Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (Opening Friday, April 25)

Rating: 8 out of 10
Cast:
John Cho as Harold Lee
Kal Penn as Kumar Patel
Rob Corddry as Ron Fox
Roger Bart as Dr. Beecher
Neil Patrick Harris as Neil Patrick Harris
Danneel Harris as Vanessa
David Krumholtz as Goldstein
Eddie Kaye Thomas as Rosenberg
Jack Conley as Deputy Frye
Eric Winter as Colton
Paula Garcés as Maria
Jon Reep as Raymus
Missi Pyle as Raylene
Mark Munoz as Cyrus
James Adomian as George W. Bush
Beverly D'Angelo as Sally
Echo Valley as Tits Hemmingway

Directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg

Summary:
More tasteless fun from the ethnic stoners who bring their own unique socio-political slant to the typical stoner road comedy.

Story:
Harold Lee and Kumar Patel (John Cho, Kal Penn) are on their way to Amsterdam, chasing after Harold's dream girl, but after an incident on an airplane, they're imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay as terrorists. Even though they're able to escape--as the title would suggest--they still have to face an overzealous federal agent (Rob Corddry) who'll stop at nothing to catch them and send them back into Gitmo.

Analysis:
As often as there are sequels to comedies that no one but the producers and their expensive trophy wives may want, and as many times as there are great comedies that never get much-deserved sequels, every once in a while the stars align and a genuinely funny but mostly overlooked comedy gets a deserved sequel that actually surpasses the original movie. That is certainly the case with "Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay," which follows where the story left off four years earlier in the theatrical flop "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" with a much more political slant to mirror the climate in the country since George W. was reelected.

Writer/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg certainly know their audience for this sequel, and it might not necessarily be the stoner fratboys some might expect. Certainly, there's an aspect of the movie that will appeal to the fans of Kevin Smith's sense of humor, but it's not just a series of gags and encounters like "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." There's also a strong story that takes place the day after the last movie as Harold and Kumar's plans to go to Amsterdam gets sidetracked by the heightened air security and their ethnicity, as they're accused of being Arab and North Korean terrorists and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where they experience the horrors explored in many recent docs. The sequel also offers a surprising amount of romance for the duo, not just Harold chasing his dream girl Maria, but Kumar proves himself to be a romantic with his feelings for Vanessa (the absolutely adorable Daneel Harris), the ex-girlfriend who first got him high who's left her wild girl days behind her to marry an ultra-conservative jerk from Texas, who just happens to be the only guy who can get the duo out of their new mess.

Cho and Penn show a lot of growth as actors since the first movie, but surprisingly, Harold and Kumar don't imbibe in nearly as many drugs as they did in the first movie, maybe because they're too busy running for their life. The road comedy humor from the first movie is heightened by the fact that you have an Indian and a Korean traveling through the deep South, allowing them to play with Southern stereotypes, whether it's meeting a hunter or crashing a KKK meeting.

Most of the film's funniest wrongness comes in the form of Rob Corddry, a racist Federal agent who uses blatant cliches against the ethnic types he interrogates. He is absolutely hilarious when doing so, getting the biggest laughs in every scene, countered well by Roger Bart as his conscientious "good cop" partner.

There's a lot of silliness and dumb physical humor along the way--as much as you try to resist, you'll probably end up laughing anyway--but there's also enough sharp political commentary amidst the gratuitous nudity and the not so clever bathroom humor to not make you not feel so bad about it.

It's hard to determine whether this sequel works as a standalone movie, since some of the funniest bits are the nods to the first movie that only true fans will appreciate. There's lots of callbacks, and not just NPH (Neil Patrick Harris) who has a far bigger role as himself, a celebrity who gets more out of control the more drugs he takes. When he picks up the guys and treats them at a whorehouse, things go downhill from there. One of the funniest bits though is a flashback to years earlier when Harold first meets Vanessa and we get to see what the guys were like before they discovered marijuana.

The movie does lose a bit of steam as it goes along, maybe because some of the funniest jokes are in the first hour, but the whole things culminates in an appearance by the Commander in Chief that's more than slightly amusing even if it's not the most convincing look or sound-a-like.

The Bottom Line:
This may be the most deliberately unapologetic politically-incorrect movie ever made, and it's so wrong in so many ways. With the current political climate, this might be exactly what Americans need to be able to laugh with Harold and Kumar at our own social morays and ineptitude. Either way, this is easily the funniest movie since "Superbad" and a more than satisfying sequel.

88 Minutes (Opening Friday, April 18)

Rating: 5 out of 10
Cast:
Al Pacino as Dr. John Gramm
Alicia Witt as Kim Cummings
Amy Brenneman as Shelly Barnes
William Forsythe as Special Agent Frank Parks
Leelee Sobieski as Lauren Douglas
Benjamin McKenzie as Mike Stemp
Deborah Kara Unger as Carol Johnson
Neal McDonough as Jon Forster
Leah Cairns as Sara Pollard
Stephen Moyer as Guy LaForge

Review:
The Hollywood style of filmmaking has been widely and often criticized for its focus on style over substance, its obsession with marketing and packaging, trying to boil good stories down to just the right formula of plot points, act beats, story hooks and movie stars. Every so often, a film comes along that defies expectations and makes all those elements work together so seamlessly you can't help but think maybe those executives know something after all. More often, though, we get a bland piece of formulaic pabulum like "88 Minutes."

John Gramm (Al Pacino) is a forensic psychiatrist and the FBI's go-to guy when they need an expert to testify to a killer's motivations and thought process. When his testimony condemns would-be serial killer Jon Forster (Neal McDonough), Forster vows revenge, and it looks like he might get it when Gramm begins receiving threatening phone calls claiming he has only 88 minutes to live, despite the fact Forster has been locked away on death row for years.

Directed with unfeeling, uncaring, neutral in every way competence by veteran studio director Jon Avnet ("Up Close and Personal"), "88 Minutes" is a bland a piece of Hollywood dross as has ever been made. I can't say it's actually bad, that would require caring about it in some way that is impossible to do.

There has been some thought put into Gramm and his life. He's afraid of commitment and obsessed with security, escaping into a lonely life surrounded by attractive women he refuses to have any sort of real relationship with and a seemingly infinite number of digital locks. While Gramm himself harbors a lot of Hollywood's worst clichés for cop characters (afraid of commitment, outside the system, a maverick on the edge) the clues actually do add up to something a bit more than that, some deep emotional wounds of the past. We know because it's explained to us in the most heavy-handed fashion possible in the films perfect drumbeat of Syd Field style screenwriting: plot point, plot point, character moment, plot point, plot point, character moment.

And when I say character moment, what I really mean is back-story exposition, because the characters are about as flat as they get. What they do is who they are – one's a grad student, one's a lesbian assistant, one's a college dean, and that is the sum total of who they are. They're descriptors, not people.

It's no wonder this movie sat on a shelf for two years, I can't imagine anyone going to see it either. Pacino's not really the draw he used to be and he's certainly not doing his best work here. He's doing his usual wild man routine for most of the film, occasionally giving a glimpse of Gramm's intellect and tiredness of soul, but only occasionally. The rest of the time it's all autopilot.

"88 Minutes" is a textbook Hollywood thriller, in the worst possible sense of the phrase. If that's your thing, more power to you, but there's got to be better ways to spend your time.

The Forbidden Kingdom (Opening Friday, April 18)

Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Cast:
Jet Li as The Silent Monk
Jackie Chan as Lu Yan
Michael Angarano as Jason Tripitikas
Yifei Liu as Golden Sparrow
Collin Chou as Jade Warlord
Bingbing Li as Ni Chang
Morgan Benoit as Lupo
Deshun Wang as Jade Emperor

Review:
Essentially, it's "The Wizard of Oz" with kung-fu instead of singing and dancing.

Jason (Michael Angarano) is your average teenager in every meaning of the phrase, from his first forays with girls to his rich fantasy life, in Jason's case borne up by his love of the old kung fu movies he gets from the local pawn shop. It turns out his fantasy life might too rich, though, when a late night robbery goes horribly wrong and Jason wakes up to find himself actually in ancient mythological China.

As ideas go, it's not a bad one, but it is going to be entirely dependent on its execution, and that's where "The Forbidden Kingdom" fumbles a bit. It's dealing with a lot of clichés of big-budget Hollywood filmmaking and wuxia films, but lacks a lot of the charm of either.

Characterization is based largely on archetypes, which can work, but only if through a great deal of charisma, and casting that is spot on. Angarano plays Jason the awkward youth perfectly, it's a role he's been doing for almost ten years now and it's like he was born to do it. Unfortunately, it also makes it absolutely impossible to take him seriously when he starts doing kung fu.

