Reviews

"From the writers of 'The Hangover'" comes "21 and Over," another comedy about people getting really drunk and then having a bunch of crude and insane things happen to them. The difference here is that the three leads are not trying to find their buddy; they're instead trying to find their buddy's house. Oh, and the buddy whose house they're trying to find has passed out and has to be carried from place to place as the circumstances around them continue to get more dire.

Let's back up a bit. It's Jeff Chang's (Justin Chon) 21st birthday. He's a pre-med student who has a big interview the next morning. His best friends, Miller (Miles Teller) and Casey (Skylar Astin), have come to his apartment to surprise him and take him out for drinks, as is the American custom. Upon learning that the biggest interview of his life is the next day, Casey does the responsible thing and says that those plans can be postponed. Miller threatens to keep Jeff Chang up all night if he doesn't come out. "One drink," we're told. Like that's going to happen.

We don't even see Jeff Chang resist the party once it starts. He's loaded by the time we've zoomed forward in time, and only gets worse over the montage depicting the group's bar-hopping. Eventually, he's passed out and time is running out to get him home and to bed. The other two friends are from out of town -- they've all separated once college started, I guess -- so they don't know their way around. They spend nearly the rest of the film attempting to get him into bed before 7AM.

Doesn't this sound familiar? Three guys trolling around a certain location in hopes of finding something, or someone? While doing so, they find themselves in a bunch of "I can't believe it" situations, while also learning things about the others that perhaps should have been better left a secret. When Casey and Miller find a gun in Jeff Chang's pocket, and later learn that he was arrested by the police, we have a mystery on our hands. One whose conclusion is mishandled so badly that I thought there must have been an alternate ending.

It feels too similar, I suppose. We've seen movies that contain situations more shocking than this. When a guy gets run over by a buffalo -- which we don't actually get to see, by the way, because the camera cuts to black before impact -- that winds up being one of the more "crazy" points of the film. Sure, a couple of other moments are funny at the time, if only because at least one of the guys -- Casey -- doesn't seem like he deserved to be put through them, but they're kind of bland for the genre.

There are a few running gags scattered throughout -- always calling Jeff Chang by his full name being one of them -- but most of the humor in "21 and Over" comes from the situations themselves. That can work for some people. Many of you might find a lot of the film funny. It wasn't for me. Watching stupid people act pretty stupid and have bad things happen to them isn't the funniest thing in the world. Like I said, there are a few good moments, but not enough of them to fill the 90-minute running time.

Moving away from the amount of laughter, which is about all that matters in a comedy, the dialogue also leaves a lot to be desired. The film was written and directed by "The Hangover" writers, after all, so that should be expected. It's all profane and silly, and accomplishes one of two things: exposition or forced character development. The dialogue itself rarely attempts to make us laugh. That's a problem, since there's a good deal of time spent walking from place to place.

It says a lot about our main characters that they wind up being chased and/or hated by everyone they come into contact with. They wind up being hunted by at least three groups of people as the film progresses, all of whom show up seemingly at random. These groups are often forgotten about until the script calls for them to pop up for a few minutes. You forget, too, and it makes their reappearances seem to come out of the blue. Sure, the film is about these three guys -- although it's really two of them because Jeff Chang isn't awake for most of his screen time -- but if you want to continue bringing back these secondary characters, at least treat them with a little respect.

I'm sure that all of these actors have talent. Justin Chon turns in the best performance in the film whenever he's awake. Skylar Astin was in "Pitch Perfect" and fared much better there. He delivers every line with great sincerity, but that doesn't work with this type of character. Miles Teller was in "Project X," and plays the same type of role here. He isn't good in either.

"21 and Over" is pretty much the exact type of movie that you expect it to be. If you think "The Hangover" is funny, you'll probably find this movie hilarious as well. It has issues with its characters, dialogue and situations, but if you find it funny you probably won't notice. I didn't like "21 and Over," but if it sounds like your type of thing, you'll probably get some enjoyment out of it.

