TRANSFORMERS: Revenge Of The Fallen REVIEW

More so than the first film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is all about the robots. Yes, there are lots of scenes with flesh and blood actors, but really, who cares about them when you've got cars and trucks and planes and kitchen appliances changing into machines whose sole purpose appears to be to fight with other metallic objects? Even Megan Fox in all of her pouting, posing glory is no match for Megatron and Optimus Prime doing battle.
And oh yes, Michael Bay does put Megan Fox's physical assets to use in this Transformers film. Clad in leather biker gear or shorts and skimpy tops, Bay must have given Fox just one simple direction: "Don't bother acting, just look sexy." And if that's what sets your engine revving, then fine. Bay fulfills fanboys' fantasies by making Fox's Mikaela into a pin-up girl who talks but doesn't say anything interesting. Her character's only purpose in the film - aside from providing eye candy - is to try and get Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky to say he loves her. Even one of the lessor Transformers points out Mikaela's lack of intellect, saying, "You're hot, but you're not too bright."
Nice work there, Bay. As if most of your female audience wasn't already offended by your film's only female character's (outside of the supporting performance by Julie White as Sam Witwicky's pot brownie-eating mom) one-dimensional personality. Personally, I could have done with less Fox and more robots. I'd have even settled for more John Turturro or the tag team of Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson over the silly 'romantic' scenes in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen between Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox.


The Story

2007's Transformers set up the story of the Autobots versus Decepticons for Transformers newbies like myself, and then served up a semi-decent plot along with a whole lot of action. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen doesn't even really attempt to follow more than the most threadbare of storylines. The Decepticons want to blow up our sun, the Autobots want to protect us, the Army guys are fully behind the Autobots, Sam Witwicky is at the heart of the problem/solution, and there's a government idiot who tries to block the good guys from helping us fight the bad guys. Nutshell, meet Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.


The Bottom Line

Michael Bay ups the ante this time, bringing in bigger robots, bigger explosions, and longer fight scenes taking place in more exotic locations. It's Transformers on steroids. Even the humor of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is bigger, with Sam Witwicky's parents doing an empty nest syndrome display of emotions taken to the nth degree. Bay even throws in 'twin' transformers with personalities lifted straight from badly written urban sitcoms. You'll either find these two characters offensive or flat-out funny; there will be no middle of the road reaction to Skids and Mudflap. And, of course, Turturro can be counted on for a laugh or two or three or four. Remember, everything is bigger in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - even Turturro.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is what it is: a big-budget spectacle with an incredible amount of action, a frivolous plot, and one hot chick. The robot on robot fight scenes are fantastic (even if you can't tell who is who), the visual effects are absolutely terrific, and the sound effects will nearly have you bouncing out of your seat.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen goes on too long (at least a half an hour too long), but it never attempts to be anything other than what it is - a big, bombastic, brainless summer action movie. If it's wit and depth and gritty performances you're looking for, then you're looking in the wrong place. But if all you want is to spend a few hours in a theater getting your ears pummeled and feasting your eyes on over-the-top but totally entertaining fight scenes, then Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is like Christmas or Hanukkah (or whatever winter holiday you celebrate) in June.

JENNIFER'S BODY MOVIE REVIEW

Megan Fox is no Ellen Page, and Jennifer's Body is no Juno. The crisp, biting dialogue screenwriter Diablo Cody wrote and Page so effectively delivered in Juno won that film numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Cody tries to replicate the hip, 'I've got a comeback for everything' lines she crafted for Page as an independent, outspoken, pregnant high school student in Juno in Jennifer's Body, her first attempt at a horror film. But this time around those same sort of lines trip awkwardly out of Fox's pouty mouth. They're in no way believable.
Not one line of dialogue sounds as though it came from Fox's brain. Cody's script and Fox's inability to act the part combine to make Jennifer's Body DOA.
A chief complaint of Juno's detractors was that the dialogue was so stylized, so tight, that no normal teens who didn't have a camera turned their way would ever engage in the conversations Cody concocted. I actually loved the script, the acting, the directing, and just about everything else about Juno. Sure, the dialogue was too smart, but it worked because all the elements of the piece melded and merged, combining to make it one of the most entertaining films of 2007. Screw with any one ingredient and Juno would have snuck quietly and quickly in and out of theaters. It needed the complete package to be firing on all cylinders. Meanwhile Cody's follow-up project, Jennifer's Body, is a misfire from the get-go. Wrong lead actress, a tone that's all over the place, and a plot that's so simplistic and silly as to be completely laughable - except in the parts where it was meant to be humorous.
A 'horror' film without any scares, Jennifer's Body is a female-centric piece (starring, written by, and directed by females) that does nothing to move women-driven forward. I expected more from Cody's script. Jennifer's Body is too self-consciously clever and tries too hard to impress.

The Story

Narcissistic cheerleader/all around witch Jennifer wants to go to a concert to see some pretty boys playing their instruments while wearing guy-liner and gothic duds. Dragging her nerdy best friend Needy (you can tell she's a nerd because she wears glasses) along to a roadhouse, Jennifer venomously attacks anyone who dares to approach her - if they're not with the band.
Of course the guys in the band notice her, and of course they're interested. But what Jennifer doesn't know is that these guys are looking for a virgin to sacrifice in order to became famous musicians. When they ask if she's had sex, she thinks it'll turn them off if she says yes so she claims to be untouched - exactly the wrong thing to say in this particular instance. Sacrificing a non-virgin to whatever dark force they're trying to get in good with only leads to their victim turning into a demon. In this case, a demon who likes to eat high school boys.
Meanwhile Needy slowly realizes there's something seriously wrong with her BFF. Hello! She spits up black fluid and looks like death warmed over when she hasn't feasted on her new favorite food. Why does it take her so long to put two and two together? Don't glasses on teenage girls in Hollywood movies signify intelligence as well as nerdiness? Anyway, she figures it out and then has to come up with a way to stop Jennifer from off'ing any more members of the opposite sex.

