In 2006, Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff pled guilty to three federal felonies regarding fraud and corruption of public officials. Abramoff’s story seemed to be perfect fodder for a Hollywood film – details of his saga include bribery, sex, drugs and murder. It’s a real tragedy, then, that the resulting film is such a disaster. Though Kevin Spacey is dynamic in the title role, the other characters in Casino Jack are reduced to one-note caricatures, making it impossible for audiences to grasp how serious the lobbyist’s crimes really were. Worse yet, it’s unfunny, overlong and damn boring.

Though the Coens turned this classic western into something of a screwball comedy, True Grit still feels like their most accessible work to date. Don’t let my description of the film as “audience-friendly” deter you, though; it is still an intriguing and well-written story packed with dynamic characters. And although the source novel’s author, Charles Portis, gets credit for much of the film’s narrative strength, it is Joel and Ethan’s signature wit and great performances from the always-impressive Bridges and Damon – along with a star-making turn from newcomer Steinfield – which make the brothers’ latest especially worthwhile.

This is the kind of film for which “awards season” exists. An uplifting underdog story which takes its inspiration from real-life events and is brought to the screen through engrossing performances by a solid ensemble cast, The Fighter is that rare movie which manages to be universally appealing while still impressing us pickier aficionados. Among the most impressive elements is Christian Bale’s phenomenal supporting turn as a burnt-out former boxer with a crippling crack addiction. He deserves all the praise he’s been getting, as does the finely crafted film itself.

Like its predecessor, this is a film which relies primarily on ambitious visuals, which are rarely short of stunning. The 3D imagery (which is thankfully done in-camera) is among the better out there – and the smart decision to integrate the effect into the story relieves some of that gimmicky feeling. Despite a few wooden performances and several scenes solely containing expositional dialogue, TRON: Legacy still ultimately feels more like a success than a misfire. It’s far from perfect, but is still a treat for your eyes and – thanks to a terrific score from Daft Punk – your ears.

Even though I saw 127 Hours a couple weeks ago at the (awesome) Austin Film Festival, it’s stuck to me like that boulder stuck to James Franco’s character’s arm. In this instance, that’s a good thing. Even if movies can’t always change lives, they can often change perspective. In this country, those of us who are fortunate need a wake-up call every once in a while. Danny Boyle and his star surprisingly good one-man show provide us with that and more. 127 Hours is funnier and more poignant than you’d expect judging by its premise. You’ll walk out feeling alive.

As time wore on, and the film’s release grew nearer, the first few reviews became available. These reviews, from mostly reputable sources, were largely positive. “This is Scott’s best film in years,” they said. So, when the invite for a press screening of the movie hit my inbox, I figured I’d give the flick a try. How bad could it really be? Tony Scott, while definitely fallible, is the guy responsible for Top Gun and True Romance (a film I adore, by the way). Denzel Washington can be great, when he wants to be. And Chris Pine! He was so cool in Star Trek! Maybe I was just in a bad mood when I saw the trailer. This movie might be awesome!

F@&% YOU, CRITICS! YOU LIED TO ME!

Unstoppable is, indeed, stupid, a trait best exemplified by its ludicrous plot. When an operator decides it would be a good idea to jump out of a moving train to make a track adjustment (and then just run really fast to catch up and jump back on – of course), the locomotive takes off and begins speeding down the track with no one on board. We soon learn that not only is the train really big and really fast, but it’s also hauling tons of flammable and toxic chemicals that will poison the whole city if the train crashes. When they learn that their train is travelling on the same track as the runaway, veteran engineer and rookie conductor Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington) and Will Colson (Chris Pine), respectively, decide to chase it down. They plan to catch up to the train, attach their own engine to it and then use their onboard brake-system to stop it.

Sounds reasonable.

Purportedly based on a true story, Unstoppable is an interesting concept. It’s the type of thing that would make a nice piece on 60 Minutes or as the plot of an episode of a TV action-drama. This concept, on its own, cannot carry an entire feature film though. There just isn’t enough there. So, while Washington and Pine give it all they’ve got and deliver solid performances – and are supported by a really great turn from Rosario Dawson as the dispatcher guiding them through their mission – the film devolves into a 90-minute exercise in fantastic coincidence.

