Parker

ACTION / ADVENTURE. SUSPENSE / THRILLER

Hard Man To Kill

★ ★ ★ out of 5 | Movie - DVD - Rental

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Rated: R Language throughout, brief sexual content, brief nudity, and strong violence.
Release Date: January 25, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes

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Director: Taylor Hackford
Writers: John J. McLaughlin, from the novel "Flashfire" by Donald E. Westlake written as Richard Stark
Cast: Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Chiklis, Wendell Pierce, Clifton Collins Jr., Bobby Cannavale, Patti LuPone, Carlos Carrasco, Micah A. Hauptman, Emma Booth, Nick Nolte, Daniel Bernhardt

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SYNOPSIS: A thief with a unique code of professional ethics is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Assuming a new disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a woman on the inside, he looks to hijack the score of the crew's latest heist.

REVIEW: Ray and Proof of Life short director Taylor Hackford takes on the honorable thief Parker with the help from Black Swan and Hitchcock screenwriter John J. McLaughlin from the novel "Flashfire" by Donald E. Westlake writing under his pseudonym Richard Stark.

Parker (Jason Statham, Safe) and four others set a plan in motion to rob the ticket sales for the Ohio state fair. Although the plan is carried out and the team gets away with the loot, Parker is forced to choose whether to invest his fifth of the take to a larger scheme with the others or face execution. When he tries to just take his cut, Melander (Michael Chiklis,>High School) and the others draw down on Parker, shooting him and leaving him for dead. But Parker doesn't die... And vows to hunt down the men who did not live up to their end of the contract. Hunting the men across the region from Ohio to Louisiana to Florida, Parker poses as a Texas oilman and enlists the help of realtor Leslie Rodgers (Jennifer Lopez,What to Expect When You're Expecting) to ferret out where Melander and the others are hiding out in order to carry out their next score. All Parker wants is to balance the books concerning the agreement of the contract, and will stop at nothing to rights those wrongs.

Jason Statham is, in my opinion, an underrated action star. He has strung together a number of low cost franchise hits like Crank and The Transporter, as well as ensemble hits like The Italian Job and The Bank Job. Statham's rugged good looks and chiseled body are made better by his ability to carry out some great action sequences. And true to his history Statham does deliver on that point. A certain scene with a botched up "room service" to Parker's hotel room is probably the best action moment of the film. Parker and Melander's stand off is probably the second.

Parker is based on the novel "Flashfire" by Richard Stark. Jason Statham has the opportunity to turn this single film into another franchise. Unfortunately Jason Statham's presence in this film doesn't have the bite that it could have. Tom Cruise took Jack Reacher and made it into something different than the book and intriguing enough to spawn possible sequels. Whether it was the adaptation of the novel or the direction, Parker just doesn't seem to fully come together.

All the pieces were there. From independent contractor Melander, to his established team of crooks including driver Carlson (Wendell Pierce, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2), demo expert Ross (Clifton Collins, The Event), and Chicago mob boss relative August Hardwich (Micah A. Hauptman, A Bag of Hammers), Parker has to contend with some legitimate baddies. Throw when a hired assassin Kroll (Daniel Bernhardt, Creature) contracted out of Chicago to off Parker after-the-fact and you got some good elements. Add in a beautiful damsel in the form of Jennifer Lopez, whose character Leslie is desperate on all fronts, and you have even more intrigue. The problem is Jennifer Lopez' Leslie is too desperate to quick and Michael Chiklis' Melander and his gang seem to be a little over their heads in their ability to plan and execute all but the simplest of heists. Add in some weird voice over work for both Hurley (Nick Nolte, Gangster Squad) and general crowd conversation and you get just as many distractions as you get anticipation.

Some of the film blazes by pretty quick, especially the opening scene with the original heist that Parker is a part of. But as more pieces fall onto the board, and Jennifer Lopez is introduced, things slow down just a little too much and the pace falls off. Jennifer Lopez's characters back story is interesting but not to the point of being all that critical to the film. When she opens up to her client Parker during one of their house tours it just seems a little to forced and static. When Parker finally hunts down his quarry, the pace of the story speeds up to a reasonable speed again.