The Cast

At no time during Jennifer's Body do you ever forget this is Megan Fox and believe she's a real high school student who just happens to have been taken over by a demon. Pouting and posing your way through scenes is not acting, and Karyn Kusama's direction requires little more of Fox than just that. We get it - she's hot. But come on now...adding a little umph to scenes by relying on something other than looks would have gone a long way in making Jennifer's Body at least sufferable. The contrast between what Fox does with a scene and what her 'ugly duckling' co-star Amanda Seyfried is able to do with the same material is like night and day. Seyfried's dialogue and storyline is no better written or fleshed out than Fox's, yet Seyfried brings her best to the game, elevating the acting from junior high talent show level.

The Bottom Line

Too forced, too trite, too everything, Jennifer's Body doesn't have a clue what it wants to be. Or, wait, maybe there was a goal in place at the beginning, but it was lost somewhere between the initial concept and hiring on the cast and director. What's this movie supposed to be? Whatever it was aiming for, it fell far short of its target. There's hardly any scares, very few laughs, and a gratuitous kissing scene between Fox and Seyfried that's not as hot as you'd imagine and feels like it was forced into the story just to make some fanboys happy. Jennifer's Body is pretty to look at, but there's nothing of substance there. Other than Fox's good looks (and no, she doesn't get naked), there's nothing to see in Jennifer's Body.

WATCHMEN MOVIE REVIEW

Yes, I've read Watchmen. And yes, I do believe it is one of the most interesting, involving, thought-provoking, mind-blowing books I've ever read of any genre. Anyone who's read my reviews of comic book-inspired movies knows I've never claimed to be a comic book fan. I usually steer clear of the medium, but Watchmen was a must-read (actually a must-read over and over). And being a Watchmen fan going into Warner Bros Pictures' and Zack Snyder's film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' critically acclaimed work, I had high hopes for this feature film based on what's widely regarded as unfilmable source material.
Did Snyder's cinematic vision live up to expectations? Absolutely. Snyder and writers David Hayter and Alex Tse had to lose portions of the graphic novel (which first appeared as a comic book series in the mid-1980s) in order to condense the story into a reasonable running time and comprehensible narrative. They also had the difficult task of making the film accessible to those who haven't read Watchmen without trampling on the dreams of Watchmen fans who've been waiting decades for a movie based on Moore and Gibbons' characters.
Watchmen fans must realize going in that this is not a panel by panel adaptation in the vein of 300. That would have been an impossible endeavor given the richness and sheer depth of the graphic novel. As such, important portions of Watchmen have been left out. Failing to make the cut in the feature film are any mentions of Tales of the Black Freighter (an animated short is being released separately on DVD) and Hollis Mason's Under the Hood. And Watchmen the movie relegates the past members of the Minutemen to mere fleeting glimpses in the film's marvelously inventive opening credits (one of the best lead-ins to a film I can recall). The ending's also been drastically tweaked. But all that aside, most importantly, the message, the tone, and the six central characters have made the leap to the big screen nearly completely intact.




The Set-Up
Alan Moore used Watchmen as a way to deconstruct the superhero genre while at the same time reflecting on world issues. What sacrifices would we be willing to make in order to save the world from itself? Does the end justify the means, if it entails the loss of life in order to stop a nuclear war?
Watchmen is set in an alternate 1980's reality in which presidential term limits are no longer enforced and the Doomsday Clock is closer than ever to striking midnight as the United States and Russia move toward nuclear war. In this twisted world, costumed vigilantes once worked side by side with law enforcement. Known as the Minutemen, these crime-fighters didn't have any special powers, just the desire to clean up the streets. As the original group aged and moved on, a new wave of costumed crime-fighters popped up. This new group (the Crimebusters) followed in the footsteps of the Minuteman, rounding up bank robbers and murderers, all without the backing of the power of a badge. But the tide eventually turned and costume-wearing vigilantes were forced into retirement with the passage of the Keene Act (the film glosses over this part of the story).
It's important to note the only member of this elite group with actual superhero powers is Dr. Manhattan, a former physicist named Jon Osterman who was tragically and traumatically transformed into an omnipotent blue being with the power to be anywhere at any moment and the ability to reshape particles. His existence helped the United States win the Vietnam War and has our enemies, particularly the Soviet Union, on edge.
After the passage of the Keene Act, Dr Manhattan and The Comedian, a ruthless, morally bankrupt, cold-blooded killer, are allowed to continue to work with/work for the government. Rorschach, another member of the team, continues to hunt down villains but does so unofficially, outside the confines of the law.




The Story
Although Snyder and company serve up backstories by way of flashbacks, most of the action in the movie Watchmen takes place following the murder of The Comedian. Rorschach becomes driven to find the truth behind who killed The Comedian (someone he holds in high regard despite his despicable acts). In order to ferret out the killer and find out if whoever it is is targeting costumed vigilantes and for what purpose, Rorschach pulls his old crime-fighting compadres out of retirement. As Rorschach, Nite Owl II, and Silk Spectre II dig into this plot to kill all 'superheroes', they uncover a conspiracy the depths of which they never anticipated upon hearing the news of The Comedian's murder.




The Cast
Watchmen is an ensemble piece brought to life by actors who aren't big name movie stars, a fact which works in its favor as no one actor overshadows any of the others. Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Grey's Anatomy, Supernatural) embraces the role of a cigar chomping slayer who doesn't view violence as an option but rather as a necessity to keeping the peace. The Comedian's an emotionally damaged man, and Morgan plays him with a nasty twinkle in his eye that's something to behold.

