One of the benefits of being an amateur movie reviewer is that I don't have to see any movie that I don't want to.  If it looks like the kind of movie I won't enjoy, I simply won't see it, plain and simple.  Unlike most professional reviewers, I rate the films I see based on how much I enjoyed it (in comparison with how much I expected to enjoy it) and to what lengths I would go to see it again.  On a scale of one to ten (or one-half star to five stars), I tend to give a movie that I am about to see a rating somewhere between 6 and 7 out of ten before the movie even starts.  For a film to fall all the way to a rating of 1-3 out of ten takes some doing, as it would have to be monumentally crappy for it to fall that far.  As a result, nearly 75-80% of the movies that I see usually end up with at least a passing grade (5/10).

Most professional reviewers, when stacking up a film like The Mechanic against, say, the films that were just nominated for Academy Awards, would probably give it a lesser grade just on principle.  However, another benefit of not getting paid to review movies is that I have no reputation to uphold.  Were both The King's Speech and The Mechanic good films?  To me, definitely.  Is The King's Speech a BETTER movie than The Mechanic?  Absolutely.  Which one did I ENJOY more?  Well, I have to go with The Mechanic on that one.  That's just how I roll.

One has certain expectations when going in to see an action movie starring Jason Statham - namely, lots of action and not much else.  And in that respect, The Mechanic succeeds admirably.  Statham is a guy with a lot of screen presence and charisma, which is pretty cool when you compare him with action stars of the past like Schwarzenegger and Willis.  Those guys would often intersperse their violence and action with humorous quips, one-liners and catch-phrases.  That was part of their charm, their personality.  Such a persona simply wouldn't work with Statham, who has made his bones playing laconic characters, men of few words and fewer facial expressions.  Characters who are professionals in their field, and who are all business.  And that works for Statham.  For him to inject inappropriate levity into a tense situation like Arnold or Bruce used to do would come off as forced and fake, and I'm glad that neither he nor the directors he's worked for have tried to turn him into a high-kicking jokester.

In The Mechanic, which is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name starring Charles Bronson, Statham plays Arthur Bishop, a paid assassin who specializes in contract killings that involve taking a target out "without anyone knowing he was even there".  After a particularly effective mission, he is told by his boss, Dean, (Tony Goldwyn) that his friend and mentor Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland) has undertaken actions that cost several men their lives and put their company's future at risk, and must be "removed".  At first reluctant, Arthur decides to put professional responsibility ahead of friendship and facilitates Harry's "removal", make the killing look like a failed carjacking attempt.

Of course, that's when things get complicated... Arthur makes the acquaintance of Harry's estranged son Steve (Ben Foster), who wants Arthur to tech him the art of being a "mechanic" so that he can find an outlet for his anger over his father's death.  Out of guilt, Arthur agrees, and the two embark on a precarious friendship that results in some tense moments, not the least of which comes of Steve's lack of experience shining through at the most inopportune times when Arthur is doing his "jobs".  And it all leads, of course, to the inevitable conclusion of what happens when Steve learns how his father really met his end.

I really liked this movie.  There was a lot of violence, profanity and some nudity, well worthy of its R rating, but it was also very cool, very slick and very entertaining.  Its relatively straightforward plot never tried to be overly clever by throwing unnecessary twists or subplots at us, which was nice to see.  Statham was his usual reliable self, playing Arthur as the hard-bitten detached loner that he usually plays, and Foster is an actor I'd like to see more of.  Though small of stature, his body language and demeanor are very expressive (particularly his eyes), and he tends to take roles that allow him to showcase his intensity.  True to form, Foster plays Steve less of a no-account rich man's son than a screw-up trying in vain to live up to his father's expectations knowing full well that he'll fail, and violence is the best outlet to release his frustrations.

The Mechanic will probably not win any awards in this year or any other.  It probably won't be a big hit at the box office (hell, no movie with Statham in the leading role has made over $50 million).  But all that aside, it delivers everything you could possibly expect of it:  kick-ass entertainment.

4 / 5 stars

It's very tough to craft a film that's half-action, half-comedy that succeeds equally on both levels.  The best template I can think of as an example would be Ghostbusters, one of my favorite films from my youth.  The action sequences were terrific, and the danger, as silly as it was, felt real.  It was also incredibly funny, which is to be expected when you have comedy legends like Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd leading the way.