Parker has its strengths, and its weaknesses. Jason Statham carries himself with his usual charm and action presence, and Chiklis and the other baddies are antagonizing enough. The story, though, does not live up to expectations. Parker takes a lot of abuse, but the audience suffers a little bit, too.

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Ice Age: Continental Drift 3D

Too Much Time Adrift

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Rated: PG  Mild rude humor and action/peril.
Release Date: July 13, 2012
Runtime:  1 hours 27 minutes

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Director: Michael Thurmeier, Steve Martino
Writers: Michael Berg, Jason Fuchs
Cast:  Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Keke Palmer, Peter Dinklage, Nick Frost, Josh Gad, Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Simon Pegg, Seann William Scott, Wanda Sykes, Patrick Stewart, Rebel Wilson, Chris Wedge

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SYNOPSIS: When the continents start to break apart, Manny, Sid, and Diego are separated from Ellie, Peaches, and the rest of their herd, and will stop at nothing to be reunited.

REVIEW: Steve Martino (Horton Hears a Who!) must have have done something right. Director of the 2010 short Scrat's Continental Crack-Up and its 2011 sequel, Martino steps up to the big chair for the fourth feature film installment of Ice Age. Martino is joined by co-director and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs alum director Mike Thurmeier who has been a part of the Ice Age family since the beginning when he was the lead animator on the original film. Michael Berg, who has written all of the Ice Age features except Meltdown, shares writing duties with young writer/actor Jason Fuchs for this landmass shattering story.

Peaches (Keke Palmer, Joyful Noise) is now a adventurous teenager, eager to go to the cool hangouts and meet the cool boy mammoths. Manny (Ray Romano), being ever the paranoid and protective pachyderm, worries about his woolly little girl growing up too fast. When Scrat the Squirrel places his acorn ever so gently on a snow cap, it causes a chain reaction that starts the breaking apart of the world's land masses. When the split reaches Manny and his family, Manny, Sid (John Leguizamo) and Diego (Denis Leary, The Amazing Spider-Man) find themselves adrift on an iceberg, separated from Ellie (Queen Latifah, Joyful Noise), Peaches, and the rest of the herd. Vowing to find a way back to his family, Manny and his friends try to change the course of their drifting floating patch of ice, but must first deal with various misadventures along the way. They encounter a vile sea pirate named Captain Gutt (Peter Dinklage, Elf) and his scurvy crew of misfits, including first mate saber Shira (Jennifer Lopez, What to Expect When You're Expecting), a rabbit named Squint (Aziz Ansari, 30 Minutes or Less), kangaroo Raz (Rebel Wilson, Bridesmaids), and elephant seal Fynn (Nick Frost, Snow White ad the Huntsman). While Manny and his pals try desperately to deal with Gutt and his crew, Ellie and Peaches have to deal with a landmass that is slowly but steadily pushing them and the rest of the herd toward the open ocean.

Manny, Sid, and Diego have become beloved CGI characters since they were animated onscreen back in 2002. Initially with their own agendas that revolves around the return of a human infant to its own herd, the three formally abandoned mammals discovered that they could become their own herd - a family. Even Diego, a ferocious saber tooth tiger discovers that being a part of the herd was more important than being part of the hierarchy of his own pack. In The Melt Down, Manny and his misfit pals  find more prehistoric trouble as their home is threatened by the melting ice caps, but Manny does find someone to start his own familial herd with a outspoken mammoth named Ellie who thinks she is a possum with her own herd mates Crash (Seann William Scott, American Reunion) and Eddie (Josh Peck, Red Dawn). In Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Sid gets into the family spirit by taking possession of three Tyrannosaurus Rex eggs, resulting in Manny, a pregnant Ellie, Crash and Eddie, Sid and Diego, falling into a tropical lost world inhabited by dinosaurs below the icy surface of the planet. In Continental Drift, the story continues to revolves around the ties that bind between family members and the lengths that loved ones will go through to stay together. Even Diego may have a chance at a relationship now that the white saber Shira has come aboard - of course, he will have to deal with the fact that she is always trying to keelhaul him first.