Billy Crudup's all but unrecognizable once he transforms from Jon Osterman into Dr. Manhattan. Crudup wore a performance capture suit (which caused him to be the source of many laughs on the set) to play Dr Manhattan and it's his face and voice that give life to the huge, floating blue presence in Watchmen. Using a carefully modulated speech pattern, Crudup wholly conveys Dr Manhattan's detachment from the world around him. A side note: the big blue penis isn't Crudup's.
Patrick Wilson dons the costume of the crime-fighting bird lover Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II who can't get it up without getting the costume on. Rich and retired, Dan let himself go physically, and Wilson, who normally looks fit enough to star in ads for exercise equipment, totally transformed into this guy. Nite Owl II really is a heroic figure, a good and decent man who truly believed what the masked crime-fighters did helped innocent people. Dan's got a strong sense of right and wrong, and Wilson does a terrific job of making the audience connect with this guy who's lost without his costumed alter-ego.
Malin Akerman carries the load for women, representing females in Watchmen's male-dominated alternate reality. Carla Gugino shows up in a few brief but pivotal scenes as Akerman's character's retired crime-fighting mom – the original Silk Spectre – but for the most part it's up to Akerman as Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre II to provide the female perspective. Silk Spectre II has a rocky relationship with her mother (who was raped by The Comedian) and she's torn between two men and torn apart by the knowledge of who her father might be. Yet she's still a strong woman. And physically she's just as capable of kicking ass as her male cohorts. Akerman's not known for action roles, but she handles the fight scenes well and definitely heats up the screen during her love scenes with Wilson and Crudup. Plus, she looks gorgeous in latex.
Matthew Goode has one of the more difficult tasks in the film, giving life to the one main character who doesn't get as much screen time as the rest of the group. Goode plays Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias as a slightly effeminate admirer of Alexander the Great who speaks with the barest whisp of a German accent. Considered the smartest human being on the planet, Adrian Veidt is a puppet master and Goode plays him as though he possesses many secrets behind his smug, holier than thou smile.
If there's one actor who steals scenes in Watchmen it's Jackie Earle Haley as Walter Kovacs/Rorschach. Hidden behind a mask for the majority of the film, Haley brings Rorschach to life on the screen exactly how he was written in Watchmen. It's a perfect, flawless match between actor and character.




The Bottom Line
The film opens with the death of The Comedian quickly followed by a six-minute opening credits sequence that's absolutely breathtaking. Backed by a lengthened version of Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin', this unforgettable montage of scenes plunges us into the universe of Watchmen as it moves through the past exposing the history of the costumed vigilantes leading up to the film's present day. Watchmen fans will either be dismayed by how Snyder condensed so much from the graphic novel into that opening or will embrace the fact he was able to get as much as he did into such a short segment and still add his own touches to specific characters backstories. I embraced it (particularly the bit on the grassy knoll in Dallas) and felt it set the perfect tone for the remaining two hours and 40ish minutes.
Now, Watchmen does have its flaws. I missed the interaction at the newsstand that was in the graphic novel, and I would have liked to see more of the original Minutemen. But I've got to say that without making a five-hour long movie, I'm not sure there was a way to make a better Watchmen movie. The production design is incredible, the effects are absolutely first-rate, the acting is top-notch, and Snyder chose exactly the right songs for crucial moments in the film.
Watchmen is not a film for everyone and it won't connect with audiences looking for the standard superhero genre flick. Watchmen is unflinchingly violent, there's nudity (Dr Manhattan's penis is right there in your face – even if you blink, you won't miss it), raw sex, and there's none of the lighthearted superhero-type moments in this that we've come to expect from major motion picture adaptations of comic books. Watchmen presents a world in which actions have real consequences and they're not necessarily pretty, and if people were in fact superheroes, they'd be warped and in desperate need of some serious therapy. This film's gritty and nasty and you want to wash your hands when you're done watching it. But I'm betting after just one screening of the film, you'll think more about Watchmen than any other comic book/graphic novel-inspired movie you've ever witnessed.

UP MOVIE REVIEW

How does Pixar continue to do it? 'It' being put out quality films that spring from simple, straightforward stories that are designed to engage all age groups, aren't offensive, are entertaining, gorgeous to behold, and don't disappear from your memory 10 minutes after you exit the theater. With each new release Pixar manages to best itself even when it seems doing so would be an impossibility. Pixar's ninth film, WALL-E, set the bar high but somehow, someway, Up manages to top it - a task I personally never thought they'd be able to accomplish.
I mean come on! Up's the story of an old man who ties balloons to his house. He looks grumpy, I can't relate to him, and just an old guy floating off in space isn't exactly the most compelling premise I can think of for an animated movie. Yet within 5 minutes, maybe even less, Up pulled me in and I never wanted the movie to end. The same thing happened with WALL-E. A lonely robot left on the planet has to clean up garbage and that's supposed to be entertaining? I said, "That'll never work." Yes, I ate those words. I'll happily munch on some more after doubting Pixar could make me like a grouchy senior citizen who dreams of adventures in a far-off land.


The Story
We first meet up with Carl Fredericksen as a young boy who dreams of being an adventurer as he watches newsreel footage of explorer Charles Muntz. Carl's quiet and sort of shy, but his love of Muntz leads him to Ellie, a sassy little girl who is as outgoing as Carl is introverted. They make for a great team and in fact will go on to share their lives together. From elementary school through high school and on up into adulthood, Carl and Ellie are inseparable, sharing every moment of joy and sadness together while dreaming of a time when they can actually take off on an adventure in the wilds of South America just like their hero, Muntz. But jobs and health issues and whatnot have a way of intruding on dreams, and Carl and Ellie grow old never having visited the South American jungles. And then, sadly, Carl becomes a widower with just his lovely little house and his beautiful memories of Ellie to keep him company.
Writer/directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson tell us all this in no more than the first 20 minutes of Up. So much backstory crammed into such a small time frame - they should teach other filmmakers how to accomplish this with as much integrity and finesse as they display here.
Unfortunately, Carl's home is right in the path of new construction. Unable to stand up legally to those who want to level his house, Carl finds the perfect way to keep his home intact. He'll kill two birds with one stone. He wants to visit South America before it's too late and he needs to remove his house from its current location. The solution: ties thousands of helium-filled balloons to his roof and float away. He's even rigged up a way to steer.
But Carl fails to take into consideration the persistent presence of an overly helpful Wilderness Explorer scout named Russell. Russell didn't know of Carl's planned getaway and was on the porch when Carl's house lifted off. With no way to put the house down and South America set as his goal, Carl and Russell become unlikely traveling companions. Touching down just short of his target landing spot - Paradise Falls - Carl and Russell must walk the house (with balloons still attached) a mile or two to the perfect spot.
On the way to the house's final resting spot they meet up with a huge exotic bird Russell names Kevin (why? who knows) and a super friendly dog named Dug (not Doug). Dug's wearing a fancy collar that allows his thoughts to be translated into English, a plot device that's so incredibly funny that Dug deserves a film all to himself. Dug's mind works about how you'd expect a canine's thought process to, with lots of happy thoughts interrupted often by shouts of Squirrel!
So, now they're in South America and all is as it's supposed to be, right? Nope. There's danger lurking around every corner for poor Kevin, and it's up to Carl, Russell, and Dug to keep the rare bird safe.


