Last Vegas

COMEDY

It's Going to Be Legend... Where are we?

7.5 out of 10 | Rental

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Rated: PG-13 Sexual content and language
Release Date: November 1, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes

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Director: Jon Turteltaub
Writers: Dan Fogelman
Cast: Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen, Jerry Ferrara, Romany Malco, Michael Ealy, Roger Bart

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SYNOPSIS: Three sixty-something friends take a break from their day-to-day lives to throw a bachelor party in Las Vegas for their last remaining single pal.

REVIEW: National Treasure franchise director Jon Turteltaub ditches his favorite actor Nicolas Cage for some more mature A-listers. Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love.) takes a stab at writing a story centered in Las Vegas that doesn't involve losing time and memory.

Billy (Michael Douglas, Haywire), Paddy (Robert De Niro, The Family), Sam (Kevin Kline, The Conspirator) and Archie (Morgan Freeman, Now You See Me) are lifelong friends who grew up on the streets of Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, USA, inseparable and thick as thieves. 58 years later, Billy unexpectedly proposes to his 32-year-old girlfriend at his mentors funeral. Deciding on a Las Vegas wedding, Billy calls his best friends to join him. Archie must lie to his son as to his whereabouts. Sam is given a hall pass from his wife in an effort to bring some life back into their marriage. Paddy goes with his friends, reluctant to leave his empty widowers house and reluctant to let go of the beef he has with Billy. Gambling, dancing, drinking, hot girls, and a lounge singer named Diane (Mary Steenburgen, The Help) make the trip fun... and complicated.

This is not the old man version of The Hangover, even though the location is the same. They do call Las Vegas 'Sin City', and it is appropriate for older men to reflect on the regrets in the sense of their past. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas… But can these older gentlemen learn new lessons from their life experiences to make it worthwhile? Morgan's Archie wants to be the man he once was before the stroke made everyone in his life think he was incapable of doing anything at all. Kline's Sam has lived in a marriage with a wife he loves and is comfortable with, but has lost his passion for life. De Niro's Patty sits in his bathrobe and accepts soup from the neighbor girl like a charity case. And Douglas' Billy lives in extravagant life with a young girlfriend, all in an effort to stave away old age.

Filled with geriatric jokes and based on a formulaic plotline, this Vegas tale does manage to amuse throughout. Billy's relationship with his soon-to-be wife is instantly called into question when he swoons over the lounge singer Diane when the quartet arrive at Binion's Casino. From that point forward you know that the wedding probably will be called off at some point. Will Sam find his mojo with some young hottie that will strengthen his marriage? That I will not reveal. And will De Niro's Paddy bury the hatchet with Billy or will he bury the hatchet in him for what he's done to him and his late wife Sophie.?

Do these men still have it? Every one of these actors is a superstar A-Lister. From The Godfather to Basic Instinct to Glory to Dave, these guys still got it. They may be slowing down a few steps but they can still spin a good yarn that entertains both young and old. They poke fun at themselves and each other when it comes to their age, making the film funny for us. Nobody want to see old dudes getting it on with young women but these guys clean up nice and keep everything is PG as possible.

Coupled with Jerry Ferrara and Romany Malco to give Las Vegas a little younger edge, its still Douglas, De Niro, Freeman and Kline who make sure to have the times of their lives. Getting old is not a laughing matter, but they make us want to see what it may be all about.

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Now You See Me

SUSPENSE/THRILLER

The Closer You Get, The Less You See

8.5 out of 10 | DVD

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Rated: PG-13  Language, some action and sexual content
Release Date: May 31, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes

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Director: Louis Leterrier
Writers: Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin, Edward Ricourt
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Melanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Common

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SYNOPSIS:  An FBI agent and an Interpol detective track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances and reward their audiences with the money.

REVIEW: Louis Leterrier, known for his breakout directorial debut with Jason Statham's The Transporter and the ambitious but less well received Clash of the Titans reboot, returns after a three year hiatus to bring together a clash of another kind - law enforcement vs. a quartet of thieving magicians. Written by Ed Solomon (Men In Black), Boaz Yakin (Safe), and newcomer scribe Edward Ricourt, Now You See Me combines the thrills of illusion and misdirection with the cat-and-mouse chase of predators and prey.

