Category: Movie Reviews

Slumdog Millionaire

Starring Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, and Irfan Khan
Directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting)
Rated R for some violence, disturbing images, and language
Appropriate for ages 13+

    When Jamal, a young man from the slums of Mumbai, makes it to the final round of the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, he is tortured and interrogated by the police who are trying to discover how he cheated.  While he is not book smart, he tries to convince the authorities that each question asked holds specific relevance to his life.  Through the course of the game show, we discover Jamal’s journey from his childhood to present day, and what has really driven him to want to be on the show.

    When I first heard about this film several months ago, I wasn’t too terribly interested.  Most descriptions I saw, as well as the trailer, suggest a cheerful, happy film about a kid trying to prove himself to his love by going on a game show.  This film is far from that terrible description.  It turned out that this is an epic motion picture, masterfully directed by one of the greatest directors in the world, Danny Boyle, and beautifully written by Oscar nominated screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty).  Sitting in the theater you never once get the hint of a frivolous Bollywood love story, but rather a coming of age film reminiscent of City of God (Boyle actually told me that they were so concerned with this parallel that they almost considered giving one of the young actors a different haircut because of the resemblance to one of City’s main actors).  What gives this film an even greater depth is the quality of the romance and the dynamic between Jamal and the game show host.

    Even though only Khan has appeared in American films, and many of the actors were very inexperienced, the performances were perfect.  If you expect over-the-top Bollywood acting, you will be very much surprised.  Danny Boyle has always been able to get great performances out his relatively unknown casts, and this film is no exception.

    I think that it’s more than apparent that I really loved this film.  I’ve seen it twice now, and can’t wait to go back again once it is released into theaters.  I truly believe that this little film has the potential to score a big audience.  At the very least, it should be a huge hit during the awards season.     A+

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Starring the voice talent of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett Smith
Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath (Madagascar)
Rated PG for some mild, crude humor
Appropriate for all ages    

    The zoo escapees from the first film are back and ready to leave Madagascar.  Their makeshift plane doesn’t make it too far though, and when they crash land in an animal preserve in the heart of Africa, Alex the lion discovers that he is the long lost son of the aging king.  

    After watching the first Madagascar film I was in pure misery.  Sure the animation looked OK, but the story and production were just plain bad.  So you can only imagine the anticipation I had for this sequel.  Maybe it was the low expectations, or maybe it was just the fact that the film makers raised the bar, but I found myself feeling a sense of enjoyment rather than the dread I expected.  

    First off, the back story following Alex as he is abducted from Africa and his long journey to America was a brilliant touch.  It gave a depth to the story that it was sorely missing.  On top of that, the other characters had real development and weren’t just there for the scenery like in the first film.  On my review of the first film, the only positives I could think of were the Hogan’s Heroes penguins and the British chimps.  These character still provide big laughs, but overall, there is a lot to chuckle at here.  I can easily say that the improvements here make this a truly entertaining picture that adults should enjoy as much as the kiddos.

    All that being said, the film still doesn’t live up to the work of Pixar, or even Disney.  You get the sense that there was an attempt to copy or at least pay homage to The Lion King, but the story is never elevated to that level.  Even with all of the great little touches, the film will never be considered an animated classic, but then again to just overcome its obstacles is saying something and I can honestly recommend this as a fun movie for the entire family to enjoy.    B+

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Starring Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, and Craig Robinson
Directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks)
Rated R on appeal for strong sexual content including dialogue, graphic nudity, and pervasive language
Appropriate for ages 18+

    Zach and Miri, best friends since grade school and current roommates, are underpaid barristas that struggle to make ends meet.  In order to try to get ahead financially, the two decide to make a porno together, hoping that it will get them out of the hole they are in.  
    
    For over a decade now, writer/director Kevin Smith has excelled at making the dirty adult comedy.  Some were funnier than others, but over and over again, he has proven that he can push the line of decency.  With Zack and Miri now, I am pretty sure he doesn’t even see the line.  This is a crass, crude comedy that has more potential to offend than any movie that has hit theaters in recent memory.  That being said, if you think it might offend you – it will.  TV commercials have done a great disservice to audiences by only allowing the movie to be advertised as Zach and Miri.  After all, Zach and Miri, for the uninformed consumer, can sound just as cute as Nick and Norah, or even Harry and Sally.  Put Make a Porno in the title, however, and immediately the viewer knows – “maybe this film is or is not for me.”

