Hancock (PG-13-2008)

In the summer of superhero movies, "Hancock" flew under the radar with "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man" getting all of the attention. While "Hancock" was not quite as good as either of those films, it certainly deserves some attention. Will Smith plays the titular Hancock, a superhero of sorts who is always drunk and lives in a broken down trailer. When trouble calls, he often answers, but "saves the day" while doing an immense amount of damage as he does not really care about collateral damage. When he saves the life of PR man Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), Embrey decides he is the right guy to rehabilitate Hancock's image and get him on the road to true hero status. This movie hits all of the right marks. It is funny when it needs to be funny, sad when it needs to be sad (almost gut-wrenchingly so in one sequence) and the action scenes are incredible. Will Smith and Jason Bateman have great chemistry and they make this story really work. While this is a more comedic turn on superhero movies, it is not as broad a comedy as you may think, nor is it a spoof. It has some great human moments and Smith does an excellent capturing the conflicted nature of this superhero. While the current commercials and even the DVD packaging lets you in on the one major surprise in the movie, I will not go into it here. I think it plays better if you try to avoid knowing. The language is definitely a little harsh for the younger crowd, so the PG-13 rating definitely applies. Overall, a very good action movie with a lot of heart.

Grade: B

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Transsiberian (R-2008)

Movies like "Transsiberian" are the reason I pay attention to independent movies. I had not heard of this one, but a co-worker mentioned it. After looking into it a little further, I gave it a try. Roy (Woody Harrelson) and Jessie (Emily Mortimer) are a couple traveling home from a humanitarian trip to China. Since Roy is into trains, they decide to travel on the famous Transiberian run, which goes from Beijing to Moscow. Along the way, they run into another couple (Eduardo Noriega and Kate Mara) and become friendly with them. They begin to find themselves in the middle of a mess involving drug trafficking and murder and have attracted the attention of a Russian detective (Ben Kingsley), who may have an agenda of his own. The storyline, the characters and the performances are all excellent. Ben Kingsley once again shows his ability to inhabit any role as he nails the Russian accent and mannerisms. Woody Harrelson is perfect as the somewhat overly naive and bubbly Roy, who is so mesmerized by the whole trip that he is oblivious to the sinister goings-on around him. Emily Mortimer does a nice job as the wife who finds herself getting attracted to the mysterious stranger, but quickly finds herself in way over her head. The story unfolds at a very nice pace, keeping you interested and involved with the characters as events transpire. "Transsiberian" is a very, very good film.

Grade: B+

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Rounders (R-1998)

"Rounders" is another movie that I am late to the game with. For reasons I cannot comprehend, I just saw it recently for the first time. Being a huge Edward Norton fan, I certainly should have gotten to it sooner. Matt Damon plays Mike McDermott, a former master poker player who is in law school trying to make a more straightforward living. This career choice was based on a night where he lost it all to Teddy KGB (John Malkovich), a local Russian mob boss. When his lifelong friend, Lester Murphy (Edward Norton) gets out of prison, he finds himself getting pulled back into the game, putting his current life in jeopardy. The performances across the board are outstanding. Damon shows the confidence and cockiness that would serve him well later in the "Bourne" series. Norton is perfect as the unreformable ex-con who can not let go of the ways that got him into trouble in the first place. Their relationship is reminiscent of Keitel and DeNiro in "Mean Streets" and Rourke and Roberts in "The Pope of Greenwich Village": the man trying to better himself while being dragged down by the volatile personality of someone very close to him. I've saved the best for last: John Malkovich is absolutely outstanding as Teddy KGB. His Russian accent is just slightly over the top, but that works perfectly and Malkovich, in only a few scenes, completely steals this movie. He is phenomenal in the climactic poker scene with Damon. I'm definitely sorry I missed this one for so long. Very good flick.