Magician J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg, 30 Minutes or Less), mentalist Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson, The Hunger Games), escape artist Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher, The Great Gatsby), street entertainer and pick pocket Jack Wilder (Dave Franco, Warm Bodies) are drawn to an apartment in New York City by tarot cards that each finds in their possession. Triggering a mechanism that instructs them with holographic images, the quartet become part of something larger by becoming the Four Horsemen. Sponsored by benefactor Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine, The Dark Knight Rises), the quartet become a huge act in Las Vegas. When their final grand illusion, 'Rob a Bank' delights the audience by raining 3 million Euros on them, the FBI led by agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo, The Avengers) and Interpol agent Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent, Night Train to Lisbon), start their manhunt to get evidence on The Four Horsemen's next heist. As the magicians move on to other cities, Rhodes enlist the help of former magician and current magic rebunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman, Oblivion) to help his team. As Atlas and the Four Horsemen stay ahead of the FBI and Interpol at every turn, is there anything anyone can do to stop the Horsemen?

A cross between George Clooney and Brad Pitt's Oceans 11 and Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman's The Prestige, Now You See Me as a film of grand illusion, misdirection, and thievery. Thaddeus explains why agent Rhodes is being played for a fool over and over again by the Horseman, explaining to Rhodes and to the audience the tricks of the trade as he tries to debunk the Horseman's next trick.

Eisenberg plays to his strengths, putting on a character of false bravado and putting on an air of confidence that masks a sense of insecurity. The former popular master mentalist, played by Woody Harrelson, is so cocksure in his abilities that he alienates himself from the rest of the group. Dave Franco plays young upstart street magician and pickpocket Wilder excited to be chosen to be with some of his idols. And finally, the escape artist and illusionist Henley played by Fisher is the final beautiful and capable piece of the puzzle. Michael Caine's Tressler funds the extravaganza, Morgan Freeman's Bradley pulls back the curtains on the illusions, Mark Ruffalo's Rhodes believes in only when he can see, and Melanie Laurent's Alma Dray takes almost everything on faith.

But who is the fifth Horseman? Dray banters around the name Shrike, a magician and illusionist from the 70s who died during one final and fatal illusion. Throughout the film, the audience is guessing as to the fifth Horseman's identity. What is this person's motivation? What drives them to steal money from banks?

Any good magic trick will leave an audience amazed, wondering how the trick took place. Not many of us believe in magic, but the art of illusion and the suspension of disbelief is part of the dying art form of the craft. As street magicians become more popular and magic shows on the Las Vegas strip become less popular, the art of illusion is still paramount. Sometimes the illusion itself is enough, not the mechanics of the trick behind it.

Now You See Me is a carefully crafted illusion, coupled with a cat-and-mouse game between magician and law enforcement. At the end all will be revealed, but the sleight-of-hand of getting there is worth the price of admission.

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Oblivion

SCI-FI, ACTION/ADVENTURE

The End of Earth

8.25 out of 10 | Movie or DVD

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Rated: PG-13 Sci-Fi action violence, brief strong language, some sensuality and nudity
Release Date: April 19, 2013
Runtime: 2 hours 5 minutes

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Director: Joseph Kosinski
Writers:  Joseph Kosinski, Karl Gajdusek, Michael Arndt, Aevid Nelson
Cast: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Olga Kurylenko, Melissa Leo, Andrea Riseborough

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SYNOPSIS:  A veteran assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself.

REVIEW: Director of the Tron: Legacy reboot sequel and the upcoming Legacy sequel, Joseph Kosinki writes and directs the new science fiction movie vehicle for Tom Cruise. Kosinki and Arvid Nelson wrote a comic book of the drone technician # 49 Jack Harper and his communications officer and partner Vika, turning that effort into a big screen post-apocalypse sci-fi adventure with help from Karl Gajdusek (ABC's Last Resort) and Michael Arndt (Brave and Toy Story 3).