Luckily (depending on your point of view) that doesn't really matter because while "The Forbidden Kingdom" seems to want to be a classic hero's journey, it certainly starts out that way, Jason stops being the 'hero' the second Jackie Chan shows up. Despite a lot of back-and-forthing from director Rob Minkoff, that never really changes, because "The Forbidden Kingdom" isn't really about Jason. It's about Jackie Chan and Jet Li being in the same film together, and that is it.

To be fair, Chan and Li appearing together are unquestionably "The Forbidden Kingdom's" biggest draw, and the filmmakers would fools to pretend otherwise. However, since they are the focus of the film, we quickly begin to wonder why Jason is around at all and what are we doing spending so much time with him. The idea seems to be for him to be a point of view character for American audiences and that it would be easier to empathize with an American teenager than with the actual stars of the movie, which begs the question why would they rely on their stars to sell the movie, but not to anchor the story. The result is, except for a pair of bookend sequences that are the weakest parts about the film, Jason spends most of his time getting thrown around or out of the way while Li and Chan go about the kung fu business.

Which it has to be said is as good as you might expect. Veteran choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping has lost none of skill and Chan and Li put their all into it, with some able help from Collin Chou ("The Matrix Reloaded") as the villainous Jade Warlord and his chief assassin, Bingbing Li. To their credit, Minkoff and screenwriter Joe Fusco haven't shied away from some of the over-the-top aspects of the wuxia genre, like Bingbing Li's prehensile hair, and Chinese mythology (the plot hinges around "Journey to the West's" Monkey King) that haven't been widely sampled in America yet. It's actually a pretty faithful rendition of the genre, albeit one that has been heavily Americanized. But even in the kung fu, "The Forbidden Kingdom's" greatest strength is also its biggest weakness.

Because Chan and Li hold such stature in the kung fu genre, a lot of very careful positioning is taken to make sure that one never tops the other. The result is that both are playing versions of the same character, each in their own way; Chan does a version of his Drunken Master character, and Li's monk is not too far off from "Once Upon a Time in China." The idea of them as archetypes from their own movies actually works, it fits perfectly with the idea of the world as a reflection of Jason's unconscious (and it also lets Minkoff get away with some atrocious in-universe rule breaking as the characters switch back and forth from Chinese to English at whim). But the end result is that one of these characters is redundant, and neither can ever get the better of the other. Even their much ballyhooed fight sequence, which is quite good, is a very careful balancing act aimed at making sure neither star looks bad, and that keeps it from being what it could have been, and that sums up the film as well. It pales, for instance, in comparison to a similarly built up sequence between Li and Donnie Yen in "Hero." The lack of conflict is a bad way to try and create drama, and it shows.

The filmmakers must realize this because they end up relying on a lot of tried and true (by which I mean boring) tricks to get them through from one action sequence to the next. Tremendous amount of exposition to try and create the appearance of conflict - it seems like every time someone turns around they have a prophecy to relate, and a token love (Yifei Liu) who appears out of thin air and adds absolutely nothing to the story, except a girl. An argument could be made that his fits into the movie as Jason's fantasy idea as well, but it's all just a little too bland.

If you're a big Jackie Chan and/or Jet Li fan, you might as well forget everything I just said. This movie was made for you and you should go see it on the big screen once. But because of a complete lack of storytelling effort from the filmmakers, there's no reason to ever see it more than once.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Opening Friday, April 18)

Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Cast:
Ben Stein
Richard Dawkins
Eugeni Scott
John Lennox
David Berlinski
Richard Sternberg
Caroline Crocker
Guillermo Gonzalez
Mark Souder
Christopher Hitchens

Directed by Nathan Frankowski

Summary:
The filmmakers' intentions are kept deliberately vague--is this about free speech or about teaching religion in the classroom?--but it's a surprisingly entertaining and informative doc that at least tries to address the debate over intelligent design from another angle.

Story:
Ben Stein takes a look at intelligent design and how scientists and teachers who've dared to address it have come under attack from the scientific community using Darwin's theories of evolution.

Analysis:
The subject of intelligent design is one that has sparked a lot of controversy and hopefully, this review won't bring out the loonies on either side of the debate, because personally, I don't feel like religion and faith is something that can or should be argued or debated on the internet, or anywhere else for that matter. And yet, this film has already been the center of many heated debates and anger from the scientific community, making it difficult to analyze it without taking into account one's own opinions about creation, evolution, God and religion.

The crux of the film centers around a series of high-profile firings in the academic world of respected scientists and educators who dared breach the subject of intelligent design. Actor, comedian and reputed intellectual Ben Stein decided to investigate these incidents, taking the Michael Moore approach by providing the film's personality as he travels around the globe talking to scientists and philosophers on both sides of the heated debate. Essentially, intelligent design tends to be immediately written off as "creationism," that it comes strictly from a religious faith-based point of view that has no business in science. Stein tries to prove otherwise by showing how the scientific community has been closed-minded in their treatment of those who address it while following their own "theories" of evolution.

On the surface, Ben Stein seems to be pushing for open debate and discussion rather than the scientific community bullying anyone who offers disparate ideas, but he doesn't exactly go about this in the best way, especially when the film shows Darwin's influence on the Nazi ideals and comparing Darwinists to communists, both extremely flawed and overly flip arguments that hurt the film more than it helps. Stein's intentions are also somewhat deceptive, because while he never outright says "intelligent design should be taught in the classrooms," the film's marketing campaign seems to say otherwise, something that's difficult to ignore when attempting to analyze the film on its own merits.

It's far too easy to superimpose one's own agenda or beliefs on a film like this due to the amount of contradictory information being spooled to the viewer via Stein's interviews. "Expelled" will probably be embraced by religious fundamentalists as surely as it will be trashed by the liberal media, both for the wrong reasons, and instead of solving the problems, it will just add to them, since the people in the scientific community who might gain something from being more open-minded will already have written this film off as propaganda.

There's more than a little irony to the way things have changed in the hundreds of years since the time when scientists were being persecuted by the Church, and going by Stein's take on the matter, things have turned fully the other way. This seems the most evident in the film's climax where Stein faces off with Richard Dawkins, a scientist who has gone so far as to disprove the existence of G-d--we'll probably have to read his book for his arguments--though by that point, we're no closer to getting to the bottom of why the educators were fired.

Technically, the film could be better, as the camerawork is somewhat shaky during the interviews, a problem that's resolved as the film progresses. Too much cutesy film footage is edited into the interviews to try to keep things moving at a brisk pace amidst a lot of scientific babble, but this often colors the information and responses to try and sway viewers towards the film's biased viewpoint.

Personally, I don't think either camp's argument is completely on the money and ultimately, the film's message about opening communication between the two camps seems like the most viable solution. Although this documentary does little to prove or disprove any of the theories (scientific or otherwise) from either camp--many of which you'd have to be a MENSA member to fully understand--one probably shouldn't write the movie off merely based on their own personal beliefs. If nothing else, it's an often entertaining conversation and debate starter, which might have been Ben Stein's purpose all along even if there might have also been ulterior motives lying beneath the film's heady surface.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Opening Friday, April 18)

Rating: 8 out of 10
Cast:
Jason Segel as Peter Bretter
Kristen Bell as Sarah Marshall
Mila Kunis as Rachel Jansen
Russell Brand as Aldous Snow
Bill Hader as Brian Bretter
Liz Cackowski as Liz Bretter
Maria Thayer as Wyoma
Jack McBrayer as Darald
Davon McDonald as Dwayne the Bartender
Steve Landesberg as Dr. Rosenbaum
Jonah Hill as Matthew the Waiter
Paul Rudd as Chuck
Kala Alexander as Greg

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Summary:
Finding humor in situations we've all been through, and a few that only haunt our worst nightmares, Jason Segel and Nick Stoller make their mark in the Apatow-verse with a very funny date movie.

Story:
Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) is a successful television composer who's been dating hot television star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) for five years until she suddenly breaks up with him. Despondent, Peter decides to get away and go to Hawaii, but once he arrives there, he learns that Sarah and her new boyfriend, rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) have also come to Hawaii on vacation. Will Peter ever get over Sarah and might the resort's ultra-cute front desk girl (Mila Kunis) help him?

Analysis:
We've almost reached the point where people might start wondering if Judd Apatow is on some sort of vengeance quest to get back the foolish mortals who cancelled his two television shows "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared," because here we have another member of the cast of those shows receiving a starring vehicle, one from his own script no less. Jason Segel is charming and likeable with a personality somewhere between a young Tom Hanks and Judge Reinhold so making the leap to leading man isn't too big a leap, and working with director Nick Stoller (another "Undeclared" alum), they do a lot with a fairly slim premise.