It's only the second release week of 2013 and already we have a strong contender for "most inconsequential film of the year." Shot and edited without any idea of how to make it exciting, written like what a 12- year-old might think a tough gangster movie would sound like, and looking surprisingly modern for a period piece that takes place in 1949 and is "inspired by true events," "Gangster Squad" is a perfect example of mediocrity hitting the big screen.

In fact, the only interesting thing about this movie is how it came to be released in January and not in September like was originally planned. As many of you will note, the Aurora shooting spree took place, and was a tragedy. In "Gangster Squad"'s trailer, the titular squad shoots up a movie theater. Thinking that keeping that scene in would be rather tasteless, the studio pulled back the release date and re-shot portions of the film to have the big shootout take place somewhere else. They then scheduled a new release date of January 11, 2013, instead of September 7, 2012.

Perhaps it's just the cynic in me thinking this, but if the film was any good, why would it get released in January, which is the dumping ground for bad films? If the studio had faith that it was great, surely holding it back another couple of months would have been the right thing to do. My theory is that they knew this wasn't going to be anything special, or even good, so it was dumped in January, even despite its cast of stars and surprisingly large budget of $75 million.

The basic idea of "Gangster Squad" is that a group of LAPD Detectives got together and formed a team whose goal it was to stop the gangsters who threatened to take control of Los Angeles. The villain is a ruthless man named Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), a former boxer who pays off anyone who gets in the way of his "business dealings," which are illegal. Nobody can touch him, everyone thinks, but since we know the film is about the titular squad, we're pretty sure that he can, at the very least, be upset, if not fully removed from the equation.

The gang: John O'Mara (Josh Brolin), a family man and our protagonist/narrator; Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), a ladies' man and nothing more; Rocky Washington (Anthony Mackie), someone who really hates heroin; Max Kennard (Robert Patrick), the fastest draw in the Wild West -- seriously, he sounds like he's from the 1840s, not the 1940s; Navidad Ramirez (Michael Peña) a rookie cop nobody takes seriously because he's Mexican; and Conway Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi), another family man and the one tasked with listening in to a bugged television set.

Does that not seem like some sort of dream cast? Throw in Nick Nolte as the police chief who orders John to do this and Emma Stone as the love interest for one or possibly more of the characters, and you're talking quite a strong group of actors. It's just a shame they had to go and make this, such a lifeless, bland, uninspired movie. Did we really need a soft-remake of "The Untouchables"? That's really what "Gangster Squad" feels like.

Much of the problem comes from the director, Ruben Fleischer, whose previous feature-length work is made up entirely of comedies. He did "Zombieland," which was a lot of fun, and "30 Minutes or Less," which was not. He does manage to inject "Gangster Squad" with some genuinely funny moments -- the best of which involved a knockout blow which failed in its target; you rarely see that in non-comedies at the cinema -- but most of the time he feels completely wrong for this material. He doesn't seem to "get" the feel of this type of movie.

There is no depth to any of the characters. The dialogue is so cheesy and unfitting that it feels like it was written by someone who maybe watch a gangster film once in high school and is trying to remember what the characters sounded like, there's more slow motion than in a Zack Snyder movie, but used without any purpose. Seriously, there's a shootout late in the movie that is done entirely in slow motion and it accomplishes nothing -- especially when you know that none of the main characters will die.

Despite the overuse of slow motion, the action scenes are still cut together in such a way so as to not allow you any idea of who's doing what to whom at any given moment. There's even a car fight, but since all of the characters look similar and the cars are the same models, you never know what's going on. The same is true of the fist fights -- the climax is one, which is to be expected, and is the only decent action in the entire film -- and many of the shootouts.