Seth Rogen is also proven as a comedian, but his typical movie persona is quite different than Murray's oddball characters or Aykryod's nerdish intellectuals.  Rogen has made his bones from playing everymen, general workaday slacker goofball slobs.  These characters usually have likeable qualities, but also, more often than not, have just as many unlikeable ones.  And therein lies the problem with casting him in a movie like The Green Hornet.

Rogen plays Britt Reid, the spoiled son of wealthy media mogul James Reid (Tom Wilkinson), against whom Britt has been rebelling since the death of his mother many years before.  When James dies from a mysterious bee-sting, Britt inherits James's newspaper, The Daily Sentinel.  And though he leaves the general operations to his father's long-time friend (Edward James Olmos), it is during a night of drinking with James's mechanic Kato (Jay Chou) - who also makes a terrific cup of coffee - that Britt hatches a plan... to become a masked crimefighter.  After all, why not?  He has the wealth to fund an array of high-tech weapons and vehicles, and with a martial-arts expert as his sidekick, what could go wrong?

Again, therein lies the problem.  Britt reasons that his masked persona, The Green Hornet, is not a hero, but a hero pretending to be a bad guy so that he's not encumbered by the rules of morality the way heroes are.  Which is probably just as well, because Rogen plays Britt as the same arrogant prick that he usually plays, but given his enormous wealth and overall cluelessness, it's nearly impossible to figure out just why we should root for the guy in the first place.

In Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. played Tony Stark as a rich, arrogant prick much like Britt; the difference was, Stark was a technological genius who, after a life-altering crisis, grew a conscience.  He realized that his gifts were being used for evil purposes, and it changed him, and the change was well-realized and genuine.  Britt undergoes no such transformation, you see... he's not avenging his father, he's just doing the whole masked-crimefighter thing because HE CAN.  As a lark.  Unfortunately, when you're a complete jerk and you surround yourself with really bad bad guys, that doesn't make you a hero by comparison.

And poor Kato; though he does 100% of the building and 99% of the ass-kicking, Britt acts like it's all about him, using his newly-inherited newspaper to publicize his exploits.  Of course, it's easy to kick the asses of a bunch of lowlife thugs when you have a souped-up car, mondo weaponry and a high-kicking associated.  But eventually, you're going to ruffle the feathers of someone higher up the food chain, in this case, an aging gangster named Chudnofsky (Christophe Waltz), who wants these pesky insects squashed.

I was so looking forward to seeing Waltz again, after the brilliant, Oscar-winning turn he made last year in Inglourious Basterds.  If he could infuse this particular villain with even half as much charisma, maybe The Green Hornet would be a notch more entertaining.  Sadly, Waltz is completely wasted; he spends most of the movie wondering what he needs to do to "come off scarier and cooler" to younger criminals who don't resepct him any more.  Also completely wasted is Cameron Diaz as Lenore Case, a journalist who Britt hires as a secretary, not only because she's hot but because she's a crime buff, and he uses her knowledge to plan his secret strategies as the Hornet. 

I will say that the action sequences are fairly entertaining; the problem is, they go on too long, to the point where it felt like director Michael Gondry was just filling up screen time.  By the film's end, you've had more than enough, especially when the sequences descend into mediocre silliness.  There were also a few moments where I laughed out loud, but probably not as many times as the filmmakers hoped I would, and not enough for me to consider this a successful comedy either.  Rogen's prickish demeanor is more off-putting than funny, and an ill-advised subplot where both Britt and Kato jockey for Lenore's attention is juvenile and stupid.

Movies about heroes work best when we can be invested in the character, no matter how different from ourselves he may be.  We can feel for wealthy geniuses like Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne, or everyday blokes like Peter Parker who are just trying to scratch out a living.  Anyone can be a hero, but a hero that we don't really care about is just not worth the price of admission.  Character development is essential in this genre, and this is where The Green Hornet went the most wrong.  What a shame.

2 /5 stars

Review submitted by Mark David Campbell

I wasn't sure going in to see The Dilemma if it was going to be a comedy with dark understones or a drama with occasional funny moments.  Given the presence of Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, I was leaning toward the former.  Regrettably, director Ron Howard and his cast never really seem to make up their mind, pinballing from one choice to the other without staying put long enough to really be classified as either one.