We first meet Segel's Peter Bretter, a Hollywood composer, when he's ready to take the next step in his relationship with his girlfriend, television star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), but she breaks up with him unexpectedly, leaving him a complete mess. Deciding to take some time off, he goes to Hawaii for what will turn out to be the worst vacation ever, as he continuously runs into Sarah and her new boyfriend, a pretentious British rocker. Fortunately, Peter quickly makes friends with Rachel, the cute girl who works the hotel's front desk, played by Mila Kunis from "That '70s Show," and she tries to help him forget how sucky his life has become since being dumped.

Taking a similar approach as "Knocked Up" in taking a real-life situation and mixing in equal parts raunchy humor and true heart-felt sentiment, Segel's first movie turns something we've all experienced, a bad break-up, and turned it into the catalyst for some very funny moments involving a sadsack trying to get over his hot girlfriend with the help of people he meets in an unfamiliar setting.

While the results might not be nearly as laugh-a-minute as previous Apatow productions, Segel and Stoller do a really good job creating an environment that keeps things moving, while Segel himself is never afraid to do whatever it takes to get laughs, often at his own expense. He certainly has little reason to shy away from the amount of full frontal nudity we get from him, although most guys would probably have preferred more naked women. Still, with all the sex and nudity, the movie never goes overboard even as it never pulls punches, and there's plenty of scenes that wouldn't have been nearly as funny if toned down, like an awkward sexual reunion between Pete and Sarah late in the movie that might hit way too close to home with some viewers.

Even so, Kristen Bell is the weaker link in this dysfunctional duo, because other than looking hot in a pink bikini, there's nothing about her character that makes you understand why Peter might be so stuck up on her especially when presented with the adorable Mila Kunis as another option. Russell Brand is also very funny playing Aldous Snow, a stereotypical British rock star with altruistic ideals, kind of a cross between Johnny Depp and Bono, who's everything that Peter is not.

What really keeps the laughs rolling are how Segel and Stoller have surrounded the main quartet with some of the funniest members from the Apatow-verse with Paul Rudd and Jonah Hill taking point as two of the island's wacky inhabitants. These characters end up being far more than mere cameos, both of them making repeat appearances to liven things up whenever the movie needs a quick injection of the funny. Hill is up to his normal standards as the outspoken waiter who's a stalkerish fan of Sarah's new rocker boyfriend, while Rudd is even more spaced-out as the world's highest surfing coach. Bill Hader has a few funny moments as he pops up from time to time to offer some brotherly advice but it's a fairly insubstantial role, allowing the likes of Jack McBrayer to steal the movie as a virginal newlywed on honeymoon and Davon McDonald getting some of the funniest quips with some of the few memorable and repeatable lines. (My favorite one is "Are those sad tissues or happy tissues?")

As with Apatow's "Knocked Up," Segel and Stoller takes the movie on a lot of silly tangents by recreating some of Sarah Marshall's ridiculous knock-off television shows and Peter's dream gig of putting on a Dracula musical with puppets, something that's even funnier when they actually do it. In the end, the inexperience of the creators is evident because the film isn't as strongly executed as "Knocked Up" or "Superbad" possibly because so much of the humor involves vignettes of Peter's interaction with Sarah or the other island inhabitants, but it all takes place within a fairly standard Hollywood rom-com plot structure. Still, when it comes down to it, the movie is funny, very funny, and the film's flimsy structure and weak third act is forgivable, since otherwise, it's a very sweet movie with lots of new and original ideas. While it doesn't quite achieve the comedy perfection of "Superbad," there's enough potential in this first movie by Segel and Stoller that one can certainly look forward to future comedy collaborations from the duo

Chaos Theory (Opening Friday, April 11)

Rating: 8 out of 10
Cast:
Ryan Reynolds as Frank Allen
Emily Mortimer as Susan Allen
Stuart Townsend as Buddy Endrow
Sarah Chalke as Paula Crowe
Mike Erwin as Ed
Constance Zimmer as Peg the Teacher
Matreya Fedor as Jesse Allen (7 years)
Elisabeth Harnois as Jesse Allen
Chris Martin as Damon
Jovanna Huguet as Maid of Honor
Christopher Jacot as Simon / Best Man
Alessandro Juliani as Ken
Lisa Calder as Sherri
Ty Olsson as Evil Ferryman
Jocelyne Loewen as Pregnant Nancy

Directed by Marcos Siega

Summary:
"Chaos Theory" combines dark cynical humor with a moving relationship drama that never goes where you might expect, but is as much a coup for director Marcos Siega as it is for Ryan Reynolds.

Story:
Frank Allen (Ryan Reynolds) is a motional speaker who specializes in efficiency training but when his wife Susan (Emily Mortimer) tries to get him to relax by resetting his clock, she ends up making him late for an important engagement which leads to a series of incidences that threaten to destroy Frank's organized life.

Analysis:
There's something about Marcos Siega that makes you want him to do good, maybe because his first movie "Underclassman" was a work-for-hire that fell victim to the Weinstein's exodus from Miramax after being delayed for years, coming out weeks after his second movie "Pretty Persuasion," which had a better premise but suffered from its negligible budget. It's hard not to think of all those "could have beens" as you watch his third movie "Chaos Theory" but thankfully, Siega has used his previous experiences to find the right balance of style and storytelling to tell a quirky morality tale that shows lots of promise for future endeavors.

It certainly doesn't hurt that Siega's third attempt stars Ryan Reynolds, an extremely underrated actor who has turned his ability for dark cynical humor into a science since we first saw him in "Van Wilder." Frank Allen has a similar cynical attitude, but he wasn't always like that, as we find out when the film flashes back to a New Year's party decades earlier where Allen and his friend Buddy (Stuart Townsend) are competing for the attention of the lovely Susan (Emily Mortimer). The introverted Frank wins out and seven years later, they're married with a seven-year-old daughter, and he's leading a regimented life made up of lists and slogans. In an attempt to loosen her husband up, Susan resets the clocks, making him late for an important seminar he's leading and a downwards spiral as Frank allows himself to be seduced by a gorgeous woman at the conference--Sarah Chalke from "Scrubs" at her sexiest as she strips down to bra and panties. While driving home, he stops to help a stranded pregnant woman, leading to a misunderstanding that ends his marriage. When Frank takes a paternity test to try to clear his name and get Susan back, he finds out that he's been sterile, which means their daughter is not his. Frank starts drinking and losing his mind, turning his efficiency system into a quirk where he writes random things down on file cards and picks one to do.

Much of the film, Frank is either moping or raging about how his life has gone to sh*t from one careless attempt at making his life easier, but much of the film's fun comes from watching him do crazy things like starting bar fights in his attempt to "live for the moment." It's ultimately a strange and quirky premise for a film but one that offers many satisfying moments within Reynolds' performance that clearly proves his potential to play Nicholson-level anti-hero roles in a way that you can love him and hate what he does at the same time. While some of the credit has to go to the make-up and hair department, the fact that we readily believe Reynolds as the older and younger more naïve versions of Frank Allen is a testament to his skills as an actor. Emily Mortimer is in similar mode to her work in "Lars and the Real Girl" and Stuart Townsend is also decent as the best friend trying to make right an indiscretion that ruined his friend's marriage.

The film is quite short to the point where it ends abruptly, almost unexpectedly, but considering the dark and snarky nature of much of the film's humor, the ending is surprisingly warm and touching pulling the viewer back from the deep end, and it's a satisfying pay-off for those who've allowed themselves to get pulled into the lives of these characters.

The Bottom Line:
Like some of the best indie comedies, "Chaos Theory" takes an original premise and uses it to showcase a decent script and solid performances, and even after it starts getting too dark and dramatic, it does a return to a place that wins you over by the end. So congratulations to Marcos Siega for finally getting one right!

Smart People (Opening Friday, April 11)

Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Cast:
Dennis Quaid as Lawrence Wetherhold
Sarah Jessica Parker as Janet Hartigan
Thomas Haden Church as Chuck Wetherhold
Ellen Page as Vanessa Wetherhold
Ashton Holmes as James Wetherhold
Christine Lahti as Nancy
Camille Mana as Missy Chin
David Denman as William
Don Wadsworth as Hadley
Robert Haley as Roth
Patrick Sebes as Curtis
Kevin James Doyle as Rodney
Paul Huber as Ben Onufrey

Directed by Noam Murro

(Note: Part of this review was originally posted on the CS Sundance Blog)

Story:
Carnegie-Mellon English professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a cranky know-it-all hated by his students, faculty and family alike, who ends up in the care of a former student, Dr. Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker), after a dumb accident leaves him injured. Having not been with a woman since his wife died years earlier, he decides to pursue Janet, much to the annoyance of his overly ambitious 17-year-old Young Republican daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page), who immediately dislikes the doctor. At the same time, Larry's good-for-nothing adopted brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) has decided to move in, making the Wetherhold's already dysfunctional family life even worse.

