Homefront

ACTION/ADVENTURE, SUSPENSE/THRILLER

Protecting Family

7.25 out of 10 | Rental

---

Rated: R   Strong violence, pervasive language, drug content and brief sexuality
Release Date: November 27, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes

---

Director: Gary Fielder
Writers: Sylvester Stallone, based on the novel by Chuck Logan
Cast: Jason Statham, James Franco, Izabela Vidovic, Kate Bosworth, Marcus Hester, Clancy Brown, Winona Ryder, Frank Grillo

---

Watch Trailer

SYNOPSIS: A former DEA agent moves his daughter to a quiet town, where he soon tangles with a local meth druglord.

REVIEW: Runaway Jury director Gary Fielder is no stranger to suspense or action, spending a lot of time directing action-oriented episodes for The Shield and Life on Mars. Now, with a script from none other than Sly Stallone (The Expendables 2) Fielder combines suspense and action together for a Thanksgiving weekend release.

Phil broker (Jason Statham, Parker) leaves the DEA after an undercover assignment goes sideways. Retiring to Rayville, Louisiana with his 10-year-old daughter Maddy (Izabela Vidovic), he tries to lead a normal life. When Maddy defends herself from a bully at school, it sets off a chain reaction of violence and revenge that starts with the boy's mother Cassie (Kate Bosworth, Superman Returns) and father Jimmy (Marcus Hester, Looper) before escalating to the mother's meth drug lord brother Morgan 'Gator' Bodice (James Franco, This is the End). When Gator learns of Phil's past life involving the leader of the biker gang The Outcasts, he tries to secure expansion opportunities by serving up Phil's location using his girlfriend Sheryl (Winona Ryder, Star Trek) as the go between.

From a story by Chuck Logan and adapted to the screen by the one and only Sylvester Stallone, Homefront is prototypical action flick. The protagonist is a capable ex-military, ex-agent who is just trying to leave his past behind and lead a normal life with his family. He tries to be a good man and devoted father, but his training and sense of right and wrong put him in the middle of circumstances that force him to take action to protect those he loves.

While not original in the action genre, the movie does bring some fresh life to it. Jason Statham is always fun to watch as an action hero, up there with Bruce Willis and Stallone. He has an easy way about him that makes him a good character for the forced upon vigilante while knowing how to kick some serious ass when he needs to. The choreography and action sequences illicit oohs and ahhs. Statham has great chemistry with his on-screen daughter played by newcomer Izabela Vidovic, making the duo very likable as a family unit. But as good as Jason Statham's presence and physicality are, it still would be nothing without a serious threat and villain.

James Franco, as the meth lord nicknamed Gator, puts a good performance as a ruthless meth cooker and brother trying to do right by his strung out sister. When Gator finds an opportunity to expand his business and change his own life at Phil Broker's expense, he jumps at the chance. Gator is only one of the villains that make this movie so good. Winona Ryder's Cheryl, ex-biker groupie and current Gator drug partner, seems only concerned about her own preservation. Trained killer and biker Cyrus, played by Frank Grillo (Zero Dark Thirty), is sent to deal with the Phil Broker loose end. As a collective this group of deviants could, at any moment, prove more than a match for Statham's character.

Homefront is a good blend of family bonding and villain pounding. Most of it may be a little cliché but Franco, Statham, Ryder and Grillo makes for a action and popcorn lovers spectacle, especially after stuffing oneself with turkey and stuffing.

---

Frankenweenie 3D

Mad Science and Man's Best Friend

★ ★ ★ 1/2 out of 5 buckets | Matinee or DVD

---

Rated: PG Action, thematic elements and scary images

Release Date: October 5, 2012

Runtime: 1 hour 27 minutes

---

Director: Tim Burton
Writers: John August, Tim Burton, Leonard Ripps
Cast: Catherine O'Hara, Robert Capron, Conchata Ferrell, Martin Short, Christopher Lee, Winona Ryder, James Hiroyuki Liao, Atticus Shaffer, Dee Bradley Baker, Charlie Tahan, Frank Welker

---

Watch Trailer

SYNOPSIS: Young Victor, agonizing over the passing of his beloved dog Sparky, experiments with lightning to bring his dog back to life. Unfortunately, word gets out about Sparky's return from the dead, resulting in other kids abusing the work that Victor has completed.