The Bottom Line
What can be said of Pixar's animation that hasn't already been said time and time again? It's dazzling, simply stunning to take in, and so incredibly beautiful you forget you're watching an animated film and instead just lose yourself in an amazing adventure. From dog hair to bird feathers to the humans in Up to the 10,000 balloons that hold up Carl's home, Up animators have surprised us once again by surpassing the quality and beauty of every previous Pixar film. And let's face it, Pixar is the standard bearer for this medium. They do it better than every other studio out there, and that's because they never sacrifice character development for cute/fancy animated tricks. They don't play down to kids, they don't take shortcuts in plot development, and they are able to get you emotionally involved and invested in animated characters in a way their competitors have never been able to duplicate.
Up plays on your heartstrings and there are one or two scenes which may have you grabbing for a tissue. I'm not joking about that. It got to me and I don't get emotional about a film unless an animal dies (no, that's not what happens in Up). And speaking of animals, dog lovers are going to go crazy over Dug. He's an adorable little guy who's brave and loyal and is sure to remind you of your own furry best friend.
Up is storytelling at its best. The adventure film takes audiences through the full spectrum of emotions, with action and thrills mixed with comedy and suspense. A sure lock on an animated film Oscar nod, Up delivers a wondrous world filled with people and creatures you'll fall head over heels in love with. Up earns a spot as one of the best films of the year, and not just in the animated category.

PUBLIC ENEMIES MOVIE REVIEW

Leave it to Michael Mann to usher in a new, beautiful, in your face way to approach gangster films. Shot in high-def digital, Universal Pictures' Public Enemies is stunningly gorgeous and absolutely breathtaking, a moving piece of art that breathes fresh life into a bygone era.
During this 2009 summer season when brainless entertainment (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), a Pixar masterpiece (Up), and a hysterical R-rated buddy comedy (The Hangover) are ruling the roost, plopping one of the better dramas Hollywood's put together in years into theaters is a risky move. Audiences are avoiding dramas as though they were the cause of swine flu, but Public Enemies does have three important ingredients working in its favor: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, and Michael Mann. This fearsome, fearless threesome could sway adults looking for an escape from the usual summer fare into taking a risk on something more intense. And it's most definitely a risk worth taking. Public Enemies is violent and graceful, and filled with dazzling performances from a cast hitting on all cylinders led by a man who pays attention to the most minute detail.


The Story
Public Enemies is based on the book Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34, a meticulously researched examination of American history at a time when a motley collection of Depression era gangsters had law enforcement agencies spinning their wheels. While Bryan Burrough's book traced the criminal careers of Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Alvin Karpis and the Barker family, Mann and fellow screenwriters Ann Biderman and Ronan Bennett chose to concentrate on the fascinating Dillinger (played by Depp).
Dubbed Public Enemy Number One by FBI Chief J Edgar Hoover (played by Billy Crudup in a terrific supporting performance), Dillinger was viewed as a Robin Hood-type hero by the American populace. Dillinger robbed banks but never took money from the hard-working men and women who happened to be doing business in those banks at the time of his robberies. With much of the population barely scraping by during those hard times, Dillinger - a good-looking, charismatic Indiana farm boy - captivated Americans and had them rooting for the bad guy rather than the police, a fact which rankled Hoover to no end. The FBI was just emerging as a law enforcement agency to be reckoned with and Hoover, who had his fair share of detractors, used Dillinger and his notoriety as a way to push the bureau and his War on Crime more prominently into the spotlight. Hoover devoted all of his resources to putting an end to Dillinger's criminal career, promoting FBI Agent Melvin Purvis (played by Christian Bale) to the head of the Chicago office and placing him in charge of taking down Dillinger.
Mann's Public Enemies narrows the focus to the latter part of Dillinger's life, skipping over how and why he became a bank robber. Instead of showing his formative years, Mann chose to pick up Dillinger's story in the middle of the action, beginning the film with Dillinger and his right-hand man, Red (played by a scene-stealing Jason Clarke), springing Walter Dietrich from prison. Later we see Dillinger arrested and his own daring escape from prison while using a fake gun (a true story). Public Enemies also shows Dillinger doing what he did best, robbing banks. Calm, cool and collected, Dillinger would leap over teller counters while brandishing his tommy gun and a smile. Courteous and charming to the women bank employees, even the ones he used as human shields during getaways, Dillinger and his gang were always one step ahead of the police and the FBI. How could they not be when they had the fastest cars, the most powerful guns, and although Dillinger would deny ever doing so, they weren't afraid of killing those who stood in their way. Plus, as Dillinger says to his lady love, coat check girl Billie Frechette (played by Marion Cotillard), they could hit any bank at any time while the police had to be on the look-out at every bank every day.
Dillinger and his cohorts knew they weren't long for this world, living a lifestyle that all but guaranteed a short lifespan. But it was ultimately Dillinger's love of Hollywood and the movies that did him in. Betrayed by the infamous Woman in Red (she really wore orange), Dillinger was gunned down by a team of FBI agents and ex-Texas Rangers headed up by Melvin Purvis outside of the Biograph Theater in Chicago in 1934.