The world as we know it has ended. An alien race, called the Scavengers or Scavs, invaded Earth. The invaders destroyed the moon causing earthquakes and tsunamis across the planet. Whoever did not die from those clataclysms were caught up the nuclear war that followed. The last bastions of humanity beat back the Scavs and won the war, but most succumbed to radiation or hunger. Sixty years later, most of the remaining people of Earth have traveled off planet to the moon of Titan. Remaining behind on Earth is Tech-49 Jack Harper (Tom Cruise, Jack Reacher) and his communications officer and romantic partner Vika (Andrea Riseborough, Welcome to the Punch). The last remaining technicians on the planet, Jack and Vika work in tandem as Jack repairs roving drones against the backdrop of pockets of Scav marauders, and guard fission reactor stations sucking up seawater for energy off the coast. When a derelict spacecraft named the Odyssey crashes in zone 17, Jack goes to investigate against orders from Vika and Sally (Melissa Leo, Olympus Has Fallen) from Command originating from an orbiting space station named the Tect. Saving one of the survivors named Julia (Olga Kurylenko, Seven Psychopaths) Jack has moments of déjà vu of seeing her before. As Jack questions strange new memories, he must contend with renegade drones and aliens who are not what they seem. Can Jack unravel the mysteries of his own mind before Command relinquishes him and Vika from duty?

Oblivion is right in Tom Cruise's wheelhouse for his string of sci-fi action adventure films. Like Minority Report and War of the Worlds, Cruise brings his an extablished sensibility and tone to the film. Like Ray Ferrier, Jack Harper has a love for the long-gone sporting pastimes of America. Ray had baseball to try and bridge the gap between him and his son. Jack Harper wears a New York Yankees ball cap and remiesces of the 2017 Super Bowl in an attempt to bridge the gap between the world that is to the world that was. Like in Philip K. Dick's story that became Spielberg's Minority Report, the technology has a Apple device asethetic crossed with a late sixties/early seventies color palette. Add in Jack Harper's perchance to collect nostalgic keepsakes from his daily drone maintenance, and Oblivion is a literal walk down memory lane.

As Jack Harper goes about his tedious and relentless routine of repairing drones that are shot down or are defective, he finds that he is drawn to artifacts of a bygone era of when the earth still lived. From books to vinyl albums to sunglasses, Harper collects trinkets and items that trigger memories of the Empire State Building observation terrace in NYC from a time much older than he is. In spite of a mandatory memory wipe from the technicians on the orbiting Tect Command station, Jack still finds fragments of a life not his own. The discovery of a man named Malcolm Beech (Morgan Freeman, The Dark Knight Rises) and his armed sniper Sykes (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Mama) forces Jack to further reevaluate what he knows the truth to be.

One thing you can rely on Tom Cruise for in his action films is... a lot of action! Although little slow In its story and character development, Oblivion does offer beautiful aerials with Cruise in his bubble-styled maintenance craft and well-placed moments of tension with an expose Jack Harper standing off against remnants of the remaining alien Scavengers. The cinematography is beautiful and the CGI effects are slick and expertly crafted, with a number of great action sequences - from Jack's first on-screen encounter with the Scavengers to an extended aerial dog fight against rogue drones.

From the onset the audience can tell that something just not right about the situation that Jack Harper is in. For a while you just can't put your finger on it but something seems amiss. And that nagging feeling at the base of your skull isn't unfounded, leading both Jack Harper and the audience through a journey of self-discovery and rediscovery.

Coming in at just over two hours Oblivion is a bit of a commitment for sci-fi fans. Although the movie and the characters are always moving, there seems to be many lulls between the more kinetic action scenes. Whether the director was relying on the slick CG effects and the interesting post apocalyptic landscapes to visually stimulate and occupy the audience during the slower moments I do not know. At any rate, Jack Harper keeps moving as he figure things out for himself and uncovers something that's much bigger than just his role as maintenance tech 49.

Oblivion entertains, though it could have entertained in a little bit quicker fashion. With a light April season Oblivion may be one of the few films this month that does not disintegrate and disappear after its opening weekend.

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Olympus Has Fallen

ACTION/ADVENTURE, SUSPENSE/THRILLER

It's Already Done

8.0 out of 10 | Movie or DVD

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Rated: R Language throughout and strong violence.
Release Date: March 22, 2013
Runtime: 2 hours 0 minutes

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Director: Antoine Fuqua
Writers: Creighton Rottenberger, Katrin Benedikt
Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Finley Jacobsen, Dylan McDermott, Rick Yune, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo, Cole Hauser, Phil Austin

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SYNOPSIS: Disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped inside the White House in the wake of a terrorist attack; using his inside knowledge, Banning works with national security to rescue the President from his kidnappers.

REVIEW: Shooter and Brooklyn Finest director Antoine Fuqua, known for fine drama and action, raises the stakes with a presidential assault of the senses. Taking the fight to the White House are novice writers Katrin Benedikt and Creighton Rothenberger. Can Gerard Butler regain some of his action roots as a disgraced secret service agent?