There's nothing to "Gangster Squad." Under the gangster movie surface, it's an empty, hollow movie, and there's absolutely no reason to watch it. You trudge through it, hoping the payoff will be worth the almost two hours of your life that it takes to finish -- and it feels a lot longer than that -- and you won't get that. "The Untouchables" exists so this film doesn't have to. It has an attractive cast and some touches of humor, but "Gangster Squad" is a cheap knockoff of one of what used to be one of the most reliable genres around.

Set in 1988, Ken Kwapis' "Big Miracle" starts off with a basic premise (trapped whales), adds in a great deal of colourful characters all at each other's throats, and tops it all off with the worst possible things happening at the worst possible moments. Here is a movie about rescuing animals that becomes far more political than one might expect, while also including real human beings for characters instead of genre archetypes.

We begin in the Arctic, shooting in the town of Barrow. Our lead is Adam Carlson (John Krasinski), a likable man whom we first meet doing a news story on a Mexican restaurant. Adam's sidekick is a young boy named Nathan (Ahmaogak Sweeney), a kid who isn't too fond of his native heritage and traditions. Adam is planning on leaving the town before the week is up, but after being coerced into doing one more story, he soon discovers that whales have become trapped in the ice.

What is there to do? The natives have an idea: Harpoon the whales and eat them. Adam's ex-girlfriend, a Greenpeace activist, hears about the story and flies up there -- after berating Adam for not telling her himself, despite her orders to never call her for anything. "This is different," she exclaims. There's some tension between them, we learn, and instantly we know that they shouldn't be together. She wants to figure out a way to save the whales, most notably by mobilizing the National Guard.

Soon enough, Adam's story essentially goes viral (if such a thing could realistically happen in 1988). It plays on national television, and soon enough, every major network is sending reporters to cover the whale story. One of these reporters is Jill (Kristen Bell), whom Adam has had a crush on for some time. They hit it off after meeting, and spend a great deal of the film together, even though the character of Jill vanishes for a thirty minute stretch, eventually leading to her becoming unnecessary.

Meanwhile, the whale story has become a worldwide phenomenon. Everyone tunes into their television sets in order to bear witness to the events that are happening in northern Alaska. Even President Reagan gets involved at one point. The decision is made to haul an oil drill to break through the ice surrounding the whales so that they can swim to the sea. But currently, they're trapped with only a patch of visible water to breathe out of, and it's closing up fast.

Much of "Big Miracle" is concerned with keeping these whales alive. Taking place in a subzero climate makes it difficult to keep the ice from freezing, although various methods are tried. The whales' condition eventually worsens, other things go wrong, and a lot of improvisation takes place. Some of the tactics work, while others fail. It's surprising just how much tension can be generated when you put a few animals in a perilous situation, and "Big Miracle" milks that for all it's worth.

Despite the ever-present whale situation whose news sweeps across nations, there is also a human element to this production. It's refreshing to see your typical bad guys (the uncaring profit-driven oil driller, the Russians, and so on), put aside their differences in order to help these poor creatures. But they don't do this by completely switching around their characters, either. The businessman still doesn't like the Greenpeace activist, for example. Differences are put aside for these whales, but the whole situation doesn't define, nor is it the sole motivating factor, for these people. They're all very human characters, filled with flaws and strengths just like anyone watching the movie.

It's difficult to set a movie in the arctic and not make it atmospheric, so it should come as no surprise that "Big Miracle" is just that. You feel cold while watching this film, even if it's a little difficult to believe that the characters would be able to perform just fine in -50C weather without something to cover their faces. This is a movie that felt authentic and that everything that happened, no matter how crazy, really could (and did) take place. When you base your film on true events, this is important.

Part of what makes this film successful is the amazing job done with creating lifelike whales. While we rarely see the full creature (usually one will just come up for air and we'll see its head for a couple of seconds), one could be mistaken for thinking that real whales were used. All three of them are given different bodies so that we can tell them apart, and they function well enough as their own characters.

