Category: Movie Reviews

Starring Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox and Emma Roberts
Directed by Wes Craven
Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some teen drinking
Appropriate for ages 17+

    Ten years have passed since Sidney Prescott (Campbell) was haunted by the Ghostface Killer and now she has written a book about how she has pulled her life back together again in light of everyone of her friends getting killed around her.  Unfortunately, on this particular anniversary, a new Ghostface killer is back and again taking the lives of everyone she cares about.

    It’s kind of ironic that this 90‘s franchise based on nostalgia of older horror films is now trying to recreate that same nostalgia on itself.   While it mentions some of the newer horror films that have come recently, the cast is mostly concerned with the original Scream murders, entitled Stab for the movies based on them.  I’ll fully admit that the opening of the film is a very clever vehicle for making fun of the scream films while at the same time helping you remember what they were all about.  

    But then Wes Craven and crew continue to try to be witty in order to make us laugh while we are watching everyone die.  While this worked for the original film, it only creates a parody of it rather than trying to actually scare you.  The whole thing was kind of silly, almost like Wes Craven creating a Scary Movie sequel rather than something new and original.  

    One trick that does work is that Craven really tries to fool you into thinking that you can try to guess who the real killer is.  He uses every trick in the book.  But just like the first films, your guess would have to be random rather than educated in order to find out who is holding the knife.  The only real clue is that if they are dead – they can’t be the killer.  

Starring Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett
Directed by Joe Wright (Atonement)
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual material and language
Appropriate for ages 16+

    Sixteen-year-old Hanna (Ronan) has spent her entire life isolated in Northern Finland, all the while being trained by her father (Bana) to be the perfect killing machine.  When the government learns of her existence, Hanna must find and kill the agent responsible for her exile (Blanchett) or be killed in return.

    Even in the parts of the movie I didn’t like, I was completely fascinated with every minute of this film.  The story itself isn’t completely original since it is essentially the same basic plot as all three of the Bourne movies.  But the telling of the story is completely original and rather breathtaking.  You take a young girl who has never been exposed to the outside world, but who is very educated on it, and basically throw her to the wolves.  Except that she is more dangerous than the wolves.  The story, and moreover the mystery, is well told and extremely exciting to watch unfold.

    Part of this movie is very much an art film.  When Hanna is not kicking butt, she is discovering the things that all of us take for granted such as music, electricity, cars, and the list goes on.  So in one sense it is a movie about self-exploration for a girl who is only intellectually acquainted with the modern world.  

    It helps to have such a talented actress like Ronan in the lead role.  At age sixteen she has already been nominated for an Oscar (Atonement) and has placed herself as one of the premiere young actresses in Hollywood.  To say she was perfectly cast for this part is an understatement.  

Insidious

Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Barbara Hershey
Directed by James Wan (Saw)
Rated PG-13 for thematic material, violence, terror and frightening images, and brief strong language
Appropriate for ages 16+

When their child slips into a coma, his family starts to see strange apparitions around their home.  When they discover that those apparitions, composed of demons and ghosts, want into his body, they set out on a journey to keep their son from being possessed and having his soul permanently trapped in another dimension.  

For the first hour of insidious, the film is extremely scary.  Scary to the point where every hair on your body will be standing up as if they are warding off the spirits themselves.  For this alone, the film is worth watching.  It steals a little bit from Poltergeist, but it is largely original.  Rather than having the body stuck in the TV, its the soul that is trapped in what the medium calls “the further.”  Okay – bad name.  I like the name “the in-between” from The Lovely Bones better, but we can’t change that now.  I digress.  The demon and ghosts are horribly frightening until you find out what they actually are.  

And that’s when the movie loses its edge. Once the technology of ghost whispering comes into play, the movie relies on comedy relief and weird contraptions to help the family – and loses what momentum it had going.  The technology should have enhanced the film and instead it got in the way.

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, and Judi Dench
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (Sin Nombre)
Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements including a nude image and brief violent content
Appropriate for ages 10+

    Charlotte Bronte’s haunting Victorian tale of love and loss is seeing its umpteenth version with this new vision of the classic book.  This time out, Alice in Wonderland’s Mia Wasikowska is the the brooding Jane, an abused girl that makes it out of her hellish upbringing only to have her heart broken by the virtues of her day, and Inglourious Basterds’ Michael Fassbender as her employer hiding a terrible secret that will deeply hurt them both.  

    The story itself is too well known for the production to be original, but I think that possibly the filmmakers wanted to create a rendition of the story for those not familiar with the original book or movies and who have a clean slate to work upon.  In this case, the movie is extremely successful.  The screenplay is well enough constructed as to allow the viewer a different spin on the same subject.  

    Much like the recent Pride and Prejudice, magnificently directed by Joe Wright, the movie attempts to use a mix of story, sight and sound to create a breathtaking two hours of entertainment.  The ingredients were all there to create another Victorian masterpiece, but unfortunately the pieces of the puzzle didn’t fit together well.  Each part works by itself.  The acting is superb by the extremely talented cast and the scene direction works well for the picture.  Also of note is the lovely cinematography by Adriano Goldman (City of Men) whose use of shadow and fog combined with the beauty of the English countryside deserve recognition.  

Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Jason Bateman
Directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad)
Rated R for language including sexual references, and some drug use
Appropriate for ages 17+

    Two British nerds (Shaun of the Dead’s Pegg and Frost) on an alien sight-seeing tour through America discover and pick up a real alien along the way.  The alien, simply named Paul (voice of Seth Rogen), requests their help to get back to his ship before U.S. government agents kill him.  So together the three pot-smoking misfits travel to the ship site in their motorhome, hot on the run from folks that want them dead. 

    The best quality of this comedy is that it is truly clever and original.  Combining the road trip comedy with sci-fi proves to be entertaining, witty, and at times very funny.  It helps that the actors are so likable.  While Pegg is a fairly talented comedic actor, it is important for Frost to be likable since he has never shown much in the likes of acting chops in his various films.  But in spite of this, his films have been a lot of fun to watch and his goofiness as an actor has become somewhat endearing. 

    As for adult comedies, this is certainly the best to come out so far this year and you will no doubt laugh yourself silly at times.  Then again – the year is young. 

    What many will not like about the film is the direct attack on Christianity.  I’m not sure if they intended the film to be an atheistic sermon, but having an alien declare there is no God and try to make you feel stupid for believing – well that won’t sit right for many audiences.  And it doesn’t help that they convey Christians as complete wackos either.  Personally, I tried to attach it to the overall story, but the movie does go out of its way to convey what many will be consider to be very, very offensive. 

Battle: Los Angeles

Starring Aaron Eckhart, Bridget Moynahan, and Michelle Rodriguez
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman
Rated PG-13 for sustained and intense sequences of war violence and destruction, and for language
Appropriate for ages 13+

    Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Eckhart) is on the brink of retirement from a long life spent in the Marines when he is called back on duty due to an alien attack on the Earth’s major cities, including his own: Los Angeles.  With a green platoon and weapons that pale in comparison to their enemy, Nantz and his fellow Marines must find a way to not only stay alive, but take out the hostiles as well.

    Many of the major critics out there are not just panning the film, but are making it sound like the first major 2011 contender for the Razzies as well.  Going into the movie, I tried to keep an open mind.  Many films like this have a great trailer, but that’s all you get.  Personally I enjoyed the trailer and was looking forward to seeing if the other critics had any validity to their statements.  Let me tell you – I think the majority of press are dead wrong about the movie and are only rejecting it because it has become cool to do so.

    First off, this is a genre film built for a specific audience.  That particular audience expects to see Independence Day meets Black Hawk Down and in this situation, their expectation is largely met.  The film gives you a little chance to meet and get to know some of the characters in the first act, but once the Marines find out they are under attack, the film goes into full-on adrenaline mode where the intense action never stops.  Unlike a film such as Independence Day, you don’t get a dozen different stories and tons of comedy relief.  While that worked for that particular film, the filmmakers here simply chose to follow one group of soldiers for two hours without switching back and forth and without a whiff of a sense of humor. 

    I will admit that the plot is fairly simple: alien soldiers vs. human soldiers.  Also, the movie does have its cheesy moments, but there are some nice emotional scenes as well that the US military would be proud to have in the film.  It helps to have an actor of Eckhart’s ability who can bring an authenticity that is hard to find in genre pics like this. 

    What many folks were afraid of is that there were just enough special effects to make the trailer look good and the film would essentially be just another Skyline.  Fortunately that is not the case here.  While many of the set pieces are briefly shown in the trailer, there is much still to see on screen that will excite the target audience. 

    If the Coen brothers ever decided to do an animated film, I would picture it looking much like this.  It’s beautiful, quirky, and well told with some really great performances by the ensemble.  While the scale of the animals feels off since all of the creatures are roughly the same size, they are still wonderfully conceived and stunningly put on film.  Better than that though, the characters are well-written.  I realize that much of the plot of the film is a cross between China Town and Pale Rider, but it still comes off as original and charming, and most of the audience won’t catch the easy references. 

    Much like the voice recording of Fantastic Mr. Fox, the cast was recorded while actually acting around each other, rather than by the actors by themselves alone in a studio.  This type of recording obviously brought out the best in these performers and managed to make the action much more enjoyable.  Johnny Depp, who carries the film as Rango is superb, and unlike characters voiced by the likes of Jack Black, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, I wouldn’t have even known it was Depp had his name not been plastered over the title.  He really gets into the character here and turns in a much stronger performance than he did in his Golden Globe nominated role in The Tourist.  The rest of the cast here is also pretty darn solid and the good time they had making it comes through in the finished project.

    While I know it will be hard to get your young kids not to see it, I will say that some parents will have a big problem with the language.  It’s probably not enough to garner a PG-13 rating, but there are enough hells and damns to throw off any parent who might be trying to “earmuff” their kids.  What stinks is that the bad language is unnecessary and the filmmakers should have had better sense than to include it in a film that will make most of its money from families. 