Analysis:
When you watch a lot of movies, there comes a point where you've seen so many that you know every possible combination and formula, making a perfectly funny, sweet and intelligent movie like this one seem far too familiar, even if the characters and situations are unique. The film's co-producer Michael London has had mainstream success with similar "mainstream indies" including Alexander Payne's "Sideways" and "The Family Stone," so it's not surprising to see some of the players from those movies showing up here.

A romantic dramedy about a widower trying to find new love while trying to keep his family together is somewhat of an overused premise, seen as recently as Peter Hedges' "Dan in Real Life," but screenwriter Mark Poirier has enough of his own voice to make this into a different movie, one that creates an intricate amalgam of dysfunctional family dynamics alongside the usual up and down romantic relationship at the film's core.

This is a very different character for Dennis Quaid who plays down his looks--shabbily dressed with an untrimmed beard and a noticeable paunch--with all sorts of ticks and quirky habits used to deal with the death of his wife. (Like Miles from "Sideways," he's also a failed author whose book has been rejected by every publisher.) It's very much the type of role we might have seen Jack Nicholson play 15 to 20 years ago, and Quaid can certainly do worse for a career trajectory than to follow Jack. Sarah Jessica Parker's character isn't as much of a stretch, although she's an enigmatic woman who has difficulty connecting to men. As much as we want to see the relationship between the two of them work out, he's such a pompous ass most of the time that some may be surprised that Janet gives him a second chance after their disastrous first date. Essentially, this is a man so caught up in his own life and opinions that he doesn't notice the things going on around him, even though it's hard not to sympathize with his inability to get over the loss of his wife. Even so, his son (played by Ashton Holmes) has already sickened of his father's behavior, leaving only Vanessa as her father's biggest cheerleader and fan, imitating his general disdain for people who aren't as smart as them.

Anyone who saw "Sideways" (also produced by London) and "Juno" won't be surprised that Thomas Haden Church and Ellen Page steal the movie whenever they're on screen, as both of them have a way of delivering every line in an inimitable style that makes them instantly funny. (In case you were wondering, Page is indeed as funny in this as she was in "Juno" although this is a very different character.) The scenes with Church and Page together are really the best part of the movie, as their awkward relationship breaks away from the norm when the teenager develops an inappropriate crush on the bad influence step-uncle who gets her stoned and drunk. Their secondary plot is a nice way to break things up rather than focusing merely on the relationship between Quaid and Parker. While Church is able to get laughs merely by his outlandish appearance, sporting a bushy moustache and crazy hair, and once we're used to that, we end up seeing way more of his ass than necessary, even if each time it still warrants laughs. Out of the entire cast, Ashton Holmes' character seems the least relevant and necessary to the story, only there to act as a target for Vanessa's acerbic wit.

For his directorial debut, Noam Murro wisely doesn't go overboard with flashy camerawork or editing, instead allowing the script and the performances by the great cast he's assembled come to the fore, something that's highly commendable. He also makes the mistake of too many first-time directors, falling so in love with the film's soundtrack that he goes overboard by jam-packing every other minute with acoustic-driven tunes. The fact that those songs are written and performed by Nuno Bettencourt, formerly of the Boston hair metal band Extreme, does help the movie break away from the normal indie alt-rock that's become standard.

While the first half of the movie is literally a laugh a minute with lots of great lines and gags, things start to get a bit too serious by the end—again, following the normal trajectory of this type of movie—as Larry starts to realize it's time to move on and make things work with Janet. It's fairly easy to know where things are going if you've seen enough indie films, because there's few other places for things to go.

The Bottom Line:
Despite my cynicism towards indie movies that follow a previously successful formula, "Smart People" has enough funny moments and original ideas within its character dynamics that it's genuinely enjoyable based on the strength of its script and cast alone. Anyone who's ever felt their life was permanently on hold should appreciate what Murro and his talented cast have done with such strong material.

Street Kings (Opening Friday, April 11)

Rating: 7 out of 1
Cast:
Keanu Reeves as Detective Tom Ludlow
Forest Whitaker as Captain Jack Wander
Hugh Laurie as Captain James Biggs
Chris Evans as Detective Paul Diskant
Cedric the Entertainer as Scribble
Jay Mohr as Sgt. Mike Clady
Terry Crews as Detective Terrence Washington
Naomie Harris as Linda Washington
Martha Higareda as Grace Garcia
John Corbett as Detective Dante Demille
Amaury Nolasco as Detective Cosmo Santos
Common as Coates
Cle Shaheed Sloan as Fremont
The Game as Grill

Review:
Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) is the proto-typical Los Angeles street cop; a believer in the ends justifying the means, the means being holding the thin blue line against the people he has determined aren't worthy of their protection anymore. And if he and his partners use their position to take care of themselves, well it's only fair since they're the ones sticking their necks on the line, isn't it?

"Street Kings" is the same old story of the corrupting influence of power and authority, but then, it probably wouldn't be the same old story if it didn't keep happening over and over throughout history, so it's probably best repeated from time to time. Of course, since there's nothing quite so sexy as corruption, the people exploiting that truth are really trying to have their cake and eat it, too, using the inherent appeal of the darker side of human nature to hook the audience. The bargain is the audience gets the entertainment and in return they sit through the creator's lesson on the deeper truths of the human condition; the peril is that the filmmakers just use it as an excuse to appeal to their audience baser instincts like gladiators in an arena. So which one is "Street Kings?"

A little of both, but overall it's not bad, mainly because of the steady hand of a couple of L.A. cop films (which really has become a genre unto itself) behind the camera. Director David Ayer and crime novelist James Ellroy have cooked up a parable of the dangers of corruption that offers up exactly what you would expect from the writer of "Training Day" and "L.A. Confidential." Not surprisingly, it's also deeply cynical about the nature of authority and human institutions, and particularly about the police department.

Violent and unrelenting, Tom Ludlow is 'a missile, you just point him in the direction you want him to go, and release,' according to his boss, Vice Squad Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker), and that about sums him up. He doesn't think about what he's doing to the world, he can't, it's the only way he can do what he does. It's no surprise then that when he finally is forced to confront the consequences of actions – when his ex-partner turned I.A. informant dies in a convenience store hold up gone wrong – the cracks in his world start to appear.

Reeves is actually fine in the role, not great but he gets the job done, scenes where he bewails his recently deceased wife being the hardest to labor through. It helps that Ludlow is such a physical person, that sort of non-speaking physical acting plays to Reeves' strengths, and for the first time some his own natural intelligence and force of personality actually manages to make it to the screen, though that could just be a natural result of age and experience.

In fact, Reeves has been around the block enough now that he cedes the young turk role to "Fantastic Four's" Chris Evans as an up and coming homicide detective and 'gunfighter,' retreating into the role of the cynical older partner and mentor. It's a strange fit for Reeves but he actually pulls it off. It helps that he has some excellent support in the form of Forest Whitaker and Hugh Laurie as opposing Captains, playing tug of war for Tom's soul. It goes without saying that every scene they appear in is a level above the rest of the film. Whitaker in particular often seems to be channeling "Training Day's" Detective Alonzo, but that is more of a symptom of "Street King's" greater problem.

The ground the filmmakers are covering is very old hat to them, which means they bring all the expertise born of familiarity, but it also means there is a lot of cribbing from previous works at play and anyone at all familiar with Ayer and Ellroy's bibliography could get very bored, very fast. There is absolutely nothing new at play in "Street Kings." The problem with familiarity is that it also breeds contempt and while it would be going too far to suggest that is a problem here, it is very difficult to pay attention to what they want to say, when it's been said before and recently. It's one thing to return to important themes in order to keep them current and relevant; it's another to mill them into grist because there are no other tricks in the bag or some sort of myopic single interest.

Still, as corrupt cop films go, "Street Kings" has got its moments, and if nothing else it certainly does entertain. It's a bit pat and has feelings of having been done before, but it is at least expertly done repetition and there is something to be said for that.

Leatherheads (Opening Friday, April 4)

Rating: 7 out of 10
Cast:
George Clooney as Jimmy 'Dodge' Connelly
Renée Zellweger as Lexie Littleton
John Krasinski as Carter Rutherford
Jonathan Pryce as C.C. Frazier
Stephen Root as Suds
Max Casella as Mack Steiner
Malcolm Goodwin as Bakes
Matt Bushell as Curly
Tommy Hinkley as Hardleg
Tim Griffin as Ralph
Robert Baker as Stump
Nick Paonessa as Zoom

Review:
It's hard to imagine that a mere eighty years ago professional sports as we know them didn't exist. How far we've come since those heady days of the mid-'20s when professional football was barely a step above working in a mine or on a farm, and the men who played did it because they loved it, or at least didn't mind it very much. Of course, as soon as some money started to be made all bets were off, and suddenly an adolescent lark had to make way for rules, regulations and civilization.

