Mr. Nice

MR. NICE (2010) - Aug. 30, 2011
About a man who ultimately winds up becoming one of Britain's most prolific drug dealers, this was decently made but quite familiar and ultimately kind of disposable.  Seriously, did the world really need another rise-and-fall movie about a drug dealer?  Still, this was enjoyable enough, and featured a solid central performance from Rhys Ifans (and a scene-stealing David Thewlis).  **1/2

In Name Only

IN NAME ONLY (1939) - Aug. 28, 2011
About a man, trapped in a loveless marriage to a woman who only wants him for his money, who falls in love and struggles to get a divorce.  Super melodramatic but well made and quite entertaining, this featured an expectedly charming performance from Cary Grant, and an equally good performance from Carole Lombard.  ***

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011) - Aug. 27, 2011
An above average summer movie about a scientist who, while trying to develop a cure for Alzheimer's, winds up inadvertently creating an army of super-intelligent primates.  Well made and well acted, including some surprisingly engaging action.  Plus, it's always nice to see a sci-fi film with a bit more on it's mind than your typical summer fare.  ***

Baraka

BARAKA (1992) - Aug. 26, 2011 (Third or Fourth Viewing)
An exquisitely made and flat-out mesmerizing film about life -- both human and animal -- throughout the globe.  Though there's no narrative to speak of, just images and music, the film is absolutely compelling throughout.  It helps that every frame of the movie is absolutely breathtaking to look at.  ****

Single White Female

SINGLE WHITE FEMALE (1992) - Aug. 25, 2011
A routine but solidly made thriller about a woman who, after breaking up with her cheating fiance, takes in a roommate who slowly reveals herself to be completely insane.  Though it starts out kind of slow, it definitely gets better as it goes along and the more overtly thrillerish elements get into gear.  ***

30 Minutes or Less

30 MINUTES OR LESS (2011) - Aug. 23, 2011
A perfectly enjoyable, if somewhat underwhelming movie about a pizza delivery guy who has a bomb strapped to his chest and is forced to rob a bank.  I think I probably would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't seen the trailer; the trailer essentially plays out like a condensed version of the movie, leaving very few surprises.  ***

Heart and Souls

HEART AND SOULS (1993) - Aug. 22, 2011
About four people who die in a bus accident in the 1950s, and then find themselves attached to a young boy as ghosts.  They later reappear in his life when it becomes clear that they need to resolve their unfinished issues to move on.  Featuring some really solid direction from Ron Underwood and uniformly stellar performances, this movie is definitely just as good as I remember it being.  The film is shmaltzy (this is definitely not a movie that's shy about pulling on your heart-strings), but never in a way that feels cloying or off-putting.  It's very well acted, with a surfiet of memorable characters who all have great chemistry.  ***1/2

Couples Retreat

COUPLES RETREAT (2009) - Aug. 19, 2011
As a follow-up to Swingers and Made, it's pretty much a miserable failure.  Even as a stand-alone film, it's not very good.  About a group of couples who decide to go to a seemingly perfect couples' resort; (so-called) wackiness ensues.  Though it was never all-out boring, the characters were all pretty disposable, and the whole thing wasn't particularly funny.  **

Ca$h

CA$H (2010) - Aug. 17, 2011
An enjoyable and well made thriller about a couple who find a suitcase full of money, begin spending it, and then find themselves face-to-face with the unforgiving criminal who wants every last cent of it back.  Featuring an enjoyably sinister performance from Sean Bean, and an affable performance from a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth, the whole thing was briskly-paced and quite entertaining throughout.  I wasn't crazy about the low-rent score, which just made the movie seem cheap, but aside from that, good stuff.  ***

Gentlemen Broncos

GENTLEMEN BRONCOS (2009) - Aug. 16, 2011
A very quirky film that definitely feels like a movie from the Napoleon Dynamite guy, this was about a fledgling sci-fi author who has his story stolen by a has-been writer.  Though the film was pretty much drowning in quirk, it was generally entertaining enough.  **1/2