Where "Big Miracle" falters is in its actors and in its story, although the latter is less of a fault and says more about a potential viewer than it does of the film. Firstly, the acting is all over the place, although it gets better as the film progresses. In the first half, most of the actors seemed to struggle with their delivery, and nobody was terribly convincing. As it progressed, the acting go better. Secondly, it would be nigh impossible to tell this story without it coming across as cheesy. If you can't handle a cheesy story, then you'll want to skip this movie. This is more of a way to narrow down a target audience than a real fault, but it bears mentioning.

When it comes right down to it, "Big Miracle" is an enjoyable movie. It manages to overcome spotty acting and a corny script to become a smart film with deep-enough characters and some tension thanks to everything that just has to go wrong at exactly the worst time it can. It's worth watching if you don't mind a corny story and can handle some poorly acted scenes, especially if you want to see some very lifelike whales and learn about the real story that took place in 1988.

From where I'm sitting, there are two main types of heist films. The first involves heavy planning, and then a near-flawless execution, with only one or two things going wrong that have to be rectified. Think the "Ocean's" series. They're intense throughout (if done well), as you're never sure just when things will start to go south. Then, there are films like "Contraband", where everything goes wrong and a lot of improvisation takes place.

Either heist film can easily have the stakes upped by making it a "one last time" type of quest for the main character. "Contraband", to nobody's surprise, does this. The lead is Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg), a former smuggler currently married to Kate (Kate Beckinsale). She has apparently turned his life around, and he has stayed on the right side of the law for a while now. He owns his own home security company, he has two children, and he has a best friend in the form of Sebastian (Ben Foster). Things seem to be going well for him. That is, until something bad happens.

That something comes in the form of Kate's brother, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones). Despite Chris' objections, Andy was still smuggling for drug dealers. A run went wrong, he had to dump the merchandise, and he's now owes $700,000 to a drug dealer named Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi). Chris goes to Briggs in order to work something out, and eventually is on a cargo shop that he's going to use to smuggle $10,000,000 in fake bills in order to pay off the debt. Maybe that's a little bit of overkill, but we're not sure how well that security business is doing. Maybe the recession hit him hard.

There are essentially two plots at work in this film, although the latter doesn't get much screen time. The first one involves the actual caper, the one where everything constantly goes wrong. Every screw is tightened as far as (you think) it can go, and then tightened even more. The second plot involves Kate and her kids, now living with Sebastian, being threatened by the drug dealer and eventually becoming a major plot point just to tighten those screws even more.

What surprised me most about "Contraband" is how much time is taken to set-up these characters. I wasn't keeping track of the exact time, but I would wager that somewhere around the first 45 minutes are spent before Chris even gets on this ship. Before that, this is a movie that plays out way more like a drama than anything else. There aren't any action scenes, there's little tension, and we're mostly just watching our characters figure out just what to do next.

But once we're on the ship, we realize that the tension has been slowly building beneath the surface. Once the first thing goes wrong, this is a film that doesn't let up. From this point, approximately an hour in, until the very final scenes, this is a very stressful film. All of those character scenes pay off once the action starts. You know who everyone is, you think you know what role they're supposed to play, and you get to sit back, watch everything go wrong, and then watch Chris try to fix it all. There are a couple of major twists scattered throughout, and it all adds up to a fairly involving and thrilling -- if generic -- movie.

There are a few points that don't amount to anything, and not in that clever red herring kind of way. There's a minor subplot involving Chris' father (William Lucking), and another one involving a second drug dealer (David O'Hara), although neither of those really add up. The latter one is important, but it comes from out of nowhere and didn't make a whole lot of sense. It seemed as if a lot of its scenes got cut, or perhaps the script just didn't think to include much of it.

You're also going to have to suspend your disbelief a great deal while watching "Contraband". More here than for many action-thrillers, I think. A lot of this film relies on timing, coincidence, and absurdity. It's all thrilling if you get involved, which will more than likely be the case, but if you step back and think about it, "Contraband" is really silly.