In reality, these sorts of things happen gradually over time and through the many and varied decisions of dozens, if not hundreds, of individuals each looking after their own self-interest. Sports, however, have always prided itself on its semi-mythological nature – a nature the people involved have done their best to cultivate – and that sort of dry historical treatment just won't do. What's called for is an unlikely yarn filled with ups, downs, laughs, romance, underdogs, World War I trench warfare and maybe even a little football, and that's exactly what director and star George Clooney ("Good Night, And Good Luck.") provides.

Set at the dawn of football, circa 1925, Clooney can't resist making a period film out of his period film and, perhaps influenced a little by his various Coen Brothers collaborations, dives head first into classic screwball comedy territory with his little sports film.

Dodge Connelly is the last of the pro-football believers, several years past his prime and using his own money and gift for gab to keep his dreams of sports glory alive. Just when it seems all hope is lost and the league itself is doomed to go into receivership, the football gods answer with war and football hero Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski), a picture perfect poster boy for the game. Seeing a chance for real glory and, more importantly, a way to keep the team together for just one more day, Dodge cons him into the game, realizing almost immediately that his last minute Hail Mary is going to change the game he loves forever.

Clooney actually does more than passable screwball, complete with fast-talking no nonsense Hawksian girl Friday Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellweger) to stir up both leading men without ever feeling like just an addition to the plot, though she only gets half of her own story instead of a complete one.

Unfortunately, Clooney never seems to commit completely to the classic screwball tone he seems to want, veering wildly from farcical to earnest; so much so that when the zanier moments occur, even though they're perfectly fine by themselves, they don't really gel with the rest of the film. It doesn't help that Clooney often uses them to break up much more serious story points, which works, but also highlights the disparity in tone.

That being said, it also boasts some fantastic character work. A lot of effort has been made to make the three leads as completely rounded as possible. None of them are completely good, nor are they completely bad. They're very much human, capable of all the heights and lows that means. Clooney never takes the easy route to make one character easily likeable and promotable as 'the hero' at anyone else's expense. The result is a movie that doesn't really have an antagonist, except perhaps Carter's amoral money grubbing agent (Jonathan Pryce), but instead three equally likeable leads who are inextricably at loggerheads. It's far more complex than a movie like this normally is, and Clooney handles it well.

He's done a version, usually a smarter version, of Dodge several times over the years and he's got it down pat. His considerable screen presence doesn't hurt either, and Zellweger's story is much the same. The real find is Krasinski, who gets probably the most complex character in the film and does wonders with it. Carter could be, it almost feels like he should be, mindboggingly obnoxious, but Krasinski keeps him relatable and likeable throughout. For all his abilities and strength of character he's not entirely a good guy, and for all his foibles he's not a bad one. It's remarkably well done on everyone's part.

At the end of the day though, "Leatherheads" is still a light-hearted sports film, too light-hearted to rise above its limitations, and its inability to decide on a tone doesn't help any, but it's too well crafted and thought out to be anything less than good. As sports film go, it's not particularly memorable, but for a Saturday afternoon diversion, it's probably just the ticket.

The Ruins (Opening Friday, April 4)

Rating: 8 out of 10

Cast:
Jonathan Tucker as Jeff
Jena Malone as Amy
Shawn Ashmore as Eric
Laura Ramsey as Stacy
Joe Anderson as Mathias


Directed by Carter Smith

Review:

In his 2006 novel "The Ruins," writer Scott Smith demonstrated that good ol' David Cronenberg-esque bodily invasion can still give you the shivers and that there's still plenty of frights left to mine not involving serial killers, hellish traps, ghoulies and ghosties. He did so through a blunt, brisk prose festering with paranoia and flayed flesh. It distilled horror right down to the grisly basics, furthermore, featured a vivid quartet of fully-realized characters - whether you liked them or not is a different story. Lest we forget Stephen King dribbled kudos all over the book's jacket art ("The Ruins is your basic long scream of horror."). In essence: This baby was primed for the big screen the minute its author set his words to paper. Two years and a production deal with Ben Stiller's Red Hour Films later, the story has snaked its way onto celluloid and, with it, no bone goes unexposed, no drop blood is wasted and none of Smith's original gruesome set pieces are left behind. "The Ruins," a painstakingly faithful adaptation, adds a few wicked surprises and is every bit packed with the concentrated dread that made your skin crawl in the novel.

Veering off-track momentarily - for a scene not in the book - "The Ruins" begins with a young, dirtied woman scared out of her gourd in a darkened cave. Various attempts at calling for rescue via her cell phone are fruitless and, as quickly as we met her, she's violently torn away by something in the dark. It's a modest and jarring introduction to kick-start the film's events, but nowhere on par with the creep-out factor that follows with...

Jeff, Amy, Eric and Stacy - two American couples vacationing in Mexico. Jeff (played with Boy Scout zeal by Tucker) is the headstrong medical student-to-be. He's bidding adieu to his weak-willed, sort've-a-wet rag girlfriend Amy (Malone) as he leaves her behind for college. As a result her head is obviously mixed up about his decision and the rift in their relationship that will come with it. Eric and Stacy (Ashmore and Ramsey, respectively) are a less complicated, sexually frivolous pair touting less baggage.

Lounging poolside one day, they meet German tourist Mathias (Anderson, sporting a somewhat believable accent) who tells them he'll be joining his brother at a local archeological dig. He offers them the opportunity to tag along, they accept, they party and after a booze-filled night laden with slight temptation, they set off into the jungle. Scott Smith - adapting his own novel, as he had done on Sam Raimi's '98 effort "A Simple Plan" - cuts corners in the character set-up, only allowing any decent quality time with our couples while they separately prepare to leave in their respective hotel rooms. And director Carter Smith dutifully follows, maintaining credibility in his cast and keeping the pace moving along at a vigorous clip.

Ignoring warnings from the locals, our leads - joined by Pablo, a Greek vacationer who has abandoned his pals back at the resort to check out the titular location as well - eventually arrive at the dig, a towering Mayan temple blanketed with vine. Unfriendly, weapon-toting villagers greet them there and, eventually, force the traveling troupe, sans one member, to the top of the temple. There, Jeff, Amy, Eric, Stacy and Mathias soon realize there is no getting off this scenic spot alive. The villagers won't let them leave and it is readily apparent the vine around them has a life of its own. And it craves succulent red meat like Audrey II needed a taste of Steve Martin. Yes, sir, you read that right, this native plant life feasts on human flesh! Not only that, but it has a few wily tricks up its sleeve to capture its prey. With this turn of the narrative screw, a struggle for survival soon succumbs to a man versus nature tussle filled shocking revelations.

And then things get really f'ed up.

Like its source material, "The Ruins" is outlandishly disgusting. Carter turns his lens towards amputation, blown-out brains, child violence (something new not in the book), tendril assault and self surgery with an unflinching, frank approach. And accomplished in broad daylight, the violence takes on an uncomforting stark realism. This is bolstered by the masterful photography of Darius Khondji, here trading in the doom 'n gloom atmosphere of "Se7en" for a more conspicuous, brazen approach. However, with Carter, it's through his expert molding of shadows where his work makes the most out one scene which finds Amy and Stacy descending into the bowels of the temple...where the abundant vine makes morbid use out one of its previous victims.

How this fearsome foliage devours its food is one of the many questions Carter and Scott leave for the viewer to ponder. "The Ruins" isn't so much about answers as it is about the deconstruction of Jeff, Amy, Eric and Stacy's relationships. Like John Carpenter's "The Thing," or to another degree, Eli Roth's "Cabin Fever," it peels back the skin on human nature and explores its fight or flight survival instinct. To an extent, Carter and company relay the group's breakdown efficiently - whether its Stacy's fear that the vine is crawling deep within her body or the occasional power struggle hinted at between Jeff and Eric. The only thing lacking is the sense of urgency. There's something lost in the translation from book to screen.

Carter balances practical and CG vine (mostly the former) judiciously - so don't fret, it doesn't look ridiculous. If you're familiar with the book, and the vine's ability to "mimic" organisms, I'll tell you Carter actually made it work. On the page, I found the device a tad absurd. But I'm a believer now. And Graeme Revell lends the film an ominous growling, synth-y (I believe) soundscape that's more design/FX than score.