You see, trains travel on tracks, so there is no surprise as to where it’s going to go next. It’s going to travel down the track. Eventually, the train will hit a sharp turn, derail and the movie will be over – unless our buddies on the other train are able to catch up and stop it. That’s all. There really isn’t that much tension because there are only two possible scenarios, and since this is a movie, we already know which one will prevail.

So, in order to ramp up the suspense, instances of ridiculousness are inserted into the script. One example: a truck hauling a trailer filled with horses just happens to get into an accident right as it’s crossing the tracks, leaving the horses stuck on the track as the train hurdles towards them. In another scene, a pickup truck tries to catch up to the train so it’s passenger can jump onto the locomotive, but, alas, they hit a pole just before they reach the train’s cabin.

While adding these meaningless set-pieces is necessary to extend the runtime of a shallow story, it brings nothing to the film and ultimately devalues the main conflict. By the time I was faced with the movie’s climax, I had already given up and no longer cared. I just wanted the train to crash and burn (as the movie had) so I could finally go home.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim VS the World is a rare gem that caters to the comic geeks and gamers of the world. It’s an adrenaline-fueled flashy good time and the most fun I’ve had with any other movie of 2010.

The film follows Scott Pilgrim, a jaded slacker who’s still coping from his bitter break up with his ex Envy. In the middle of a rebound relationship with a young school-girl named Knives., he comes across the girl of his dreams (literally); Ramona Flowers. But as Scott soon discovers, claiming this girl as his own is easier said than done. And in order to win her heart, he must defeat her seven evil exes.

The story plays out much like a video game. But where video game movies in the past have failed, this movie succeeds. Usually with video game movies, they strive on trying to be as realistic as they can. With Scott Pilgrim it is the opposite. The film welcomes the surreal, and the further it shifts from reality, the better it gets.

It’s quirky graphic novel style is a colorful work of art and looks absolutely stunning. Kudos to Edgar Wright on bringing this comic book style to life on the big screen.

Scott Pilgrim is full of an amazing cast, fun music, and plenty of 90′s references for 20-somethings to enjoy. I highly recommend this movie for those looking for something wildly original and entertaining!

*****/5

Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam (plus 3 shorts also on DVD)

Superman/Shazam: In this extended animated short, Billy Batson is a scrappy young kid barely getting by on the streets of Fawcett City. Despite his own bleak situation, Billy has a good heart, plenty of courage and tries to help others however and whenever he can. One day, while being interviewed about his life of poverty by renowned reporter Clark Kent from Metropolis, Billy is attacked by Black Adam (Arnold Vosloo), a magically-empowered super-villain who has traveled back from his banishment in the far reaches of the universe in order to kill Billy Batson, whom he recognizes as the next “chosen one.”

Of course Billy has no idea what Adam is talking about and is seconds away from being fried into a corpse until Superman just so happens to intervene…. But even The Man of Steel’s formidable powers can’t overcome Black Adam’s magic – only a fabled hero powered by the ancient wizard Shazam (James Garner) can save the day, and little does Billy Batson know that he is about to become that hero…the new Captain Marvel.

The Return of Black Adam runs about twenty minutes or so and is basically a drag-out grudge match between Black Adam, Superman and Captain Marvel – truly a great combination. Aside from the obvious awesomeness of watching three of the DC Universe’s strongest characters battle it out, there’s also the humor of watching Billy Batson literally stumble through his first turn as a superhero. It’s also rare that you witness Superman getting his butt whipped, so seeing Black Adam slap him around is pretty refreshing (fanboys know all about Supes’ vulnerability to magic).

The Spectre: In this animated short, we get a look at the seedy underbelly of Tinseltown. When a popular director is murdered in his gorgeous Hollywood hills mansion, his daughter Aimee calls on her old flame, detective Jim Corrigan, to personally investigate the case. Corrigan’s search eventually turns up a list of likely suspects – but before the police can cuff the men responsible the crime, each perpetrator is haunted in the night by a deadly Spectre wearing a green cape and cowl, who claims to be the spirit of vengeance itself.

As the guilty are punished in the most nightmarish ways they can imagine, detective Corrigan’s search leads him closer and closer to an ugly revelation, while the mastermind behind the murder plot learns that Jim Corrigan is a man who is keeping a startling secret of his own.