REVIEW: A prolific and utterly creative force in moviemaking, director Tim Burton returns for more stop action cinema with the expansion of a Frankenstein homaged film about a boy and his dog. Known for masterful films such as Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland, and the big screen adaptation of Dark Shadows, he takes his 1984 short film of the same name created with Leonard Ripps and develops it into a feature with help from Dark Shadows writer John August.

Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan, Charlie St. Cloud) is a solitary boy who loves creating monster films with his best friend in the world, his dog Sparky (Frank Welker, Futurama). When Sparky chases after a baseball into the street, he is killed. Victor is distressed and distraught, mourning the lost of his best friend. When Victor's science teacher Mr. Rzykruski (Martin Landau, 9) demonstrates that electricity reanimates, albeit temporarily, a test frog. Taking matters into his own hands, Victor uses a lightning storm to bring Sparky back to light. Keeping Sparky's return a secret from his parents and his classmates, schoolmate Edgar "E" Gore (Atticus Shaffer, The Middle) discovers Sparky wandering around the schoolyard and confronts Victor about Sparky's vigor. When Victor repeats the process with a dead goldfish, Edgar later tells fellow classmates that he is going to win the science fair. Toshiaki (James Hiroyuki Liao, Battle: Los Angeles), Nassor (Martin Short, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted), Bob (Robert Capron, The Three Stooges), and Weird Girl (Catherine O'Hara, Where the Wild Things Are) decide that they can create bigger and better reanimated pets for the science fair, but with disastrous results for the town of New Holland.

Tim Burton and Disney create another stellar film. Using his vast experience of cinema, Burton reanimates his half hour 1984 live-action film, based on his idea and a screenplay from Leonard Ripps, into a full fledged stop-action feature. Shot in black and white (or with everything decored in grays, more likely), Burton incorporates several monster themes into one. The classic Frankenstein motif embodied by Victor and his dog Sparky is joined by 'The Bride of Frankenstein' in the form of Victor's neighbor Elsa van Helsing (Winona Ryder, The Dilemma) dog Persephone, classic Japanese cold war monsters, sea monkeys resembling a more monstrous version of Gremlins, and a strange mayor of New Holland, Mr. Burgemeister, whose name and look is a homage to a certain stop-action Christmas classic. Even the windmill on the top of the hill of the town of New Holland is a Universal Studios monster mainstay.

In addition to a carefully crafted tale that centers primarily around the love of a boy with his dog, Tim Burton's long time musical composing partner Danny Elfman provides a haunting, beautiful and fine score that accompanies and completes the film. The precise silences left by the characters is filled with an excellent symphonic melody. During every frame of celluloid filled with sadness by Victor over the passing of his friend, to the romping play of Sparky and his puppy love of the dog next door, to the climactic fire-wielding mob processional to the town's hilltop windmill, Danny Elfman proves once again that his style of composing is a perfect match to Burton's sideshow cinematic brilliance.

Burton focuses on always on the scene and the characters. Victor Frankenstein is reminiscent of a young groom from The Corpse Bride. Sparky is the most animated of the entire cast, both alive and dead - and undead. You root for the canine every step of the way. Science teacher Mr. Rzykruski is the spitting image of a long gone but not forgotten Vincent Price, a favorite actor of a younger, more impressionable, adolescent Burton. Nassor is an analgam of both the Universal Studios Doctor Frankenstein and his monster. The girl simply known as the 'Weird Girl' is both weird and hilarious. Lastly, Atticus Shaffer's Edgar "E" Gore is fun to watch, enhanced by a hunchback, crooked teeth, and Shaffer's voicework.

Although a stop-action piece of work, Tim Burton's kids stories are always a little more mature and dark than the normal fare. While some youngsters will love the 'gruesome' monsters that the young citizens of New Holland create during the lightning storms, others may find the subject matter a little scary or unnerving. Even the original death of Sparky (yes, he does die), while done with dignity and taste, may send some of the youngest into loud tears. Regardless, Burton puts his childhood enjoyment of monsters and classic horror into a wonderful children's tale, all with care and love.

Frankenweenie 3D is a dark Burtonesque joy for children and adults alike. Any canine lover will shed a tear for Sparky, and smile with his slobbery and frisky antics. Maybe not for the youngest of crowds, Frankenweenie does brings life to a dying artisan form of filmmaking. 

---

The Dilemma

The Truth is Painful

[Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum, Queen Latifah]

image from ripitup.co.nz

RANT: I talked to Annette behind the glass at the Regal Theater box office today. She is usually doodling and drawing when I see her between giving out tickets. You can check out her skills at www.pockets1217.deviantart.com.