Not that the characters would want you to realize it. Apart from two or three humorous lines (one of which is shown in the trailer), the characters in this movie have no sense of humor. It makes sense; they're all one wrong move away from either going away to prison for countless years and having their families killed, or being killed themselves. But a joke here and there probably wouldn't have hurt the film. There's a type of wittiness that is occasionally shown by the Wahlberg character, but it doesn't happen often enough to say that it was done on purpose.

Ultimately, "Contraband" is an above-average heist film. It takes its time to get going, but once it does, there's no stopping it. The set-up works effectively, slowly building tension until it all gets released in the final 50 minutes. While the script needed fine-tuning, removing some unimportant plot points to help the pacing, this is an engaging film with effective performances.

When you create a film and title it "Sleeping Beauty," you had better not make it boring. Otherwise, you'll get reviews utilizing every possible play on the word "sleep," but more importantly, word of mouth will spread using the same types of puns. When you use a title made famous by the Disney animation, you're going to have to guard against those comparisons as well. As you can see, this film is already on the defensive.

To put even more pressure on "Sleeping Beauty," before it has even begun, is the fact that it is the directorial debut of a novelist. Julia Leigh also wrote the screenplay, but it is her first time stepping behind the camera to helm a film production. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it means an even bigger risk was taken by the studios, and just as many debuts fall flat as they do flourish. Luckily, Leigh's is a success, even if her film isn't going to be something that many people are going to enjoy.

To start the film, we begin by watching the daily routine of a young woman named Lucy (Emily Browning). The first scene made me cringe, as we find out that one of her many jobs involves testing out medical equipment. We watch a tube being inserted down her throat. This is done in one unflinching shot that has the opposite effect on the viewer. Later on, we learn she also does office work and works at a restaurant, but the medical testing was by far her worst job.

Why does she need to work three jobs? That's really a good question. We learn that she's behind on her rent, and also goes to school. Maybe school is really expensive, but she only seems to have one class, which can't be too heavy a burden. She's renting a room from people she knows, and I wouldn't think that would be that expensive either. Why she doesn't pay her rent on time, I'll never know. This isn't a film that's going to lay things out for you.

Because working three jobs isn't enough for Lucy, she inquires about an ad in the paper that requires her to serve dinner to old rich men while wearing lingerie. It pays $250 an hour, although it's freelance work, we're told. She works once, and after she gets home, she burns a $20 bill. Why? Again, I don't know, and it's actions like this that make me think she isn't wanting for cash. Regardless, working multiple jobs, including the dinner-while-wearing-lingerie one, continues for most of the film, even as her performance gets so bad that she sometimes sleeps on the floor while working.

Sleeping is something she'll end up doing quite a bit as the film continues on. She was told when she took the server job that there were opportunities for promotion. She gets that chance later on, when she's told that she can take a drug, lay naked in bed while passed out, and sleep for a few hours. Oh, and an elderly man will come in and sleep with her while she's knocked out. "Sleep with" in the literal sense of the meaning, as actual intercourse is forbidden.

Not that Lucy really cares. She doesn't seem to care much about herself, and would probably have accepted the job without the binding rule. She's the type of nihilist that will do whatever anyone wants her to do at the flip of a coin. At a bar, she's approached and asked if she wants some cocaine. "Why not?" is her response. Later, two men she just met actually use a coin to decide which one would have sex with her that night. She doesn't care, although come to think of it, I can't remember her saying "no" once to anyone in the film. She's very polite, even if she has no regard for her own body.

There's a lot of symbolism in the film, and if you thought this was a film that's going to make it easy on you, you can look elsewhere. You're going to have to infer a great deal about the characters and their reason for doing what they do for most of the time you watch them. I can see this being seen by some as a lack of character depth and development, but I think it's all there and just hidden behind imagery and a classic fairy tale. The way I saw "Sleeping Beauty," it actually does steal a couple of things from Disney cartoon. Unfortunately, giving that away now might change the way you view the film, so instead, go in with as fresh a mind as you can. This is a movie that will reward subsequent viewings.

