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.  ***

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER (2010) - July 28, 2011
Another big winner from the Woodster!  About the romantic struggles of a few related characters in London.  The film featured a surfiet of really interesting, compelling characters, and some really solid performances to back them up.  It also had some especially strong direction from the Woodster, whose emphasis on long takes suits the material perfectly.  ***1/2

Joshua

JOSHUA (2007) - July 27, 2011
A slightly more grounded take on the "livin' with a psycho" subgenre, this was a well made film about a father who begins to realize that his son is a sociopath.  If nothing else, this film has definitely confirmed that Sam Rockwell is one of the greats -- the man strikes the perfect balance between charisma/screen presence and real acting talent, and livens up anything he's in.  As for this film, it's well made and definitely has some pretty memorable moments.  ***1/2

Captain America: The First Avenger

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011) - July 22, 2011
A basically enjoyable film about a scrappy but scrawny wannabe soldier who winds up getting injected with a special serum that turns him into a super soldier, and then goes after a similarly-injected baddie, the Red Skull.  Featuring some solid direction from Joe Johnson (whose old-fashioned direction, particularly in the action sequences, is quite refreshing) and an engaging lead performance from Chris Evans.  The film kind of drags in parts, but I was definitely never bored, and it was fairly engaging all the way through.  It's nothing particularly special, but it was a passable piece of summer entertainment.  **1/2

Frantic

FRANTIC (1988) - July 21, 2011
A really slow-paced "thriller" about a doctor whose wife disappears in Paris, and who tries to figure out who took her and to get her back.  Harrison Ford was quite good in the main role, and Roman Polanski's stylish visuals were nice to look at, but the film was exceptionally slow-moving, and really took much longer than it needed to at every turn.  Polanski was obviously going for a Hitchcockian vibe (without much success), and there were definitely some good moments here, but all in all this was kind of a failure.  **

Beginners

BEGINNERS (2011) - July 20, 2011
An enjoyable enough but kind of middling movie about a man who, still getting over the grief of his father's death, meets and falls in love with a French actress. It was definitely well made and quite well acted (both Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer were at their best), but I was just never as engaged with the story as I should have been.  I'm not sure why.  **1/2

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN (2011) - July 20, 2011
A well made if somewhat slow-paced film about the enduring friendship between two women, both in modern-day China, as well as the 19th century.  The film was well made and the characters definitely become people we care about; one of the film's main problems, aside from the slow pace, is that most of the modern-day stuff has the two main actresses speaking heavily-accented English -- English, in this case, obviously being a language the actresses aren't comfortable with.  It definitely affects their performances, and kind of dulls the impact of the modern-day scenes.  Aside from that it was a solidly-made film, and I did find myself moved by the (admittedly treacly) ending.  **1/2

Presumed Innocent

PRESUMED INNOCENT (1990) - July 18, 2011
A well made legal drama/thriller about a DA who finds himself investigating the murder of a colleague he was having an affair with, and who is eventually accused of the crime (whether or not he's actually guilty is left ambiguous until the final moments of the film).  The first half is a bit slow, though it does pick up quite a bit once the trial starts.  In particular, Raul Julia gives a really compelling performance and pretty much steals every scene he's in.  There's also a twist ending that I probably should have seen coming, but didn't, and was thus fairly shocking.  ***

Bad Teacher

BAD TEACHER (2011) - July 15, 2011
About the eponymous bad teacher and her efforts to fund her breast implants by any means necessary, this was a surprisingly bad film from the otherwise very reliable Jake Kasdan (though having just looked up the writing duo of Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg and discovering that their last film was the awful Year One, I'm a bit less surprised -- how do you still get work after writing something so bad?).  Kasdan does the best he can given the material; what drew him to the film in the first place is a complete mystery.  The biggest problem here is Cameron Diaz's bad teacher.  Aside from a few brief glimpses of humanity, and a last-second redemption that feels completely unearned, she's a complete douchebag and a misguided main character for a movie.  I mean, not every protagonist has to be a "good" person, or even likable -- but they have to be interesting or nuanced, which Diaz's one-note jerk is definitely not.  There's also a grating performance from Lucy Punch as Diaz's nemesis; she plays every scene at an eleven and gives a performance that is way, way bigger than the movie really needs.  Everyone else was fine (Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet was definite highlight), and I was never all-out bored, but yeah... not the best.  **

The Tourist

THE TOURIST (2010) - July 13, 2011
Though it's a pretty humongous step down from the Lives of Others, this was still an entertaining enough thriller from Florian Henckel von Donnersmark.  About an American math teacher, on vacation in Europe, who finds himself embroiled in some shenanigans involving a mistaken identity and billions in stolen money.  The movie kind of drags in the uneventful first half hour or so; it picks up once the action starts kicking in, though it's never as interesting or exciting as it thinks it is.  It seems like Donnersmark is going for a fun, Hitchcockian-style wrong man thriller, though it never quite gets there.  There's just something off about it -- Donnersmark's direction is solid, and the performances are fine (I'm kind of off Johnny Depp these days, and Angelina Jolie had the same smug expression on her face for pretty much the entire film, but they were both fine), so... yeah.  Not sure what went wrong.  **1/2

Larry Crowne

LARRY CROWNE (2011) - July 12, 2011
Oh, Tom Hanks -- why?  This was a surprisingly awful film about an easy-going guy who, after being fired from his job, decides to go back to college.  Though Tom Hanks was quite charming (as usual), he's surrounded and overwhelmed by a surfiet of insufferably quirky characters.  The movie is called Larry Crowne, and Crowne is obstensibly the protagonist of the film; yet so much time is spent with the over-stuffed supporting cast that it ultimately feels like Crowne gets the short shrift.  Certainly, so little time is given to the almost comically thin relationship between Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts that when the film ends with them getting together as if it were a traditional romcom, it just feels puzzling.  Am I supposed to care about these two people getting together?  Because the film has given me almost no reason to do so.  The two characters had a real conversation, what, twice?  And one of those times one of them is completely sloshed.  Not to mention the fact that Julia Roberts spends about 90 percent of this movie being disgruntled, making her kind of a tough character to root for.  And what was the point of giving her a sleazy husband?  There didn't seem to be any dramatic purpose for it (as opposed to her just being single), and the scenes with them going at each other were just unpleasant.  What this movie really needed was about ten less absurdly quirky supporting characters, and to focus on Tom Hanks' character and his relationship with Julia Roberts.  Oh man.  What a fiasco.  *1/2

Live!