The Cast
Even though we know this is how the story ends - it's an indisputable fact - just like Dillinger's contemporaries, the Public Enemies audience is rooting for Johnny Depp as Dillinger to somehow escape the trap, take off to some exotic locale, and live out a long life with Billie Frechette at his side. Depp's captivatingly charming portrayal of Dillinger cries out for a happier ending. Depp's Dillinger is a likable guy, smooth and smart, who just happens to be a bank robber. He could be violent, but it's his softer side as he falls deeply in love with Billie Frechette that makes Depp's Dillinger so engrossing. This Dillinger's a foolish romantic first, gangster second.
As Dillinger's one true love, Oscar winner Marion Cotillard (La vie en rose) is simply incredible. She and Depp have fantastic chemistry, and Michael Mann allows their intimate moments to linger on screen, making the relationship feel more immediate and real.
Christian Bale plays it smooth as Melvin Purvis, an agent who used his brains and new investigative techniques to try and outsmart Public Enemy Number One. Bale delivers a real grounded performance and his icy demeanor is the perfect counterpart to Depp's more engaging Dillinger.


The Bottom Line
The meticulous attention paid to every little detail, including Mann's choice to film as much as possible at the actual locations where Dillinger hid out and where he died, makes the 1930s not only come alive but fairly jump off the screen. The cinematography is first rate and I was blown away - almost literally - by the sound design. Mann also does a great job with the shoot-outs, especially the Little Bohemia showdown. The gun battle doesn't look choreographed at all. As the bullets fly and chaos erupts, viewers are brought into the fight as though we're there running alongside the fleeing Dillinger and Red.
Johnny Depp proves why he's considered one of the best actors working in films today and under the guidance of Michael Mann, Depp delivers a performance that'll stand the test of time. Public Enemies is a riveting, carefully paced character-driven piece that's a fascinating trip into American history. It's Michael Mann at his best.

THE INFORMANT MOVIE REVIEW

Matt Damon packed on 30 pounds to play a wacky, delusional corporate whistle-blower in The Informant!, a comedy which reunites the actor with his Ocean's 11, 12 and 13 director Steven Soderbergh. One of the most entertaining, well-written and funny movies of 2009, The Informant! was worth the weight gain for Damon as he delivers what's easily his best performance to date.
Damon is absolutely hysterical as a pudgy corporate semi-bigwig who agrees to cooperate with the FBI. Director Soderbergh shows a steady hand at the helm, letting scenes build and Damon shine as this bizarrely engaging nerdy guy with an inflated belief in his place in the world.
Giving more than the most rudimentary details of the plot away would be spoiling the fun of watching The Informant! slowly reveal its true colors. Damon plays Mark Whitacre, VP at agri-industry giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). Mark makes contact with the FBI on a minor matter that soon escalates into an major agency investigation of international price fixing. The more the FBI relies on Whitacre to get the goods on his higher-ups, the more of a loose cannon Whitacre becomes. He believes he's a James Bond of the corporate world, when he's really more like the klutzy Inspector Clouseau. Fumbling, bumbling, and stumbling his way through secret meetings, Mark does everything wrong yet not one corporate exec catches on.

I'm not always a fan of voice-over narration - I find it distracting and in some cases just lazy storytelling - but The Informant! makes the most of this creative device, and I can't imagine this tale unfolding without its use. As Whitacre, Damon's voice-over provides us with real insight into just how unstable and messed up this guy really is. Whitacre really believed that after turning in his bosses, he'd be handed the reins to run the company. It's so ludicrous yet this crazy guy, who has a closet full of disturbing secrets, thought he would come out smelling like a rose after the FBI wrapped up its case and those involved in price fixing were hauled away.
The story of Mark's cloak and dagger escapades would be ridiculously unbelievable if it weren't for the fact this film is based on true events. Adapted by Scott Z Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum) from Kurt Eichenwald's bestseller, The Informant! is weird, wacky and totally engaging. And it just gets more and more bizarre as the film goes on - don't go out for popcorn and/or a soda, you'll miss something important.

Damon's brilliant, Soderbergh's at the top of his game, and the entire cast of supporting players - led by Scott Bakula and Joel McHale as special agents assigned to work with Whitacre and Melanie Lynskey as Mark's wife - are absolutely terrific. The Informant! deserves its exclamation point.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRIENCE REVIEW

The battle between good and evil almost takes a backseat to the angst of young love in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth film of the Harry Potter series. These are dark times in the wizarding world, but for our young heroes it's also a time for flirting, a little romance, and some harmless snogging. Everyone knows the ultimate showdown between Harry Potter and Voldemort is fast approaching. The face-off between The Chosen One and The Dark Lord is no longer just something whispered about in dark corners or argued about over a butterbeer or two.
The air is thick and foreboding as Voldemort's an unseen, menacing presence hovering over Hogwarts. The Dark Lord's minions are no longer hiding out and instead are openly displaying their hatred for Muggles and those who follow Dumbledore. Much of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince takes place in the calm before the storm, excepting the last whirlwind half hour when events take place that forever alter the lives of our young wizard friends.
Yet even in these sinister days, time must be taken for teens to do what teens do – they explore relationship possibilities. And Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince devotes a good portion of its running time to fleshing out Harry, Ron, and Hermione's burgeoning love lives.