Despite a slight alteration to its still bleak conclusion, this writer is happy to report "The Ruins" is a nightmarish spectacle with a fair amount of unpredictability to make you squirm uneasily. It's a true original treat for horror fans sluggishly wading through derivative remake after remake. Not only that, but it will make you reconsider eating that healthy plate of greens you had planned for lunch. One of the first cool theatrical horror films of '08, no doubt.

Shine a Light (Opening Friday, April 1)

Rating: 6 out of 10
Cast:
Mick Jagger
Keith Richards
Charlie Watts
Ronnie Wood
Martin Scorsese
Darryl Jones
Chuck Leavell
Bobby Keys
Bernard Fowler
Lisa Fischer
Blondie Chaplin
Christina Aguilera
Buddy Guy
Jack White III

All as themselves

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Summary:
Stones fans might forgive the musical gaffs and thrill at the film's intimacy, just as film fans will gush by the very presence of Scorsese, but "Shine a Light" is merely an okay concert film rather than something for the time capsule.

Story:
In the fall of 2006, legendary British rock group The Rolling Stones played a two-night engagement at the Beacon Theater in New York and director Martin Scorsese assembled an amazing team to capture the show for the IMAX screen.

Analysis:
Despite being a life-long Stones fan, it's hard not to be cynical knowing that every over-30 New York critic is going to rave and gush about this movie merely due to Scorsese's involvement in capturing on film one of the most lasting rock bands of the 20th Century performing at a local venue which is smaller than 99% of the places the Rolling Stones have played in the last two decades. It certainly sounds like a promising prospect considering the amazing amount of talent Scorsese assembled to capture the film, including no less than four Oscar winning cinematographers manning the cameras, but it's not the be-all end-all concert movie some might expect or be hoping for, since it's plagued by problems that could only have been created by the number of egos involved in a project of this size.

This is very clear from the beginning of the film, which opens during the planning and preproduction phase for the shows as Scorsese manically tries to figure out what songs the band will be playing at the show, a bit of staged pretension that immediately takes you out of the movie by reminding you up front that this movie is just as much about Scorsese flexing his muscle as a director as it is about the band in concert. We won't see Marty again until the end of the movie in an even sillier bit of pointless cinematic ego.

Opening with standards "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Shattered," the film covers a lot of ground in terms of the band's history and influences with a solid set. Jagger is on fire, still clearly one of the most dynamic rock frontmen performing after all these decades, and he really drives the film as he makes all of the songs pop, which may be why the cameras spend so much time focusing on him. Appearances by Jack White of the White Stripes and bluesman Buddy Guy in the Stones' nod to their musical roots are high points of the concert, as is a duet with Christina Aguilera on "Live With Me," which brings out Jagger's nascent sexuality even more as the two carouse on stage in a way we haven't seen since Jagger performed with Tina Turner. The cover of "Just My Imagination" is an interesting choice, as is the Stones' nod to country "Far Away Eyes."

Otherwise, the band is not at their best with Richards looking like an extra from "Night of the Living Dead"--seriously, my 85 year old father looks better than this guy--as he takes his usual laid-back approach to the extreme, clowning around with Wood and not worrying too much about hitting the right notes. I won't even make the most obvious joke about how Richards may look in IMAX because the show is cleverly overlit to make them look younger on film.

The real feat of the films is the amazing achievement by David Tedeschi in editing all those cameras' footage together, but unlike the far better film experience that is "U2 3D," you never feel as if you're there at the concert. Even with all of the talent behind the cameras, there's a surprising lack of medium and long shots to set the tone of the venue, mainly focusing on the venue's intimacy with lots of close-up shots of Mick and Keith. It's nice to be able to get closer to the band while they're performing and seeing every nod, wink and gesture one might never be able to see at a concert, but the feeling of not being there watching the show will probably be exacerbated when the film is shown in IMAX and those close-ups are blown-up to Godzilla-size proportions. The film just doesn't give one any sense of the enormity of the shows the Stones normally put on when they play stadiums.

For all the time spent on the film's cinematic visuals, it's severely lacking in its sound quality and the mix of the music, which masks the rhythm and horn sections and backing vocals with a barrage of guitars that sadly allows you to hear every single gaff and flub from the Toxic Twosome. Seriously, guys, considering how long you've been playing together, you should be the tightest band on the face of the planet, but this special concert is so sloppy and loose that it's embarrassing, especially Richards' two song vocal set of "You Got the Silver" and "Connection" which should have been edited out of the movie and/or saved for the DVD.

Threatening to be more interesting than the concert footage are the archival interviews with the band from the past forty years talking about the future of the Stones, but even that gets tiresome after we see the same questions being asked and answered by the band. The sad fact is that the movie is just way too long, and even Stones fans might start losing patience with all the tangents in the band's set until it finally returns to some of the known standards like "Sympathy for the Devil," "Start Me Up" and "Brown Sugar." It's more than a little telling that the best songs (and the majority of their set) are over thirty years old.

The Bottom Line:
While "Shine a Light" is noteworthy as an achievement in capturing a legendary band in a rare concert event and there are some clear highlights, it's a shame this movie wasn't made 20 to 30 years ago when Scorsese or the Stones were at their prime. It's also a shame that more attention was spent on the visuals than the quality of the music, since the latter makes it an imperfect concert movie that will be appreciated by diehard Stones fans but few others. In other words, "The Last Waltz" this is not.

21 vs. Stop-Loss (Opening Friday, March 28)

21's trailer

Stop-Loss's trailer

Rating: 21: 6/10 Stop-Loss: 7.5/10
"21" Cast:
Jim Sturgess as Ben Campbell
Kevin Spacey as Micky Rosa
Kate Bosworth as Jill Taylor
Aaron Yoo as Choi
Liza Lapira as Kianna
Jacob Pitts as Fisher
Laurence Fishburne as Cole Williams
Jack McGee as Terry
Josh Gad as Miles Connoly
Sam Golzari as Cam
Helen Carey as Ellen Campbell
Jack Gilpin as Bob Phillips
Jeffrey Ma as Planet Hollywood Dealer Jeff

Directed by Robert Luketic

"Stop-Loss" Cast
Ryan Phillippe as Brandon King
Abbie Cornish as Michelle
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tommy Burgess
Channing Tatum as Steve Shriver
Timothy Olyphant as Lt. Col. Boot Miller
Victor Rasuk as Rico Rodriguez
Rob Brown as Isaac 'Eyeball' Butler
Terry Quay as Al 'Preacher' Colson
Alex Frost as Shorty
Matthew Scott Wilcox as Harvey
Connett Brewer as Curtis
Josef Sommer as Senator Orton Worrell
Linda Emond as Ida King
Ciarán Hinds as Roy King
Mamie Gummer as Jeanie

Directed by Kimberly Peirce

Analysis:
Two film choices this weekend offer movies geared towards young people about people their own age, one being a fantasy caper based on a true story given a suitably MTV-like sheen, while the other, an MTV Films release, keeps its foot firmly in reality while dealing with a far more relevant topic than blackjack that might not seem as immediately entertaining, but offers far more weight and intelligence, ultimately leaving a more lasting impression. In both cases, the movies are by directors doing the unexpected, Robert ("Legally Blonde") Luketic breaking away from his romantic comedy crutch with "21" and Kimberly Peirce making the war drama "Stop-Loss" after a painfully long gap since her debut, "Boys Don't Cry."

Based on the novel "Bringing Down the House" by Ben Mezrich, "21" stars Jim ("Across the Universe") Sturgess as Ben Campbell, an MIT student trying to raise tuition for Harvard Medical at a variety of dead-end jobs when he's recruited by professor Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) to join a team of blackjack players, who make money in Vegas by counting cards.

"Stop-Loss" begins in Iraq where a group of soldiers are on a mission gone wrong, leaving some of them dead, others wounded and the rest of them shaken up. Three of them return to their small hometown in Texas where Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) is declared a national hero, although he has already decided that his time in the military is finished. His teammates Steve (Channing Tatum) and Tommy (Joseph Gordon Levitt) are having troubles adjusting to being home after witnessing so much unnecessary death, and Steve ends up flipping out and taking out his anger on his high school fiancee Michelle (Abbie Cornish). Brandon soon learns that the army has "stop-lossed" him, forcing him to return to Iraq after his tour of duty has officially ended, so he goes AWOL on a soul-searching road trip with Michelle, causing further problems back home.

The first half hour of "21" is very entertaining as it introduces Ben, played by the infinitely likeable Sturgess, and loosely explaining how card counting works, which is quite fascinating and not as easy as it looks. One can easily understand why one would need an analytical brain to be successful, and Ben is more "Beautiful Mind" John Nash than Dustin Hoffman's "Rain Man" though his story arc follows the same "rags to riches" formula as "Boiler Room" and "Wall Street" where Ben's success has to lead to an inevitable fall as lets it go to his head.