LIVE! (2007) - July 11, 2011
A really well made faux-documentary about an ambitious programming director who decides to air a game show in which six people play an actual game of Russian roulette.  The film is obviously satirizing the anything-for-ratings reality show culture in network television these days; however, the movie always plays it straight.  Though there is dark humour here, the film never winks at the audience or tries to hit you over the head with over-the-top satire.  Despite the outlandish premise (this is obviously a show that could never, ever happen in the real world), by the time the show begins to air, it feels plausible in the slightly tweaked version of reality in which the film exists.  The movie features an impressive central performance from Eva Mendes, who definitely turns what had the potential to be a one-note character into someone really interesting.  The supporting performances (from people like Andre Braugher, David Krumholtz and Jeffrey Dean Morgan) are quite good as well, and by the time the actual show rolls around, it's surprisingly tense.  ***1/2

It's Kind of a Funny Story

IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY (2010) - July 10, 2011
An enjoyable enough movie about a suicidal kid who checks himself into a mental ward, and the relationships he forms with the various wacky patients.  Blandly conventional (it's kind of nuts that this was directed by the team behind Half Nelson) but enjoyable enough.  **1/2

The Winning Season

THE WINNING SEASON (2009) - July 7, 2011
A really enjoyable film about a down-on-his-luck coach who's asked to coach a high school girls' basketball team.  Features an expectedly excellent performance from Sam Rockwell (seriously, you just cannot go wrong with Sam Rockwell) and some strong supporting performances.  James C. Strouse's writing and direction is also quite solid -- there's nothing here we haven't seen quite a few times before, and some of the emotional beats feel a bit forced, but it's just a really entertaining and well put-together film.  I like how the emphasis is really more on the characters than the games; there's really not all that much at stake as far as winning the games go.  The film is more concerned with the characters and their relationships, which I definitely appreciated (there's only so many times you can watch a bunch of underdogs work their way up to a big game -- which is what this was about on a surface level, but not really -- before you get sick of it).  ***

Mesrine: Part 2 - Public Enemy #1

MESRINE: PART 2 - PUBLIC ENEMY #1 (2008) - July 6, 2011
Though not quite as good as the first installment, this was nevertheless a very enjoyable crime movie about the later years of French bank robber Jacques Mesrine.  It does feel a bit more one-note than the last one, as there's not much character development left for Mesrine at this point; it's basically just a bunch of vignettes leading up to the man's murder by the police in 1979.  Speaking of which, the revelation that the police murdered Mesrine at the beginning of this film does kind of sap the final scene of the tension and suspense that it's clearly going for, which is a shame.  I know I would have been pretty shocked that the police just outright excecuted the man.  Oh well.  The movie is pretty thrilling, with shootouts, car chases and prison escapes, and Vincent Cassell is as charismatic as ever.  ***  

Road House

ROAD HOUSE (1989) - July 5, 2011
About a bad ass bouncer who comes to a small town to clean up a bar, only to find himself butting heads with an evil businessman.  Patrick Swayze was quite good as the initially unflappable bouncer, and Sam Elliott stole every scene he was in as his grizzled mentor.  But the movie itself is just not all that great -- certainly, it's not the action classic that it's been built up as over the years.  It actually drags pretty badly in parts, with long stretches in which not all that much happens.  There's also a romantic subplot which feels pretty much completely superfluous.  Rowdy Herrington's direction was fine, though the film does feel quite dated.  It does definitely improve towards the end, with some memorable action scenes (including a fight which ends with Swayze ripping a guy's throat out), but all in all this was a definite let-down.  **

The Red Shoes

THE RED SHOES (1948) - July 4, 2011
An exceptionally well directed film about a ballet company, told mostly from the point of view of a young woman who quickly becomes the company's star, a young man who becomes the company's composer, and the company's hard-edged leader.  Though it's a little slow in parts, seeing the inner workings of this company is quite interesting, and the movie does a really good job of developing the characters and making them compelling -- even side characters we don't necessarily spend much time with.  All of the performances are quite good, though special props must go to Anton Walbrook as the leader of the company; he's pretty mesmerizing in the role.  The film also looks very, very good, with top-notch direction and glorious Technicolor cinematography (the pristine Criterion Blu-ray probably helps in this regard).  Highlights include a hypnotic dance sequence in the middle of the film, and a supremely memorable ending, which has to rank up there as one of the best endings ever.  ***1/2

It! The Terror From Beyond Space

IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958) - July 3, 2011
This film supposedly inspired Dan O'Bannen when he wrote Alien, and it's not hard to see where that came from, whether it's true or not: the film follows a crew of astronauts, on their way back from Mars, who must contend with an alien stowaway who is picking them off one by one.  Despite its obvious origins as a low-budget B-movie, the film's lack of funds is only really apparent with the creature itself (it's obviously a guy in a shoddy rubber suit).  The characters are all a bit thin, but the film is decently made and entertaining throughout (the svelt 69 minute runtime probably helps).  **1/2

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (2011) - June 30, 2011
Oh, Jesus Christ.  An indescribably bad movie about more stupid robot shenanigans that nobody cares less about.  I really didn't think that there was anywhere to go but up from the abysmal last outing, but this actually manages to be just as bad, and just as boring.  I haven't been this bored in a movie theatre since... well, since Transformers 2.  The special effects were pretty spectacular, and the action sequences were coherently staged, but it's all in service of a movie that's so stunningly bad that it's hard to care about any of it.  Yet again, Michael Bay gives us broad "characters" who each have around one defining character trait, and who are worthless people to spend any time with.  He also crams the movie with his usual over-the-top "comedy" that just makes you want to bury your face in your hands and weep for the future of humanity.  The movie is insanely long at around two-and-a-half hours.  I saw some people walking out towards the end of the insanely tedious non-stop action final hour, and I desperately wanted to join them -- but then I might have been tempted to watch this movie again at some point down the road, and I absolutely never, ever want to have to do that.  There is nothing good here.  I would literally rather be punched in the stomach than have to sit through this movie one more time.  1/2*

The Great Buck Howard

THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD (2008) - June 28, 2011
A very enjoyable film about a young man, recently dropped out of law school to pursue his dream of becoming a writer, who winds up becoming an assistant to an aging magician whose glory days are far behind him.  Featuring some strong performances, including a very likable Colin Hanks and a typically good John Malkovich as the hot-tempered magician.  The film ultimately feels a little slight, but its 90 minute running time breezes by, and it's very well made. ***

Cars

CARS (2006) - June 26, 2011 (Second Viewing)
Though not quite on the level of pretty much every other Pixar film, this still definitely had that Pixar touch, and was very enjoyable all the way through.  About a flashy race car who finds himself stuck in a small town, and who slowly finds himself changed by the slower-paced small-town lifestyle.  No, it's not exactly the freshest premise ever, but the whole thing has an endearing earnestness that's kind of delightful.  ***

True Legend

TRUE LEGEND (2010) - June 24, 2011
A well made martial arts film about a man who is betrayed by his adoptive brother, and who must train in order to rescue his son from his evil brother's clutches.  Oh, then there's some extra stuff about the same man, now a drunken hobo, fighting Russians in a tournament.  Basically, the movie ends (or so you would think) and then about half an hour of extra stuff is crammed onto the film.  It's extremely clunky, and easily the most blatant case of a false ending that I've ever seen.  Yes, this film has problems -- aside fromt he aforementioned third act issues (or fourth act, more accurately), it opens with a CGI-heavy action sequence that feels slightly incongruous with the rest of the film, and it drags in the fairly uneventful mid-section.  But it's skillfully directed by legendary action director/choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, who does an expectedly fantastic job with the action sequences.  The fighting here is well-choreographed and exciting; Woo-ping allows it to unfold in satisfyingly long takes, never muddling it with excessive close-ups or quick-cuts.  It's pretty great.  ***

