Film Clips: This weekend’s movie openings and more August 06 2010

From a comic with a Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg duo to a dramatic tale of abuse, take your pick this week between laughing or crying or laughing while crying with titles to fit nearly every genre.

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  • MACALL POLAY
  • Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in Columbia Picture’s comedy “The Other Guys”


OPENING FRIDAY

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED 3 stars (R ) A pair of British ex-cons (Eddie Marsan and Martin Compston) meticulously plan the kidnapping of a wealthy young woman (Gemma Arterton) in this Hitchcockian thriller from director J Blakeson. Until the last act, most of Alice Creed takes place in three rooms, but Blakeson builds tension and reveals twists like a sharp student of Harold Pinter’s Theater of Menace. The film unsparingly depicts the abuse of a woman, but also implies the audience and filmmaker have a voyeuristic complicity in the story. — Holman


THE OTHER GUYS 3 stars (PG-13) With New York’s super-detectives Danson and Highsmith (Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson) out of commission, disgraced hot-head Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) and meek forensic accountant Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) seize a chance to escape desk duty and break a huge case involving a sleazy financier (Steve Coogan). For about an hour, The Other Guys comes on like comedic gangbusters, with Wahlberg’s misplaced machismo providing a good foil for Ferrell’s increasingly unhinged antics. The cop clichés give Ferrell and director Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) plenty to riff on for a while, but once the good gags peter out, the lumbering action scenes prove less than arresting. — Holman


RESTREPO (R ) This acclaimed documentary follows writer Sebastian Junger and photographer Tim Weatherington followed the 2nd platoon, Battle Company, 173rd Airborne, during their yearlong deployment in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley in 2008.


STEP UP 3D Following the same tradition as the Bring it On movies, the Step Up series takes on another spin as street dancers (Rick Malambri, Sharni Vinson) team up with a freshman (Adam G. Sevani) from New York University for a high-stakes showdown against the world’s best hip-hop dancers.

WILD GRASS (NR) A lost and found wallet leads to romantic possibilities between a single, middle-aged dentist (Sabine Azema) and an unemployed husband (Andre Dussolier) with a mysterious past. Director Alain Resnais is a legendary French filmmaker and auteur of such artsy pictures as Last Year at Marienbad.