The film deviates further and further from the novel as it throws in too many plot developments and twists to keep things interesting, whether Ben is butting heads with a jealous and competitive teammate or his mentor Mickey or when he finally gets caught by Laurence Fishburne's Cole Williams, an old school Vegas security guard who catches onto the team's system--not that it would be hard since their "secret signals" make it blatantly obvious. For Spacey and Fishburne, their roles are walks in the park that offer few real challenges to them as actors, and Bosworth's role is fairly inconsequential as the love interest who never quite takes sides during any of the friction. There's plenty of comedy relief (almost too much) to keep things light from Aaron "Disturbia" Yoo, sharing that role with Liza Lampira, as well as with Josh Gad and Sam Golzari as Ben's stereotyped nerd friends who are left behind with his newfound hobby.

As much as "Stop-Loss" deals with weightier issues, the film is as polarizing as the war in Iraq itself, handling the subject of shell-shocked veterans in a similar way as "Coming Home" and "The Deer Hunter." Unlike Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah," Peirce doesn't try to force her own opinion of the rights or wrongs of war down the viewer's throat, and stronger writing keeps it from pandering to uninformed movie audiences like the dumbed-down "Home of the Brave."

"21" is hurt by an unnecessary amount of foreshadowing that makes it obvious where things are heading, especially Ben's uncharacteristically bone-headed moves—what brilliant MIT student would try to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars in a dorm room?—that can only lead to trouble later. Peirce constantly tries to veer away from the expected, although the entire movie suffers from its slow dialogue-driven pace. "21" may be a convoluted ensemble-heavy mess by comparison, but at least it's kept moving by Luketic's flashy montages and an impressive electronica soundtrack that drives the film. (Disclaimer: Having worked with the film's composer/music supervisor Dave Sardy, this reviewer may be somewhat biased.)

Peirce keeps things tighter and more focused on her characters, proving that Hilary Swank's performance in "Boys Don't Cry" was no fluke by producing equally satisfying performances from Ryan Phillippe and Abbie Cornish. One of Australia's finest young ingénues, Cornish is particularly convincing as the tough young Texan woman trying to come to grips with the events that have caused such suffering and changes in her fiance and childhood friends. The chemistry between Phillippe and Cornish makes their time on the road the best part of the movie, although thankfully, their relationship does not go where some might expect. It clearly shows how the Hollywood esthetics of "21" hurt it compared to the indie approach taken with "Stop-Loss" that allows it to be far more credible.

Not to say there aren't any problems with Peirce's sophomore effort, which has to compete with far more powerful, hard-hitting documentaries about the troubles faced by many returning soldiers. By comparison, her movie softens their behavior to insure that the audience doesn't turn on them, especially when dealing with the tough but very real issue of domestic violence committed by returning soldiers. One can certainly understand why one wouldn't want to make a movie that might paint our troops in a negative light but it hurts the film's realism. The potential impact of one key character's death is greatly lessened by happening off-camera after being carelessly telegraphed earlier.

Whether or not you've read the source novel, "21" ends up just about where you might expect but leaves you wondering how much of this "true story" really happened since it does shift far away from the book in order to conform to the Hollywood rags-to-riches mold. "Stop-Loss" ends on a note that will frustrate some, depending which side they're on by the film's ending, because it's hard to understand or approve Brandon's decision after everything he's been through, but it does get points for not going where expected and not ending on a pat note. Only then does Peirce drive home the implications of the government's ability to call back soldiers after they've fulfilled their commitment and how the policy may have added to the number of soldiers killed in the war.

The Bottom Line:
While "21" is entertaining fun, it's flawed in its overuse of Hollywood cliches and trickery that makes it predictable and less believable. While "Stop-Loss" might never be viewed as light entertainment, the strong performances and ideas makes it a far more satisfying film, one that you can ponder and discuss after the fact, as well as being a powerful tribute to our troops, both the ones in Iraq and those who've already returned home

Run Fatboy Run (Opening Friday, March 28)

Rating: 7 out of 10
Cast:
Simon Pegg as Dennis
Thandie Newton as Libby
Hank Azaria as Whit
Dylan Moran as Gordon
Harish Patel as Mr. Ghoshdashtidar
India de Beaufort as Maya Goshdashtidar
Matthew Fenton as Jake
Simon Day as Vincent
Ruth Sheen as Claudine
Tyrone Huggins as Grover
Nevan Finegan as Mickey

Directed by David Schwimmer

Summary:
The presence of Simon Pegg and Dylan Moran elevates what might have been merely a pleasant, harmless but ultimately forgettable romantic comedy, as the duo take even the most obvious physical gags and take them to funnier places.

Story:
Five years ago, Dennis (Simon Pegg) ran out on his pregnant fiancée Libby (Thandie Newton) on their wedding day, but now when he meets her well-to-do boyfriend Whit (Hank Azaria), Dennis realizes that the only way to win her back is to prove he can commit, so he decides to enter the grueling Nike River Run marathon.

Analysis:
On paper, a movie set around a London marathon from a script written by a member of an oddball New York comedy group and directed by "Ross" from "Friends" would seem like a set-up for disaster and embarrassment, but in fact, "Run Fatboy Run" carries itself well, and often surpasses its "romantic comedy" genre with some smart laughs, mostly thanks to the involvement of its star and co-writer Simon Pegg.

Pegg's Dennis is a nice guy, but you wouldn't think so from the film's prologue in which he freaks out and does a runner on his pregnant fiancée Libby (Thandie Newton). Five years later, Dennis' life is noticeably worse, as he's living on his own and working as security guard at a women's shop, while Lindy has moved on, had their baby and is running a busy London bakery. Dennis holds onto hope they'll get back together, which seems less likely when he Libby's new boyfriend Whit (Hank Azaria), a wealthy, good-looking and physically fit guy who is Dennis' polar opposite. Desperate to win Libby back, the out-of-shape Dennis vows to run the Nike River Run marathon against Whit, enlisting his best friend Gordon (Dylan Moran) and wacky landlord (Harish Patel) to help with his last minute training.

Based on an original screenplay by TV comedy vet Michael Ian Black, the plot tends to veer away from typical romantic comedy fare, though it's not nearly as eccentric as you might expect, and it's often obvious what Pegg brought to the mix in terms of making the humor more his own within the film's London setting. As one would expect, Pegg is generally likeable as Dennis, an irresponsible loser cut from the same cloth as Shaun ("of the Dead"), played in a way where you can't help but root for him to win Libby back even though the odds are firmly stacked against him. The biggest surprise is how good Pegg is with the adorable kid that plays his five-year-old son, because their scenes together really make you smile as it adds another level to the storytelling.

The rest of the cast is also very good. The always lovely Thandie Newton is perfectly cast as the woman Kevin is trying to hold onto, and she definitely seems worth fighting for, especially against a yuppie ass like Hank Azaria's Whit. Whit really makes the competitive scenes with Pegg a lot of fun, even if it's obvious how outmatched Kevin is. Most of the film's silliest bits involve Kevin's cranky landlord Mr. Ghoshdashtidar (Harish Patel) and his exceedingly hot daughter Maya (India de Beaufort) and there are a number of similarly unnecessary satellite characters and subplots as various individuals bet on whether Dennis will run the race.

David Schwimmer proves himself to be a capable director, making the film look far better than its presumably lower budget although the movie does feel disjointed at times as the story meanders through Kevin's day-to-day life until the point where he starts preparing for the marathon. There's nothing nearly as intelligent as Pegg's previous work with Edgar Wright, relying more on physical humor to get laughs, as well as a gross-out scene in which Gordon has to pop a giant blister on Dennis' foot. The only reason stuff like that works as well as it does here is that Pegg and Moran are so well-matched, maybe even better than in "Shaun" where they played pseudo-rivals, that they take every gag as far as they can to get laughs even when they get overly ridiculous.

There are minor quibbles with deliberately vague plot points like why Whit hasn't met either Dennis or Gordon (who also happens to be Libby's cousin) despite having been in a serious enough relationship with her to propose, and the ending gets somewhat predictable and cheesy, because being a romantic comedy based around a sports event, there's little place for the film to get except to try to build suspense around whether Kevin will finish the race or not. The film does more with its obvious ending than others might have done and it does little to detract from enjoying the rest of the film for what it is.