The Story

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince starts off with a rush of activity as the citizens of London come under attack by Death Eaters. Though they can't see the creatures wreaking havoc on the city, they feel the affects of each attack. Millennium Bridge collapses killing untold numbers, however no one outside of the wizarding world understands this is just the beginning of destruction should Voldemort fully return.
Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) knows time is running out and so he seeks out Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) to accompany him on an extremely important visit with Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), a retired Hogwarts potions professor. Buried in Slughorn's memory is a conversation that took place with a teenaged Tom Riddle, a pivotal conversation in young Riddle's life and one that's vitally important to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore plays on Slughorn's vanity, dangling the opportunity to get close to Hogwarts' most famous student as a means to get Slughorn back on staff. Slughorn 'collects' students from prestigious families or ones who've earned their own sort of fame, and the prospect of adding Harry to his elite Slug Club is too much for Slughorn to pass up. With Slughorn installed as the new potions teacher, Dumbledore tasks Harry with getting close to the professor and getting him to reveal the secret he's kept hidden for these long years.
While the forces of good are busy on their quest for knowledge, Voldemort's recruited Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) for a very special mission, a mission Draco's mother, Narcissa (Helen McCrory), and Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) make Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) commit to an unbreakable pledge to assist with. Draco spends his days skulking about, sneaking off into the Room of Requirement and experimenting with a vanishing cabinet, looking nauseated, scared to death, and pissed off at the world all at the same time. It's not a task Draco relishes, but one he has no option but to carry out.
Meanwhile, the romantic yearnings of our favorite threesome of teen wizards provides welcome moments of comic relief. Harry's hot for Ron's younger sister, Ginny (Bonnie Wright), but Ginny's got a boyfriend. Ron's gotten himself involved in a relationship with Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave) and this is driving poor Hermione (Emma Watson) absolutely mad. She's miserable, but Ron either can't or chooses not to see what's so obvious to everyone else.
The relationship between Dumbledore and Harry Potter, built up over the course of five years together at Hogwarts, has reached a point in which the 150+ year old professor has come to rely heavily on his young student. Dumbledore confides more in Harry, sharing the memories he's collected over the years, and even takes Harry on a secret and perilous journey to collect an item hidden away by Voldemort. But when it comes time for a pivotal event in the battle between good and evil, Dumbledore orders Harry to hide and not intervene, leaving Harry to witness a devastating act that sets up the events in the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which Warner Bros smartly chose to break into two films).


The Acting

The acting skills of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint get better with each successive Harry Potter film. It's surreal to go back and watch Sorcerer's Stone and see just how young these guys were when the franchise kicked off back in 2001. It doesn't feel like it was all that long ago that Radcliffe, Watson and Grint first donned the red and gold of Gryffindor house. Now the three will, no matter what they go on to do, forever be associated with one of the biggest movie franchises of all time. Hopefully they'll come out of it in better shape than some actors who've headlined franchises...

rest of the cast is top notch, from Michael Gambon to Jim Broadbent to Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange (I love her in this role - perfect casting). Bonnie Wright and Tom Felton have expanded roles in this franchise entry, and are thoroughly up to the challenge. And as always Alan Rickman makes Snape someone you love to watch onscreen, despite how you actually feel about the character.



The Bottom Line
This is David Yates' second Harry Potter film and he's obviously comfortable in this world of wizards and Death Eaters and magical creatures created by J.K. Rowling. I'm anxious to see what Yates and returning screenwriter Steve Kloves (he only missed Order of the Phoenix) are able to do with Deathly Hallows.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince isn't the most action-packed Harry Potter film, but what it lacks in thrilling scenes of magical maneuverings, it makes up for in character development and emotional depth. The visual effects, while stunning, do not overwhelm and slip unobtrusively into scenes.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban remains my favorite Harry Potter film thus far. But Half-Blood Prince is a worthy addition to the Harry Potter franchise, one that will likely be loved more by those who've read the books than by those who only know the Harry Potter universe from what they've seen onscreen. There are major chunks of Rowling's sixth book that didn't make the transition to the big screen, but what's there is perfectly in keeping with the tone and themes expressed in the Half-Blood Prince the book.

THE COLLECTOR MOVIE REVIEW

WHAT IT’S ABOUT?

Sleepy-eyed Arkin is a petty thief who uses his legit job as a day-laborer for a remodeling company to case potential targets. Desperate to raise the cash necessary to settle a debt with his ex-wife, who herself is in deep with some nasty loansharks, he goes for one last score by raiding the bucolic home of his most recent employer, a wealthy family that’s just left town on vacation. But when he arrives at the house to do the job, Arkin quickly realizes that the family never left; they became captives of Jigsaw — errr, the Collector — a masked maniac who’s gone a step beyond the standard torture routine by rigging the entire house with a series of elaborate booby traps to ensure that anyone attempting to escape is met with an excruciating end. It’s that latter detail that helps convince Arkin to stay and try to put a stop to the Collector’s evil ambitions.

WHO’S IN IT?

In the grand low-budget horror tradition, The Collector's cast is stocked with a group of attractive, little-known, modestly talented actors working presumably for scale, led by Josh Stewart (episodes of CSI: Miami and Criminal Minds), Andrea Roth (Rescue Me, one episode of Lost), Madeline Zima (Californication, an episode of Grey’s Anatomy), Daniella Alonso (one episode each on CSI, Knight Rider and Without a Trace) and ... honestly, does it really matter who the rest of the cast members are? Most of them are drenched in blood and virtually unrecognizable for the most part, anyway.

WHAT’S GOOD?

Could there be a less appealing tagline to a movie than “from the writers of Saw IV, V and VI?” The phrase essentially means, if we’re lucky, The Collector has a chance at being just as lame and played-out as those flicks have become. Huzzah! As you might expect from the pedigree of its filmmakers, Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, The Collector’s plot involves a sadistic madman subjecting assorted victims to various grisly, surprisingly imaginative forms of torture. But unlike the latter Saw flicks, The Collector manages to introduce some new elements that add a solid degree of suspense those films have increasingly lacked. In short, it’s actually scary — in the beginning, at least.

WHAT’S BAD?

The acting, not surprisingly, ranges from average to distractingly poor. But that’s par for the course for films of this ilk. What’s most unfortunate about The Collector is that it gradually dispenses with the horror and substitutes torture in its place, its tone transitioning disappointingly from frightening to repulsive during the second act. Then, as if to emphasize the change, the final third of the film is littered with one gruesome money shot after another. There’s nary a sensitive body part that doesn’t get punctured, torn, sliced or straight-up lopped off by the closing credits.

FAVORITE SCENE?

When Arkin first enters the house, director Marcus Dunstan pieces together a gripping cat-and-mouse chase as the Collector slowly stalks his uninvited guest. As the would-be thief encounters one disturbing trap after another in his vain effort to escape, Dunstan raises the tension to a fever pitch by blending tried-and-true horror devices (the creaky stairwell, et al.) with expert timing and camera work.