    But enough about the title.  While a perverse pic on the outside, this is just a cute love story at heart.  While telling the story of two friends with a great deal of sexual tension might not be original, the backdrop most certainly is.  And only in a movie about porn could Smith deliver what will perhaps be the biggest sight gag of the year (sorry – too awful to tell you about, or even hint at).  

    The characters are all fun and while the script lacks a natural feel, there are still many laughs to be had throughout.  I especially loved the very talented Craig Robinson as the co-worker/porn producer.  Just like in The Office, and the recent Pineapple Express, he steals every scene he’s in and I can’t wait to see him in bigger roles.  

    Smith’s films all have the same problem in that they read better than they sound.  Sure, the lines are funny, but much of the time they just don’t sound right.  Also, just as in Clerks 2, many of the jokes are dirty, but not funny.  While this is a huge improvement upon that horrible little sequel, at times during the film I wished that the focus would have been on making the movie more hysterical, rather than just more revolting.    B-

Happy-Go-Lucky

Starring Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, and Alexis Zegerman
Directed by Mike Leigh (Vera Drake)
Rated R for language
Appropriate for ages 15+

    Pauline “Poppy” Cross (Hawkins) is perhaps the happiest person to walk the face of the earth.  No matter what happens to her or what people think of her, she has a natural smile, a funny anecdote, and a good attitude.  Someone steals her bicycle early in the film and her comment is “I didn’t have the chance to say goodbye.”  Nothing makes her angry and she only wants to help everyone around her, whether she knows them or not.  

    What I found most interesting about Poppy is that she may be happy, nice, and pleasant, but she is far from simple.  Hollywood might have made her into a dim-wit, but British writer/director Mike Leigh made her very smart.  You can really see the wheels turning throughout.  And while her brain/mouth filter isn’t always functioning correctly, she definitely knows how to turn it on when it is needed.  I really thought I might really grow tired of her quickly, but by the end I had nothing but admiration.  

    Notice I didn’t say anything about the plot of the film yet.  That’s because there really isn’t one.  What the film lacks in story, though, is more than made up for in a fascinating character study.  The lack of a story here would usually bug me, but because of Hawkins terrific performance, I didn’t really mind.  I do think Leigh could have fit this character into an actual tale that revolves around more than just a series of driving lessons, but even without this typical movie ingredient, Happy-Go-Lucky still provides for a very entertaining film-going experience.    B-

Pride and Glory

Starring Ed Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, and Noah Emmerich
Directed by Gavin O’Connor (Miracle)
Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, and brief drug content
Appropriate for ages 17+

When four officers are killed in New York City, a family of cops attempts to uncover the truth of the night’s event and catch the killer.  When one of the sons (Norton) discovers that his brother-in-law (Farrell) might be somehow responsible, he must make the choice between turning a blind eye or revealing the truth that might bring shame to his family and the entire police department.

If anyone thinks that the above synopsis gives away too much, just watch the trailer.  In fact, if you want to save yourself the cost of admission/concessions and two hours of wasted time, just watch the trailer.  It tells you the whole story and doesn’t put you to sleep.  I really wanted to like this film and thought that if Norton and Farrell signed on for a cop movie like this, that it must be worth watching.  Once again, I was wrong.  While it’s not as bad as some of the cop dramas of recent years (cough, cough, Street Kings), it proves itself to be nothing special rather quickly.  There is the good cop and the bad cop and the cop that allows the bad cops to be bad cops as long as they don’t cross over the line too far.  I think I’ve heard that one before.

What’s really missing in this family cop drama is the family dynamic.  Despite it’s many tries, the film fails to establish any kind of family chemistry and thus fails to make the audience care about it’s characters.

The performances here by Norton and Farrell were good but the rest of the cast seemed either far too excited or completely underwhelmed by the material.  You can probably blame these uneven performance on the director, but that wouldn’t have helped the script problems. 