Green Lantern

GREEN LANTERN (2011) - June 23, 2011
Meh.  A mediocre superhero origin story about Hal Jordan and his transformation into a Green Lantern.  The film is decently directed by Martin Campbell, and it starts and ends fairly well.  But the whole midsection (essentially all of Hal Jordan's transformation into a Green Lantern) was just kind of dull.  It doesn't help that the character, despite the best efforts of a typically charismatic Ryan Reynolds, is pretty bland, and his whole arc (he starts out cocky and irresponsible and ends up... do I seriously need to finish that sentence?) is super generic.  The movie also introduces some father issues for Jordan (a superhero with father issues?  Never!) but doesn't really go anywhere with it.  The villains -- a too-subdued Peter Sarsgaard and a giant, angry cloud of pure fear -- don't fare much better.  Another problem with the midsection is that all the stuff on the homeworld of the lanterns falls a bit flat -- this stuff should have been infused with a sense of awe and wonder, and instead just feels like generic CGI overload.  I don't know.  The movie wasn't all bad, I guess -- I liked Reynolds, and the action was mostly pretty solid -- it was just aggressively mediocre.  **

The Good, The Bad, The Weird

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD (2008) - June 22, 2011
A really fun action/western about a few groups of outlaws who are all in pursuit of a buried treasure.  Director Kim Jee-woon does a really good job of making the three main characters (the titular good, bad and weird) distinctive and compelling.  The film is fairly light on plot (it's really just race from point A to point B), making it especially important that we care about these people.  But more importantly, Jee-woon does an absolutely spectacular job with the action, which is, in a word, awesome.  It's easily some of the most thrilling and well-choreographed action I've seen in a long, long time.  It's pretty clear that Jee-woon is a natural action director, with action that is kickass and exciting without resorting to the usual directorial trickery (close-ups and quick-cuts).  There are a lot of impressively long takes here, and a lot of really impressive camerawork that manages to be awesome without calling attention to itself.  This is a very, very well directed movie.  At over two hours it is perhaps a tad on the long side, but that is a very minor complaint.  ***1/2

Swimming with Sharks

SWIMMING WITH SHARKS (1994) - June 21, 2011
Featuring a couple of really solid performances from Frank Whaley and Kevin Spacey, this was a decent film about an assistant to a jerk Hollywood producer who eventually snaps.  Though the movie was quite dated, it was decently made and enjoyable throughout.  **1/2

Days of Thunder

DAYS OF THUNDER (1990) - June 20, 2011
A basically entertaining but kind of disappointing film about a talented rookie Nascar driver who has his eyes on the championship.  Featuring thinly-drawn characters and a very badly dated '80s aesthetic, I was never particularly bored, nor was I all that involved in the movie.  Even the racing scenes, presumably the reason to watch this film in the first place, were nothing particularly special.  I think I had some other issues with the movie, but it hasn't even been a week and I'm already forgetting it.  **

Red

RED (2010) - June 18, 2011
A basically entertaining movie about a group of ex-CIA agents (and a call centre employee) who find themselves on the run from CIA assassins over a decades-old incident involving the vice president. Featuring overly-slick direction from Robert Schwentke and action that ranged from mediocre to competent, the film also kind of drags in parts (it probably doesn't help that it's almost two hours, an overlong runtime that the frothy film never justifies).  It's well acted, though, with people like Helen Mirren and John Malkovich obviously having a good time with the material, and it's generally entertaining enough.  **1/2

Coming to America

COMING TO AMERICA (1988) - June 16, 2011 (Umpteenth Viewing)
Having seen this a bunch of times as a kid (and loving it) I was afraid that this movie wouldn't hold up.  It totally holds up -- this is a kind of delightful film about the prince of a small but thriving African country who, unhappy with his arranged bride, decides to go to America to find a wife.  Eddie Murphy is pretty great here; his naive but intelligent Prince Akeem always feels like a real person, and not just like a charicature or an excuse to get to the jokes.  The rest of the performances are equally solid, and John Landis' very unflashy direction is pretty much perfect.  My only real complaint is that the many side characters played by Murphy and Arsenio Hall feel a little superfluous; the film essentially stops for their wacky antics (I'm thinking especially of the scene in which Murphy plays an over-the-top R&B singer, and Hall plays an over-the-top reverend), but that's a fairly minor complaint.  ***1/2

Black Belt Jones

BLACK BELT JONES (1974) - June 15, 2011
A sporadically entertaining but mostly kind of mediocre blaxploitation film about a group of people who try to save their karate school from an evil mobster.  Features what has to be one of the greatest opening credit sequences of all time.  Sadly, the rest of the movie isn't even close to being that good.  It's kind of fun in parts, including the presence of Scatman Crothers as a Karate master (!), but mostly I was just bored.  **

The Tree of Life

THE TREE OF LIFE (2011) - June 14, 2011
There is absolutely no mistaking this for anything but a Terrence Malick movie -- almost to the point of parody.  This is a movie in which every frame is a thing of beauty; certainly, when it comes to cinematography and pure mastery of the camera, Malick is one of the greats.  The film is somehow both epic and intimate, showing us the creation of the entire universe, and then settling down to focus on one American family in the 1950s.  It's completely non-narrative, with Malick's camera simply observing this family over the course of what seems to be approximately one summer.  There's something fascinatingly hypnotic about it; it almost reminds me of a much less dark variation on Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void.  Like that movie, there's something about it that keeps it oddly compelling all the way through despite the fact that, most of the time, very little is happening.  It's pretty enchanting.  ***1/2

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (2011) - June 13, 2011
Oh, the humanity.  About the quest to find the fountain of youth, embarked upon by Jack Sparrow as well as a few other groups of pirates, this was... well, it was less convoluted than the first two sequels, I will give it that.  Other than that?  Not so good.  It actually started out decently enough, with some decent action revolving around Johnny Depp escaping from the British, but it was all downhill from there.  One of the main problems here is that Jack Sparrow just doesn't work as the main character of a movie.  He just wants to traipse around and have a good time, which is well and good but it makes for a pretty much worthless protagonist.  None of the other characters fare much better; I don't know who thought it was a good idea to have a film in which the protagonists are all a bunch of pirates with foggy motivations, but it really doesn't work, at least not in this movie.  There is an effort to introduce a new straight-man character, who has a love interest (albiet a thinly-drawn one) and who is obviously supposed to recall Orlando Bloom from the first few films -- but he's given so little to do that his stuff just feels like a pointless diversion.  Rob Marshall's stylelessly workmanlike direction is basically fine, but what this movie really needed was someone to infuse it with some life and energy, which Marshall completely fails to do.  It's pretty boring.  *1/2

The Ninth Gate

THE NINTH GATE (1999) - June 12, 2011
An almost absurdly tedious movie about a rare book dealer who is hired by a sinister occult obsessive to try to authenticate a very rare book, supposedly co-written by the devil.  This involves Johnny Depp carefully scrutinizing the illustrations in multiple versions of the same book to see how they compare, which is just as exciting as it sounds.  The film actually starts out decently enough.  There's a fairly effective scene establishing Johnny Depp's character in which he swindles the owners of a large collection of books out of an exceptionally valuable copy of Don Quixote.  This scene sets him up as a fairly interesting character; yet as soon as he starts his investigation, anything interesting about his character dissolves completely.  He becomes a completely bland cipher with no discernable personality.  The rest of the movie pretty much consists of Johnny Depp traveling around and asking people about the book, and then cross-checking illustrations.  Director Roman Polanski seemingly attempted to inject the whole thing with an ominous vibe, something which fails pretty much completely.  There's pretty much no suspense or tension here; only tedium.  It all builds up to a conclusion that is as baffling as it is anticlimactic.  Boo-urns.  *

Super 8

SUPER 8 (2011) - June 11, 2011
A kind of great movie about a group of kids who, while making a zombie movie on Super 8, find themselves embroiled in some sinister shenanigans revolving around a mysterious creature.  Featuring some really effective direction from J.J. Abrams, the film is in no hurry to get to the action or to show you the alien creature, and it's all the better for it.  The main group of kids are all really likable and feel like real people, rather than the wacky, wisecrack-spouting teens that you might expect from a Hollywood film.  The performances are all top-shelf, particularly Joel Courtney (in his first movie role) and Elle Fanning, whose sweet romance gives the film much of its emotional heft (along with a subplot involving the main character getting over the death of his mother, a subplot which packs a surprising amount of depth for a summer film, and which never feels treacly or manipulative).  But yes, this is still a summer movie, and on that level it suceeds spectacularly -- an early set-piece involving a crashing train is absolutely thrilling, and the action-heavy third act fares just as well.  A lot has been made about the debt that this film owes to something like E.T., but aside from the general setting and the last moments (it's pretty much the exact same ending as E.T.), it's definitely its own movie.  ****

Them!