Which is a shame, because the film's premise had a lot of potential:  Ronny (Vaughn) and his best friend Nick (James) are business partners who have been best friends for decades.  However, Ronny is put into a moral quandary when he discovers, quite by accident, Nick's wife (Winona Ryder) having an affair with a younger man (Channing Tatum): if he tells Nick, it could ruin a possible lucrative business opportunity they're trying to land; if not, he risks his friendship with Nick.

Vaughn brings his usual mixture of smarm and likability to Ronnie, which is what I've come to expect from him.  Unfortunately, the rest of the cast is completely wasted:  Kevin James, so funny in The King of Queens, is static and vacant as Nick, and Jennifer Connelly has little or nothing to do as Ronnie's girlfriend.  Only Ryder seems to be having fun in the role, because she gets to put on her evil bitch costume while going toe-to-toe with Ronny.  Tatum is basically just a hunk of beefcake that could be played by any odd slab of prime rib.

What's worse are the movie's subplots, including the aforementioned business deal, a sleep-inducing sideline involving an electric-car deisgn, as well as a completely unnecessary gambling problem that Howard decided to give Ronny in order to create some comedic situations that fall completely and utterly flat.    The best moment is from a scene you may have scene in the trailer, the one where Ronny makes an inappropriate toast at a wedding, which may in time be considered a classic Vaughn moment.  If only it had taken place in a different film.

The film ends with a good ol' bit-o'-slapstick, where Ronny and Nick's bro-mantic relationship comes to a head.  As an ending, it's completely out of place and fields like it was added at the last minute.  It makes no sense at all and it isn't even remotely funny.

When you put together talented names like Ron Howard, Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, you expect something that's well-written, lively and fun.  Well, one out of three ain't bad.  Oh, wait a minute, yes it is.

2 / 5 stars

The first movie to come out in a calendar year is usually bad.  We expect it to be bad.  After all, why would any studio dump it into the frozen cinematic wasteland of January if they actually expected an audience?  And all of these points are valid.  Also valid, usually, are the opinions of professional critics, whose job it is to decry films like this, which, let's face it, don't hold a candle  to the Oscar-bait films that are still in theaters, films like The King's Speech, Black Swan, True Grit, 127 Hours, The Fighter, Blue Valentine, and the like.

But I am here to tell you:  Season of the Witch is NOT THAT BAD.

Yes, it's basically a vehicle for Nicolas Cage to, once again, have his hair long and unkempt, flash his trademark grin and swing into battle like he does 2-3 times a year.  But no matter how bad his films are, they all possess Cage's teflon charm and charisma, and though most of his fan-base have jumped off of his bandwagon, I'm still on it, and I repeat, Season of the Witch is not that bad.

Director Dominic Sena (Swordfish) has teamed Cage up with veteran actor Ron Perlman (Hellboy), and the relationship between their characters is quite endearing, even if they hardly speak like medieval 14th-century knights.  More specifically, they play the characters of Behmen and Felson, two knights weary of the Crusades who decide that doing God's brutal dirty work is no longer in their interests, so they desert their unit and return home to find it decimated by the Black Plague.  The priests in their home village tell them that the plague is a curse brought upon the land by a young girl (Claire Foy) who they believe to be a witch.

Behmen and Felson are offered a pardon for their desertion if they take the girl to a monastery six days' journey away, where the monks there will perform a ritual that will cleanse the girl's soul and lift the pestilence.  The duo agree, so, along with a priest (Stephen Campbell Moore), a swindler (Stephen Graham), a knight (Ulrich Thomsen) and a young man (Robert Sheehan), the group make the treacherous journey to the monastery.  Along the way, there are many dangers, not the least of which is the girl herself, who seems to have to power to bewitch others even from inside her cage.

There are some otherworldly elements in Season that are performed by what can easily be called substandard CGI.  Many of the early fight scenes were obviously done on a green screen.  However, the scenes that were filmed on location (in Croatia, Hungary and Austria) are quite authentic, and there are more than a few scenes that were tempered with tension and spookiness.  The makeup job on the plague victims was also very well-done.

In the end, what we have here is yet another mindless Nicolas Cage action film that will be largely ignored by audiences and reviled by critics.  But if you're the kind of moviegoer that is capable of putting aside preconceptions at the door and just enjoying a film despite its many flaws, Season of the Witch is not that bad.  Not exactly a stirring endorsement, I know, but it's probably the best one this film is going to get.