If there's a problem here, it's the character of Lucy. She's often difficult to like, and because she's such an apathetic person, not a lot goes on. She's little farther, for better or worse, when the film ends than when it began. None of the blame can go to Emily Browning, as she plays her without fear, but the way the character is written means that she's not exactly amiable or has a decent enough personality to build a film around. This is largely forgotten about once it gets going, but upon reflection, making her grow as the film progressed would have improved it as a whole.

Regardless, I was engaged by "Sleeping Beauty." Is it for everyone? Not at all. If you like artsy films that are there for you to figure out instead of being told everything about them, then it might work for you. It has a solid performance from Emily Browning in the lead role, and it has enough imagery and symbolism to keep you coming back for another watch. That is, if you don't fall asleep during the first time.

Within the first few minutes of "Sucker Punch", I wanted to shed a tear for the production. Not because of its quality, which looked fine right off the bat. No, I wanted to cry because of some of the events depicted on-screen. It's a film that gets off to a saddening beginning, which I believe helps to work in its favour by the time it concludes.

The opening scene shows us a much maltreated Baby Doll (Emily Browning), and her kid sister. Their mother has just died, and custody of them has been given to their stepfather. He's, to put it bluntly, not a nice man. Things happen under his watch, leading to the death of Baby Doll's sister. She gets blamed, and sentenced to serve a term in a mental institution. Unfortunately for her, her stepfather has paid what essentially amounts to a prison a large sum of money to have her lobotomized. She only has days left before the doctor comes to perform the procedure. She decides she's not going down without a fight.

This is when things start to get weird. Baby Doll very well might be insane, as a lot of the film happens within her mind. There are two stages in her mind: A brothel where she and a few other girls are forced to dance for customers, and a war field where she teams up with these same girls to fight off all sorts of enemies, ranging from orcs to undead German soldiers. In this second world, she finds the way she'll escape from the asylum; she needs to gather a few magical items and use them in one grand escape plan.

How she plans to capture these items requires some of the other people at the brothel. There are four other girls there, and while Baby Doll dances for some of the clients--apparently they are unable to take their eyes off her while she dances, although we never get to see her dance-- the other girls will steal these items. While the theft is going on in the brothel level, the audience is treated to grand-scale action sequences with all of the girls wielding guns, samurai swords, mechs and airplanes. Never a dull moment, right?

That last question of mine seems to be one of the main things that director Zack Snyder wanted to answer, and make sure that he focused on, while creating "Sucker Punch". He may have actually gone a tad overboard in making sure that the audience isn't bored. While the fight sequences are all interesting, and they are certainly all varied from one another, the enemies never seem to have much of an ability to harm any of the girls. There was a quote in the film about a child sitting at the edge of a sandbox while the other children play with his toys. The enemies in the film feel like toys. They get cut apart, gunned down and easily defeated without so much as a scratch on any of the female leads.

But the battles against them certainly are interesting. Baby Doll, armed with a samurai sword and a handgun, initially isn't up to the idea of taking control and actually fighting back against oppression. In the first 10 minutes of the film, you are hard-pressed to get a single word out of her. By the time she enters her second imaginative state--the one with big battlefields--she begins to take control. She becomes a leader of a squad, and has to act the part of a leader. If you want, you could say that Snyder mixed in a coming of age story within "Sucker Punch", with Baby Doll having to mature far more quickly than she wants, as she is faced with difficult situation after difficult situation.

The most important thing that "Sucker Punch" had to do is be entertaining. It is. Or at least, I can say that I really had a good time while watching it. The action scenes could best be described with the words "visual spectacle", as they look fantastic. Fans of Zack Snyder's work know that there will be a lot of slow motion used, and that is exactly what happens. It's still somewhat excessive, but because the film looks so nice, you usually don't even notice that it's being used; you like looking at the scenery so much that taking a longer glance at a particular shot is something that you want to do.