PARTING SHOT

The Collector is like the MacGyver of horror villains, jury-rigging his adopted lair with enough ghastly booby traps — all made with common household items, no less — to impress the Viet Cong. The place is like Disneyland for murdurous sociopaths.

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS REVIEW

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Based on the beloved children’s book by Judi and Ron Barrett, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs tells the tale of Flint Lockwood, an eccentric young inventor who spends his days in a makeshift laboratory, building monkey-thought translators, spray-on shoes, “hair unbalder” serums and other strange creations. Regarded as a troublemaker and a nuisance by the residents of the small town of Swallow Falls, Flint dreams of one day making something that will win their respect and earn him a place alongside the Edisons and Da Vincis of the world. Flint thinks his latest invention, a machine that turns ordinary water into gourmet meals at the touch of a button, just might do the trick. But his big unveiling goes predictably awry when his machine launches like a rocket through Swallow Falls, laying waste to the town square before eventually disappearing into the stratosphere. Just when it appears that the townsfolk have finally had enough of Flint’s antics, salvation arrives in the form of cheeseburgers raining from the sky, thrilling the throngs of hungry people below. Success! Flint’s machine actually works — albeit not quite in the manner he originally intended.

WHO’S IN IT?

Lending his voice to the character of Flint is Bill Hader, a Saturday Night Live regular who’s appeared in small roles in a ton of high-profile comedies, including Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. Anna Faris (The House Bunny) co-stars as Sam Sparks, a weathergirl whose bubbly on-screen persona masks a keen intellect she’s terrified to reveal — lest she be branded a “nerd” and shunned by the community of shallow, talking-head news correspondents. Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell voices the sleazy, manipulative Mayor Shelbourne, a wildly ambitious politician who eyes Flint’s invention as his ticket to higher office. James Caan (The Godfather) plays Flint’s well-meaning but emotionally distant father Tim, a blue-collar fisherman who can’t find a way to relate to his brainy offspring. And fans of A-Team and Rocky III will instantly recognize the voice of Mr. T as Earl Devereaux, the tough-minded town cop whose job is devoted primarily to preventing Flint from inadvertently destroying the town. Rounding out the main cast is Neil Patrick Harris (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) as Flint’s trusted monkey assistant, Steve.

WHAT’S GOOD?

The animation of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is truly a joy to behold. With each successive meal that falls from the sky comes a brilliant new array of patterns and colors, all of which burst from the screening in dazzling 3-D. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller rightly recognize the visual potential of the source material, with its endless variety of colorful food items, and serve up a delicious buffet of brilliantly-rendered set pieces. But the film isn’t just a bundle of digital eye candy. Perhaps most pleasantly surprising about the film is the script’s sharp wit and clever observations, which help make the experience enjoyable on a cerebral as well as visceral level.

WHAT’S BAD?

Lord and Miller, who also co-wrote the adapted screenplay, did a generally solid job expanding the relatively thin source material for the big screen, but the story still feels weak at times. It’s just engaging enough to keep you interested, but not quite enough to make a lasting impression.

PARTING SHOT

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is something of a culinary rollercoaster. As food first begins to fall from the sky, you might find yourself feeling a bit hungry. But as the plot progresses and Flint’s machine starts to spin out of control, bombarding the town with every kind of slop imaginable, don’t be surprised if your stomach starts to get a little queasy!

LOVE HAPPENS MOVIE REVIEW

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Pity there aren’t more stringent “truth in labeling” laws for movies like Love Happens. From the film’s title and its innumerable ads featuring stars Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart locked in a smiling embrace, one might reasonably assume Love Happens to be a charming romantic comedy, in which its two attractive leads bicker and flirt for a breezy 85 minutes before finally realizing that they’re meant for each other. That assumption would be catastrophically incorrect, for there isn’t much comedy to be found in Love Happens. Nor is there much romance, for that matter. And come to think about it, there really isn’t a whole lot of Jennifer Aniston, exactly one half of the aforementioned misleading embrace, to be found in the movie either. (Click here for Aniston's take on the matter.)That leaves us with the obvious question: What, then, is Love Happens? It’s a drama centering on the emotional journey of Burke Ryan (Eckhart), a handsome widower who parlays the tragedy of his wife’s untimely death into a bestselling self-help book and a sold-out workshop tour, becoming something like the Tony Robbins of grieving. (He's even aped the walking-on-hot-coals gimmick from the toothy motivational speaker.) Though his adopted career is a smashing success, not much else is well in Burke’s world. Truth be told, he never truly reconciled himself with his wife’s tragic passing, and has heretofore nursed his denial with a steady diet of alcohol and avoidance. That is until he runs into Eloise Chandler (Aniston), a refreshingly blunt free spirit whose own love life is marked by disappointment and heartbreak. Though just a humble florist with no apparent training in psychology, Eloise immediately sees through the confident, upbeat persona that Burke has carefully constructed. They can ease each other's pain, but the healing won’t begin unless both of them are willing to let down their guard and let love -- wait for it -- happen.

WHO’S IN IT?

In addition to Aniston and Eckhart, Love Happens’ cast includes Dan Fogler (Balls of Fury) as Burke’s smarmy agent and former college roommate, Judy Greer (27 Dresses) as (what else?) Eloise’s quirky sidekick, John Carroll Lynch (Zodiac) as one of Burke’s more skeptical workshop attendees, and Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now) as his resentful father-in-law.

WHAT’S GOOD?

Misleading marketing aside, Love Happens writer/director Brandon Camp does make an earnest attempt to explore the grieving process of a man who has experienced unspeakable tragedy. Which is better than a saccharine, formulaic romantic comedy, I guess.

WHAT’S BAD?