3 / 5 stars

Review submitted by Chris Maitland

The Western genre has always appealed to me. I've seen a good number of classic westerns, including a good deal of Clint Eastwood's classics. When it comes to True Grit, I haven't seen the John Wayne original. I have heard great things about it, but haven't gotten around to seeing it. On the other hand, The Coen Brothers update of True Grit, is the best Western I have seen in quite some time.

True Grit tells the story of Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfield), whose father was brutally murdered by an outlaw drifter named Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin).  Determined to catch Chaney and see him hung for his crime, Mattie seeks the help of Marshal Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to track Chaney down.  Skeptical at first, Cogburn reluctantly agrees to Mattie's offer.  Also along for the ride is Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Matt Damon), who is in pursuit to bring down Chaney for his murder of a Texas senator.

True Grit is a hell of a western. The Coen Brothers are the main reason this works so well. In the hands of lesser directors, this could have been a disaster, but The Coen Brothers' immense talent is on display here. Their script crackles with wit, humor and sharp dialogue. It's great to see them bring their trademark style of writing to a true Western (one could almost consider No Country For Old Men a modern-day Western given its locale, but only just).  Each scene is finely tuned and well thought out; the Coen Brothers are true craftsman at directing.

The acting is also superb. Jeff Bridges does a damn fine job as Cogburn, embracing the character and playing him as an old, miserable drunk. He also shows off some of his comedic skills which haven't been on display since his turn as The Dude in The Big Lebowski. Bridges' performance here makes me forget about the abomination that was Tron: Legacy (which did the impossible, made Bridges look like a bad actor). I also have to give major kudos to Haliee Steinfeld. She's only 14 years old, but I can say her performance in this film should help her gain a long and successful film career. She has the poise and talent of an actress twice her age.

The one gripe I had with this film that single-handedly dropped this out of my top 5 for the year, was the fact that the entire premise for the movie, the tracking down of Chaney, was resolved with very little build-up or tension.  In fact, Brolin only has about 10 minutes of screen time total.  I found the ending to be very anti-climatic and it lowered the quality of the film just a little bit.

Still, True Grit is a great film. This is the Coen Brothers' most accessible film to date and as usual, they knock it out of the park. Their script and direction is brilliant. The acting is dynamite all around and I wouldn't be surprised if Jeff Bridges and Haliee Steinfeld pick up Oscar nods, they deserve them. True Grit is easily the best Western since Unforgiven.

4.5 / 5 Stars

Sanctum 3D (Universal) - Director: Alister Grierson; starring Rhys Wakefield, Allison Cratchley and Christopher Baker.  A diving team experiences a life-threatening crisis during an expedition to an unexplored cave system.

Opinion:  This based-on-true-events story is being produced by James Cameron, so you can be sure that the 3D aspect will be phenomenal.  However, this ain't Avatar, and I'm wondering if the lack of recognizable names in the cast (which is comprised primarily of Australian actors) will hurt its chances.

The Roommate (Sony Screen Gems) - Director: Christian E. Christiansen; starring Minka Kelly, Leighton Meester,  Cam Gigandet, Aly Michalka and Billy Zane.  College student Sara (Kelly) finds her safety jeopardized after she's assigned to a dorm room with a new roommate, Rebecca (Meester).

Opinion:  Combine Obsessed with Single White Female, adapt it for teenagers, and this is probably what you'd come up with.  Not sure that's a good thing, but it could turn into a popular camp-thriller unexpectedly.

Also coming on February 4: Frankie and Alice (drama starring Halle Berry), Waiting For Forever (romantic drama starring Rachel Bilson).

February 11

Just Go With It (Columbia) - Director: Dennis Dugan; starring Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Brooklyn Decker and Nicole Kidman.  A guy (Sandler) convinces a mother of two (Aniston) to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife in order to woo the woman of his dreams (Decker).

Opinion:   Every Valentine's Day has to have a romantic comedy, but when one comes courtesy of Dugan and Sandler (who teamed up for I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, You Don't Mess With the Zohan, and Grown Ups), you have to wonder just how often romance will give way to toilet humor.  Here's hoping Just Go With It is actually funnier than all of the above.

Gnomeo and Juliet (Disney) - Director: Kelly Asbury; starring James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Patrick Stewart, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith and Julie Walters.  An animated version of Shakespeare's play, where Gnomeo (voice of McAvoy) and Juliet (voice of Blunt) are would-be lovers from rival garden-based families.