SYNOPSIS: Ronny and Nick are best friends and business partners. When Ronny discovers that Nick's wife is having an affair, he is put in a difficult position as to how and when to tell Nick.

The opening sequence sets the stage for the entire film. One of the ladies at the table asks Ronny (Vince Vaughn) if you truly can know someone completely, whether it is your best friend or your wife? Ronny responds with stories of men with families in separate cities, and a husband who take up archery and "accidentally" shoots his wife in the neck with an arrow, twice! Of course, he is right. We can never know another person wholly, no matter how confident we are. And this dry comedy sets out in the pursuit and upholding of the truth.

Director Ron Howard brings us a comedy from Allan Loeb. Ronny Valentine (Vaughn) and Nick Brannen (Kevin James) are business partners trying to capture a large automaker bid on their electric engine technology that would rumble in muscle cars. While Nick struggles with finishing the technology, Ronny discovers that Nick's wife Geneva (Winona Ryder) is having an affair with a young tattooed stud named Zip (Channing Tatum). Forced with keeping the truth from Nick in order to finish the project on time, Ronny takes it upon himself to confront Geneva to fix the problem. But everything that Ronny tries to fix the problem, the worse things get.

Although Vince and Kevin are funny, their manic styles tend to cancel each other out in The Dilemma. On the plus side, Queen Latifah as auto liaison Susan Warner gives a few giggles with her enthusiasm for the duo and their engine concept. And it's always great to see Clint Howard working. But on the more dramatic side, Jennifer Connelly and Winona Ryder keep the outing somber, further slanting the film to the serious.

The film is slated as "a comedy that pulls no punches". The Dilemma may have not pulled any punches, but because of it most of the comedy may have thrown in the towel. Even for most avid Vaughn or James fans, the truth is that you will be happier watching The Dilemma in the comfort of your living room.

Worth: Netflix

Butter Popcorn Meter

Black Swan

Brutal, But Beautiful Ballet

[Natalie Portman. Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder]

image from screenrant.com

RANT: Still another trip to the theater leads to another rant about the lack of etiquette during the show. I was happy as a pig in slop, enjoying the aisle seat with 3 empties to my left. After the previews started, a mass of people continued to funnel in. All passed me by for seats higher up. I ended up with a pair of 20-something girls who talked through the whole movie – as if they were 10-year-olds. If you want to add a commentary track, watch it at home on bootleg!

SYNOPSIS: A career dancer is desperate to be selected for the lead in a surreal production of Swan Lake. Cast to play both the White Swan and Black Swan, she must embrace both the frailty and vulnerability of the white and the seductive, darkness of the black – to destructive results.

Director Darren Aronofsky, best known for The Wrestler and The Fountain, brings a surreal, twisted version of Swan Lake to the screen through Black Swan. Educating us in the story of Swan Lake itself, the story also serves as the backdrop for Nina Sayers' (Natalie Portman) journey. After being in the ballet dance company for several years, she is a veteran dancer dedicated and driven to be cast in the main role of a ballet production. She is technically perfect but lacks emotional passion. When she is tasked to play the Black Swan role in addition to the White Swan, production director Thomas (Vincent Cassel) forces her to let go of the mechanics of the dance and focus on the fluid chaos of the darker role.

But the role of the Swan Queen (both White Swan and Black Swan) is only the catalyst that drives all that follows. Seeming to be unable to let go of her vulnerabilities, Nina notices the new carefree transfer dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis). Jealous of Lily's abilities, Nina is both worried that Lily will take her role and strangely drawn to her spirited nature. In Nina's personal life, she is a slave to her mother's will - a once-promising ballet dancer forced to end her career while pregnant with Nina. In addition, Nina is torn about Thomas' previous leading lady, Beth (Winona Ryder) who is being forced into retirement due to her age and poor performance attendance.

As the opening performance looms closer, Nina is puzzled by strange occurrences on and off stage. She finds both her mind and body betraying her. Is she slipping into madness? Is she destroying her frailty in favor of a new darker, erotic self? Is she actually becoming the black swan? Art and life and art intertwine, the audience never knowing what is real and what is surreal.

I cannot recommend this movie to everyone. It is brilliant, shedding light on the brutality of the preparation and the beauty of the performance. Black Swan is erotic, suspenseful and beautiful. But it may cross the lines that some patrons may be unwilling and not ready to face.

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!