For all its serious intentions, Love Happens bears all the hallmarks of a slick studio rom-com, including stereotypical supporting characters (his irreverent wing-man, her goofy confidante), contrived comic relief devices (Sheen plays straight man to a crazy parrot!) and manipulative tugs on the heartstrings (too many to mention). The whole experience comes off as sort of a second-rate Cameron Crowe flick.

PARTING SHOT

The climax of Love Happens includes a dramatic “slow clap,” in which the lead character finally breaks down in a cathartic release of pent-up emotion and is rewarded with a slow-building round of applause from onlookers. That’s pretty much all you need to know about this movie.

SURROGATES MOVIE REVIEW

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Set sometime in the near future, Surrogates imagines a world in which 99% of its inhabitants live their lives vicariously through “surrogates,” robotic avatars who brave the hazards of the physical world while their schlubby owners sit safely at home in computerized cocoons, experiencing it all via neural sensors affixed to their heads. Think of it as a flesh-and-blood version of World of Warcraft. Or Facebook. Or The Sims. Potential present-day analogies are practically infinite. As a consequence of mankind’s virtualized existence, violent crime has dropped to an all-time low, since any harm inflicted on a surrogate results in no such injury to its host. Folks are free to go about their increasingly decadent business without fear of the inevitable drawbacks that come with high-risk lifestyles. If their robotic counterpart happens to incur damage, or cease functioning altogether, owners can simply order a replacement from VSI, the suitably dubious mega-corporation in Surrogates that manufactures and markets the robots. Not everyone is eager to embrace this new world order, of course, and a determined group of quasi-religious luddites, led by a dreadlocked guru aptly named “The Prophet” (Ving Rhames), has assembled in major cities around the world. Eschewing most modern technology, they toil like the Amish in shabby communes as their Prophet regales them with apocalyptic diatribes. Back in the civilized world, cracks in the utopian edifice form when a pair of surrogate murders result in the deaths of their respective hosts, something heretofore considered impossible. Called in to investigate the first homicides in years, FBI agents Greer (Bruce Willis) and Peters (Radha Mitchell), discover that one of the victims is the son of Canter (James Cromwell), the very man who first invented robotic surrogates. Greer and Peters naturally assume the Prophet and his acolytes to be at the core of the conspiracy, but a nagging question remains: How could they gain access to the advanced technology necessary to create a weapon capable of killing both a surrogate and its host?

WHAT’S GOOD?

Clocking in at a breezy 88 minutes, Surrogates spares its audience the troubling metaphysical questions that so often characterize more ambitious sci-fi projects. Much like the robots at the heart of its story, director Jonathan Mostow’s (Terminator 3) film may be shallow and synthetic, but it sure is pretty to look at. Expect to spend more time contemplating Willis’ absurd blonde wig or Mitchell’s remarkable robotic rack than the implications of society’s increasing disconnect from itself.

WHAT’S BAD?

With its all-too-thin storyline and derivative characters, Surrogates makes for a forgettable, if occasionally entertaining, experience. A subplot involving the increasingly strained relationship between agent Greer and his wife (played by Rosamund Pike), presumably meant to add depth to Willis’ character, feels tedious and unnecessary. A monotonous score telegraphs every decisive moment in the film, ensuring that even the most oblivious viewer is aware that something important is about to happen. And despite director Mostow’s obvious proficiency with visual effects — both practical and digital — some set pieces look cheaply rendered.

PARTING SHOT

There are dozens — dozens — of car crashes in Surrogates, yet not a single airbag deploys. The future, it seems, has no place for proper automobile safety

ZOMBIELAND REVIEW

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

An American wasteland overrun by undead monsters provides the ideal setting for outrageous comedy in Zombieland, the debut feature from writer/director Ruben Fleischer. Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg play two human survivors who employ contrasting approaches to staving off the pesky flesh-eaters. Eisenberg’s Columbus is a neurotic worry-wart with a distinct obsessive-compulsive streak and a nagging case of irritable bowel syndrome who survives in Zombieland by adhering to a strict set of rules. Harrelson’s Tallahassee, on the other hand, is a whiskey-swilling cowboy who has no apparent rules of any kind, only a vast arsenal of weapons and an insatiable craving for Twinkies. After encountering each other on a deserted highway, the two opposites decide to join forces, if only to stave off the maddening solitude of Zombieland. But their numbers soon double when, during an abortive Twinkies expedition at an abandoned supermarket, they’re surprised to find a pair of enterprising young girls, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), hiding out in the stockroom. (All the characters are named after their hometowns, if you haven’t figured that out already.) Though their relationship gets off to a rough start (the seemingly innocent girls rob the gullible boys not once, but twice), the unlikely quartet become fast friends, and together embark on the perilous journey out west — to an abandoned theme park thought to be the only zombie-free sanctuary left on the planet.

THE VERDICT

It may be tempting to compare Zombieland to Shaun of the Dead, thus far the most successful zombie-themed horror-comedy to date, but Fleischer’s film bears little resemblance to UK director Edgar Wright’s indie classic. At its core, Zombieland is really a road-trip comedy in the vein of Vacation, Dumb and Dumber or, well, Road Trip, in which our heroes travel cross-country on a quest, encountering various obstacles along the way. In this case, the obstacles happen to be ravenous, cannibalistic zombies. And it works, thanks largely the charisma and chemistry of its lead actors and the irreverent wit of Fleischer, who proves that there are still plenty of laughs to be gleaned from the increasingly well-worn zombie oeuvre. The real hero of Zombieland, however, is Bill Murray. Just when the film exhausts its momentum and starts to meander, the legendary star of Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day arrives unexpectedly on the scene, delivering what is bound to be the most talked-about surprise cameo since Will Ferrell showed up at the end of Wedding Crashers. The presence of Murray and his trademark acerbic, deadpan style injects Zombieland with a welcome jolt of energy, giving it just enough gas to carry us through to the closing credits. (FYI: This is hardly a spoiler — Murray’s cameo is listed on IMDB.)

PARTING SHOT

Zombieland isn’t concerned about messages or metaphors or stern warnings about the future in which society is headed; it just wants to make you laugh and have a good time. In that sense, it’s an unqualified success.