When dealing with family, Manny struggles to deal with the fact that his little girl Peaches is trying to venture out into the world on her own. Ellie tries to comfort Manny that peaches will be fine, but manny's old-fashioned attitude and the fact that he has already lost one family keeps him trying to hold on to Peaches too tightly. As a teenage pachyderm, Peaches reacts to her father's pressure with the want to spread her trunk even more! And with any teenager who is trying to impress a boy mammoth Ethan (Drake), Peaches finds herself giving up her 'strange' possum tree-hanging way of sleeping in order to seem more normal in front of the other mammoths , as well as hurting the feelings of best friend, soft-spoken mole hog Louis (Josh Gad) by telling the other mammoths that they are not really that close. But in spite of what transpires, true friendship always shines through, and family bonds bind tighter than any external adversity.

With so many major characters and divided story lines, Continental Drift does seem to drift a bit. Once upon a time major characters Eddie and Crash have more of cameo roles as comic relief than anything else, completely down-graded from their height of comic use in Meltdown and Dawn of the Dinosaurs. With Manny, Sid, and Diego out on a melting iceberg trying to get back home to the herd, and with Ellie and Peaches dealing with the task of getting to the land bridge and Peaches trying to fit in with the young mammoth herd, the segmented stories lose a little in impact. In Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Buck (Simon Pegg, Paul) may have been a new character and Sid may have been missing, but most of the characters were the same direct path. Continental Drift's introduction of so many new characters serves only to overwhelm us with quantity instead of quality. Not to say that this fourth entry into the series is not good, it is, but it may not be the best. You can still enjoy Sid's silly sloth antics, Manny's over-protective stoic nature, and Diego's quick barbs that just mask his affection for the herd, but a more intimate, tight story may have worked better. Even Sid's Granny (Wanda Sykes), although a silly addition to the team, only serves to illustrate that Sid may be better off with Manny and Diego instead of other sloths. At least, Granny has an imaginary pet named Precious to keep her company.

The 3D is excellent throughout, from Scrat's long sniffing snout to Captain Gutt and his crew casting barbed swords directly at the audience. Used in the classic sense, Martino and crew did not miss many opportunities to take advantage of the superior CGI animation version of the 3D technology. As with all of the Ice Age films, the characters and the scenery are beautifully crafted, created, and put to screen. If nothing else, Ice Age: Continental Drift is enjoyable to gaze at.

Ice Age: Continental Drift 3D is worthwhile if you are a fan of the preceding three films, or have kids who want you to take them to see it. Adults and kids alike will laugh at the antics and the continuing adventures of Manny, Sid, and Diego. If you are like me, though, you long for the time after Dawn of the Dinosaurs when Peaches was small, cuddly and could give babysitters Sid and Diego a run for their  money. Can you have a prequel after a third sequel? Only the march of time will tell!

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WORTH: Matinee or DVD

What To Expect When You're Expecting

All Baby Bases Covered

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Rated: PG-13  Crude and sexual content, thematic elements and language
Release Date: May 18, 2012
Runtime:  1 hr 50 mins

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Director: Kirk Jones
Writers: Shauna Cross, Heather Hach, based on the books by Heidi Murkoff
Cast:  Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Chace Crawford, Brooklyn Decker, Ben Falcone, Anna Kendrick, Matthew Morrison, Chris Rock, Dennis Quaid, Amir Talai

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SYNOPSIS: Five loosely interconnected couples struggle through the process of having a baby, each dealing with their own issues.

REVIEW: Kirk Jones, award winning director of Absolut Vodka TV ads and other advertising campaigns, also has made a name for himself with film projects including Everbody's Fine and Waking Ned Devine which he wrote and directed. Now he returned to the pilot's chair to direct a story from Shauna Cross (Whip It) and Heather Hach (Freaky Friday - 2003) based on the Heidi Murkoff books 'What to Expect When You're Expecting'. Do you know what to expect? Let's find out.