The Bottom Line:
There aren't a ton of huge laughs but there's enough to make you smile and snicker and if you're a fan of Pegg—and really, who isn't?—then you should appreciate how he takes his loveable loser role to a new level by showing some of his unplumbed skills. When it comes down to it, Pegg is just too likeable not to be won over despite some of the film's sillier bits

Drillbit Taylor (Opening Friday, March 21)

Rating: 5 out of 10
Cast:
Owen Wilson as Drillbit Taylor
Troy Gentile as Ryan
Nate Hartley as Wade
David Dorfman as Emmit
Alex Frost as Filkins
Josh Peck as Ronnie
Danny R. McBride as Don
Leslie Mann as Lisa

Review:
It's the old coming of age story – adolescents begin transition into adulthood, adolescents are mercilessly bullied due to accompanying social and physical awkwardness, adolescents hire a washed up, homeless former Army Ranger (Owen Wilson) to be their bodyguard.

Hmm... stereotypical teenage characters with no resemblance to actual teenagers, absent parent figures utterly clueless about their children's lives, a full grown man-child standing-in for the parents and learning to take responsibility for his own life in the process... if I didn't know better I'd swear this was a John Hughes movie (or at least one of his limitless imitators), and waddya know, according to the credits "Drillbit Taylor" comes from an original Hughes story, albeit through the lens of the genuinely talented Judd Apatow ("Knocked Up") and his various cohorts.

No matter how talented they are, there's only so much Apatow and friends can really bring to such a tired idea, though Apatow himself has retreated to a producing position, leaving the writing in the hands of Seth Rogen, who after the success of "Superbad" has more than proven himself in this area. At first glance there's not a few things in common between the two – the skinny, awkward friend (Nate Hartley), the portly, mock-streetwise friend (Troy Gentile), and the unbelievable (and I mean that literally) dorky Emmit (David Dorfman), all desperate to remake themselves as socially acceptable on the first day of high school. It sounds right up Rogen's alley.

It's unfortunate then that, apart from two or three genuinely unexpected laughs, there's not much to recommend it. Most of it is the same high school comedy we've been watching since Hugh's heyday 20 years ago. Everyone is either popular and cruel (because in teenager-land one de facto means the other) or awkward and misunderstood, and thus fair game for the popular kids. And not a single recognizable human beings among them. Why are any of these people behaving the way they are, why is the bully a bully? There's no telling. And I actually knew someone just like Emmitt in high school, and even he wasn't like Emmitt.

We're expected to just understand the way these movies are supposed to be and accept the rules they use, which is fair enough. It's hackery of the first order, but fair. Within those rules, the adults the kids are supposed to be able to rely on (parents and teachers) are either absent or worthless, so the kids are forced to find their own parent figure, which brings Drillbit Taylor into their lives.

He also fits the Hughes mold perfectly, a basically good person with some serious personality flaws. Drillbit is supposed to be where the real comedy comes from, fooling the kids until he gets what he wants from them (money) and everyone else he comes in contact with as he dives head first into social situations he's not at all prepared for, masquerading as a substitute teacher at the kids' school so that he can, theoretically, keep an eye on them. Unfortunately, the jokes are so anemic that even taken just for themselves they're not particularly funny. It really requires of feat of incredible screen charisma to pull this off and actually make it work, and Wilson's just not up to it. Wilson can be a decent actor in the right hands, but director Steve Brill ("Heavy Weights") never tries to get out of his comfort zone and it shows in every moment of "Drillbit Taylor."

Except for a few genuinely unexpected laughs, so few you can count them on one hand, "Drillbit Taylor" is pretty dull. Not particularly bad, just dull.

Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who (Opening Friday, March 14)

Rating: 8 out of 10
Cast:
Jim Carrey as Horton (voice)
Steve Carell as The Mayor of Whoville (voice)
Carol Burnett as Kangaroo (voice)
Will Arnett as Vlad (voice)
Seth Rogen as Morton (voice)
Dan Fogler as Councilman / Yummo Wickersham (voice)
Isla Fisher as Dr. Mary Lou Larue (voice)
Jonah Hill as Tommy (voice)
Amy Poehler as Sally O'Malley (voice)
Jaime Pressly as Mrs. Quilligan (voice)
Charles Osgood as Narrator (voice)
Josh Flitter as Rudy (voice)
Niecy Nash as Miss Yelp (voice)
Jesse McCartney as JoJo (voice)
Shelby Adamowsky as Hedy / Hooly / Additional Voices

Summary:
A strong cast and a funny adaptation of the classic children's book make "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who" equally fun for children and adults.

Story:
This film is based on the 1954 book by Dr. Seuss.

Horton is an elephant living a happy and carefree life in the jungle. One day his world is turned upside down when his massive ears hear a tiny voice coming from a speck floating in the air. Horton discovers that the speck is home to a microscopic race of creatures called the "Whos". However, Horton is the only one that's able to hear them, thus making the other creatures in the jungle think he's crazy.

Horton begins a dialogue with the one Who that is able to hear him - The Mayor of Whoville. The Mayor informs him that the elephant's jostling of the speck is wreaking havoc on Whoville. However, none of the other Whos believe that Horton exists either. Despite this, Horton pledges to find the Whos' speck a safe place to sit so they can live in peace. But can he do so when the other jungle creatures commit to proving Horton's a menace and plan to destroy the speck?

"Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who" is rated G.

What Worked:
"Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who" is one of those rare family films that actually entertains the whole family. Not only did my wife and I enjoy it, but our kids were mesmerized as well. (This is the first time my 3-year-old son has sat still through an entire movie. That's a major accomplishment!) It's a perfect mix of jokes for the adults and silly moments for the children.

I have to admit that I've been a bit Jim Carrey-ed out recently. However, his voice acting was perfectly fit for Horton. Carrey's comedy combined with the CG animation of the element ends up being a great performance. This is especially the case in a scene where Horton must cross a rickety bridge. As the CG elephant daintily crosses the rickety bridge, Carrey's dialogue helps make it one of the funnier scenes in the film. It was a great combination of voice acting and animation.

Steve Carell gives an equally fun performance as The Mayor of Whoville. Carell is always funniest when he's freaking out and this story gives him plenty of opportunities to do just that. One of his best scenes occurs when he must deal with his 90-something daughters as freak weather is inadvertently brought to Whoville by Horton. If you're a Carell fan, you will want to see this.

The supporting cast is equally strong. I can't tell you how much fun it was to hear Carol Burnett's voice up on the big screen as the snooty kangaroo. Seth Rogen also has some fun moments as Morton, the mouse. (His deep voice doesn't exactly fit a mouse, but it's what he says that makes him 'awesome'.) Will Arnett is almost unrecognizable as the vulture Vlad, but he provides a lot of laughs as the incompetent mercenary. Dan Fogler, Isla Fisher, Jonah Hill, Amy Poehler, and Jaime Pressly are also in the supporting cast, but they aren't nearly as recognizable as the other players.

The movie does depart from the book on occasion, but the key elements remain intact. Horton still loses the speck in the clover field. The kangaroo still tries to boil the speck in oil. The Whos still say, "We are here!". And a person is still a person, no matter how small. Die-hard Dr. Seuss fans should still be pleased with it. But many of the departures don't detract from the main story and they actually bring a lot of laughs. A group of jungle animal kids that follow Horton around provide some funny moments, particularly a yellow fuzzball that eats bugs and mysteriously disappears into the greenery. (My kids imitated this creature days after watching the film.) Then there's a running joke about Vlad (a bunny with a plate of cookies, not the homicidal vulture) that has an amusing payoff at the end. Overall, they were good additions. (I will say that the role of the Wickersham Brothers is drastically reduced from the cartoon, but it is forgivable.)

What Didn't Work:
There was one moment at the very end of the film that was a major black eye on an otherwise perfectly executed production. At the end of the story, Horton and all the other characters break into song with "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon. It was wrong on so many levels. It broke the rather timeless feel of the story with an '80s pop song, the lyrics didn't fit the story, and it was just plain cheesy. They could have concluded the film a lot better than this. It was enough to make me bump the rating of the movie from a 9 out of 10 to an 8 out of 10.

The Bottom Line:
This movie was fun enough that I think even if you don't have kids, you'll find "Horton Hears a Who" to be worth checking out

Repo! The Genetic Opera (Coming Soon!)

Rating: 8 out of 10
Cast:
Paul Sorvino as Rotti Largo
Paris Hilton as Amber Sweet
Bill Moseley as Luigi Largo
Anthony Head as Nathan Wallace/Repo Man
Alexa Vega as Shilo Wallace
Sarah Brightman as Blind Mag

Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman

Review:

Last night I was invited to an early test screening of "Repo: The Genetic Opera," which was directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, who directed all of the "Saw" sequels to date. All I knew about the film was that it starred Paris Hilton and Paul Sorvino, and that it was a musical. The trailer I saw on You Tube didn’t exactly thrill me much, but hey, free movie. So I was surprised to find I really enjoyed it, though I don't think that will be the universal feeling (the guy next to me walked out after a half hour).