Mike Banning (Gerard Butler, Playing for Keeps) is attached to United States President Benjamin Asher's (Aaron Ekhart, Battle: Los Angeles) Secret Service detail. While at Camp David with the First Lady Margaret (Ashley Judd, Dolphin Tale) and their young son Conner (Finley Jacobsen, Marmaduke), the First Family travels to a black tie holiday party. Enroute, an accident and a quick decision by Banning makes it impossible for him to continue on the Presidential detail for Asher. 18 months later Banning suffers at a desk job at the Treasury department with the perk of a commanding view of the White House. During a South Korean delegation visit to the White House, a massive airstrike and infantry incursion forces the President, Vice President Charlie Rodriguez (Phil Austin, The Final Destination), and Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillian (Melissa Leo, Flight) into a bunker under the White House. Now trapped as a hostage, Asher and his staff are forced to give up sensitive codes to an insulated system named Cerberus. When the security of the White House is completely breached only Mike Banning is still standing to try and save the day.

Gerard Butler, playing characters in a string of decent to good romantic comedies, returns to more action-packed role as former Secret Service agent Mike Banning. Not since Gamer has Butler been in a film filled with so much fire power. The change of pace suits him. A cross between Steven Seagal's Under Siege hero Casey Ryback and Bruce Willis' Die Hard cop John McClane - and even one of a number of 1980s Chuck Norris flicks like Invasion USA or Delta Force - Gerard Butler seems to have the right stuff.

Director Antoine Fuqua and his writers set up a beautifully bloody first act. With military precision, the entire White House, called Olympus, falls quickly to the foreign aggressors. The body count and bullet count seems more appropriate in the beach landing at Normandy. The massacre is relentless and the tactics precise. Add in Gerard Butler's smoldering determination and some epic hand-to-hand fight choreography, and you have one heckuva ride.

The story is not perfect. Butler's Banning, and the bad guys, hunt down the President's son throughout the middle of the film. The subplot's outcome seems somewhat unnecessary - and trite. Also, some Presidential sparing in a boxing ring at Camp David never fully materializes. Like in Battle: Los Angeles, some characters are only developed enough to become sympathetic cannon fodder for the audience. And lastly, the threats concerning Banning's wife Leah (Radha Mitchell, Silent Hill: Revelations 3D) by the villain seems to only result in an unfulfilled afterthought.

Gerard steps up in his return to action, shaking off some of the romanticism of his last few roles. Cole Hauser (A Good Day to Die Hard) and Dylan McDermott (The Campaign) round out the higher profile Secret Service agents on Ashers original detail. Angela Bassett's (This Means War) Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs keeps her stern exterior for the command center after the White House attack. Morgan Freeman (The Dark Knight Rises), as the Speaker of the House Trumbull, is both stunned into silence forced into action as acting President during the hostage crisis. And the villain who masterminds the entire operation brings a more than adequate foil to Gerard's Banning as he and his men and women crush the White House defenses and, possibly, America itself.

Olympus Has Fallen is one of those sleeper action flicks that makes you just want to be a gun toting red-blooded beer-drinking American. And none of that import beer! Lots of action, some snarky remarks, and a little bit of patriotic cheese from this flick may provide the action that you will enjoy.

Olympus Has Fallen is an amalgam of a myriad of patriotic action flicks we've seen in the past. But Gerard Butler, Antoine Fuqua, and the writing team do everything they needed to put an assault on the White House into a great viewable package.

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The Dark Knight Rises

Knightfall

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Rated: PG-13  Intense sequences of violence, language, some sensuality and intense sequences of action.
Release Date: July 20, 2012
Runtime:  2 hours 45 minutes

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Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, David S. Goyer, based on characters created by Bob Kane
Cast:  Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Liam Neesn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Matthew Modine

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SYNOPSIS: After the Batman is held responsible for District Attorney Harvey Dent's death, the caped crusader disappears from the streets of Gotham. Some years later, when terrorist leader Bane takes over the city, Bruce Wayne again dons his cowl as the Batman to protect the city that had forsaken him.