Grade: B+

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Apocalypto (R-2006)

My first observation about this movie is that Mel Gibson is one sick dude. He is fascinated with extinct languages and LOVES horrific, graphic violence. That said, he is also an amazing story-teller. I could almost see the progression here: Gibson to studio: "I want to make a movie about Jesus, but I only want to do the part where he is brutally and savagely beaten." Studio: "You're nuts, go do it yourself!". One huge hit later, Mel comes back. "Nice job, Mel, what's next?". "I want to do it again." "Apocalypto" is the very violent story of a Mayan tribal battle shortly before the end of the Mayan empire. The story is told through the eyes of Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) , a young warrior who is captured when his village is raided and unable to do anything when some of his fellow villagers are beheaded and offered up as sacrifices to the Mayan gods. When he gets the chance to escape, the film follows his chase through the jungles as he fights to survive and return to his very pregnant wife and son, who are hiding at the bottom of a deep hole. It is very beautifully shot and Gibson does a great job, once again, telling a story despite using a language that nobody speaks any more. Two minor critiques: The first "character development" part of the film seems like it is trying too hard to send the message that these tribal, primitive people are "just like us". One of the characters is complaining that his mother-in-law is on his case because she wants a grandson and is later the victim of a practical joke. Secondly, the ending has a couple of brief "Wow" shots that seem like the opening shots of an even more interesting movie. I'll leave it at that to not give anything away. Overall, a very good film.

Grade: B

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Lady in the Water (PG-13-2006)

Despite all of the negative hype and the Razzie Awards associated with this movie, I really wanted to like it. That negative press kept me from watching it this long, but with Paul Giamatti and M. Night Shyamalan involved, I just had to give it a chance. Well, I should have believed the hype. While it was not nearly as horrible as I had heard, I did find it to be slow and sort of uninteresting for a "fairy tale". Giamatti plays a superintendent for an apartment complex who finds a mysterious woman (Bryce Dallas Howard) in the complex's swimming pool. As it turns out, she is a "water person", a people who live in the water and never seem to have any contact with "land people" any more. For her to survive, he must find a way to return her to her native land and, for some reason, it is not as simple as bringing her to a body of water and dropping her in. The steps he must take are so convoluted and so mysterious that you just stop trying to follow them. One of the major issues with this film is that Shyamalan is somehow convinced that whispering equals drama. As in "The Village", so many of the scenes involve characters whispering to a point where you can not even understand what they are saying. Giamatti is as good as you would expect him to be, but the material does not make this one of the performances you would mind missing. Somehow, Shyamalan found a way to take an interesting, fantastical concept and keep it from being even remotely interesting.

Grade: D-

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Feast (R-2005)

"Feast" is sort of a tongue-in-cheek, does not take itself too seriously horror movie. While it is not a spoof or a straight comedy, it is definitely not trying to scare you too much, either. The thought occurred to me during this movie that makers of thrillers owe a tremendous debt to Agatha Christie. So many of these films follow the basic framework of her story "Ten Little Indians": a group of people are isolated and cut off from the rest of the world and then killed one by one by someone or something. In "Feast", it is a group of people in a bar who are not even given names, but are referred to by their character types ("Hero", "Coach", "Bozo", etc.). They are attacked and trapped inside by these vicious creatures of unknown origin. As with the formula, they are picked off one by one while the survivors try to find ways to defeat these monsters. At times, it tries too hard to be amusing. Some of the creatures "hump" their victims, which just comes across as silly, and there is even a "creature sex scene". What made me think this might be a fun flick was one scene in the trailer: "Hero" is yelling at the bar patrons and telling them what they should be doing. One of the patrons says "Who the Hell are you?". He responds "I'm the guy who's gonna save your ass!!" and is immediately ripped apart. Unfortunately, this is the best line/attack in the film and it happens very early. It is all downhill from there.

Grade: D+

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The Abandoned (R-2006)

This one had a lot of potential. Marie Jones (Anastasia Hille) was rescued from being murdered by her father as an infant and was adopted. She was raised in America (the "incident" was in Russia) and is called to return to the place of her birth. Once there, she meets the brother. They both find themselves in their birth-home being haunted and tormented by...themselves. Initially, this came off as a pretty cool concept. Her brother informs her "what happens to them happens to us" and she finds when she hits her ghost with a shovel, SHE feels the impact. However, this interesting novelty wears off pretty quickly and some of the horror falls flat. I found myself bored for extended portions of the movie and just didn't care where it was going. The concept seems to be that they were destined to die when they were babies and they were brought home to fulfill that destiny. That premise worked much better in "Final Destination". I mean, if it was your destiny to die and "death" cannot be denied, why did they get to live 40 years before "death" came looking for them??? It seems that if a violent death is your destiny, "death" is not going to wait 40 years to collect the debt.