Lastly, the title is incredibly generic.  It could describe police, fire, military, sports, religion, politics or any number of subjects.  I will say this though, the boring generic title does say a lot about the film.    C-  

Rachel Getting Married

Starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemary DeWitt, and Debra Winger

Directed by Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs)

Rated R for language and brief sexuality

Appropriate for ages 17+

When you first hear that legendary director Jonathan Demme’s latest film is a hand-held movie about an ex drug-addict one conjures the images of Cloverfield and Blair Witch, but that could not be farther from the case here in this beautiful family story.  Anne Hathaway, in what is sure to garner an Oscar nomination, is Kym, an ex junkie that manages to get out of rehab for a weekend to attend her sister’s wedding.  The low-budget, hand-held look of the film here is not used to make it’s audience nauseous, but rather to give the look of a home-made family video that we are fortunate enough to get a chance to watch.  The excitement is getting to share in the family’s joy as they watch the wonderful couple get married, and a magnificent and unique wedding weekend it is.  The pain comes in Kym’s handling of her disease, her secret past, and her constant trouble-making, whether intended or accidental.  And while the pain will make you shed a tear, it’s the happiness that will require the most hanky usage.  I would have never thought that a drama about a wedding would have me this engaged, but due to Hathaway’s electrifying performance, the brilliant directing by Demme, and the gentle yet powerful script by Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married had me engrossed from beginning to end.     A

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor     D+

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Luke Ford, and Jet Li

Directed by Rob Cohen (XXX)

Rated PG-13 for adventure action and violence

Appropriate for ages 13+

The Story: Many years have passed since the adventures of the second Mummy outing, and now college-age son Alex (Ford) joins his parents (Fraser and Bello) to stop a Chinese emperor mummy (Li) from destroying the world. 

The Good:  Were you to watch this film with the volume off, it might be a fairly good adventure film.  The special effects are top notch, the sets are impressive, and the overall production is strong.

The Bad: Turn the volume up and what you find here is a mix of terrible writing and acting.  Coming from the writing team of Miles Millar and Alfred Gough (Herbie Fully Loaded), the dialogue here is atrocious, filled with too much exposition, too many clichés, and not enough imagination.  The overall story isn’t bad, but trodding through it with these words is just tedious.

As for the acting, while Rachel Weisz says she didn’t reprise her role due to her pregnancy, I can just see her looking at this script and then making any excuse not to come back.  Replacing her is the typically good Maria Bello, but between the bad accent and the worse script, I wish they had dumped the character all together.  Fraser is very average (which is to be expected), but my problem with him lies more in the fact that he doesn’t pass for the father of a twenty-something co-adventurer at all.  I’m sure that with a stronger script, the acting could have been better.  After all, there is some decent talent here, but with the material given the acting is bound to be pretty lame. 

The Summary: Let’s just pray that Mummy 4 stays buried.

The X-Files: I Want To Believe     D

Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and Billy Connolly

Directed by Chris Carter (The X-Files)

Rated PG-13 for violent and disturbing content and thematic material

Appropriate for ages 13+

The Story: Many years after the events of the first X-Files movie (I don’t remember those events either), Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) are brought on by the FBI to try to solve another mysterious case.  An FBI agent has disappeared, and a former catholic priest and pedophile (Connolly) is able to telepathically lead the FBI to evidence surrounding her kidnapping and the kidnapping of other victims as well.

The Good: I used to be a big X-Files fan back in it’s day.  I even named my Golden Retriever Scully.  One of the things that I loved most about the show was Duchovny’s great line delivery.  He is such a talented actor and is almost always enjoyable to watch.  Even when the script goes south, when Fox opens his mouth, you can’t help but snicker.  I also enjoyed Connelly’s performance as well.  He has the guilt-ridden pedophile priest down cold.

The Bad: First off, was their a need for a new X-Files movie?  And if there was, shouldn’t it surround something more grand than this?  While the overall premise here is as weird as the original show, the film itself should have been nothing more than made-for-TV movie.  There is nothing here that says “Wow – this is a great story – let’s go spend 35 million dollars t make it!”  The script is just plain awful and aside from Duchovney and Connelly, the acting is atrocious.  Actor/rapper Xzibit is bad enough to take you out of the film every time his face graces the screen.  Maybe he needs to concentrate a bit more on his music, because I don’t see any trace of talent here. 

