Saturday, February 18, 2012

Now Showing

Contraband
     This remake of the 2008 Icelandic film Reykjavik-Rotterdam is directed by that films director and star Baltasar Kormakur. The American version stars Mark Wahlberg as a retired smuggler who has settled into family life but finds himself drawn back into the life to help out his brother-in-law, Caleb Landry Jones, who gets himself in dutch with drug dealer Giovanni Ribisi.
     For the most part, it's a fun movie. However, there are a couple of pointless scenes that serve no purpose outside of time filler and to establish Ribisi as a hard ass.


Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance
     It's rare to find a movie that is a complete waste of time. Usually, I can find that one element, however slight, and think sure, that sucked, but there was that one thing that I took away from it. Not so with this movie. I'm not sure if I have enough bad things to say about this one. In the spirit of wasting no more of your or my time, I'm just going to say avoid this movie like a diseased crack whore.


The Grey
     Holy freaking hell, this movie is everything you've been promised and more! Adapted from a short story by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers who also co-wrote the screenplay (the name sounds familiar because he's the guy who wrote the screenplay for Death Sentence). This is man vs. nature on an early London scale. The characters are human and not over defined, and even the wolves have motivation.
     In an age when everybody relies on computers to make movies, it's refreshing as hell to see real snow storms and animatronics. It's hard to watch this movie and believe that Joe Carnahan also directed The A-Team movie.
     I'm going to leave you with one little clue to getting the most out of your experience. Somewhere close to the end, you'll know it when it happens, you're going to experience a sensation of potential let down. When this happens, ask yourself, what would Alex do in this situation? and then act on that.


Red Tails
     This movie tells the story of The Tuskegee Airmen in the European theater. Originally used to patrol at the rear of the battle, they are eventually given the opportunity to prove themselves by escorting bombing missions. While mostly historically accurate, at the end of the day it is an action movie meant to give heroes back to 14 year old boys.
     It's refreshing to see a black character who isn't portrayed as an under educated jack ass. In fact, from the perspective of the film, you really see racism in its naked ignorance.
     When they're not in the air, the film kind of takes on that Baa Baa Black Sheep/ Black Sheep Squadron feel. Part of that may be because director Anthony Hemingway made his bones in television but I think also it has to do with the fact that one fighter base is pretty much like the other in WW II. The in air rivalry with the German pilots has a definite Von Richthofen And Brown vibe to it but it also works by giving the opposition a personality instead of just a faceless spectre who's sole purpose is to die for the cameras.
     The dialogue is a little heavy handed in a few places but if you can overlook it you'll have a lot of fun with this one.


Safe House
     An interesting spy thriller set in Cape Town, South Africa. Denzel Washington plays a former C.I.A. agent who has gone freelance (think of a rogue Jack Bauer). For reasons that everybody is struggling to figure out, he has turned himself in to the American embassy.
     He is taken to a safe house to be interrogated when suddenly all hell breaks loose and everyone is killed except for Ryan Reynolds who is in charge of the safe house. He manages to escape with his prisoner during the melee.
     Reynolds must now keep Washington in custody while on the run as the agency tries to figure out what happened. It's not as 3 Days Of The Condor as I thought it would be. It will hold your attention but it's nothing exceptional.


We Bought A Zoo
     Four words- A. Cameron. Crowe. Film. This should help you in your movie watching decisions as well as determine if you keep reading. Those of you who are fans of Mr. Crowes work will appreciate this different direction that he's taking. Those of you who see a zebra with a bow on the poster and notice the PG rating expecting fluffy animals, little girls speaking in catch phrases and fart jokes, happy to disappoint you. This movie has a brain, maybe you should read the book this movie is based off of and develop your own.
     It's a true story based on a man in England (California for the movie) who's wife passed away leaving him with two children. In an effort to get a fresh start, he decides to quit his job and buy a house somewhere out of town. He finds the perfect house, but there's a catch, it's attached to a zoo. Whoever gets the house also gets the zoo. As you can tell from the title, they get the house. The story then follows the growing pains as everybody adapts to their new home. I enjoyed it and I think you will too if you've managed to keep reading this far.


The Woman In Black
     Imagine Jonathan Harker with a child instead of a fiancee. When he goes to the castle, he encounters Lucy Westerna who has Freddy Krueger-like motivations. Now set the whole thing in the 19th century and you have The Woman In Black.

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