Grade: D

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Deception (R-2008)

"Deception" is a pretty entertaining movie. It has good performances from Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor and is a decent story of double crosses. There is only one major problem. Almost the same exact material was recently done with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston in "Derailed" and that was a much better movie. Ewan McGregor plays Jonathan McQuarry, a very mild-mannered accountant who meets Wyatt Bose (Jackman), a hot-shot lawyer, during one of his audits. Bose is a much more polished, confident man who befriends McQuarry and introduces him to a world of sex and power. Bose gets McQuarry into "The List", a sex ring where very beautiful women are at his beck and call. McQuarry finds himself in love with "S" (Michele Williams) and also the prime suspect when she turns up missing. Bose is not quite the man McQuarry thought he was and McQuarry is now knee-deep in a plot to embezzle millions from one of his clients. Some of the "deception" is more straight-forward than in "Derailed". This is not quite as twisty as that film (although I think it tries to be). If not for the very good performances by the leads, this could have been a "so what" film, but Jackman seems to really enjoy the polished, ruthless Bose and chews up the material nicely. If you have to choose, however, see "Derailed". It is a much better movie.

Grade: C-

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Step Brothers (R-2008)

Will Ferrell is back and, arguably, better than ever. Maybe John C. Reilly manages to get the best out of him, because they have developed great chemistry. Forget the silly over-the-top sports movies, Will, this is your game. That's not to say that "Step Brothers" isn't silly or over-the-top, it is both, but it works very well here. Ferrell and Reilly play Brennan and Dale, two 40-year old men who still live with their parents. When Will's mom (Mary Steenburgen) marries Dale's dad (Richard Jenkins-who comes close to stealing this movie), they all move in together. Initially, Brennan and Dale go through many of the same distrust and rivalry that you might expect to see in children dealing with suddenly being faced with a new home environment. The comedy comes from these men acting much like children while speaking with the foul language of the grown men they are. Their scenes together are hilarious with some extremely classic moments, including a sequence where the parents insist they find jobs, so they go on several interviews and make sure no one would possibly hire them. There is also a great subplot with Brennans's more successful younger brother (Adam Scott), who has a hilarious family dynamic. After seeing "Tropic Thunder" recently, I thought I had hit the peak of comedy for a while, but I do believe "Step Brothers" may have surpassed it. This is the Will Ferrell I became a fan of.

Grade: B+

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School for Scoundrels (PG-13-2006)

Imagine "Napoleon Dynamite" in the business world crossing paths with Billy Bob Thornton. This is the main premise of "School For Scoundrels". Jon Heder continues his geeky nerd role as a man with absolutely no confidence hoping to get up the nerve to approach his dream girl. An acquaintance (David Cross) tells him about a class he knows of that helps guys like him build up their confidence. As you would expect, Billy Bob Thornton plays the teacher and the school is more about how to "take what you want" than it is about gaining confidence. As Roger (Heder) starts to apply his lessons and even finds himself making some progress with his dream girl, "Dr. P" (Thornton) decides that he should go after this girl himself, which sets up the rest of the film as master and student go head-to-head for the affections of a lady. It is a pretty straightforward comedy. Both Heder and Thornton play the characters you would think they would play. The movie works and is entertaining, but nothing special. It is fun to watch Heder start to realize he is in over his head, only to decide he doesn't necessarily have to lose to this guy. Michael Clarke Duncan has a funny part as Dr. P's sidekick, who seems to really enjoying punishing the students when they do not do well on their tests.



Grade: C



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The Strangers (R-2008)

If atmosphere alone can make a movie, "The Strangers" is that movie. That is not to say the film is devoid of content, it is just that the atmosphere is executed so perfectly that it makes this movie completely work. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman play a couple who return home from a friend's wedding who find their night going real bad. The tension builds slowly but effectively as pretty much nothing happens for the first 25 minutes, yet you find yourself being drawn in. When a stranger knocks on the door looking for someone who does not live there, the tension moves up another level as "things that go bump in the night" becomes a device for ratcheting up the terror. "The Strangers" torment the couple until they are afraid of their own shadows with just the hint of possible harm. At the one hour mark of the movie, you see, these strangers really haven't hurt anyone, but you are right there with the characters wondering what these people are up to and how far they will take it. Liv Tyler carries much of the screen time and does an excellent job conveying the horror she is feeling. "The Strangers" definitely makes for an increasingly creepy night of movie watching. One disclaimer: The film opens with a blurb about how it is "Inspired by True Events". The term "inspired" basically means that the events as depicted in the movie are completely made up. The movie did not need this "sell". It completely stands up on its own.

Grade: B

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