Opinion:  a garden-gnome version of Toy Story set to Shakespeare?  Yeah, it could work.  Asbury (Shrek 2) has experience with animated films, and when you throw in a soundtrack heavy with Elton John classics, you could have a film that will appeal to all ages.  And really, it's the only fun-for-the-whole family film of the entire month, so it has that going for it as well.

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (Paramount) - Director: John Chu; starring Justin Bieber.  A look at Justin Bieber's early life, his rise to fame, and behind the scenes of his 2010 tour.

Opinion:  It was only one year ago that the Jonas Brothers movie flopped in every way possible.  I know Bieber is the flavor of the month to preteen girls the world over, but does Justin really have that much more going for him?

The Eagle (Focus Features) - Director: Kevin Macdonald; starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Mark Strong and Donald Sutherland.  In 140 AD, Roman soldier Marcus Aquila (Tatum) embarks on a quest to restore the reputation of his father, the one-time commander of Rome's Ninth Legion, who disappeared in the mountains of Scotland twenty years earlier.

Opinion:  Not sure how actually similar The Eagle's story is to that of Centurion (now out on DVD), but the trailer makes it look eerily parallel.  Which doesn't bode well, as Centurion was an incredibly average film.  Still, in the hands of the man who helmed the critically acclaimed The Last King of Scotland as well as the undervalued State of Play, my interest is definitely peaked.

Also coming on February 11 (limited release): Cedar Rapids (comedy with Ed Helms and John C. Reilly).

February 18

Unknown (Warner Bros.) - Director: Jaume Collet-Serra; starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Frank Langella and Aidan Quinn.  Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one -- not even his wife (Jones) -- believes him. With the help of a young woman (Kruger), he sets out to prove who he is.

Opinion: I'm a fan of bare-knuckle action/suspense films, as well as pretty much anything that features Liam Neeson getting his badass on.  Unknown may not have the appeal or potential as Taken, but I think it could do quite well indeed.

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (Fox) - Director: John Whitesell; starring Martin Lawrence, Brandon T. Jackson and Faizon Love.  FBI agent Malcolm Turner (Lawrence) and his nephew Trent (Jackson) go undercover at an all-girls performing arts school after Trent witnesses a murder.

Opinion: Dear God, WHY?  Huh?  Because Lawrence just finished a wildly successful standup tour and is popular again?  And is making another Bad Boys movie?  Never mind.

I Am Number Four (Walt Disney/Buena Vista) - Director: D.J. Caruso; starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer, Dianna Agron and Kevin Durand.  Nine alien teens come to Earth after their planet is destroyed by an enemy species. But soon discover that their enemy is now after them on Earth.

Opinion: I am a huge fan of Caruso (Disturbia, Eagle Eye), so I'm willing to take a leap of faith that this one will be good.  However, the cast is led by Alex Pettyfer, who has been plugged as the British Shia LaBoeuf for several years but has had about 1% of Shia's success.  I'm not one to poo-poo films about young people with super-powers, but I'm hoping that Number Four will be as cool as the undervalued Push and not nearly as juvenile and awkward as Percy Jackson.

Also coming on February 18 (limited release): Vanishing on 7th Street (horror/thriller starring Hayden Christensen and Thandie Newton).

February 25

Hall Pass (Warner Bros./New Line) - Directors: The Farrelly Brothers; starring Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate, Richard Jenkins, Alyssa Milano and Jenna Fischer.  Two married guys are given the freedom to engage in a week's worth of extra-marital affairs, though they get a little bent out of shape when their respective wives start having fun on their own, too.

Opinion: It's been 12 years since There's Something About Mary, and everything the Farrellys have done since then has either been average (Fever Pitch, Shallow Hal) or truly godawful (Stuck On You, The Heartbreak Kid).  Can Hall Pass possibly bring anything new or fresh to the table, including a return to form?  The safe money would suggest not, and any raunchy comedy that doesn't feature Ben Stiller, Seth Rogen or Adam Sandler has an uphill climb.

Drive Angry (Summit Entertainment) - Director: Patrick Lussier; starring Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner, David Morse and Billy Burke.  A felon (Cage) breaks out of hell for one last chance at redemption: to prevent the cult who murdered his daughter from sacrificing her baby in three days' time. He's aided by a young waitress (Heard) and her ex-boyfriend's muscle car, and together the duo will have to face down the leader of the cult, the police, and a killer known as "The Accountant" (Fichtner) -- who wants to return him to the Devil.