This animated short captures the character of The Spectre perfectly, by not shying away from the fact that he is a scary and violent force of the DC universe. Besides the highly-successful Blade franchise, I have yet to see a comic book movie that combines the elements of the horror genre with the superhero genre (nice try Ghost Rider). If ever there was a movie that could tell you a ghost story about a ghost you both root for and fear at the same time, The Spectre would be it. (Not to mention, the character would (literally) open up a whole new dimension of the DC Movie Universe.)

Green Arrow: Oliver Queen is on his way to the airport to pickup his girlfriend Black Canary, who he hopes to make his wife. Queen doesn’t want to make his lady angry by being late, but when he arrives at the airport he recognizes a villainous rival archer, Merlyn, and realizes there’s evil afoot. Queen dons his Green Arrow outfit, jumps in to save the day, and quickly finds himself caught up in assassination plot involving a tweenage queen and a classic DC villain.

If Santos ever wants a crack at directing one of these full-length DCU animated features, he’s welcome to it as far as I’m concerned. Along with writer Greg Weisman, Santos perfectly captures what makes Green Arrow great: like Batman he has no super powers, isn’t as smart or as well-trained as Batman, but he’s great with a bow, brave, dashing, witty, and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. It’s really hard to hate Green Arrow, and this animated short certainly captures that sentiment.

Jonah Hex: What’s sad about this particular short is that the DC Showcase team manage to do in ten minutes what the entire Jonah Hex movie couldn’t do at all: Introduce Jonah Hex in a way that generates fan interest and makes you want to follow further adventures of the character onscreen. Thomas Jane (The Punisher) voices Hex, a scarred-face bounty hunter who comes to town in pursuit of his latest bounty, Red Doc. Problem is, Red Doc has already been done in by a murderous gang led by a ruthless prostitute. When Hex comes asking questions, the gang set their sights on him next.

This cartoon is everything that the Jonah Hex movie should’ve been and was not: A western that features a badass anti-hero character – none of that supernatural powers crap. If DCU wants to do an entire Hex animated feature in the future, I’m all in.

OVERALL: RENT IT. ****/5

Damned by Dawn

This movie is about a couple, Claire and Paul, who go to visit her relatives outback (it’s an Australian movie) somewhere. In the course of their visit, the grandmother, who is very old and ill, tells Claire that she doesn’t have much time remaining and entrusts her with a valuable urn. Claire doesn’t want to hear such talk but the grandmother continues and tells her we all gotta go sometime (this is true folks) -but that she wasn’t worried because “the lady of sorrows” -she who bawls for the dead (actually, they more poetically used “wails” but being a wise-ass I couldn’t resist) -would oversee her final journey. As well, she tells Claire that no one should harm the bawling lady (there I go again) or interfere. At this point you can guess what happens: one of them unwittingly did something to the bawling woman and unhappy consequences follow.

This movie, in my ever so humble opinion, is overall not a bad movie. The creepiest part unfortunately happens in the first quarter or so of it. So what went wrong after that? “Flying skeletons”. Say what???. You heard me, folks. Someone had the bright idea of injecting FLYING SKELETONS in this thing. The effect of this was to make the movie seem a little silly, a little retro, and a little cheap, and therefore to negate or offset a lot of the genuine creepiness it began with. Folks (I think you will agree with me), there is no way in the world flying skeletons are going to freak anyone out; not in this day and age. These days, this is something that you would put in a horror comedy which this was not intended to be.

Notwithstanding the above, this is generally not a bad movie. It just lost it’s way to further real supernatural creepiness in the early go with the introduction of the skeletons and became more of a “monster” or “creature” movie, of sorts, even though they were supposed to be ghosts. So while much was lost if you wanted to be supernaturally creeped out, there was still creature horror and suspense. And in additional defense of what was not a bad effort, let me say that there are some movies that are today considered cult horror classics that had skeletons in them that looked no better than these, but at least they had the good sense not to make them airborne. SKIP THIS ONE. **/5



Toy Story 3

The best magic tricks in the world are ones that cannot be unraveled, reverse engineered or dissected to figure out exactly how they are pulled off. This philosophy is doubly applicable to Pixar’s “Toy Story 3″, the storyline-ending outro of the beloved Toy Story, uh, story.

