one of their own or save their habitat.

Zootopia is a film noir mystery disguised as a cartoon. In that way it slightly resembles Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but here the whole city is anthropomorphized. The story concerns aspiring cop rabbit Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) who is trapped doing traffic duty until she gets involved in a "missing animals" case, aided by a con fox named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), which unearths a massive criminal conspiracy. The movie barely seems aimed at kids, which is a relief, and adults will appreciate its satire on some of the more annoying aspects of urban life.

Over at the Glasgow City-County Library (408 3rd Ave S, 228-2731), it's never too late to catch up with The Godfather, one of the great American films. Also on hand is The Hunt for Red October, a great techno-thriller which was popular but scorned by reviewers. Here's a chance to make up your own mind. Meanwhile, there are 25 features in John Wayne: The Tribute Collection, a boxed set for Montana cowpokes to while away the nights. These are all lesser films, with titles such as Paradise Canyon, Hell Town, and 'Neath the Arizona Skies, but also included is Shadow of the Eagle, a 12-part serial featuring Wayne. Finally, the Courier's Parker Kulczyk recommends Rocky, the first and best of all the films featuring Sylvester Stallone as the optimistic boxer. To be fair, PK actually picked all of the selections for the stacks, as he has in previous weeks, so you can direct your praise and/or blame at him.

And over at The Worx (700 1/2 1st Ave N, 228-4474) you can continue the Rocky renaissance with Creed, the latest Rocky story and one for which Stallone was nominated for an Oscar. In this continuation, the aging boxer trains the son of his first foe, Apollo Creed and faces some personal crises. It's the best addition to the series since the second film, but one can easily fast forward through the love story foisted on Creed fils. Other new titles at the store include The Night Before, a Christmas Eve "bro" comedy, Miss You Already, a "sick best friend" tearjerker, and All Roads Lead to Rome, a romance set during a trip to Italy.

It's a new month and time to sort out what's coming and going on the streaming sites. Netflix is adding the new fourth season of House of Cards, with more Capitol skullduggery, but here as with most Netflix TV shows, the season is longer than it needs to be. It begins on March 4, and is soon followed by the dark Daredevil, season two, in which the blind lawyer-masked avenger takes on a new villain (March 18). Leaving this month is the clever Steven Soderbergh medical thriller, Side Effects, but added to the viewing mix are season one of the excellent Better Call Saul, and the camp Al Pacino version of Scarface.

Amy won an Oscar for best documentary, and now viewers can assess this account of British singer Amy Winehouse through Amazon Prime. Also appearing this month is Orphan Black, the science fiction show about clones. Season three got off to a rough start, but quickly righted itself for another suspenseful and touching run (March 27). Starting on the first day of the month is The Seven Year Itch, the Billy Wilder comedy with Marilyn Monroe. This is the one where a gust from a subway grate elevates her white dress.

Hulu is adding the teen romance show Dawson's Creek, which, decades later, still has followers, while HBO Now features the incomparable drive-in fist fight film Road House, with Patrick Swayze. Showtime has the French film Clouds of Sils Maria, in which Kristen Stewart is great as an actress's personal assistant – she won a French Oscar for the role.

 

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