Opinion: Nicolas Cage is usually good for two or three mindless action films a year, and lo, this already marks the second of 2011.  Hopefully Drive Angry will succeed where Faster failed; adding a wry sense of humor and an infernal element should help.

Shelter (Weinstein Company) - Directors: Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein; starring Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Nathan Corddry.  A female forensic psychiatrist discovers that all of one of her patient's multiple personalities are murder victims. She will have to find out what's happening before her time is finished.

Opinion: Yet another possession/exorcism horror film?  Hasn't this theme run its course yet?  Feh.

While Leigh’s films are never plot heavy, Another Year centres on aging couple Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen), who live a modest but rather fulfilling life as a geologist and counselor respectively. Only their happiness is contrasted with their friends and relatives. Gerri’s work colleague Mary (Lesley Manville) is single, aging, and in deep denial as she covers her unhappiness with a smile and plenty of booze. Ken, Tom’s workaholic friend, is too afraid to retire and spends most of his free time downing cans of lager. And when Tom’s brother Ronnie becomes a widower, we fail to see any emotions and regret behind the blank façade.

This is all introduced by a stand-out and independent scene which sums up the movie. Gerri has an impromptu session with a working-class woman (Imelda Staunton, on one of her best performances) who can’t sleep. Gerri works hard and carefully on the woman’s feelings, but she’s defensive and resistant. And here we’re introduced to the theme of the film: denial. For it is denial that seems to be the key factor for unhappiness in all of Tom and Jerri’s friends. Mary, the most fascinating of the film’s characters (and if Manville is denied an Oscar it will be a tragedy), is in denial about her unhappiness, convinced she’s living the free and fun life of a bachelorette, forever pining for Tom and Jerri’s son Joe (who is many years her junior), as if he’s the gateway to sharing the family self-satisfaction. Ken doesn’t understand life out of work, and Ronnie was devoid of emotion, as a father and a husband. It’s a moving but sad portrait of how the working-class can cover up their emotions and ruin their lives in doing so.

But rather than relish in the downbeat, Leigh attempts something far more profound. He deliberately contrasts the lives of the friends and relatives with that of Tom and Jerri. They are content, but they don’t flaunt it through class ascent. Despite their professions, they are often shown working at a nearby garden, nurturing and harvesting their own vegetables. But this isn’t pretty upper middle-class gardening, this is hard, weather-worn stuff and that coats them in mud. Throughout the film we get glimpses of who they are (as rough and underprivileged as anyone in the film) and how they surpass the gloom of their class restrictions. They read, they studied, and they travelled (none of their friends have achieved the latter, with even Mary having to abandon her trip to the Med). But their steadfast friendship and connection with their past prove that they never denied their roots, they merely refused to deny them and opened themselves to life.

Leigh utilizes the unrestricted performances (no script, lots of character workshopping) of an excellent cast to portray the warmth of the couple, and the desperation of their friends. He balances charm with isolation, and in doing so has produced another masterpiece, one in which the limitations of social circumstances are shown to be transcended, and not given in to.

4/5 stars

Review submitted by Mark David Campbell

As a father to a young daughter who just looooooves going to the movies (the apple didn't fall far from the tree in that regard), it is often incumbent upon me to satisfy her craving for cinema.  Of course, she's at an age when most films that appear in theaters are a no-no... too much violence, profanity, innuendo, etc.  Which just leaves, basically, kids' movies.  Not that there's anything wrong with that; I don't mind sitting through kiddie fare if the film's creators at least made an attempt to reach out to adult audiences.  You know, films like How to Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3, Tangled, and even Despicable Me, to an extent.

Yes, all the films listed above are animated.  That's because kids' movies that are live-action (or, in some cases, live-action with cartoon elements) tend, more often than not, to disappoint.  In the last few years, I've enjoyed Alvin and the Chipmunks (the first one), G-Force and even Beverly Hills Chihuhua.  But I've also had to sit through dreck like Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, and, I'm sorry to say, Yogi Bear is far more the latter than the former.

I grew up watching Yogi and other Hanna-Barbera classic cartoon characters, and I was hoping that Dan Aykroyd, long one of my favorite comedic actors who seldom graces the big screen these days, would be able to rise to the challenge of mimicking Daws Butler for the voice of Yogi.  Unfortuntely, the moments when he captured the essence of Yogi were few and far between.  A far better job, surprisingly, was turned in by Justin Timberlake, who was able to give a very passable copy of Don Messick's personification of Yogi's sidekick, Boo Boo.