Cars 2

CARS 2 (2011) - Aug. 7, 2011
Well made and enjoyable enough, this can't help but feel like a let-down coming from the previously untouchable Pixar.  Even by the standards of the first Cars, a lesser Pixar effort, this was still a let-down.  At least the first Cars, though not exactly a masterpiece, had an endearingly earnest sensibility that made it well worth watching, and which helped to compensate for some of its weaknesses.  Here, earnestness has been traded in for over-the-top action and hijinks aplenty, and the film definitely suffers for it.  It probably doesn't help that Mater -- barely tolerable in his supporting role in the original -- has been thrust into the spotlight, despite the fact that this is a character that is best in small doses (if that) who was clearly never intended to headline a film.   **1/2

The Change-Up

THE CHANGE-UP (2011) - Aug. 6, 2011
I didn't even think it was possible to go wrong with a body switching comedy, but here we are.  About two best friends -- one a responsible family man, and the other a charming but irresponsible lothario -- who switch bodies after making a wish while peeing in a fountain.  The film starts out kinda iffy, gains some momentum when the switch happens, and then just kind of peters out.  Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman were both quite good -- I just wish they had been in a better movie.  The movie was generally affable enough, and I was never flat-out bored, but the film definitely drags at a very long 112 minutes.  I also laughed exactly one time, which is a problem, and found some of the humour to feel a bit contrived and somewhat over-the-top.  Meh.  **

Cowboys and Aliens

COWBOYS AND ALIENS (2011) - Aug. 4, 2011
Meh.  A disappointing film about a gunslinger in the old west who wakes up in the middle of the desert with a strange device attached to his wrist, and no memory of who he is or how he got there.  He later finds himself helping the residents of a small town deal with an alien invasion.  Though the film was generally well made, it just wasn't that great.  I think one of the main problems was Daniel Craig, who is just flat-out bland in the film.  The role is kind of underwritten; they're clearly going for a mysterious bad-ass, Man With No Name type of vibe, but Craig just does not make it work.  He's all flat gruffness; there's no reason to care about his character, and he's not particularly interesting to watch.  The rest of the performances were fine (it's hard to go wrong with a cast filled with people like Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach and Paul Dano), and the action was decent enough, but it was all just kind of middling.  And to think that this was my most anticipated movie of the summer.  Boo-urns.  **1/2

Cellular

CELLULAR (2004) - Aug. 3, 2011 (Second Viewing)
Yep, this definitely holds up.  A superlatively made, crackerjack thriller, this film does not waste any time getting started (Kim Basinger's character gets kidnapped at the three minute mark) and doesn't let up until the end credits roll.  It's probably one of the most skilfully paced movies I've seen in a while.  It also has an exceptionally likable central performance from Chris Evans, and a strong performance from Kim Basinger.  William H. Macy was also a highlight as an earnest cop on the verge of retiring to open a day spa.  The film isn't trying to be much more than a really fun, well-executed high-concept thriller, and for what it is it's pretty much perfect.  ****

Wild Target

WILD TARGET (2010) - Aug. 2, 2011
A disappointing film about an aging hitman who finds himself unable to kill his latest target, and who instead winds up protecting her (along with a random young man who finds himself embroiled in their shenanigans).  Though the film was well acted and generally affable enough, it's never quite as fun as it thinks it is, and drags in parts.  It doesn't help that it takes a while to warm up to the Emily Blunt character, as she is essentially portrayed as a complete sociopath, gleefully causing car crashes, stealing everything in sight, using her sexuality as a tool of manipulation, and scamming someone out of almost a million dollars (all within the first ten minutes or so of the film).  There's also the issue of the film eventually establishing romantic tension between Blunt and Bill Nighy, which is just gross (aside from the vast age gap, there is zero romantic chemistry between the two).  **

Quarantine 2: Terminal

QUARANTINE 2: TERMINAL (2011) - Aug. 1, 2011
A surprisingly good sequel about the zombie infection from the first film causing shenanigans on a plane, then in an abandoned luggage processing area of an airport.  Far superior to the first film, and in terms of quality, closer to the original [REC] and its sequel.  This was quite entertaining throughout, with some really solid direction from John Pogue and a tightly-paced 86 minute runtime.  Though it was obviously shot on a fairly low budget, it never looks low-rent at all, and in fact bests the original in pretty much every way.  I have no idea why this didn't get a bigger theatrical release.  I just hope it did well enough to deliver on the sequel so tantalizingly promised by the final shot of the film.  ***