And what about that title?  I Want To Believe?  It is hard for me to believe that this didn’t make the suits at Fox cringe.  I know it made me automatically assume that this movie was not going to be a serious attempt at renewing the X-Files mythology. 

The Summary: While the weirdness of the story might make some super fans happy, the majority will dismiss this as a complete waste of theater space.

The Happening     D

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, and John Leguizamo
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense)
Rated R for violent and disturbing images
Appropriate for ages 17+

The Story: In the Northeastern United States, a chemical has been released into the air that is causing people to stop what they are doing and kill themselves.  A school teacher and his wife escape from the city and head into the country where they think they might be safe from whatever is happening. 

The Good: There is an interesting premise here.  Having the plants of the Earth tell us that they won’t take it anymore and remind us that they have the power to give life and steal it – well that could be the makings of a good story. 

Other than the premise, the only other redeeming quality is the beautifully haunting score by composer James Newton Howard.  As he did for Shyamalan’s last two films, The Lady in the Water and The Village, Howard gives us music that elevates far above the movie he is scoring.

The Bad: Where do you start?  I guess that the most responsible for this mess of a film is writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan.  At least with his other films one could say that the directing itself was solid and there were just a few script problems.  Many of the scenes here look completely amateurish, like a B movie made by a below-average film student.  And there aren’t just a few script mistakes here – this script absolutely stinks.  Every page of it. 

The actors could probably blame the script for their lousy performances, but in actuality, the entire film was miscast and the performances were laughable.  I’m not sure what people would be acting like if something like this were to occur, but I can assure you it wouldn’t be anything like this.

Just like The Village, the film has been misrepresented by it’s advertising.  If you recall, The Village was sold as a horror film when in fact it was a drama.  Now they are billing The Happening as M. Night’s first rated R film.  That might be true, but the only reason it is rated R is to stir up interest.  The violence is lame and looks straight out of a Monty Python movie.  There was no need for the extra violence and only exists to manipulate uninformed movie goers into going.  Now you are informed. 

The Summary: Someday someone will stop bankrolling Shyamalan’s dumb dreams and keep this kind of tripe from happening.

The Incredible Hulk     C

Starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, and William Hurt
Directed by Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2)
Rated PG-13 for sequences of action violence, some frightening images and brief suggestive content
Appropriate for ages 13+

The Story: Following up where Ang Lee’s Hulk left off, mild-mannered Bruce Banner (Norton) is living in Brazil, desperately trying to find a cure to his predicament of turning into a giant green behemoth.  Meanwhile his now ex-girlfriend’s father, General Ross (Hurt) is desperately trying to track Bruce down in order to do research on how to use his disease as a weapon.  Banner and Betty Ross (Tyler) reunite in order to both help cure Bruce and escape from her father. 

The Good: While I liked Eric Bana in the first film, the choice of Norton here is a good replacement.  While it seems he isn’t in the film that much, the moments you do see him are pretty interesting. 

I also enjoyed the new villain Abomination (Roth).  While the fight scene at the end looked too much like a video game, I still found his gluttony for power to be the nice makings for a good villain. 

The Bad: Call me silly, but I thought that the Hulk looks too pretty.  Should the green beast have nice features, gorgeous eyes, and a fashionable haircut?  It’s an artistic choice that I just don’t understand.

On a more serious note, the script was just too bland.  I understand that a lot of the film was cut short in order to help the pacing, the running time, and to make the film more reliant on action rather than story, but it seems like the whole film can be summed up as ‘General Ross chases the Hulk.’  I think they could have found a better plot line than this, since the first one focused on the same thing. 

Other than Norton, I thought the acting was not the greatest.  Hurt was simpling phoning in the part.  Tyler gives the single-most annoying performance of her career, and Roth just had to act crazy (not a stretch).  Maybe it was the weak script that gave the actors nothing to work with, or maybe the casting director was more worried with getting big names than collecting the right cast. 

The Summary: Me no like new Hulk much.