I will say  that the filmmakers did a terrific job of blending together real actors and CGI characters.  Their interactions are seamless, which is a credit to technology.  Regrettably, it's what they do together that's the movie's downfall.  The script skews heavily towards Jellystone Park Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh) and his love interest (Anna Faris) as much as it does toward the pic-a-nic-basket theft antics of Yogi.  In fact, Yogi and Boo Boo are almost supporting characters, which doesn't seem right when the film is called "Yogi Bear".  And, of course, the writers had to tack on a cliched corrupt-politician storyline in order to give the film a villain to root against and the heroes a "we have to save our home" mission.

I also had the misfortune to see the film in 3D, which was completely pointless.  (The most notable effect was having a turtle's backside right in my face.  Yeah, I know.)  Plus, the film was barely eighty minutes long, which is almost a relief, because I don't know how much more I could take. 

My daughter enjoyed it, for what it's worth.  But take this review as a warning to any parents who are considering taking their offspring to see this - see it in 2D.  Save the extra few bucks for popcorn or something.  These days, wasting money on extraneous stuff is a big boo-boo.

2 / 5 stars

Review submitted by Chris Maitland

It's December, which means awards season is right around the corner.  December is the month where most of the studios release their "Oscar bait" films and quite frankly, it's an exciting time of the year for moviegoers.  As a film fan, it's exciting to see which award contenders are worthy of the hype and the ones that fall short.  The Fighter is in the former camp and is deserving of all of the nominations it's going to get.

The Fighter tells the true story of “Irish” Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), a boxer from Lowell, Massachusetts.  Ward had struggled to break out in his career, considered to be merely a stepping stone for better fighters.  Ward is trained by his brother Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale), an former fighter himself who once fought Sugar Ray Leonard.  The rest of Ward's family, especially his mother, Alice (Melissa Leo) are highly involved in his boxing career.  After Dickie gets thrown in jail for his violent behavior due to his drug addiction, Micky decides to move on without his mother and brother, and that's when he starts to finally achieve success, rising up the ranks of the fight ladder.  Once Dickie is released from jail, Micky has to choose between his family and his now-resurgent career.

The Fighter delivers on all levels. This is isn't just a film about boxing, it's a story about family and the issues they face.  The acting all around is top-notch.  Mark Wahlberg does a fine job as Ward; he is a charismatic, likeable underdog that you want to see succeed and reach his goals, but the film is really stolen by Christian Bale and Amy Adams.  Bale is scary-good as Dickie.  He gets so in to his character, that you seriously believe that he became addicted to drugs just to sell the role.  Bale is pretty much a lock for Best Supporting Actor, his performance is outstanding.  Adams is equally effective as Ward's girlfriend, Charlene. It's such a drastic change in characters for Adams to be playing and she proves she is up to the challenge. She really took a risk playing this character and it paid off big time.

With boxing movies, you also expect great fights schenes, and The Fighter did a great job with those as well.  The boxing sequences are brutal and highly realistic. You can feel the intensity of each punch. I really don't think I have seen another boxing film with fight sequences this good, not even Rocky.  These fight scenes are expertly done.

The Fighter is one of the absolute best films of 2010.  It's an expertly acted, deep and winning film.  Bale and Adams are more than deserving of Oscars and really a marvel to watch. They captured the sport of boxing with a biting realism.  But The Fighter is much more than a boxing film, it's the story about an underdog, about a family and about overcoming turmoil and every obstacle imaginable to achieve your dream. The Fighter should get some recognition around Oscar time and rightfully so, It's a brilliant film.

4.5 / 5  stars

With so many movies these days being filmed, converted or showcased in 3D, it's appropriate that some vital questions be asked:  Firstly, is a 3D element really necessary?  Secondly, does it enhance the story and really, truly add that extra "dimension" to the film?  And finally, is there enough of a story to keep up with with the effects without being totally overshadowed by them?

Not counting animated films, Tron: Legacy is the seventh film I've seen in 3D this year.  And putting it mildly, I have yet to see one where the answer to all of the above questions is yes.  Several of them have been absolutely magnificent in terms of visual effects - Avatar, of course, as well as, God help me, Resident Evil: Afterlife.  I'm inclined to put Tron Legacy in that group as well, a group that has one other thing in common: a lackluster story.

