AMERICAN HUSTLE The wrath of a con.
  • AMERICAN HUSTLE The wrath of a con.

AMERICAN HUSTLE! I'm hit-and-miss on David O. Russell: Really liked Three Kings and Huckabees, didn't like The Fighter or Silver Linings Playbook. Lots of people are saying lots of great things about his latest, though, including Paul Constant, who writes, "with its big-talking swagger, period-piece glamour, and huge dirty-dealing cast, Hustle feels like a response to Scorsese's classic crime films, only built to a less epic, more human scale."

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS! Ned looooooved this movie, and I did too. Which is weird, because Llewyn Davis himself? He's pretty much an asshole. Regardless, Ned says, the film "excels at every challenge the Coen brothers put up to it, succeeding not just as a richly appointed period piece or a movie musical, but also as the sort of riddle-like cinematic puzzle the Coens concoct so well."

ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES! Speaking of assholes, Ron Burgundy's back! Welcome back, Ron. I love you, and I love the ghost of Stonewall Jackson.

SAVING MR. BANKS! A Disney-made, Disney-approved version of how Mary Poppins was made—not as terrible as it sounds, according to Courtney! Even as it glances over much of history (like the fact P.L. Travers was a "feisty, stereotype-breaking bisexual—a single mom who adopted a baby in her 40s, studied Zen meditation in Kyoto, and was publishing erotica about her silky underwear 10 years before Walt had sketched his mouse"), Courtney found the film "sweet and likeable and not without a bit of an edge. It's a Disney edge, sure, but it's there."

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS! Denis didn't come right and out say that you should get high and go see this, but he pretty much said you should get high and go see this.

All those reviews and more are in the Mercury's august, beloved, and 100 percent reliable Film section; there's also plenty more in Film Shorts, and here are your Movie Times.