What to Expect When You're Expecting focuses on five couples in different situations of trying to have a child. Television fitness trainer Jules (Cameron Diaz, Bad Teacher) goes on a television dancing competition reality show and starts a relationship with dance partner Evan (Matthew Morrison, Glee), resulting in her pregnancy. Baby store owner Wendy (Elizabeth Banks, The Hunger Games) has been trying to conceive a child for two years with husband Gary (Ben Falcone, Bridesmaids), but have been having difficulties until an unexpected evening changes the course of their lives. Competing food truck chefs and former high school daters Marco (Chace Crawford, Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding) and Rosie (Anna Kendrick, 50/50) 'reconnect' one night at an outdoor film showing. Holly (Jennifer Lopez, The Back-up Plan) and husband Alex (Rodrigo Santoro, 300) look to adopt from abroad when Holly is unable to conceive, sparking financial and emotional fears. And finally, Gary's own retired NASCAR champion father Ramsey (Dennis Quaid, Beneath the Darkness) has news that his young beautiful new wife Skyler (Brooklyn Decker, Battleship) is also expecting - twins! As each couple tries to get a handle on the intricacies and obstacles of bringing a baby into the world or into their hearts, their paths cross loosely with the other couples in some fashion.

What to Expect When You're Expecting chronicles the 9-month journeys of five very different couples. Some are married, some are not. Some are in committed relationships, some are just trying to do the right thing by their partner. From Jules and Evan's hectic high-profile, in-the-public-eye reality show schedules, to barely making it financially food truck chefs Rosie and Marco, each couple portrays a partial cross-section of the reality of future parents. Holly and Alex try to do everything to impress the adoption agency, knowing full well that their financial situation will barely cover a new mortgage and a new baby if anything dire were to occur. On the other end of the spectrum, Ramsey and Skyler live a posh existence with a beautiful estate, a golf course in their back yard, and swimming pool complete with an official Jimmy Buffet 'Margaritaville' tiki bar. For them, money is no object and worries seem to shed off their backs like water off a duck. But secure finances do not make for easy times as Jules and Evan struggle to keep their Type-A personalities in check for the sake of the baby. Rich, poor, or middle class, the development and arrival of a child can only be planned so far in advance.

The film advertises as a dramatic comedy, but plays more to the light drama than to the comedy. In fact, the comedic elements come from the characters that fall outside of, but connected to, the five couples. Wendy's employee Janice (Rebel Wilson, Bridesmaids) is quirky and silly, hanging on her boss's every word and wisdom - dumb, naive and strangely lovable - like a automobile wreck. Holly's aquarium boss Kara (Wendi McLendon-Covey, Bridesmaids) is funny when she berates her husband Craig (Thomas Lennon, What's Your Number?) about the pronunciation of their son's name. And the aptly named 'The Dude's Group', which includes several veteran fathers including Vic (Chris Rock, Grown Ups), Gabe (Rob Huebel, The Descendants), Kara's husband Craig, and Patel (Amir Talai, The Pursuit of Happyness). They all meet in the park every Saturday to play with their kids, shoot the breeze, gossip, and observe the first rule of 'The Dude's Group' - no judgement! Kids playing in the dryer or swimming in the toilet bowl? No big deal! Kid eating a cigarette? Stuff happens! Kid falls off the changing table? Didn't happen on my watch! Dodged a bullet on that one! The rest of the cast of characters are too worried about their pregnancies and adoptions to spend too much time with all out humor.

The film is touching to a point, not as funny as it was made out to be in the trailers, and utterly busy. With five unique couple's experiences to contend with, we fill rushed through the delivery of the story. Couples pass by other couples like ships in the foggy night, rarely realizing that the other exists. There is so sadness and much more joy as the bundles of joy are brought home, and relationships strengthen or mend. But there is too much going on to be invested on all of it. Unlike the hit baby daddy comedy Knocked Up or the sweet and endearing Father of the Bride II, What to Expect When You're Expecting dilutes the quality of emotions in favor of quantity. Each actor or actress brings their A-game to their roles, either comedic or dramatic, but there is not enough time for anyone to shine too brightly. Maybe Kirk Jones was trying to make the audience feel disjointed or rushed so we could appreciate what the characters were experiencing in the story themselves. Each of the couples could have had a successful  film all to their own.

What to Expect When You're Expecting is a sometimes sweet, sometimes laborious film, spending too much of its time making sure every method of child birth or child adopting has a voice and is heard over the screaming of the other stories. Pushing all of these individual stories onto the screen at the same time, unfortunately, fails to deliver in the end.

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WORTH:  Matinee or Rental