Films that have budgets of tens, even hundreds of millions of dollars are nothing new.  But if you are someone who loves movies for more than just the bangs and flashes, effects should be a means to an end, and only that.  But since no one in history has ever spent $100 million on just a script, movies that are cinematic equivalent of empty calories will continue to be made.  And Tron: Legacy, I'm sad to say, is just another film that could have been so much better but just wasn't.

In the original Tron, which was released in 1982 and which I hadn't seen since then until just recently, computer graphics were infinitesimally primitive compared to today, of course.  At the time, the idea that a person could be sucked into a digital world where computer programs were given human form and clad in cool-looking neon-colored outfits was a novel one.  But the movie itself, didn't garner that big a following, or so I thought.  It took a full 28 years to realize the sequel, and while the bells and whistles have gotten a lot more expensive, the story itself still suffers from the same flaws the original did.

The central character of Tron was Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a hotshot video game designer who had his ground-breaking ideas stolen by a business partner, who went on to fame and fortune while Kevin was relegated to being a video-arcade owner.  However, in an attempt to reclaim his intellectual property, Kevin is hit with a digitizing laser and transported to a strange landscape known as "The Grid," a dark, sinister expanse run by an evil computer program.  In the end, Kevin is able to defeat the program, return to the real world and claim his fortune and his rightful place as the head of his company.

Legacy rejoins the story several years later, in 1989.  Kevin (still played by Bridges, made to look young again through CGI) says goodbye to his young son, Sam, and disappears off the face of the Earth.  Guess where he ends up?  Flash to the present, when Kevin's company is now a heartless conglomerate.  Sam (Garrett Hedlund) is still the heir to the company but wants no part in it; he spends his time thinking of ways to screw with the company's board of directors, and still wondering what became of his father.  One night, Kevin's best friend Alan (Bruce Boxleitner, also from the first movie) tells Sam that he received a page that came from Kevin's old abandoned video arcade.  Intrigued, Sam investigates, but he, too, is digitized and sent into the computerized ether.

Unfortunately, the old neighborhood ain't what it used to be.  The Grid's overlord is now CLU (whose appearance is also that of a youthful Bridges), a program created by Kevin to help him build the perfect digital world.  Unfortunately, CLU eventually  turned on his creator, sending Kevin into hiding and shutting off his only means of escaping The Grid.  CLU puts Sam into a serious of gladiator-like games, which are cool visually but seem to serve no purpose other than showing off the effects.  He is eventually rescued by a warrior program named Quorra (Olivia Wilde) and reunited with his father, now an old man.  Together, they must find a way to stop CLU and return to the real world.

At the risk of repeating myself, if you see this movie for the visuals, you won't be disappointed.  The aforementioned gladiator-type games, which include a disc-throwing throwdown and a series of high-speed light-cycle (motorcycles that leave tangible light-trails behind them) chases, are spectacular.  Indeed, the entire landscape of The Grid is amazing, a high-tech world of straight lines and sharp corners, bathed in iridescent white, blue and orange.

The biggest problem, of course, is the story.  Kevin and Sam, of course, behing the only "users" in The Grid, are the only characters that seem possessed of human emotion, with the exception of the megalomaniacal CLU and the way-over-the-top character of Zuse (Michael Sheen), a high-end information dealer with a rock-star look and personality.  Everyone else, perhaps not surprisingly, is very robotic.  And even Kevin and Sam aren't that interesting, either.  Kevin is still at heart the New Age hippy that Bridges has made a career of playing, and the only depth in his character comes from sadness and emotional withdrawal from having spent two decades in a world he helped create but has been forced to watch become distorted and perverted by a menace that he, too, created.  Hedlund tries his best to convey the love and wistfulness at being reunited with the father he lost at childhood, but it comes off as alternately too emotional (with puppy-dog eyes, no less) and emotionless. 

The plot, too, is not without its holes, and just scrapes by in the field of believability.  You just know that a showdown between Kevin and CLU is inevitable, and when it arrives, it's only marginally satisfactory.  (And, without spoiling things too much I hope, I must add that I've never been fond of deus ex machina as a means to resolve a story.)

It's interesting to note that this sequel has been an idea rolling around in various people's heads since Ronald Reagan was president.  Now that it's finally arrived, I can only ask myself if the wait was worth it.  And, to apply the three questions I mentioned in the first paragraph, the anwers are yes, yes, and an unequivocal no.

3  / 5 stars