Gangster Squad

The new year starts with a bang – zillions of ‘em – in “Zombieland” director Ruben Fleischer’s postwar-L.A. “Gangster Squad,” an unexpectedly pleasurable entertainment made with copious amounts of humor and a lightness of spirit never hinted at in the trailers.

Ted

I have little use for those who don’t love teddy bears. For a child (or a child at heart), a teddy bear can be a source of comfort in moments of fear and sadness, a bosom friend, a gateway to the wonderful world of the human imagination. So my reaction to Seth MacFarlane’s teddy-come-to-life comedy “Ted” was always going to depend largely on whether MacFarlane fundamentally loves bears or not. The answer, I think, is that he does, and that the movie’s coarse vulgarity does not reflect an abiding animus toward teddies. Unfortunately – and it’s close – the four-letter words ultimately overwhelm the actual funny bits.

Contraband

Mark Wahlberg stars as Chris Farraday, a Mark Wahlberg-esque Mark Wahlberg and top international smuggler who, not wanting to rot in stir with Pops now that he's married to Kate Beckinsale and has two athletic young sons, has gone straight installing alarm systems. But Kate's kid brother owes a whacked-out hood (Giovanni Ribisi, typecast) seven hundred large, so Chris has to make one last run to Panama for the huge score that'll solve everyone's problems. He enlists best bud Sebastian (Ben Foster) to reunite his team and watch over Kate and the kids (Sebby's also trying, but failing, "to bring you a show with no intoxication").