THEM! (1954) - June 10, 2011
A disappointing film about the discovery of a bunch of giant, mutated ants around a small desert town.  Not nearly as interesting or exciting as you'd think it would be.  The main problem here is that the bulk of the film consists of a rather tedious investigation into the ants; I think it takes at least 20 minutes before the word "ant" is even mentioned -- up to that point the characters are all trying to figure out what's causing all the damage around town.  Most of the film after that concerns the investigation into the location of the ants' new nest.  This wouldn't necessarily be a big problem, but all of the characters are super bland, and the investigation isn't particularly interesting on its own.  The scenes where we actually see the giant ants are pretty good, and fairly well done (the big ants are actually reasonably convincing, especially given when this film was made), but there's probably five minutes total of actual ant shenanigans.  **

Centurion

CENTURION (2010) - June 9, 2011
About a group of Roman soldiers who find themselves pursued by a deadly tracker and her group of soldiers, this was another winner from Neil Marshall (I think it's pretty clear at this point that the man is a master of genre filmmaking).  Featuring an expectedly great lead performance from Michael Fassbender, and a surprisingly good performance from Olga Kurylenko, who manages to be appropriately sinister in her dialogue-free role without ever veering into over-the-top, mustache-twirling territory.  The characters surrounding Fassbender could have been a bit stronger (they were mostly interchangable), and the obviously-CGI blood was distracting, but those are minor complaints for an otherwise very well-crafted, enjoyable film.  ***1/2

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) - June 8, 2011
What can I say about this movie? It’s a classic, obviously. Many consider it to be Spielberg’s best film, and obviously the man does not have a shortage of great films to choose from. To me, Raiders of the Lost Ark is — and will always be — Spielberg’s best movie, but E.T. is definitely a strong contender. It’s funny, exciting, touching, and downright entertaining; it’s pretty much everything you want out of a movie like this. It also features top-notch direction from Spielberg, and some really great cinematography from Allen Daviau. ***1/2

Midnight in Paris

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (2011) - June 7, 2011
A delightful film about a man, on vacation in Paris, who finds himself traveling back to the '20s and hobnobbing with some literary and artistic greats.  Certainly, it's not one of the Woodster's best films, but it's charming and quite entertaining all the way through.  ***

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981) - June 6, 2011
A step up from the original (but still not all that great) this was a well made movie about Max wandering into a small outpost and helping to defend them from a group of vicious bandits.  Featuring much more of the aesthetic we've come to expect from Mad Max (crazy cars, outlandish costumes, etc.), the film had some pretty solid action but was otherwise kind of unremarkable.  **1/2

X-Men: First Class

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011) - June 3, 2011
An above-average summer blockbuster about the beginnings of the X-Men, focusing mostly on the relationship between Professor X and Magneto, and their disparate views on how mutants should interact with society at large.  Featuring a really good balance between the action and the character stuff, the film is requisitely exciting without ever feeling overstuffed.  James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender both give very strong performances, and the way their characters interact and ultimately choose their sides feels quite organic (Magneto's turn to the dark side feels a lot more natural than, say, Anakin's in the prequels).  It's also very well directed by Matthew Vaughn, who has a sure hand with both the action and the drama.  There are some great scenes here, with a scene where Fassbender confronts a couple of Nazis in Argentina being a clear highlight.  And indeed, Fassbender's intense, magnetic performance (no pun intended) is definitely a confirmation that the man has what it takes to carry a film.  ***1/2

Mesrine: Part 1 - Killer Instinct

MESRINE: PART 1 - KILLER INSTINCT (2008) - June 2, 2011
A solid period crime movie (it's set in the 1960s) about the rise of Jacques Mesrine, an infamous French gangster who got into some serious shenanigans in France, then moved to Montreal and got into more shenanigans there.  Well directed by Jean-François Richet and featuring an expectedly good performance from Vincent Cassel, this was quite enjoyable throughout.  It probably helps that a lot of stuff is crammed into the 113 minute run-time of the film, and it's therefore very fast-paced.  There's also some pretty memorable moments here, including a jailbreak scene that's pretty much riveting.  ***

Resident Evil: Afterlife

RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE (2010) - June 1, 2011
Easily the best of the Resident Evil sequels, though that's really not saying much, this was about a group of survivors trying to make their way to a supposedly zombie-free cargo ship.  Features some gleefully stupid, wildly over-the-top but kind of fun action set-pieces, many of which barely make narrative sense (hey, here's a giant mutant zombie with an enormous hammer for some inexplicable reason).  Even the non-action stuff is passable, with a group of characters who are pretty generic, but actually have some personality and aren't completely bland.  It's nothing particularly great, but if the Resident Evil series can maintain this level of quality, I wouldn't be opposed to a few more sequels (or at least one more, since this one ends on a pretty blatant cliffhanger).  **1/2

Priest

PRIEST (2011) - June 1, 2011
A interesting but flawed film about a future society in which vampires and humans have been at war for years, and in which vampires have been (supposedly) wiped out.  Though the film is a little on the dark/murky side (the stupid 3D glasses probably didn't help), it actually pretty interesting, visually speaking -- the Metropolis/Blade Runner-inspired city, the western-inspired small towns, and the stylish action are highlights.  Paul Bettany was good, if a little one-note, and the dynamic between him and fellow Priest Maggie Q was fairly well done.  But the movie dragged despite a svelte running time of under 90 minutes, and there were fairly long stretches in the film's mid-section in which I had pretty much lost interest.  I'm between two and two and a half for this one, but I think there was more here that I liked than that I did not.  **1/2

Bird on a Wire

BIRD ON A WIRE (1990) - May 31, 2011
Meh.  Basically enjoyable if not quite as good as the kid version of myself believed, this was a decent enough film about a woman who winds up going on an adventure with her ex, pursued by a couple of shady criminals out to kill them.  Mel Gibson was quite likable in the main role; Goldie Hawn, on the other hand, was a bit grating as she spent the bulk of the film complaining (not unlike Katherine Heigl in the more recent Killers).  **1/2

The Thin Red Line

THE THIN RED LINE (1999) - May 30,  2011
Thus far, my experience with the films of Terrence Malick has been one of admiration, but little more. I liked Badlands and I liked Days of Heaven, but aside from the gorgeous visuals, they weren’t films that stuck with me for very long after the credits rolled. Imagine my surprise, then, that between this, Badlands and Days of Heaven, this was my favourite film by far, despite the fact that it is probably the least regarded of the three. It feels like this material is pretty much a perfect compliment for Malick’s style, which is not necessarily something I’d say about Badlands or Days of Heaven (it’s been ages since I’ve seen Badlands, so another viewing is probably in order, but in Heaven, it’s pretty clear that the fairly routine love triangle is the least interesting thing about that film). Malick isn’t particularly interested in telling straight-forward stories; in his first two films he tried to do that, and in this one he didn’t bother. I think this film is better off because of it. It’s completely plotless, and yet it is absolutely compelling throughout, thanks to Malick’s poetic, oddly hypnotic direction. The same can be said for Malick’s recent The Tree of Life, of which I am also a pretty big fan.  ***1/2

Brotherhood

BROTHERHOOD (2010) - May 29, 2011
A silly but mostly entertaining film about a fraternity initiation prank gone seriously awry.  It's pretty stupid, though there is something oddly compelling about seeing things just get worse and worse for this group of guys.  Will Canon's direction is passible, if somewhat mediocre -- he over-relies on the old shaky-cam, and he fails to embue the film with the kind of tension that could have elevated it from a passable film to a good one (many scenes which should have been pretty tense fall completely flat).  **1/2

Rio

RIO (2011) - May 28, 2011
A really entertaining cartoon about a domesticated, American bird who must return to his home country of Rio when it's discovered that he is the last male of his species.  He eventually escapes (at the behest of his female companion) and hijinks ensue.  Featuring really colourful, visually-appealing animation and a fun, fast-paced story that never feels like it's pandering to kids (though which also never attempts to rise to Pixar levels of greatness), this was quite entertaining.  It drags a bit in its action-dominated latter half, but it's still an above average cartoon.  ***

The Hangover Part II

THE HANGOVER PART II (2011) - May 27, 2011
Meh.  Not the all-out disaster that many people are making it out to be, this was a basically watchable sequel about the exact same thing the first one was about, but with Bangkok subbing for Vegas.  It is pretty blatant how similar it is to the first, but then a lot of sequels tend to stick with what's been done.  The main problem here is that the film is pretty episodic, and does drag quite a bit in parts.  It's basically entertaining throughout, but it definitely doesn't feel as tight as the first one.  I'm sort of between a thumbs up and a thumbs down, but whatever -- the actors have good chemistry, and the film is fairly well made, if a little lazy.  **1/2

Red White & Blue

RED WHITE & BLUE (2010) - May 26, 2011
A really intense, kind of devastating film about an almost pathalogically promiscuous young girl who gets caught up in some sinister shenanagans when it turns out that she has given a man HIV.  The film really takes its time -- it's almost an hour into the film before even a vague whiff of the plot is revealed.  But this allows us time to get to know the characters, and only makes the latter half of the film all the more powerful.  And that latter half... wow.  It's seriously intense, a bit disturbing and kind of hard to watch at times.  I'm not sure if I'll ever look at Noah Taylor the same way, who is pretty much amazing here.  With his big beard and his southern accent, he completely disappears into the role.  I don't know if I ever want to revisit this film, but it was definitely very good.  ***1/2

Attack the Block

ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) - May 25, 2011
A really well made and flat-out awesome film about a gang of teenagers in south London who find themselves beseiged by killer aliens.  Exceptionally well made by first-timer Joe Cornish, whose stylish and effective direction has instantly made him one of those directors whose future films I will be interested in by default.  There are so many great set-pieces here, including a scene in which the kids must outrun a bunch of aliens to get to an apartment building, and an absolutely dazzling extended use of slow-mo (Zack Snyder take note: THIS is how you use slow motion).  Thomas Townend's widescreen cinematography was another stand-out -- the whole film takes place at night and looks quite good; there are definitely shades of John Carpenter here.  Cornish also does a really great job of developing the characters and making us care about them, and the film is pretty funny in parts.  Yeah, I quite liked it. ****

Kung Fu Panda 2

KUNG FU PANDA 2 (2011) - May 24, 2011
An entertaining sequel, though definitely a step down from the original.  About the titular Kung Fu Panda and his efforts to figure out where he came from while trying to save China from an evil warlord, this was mostly enjoyable throughout, and exceptionally well animated -- my main issue is that it drags somewhat, particularly in its much weaker first half.  The latter half, in which the personal connection between the panda and the villain is made clear, and in which the stakes are thus much higher, fares a lot better.  **1/2

Bridesmaids

BRIDESMAIDS (2011) - May 21, 2011
A disappointing comedy about a thirty-something woman who starts reevaluating the state of her life after her best friend gets engaged; also, shenanigans ensue with the wacky bridal party.  Part of the problem here is that the tone varies prettty wildly -- there's the low-key character stuff with Kristen Wiig, including a romance with a cop, and then there's the over-the-top wacky stuff with the bridesmaids.  It kind of feels like two different movies.  It's also really blandly directed by Paul Feig, who has directed a lot of funny TV shows, but whose style is obviously better suited to the small screen.  Then there's the fact that a few of the eponymous bridesmaids are completely superfluous, with zero character development other than "the horny one" or "the naive one."  The film runs over two hours, which is insanely overlong; many scenes drag on far longer than they should (such as a scene on an airplane that feels like it's at least 20 minutes long, and which was interminable), and many simply feel like they have no business being anywhere other than the cutting room floor.  It's too bad, because there is a lot to like here, including a good lead performance from Kristen Wiig and a couple of solid laughs, but the film is just too muddled and overlong. **

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt

BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (2009) - May 19, 2011
About a journalist who decides to frame himself on a murder charge in the hope that a corrupt DA will fabricate evidence to put him away, this was a mediocre but basically passable legal thriller sunk by an almost comically dumb premise.  It's an astonishingly stupid plan, though it does seem slightly less stupid in retrospect once the final twist is revealed (however, the fact remains that he was able to convince his friend to go along with this absurd plan, which strains credibility to its breaking point -- actually, it pretty much snaps it in half).  Aside from the dumb plot, the film was decently directed by Peter Hyams (who certainly deserves better material than this, though he did write it himself so it's hard to feel too sorry for him).  It was also decently acted (Jesse Metcalfe was much better here than in The Tortured, though it's still easy enough to see why the man is mostly doing straight to video stuff), with the clear highlight being a very slimy Michael Douglas as the corrupt DA.  **

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD (2011) - May 18, 2011
Meh.  A slickly made but kind of underwhelming documentary about Morgan Spurlock's efforts to make a documentary about product placement and advertising, funded solely by product placements.  It's a fairly interesting premise, though seeing Spurlock take meeting after meeting does eventually wear out its welcome a bit.  There's also some interesting exploration of the nature of advertising in our society, and how it affects us; I actually wish there were more of this stuff and less of the aforementioned meetings.  There's definitely a surfeit of interesting material to cover with this topic, but Spurlock seems reluctant to explore it beyond a surface level.  There's also a lack of a unifying thesis here; it seems fairly clear that Spurlock is wary of product placement and advertising in general, but he never really takes a stand either way, probably to avoid offending his many sponsors.  **

Max Max

MAD MAX (1979) - May 17, 2011
It’s kind of odd watching Mad Max for the first time, because it was obviously shot on an exceptionally low budget, and actually has very little of what you’d expect from a Mad Max film (the monstrous, souped-up cars, the outlandish costumes, etc.). In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to describe the setting as post-apocalyptic at all, which is odd considering that this film is considered to be of the essential films in that genre. I think that everything that Mad Max has become known for, aesthetically speaking, actually comes from the sequels — I also watched Mad Max 2, and it’s all there: the desolate wasteland and the memorable cars and costumes. But what about the film at hand? It wasn’t bad. It drags a bit, but it definitely has its moments.  **1/2

The Brink's Job

THE BRINK'S JOB (1978) - May 16, 2011
Meh.  An affable but kind of disappointing film about a group of guys in the '40s who decide to rob a Brink's warehouse.  The whole thing is well acted and enjoyable enough, and it's kind of fun to watch these bumbling crooks plan and pull off a big robbery, but it just doesn't particularly add up to much.  I was going to say that it's lesser Friedkin, though I was looking at the man's filmography, and aside from the obvious high-points of the French Connection and the Exorcist, it's pretty spotty.  **1/2

The Tortured

THE TORTURED (2010) - May 15, 2011
Oh, sweet Jesus.  Easily one of the worst movies I've seen in quite a while, this was an almost completely worthless horror film about the parents of a murdered child who decide to enact brutal vengeance on the man responsible for the death of their child.  There is pretty much nothing that works here.  In the first half hour or so, we see the parents deal with their grief over the death of their child and their anger at the lack of justice for the man responsible.  This stretch is laughably bad, thanks mostly to writer Marek Posival's horrendous, hammy dialogue and the completely awful performances (though to be fair to Erika Christensen and Jesse Metcalfe, there's not much that even the best actor in the world could do with such shoddy material).  Then there's the rest of the film, in which the parents torture the man who killed their son (or so they think... twist!).  It's pretty much all grisly torture at this point, and I'm really struggling to figure out what the point was.  Why would I want to watch this?  There's absolutely no suspense or tension, and the moral ambiguities of what the parents are doing remain almost completely unexplored (aside from the most surface level discussions of "hey, should we be doing this?" "Yup." "Okay!").  It's just pointless, gross torture.  Seriously, what's the point?  Why is this particularly story worth telling?  I mean, it's a pretty interesting premise, but the writer and director completely squander it.  I think I've said enough about why this movie sucks, but I should mention that the flat, TV-caliber direction was completely bland.  Oh, and that twist, seriously?  WTF.  It's a pretty neat twist I guess, but not surprisingly the film does nothing with it.  What do the two parents think about brutally torturing and causing the death of a completely innocent man?  That's pretty interesting, so of course the movie completely ignores it.  1/2*

The Beaver

THE BEAVER (2011) - May 13, 2011
I think it's pretty clear that if Mel Gibson had known that this movie was going to come out at such a delicate time in his career, he may have had second thoughts; the character he plays here is pretty much flat-out crazy and barely likable, and probably isn't going to do much help win over those who were turned off by his recent outbursts.  The craziness of his character is an interesting choice, but one I'm not entirely certain works all that well.  Gibson's character is so crazy -- and crazy right from the get-go, as we never see him before his crippling depression -- that it becomes kind of hard to root for him.  I was rooting for his family -- Anton Yelchin in particular creates a character that we definitely come to care about, albiet one we have seen many times before -- but aside from that I had no real stake in whether or not Gibson's character got better.  The movie was decently made and well acted, but... yeah.  Not great.  **1/2

Jane Eyre (2011)

JANE EYRE (2011) - May 11, 2011
A slow-paced but exceptionally well made film about a young woman who goes to be a governess in a large, isolated mansion and finds herself falling in love with the owner of the house.  Though Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre was the superior film, this movie definitely establishes him as a director to watch.  Fukunaga's direction and Adriano Goldman's cinematography are absolutely impeccable; the film, much of which is lit by amazingly moody candlelight, is a treat to behold.  The brighter, outdoor scenes fare just as well.  There's also an almost horror-movie-like sense of dread and unease for much of the film; all in all, this is a movie whose overall atmosphere is second-to-none.  It's also eceptionally well acted, particularly Mia Wasikowska as the eponymous Eyre, and Michael Fassbender as Rochester.  The movie does drag in parts, but it's just so well acted and well made that it's easy to overlook that.  ***

A Single Man

A SINGLE MAN (2009) - May 10, 2011
An exceptionally well made film about a college professor in the '60s who has a hard time getting over the death of his partner.  Featuring an absolutely amazing central performance from Colin Firth, which quite possibly ranks as one of the best performances that I've ever seen.  There's a scene early on in the film in which Firth receives a phone call informing him that his partner has died; the camera remains on a tight close-up on Firth the entire time, and it is nothing short of riveting.  Tom Ford's direction, which is meticulously crafted without ever coming off as fussy, is also superlative.  There's an interesting use of colour, for example, to represent how Firth's character is feeling.  It's a device that could have come off as too on-the-nose under a lesser director, but Ford absolutely pulls it off.  ****

House

HOUSE (1977) - May 9, 2011
An almost inscrutably bizarre but kind of amazing film about a group of Japanese schoolgirls who decide to spend a few days at what turns out to be a haunted house.  It's a pretty straightforward premise, but director Nobuhiko Ôbayashi definitely has more on his mind than making a straightforward horror film.  Filled to the brim with kooky music, bold camerawork, colorful painted backgrounds, animation, and strange special effects of all kinds, this is a film that's always interesting to look at.  It's also really fast-paced, with weird stuff constantly happening almost just for the sake of it.  I'm generally not a big fan of weird for the sake of weird, but this movie really worked for me.  It helps that the characters (who have self-explanatory names like Gorgeous, Kung Fu, and Melody) are all very likable; it also helps that the film is flat-out entertaining throughout.  Really, it's hard to dislike a movie that tries to do something so far unlike anything you've ever seen before, and which manages to do so in such a gleefully enthusiastic way without ever feeling pretentious or laboured.  ***1/2

Cinema Verite

CINEMA VERITE (2011) - May 8, 2011
A mediocre film about a family in the '70s who subject themselves to being the stars of the first ever reality show, and how this affects them.  Generally well acted (particularly James Gandolfini as the creator of the show) the film was otherwise questionably put together (the direction was bland and the overly processed visuals gives everyone the skin tone of a pumpkin).  Despite a short running time of 90 minutes, the movie drags quite a bit, and ultimately just isn't all that compelling.  **

Thor

THOR (2011) - May 6, 2011
An enjoyable summer blockbuster about Thor, the heir to the King of Asgard, who winds up being exiled to Earth after angering his father.  The film is generally well directed by Kenneth Branagh and well acted (Chris Hemsworth strikes a good balance between gravitas and likablity, and Natalie Portman is quite good as usual), and though there's nothing particularly fresh here (you always know exactly where the story is going) the film was well executed and fun.  The action is generally fine, though the only scene that really impresses is the one in which Thor and his cronies fight a big robot in a small town.  ***

Primal Fear

PRIMAL FEAR (1996) - May 4, 2011 (Second Viewing)
Though not quite the way-above-average legal thriller that I remembered this being, this was still a solid film about a high profile lawyer defending an altar-boy charged with a brutal murder, elevated by some top-shelf performances (particularly a young Edward Norton in a justifiably star-making performance).  ***

Fast Five

FAST FIVE (2011) - May 2, 2011
Easily the best of the Fast and Furious sequels, though that's really not a very high watermark, this was a decent action film about pretty much every surviving character from the Furious series coming together to pull of a huge heist in Rio.  While Justin Lin has undeniably improved as an action director, he's basically just gone from terrble to competent.  There are some pretty good set-pieces here (particularly the absurdly over-the-top but kinda awesome scene in which an enormous safe -- essentially a big wrecking ball -- is dragged around the streets of Rio) but Lin is still a little too edit-happy, with some over-edited sequences being less effective than they should have been.  Particularly, a big fight between Vin Diesel and the Rock was good, but could have been great had it been directed with a bit more skill.  Regardless, the Rock makes for a pretty awesome addition to the series, and was actually one of the best things about the film -- absurdly muscular and looking like he's constantly about to explode out of his weirdly small shirts, he was a pretty huge badass in this movie, and probably one of the most macho characters ever committed to celluloid.  Every time he wasn't on the screen I was basically just waiting for him to come back, as he was probably the most interesting character in the bunch.  **1/2

6,000 Enemies

6,000 ENEMIES (1939) - May 1, 2011
An entertaining film about a tough DA who gets framed for bribery by a crime boss, and who winds up in the same prison with hundreds of criminals who he has personally put away.  The film was pretty enjoyable and featured some inventive direction by George B. Seitz, but at just over an hour long it's probably too short, which is certainly a complaint I don't frequently have.  Many of the film's events unfold somewhat abruptly; a little more time to set everything up probably would have helped.  **1/2

Adventureland

ADVENTURELAND - Apr. 29, 2011
Meh.  A decently made but only sporadically engaging film about a young man who takes a summer job working at a local theme park.  The movie was well made and well acted, but I was just never particularly into it.  **1/2

Trucker

TRUCKER (2008) - Apr. 26, 2011
A really well made and engaging film about a commitment-shy long-haul trucker who, after her ex-husband is sent to the hospital, winds up with the son she abandonded 10 years prior.  Featuring an above-average performance from Michelle Monaghan, and equally good supporting performances from Benjamin Bratt, Jimmy Bennett and Nathan Fillion (Fillion seriously needs to be in more movies).  James Mottern's direction is quite good, as is Lawrence Sher's impressive cinematography.  There's nothing necessarily new or ground-breaking here (it's a pretty typical low-key indie drama); it's just an all-around solid movie.  ***1/2

Just Wright

JUST WRIGHT (2010) - Apr. 24, 2011
An enjoyable romcom about an injured basketball player who winds up falling in love with his physical therapist.  The film was quite entertaining throughout, though I really wish I hadn't seen the trailer, which is literally like a condensed version of the movie -- it spells out every single plot point right up until the final five minutes of the film.  Even by the spoiler-heavy standards of contemporary trailers, it's pretty ridiculous.  Not that there's anything particularly surprising in the film (it follows the romcom mold to a T) but it's still a bit frustrating.  Aside from that, the movie is solidly made and features a couple of compelling, charismatic performances from Queen Latifah and Common, who definitely have chemistry.  In particular, Common proves that he has more range than people would have probably given him credit for, as he suceeds admirably in a role far-removed from the tough guys he's played up to this point.   ***

Dogtooth

DOGTOOTH (2009) - Apr. 23, 2011
Bizarre, interesting but ultimately kind of a failure of a film, this was about a couple who have raised their three children -- now fully grown -- in complete seclusion, with no contact with the outside world (and, for some strange reason, teaching them bits of information that are blatantly false).  There's no real plot here: the movie begins, we see various odd happenings with the three siblings, then it ends.  A few things do happen, but it's generally just a month or so in the (weird) life of these characters.  The problem is that the characters and their situation are so bizarre, and we're never really given any reason to care about them.  The film does a good job of establishing this strange world that the characters live in, but it doesn't really add up to all that much, because the viewer is kept at a constant arm's length.  The movie was very handsomely made (Thimios Bakatakis' beautiful widescreen cinematography was easily the highlight of the film), and I was into it for a while (it's definitely unique, and pretty effective at establishing and maintaining its own off-kilter universe), but it eventually wore me down.  **

The Resident

THE RESIDENT (2011) - Apr. 20, 2011
A pretty awful horror film about a woman who moves into a seemingly perfect apartment, only to find that her friendly landlord is actually insane and obsessed with her.  Yes, it's just as cheesy as it sounds; director Antti Jokinen does absolutely nothing to elevate this tired material to something watchable.  One of the main culprits is Jokinen and Robert Orr's downright terrible script, which is full of clunky dialogue, cringeworthy exposition, and characters who act like characters in a horror film instead of real people.  The film could have at least been watchable if it were directed with any kind of finesse, but Jokinen's vaguely competent direction, which is sort of okay (I've seen worse, at least), lacks any real sense of tension or suspense.  The movie bafflingly stars Hillary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who are both a million times too good for this dreck.  I can only assume that they both had dumptrucks full of money back up to their houses, because I otherwise can't see any reason they'd agree to be in this movie.  *1/2

The Horde

THE HORDE (2009) - Apr. 18, 2011
A kind of lousy zombie movie about a group of cops who go to a run-down apartment building to get revenge for a murdered friend, only to find themselves in the middle of some serious zombie shenanigans (and forced to work together with the criminals they came to kill).  The film isn't bad per se; it's just aggresively mediocre, with pretty much nothing here we haven't seen before in many other zombie films (and videogames -- there's a pretty strong Left 4 Dead vibe here).  The characters are unlikeable and completely underdeveloped, with the bland actors doing nothing to overcome these deficiencies.  The film is competantly directed but marred by muddy, vaguely unpleasant cinematography.  The whole thing just basically feels like a waste of 90 minutes.  **

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982) - Apr. 17, 2011
So... what happened to Judge Reinhold? He may not be the most versatile actor ever, but he’s got a fairly unique screen presence, he’s likable, and he tends to give pretty solid performances. And yet his career petered out and all but died after the ’80s, though he has been working consistently since then (mostly in straight-to-video and TV stuff). It’s too bad.  It goes without saying, then, that I liked Reinhold in this movie. I liked Jennifer Jason Leigh, and I liked Sean Penn (who has a fairly small part, but steals every scene he’s in). I liked pretty much all of the actors in this movie, which is good because this is a movie that really requires that you like its characters. It’s pretty light on plot, and is content to just let us spend a year or so with these high school kids and see what they’re up to. It works, mostly because of the strength of Cameron Crowe’s script (his first) and the memorable characters, who do not feel artificial like movie teenagers tend to be, but like real people.  The movie actually reminds me a lot of American Graffiti — both films plotlessly follow a group of high schoolers over a certain amount of time (one night for Graffiti, one year for Ridgemont High), and both films feature feature a pervasive use of rock music on the soundtrack. And yet Ridgemont High works so much better; the characters are more fully realized, and ultimately much more compelling. I enjoyed spending time with this group of people, whereas spending time with the kids from Grafitti had the tendency to get tedious.  ***

Easy A

EASY A (2010) - Apr. 16, 2011
A surprisingly enjoyable film about a girl in high school who finds things quickly spiraling out of control after she starts spreading rumors that she's been doing it.  Featuring solid direction from Will Gluck (who also made another pleasant surprise, Fired Up) and a charming lead performance from Emma Stone, the film was breezy and quite enjoyable throughout.  The movie name-drops John Hughes at one point, and though this wasn't quite on his level, it's definitely an enjoyable film about teenagers that never feels like it's pandering, something at which Hughes was obviously the master.  ***

Scre4m

SCRE4M (2011) - Apr. 15, 2011
Not quite as good as the first two, but a clear step up from part three, this was an enjoyable sequel that finds Sidney -- now an author -- returning home and quickly finding herself embroiled in even more ghostface-related shenanigans (apparently, something like 50% of the people Sidney knows are actually psychopathic murderers).  After the let-down of part three, this film features another memorable opening scene, this time featuring the kind of self-referential winking at the audience that Scream has become known for with a film within a film within a film.  The movie does a much better job than part three of introducing new characters who don't feel completely generic, and also feels decidedly R-rated.  It's not a great film by any strech of the imagination, but for a horror movie with the number 4 in the title, it's definitely better than it really has any right to be.  ***

Scream 3

SCREAM 3 (2000) - Apr. 14, 2011
Meh.  After the surprisingly enjoyable Scream 2, this was actually a pretty significant step down.  Pretty much everything here is inferior to the first two: the opening is ho-hum and far from memorable, all the new characters are super bland, the uneventful midsection drags pretty significantly, and even the violence feels curiously watered-down, as if they were originally going for a PG-13 and only decided to go for the R at the last minute.  The film does improve a bit towards the end, and it's always basically entertaining, but after the above-average first two films, it's a pretty big disappointment.  **1/2

Scream 2

SCREAM 2 (1997) - Apr. 14, 2011 (Second Viewing)
Though this wasn't quite on the level of the original, this was a really effective sequel that was actually pretty close to the first one in quality.  Opening with a really effective and memorable sequence in a movie theatre (which still kind of pales in comparison to Scream's opening scene), the film follows Sidney and her cronies as they get into ghostface-related shenanigans at university.  The film has a number of effective set-pieces (including a really memorable one involving an unconscious ghostface in a car) and manages to introduce some decent new characters.  ***1/2

Source Code

SOURCE CODE (2011) - Apr. 13, 2011
About a soldier who is continually placed in the body of a man who died in a train explosion in an effort to figure out who was responsible for the bombing, this was another above-average sci-fi film from Duncan Jones.  Though the film definitely has more mainstream sensibilities than the more cerebral Moon, I think it's probably just as good.  It definitely takes its Quantum Leap-esque premise and does some interesting and exciting things with it.  The ending is a bit problematic, but aside from that this is a well acted, well made film.  ***1/2

Hanna

HANNA (2011) - Apr. 8, 2011
About a teenage girl, raised in seclusion by her father to be an efficient assassin, who is let loose in the world with the ultimate goal of killing the woman who killed her mother.  Though the premise would lead you to believe that this is a straightforward action film, the movie is actually pretty unique and has a very distinctive sense of style.  Joe Wright's stylish direction, along with the quirky script and the Chemical Brothers' effective and memorable score, creates a world that feels refreshingly unique.  There are also some great action set-pieces here, including one that unfolds in a glorious unbroken De Palma-esque steadicam shot.  Saoirse Ronan is quite good in the title role, creating a character who we definitely come to care about.  This film is pretty much the polar opposite of the gritty realism that seems to be de rigueur in the action genre these days; the film has a really stylized, quirky, almost fairy tale-esque vibe that never feels smug or like it's trying too hard.  It's rare to watch a big studio film and feel like you're watching something fresh, something that's actually trying to do something a bit different.  This feels that way.  ***1/2

Hot Fuzz

HOT FUZZ (2007) - Apr. 7, 2011 (Second Viewing)
This was actually quite a bit better than I remembered it being -- and I remembered it being pretty damn good.  Frequently laugh-out-loud funny and featuring some expectedly great performances from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, this was extremely enjoyable all the way through.  Basically, it's impossible to go wrong with the Pegg/Frost/Wright combo.  ****

Everybody's Fine

EVERYBODY'S FINE (2009) - Apr. 6, 2011
A completely middle-of-the-road but nevertheless solid drama about a father who decides to travel across the country to visit each of his kids one by one.  Featuring expectedly solid performances from Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell as the kids, and a rare not-phoning-it-in performance from Robert De Niro.  I was actually really surprised by how good De Niro was here, considering the quality of his work over the last decade or so.  There's a scene towards the end where he finds out the fate of one of his children that's pretty heartbreaking.  Even in the quieter moments, he manages to take this emotionally buttoned-up character and inject him with a lot of depth and subtlety.  ***

Wish Upon a Star

WISH UPON A STAR (1996) - Apr. 5, 2011
About a couple of sisters who wind up switching bodies when one of them wishes that she could have the other one's life, this was a completely routine but surprisingly enjoyable Disney Channel film.  The film goes everywhere you think it will, but it's engagingly acted (including a young, surprisingly charming Katherine Heigl -- a far cry from her grating performance in last year's Killers) and entertaining throughout.  ***

Defendor

DEFENDOR (2009) - Apr. 4, 2011
Meh.  Well acted (both Woody Harrelson and Kat Dennings give above-average performances) but kind of dull, the film provided a slightly more real take on the "real guy becomes a superhero" subgenre, but seriously drags around the middle.  Harrelson's character, a mentally disabled, self-styled superhero, was definitely interesting, but the villains were kind of flat and the film itself just wasn't that good (the movie was at its best when it focused on the relationship between Harrelson and Dennings).  Also, John Rowley's low-rent score did much more harm than good.  **

Point Break

POINT BREAK (1991) - Apr. 3, 2011
An enjoyable action movie about a young FBI agent who goes undercover in the LA surfing scene to try to catch a group of professional bank robbers.  Though the film probably has more surfing action than actual action, it works.  It probably helps that Kathryn Bigelow does just as good of a job with the surfing stuff as with the action stuff (which is stellar, including a classic foot chase that ends with a moment that has been made unintentionally hilarious thanks to Hot Fuzz).  Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze are both quite good, as is the supporting cast (including a memorable John C. McGinley as the angry captain).  ***

Insidious

INSIDIOUS (2011) - Apr. 2, 2011
Easily James Wan's best film since Saw (and really, his only good film since Saw), this was an effective and kind of terrifying film about a young couple who must contend with some supernatural shenanigans in their home.  Despite a kind of similar premise to the two Paranormal Activity films (and the presence of Oren Peli as a producer), Insidious manages to feel fairly different from those movies with an over-the-top sensibility that is more Drag Me To Hell than Paranormal Activity.  The effective score and in-your-face sound design does a really great job of helping the film build and maintain tension.  All in all this was just a really fun, really well made haunted house movie.  ***1/2

The Lincoln Lawyer

THE LINCOLN LAWYER (2011) - Apr. 1, 2011
About a street-smart lawyer who finds himself involved in a case where everything is not as it seems, this was a by-the-numbers legal thriller elevated by solid direction (a little shakier than I would like, but solid nonetheless) and some above-average performances -- particularly a really engaging turn by Matthew McConaughey.  It's kind of delightful (and increasingly rare) to see a straight-forward thriller that isn't aimed towards teenagers.  This is the type of film we saw quite a bit of up until about a decade ago, and I'm really not sure why they went away.  Another bonus of films like this: lots of room for interesting character actors, like Bryan Cranston, Bob Gunton and William H. Macy.  ***