I feel it relevant somehow to divulge my age, as it somehow validates the powerful emotions evoked throughout the film. I am 23 years old, who, fifteen years ago, was fresh on the brink of the teen years of supposed adolescence at the release of some weird, 3d animated movie (wait, they can animate with computers?) entitled “Toy Story”. This was a pretty bold move, a calculated stroll to the edge of the cliff and a daring leap off into the thin air of creativity and innovation. And it was a hit, ensuring 3d animation a place right alongside (more or less) 2d animation. And naturally, Pixar would be at the forefront, leading the cavalry charge of digital animation ranging from great to gawd-awful.

“Toy Story 3″ starts off as comfortably as possible, with our friends Woody and Buzz Lightyear doing what they do the best…playing with Andy in his world of make-believe adventure. We are then treated to some familiar Pixar progression, like abandonment, solidarity, coming back to friends, and the passing of the torch. Clearly, in the eleven years between this point and when “Toy Story 2″ wrapped, a computer revolution or four has occurred, allowing a world of unsurpassed clarity, reality and imagination to shine through like never before. TS1′s spark is TS2′s candle, and that in turn is TS3′s blazing sun.

Roll the last fifteen minutes of film. It became clearly obvious that the figurative tables have been turned, because a good number of the adults in the audience were sniffling and teary-eyed, while the kids were looking up, likely thinking “jeez mom and dad, they’re just toys, get over it”.

Wasn’t it conventional wisdom that just the kids get emotional over losing plastic playthings? With “Toy Story 3″, Pixar has shown us one of the greatest magic tricks in modern showbiz history, likely not to be outdone or duplicated, that we all have very real and deep connections to our childhoods and to the things and people that allowed us as kids to be free, and innocent, and pure, and most importantly, to dream. This, to me, is a life lesson worth remembering, to infinity and beyond.

BUY IT! *****/5

Centurion

When the final credits were rolling I observed, out-loud, “that was one of the most outwardly violent films I’ve seen since Kill Bill”. That’s not far from the truth. Limbs are hacked clean off, stomachs are regularly impaled and the claret fluid sprays endlessly. Though the major difference is where Tarantino’s homage to the old chop-socky movies from Eastern cinema is cartoonish in its bloody visuals, Centurion is anything but tongue-in-cheek; here the blood, sweat and tears seep into the muddy vistas and bucolic rivers of Great Britain to intensify the atmosphere.

Director Neil Marshall (The Descent) has crafted a gritty movie that at its core is a simple ‘cat and mouse’ tale – and a highly entertaining one at that – but becomes much more thanks to the efficacious work from all the cast and crew. Marshall himself executes a few impressive sequences, the most outstanding being the initial ambush on the Ninth Legion, showing once again he knows how to stretch a small budget with minimalistic techniques and a passionate approach. Director of photography Sam McCurdy provides a suitably grimy and grainy look that, although at times is too dim, sets the ideal tone for the film. Perhaps Marshall should have monitored the editing closer though, Chris Gill’s frenetic cutting very nearly ruins a couple of the fight scenes.

Major Hollywood star in the waiting Michael Fassbender (played the German-impersonating British Lieutentant in Inglourious Basterds) is undoubtedly the standout among the acting contingent. As the titular soldier, Fassbender makes for a charismatic leading man that convinces in both the physical and dramatic elements of the role. I eagerly wait to see what he does as the young Magneto in the upcoming X-Men prequel. Elsewhere The Wire alumni Dominic West is rough around the edges as the gruff General Virilus, Olga Kurylenko is positively bad-ass as the mute, monomaniacal warrior hell-bent on revenge and BBC favorite David Morrisey adds clout in his supporting role of Bothos.

A grubby, gory delight. RENT IT. ***/5

Winnebago Man

It’s not only for members of the Cult of Rebney (in case you live under a rock, I’m talking about Jack Rebney: the Winnebago Man, the Angriest Man in the World, the original viral video star, and the greatest swearer who ever lived).

The film has comedy: Rebney is one of the great crotchety old men of all time.

It has mystery: who is this monumental man, where does he live, what’s the deal with his anger, what the f–k is this thing?

It has commentary: most Americans have “room-temperature IQs, and” the Ford Fiesta (or is it Festiva?) is a great car.

It also has flies, towels, windshields, seat belts, yelling, doors slamming, s–t hitting the fan, all types of “accoutrama”…and, last but not least, Tony! (If you have no clue what any of this means, go to YouTube and search “winnebago man.”)

If you like that kinda thing, rent it. If not, go ahead and skip it. **/5