REVIEW: Christopher Nolan, the man who wrote, directed and breathed new life into the man behind the mask and the scourge of the streets of Gotham City with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, returns for the last installment of his trilogy of films with The Dark Knight Rises (see the The Dark Knight Trilogy: The Road So Far for the full story of the first two films of the trilogy). With Jonathan Nolan (The Prestige, Memento) and David S. Goyer (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance), Christopher Nolan scribes a fully realized dramatic actioner from the characters created by Bob Kane that takes the Batman to the next level - as well as setting the bar higher for all other superhero films.

After the Batman (Christian Bale, The Flowers of War) and the new Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) defeat the two-faced Harvey Dent, they take it upon themselves to cast the Batman as the villain and leaving the memory of Harvey Dent as the shining example of the righteousness of good in the city of Gotham. Pursued by the Gotham Police Department, the Batman abruptly disappears from the city streets. In addition, Bruce Wayne becomes a recluse, not even bothering to take part in the goings-on of Wayne Enterprises. Some years pass and the city of Gotham, with Commissioner Gordon at the head of the police department and the Dent Act in full effect for the criminals of the city, has become a town with low crime rates and no villainous underbelly. As Gotham City enjoys a period of tranquility and peace under The Dent Act, a new threat emerges in the guise of Bane (Tom Hardy, This Means War), a terrorist who shares the cleansing vision of his one-time mentor Ra's Al Ghul Ra's Al Ghul (Liam Neeson, Battleship) as the leader of the League of Assassins. When the mechanical masked Bane hatches a plot to cut off Gotham Island from the rest of the country by declaring marshal law under his rule, the Batman must come out of retirement to confront and attempt to defeat the skilled and vicious man. With only Commissioner Gordon, a new GPD detective named John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50), the devious alter ego of Selina Kyle as the leather-clad Catwoman (Ann Hathaway, Alice in Wonderland), Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman, Dolphin Tale), perspective business partner Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard, Contagion) and his trusty butler Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island), the Batman fights an uphill battle that may break him physically and spiritually.

Christopher Nolan completes his vision of the Dark Knight with The Dark Knight Rises, the third in his trilogy of Batman films. Where Tim Burton's vision turned Gotham City into an abstract landscape filled with darkness and a little camp, and where Joel Schumacher lit up that darkness with iridescent color and a cartooned version of the Caped Crusader and his trusty side kick Robin, Nolan grounds his Bruce Wayne and cowled hero into a reality-based Shakespearean tragic drama centered around real architecture and deep symbolism. Throughout his films, Nolan denotes the Batman as a symbol to the city's denizens. In Batman Begins, when the Scarecrow rules the city with the symbol (and gases) of fear, the Batman became a darker, more dangerous symbol of real fear is. In The Dark Knight, the Joker hopes to mar the shining symbol of the city by corrupting Harvey Dent and his accomplishments as the city's district attorney. Instead of letting the Joker win, the Batman became the villain to shoulder the weight of the city's fury against his alleged murderous atrocities. In The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne and his alter ego must face difficult decisions and dire consequences to become a symbol for the city again. Can he rise up against the more skilled Bane to save the city he cherishes, and save himself in the process?

In The Dark Knight Rises: Prologue, the first six minutes of film was marred with the unintelligible rants of the mechanically respirator Bane. In the finished product, there are no more issues with his speech for the most part. With an elegant, raspy accent, Bane stands above his minions as a dangerous and driven man - bent on the destruction of Gotham City as per his one-time mentor Ra's A Ghul. Where Heath Ledger's Joker was a brilliantly psychotic maniac, Tom Hardy's Bane is a powerful and driven menace. Is Bane a better villain than the Joker? I am sure that many would find it blasphemy to speak ill of Ledger's last role. The brilliance of Nolan manages to set the characterizations of each rogue so far apart in scope and mission as to not warrant a comparison. In the comics, the Joker has been a mainstay menace to the Batman since the caped crusader's beginnings. Bane, although turned into a silly trench coated henchman in Joel Schumacher’s effort for Batman and Robin, was a critical component in a surprising and successful Knightfall story arc to the destruction and eventual resurrection of the man who would be Batman.