Cedar Rapids

Starring Ed Helms, John C. Reilly and Anne Heche
Directed by Miguel Arteta (Youth in Revolt)
Rated R for crude and sexual content, language and drug use
Appropriate for ages 17+

    Ed Helms is just a plain, honest insurance salesman from a small midwestern town who is sent to represent his company at an insurance convention in the metropolis of Cedar Rapids, IA.  Not knowing a soul there, he relies on three veteran salespeople to guide him through the meeting, and eventually lead him down a comically dark journey full of sex, drugs and corruption.

    Going into this film I was baffled by the fact that this was a small indie from Fox Searchlight.  After all, it has a great ensemble of comic actors and a tried and true formula of the debaucherous night out.  I thought before going in that this being an indie with a limited release is a bad thing, and my opinion turned out correct.

    The subject matter is right up the alley for the adult comedy audience, but the look and feel scream low-budget filmmaking with a decent cast.  Also, the script seems like it was put together with only the set pieces in mind, almost like the writer thought up some hilarious ideas after going to an insurance meeting, but didn’t know how to tie them together with a working narrative.  The MacGuffin here is the two-diamond award which supposedly every insurance company desires.  But it seems only Helms has his eyes on it, because the other agents don’t even compete and the way it is won is amateurish.  Also, the cost for him earning the award only works on an emotional level.  So much could have been done with the script to juice it up and force the actions of the characters to make sense, but because the subplot wasn’t thought out properly, it only serves as a distraction from the hi-jinx. 

I Am Number Four

Starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, and Teresa Palmer
Directed by D.J. Caruso (Eagle Eye)
Rated PG-13 for intense sequence of violence and action, and for language
Appropriate for ages 13+

    John Smith (Pettyfer) is one of several young people sent to Earth to seek safety from Alien invaders.  But when the first three are killed, John and his protector (Olyphant) must move to a small Ohio town to escape certain destruction.  While there John falls in love for the first time and also discovers his unique powers, which may or may not help defend him from the assassins.

    Part of me really wants to like this film.  After all, unlike most of the tent pole pictures out there – its somewhat original in plot and has a big look and feel to it.  The young actors are talented and dynamic enough and Olyphant is fun to watch as the father figure.  I even want to like the aliens who are truly a dastardly bunch with nasty weapons and even nastier pets. 

    But then after thinking about the whole thing, I realized that there is so much to dislike about this film.  First off is the flat dialog which does nothing to help the story.  And while the plot feels original, the way they carry out the plot is as cliched and copycatted as you can get.  Stealing from Twilight, Spiderman, Terminator and others, the film doesn’t deliver on its original promises it makes in the opening act.  I know we are supposed to say that “teenagers do stupid things and that rational thought doesn’t enter their heads at times,” but why would a teenager from another planet with a group of interstellar assassins hot on his trail act in such a fashion.  His actions defy logic and really pinpoint the flaws in the script. 

    And as for Olyphant, he proves once again that he can shine even in the worst of films.  While this is not the most horrible film he could star in, it is also not a place for his talents to be put to the test. 

    But what I found most insulting was the whole “franchise” feel to the movie.  The third act gives a tidy ending to this particular story, but then stands up and declares that there are sequels are on the way.  A smart film would have ended where the audience didn’t feel like they were in some studio’s master plan to make millions and millions of dollars.

The Eagle

Starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell and Donald Sutherland
Directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland)
Rated PG-13 for battle sequences and some disturbing images
Appropriate for ages 15+

    When a Roman general leads 5,000 troops into northern Britain, none of the men are heard from again.  Twenty years later, the general’s son (Tatum) and his slave (Bell) attempt to find out what happened to his father and return the lost golden Eagle that disappeared two decades prior.

    The premise of this adventure has great potential.  Personally, I love a good historical battle film, especially when they involve Roman soldiers.  And while the cast isn’t as exciting as you would hope, hiring Kevin Macdonald to direct seemed to provide some street cred as well.  Unfortunately, there are some huge chinks in the armor here, so to speak, which fatally flaw the picture. 

    First off is the dry, flat dialog that sounds exponentially worse when spoken in American accents.  Perhaps an English accent would have sounded better here, but the words just didn’t sound right coming from this group of actors.  Artistically, I think they were trying to give the Britains English accents to distinguish them from the Romans, but there was something here that just didn’t sound right.  And casting Donald Sutherland as the uncle was just a terrible idea as his role was phoned in and could have been much better acted by a different character actor who wasn’t hired for his name recognition. 

    Secondly, PG-13 is not the arena this film should be fighting in.  Should they have had the sense to take this project seriously, this would have been a strong R and much more realistic and enjoyable.  As it is, the battle sequences are toned down and hardly a drop of blood is seen.  If Braveheart or Gladiator had opted for a PG-13, then not only would they have been lame, but forgotten as well.  I can understand the need for attracting a younger audience, but not when it damages the integrity of the project.

    Finally, the film turns into kind of a buddy movie, especially in this joke of an ending .  That worked in HBO’s Rome because of the strength of the writing, but after this ending I could only imagine Tatum and Bell setting off on an adventure that could also be cast with Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider.