Movie Review Clash of the Titans 2010

Clash of the Titans (2010) 

Directed by Louis Letterier

Written by Travis Beacham, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi

Starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Jason Flemyng, Mads Mikkelsen

Release Date April 2nd, 2010 

Published April 2nd, 2010

The makers of “Clash of the Titans” were torn. On the one hand, some wanted to make a massive action blockbuster from a well remembered property. On the other hand, a more realistic faction saw what was there and realized how truly cheese ball the whole enterprise is. The battle between these two sides has helped deliver a seriously goofy mélange of self serious action scenes and a whole lot of goofball preening, posing and speechifying.

Sam Worthington stars in Clash as Perseus, the son of Zeus. Perseus doesn't know he is the son of the God until he is grown and working with the man he assumes is his father as a fisherman. When his father, mother and young sister are killed by Zeus's brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes) Perseus decides to take up arms against the gods.

Perseus joins a fight already begun by the armies of the coastal city Athos lead by Draco (Madds Mikkelson). Together, with a small band of brave warriors they set out to find some way to kill the Kraken, the ancient deadly spawn of Hades set upon Athos by an angry Zeus (Liam Neeson) in vengeance for the insolence of humanity.

Never mind that Zeus started the fight. In revenge for not getting enough love from humanity, Zeus came to earth cloaked as King Acrisius (Jason Flemyng) and impregnated the King's wife. Perseus was the result of this Jerry Springer style act of vengeance. Now, that man and God are at war it falls to Perseus to stop the destruction of mankind.

“Clash of the Titans” is one bizarre, goofball effort. The special effects range from impressive looking to a bad parody of the work of Ray Harryhausen from the original Clash. The direction of Louis Letterier runs the gamut as well from pro level technique to the highest of high camp. Letterier seems to have been the most conflicted among the creators of “Clash of the Titans” having approached the material with serious intent before succumbing to bad kitsch.

The worst victim of the kitsch is Liam Neeson whose Zeus is garbed in Liberace's battle armor, a Viking beard and Barbara Walters back lighting through most of his scenes. Add to that the awful storyline that essentially boils down to a God having revenge sex with a guy’s wife and you have one utterly laughable character.

Less laughable and more unfortunate is the one note performance of star Sam Worthington. Though Hollywood has decided that Worthington is the next big thing off of his starring roles in “Terminator Salvation” and “Avatar” the young actor has yet to deliver one single memorable moment on screen. Stoic and handsome, Worthington is intensely bland. He looks like about a dozen other guys Hollywood has tried to turn into movie stars and failed. 

In “Clash of the Titans” Worthington is so sleepy and monosyllabic you may be forgiven for mistaking him at time for scenery. Worthington's facial expressions never change whether he is menaced by giant scorpions or worrying over a mortally wounded ally, Worthington's blank slate never changes. His eyes are so vacant you begin to worry if somewhere during shooting, Worthington's soul vacated his body and left behind some human machine shell. 

The biggest issue with “Clash of the Titans” is what I can only presume is a behind the scenes battle over the vision of what the film should be. Some eagerly embraced the kitsch and fed into it while others fought to make Clash an earnest blockbuster action movie. The battle created one seriously awful movie as a result.

Movie Review: Chloe

Chloe (2010) 

Directed by Atom Egoyan

Written by Erin Cressida Wilson

Starring Amanda Seyfried, Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson

Release Date March 26th, 2010

Published March 30th, 2010

“Chloe” is one of the most frustrating films I've seen in a long time. Rarely has such skilled direction been wasted on such B-level material. Atom Egoyan is a master of mood and feeling brilliantly pushing an audience’s buttons; manipulating them into uncomfortable places and toward often stunning revelations.

He brings his skill for mood to “Chloe” and for two acts his mastery of sex, seduction and character has you hooked. Riveting performances by Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried tease seduce and shock and keep you guessing just how this movie could possibly end. Then the third act begins and things are downhill from there. What should have been an adult thriller quickly devolves into a highly skilled Cinemax late night trash.

Catherine Stewart (Julianne Moore) is desperate. She believes her husband, David (Liam Neeson) is cheating on her. Finding a damning photo of David while she is snooping through his I Phone, Catherine decides she needs definitive proof. To get it Catherine turns to a young woman she has seen in the neighborhood near her medical practice.

The young woman is Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) and it is clear from her manner with men and her unusual hours that she is a high end call girl. Catherine hires Chloe only to flirt with David and recount his reaction. Chloe takes things further than mere flirting but rather than being angry, Catherine finds herself turned on. This twisted scenario only grows more twisted from there as Catherine herself begins an affair with Chloe.

You get from the plot where this is likely heading but early on Atom Egoyan and writer Erin Cressida Wilson brilliantly create an atmosphere, a look, a sensuality that distracts from anything familiar. There is an air of desperation and sex that permeates Chloe in the first two acts that is truly sexy, not merely trashy. The sex is purposeful and erotic without being trashy.

Then comes the third act and things go off the rails. Though Atom Egoyan never loses his incredible gift for atmosphere he and writer Ms. Wilson fail to invent a satisfying conclusion for Chloe. Instead the film devolves from a smart, sexy and daringly adult thriller into a high end version of a direct to video soft-core porno. 

The final scenes of Chloe fly close to parody, so close that one could almost make the case that the ending is a satire of B-movie thrillers. However, there is far too much artfulness in Egoyan's direction and far too much skill from the dedicated cast for anyone to assume satire, unfortunately. 

Amanda Seyfried and Julianne Moore are an electric duo in Chloe. Seyfried, long an object of girl next door fantasies, finds a range and depth like she's never shown before. Pushed by the unbelievably talented Ms. Moore, Seyfried radiates sex so strongly that you can hardly blame a married woman for falling prey to her. Ms. Moore is no victim in Chloe mind you; her submissiveness is really an act of passive aggression that few actresses could achieve.

”Chloe” is so disappointing because I like so much of it. Atom Egoyan's direction is solid and the script from Erin Cressida Wilson, for the first two acts, is very strong. The failure comes in finding an ending that satisfies. I won't spoil it for those who still wish to see this highly erotic and often quite good thriller, but be prepared for a letdown. 

The very last scene in “Chloe” is among the most awkward and oddly humorous that I have seen. It may just be my twisted sense of humor but the seriously awkward mother son bond that comes in the final act will certainly have psychiatrists buzzing afterwards. 

Finally, you may have noticed that I had little to say about Liam Neeson in “Chloe.” Neeson lost his wife Natasha Richardson while shooting “Chloe.” He left midway through production to be at her side and returned just days after her death to wrap his role. According to IMDB Neeson's scenes were cut back to accommodate his leaving and his grief. Under the circumstances Neeson is quite good in “Chloe” but there is little that one can say about an actor working under such a circumstance.

Movie Review How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) 

Directed by Dean Deblois, Chris Sanders

Written by Will Davies, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders

Starring Jay Baruchel, America Ferrara, Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill 

Release Date March 26th, 2010

Published March 26th, 2010

In any other year “How to Train Your Dragon” would be seen as the best animated film of the year. It has terrific characters, big laughs, a great big heart, fabulous animation and a killer behind the scenes story. In any other year that didn't feature a masterpiece the magnitude of “Toy Story 3,” “How to Train Your Dragon” would be an Animated Oscar shoo-in this is not, however, any other year.

“Toy Story 3” lifts the bar far higher than most animated films, indeed the folks at Pixar no matter what feature they release, original or sequel, just tend to do that. Let's not let that take away from the fabulous achievement that is How to Train Your Dragon, we will just have to find another way to honor it.

Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is an inventive young man, thoughtful and ingenious. These however, are not the traits of a Viking. In the shadow of his mighty father, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), Hiccup is a pipsqueak who needs to be protected from a fight rather than in the battle. This does not prevent Hiccup from dreaming of being a brave Viking, even developing clever devices that might help him overcome his slight stature with technology.

Hiccup's plan actually works, sort of. When the evil dragons fly to the village on one of their regular sheep raids, Hiccup rushes to a hilltop with one of his devices and uses it to bring down a mighty Night Fury dragon. Unfortunately, no one believes him. Ducking into the woods the following day, hoping to find evidence of his kill, Hiccup finds only an injured young dragon as harmless as a house pet.

After a few days of observing and working to get closer, Hiccup manages to develop communication with the dragon. This rapport develops into friendship and soon, a grand friendship that even includes dragon rides. Hiccup names the dragon Toothless for his lack of fiery breath and gentle soul.

Naturally, everyone in the village finds out about Toothless and most are skeptical, dragons are the enemy and have been for decades. Can Hiccup convince them that Toothless is really friendly? How will Hiccup’s dad take the news that his son is playing with a dragon? Will Hiccup be able to convince the gorgeous Astrid (America Ferrara) that Toothless is not just a pet but an ally?

These are the plot questions and each gets a succinct and satisfying answer. What is great about “How to Train Your Dragon” are the character touches that liven up scene after scene. The humor and heart of “How to Train Your Dragon” comes from these wonderfully vivid characters whose winning personalities make each scene a delight.

Jay Baruchel is perfectly cast as the voice of Hiccup. His real physical presence is a match for the animated Hiccup and likely lends to the way his voice seems just right for Hiccup. The same can be said of Gerard Butler whose brogue has always sounded Viking-esque, even in non-Viking roles. The guy sounds tough in romantic comedies.

The backstory of “How to Train Your Dragon” is downright mind-blowing.

From script to screen production on “How to Train Your Dragon” is said to have taken just over a year. The average computer animated feature, even from the pros at Pixar, takes twice that long. The gang behind “How to Train Your Dragon” did it in half the time and didn't sacrifice quality or character in the process.

Directors Dean DeBois and Chris Sanders moved heaven and earth to make this film under budget and on an extraordinary time crunch and never compromised. Working with writer Cressida Powell, on whose kids book the film is based and screenwriter William Davies, they found heart, soul and humor in their characters and brought it to the screen in record time.

With the help of Oscar winning Cinematographer Roger Deakins and a mind-blazingly talented animation team, DeBois and Sanders craft awesome visuals for both 2D and 3D presentation. This is even more staggering than the exceptional character work as this is the part that should have slowed the production. Instead, they found Deakins and with him the vision for whirling, twirling, fiery dragon battles that are the centerpiece of the final act.

In ..1973 a.. horse named Sham shattered the records at each of the three Triple Crown horse races. Why don't we know this? Sham finished second each time to Secretariat. In the race for best animated feature “How to Train Your Dragon” is Sham and “Toy Story 3” is Secretariat. Both are unbelievably great but only one will win. As I said before, we need some other way to honor “How to Train Your Dragon.” I suggest financial reward. Buy, don't rent, “How to Train Your Dragon” on DVD.

Movie Review Hot Tub Time Machine

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) 

Directed by Steve Pink

Written by Josh Heald, Sean Anders, John Morris

Starring John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Rob Corddry, Chevy Chase, Lizzy Caplan

Release Date March 26th, 2010 

Published March 25th, 2010

When The Hangover became the breakout comedy of 2009 it was inevitable that movies about 4 overgrown juveniles getting drunk while on vacation for whatever reason would become a trend or even its own sub-genre. Just watch the DVD shelves, it's coming. The first of what may be perceived as a Hangover knockoff to arrive in theaters is Hot Tub Time Machine.

John Cusack stars as Adam an a-hole insurance salesman who has clearly done something to make his girlfriend leave him; his house has been ravaged by her moving out. Adam's buddy Nick (Craig Robinson) has it worse, working as a dog groomer with a wife he knows is cheating on him. Even still, their pal Lou is in worse shape; he may or may not have tried to kill himself while rocking out to Motley Crue.

As a way of cheering up Lou, Nick and Adam have planned a getaway to the ski resort where they spent many weekends in their hopeful youth. Tagging along is Adam's nephew Jacob (Clark Duke) who has spent far too much time on his computer -his Second Life character is spending three years in prison- Adam figures he needs some human contact.

The resort was once a hotspot but now it's a run down dump. On the bright side, after a call to the front desk, the hot tub starts working. It works so well in fact that it becomes a time machine and sends all four guys back to 1986. With the time space continuum at stake, and a physics lesson from the original Terminator movie, the guys agree they must not alter the past or else.

Hot Tub Time Machine plays like The Hangover with time travel. Rob Corddry, best known as a correspondent on The Daily Show, plays the Zach Galifianakis character, replacing creepy childlike naiveté with creepy intensity and slapstick. Cusack is the Bradley Cooper character with all sharp angry humor and Robinson is the sheepish one waiting to break out a la Ed Helms.

The characters don't match exactly; Clark Duke gets far more screen time than Justin Bartha did in The Hangover, but with the binge drinking and wild time schtick the films are certainly in the same vein. Where The Hangover played something of a comic mystery plot for big laughs, Hot Tub Time Machine relies on heavy doses of nostalgia and clever references.

Cusack in and of himself as a reference to multiple 80's classics from Say Anything to Better off Dead to One Crazy Summer. None of those films get a direct name check but Cusack does ski in Hot Tub Time Machine, the black diamond, not the K-12 unfortunately, and listen closely and you might hear someone shouting for their two dollars.

Crispin Glover drops in as another self referential 80's joke; Glover was of course Marty's dad in Back to the Future, a film that earns a few laughs for Hot Tub Time Machine along with any comedy about skiing. And yet still another walking punchline, I mean that as a compliment, Chevy Chase pops up in a funny cameo as the Hot Tub Repairman/time travel guru.

Hot Tub Time Machine then throws in one more fabulous 80's cameo that I don't want to spoil; I'll just say Cobra Kai and leave it at that. Hot Tub Time Machine bursts with aching nostalgia that will either delight or invite a nauseous sort of state as one is reminded just how old they truly are.

Yes, Hot Tub Time Machine is easy to write off as a movie taking advantage of the well plowed path of The Hangover but that film didn't have time travel. That's certainly enough of a difference to allow you to forgive the many familiar elements. John Cusack is excellent as always while the rest of the cast brilliantly has his back.

If I may add a cheesy critic’s one liner to close: Take a dip in the Hot Tub Time Machine. Ha!

Movie Review Sol Goode

Sol Goode (2001) 

Directed by Danny Comden

Written by Danny Comden

Starring Balthazar Getty, Jamie Kennedy, Jason Bateman, Cheri Oteri

Release Date March 11th, 2003 

Published March 11th, 2003 

When we were kids, my sister had a huge crush on Balthazar Getty. It was based on Getty's one big role in Young Guns 2. Since Young Guns 2, Getty has seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth, save for a cameo in Natural Born Killers and his supporting role in the dopey 50's gang flick Deuces Wild. Well as it turns out Getty has actually had quite a lucrative career starring in a few direct-to-video movies. His latest non-theatrical movie is called Sol Goode, a comedy about a slacker actor who skates on his looks while awaiting his next acting job. One wonders if there isn't an element of self-parody.

Sol Goode is a good-looking young wannabe actor living off the good will of friends and family. The film's opening credit sequence includes a montage of bimbos who are asked what they think of Sol, some like him, some loathe him. It doesn't do the picture much good that the women who loathe him come off better than the ones who like him. As we meet Sol for the first time, he turns to the camera to talk to the audience about what he likes to call P.O.D, or post orgasmic disgust. P.O.D, describes a man's feelings when he wakes up next to a woman he wishes weren't there. Charming.

What does one do when suffering from P.O.D, well of course you do the classy thing. You call a friend, in Sol's case his narcissist best friend Cooper (Danny Comden), and have that friend come over and make you believe your house is on fire and run the girl out of the house quickly. Once again, charming.

Sol has other problems, rent is due and he hasn't worked in a couple of months. His roommate Justin (Jamie Kennedy) can't afford to cover him again and Sol's unemployment benefits have run out. With no other options, Sol is forced to once again ask his parents for money. In a scene that I wish I had never seen, Sol accidentally catches his parents (Robert Wagner & Christina Pickles) having sex with his Dad dressed as a baseball umpire. Eeewwww.

From there we move from there into the film's plot which involves Sol realizing that his womanizing ways are unfulfilling as is not having a real job. So Sol decides to change and figures he is in love with his other best friend Chloe (Katherine Towne). Unfortunately for Sol, she has a crush on his cousin Happy (Jonathan Schaech). Whether Sol will convince Chloe he's changed and win her heart is the center of the plot.

From beginning to end, Sol Goode is a picture that is desperate to be considered cool. Director Danny Comden, who also wrote the screenplay and plays Cooper in the film, throws in catchphrases and gross out humor in an attempt to make the film seem edgy and hip. Unfortunately, every decision he makes is wrong.

None of the catchphrases, like P.OD, or Cooper referring to his hair as his salad(?), none of it is funny. Throw in an extremely slow, glacier-like pace and an extremely unfunny Tori Spelling and you have a painfully dull movie. And as for the film's gross out humor, if you think irritable bowel syndrome is hysterically funny then maybe Sol Goode is for you. It's certainly not for me.

Movie Review Love Happens

Love Happens (2009)

Directed by Brandon Camp

Written by Brandon Camp, Mike Thompson

Starring Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston, Dan Fogler, Judy Greer, Martin Sheen

Release Date September 18th, 2009 

Published September 18th, 2009 

Is there possibly a less passion inspiring romance title than Love Happens? Love eh? Love Ensues? Love Stumbled Upon? If only the low watt title were the film's biggest problem. Oh no. Love Happens is riddled with troubles. Quirk ridden stand ins where characters should. A storyline as predictable as sunrise. And then there is a damn bird.

Aaron Eckhart stars in Love Happens as self help guru Burke Ryan. He's Dr. Phil but handsome. Burke lost his wife 3 years ago in a car accident which led to him writing a book about living with loss. Now he travels the country with his faithful sidekick (Dan Fogler), performing workshops to help people cope with loss.

Finding himself back in the city where his wife died, Seattle, Burke is looking to get in and get out before his past catches up with him. Literally while he isn't looking, Burke stumbles upon Eloise, a flower shop owner with one weird quirk on top of another. She likes to write obscure words on walls behind paintings in hotel hallways. (I said it was a weird quirk).

He is smitten immediately but she blows him by pretending to be a mute. Her ruse doesn't hold up and their next encounter is an argument. An argument that of course means they are destined to fall in love. Destined though they may be they first must be kept apart and a predictable secret from his past is supplied solely for the purpose of keeping them at a distance.

Don't worry, I won't spoil the big reveal of Burke's secret, the movie will do that in the first 5 to 10 minutes. Anyone who has seen movies like Sweet November or Return To Me or really any similarly hoary cliched romance won't need a map to find this ending well before it arrives for the characters.

It is the nature of a romantic comedy to be a little predictable, not many end with the lovers parting ways. Thus, these movies are more about the journey than the destination. Unfortunately, this is one lame journey. One that feels twice as long as it really is.

Brandon Camp is a first time director whose experience is mostly in TV drama. His roots likely contribute to the episodic, disjointed storytelling that devotes a good deal of time to filler material to pad itself out beyond what might have been better suited to something of 44 minutes plus commercials.

Most egregious of the filler material is a subplot involving a man who lost his little boy and attends Burke's seminar. While we are supposed to like Burke the film keeps making him out as a shyster. Then he alternately attempts to help and rip off this pained father, effectively portrayed by John Carroll Lynch, in serious scenes sandwiched between goofball romance scenes.

Love Happens has about as much consistency in tone as it does energy in that stupid title. One minute we are in the midst of both characters in a wacky moment. Next we are watching people who have lost a family member be taken in by a shyster who is supposed to be our hero.

Wow, what a mess this movie is. From the bizarre maudlin subplots to the lame secret right down to the two main characters who aren't so much characters as a collection of traits given to Eckhardt and Aniston to drop in as they wish. She likes writing on walls. He's afraid of elevators. She keeps copies of other people's love notes. He might be an alcoholic.

Not one of these traits has any kind of payoff, at least not one that makes any difference to the main plot. The traits exist only to give the actors something to do in between the bouts of mind-numbingly awful dialogue that includes not just 'when life gives you lemons....' but also 'if you love something, set it free'. Ugh.

And then there is the damn bird. Folks, if you are a member of PETA you will want to skip Love Happens. The bird goes unharmed, for the most part but its treatment in the film is beyond idiotic. Worse, it assumes that we in the audience are just as dumb as the movie.

Love Happens is an abysmal bit of treacle aimed at the soft hearted and softer headed. Not even the uncontainable charms of the wonderful Jennifer Aniston can bring this treacle any more life than that shrug shouldered title, Love Happens.

Movie Review Lust, Caution

Lust, Caution (2007)

Directed by Ang Lee 

Written by Hui-Ling Wang, James Schamus

Starring Tony Leung, Tang Wei, Anupam Kher, Joan Chen, Wang Leehom

Release Date September 28th, 2007

Published February 14th, 2008 

It is an odd note of history, lost to most Americans who aren't taught this in school, and still a stinging point of contention in mainland China. The fact that Japan had, prior to World War 2, overrun the Chinese mainland and were essentially running large portions of the country that has since risen to superpower status. It is almost unfathomable to the modern mind that this goliath with a population of over 1 billion people was once dominated by their tiny island neighbor. This makes Ang Lee's exceptional Lust, Caution not only an opulent, sexy spy thriller but also an important history lesson.

In hindsight it makes sense. In the mid to late 30's China was a peaceful nation coming of age. When Japan invaded and brought modern weapons and government, some of the loose confederacies of traders and politicians saw an opportunity for power backed by their modernist neighbor and this partnership brought Japan to China. This was the impetus for a Chinese nationalist revolution that would eventually lead to full fledged communism. This is where Lust, Caution picks up. A group of college educated Chinese theater students decide to perform patriotic plays to inspire their countrymen to rise against Japan and their Chinese conspirators.

At first, the group is merely idealistic but as the reality of the violence committed against their countrymen sets in, the group becomes galvanized and talk of political assassination becomes more than just talk. Setting up in Shanghai, in a wealthy district where top Japanese officials and their Chinese co-conspirators live and prosper, the group poses their best actress, Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei), as the bored wife of a wealthy trader. As Mrs. Mak it will be her job to seduce and destroy Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) , a well protected member of the Japanese collaborationist government. It is Mr. Yee who deals, often violently, with those who oppose Japanese involvement in China.

It doesn't take long for Mrs. Mak to get Mr. Yee's attention and soon the two are lovers. Circumstances force the group to break up and Wong Chia Chi flees. Three years later Kuang (Wang Leehom) finds her and offers her the chance to finish the job. She will reassume the role of Mrs. Mak and once again fall into Mr. Yee's bed. The plan works once again but with their relationship rekindled can Wong/Mrs. Mak separate her feelings for her country and her lust for Mr. Yee.

Lust, Caution is a lush, beautifully crafted period piece with the great hook of a spy thriller. Sexy, intriguing and exciting, it's some of Ang Lee's finest direction. Coming off the languid western visuals of Brokeback Mountain, Lee continues to dazzle with eye popping visual delights that deepen the film experience without distracting from it. What Lee has yet to escape is his penchant for lingering just a little too long on scenes after their natural ending. Lust, Caution, like Brokeback Mountain and the Oscar nominated Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, would have benefitted from a tighter edit. That however, is a minor quibble over a film that is far better than most other films in the market.

The aspect of Lust, Caution that has garnered the most attention are the lengthy, athletic sex scenes that earned the film an R-rating. Indeed the scenes are very sexy and some have speculated as to whether the scenes were simulated or real. If the rumor is that it took more than 100 hours to film the many vigorous scenes of love making, let's hope some simulation took place otherwise poor Tang Wei may never walk right again. The scenes are graphic but not terribly overdone. The scenes are sexy with an edge of aggressive violent S & M that underline the tense secrets of these two complex characters.

Though the sex separates Lust, Caution from true comparisons with classic Hollywood thrillers, there is something very old Hollywood in the ways Lee builds the tension in Lust, Caution. As the film builds to its shocking climax you may be surprised how invested you are after having been kept waiting for most of the film's 2 hour 50 minute run time. Lee pulls off the astonishing trick of holding us in place with pretty pictures and erotic sex and then in the final act he amps up a truly tense spy thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat till the stunner ending.

Lust, Caution was a hit at the Cannes Film Festival and was Lee's second winner in a row at the Venice Film Festival. Now finally on DVD Lust, Caution is a must see for fans of fabulous film making and seductive intrigue. It is entirely in Shanghainese and subtitled which I know turns off a lot of you. Trust me when I tell you that investing the time in reading along with Lust, Caution is worth it.

Movie Review MacGruber

MacGruber (2010) 

Directed by Jorme Taccone 

Written by Will Forte, Jorme Taccone, John Solomon

Starring Will Forte, Powers Boothe, Ryan Phillippe, Kristen Wiig

Release Date May 21st, 2010

Published May22nd, 2010 

There have been so many things written about the history of Saturday Night Live and the movies that adding to the pile seems a waste of time. I will keep the history lesson brief, we all know the translation between sketch and feature has been less than stellar. I'm sure I am not the only one who thanks heaven there was no Church Lady or Hans and Frans movies, thank you Dana Carvey for your restraint.

And as evidenced by the dearth of SNL-movie related content written in relation to the latest SNL feature, I know I wasn’t the only one dreading the release of MacGruber. Based on a series of interstitial gags created by star Will Forte, MacGruber held little promise of feature length success. It's great to be surprised; MacGruber doesn't suck.

Will Forte is MacGruber, an ex-military man hiding out as a priest in some unspecified jungle on a self imposed Rambo-esque exile when he is approached by his former commander Colonel James Faith (Powers Boothe). There is a threat to the homeland and it comes from the man who killed MacGruber's bride on their wedding day, the evil weapons dealer Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer).

Colonel Faith wants MacGruber to come back to the US and stop Cunth from using a massive nuclear weapon on the US. He also wants MacGruber to work with top new military man Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) but MacGruber has other ideas. Our hero has a team to put together, one that fans of the WWE will absolutely love. What happens to that team and how MacGruber ends up working with Piper and Mac's old flame Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig) is something for you to discover. All I'll say is 'classic MacGruber.'

I have brought a little more order to the plot than actually exists on the screen; MacGruber doesn't really play as a straight narrative feature. Will Forte and director Jorme Taccone wrote the script for MacGruber and kept true to the sketch show roots of the character by creating a feature that is really just a series of gags. Sure, there is something of a narrative line that travels throughout but mostly MacGruber just hits one gag after another and somehow the form holds.

The gags of MacGruber work one after the other after the other. A few build throughout, including MacGruber's odd attachment to his car stereo, but most are one off jokes and references to 80's pop tunes. And then there is the filth. MacGruber is shockingly filthy with R-rated material that might make the Judd Apatow crew uncomfortable. 

Part of the shock comes from the unexpected, MacGruber can't use so many variations of the F-word when he's on network TV. He also cannot have two of the most awkward, off-putting and hysterical sex scenes since Leslie Nielsen and Lisa Marie Presley donned giant condoms in Naked Gun. 

MacGruber's supporting cast is right along with him making the awkward into the hysterical. Kristen Wiig is expectedly up to the task but Ryan Phillippe is the one who gets the big assist late with a sight gag that lives up to the word gag. Val Kilmer is a rich choice for the goofy bad guy. The now chubby cheeked star plays a wonderfully straight bad guy to MacGruber's over the top good guy. 

Tossing dignity and good taste to the wind, the cast of MacGruber crafts a series of jokes that somehow adds up to a feature film. MacGruber doesn't really tell us much about the future of Will Forte as a star but as a gag writer with a great ear for just the right cheesy 80's pop song; he's kind of a genius. MacGruber thrives on Forte's instinct for brilliant bad taste.

Movie Review Greenberg

Greenberg (2010) 

Directed by Noah Baumbach

Written by Noah Baumbach

Starring Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans 

Release Date March 19th, 2010 

Published May 12th, 2010 

Dear Roger Greenberg

Unlike you I rarely write complaint letters but having spent time with you, courtesy of writer-director Noah Baumbach, I felt compelled to write to you. My complaint is that I feel I am far too like you and I aim to change that. I guess this isn't so much a complaint, maybe even more of a thank you. Wanting to not become like you may change the very course of my life.

Sincerely,

Sean Patrick Kernan

The movie Greenberg may have honestly changed my life. Heretofore a misanthrope with an honest distaste for most other people I am compelled by the example of Ben Stiller's performance in Greenberg that this is the path of a lonely, pathetic and desperate existence where even those you do connect with will be dealt the blow of your worldview eventually.

Roger Greenberg is 41 years old and staying at his millionaire brother's mansion for several weeks while his brother is on a family vacation, his aim is to actively do nothing. What nothing entails is unclear as Roger seems to hate everyone and everything but desperately calls old friends and acquaintances begging for some company. This would require him to do things and there you have his conundrum.

Among the things for Roger to do is spend time with his brother's assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig) who reveals herself to be one of the rare people who can tolerate his constant bad attitude. An aspiring musician, Florence speaks to Roger's own longings; he once was in a band that came up short of the big time because of him.

Music is not a big part of Roger and Florence's relationship. The dominant theme is Roger pushing and pulling and Florence finding his anger and mood swings to be a mask for a vulnerability that she finds irresistible. These two people would be meant for each other in any other movie but in the complex web of character conflict woven by writer-director Noah Baumbach, their personalities provide realistic roadblocks to happiness.

This is the finest work in Noah Baumbach's previously overrated career. Greenberg irons out the issues with his Margot at the Wedding in which all of the characters were mini-Greenberg's and thus intolerable. With no one to point out what jerks they all were, the characters sprayed venom in all directions until the movie could not sustain the momentum of their irksomeness.

In Greenberg only Roger is bitter, sad, hateful and desperate and it's easier to tolerate. Everyone else in the movie reveals Roger's character and forces him to confront himself. This allows the character to evolve and if not change, at least check the attitude to the point where other people can tolerate him.

Ben Stiller's performance in Greenberg is a stunner, especially considering his remarkably awful turns in not one but TWO Night at the Museum movies. One could fairly wonder if he could ever be taken seriously after repeated slap fights with a monkey but Greenberg shows there is still talent there. 

Greta Gerwig is wonderful as the often wilting but wily Florence and just as good is Rhys Ifans who plays Roger's best friend Ivan. Years ago Roger and Ivan were in a band together and naturally Roger blew the whole thing with his bad vibes. To his astonishing credit, especially for a Baumbach character, he doesn't hold it against him and what Ifans plays so well are the unspoken reasons why he doesn't hold it against him.

Greenberg is filled with all of the subtlety and wit that Noah Baumbach always thought he had but has never really demonstrated. The characters are flawed, intelligent and achingly normal creatures that are not defined by their wounded psyches, aside from Greenberg that is. It's almost anti-Baumbach in that way.

Most important for me is the performance of Ben Stiller who reveals portions of Roger that I'm sure many people like me recognized far too well in our own lives. Like him I am an angry, self sabotaging misanthrope who mistakes edgy self involvement for wit and loathing of humanity as insight. Yes, I do those things and after seeing the result in Greenberg I aim to be different. What more can one ask of a great work of art but to have it reveal something of them.

For that, for me, Greenberg is a revelation.

Movie Review The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2010) 

Directed by Niels Arden Oplev 

Written by Rasmus Heisterberg, Nikolaj Arcel 

Starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist 

Release Date March 19th, 2010 

Published October 10th, 2010

A murder mystery over 40 years old draws in a reporter and a computer hacker in Director Niels Arden Oplev's adaptation of the late Stieg Larsson's novel “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” The girl in question is Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) the aforementioned computer hacker who, when we meet her, is on the tail of a reporter, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist).

The reporter has just been sentenced to several months in prison over a libel charge though he believes he's been set up. This however, has nothing to do with her investigation. Blomkvist is being sought by a man named Henrik Vanger (Sven Bertil Taube) who wishes to hire him to investigate the disappearance of his beloved niece Harriet more than 40 years earlier.

Needing money and with a reporter's nose for a good story; Mikael accepts the job and moves to Vanger's isolated island home where he and his family are the only inhabitants. There is only one bridge on and off of the island and on the day of Harriet's disappearance the bridge was off limits due to an accident. This leaves only members of Vanger's family as possible suspects.

Meanwhile, Lisbeth begins to follow the investigation by hacking Mikael's computer. When she discovers something that Mikael did not do, she cannot help but inform him and soon involves herself with the case and eventually with Mikael. Their relationship intensifies in unexpected fashion and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” becomes deeper and more involved.

Moody and atmospheric, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” has the minimalist aesthetic that is the preference of Swedish filmmakers but also a distinctly pop polish to its punky, goth, techie heroine. Director Niels Arden Oplev makes wonderful use of actress Noomi Rapace as both an actress and as a plot device. Her look, tattoos, piercings, spiky hair intrigues us, her manner, her suffering draw us closer to her and whether the mystery plot is really all that involves doesn't really matter, we want to follow her.

Not to be outdone, Michael Nyqvist more than holds his own as the weather-beaten reporter with nothing to lose. It is almost entirely up to Nyqvist to sell the romance between Mikael and Lisbeth and his effortless vulnerability in the face of her hard aesthetic makes believable the moments when the 40 something journalist and the 20 something tattooed hacker end up in bed or share an unexpected kiss. 

Viewers will need to take note; “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” contains scenes of sexual violence that are more than a little disturbing. Lisbeth is raped in the film and then takes some righteous and arresting revenge on her attacker in scenes that do not merely border on exploitation. They do however lay the groundwork for the character of Lisbeth, giving her one shattering back-story with more than one strong payoff.

That said one can understand if someone is offended by the sexual violence of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” For those who can stomach it however, the film is a corker of a mystery. A near masterpiece of anxious suspense and eerie Swedish intrigue, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” will thrill any willing audience.

Movie Review The Bounty Hunter

The Bounty Hunter (2010) 

Directed by Andy Tennant

Written by Sarah Thorp

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler

Release Date March 19th, 2010

Published March 18th, 2010

Leave it to a movie as utterly insane and forgettable as The Bounty Hunter to make me search my critical soul. Though it is more likely a case of coincidental timing, I find myself reviewing this ludicrous Jennifer Aniston/Gerard Butler action comedy at a time when the world of film criticism is in turmoil.

Recently, top flight critics have been losing their jobs and that has led to a good deal of hand wringing, soul searching and a number of eulogies for professional criticism. For me, this conversation about the state of my business, the thing I truly love doing, writing about the movies, has me considering what kind of critic I am, what purpose I serve.

So many people over the years have asked me why I can't just watch a movie and leave it at that. My answer to that is that I love conversation and what better inspires conversation than a good or bad movie. I review movies to be part of a conversation that has, thanks to the web, spread across the world.

My theory about the movies is that they should do something to improve the lives of the people giving up their money and time to see them. When I feel that a film has failed to aspire to anything more than its own completion I get angry and that is where a bad review comes from.

A good review comes when I find something valuable in the experience. Whether the film is merely a passing entertainment or something that can transform the way we look at the world, each has in its way improved our lives if only for a minute or for the rest of our time on earth.

Some critics write because they like the sound of their own voice in their head as they type. Ok, all critics like that. I hope that I myself aspire to something more than my own self satisfaction. I hope that people read my words and am inspired to offer their own interpretation. If I can inspire a conversation, I feel that I have accomplished something.

With that, let's have a very brief conversation about The Bounty Hunter, a brainless, witless waste of screen time starring Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston. The inane story has Aniston's journalist blowing off court for a story and having a warrant issued for her arrest.

The warrant ends up in the hands of her ex-husband, a former cop turned bounty hunter who cannot believe his luck in getting to arrest his ex-wife. That's the joke. A dopey formerly married guy gets to arrest his ex-wife. It's a literal take on the old 'Take My Wife... Please,' vaudeville and the movie feels even older and creakier than a vaudeville routine. 

I hate wasting another word on the career decline of Jennifer Aniston but I must mention that, take away Marley and Me which was a minor pleasure, she has now starred in four movies that are not merely bad, they are dreadful. He's Just Not That Into You, Management, Love Happens and The Bounty Hunter comprise, arguably, the ugliest resume this side of Rob Schneider. 

As for Mr. Butler, Hollywood's continuing attempt to convince us he is a star fails miserably once again. On the heels of The Ugly Truth, Gamer and Law Abiding Citizen comes The Bounty Hunter as further proof that big pecs, a lopsided smile and an accent are apparently all it takes to be a movie star these days. 

I

 apologize for my snark. But as I was saying earlier, in my soul searching moments, I feel my time and yours is valuable and these two actors and this director have wasted more of my life than many others have. The Bounty Hunter inspired me to think about why I became a critic and why I love writing about movies. It happened to come along at a time when critics across the country are debating their role in the culture. 

My role, I feel, is to have this written conversation with you, dear reader, about a movie that I truly hated and why I hated it and why the actors involved have become such a burden to me. You can choose to ignore this conversation or engage in it. Here's hoping our next conversation will be about a movie we both love.

Movie Review Green Zone

Green Zone (2010)

Directed by Paul Greengrass

Written by Brian Helgeland

Starring Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Amy Ryan

Release Date March 12th, 2010

Published March 11th, 2010 

It’s tempting to say ‘too little, too late’ about the politics of the new thriller “Green Zone.” I was just getting started working in talk radio in 2002 and 2003 when the march to war in Iraq began and I was wondering at the time when Hollywood or anyone other than me, and a coterie of liberal groups, were going to start asking serious questions about why we were going to war in a country that had not attacked us and did not have any weapons of mass destruction.

Joe Wilson told us that the intelligence was faulty while others told the true tale of the Bush Administration wanting a war against Saddam and a chance to finish the job left undone by the first gulf war, and Bush's father George H.W. Bush. This information was readily available at the time but Hollywood, like so many others, allowed themselves to be cowed by administration goons screaming about a lack of patriotism in those who opposed war.

In the years since the decision was made Hollywood has become slightly less timid. Sure, there was always Michael Moore but he’s not Hollywood, he’s never been cowed by anyone but the occasional untruth. No, the filmmakers timidly attempted telling human stories, soldier stories but avoided really taking on the central issues of the war in Iraq and the war on terror.

It wasn’t until last year when the boldest critique of Bush administration policy arrived in James Cameron’s “Avatar.” Yes, though some loathe admitting it, not wanting to spoil the brain free fun of the film’s fantastic visuals, the most successful film of all time is an anti-war tract scoring points against preemptive war, occupying armies and how the war on terror has been fought.

I have issues with the heavy handed points that the ultra-liberal James Cameron makes in “Avatar” but mostly I was irritated that it came so late to the game. We needed a movie like “Avatar” 6 years ago when the topic was bold, fresh and there was an impact to be made. That same feeling clouds my appreciation of Matt Damon’s new thriller “Green Zone,” arguably the boldest direct criticism of the war in Iraq Hollywood has yet delivered.

Matt Damon stars as Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, leader of a squad searching for WMD in the days immediately following the invasion of Iraq. Roy is growing frustrated quickly. Each site his team raids comes up empty and looks to have been empty for a very long time. When Miller questions the ‘intel’ that keeps sending him to empty sites he is told not to ask questions, just follow orders.

Miller’s questions however catch the ear of a CIA Agent, Martin Brown (Brenden Gleeson), who encourages Miller to keep asking questions and if he turns up something useful, call him. Miller soon does turn up something interesting and it is something that some very powerful people will do anything to keep quiet. Greg Kinnear plays a shady White House official who opposes Miller and Brown.

“Green Zone” boldly tackles the Bush Administration’s main justification for war in Iraq, the need to secure Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction. We know now, really we knew then, that Saddam had no weapons and hadn’t had weapons since the first gulf war. The futile search for weapons they knew weren’t there cost far too many innocent lives, though “Green Zone” doesn’t pause too long to ponder that, the point is made in brief.

The film goes further in other avenues of the war however, wading into the strategy of the administration’s post war policy. In disbanding the Iraqi army the Bush Administration missed an important opportunity to shorten the war by keeping the guys with the guns employed on our side as opposed to unemployed, armed and desperate. Keeping some of the Baathists in power would have been controversial but it also would have saved lives.

Now, I am making “Green Zone” out to be heavier than it is. Trust me; this is an action thriller at its heart. Directed by Paul Greengrass, the director of two of the Jason Bourne blockbusters, “Green Zone” starts fast and is relentless in its pulse pounding action and suspense. The political points are scored on the edges while the action and suspense dominate the foreground.

“Green Zone” features bold politics and bad ass action and yet, like “Avatar,” it comes far too late to the party. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have my opinions reiterated with the force of pop culture behind them but I was making these points about the war at the time. I know Hollywood can’t make movies quickly but seven years late is a little much.

For those not invested in an anti-war stance as I was and am, “Green Zone” still offers the pleasure of being a seriously butt kicking action flick with realism, violence and chest tightening, pulse pounding suspense. I may still be lamenting the war in Iraq but “Green Zone” moves so quickly that lament will be the last thing most will feel while watching.

Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Directed by Tim Burton 

Written by Linda Woolverton

Starring Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Pigott Smith, Anne Hathaway

Release Date March 5th, 2010

Published March 4th, 2010

The story of Alice in Wonderland is one of a teenage girl tripping down a rabbit hole into a magical land where adventure awaits. The sub-story however, is not onscreen but behind the scenes. It is an unfortunate story of a once promising filmmaker with the potential of a game changer but who sadly lost his way.

In Alice in Wonderland Tim Burton demonstrates that the promise he showed as a filmmaker who deftly combined unique characters with fabulous visuals has now devolved into a style over substance approach better at aping other storytellers’ visions but lacking what made their stories lasting and memorable.

The latest attempt to bring Lewis Carroll's wildest dreams to life stars newcomer Ali Wasikowska as Alice a teenage girl of privilege destined to marry a doofusy Lord (Tim Pigott Smith) and live out a sad existence as his concubine and servant. Naturally, Alice is non-plussed about this idea.

As Lord doofus ahem Lord Ascot goes to one knee in front of everyone they both know Alice runs off. It's not merely that she is horrified about getting engaged to such a dope, she also happened to see a strange looking white rabbit who seemed to be trying to get her attention. Following the rabbit, Alice finds herself at a rabbit hole which she falls into and winds up in Underland.

Underland is a magical, bizarre world of strange characters who act as if they know who she is, as if she'd been here before. Indeed she has but she doesn't quite remember it, even after being reintroduced to her friend the wild haired, hair-brain the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) who informs her of a particularly dangerous destiny ahead of her in in Underland.

This is extraordinarily rich material for a visual artist like Tim Burton and he dives right in with broad strokes of CGI landscapes and eccentric makeup and costumes. As Burton did with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Sweeney Todd he takes his pal Johnny Depp dresses him in wacky costumes and hair and aims to set him loose in a crazy looking world.

The formula unfortunately has lost its flavor in Alice in Wonderland. Both Burton and Johnny Depp seem to have made Alice on auto pilot relying on the things they have done before to carry this film to completion while bringing little new effort to bare. Alice in Wonderland is a lazy, laconic knockoff of what Burton and Depp have done before.

The diminishing returns in the career of Tim Burton are one of the saddest stories to be told. After arriving with astonishing promise in the 1980's, Burton has spent the past decade repeating himself with less and less interest. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a movie I really liked but received much fair criticism. Sweeney Todd wasn't great but was at the least a bit daring in approach.

Alice in Wonderland is simply bad. The filmmaking is lax from the cheap looking CGI to the strangely muted colors. The pace is almost non-existent, the movie crawls from scene to boring scene relying on our familiarity with Lewis Carroll's story to keep us involved.

The 3D aspect of Alice in Wonderland is utterly unnecessary and only serves to bring forward unfortunate comparisons to James Cameron's Avatar which from a visual standpoint blows Alice out of the water, exposing the films sluggish CGI and weak 3D posing.

It is clear now that the reason Tim Burton retreads so many famous stories isn't a wont to bring classic literature to the masses but mere laziness. Famous source material allows Burton to focus on creating fantastic new worlds visually or at least that's the theory. 

In Alice in Wonderland however, the famous source material gives Burton the opportunity to relax and recreate the things he's done in previous works with little invention on his part. The approach extends to his star pal Johnny Depp whose lackadaisical Mad Hatter is a visual representation of the laziness of the director and indeed the production as a whole.

Alice in Wonderland is the first major disappointment of 2010, a lazy rehash of a well known story by a director resting on his reputation. It is heartbreaking to see what has become of the talent of Tim Burton. So much promise unfulfilled. We will always have Edward Scissorhands to remember him by but what of the future, duller, droopy remakes of other people's works with whatever existing tech best allows him to rest on his rep. It's just sad.

Movie Review: Due Date

Due Date (2010) 

Directed by Todd Phillips

Written by Adam Sztykiel, Todd Phillips

Starring Robert Downey Jr, Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan, Juliette Lewis, Jamie Foxx

Release Date November 5th, 2010

Published November 4th, 2010

The comparison between “Due Date” and the 80's classic “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” is inescapable. Then again, as conventional as “Due Date” is, it can be compared to dozens of road trip comedies released in the decade and a half since Steve Martin and John Candy seemed to define the road trip aesthete.

Conventional may sound like a negative but it's just another way of saying that the humor of “Due Date” is familiar; you feel as if you have heard these jokes and witnessed these gags before. That said, despite the conventional approach of “Due Date” it is funny because stars Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis are funny. If you don't love these two actors and their opposing comic styles going in, don't bother seeing “Due Date.”

Peter Highman has a simple task ahead of him; board a plane for Los Angeles and three days later witness the birth of his first child as his wife Sarah's labor is induced. It all seems so simple until Peter meets Ethan (Zach Galifianakis). Ethan is a whirlwind of trouble; he and Peter meet when Ethan's ride to the airport nearly kills Peter as he is exiting his town car. The ensuing chaos causes Peter and Ethan to mix up luggage and Peter nearly misses the plane while carrying Ethan's marijuana pipe. Allowed onto the plane, Peter finds himself seated in front of Ethan and like clockwork Ethan sets about getting them thrown off the plane.

Since Peter's bags are on the plane and he had tucked his wallet in the seatback in front of him he has no money and no means to rent a car. He can't catch another plane because Ethan's rant about bombs and terrorists has landed them both on the no fly list. Now, with only his Blackberry on hand, Peter is stranded until Ethan comes along offering a ride.

Like Peter, Ethan is heading to Los Angeles. He is joined by his dog and the ashes of his late father packed in a coffee can. If you've seen the trailer and commercials then you have witnessed much of the wackiness that ensues during this road trip including crashes, arrests, injuries and the accidental ingestion of dad's ashes as coffee.

Thankfully, “Due Date” is a little more than the sum of its gags. What makes “Due Date” work, even as it contains few surprises and an overly familiar plot, is that Rober Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis are such a terrifically offbeat screen pairing. Downey and Galifianakis seem to have zero chemistry and that is exactly what works for this duo. 

Downey is brilliant in subverting expectations with defensive hostility; his Peter stubbornly refuses to accept that he is a character in a road trip comedy, one who because of social convention must accept pain, humiliation and delay simply out of kindness, and that stubbornness comes out in his righteously angry outbursts aimed at Ethan and even at his dog and his late father's ashes. 

Galifianakis too has a way of subverting what is expected of him. Employing a joyous mix of childishness and naiveté his Ethan is a man child of rather epic proportions. Not merely some Adam Sandler type who clings to his illusion of youth through fart jokes and other juvenile behavior, Ethan is truly an overgrown child with both the immaturity and vulnerability one would forgive in a pre-teen but comes off as just nuts in a big hairy adult. 

Ethan is a wonderful dichotomy. His behavior would be excused were he 12 years old but as a bear of a nearly 40 year old man his behavior is unpredictable, irritating and strangely charming. Zach Galifianakis is the rare comic actor who can play this dichotomy without it becoming an overbearing act. 

Director Todd Phillips had Galifianakis bring that same disquieting vulnerability to “The Hangover” and it gets the same big laughs this time. Yes, one must begin to wonder whether Zach can play a different comic note, for the record I believe he can, he did rather brilliantly in “It's Kind of a Funny Story,” for now this same comic note is still funny. Future roles will show how well Galifianakis plays other beats or somehow evolves this persona. 

Sure, you've seen this all before but thanks to Downey and Galifianakis, “Due Date” is still funny. The same jokes you've seen a few times in a few other road trip movies are funny because Downey and Galifianakis are telling them in a slightly off-key manner, one that works just for them. 

You have to be a fan of the comic styles of Downey and Galifianakis to like “Due Date.” You have to enjoy Downey's wry sarcasm ala “Iron Man” or “Sherlock Holmes” and you have to have enjoyed Galifianakis's man-child act from “The Hangover.” If not, “Due Date” will not work for you. I am fan of both actors and thus I really liked “Due Date.”

Movie Review Hereafter

Hereafter (2010) 

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Written by Peter Morgan

Starring Matt Damon, Cecile de France

Release Date October 22nd, 2010

Published October 21st, 2010

At 80 years old it appears that Clint Eastwood is ready to start a conversation about death. He's touched on the subject before, in both “Million Dollar Baby” and “Gran Torino,” but that conversation has mostly expressed his futile desire to control his destiny and decide how he goes out. In his new drama “Hereafter” Eastwood begins a conversation about the afterlife that some will find fascinating and others will find unsatisfying.

Matt Damon is ostensibly the star of “Hereafter” as George, a former psychic turned factory worker. George had a very successful business talking to the dead with books and his own website but the inherent sadness of what he did finally forced him to give it up. Now, George keeps to himself out of fear that if he even brushes someone's hand he may pick up some psychic connection to the dead. Needless to say, this has put a crimp in his love life.

Across the globe a French journalist named Marie Lelay (Cécile De France) is on vacation in some unnamed Asian country when it is devastated by a massive tidal wave. Marie is nearly killed and experiences a near death experience. When she returns to Paris to resume her life she finds herself plagued by visions of the hereafter and wanting to know for sure if she had indeed experienced death and proof of an afterlife.

Similar thoughts consume a British youngster named Marcus (Frankie/George McLaren) who has just lost his twin Brother Jason (George/Frankie McLaren). Jason was 12 minutes older and the leader to George's follower personality. Without Jason calling the shots George is unmoored and desperate to find a way to contact Jason in the hereafter. After he is removed from his junkie mom and placed with a nice foster family, George continuously runs away to seek psychics, mediums and any other crackpot promising a glimpse of the afterlife.

These three stories will eventually coalesce into one story in one location and it's a rather jarring use of deus ex machina on the part of director Clint Eastwood and Oscar nominated screenwriter (Peter Morgan). You can forgive the forced and mechanical way the plot trips into one space but it's not easy and requires some serious heavy lifting on the part of star Matt Damon.

Damon is the key to much of what works in “Hereafter.” He plays his psychic wound with a deep, soulful longing that is highly compelling and yet another example of Damon's exceptional talent as a character actor and a movie star. Damon carries off George's ability as a medium with a believable solemnity and sadness. He doesn't want this gift but wields it with care and sensitivity and you believe in it because he does.

French actress Cecile De France is an astonishing beauty in her elegant French-ness. She is both aloof and alluring. Less interesting are the young twin actors Frankie and George McLaren. It's not their fault really. Rather, it's the feeling that placing a young boy in this role feels a little emotionally suggestive. It feels like a dramatic shortcut to cast someone so young in such an emotional role.

None of the actors gets much help from the story which is basically nonexistent. “Hereafter” is not really a story so much as a cocktail party conversation starter for existentialists and true believers alike. Do you believe in the hereafter? What do you think it's like? Is there life after death? Can you talk to the dead? Are dead relatives waiting for you on the other side?

The conversation starts and each of the characters in “Hereafter” seems to have a perspective but what you really want is a definitive idea of what Clint Eastwood believes and that is just not there in “Hereafter”. Mr. Eastwood is comfortable touching off the conversation but when it comes to offering a definitive point of view on the hereafter Eastwood backs away and leaves the audience to attend to the major questions on their own.

There is nothing wrong with this approach; it's certainly a fascinating conversation. However, when it comes to raising these questions in a film it raises an expectation in the audience that the filmmaker will offer some kind of declaration of belief. We want answers and Clint Eastwood is not interested in giving an answer, just posing the questions and fobbing the conversation off on us as we walk out of the theater.

In the end it's not unfair to feel that Clint Eastwood cops out on the big question: What do you think the afterlife will be like Clint? With him being unwilling to answer the question “Hereafter” the movie feels aimless and adrift. Damon's ability to speak to the dead certainly hints at what the director believes the hereafter is like but the film hedges on just what heaven is like or even if there is a heaven. Where exactly are these souls in the hereafter? Earth? Heaven? Some strange abyss? What religion does this version of the hereafter adhere to?

Since we are talking about Clint Eastwood, an artist of the highest order, I will not assume a commercial motive behind the vagary of “Hereafter” and this version of the hereafter but if it were any other director who offered such a vague notion and failed to address any kind of religious order when talking about the hereafter one would certainly have to consider a commercial motivation. 

So, do I recommend “Hereafter?” It's a good question and one I've been wrestling with since I watched it. The answer is; kind of. Clint Eastwood is a masterful director and even his vague notions about the afterlife are populated by fascinating characters and elegant images. There is an overwhelming feel to “Hereafter;” the film casts a compelling shadow over the audience. At the end however, it's hard to escape the feeling that Eastwood chickened out. He wanted this conversation but is unwilling to commit his own true feelings about life after death to the big screen.

There is a fascinating divide in opinions developing over “Hereafter”. Older film critics are embracing the film while younger critics have been rejecting it. I am 34 years old and fall somewhere in the middle. I'm not so close to the grave that I spend much time thinking about death but I am not the young whippersnapper who believes in his unending invincibility. I am open to the conversation begun in “Hereafter” but I am not interested in vague notions, I want someone to be direct about their feelings on this issue and Eastwood is not being direct in “Hereafter” and that leaves me wanting more from this otherwise highly compelling film.

Movie Review Red

RED (2010)

Directed by Robert Schwentke

Written by Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber

Starring Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Morgan Freeman, Karl Urban

Release Date October 15th, 2010

Published October 14th, 2010

The romantic side of Bruce Willis is the side most people tend to ignore. Yet, in movies as diverse as “The Whole Nine Yards,” ``TheFifth Element” and even the “Die Hard” movies, one thing that stands out is Willis's abiding romantic streak. Whether it's love at first sight with Amanda Peet's wannabe assassin in Yards or Milla Jovavich's alien badass in Element or his endless devotion to wife Holly in Die Hard, romance sings within the action hero.

In “Red” Willis finds himself once again seeking romance, this time falling in love with the voice of Mary Louise Parker as his benefits manager at his former gig with the CIA. The voice connection quickly turns into a physical one when their monitored conversations threaten to get them both killed.

Frank Moses (Willis) was once, arguably, the most dangerous man in the world. In his role as a covert CIA Agent, Frank took down dictators and toppled entire governments all the while keeping the Russians at bay long enough for Communism to fall. Today, Frank lives in suburban boredom colored RED, Retired Extremely Dangerous.

Frank's minor pleasures come in his conversations with the woman who handles his retirement pay, Sarah (Parker). They have sparked a flirty chemistry over the phone and now Frank is ready to move things along to an actual physical encounter. These plans are upended when Frank finds and kills trained assassins in his home.

Assuming it is related to his conversations with Sarah he immediately travels to where she is, kidnaps her and the two go on the run. The first stop means recruiting an old friend abandoned and bored in a nursing home, Joe (Morgan Freeman). Then there is a trip to Florida where the terribly paranoid Marvin (John Malkovich) awaits. Finally, there is Victoria (Helen Mirren) , the most dangerous yet well adjusted of this group of RED Agents. 

Why is the CIA, led by Agent Cooper (Karl Urban) out to kill Frank? What does it have to do with Sarah? How big is the conspiracy? Who really cares? You won't care but you really aren't supposed to. The point of Red is not brilliant plotting or complex motivations but rather highly stylized violence and clever line reading, things “Red” has in abundance. 

Malkovich is the scene stealer in “Red” as Marvin Boggs, a former agent who was subjected to more than a decade of daily LSD treatments. His paranoia is matched with terrific intuition and ability for violence and Malkovich plays the wicked good guy with the kind of hammy glee usually reserved for his over the top bad guys. 

Morgan Freeman gets the short shrift as the oldest member of the crew. He has a few good moments, especially when putting the lights out on a guest star that I will leave as a surprise, but sadly his role amounts to little more than a cameo. Better served are Dame Helen Mirren and Bryan Cox who plays a former KGB killer and an important figure in both Frank and Victoria's past. 

Bruce Willis and Mary Louise Parker don't spark the chemistry that Willis had with Amanda Peet or Milla Jovavich but for Willis the romantic action hero there is plenty of fun to be had. Parker seems to be cracking up in every scene and Willis enjoys her cracking up even as he is required to keep a straight face. It's a fun if not quite sexy pairing. Parker brings out the playful side of a character that really is not playful and the laughs this generates are big and satisfying.

Karl Urban rounds out the main cast showing off the same comic panache he brought to his role as Bones McCoy in “Star Trek.” I find Urban to be fascinating in that he can play the ripped up action hero or comic relief with the same energy and surprising wit. Urban is everything modern action heroes like Sam Worthington or Gerard Butler have yet proven to be, constantly interesting. 

”Red” succeeds on the charisma of its stars. The likeability of this group is off the charts and more than enough to distract from the overly familiar and predictable plot. Bruce Willis is so much more interesting than his action hero contemporaries like Stallone or the Governator. The romance of Willis, the way his humanity is reflected by the women he desires, it's a beat that other action heroes can't play. It may be that one element that always sets him apart. It is undoubtedly what sets “Red” apart as some of Willis's best work.

Movie Review Life as We Know It

Life As We Know It (2010) 

Directed by Greg Berlanti

Written by Ian Deitchman

Starring Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas

Release Date October 8th, 2010

Published October 9th, 2010

You always have a choice in life but sometimes circumstance intervenes to complicate those choices. For Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Messer (Josh Duhamel) the circumstance is a stunner. When their respective best friends Allison (Mad Men's Christina Hendricks) and Peter (Hayes MacArthur) leave them a gift they could never have guessed, their infant daughter Sophie.

That is the jumping off point for the sweet romantic comedy “Life As We Know It” and while the tragedy of Allison and Peter’s death is given some horribly perfunctory treatment by director Craig Berlanti, hint; the characters reactions to their friends death nearly does upend the whole film by lacking in believable grief, the rest of “Life As We Know It” works hard to make up for the massive flaws with charm and romance.

Holly first met Messer when they were set up on a blind date by Allison and Peter. To say the date did not go well is an understatement. Messer showed up late, made no reservations for dinner and took a call and made plans with another girl while next to Holly in her car. The date didn't get past the attempt to drive to the restaurant.

Naturally, since Holly wants nothing to do with Messer, fate conspires to keep them around each other. When Allison marries Peter, Holly is Maid of Honor and Messer is the Best Man. When Peter and Allison get pregnant Holly is named godmother and Messer is the godfather. And when Peter and Allison die tragically, Holly and Messer are thrust together in the most unexpected way ever.

As godparents Holly and Messer are given custody of Sophie, Peter and Allison's infant daughter. They will give up their respective homes and move into Peter and Allison's home. They will try to raise Sophie while trying to spend all of their time fighting each other over schedules, sleeping arrangements and their general loathing of one another.

We always talk about this when it comes to romantic comedies but it's important to note. The fact that few like to acknowledge romantic comedies is that there is little new that can be done in this genre. There are few twists that cannot be guessed by the audience well in advance and the ending of 99% of romantic comedies is known going in. 

The best of the genre know this, accept it as fact and work around those issues to craft lovable characters, heartwarming moments and big laughs to keep the audience from focusing on the predictable story. Director Craig Berlanti is best known as a major TV producer whose innovative work on shows like Everwood, Eli Stone and most recently “No Ordinary Family,” actually makes him the ideal director to work the edges of a predictable story. 

Berlanti has dealt with the pained atmosphere of the hour-long drama, known mostly for lawyer and doctor shows, by taking chances and giving each of his characters something unique to play. In “Life As We Know It” the unique beats that Duhamel and  Heigl play are small but savvy and build not to major revelations but moments that reveal these characters and best of all keep the audience distracted from the predictable end that is always coming.

Josh Duhamel is an actor I have liked just about every time out. Though I loathe the “Transformers” films it's hard to blame Duhamel for taking a paycheck that merely calls for a lot of screaming and running. He sparked great chemistry with Kristen Bell earlier this year in another, far less appealing, romantic comedy “When in Rome” and then really delivered some unexpected terrific work in a supporting role in the family flick “Ramona and Beezus.” 

In “Life As We Know It” Josh Duhamel works the charm again, along with that megawatt smile, mussed hair and easy going, McConaughey-esque attitude to such great effect he manages to wear down even the sharpest edges of his often shrill and cold co-star Katherine Heigl. 

Though Ms. Heigl would like us to chalk the recent rise of her negative perceptions to a media creation, the fact is her choices have been bad. Whether it was her indelicate exit from TV's Grey's Anatomy, her harsh comments about her star-making comedy “Knocked Up” or her screechy, tone deaf performances in “The Ugly Truth” and “Killers,” Ms. Heigl has earned the downturn of her public persona and the effect it may or may not have on the perception of her film characters. 

In “Life As We Know It” whether by design or not, Craig Berlanti plays to Heigl's shrill side and then uses the softer, more charming Mr. Duhamel to take the edge off. The two are exceptionally well matched whether they are bickering opposites or two people on the verge of falling in love. 

See “Life as We Know It” for Duhamel and Heigl's chemistry. See it for the strong laughs to groan ratio, a solid 3 laughs for every one groan, and see it if you are just a fan of the few good romantic comedies that get made every year. “Life as We Know It” will not reinvent the genre, it may not fix Ms. Heigl's career, but it's a solid, romantic laffer that succeeds in a genre that people really enjoy.

Movie Review: The Social Network

The Social Network (2010)

Directed by David Fincher

Written by Aaron Sorkin

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, Justin Timberlake, Rooney Mara

Releease Date October 1st, 2010 

Published September 30t, 2010

For the past five years Facebook has been rising through our culture and becoming a phenomenon. It's a phenomenon that does not merely exist on its own but captures the rise to predominance of online culture vs. all other forms of discourse. Lives are lived online as much as they are in real life in many cases and much of those lives date back to one night when one 20-year-old college kid had a few beers and banged out the computer code that would cause a social networking revolution.

David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's "The Social Network" is the mostly true story of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), the purported founder of Facebook. There is some question as to whether Mark, now the world's youngest billionaire at 26 years old, actually came up with the idea or if he stole it, adapted it and reaped the rewards. The film takes its shape from depositions in two different lawsuits filed against Zuckerberg by friends and attempted colleagues.

Writer Ben Mezrich used the depositions as well as numerous interviews and investigative reporting as the basis for his sensational book "The Accidental Billionaires" which comes to thrilling and enthralling life onscreen as "The Social Network." Under the expert direction of David Fincher and the whip crack, witty dialogue of writer Aaron Sorkin, the founding of one website and the personalities behind it becomes a dialogue about the modern internet culture and a commentary on the direction of society.

Flashbacks begin and end in "The Social Network" with crash cuts to Mark Zuckerberg sitting in an entirely irritated state in a lawyer's office. Eduardo Severin (Andrew Garfield), Zuckerberg's former best friend and the man who put up the money to start Facebook and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Armie Hammer, in a remarkably non-showy, dual role) are suing Zuckerberg over Facebook but for very different reasons.

Forget the merits of either suit, it's clear Severin had a real beef while the Winklevoss's and their partner Divya Narenda were grasping at straws having simply a generic idea that they asked Zuckerberg to code for them and failed to administer on their own, the lawsuits are merely the ordering device. The meat of "The Social Network" is in the extraordinary casting, acting and writing as well as David Fincher's remarkable talent for setting a scene. 

Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg as a social illiterate who sees other people as a means to an end. We see at the start of the film a fictional account of Mark on a date with a girl played by Rooney Mara. It's evident to us, if not immediately to her, that Mark has no real interest in her beyond the physical need to be a normal 20 something male being seen in public with an attractive woman. Mara's character is a device but a terrific one; the date establishes who Mark is, his motivations and desires and the scene is filled with smart, fast paced, witty dialogue that gets the movie off to a running start.

Eisenberg owns the screen in this opening scene; his words fly like Edward Norton's fists in "Fight Club" and are occasionally as devastating. David Fincher's "Fight Club" was an indictment of consumer and pop culture disposability and "The Social Network" picks up where "Fight Club" left off by cutting the computer chord that binds the audience to Facebook and showing us the true face of social media, the good the bad and the ugly.

Opposite Eisenberg is Andrew Garfield as the much maligned and abused Facebook co-founder and CFO Eduardo Saverin. Eduardo is the genius and sap who made several hundred thousand dollars as a very young man, pledged some of that money to Mark Zuckerberg and watched his supposed friend attempt to jettison him from the company they founded together. Through Garfield's fierce yet sensitive performance we see how Saverin was seduced, betrayed and bewildered by Zuckerberg and the fast paced, wired world of Facebook.

Justin Timberlake is a lightning bolt of humor and charisma as Sean Parker, the former Napster founder who dazzled Zuckerberg by being the social butterfly Zuckerberg could never be but envied deeply. Parker is the high side of Internet culture, the freewheeling good times, the connections that work out and the potential for trouble that can arise from making connections with people you don't know. He is the polar opposite to Andrew Garfield's Saverin, whose story is another more truthful metaphor for the online experience of attempting to connect with friends and strangers in an online wasteland of forgettable status updates.

Facebook and the culture of social networking are by nature, not important. It brings little to nothing of value to the world. It is the intangible equivalent to candy. It's sweet and tasty or it can be souring, even disgusting. It can brighten your day or make you sick but in the end, Facebook, MySpace and the rest have no value beyond the metaphorical sugar high of faux connectedness.

The strength of "The Social Network" as crafted by David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin lies in recognizing the emptiness of the Facebook world and using the real life creators and their stories as a means of exposing the emptiness. Vapid status updates, perfunctory friend requests and questionable relationship statuses are the heart of Facebook and through the characters of "The Social Network" the stark reality of social networking becomes resonant, jarring messages for audiences merely expecting the sex, drugs and computer coding behind the pop phenomena of Facebook.

In "Fight Club" Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter watched the world fall apart around them as they held hands and connected truly for the first time. Facebook and the world of social networking comes crashing down in "The Social Network" and the witnesses are us, the audience, many of whom have spent far too much time taking Facebook far too seriously.

Movie Review Legend of the Guardian The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Legend of the Guardians The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)

Directed by Zack Snyder

Written by John Orloff, Emil Stern

Starring Jim Sturgess, Helen Mirren, Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving, Abbie Cornish

Release Date September 24th, 2010

Published September 23rd, 2010

Why a movie about warrior owls? Where did this idea come from? Who saw this and thought 'Warrior Owls? Brilliant!" As baffling as the idea may be, “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole” is for real and arrives in theaters with the help of some extraordinary animation and the marketing hook of 3D.

Soren (Voice of Jim Sturgess, 21) is a dreamer who lives for his father's stories about the Warriors of Ga'Hoole, Owl defenders who protect the meek from the tyranny of evil owls. Though the Warriors have not been heard of in years, Soren and little sister Eglantine (Adrienne DeFaria) are fervent believers in the legend while Soren's brother Kludd (Ryan Kwanten) has tired of the stories.

Soren and Kludd will soon have the chance to verify the reality of the Warriors of Ga'Hoole when they find themselves kidnapped by the evil Metalbeak (Joel Edgerton) and forced to become warriors for the Pure Owls or lowly workers deep inside of mines where Owl's, zombified by Moon Blindness, sift endlessly for pieces of a new and deadly weapon.

Soren being brave and defiant quickly takes to the aid of an Elf Owl named Gylfie (Emily Barclay) and the two seek freedom with the help of a former kidnappee, Grimble (Hugo Weaving), who teaches them to fly and points them in the direction of the Warriors of Ga'Hoole.

Soren and Gylfie are charged with flying halfway round the world to the great tree to find and warn the warriors. Along the way they are joined by a misfit pair of Owls who pitch in to help, Digger (David Wenham) and Twilight (Anthony LaPaglia). Indeed, the Warriors are real as is Soren's hero Ezylrib (Geoffrey Rush) who literally and figuratively takes young Soren under his wing.

The stakes are set quickly and easily by director Zack Snyder (“300”, “The Watchmen”) and though the storytelling is elementary, the animation is as epic and complex as anything you've ever seen before. Snyder, for all his bombast, is a visionary who sees a massive epic where people like me see merely warrior owls.

Snyder's visionary approach brings massive scope and scale to what otherwise seems a minor kids story. Author Kathryn Lasky's book series is pitched with simple stories; simple meanings intended to offer valuable lessons for kids in the 5 to 12 age group. Under the direction of Mr. Snyder, the story remains childish and simple but the vision and the design are aimed at any audience seeking a dynamic visual experience.

Indeed, “Legend of the Guardians” is an exceptional visual feast filled with pitched battles, and stunning scenes of flight. Even when the owls are grounded one cannot help but be dazzled by the detailed animation that is rivaled only by the artists at Pixar. See Legend of the Guardians in its Digital presentation and you will be awed by the color and contours of the animation.

Sadly, in 3D Digital, “Legend of the Guardians” is robbed of a true dimension. Sure, things leap off of the screen but because the science of 3D Glasses has yet to catch up with the new generation of on screen 3D technology, the glasses strangle the color and rather than adding to the experience it hampers it. Having seen a Digital 2D presentation and the 3D Presentation there is simply no competition, 2D Digital blows the 3D away.

The complex colors are not merely a visual extravagance. During the massive battle sequence at the crescendo of Legend of the Guardians, color becomes important in determining who is fighting who and where our rooting interest lies. Digital 3D dulls the colors and strains the eye while Digital 2D presents bright, vivid color and the effect is breathtaking.

A visual spectacular, “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole” is not likely to win any awards for great storytelling. This is a very simple story with a solid, worthy message about protecting those in need and fighting evil. It's told with the kind of simplicity that will bore adults but will be easy for small children to follow. The key appeal of “Legend of the Guardians” is the visual feast and on that account, it's worth the price of a 2D Digital ticket, if not a 3D ticket.