Many believe that Nolan may spread the story too thin by the introduction of too many characters. Before Batman Begins, the thought was that using minor rogues in the form of Ra's Al Ghul and the Scarecrow would undermine the success of the film, but its success spurred a sequel. With Bane, Cat Woman, and the possible return of Ra's Al Ghul, the same critics thought the same dilution of story might occur. Although long with a runtime coming in at 165 minutes, Nolan crafts a solid and dramatic tale that redeems Bane as a major pivotal villain in the canon of the Batman's rogue gallery and history, and cements all of Nolan's films of the Dark Knight into a carefully crafted, interwoven and tragic tale that borders more on fine drama than superhero fare. If you are looking for a super-powered follow-up to The Avengers, look elsewhere. If you are looking for too-human drama, The Dark Knight Rises is for you. Nolan's trilogy could be considered a saga in three acts. Act 1 in Batman Begins is Bruce's birth from man into the flawed, anti-hero and protector of the city. Act 2 in The Dark Knight takes the Batman from anti-hero to hero to villain. Act 3 in The Dark Knight Rises is Bruce returning as the reviled anti-hero to fight against odds he cannot overcome.

The Dark Knight Rises is a continuation of the foundation of what Nolan and his writers had already built in the first two films. Adding in elements from the Knightfall story arc and a dash of No Man's Land story arc, The Dark Knight Rises is both a telling of the physical breaking of the Batman and the spiritual breaking of the Gotham's citizenry. Equal parts Bane and Bruce, the Batman takes somewhat of a back seat to both. There is plenty of story and action, but the cowled avenger is relegated to the end of the first act and the sensational climax last act. For lovers of the dark detective, some story elements will be more obvious than for non-readers. This first-hand knowledge will not deter from the story, but will serve to foreshadow surprises later on.

The cast is stellar as always. Christian Bale gets a chance to just be Bruce for a majority of the film, but still managed to engage his gravelly deep voice of the Batman when needed. While Tom Hardy is barely recognizable behind Bane's mechanical mask, he does exude a fierce obsession of the destruction of Gotham that mirrors that of Ra's Al Ghul machinations from the first film. Ann Hathaway's Selina Kyle/Catwoman returns to the skin tight bodysuit and the razor's edge of doing for herself and doing for others. New character John Blake, played by Gordon-Levitt, steps out from the shadows of the GPD to become a detective in his own right. Oldman is still perfect as the ragged, war-weary, and determined Commissioner Gordon.

Similar to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy where I enjoyed Spider-Man 2 the most with its established hero and superior villain, the performance of Ledger's Joker and the story in total stands out as the best of the Dark Knight trilogy for me. The Dark Knight Rises is a dramatic story with a sensational ending, working perfectly into the Nolan hero narrative. We can discuss and debate the merits of each film all day, but in the end all I can say is - 'why so serious?'.

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WORTH: Matinee and BluRay

Dolphin Tale

Triumph of the Animal Spirit

Director: Charles Martin Smith

Writers: Karen Janszen, Noam Dromi
Cast: Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Kris Kristofferson, Winter the Dolphin, Austin Stowell

SYNOPSIS: An introverted kid helps a beached dolphin caught up in the lines of a crab trap. Soon he finds himself drawn in to the dolphin and her recovery.

REVIEW: Prolific actor and emerging director Charles Martin Smth (Air Bud) brings to life an inspirational tale based on the story of real life dolphin Winter from a script by Karen Janszen (Free Willy 2 : The Adventure Home) and first time screenwriter Noam Dromi. With a director that has worked with animals  and a screenwriter who has written about aquatic mammals, Dolphin Tale has the makings of a good film.

Young Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble - The Mist, The Dark Knight) bids his cousin Kyle (Austin Stowell) farewell as Kyle goes from record-setting competitive swimmer to a private in the Army. Sawyer, introverted and struggling in school soon comes upon a dolphin stranded on a local beach who is wrapped up in the lines of a crab cage. As he frees the injured dolphin from the cage and ropes, the Clearwater Marine Animal Rescue unit takes over and transports the animal to their financially strapped marina. Unable to get the dolphin out of his mind, Sawyer starts skipping summer school to visit the dolphin, now named Winter. He befriends Hazel Haskett (Cozi Zuehlsdorff), her marine vet father Clay (Harry Connick Jr.), her salty grandfather Reed (Kris Kristofferson) and the rest of the Clearwater Marine crew. Soon it becomes apparent that Winter responds to Sawyer when she responds to no one else, and when the infection forces Clay to remove her tale, he sticks by her during her recovery.

From beginning to end, Dolphin Tale is a heartbreaking and uplifting tale that captures the pinnacles of the human and animal spirit. When Winter responds to Sawyer, he also responds to her - opening up and engaging in something like he never had before. Even Sawyer's mother Lorraine (Ashley Judd) finds that his education and experiences at the marina far exceed the worth of the summer school coursework he wants to ditch. Any animal lover will tell you that they have experienced firsthand or know of a pet that quickly overcomes their disability and prospers. When Kyle comes back from the service with an injury that leaves him partially paralyzed and need of a leg brace, Sawyer gets the notion that a prosthetic tale could work for Winter, too. An animal's ability to overcome deficiencies seems to sometimes far exceed our own.

Dolphin Tale is a true family film, enjoyable for everyone. From the slapstick of a pelican named Roofus, to the inspiration of the dolphin Winter who plays herself in the film, to the hope and joy of a young girl whose mother drives eight hours from Atlanta to catch a glimpse of a dolphin who still swims in spite of her missing tail, to the relevant benefits of Winter as a role-model for children and adults alike who have lost appendages, Dolphin Tale will delight, uplift, and mostly likely bring a tear to your eye.


WORTH: Matinee and DVD

RED

Occupational Hazards
[Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Ellen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban]



image from collider.com

RANT: It's been awhile since I was able to get to the movie theater. Last weekend consisted of attending the New York Comic Con. I got to hang out with the "Women of Battlestar Galactica" and the cast of AMC's "The Walking Dead". And since I still was basking in the afterglow of comic geekdom, I decide to hang out at Six Flags Great Adventure for Columbus Day for the last gasps of coaster riding. It was truly a wonderful way to exit the Summer!

SYNOPSIS: Attempting to adjust to a life after a career of CIA black OPs, Frank Moses finds himself the target of government assassins. Recruiting the girl he has befriended and other retired specialists, the team head out to find out and stop their pursuers.

The marketing touts "RED" as the best action comedy of the year. Of course we all know that marketing is designed to get us to the theatre. Personally, I went to the movies because of the action star power of Bruce Willis. As a fan of Willis and his track record of action excellence, I usually go to any film that he is involved in. Even his lesser works are fun to watch. Director Robert Schwentke, known for Jodie Foster's "Flightplan" and Eric Bana's "The Time Traveler's Wife", takes the all-star cast of Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ellen Mirren and John Malkovich on a cross-country trip of guns and laughs.

Bruce Willis stars as Frank Moses, a retired CIA operative adjusting to life without adrenaline. Constantly calling Mary Louise Parker's Sarah at the pension office, Frank tries to strike more than a friendship with her. One night, a wetworks team attempts to assassinate Frank in his Ohio home. Frank travels to Kansas City to collect Sarah as her live is in jeapardy as a result of their phone chats. Enlisting the aid of former wetworks and black operatives Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren), Moses and his team piece together the reasons why they are being targeted for elimination. As they dig deeper, they find that the contracts are being signed by parties that may be beyond the scope of even the US government's covert branches.

Willis actually plays the straight man in this film. He proves that even though he is not in "Die Hard" prime, Bruce is ever the action hero. Meanwhile, the comedy comes easily as Willis is surrounded by the quirkiness of a deranged John Malkovich, the smooth stylings of Morgan Freeman, the naive excitement of Mary-Louise Parker, and the sexy confidence of Helen Mirren. On a side note, Mirren made me fall in love with her again with a role toting semi-automatics,

On the other side of the coin is Karl Urban's CIA agent William Cooper contracted to eliminated Moses by his superiors. Driven by blind ambition, Cooper echoes what Moses was in his career's youth. Urban plays Cooper cool and collected, a hulking presence in a "company" issued suit. Rebecca Pidgeon plays Cooper's superior Cynthia Wilkes, a ever present CIA spook.

The film is well paced in plot, action and laughs, all done up in perfect balance. The stars make the movie, but the movie stands just as tall on its other merits. The film, aside from kicking ass and causing laughs, gives us a glimpse of what adjustment to retirement can do to a person, as well as what it is like to extend past your perception of use to society. If you are a fan of any of the cast, give this flick a shot. Of course, make sure you are not on the receiving end of Helen Mirren's sniper scope!

Worth: Matinee and DVD

I am also trying out a new rating system shown below based on reader reaction to my somewhat complex monetary rating scale. I will give both ratings and see what kind of reaction I muster. A movie can receive up to 5 popcorn buckets. Why popcorn buckets? Because I am a slave to the thousand + calorie delight! Enjoy!