For what it's worth, (and in a film like this, the acting isn't that important), I thought that the leading cast did a fine job with what they were given. There's some heart behind each one of their performances, and in the emotional scenes of the film, that comes through.

Even though the most important part of an action film like "Sucker Punch" is its entertainment value, there's an interesting enough story going on behind the action scenes. Whenever Baby Doll stops dancing and we return to the brothel, we remember that there is a plot about the girls' escape going on, and it all flows back to you wonderfully. And without spoiling the ending at all, I will just say that it--and looking back, the rest of the film as well--will make you think, giving you a desire to re-watch it.

"Sucker Punch" is a good film for two main reasons: It's entertaining, and it has an interesting enough story to make the action sequences mean something. The acting is fine, the visuals are incredible, the plot will leave you thinking, and the action scenes are unique and fun to watch. Had the girls' been put in actual danger more often, then perhaps we would have an excellent film on our hands. As it is, "Sucker Punch" is one of those films that you'll either really enjoy, or really dislike. I fall into the former category, and I say to give it a shot.

Mattie Ross' (Hailee Steinfeld) father has been murdered. She wants the man who killed him, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) to be shot dead. To do this, she enlists the help of Deputy Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges).Cogburn is a barely functioning alcoholic, but still mighty good with a gun. He accepts her offer of $100 to hunt down the man who killed her father. He is joined by a Texas Ranger named La Boeuf (Matt Damon). Mattie accompanies them on their hunt, because she doesn't trust either of them.

The rest of the story is the group's exploits in attempting to find the man who killed Mattie's father. That is just about it. There isn't a twist, there isn't a lot on the film's mind, and it's just a well-told adventure story in a western setting. Since this is a Coen brothers film, that also means that the adventure will be compelling and the characters will be interesting. The movie will also be of high quality, this we can almost be sure of before even viewing it.

"True Grit" is adapted from the 1968 novel of the same name. The novel had already been made into a film one year later in 1969. That film starred John Wayne, and won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. The Coen brothers have stated that they wanted their film to be more faithful to the novel than the 1969 film, and that they were not just reimagining that film.

Whether or not their claim is true or not is something that is hard to discern. The story doesn't really have much to alter about it, and the genre is already set in stone. In fact, this is really the first time that the Coen brothers have stuck to their genre so rigorously. They adhere to most of the standards of the Western genre, not pushing any boundaries or taking any risks.

There are only two things that actually make "True Grit" stand out from the other quality movies that are out nowadays, or the great Westerns that were made years past. The first way is differentiates itself is in the humor that it contains. The way that the Coen brothers have written their adaptation makes it humorous, while keeping a fairly dark tone. There are many funny situations and moments in dialogue, breaking up the dark moments with ones of humor.

The second way that it is different is the fact that it is a Western. There haven't been many of those lately, so having one come out automatically makes "True Grit" stand out. The last big Western film to come out was 2007's 3:10 to Yuma, itself a critical success. Having a lack of competition will certainly help "True Grit" at the box office.

Also helping it out is the fact that it features great acting performances. Despite the big names included in the cast like Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, the lead of the film is actually 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld. The story is told from her point of view, and she does a good job of carrying it. Selected from more than 15 000 auditions, Steinfeld won the role. This must have been created some anxiety from the filmmakers, as she hadn't starred in any large-scale production before. Nonetheless, the risk paid off, and she delivers an impressive performance. Her character is far more mature than many you would expect, being able to negotiate with several businessmen and get her way.

Also great are the performances by Bridges and Damon. While they don't get as much attention as Steinfeld, they are perfect for their roles. Bridges job as an alcoholic, half-functioning U.S. Marshal is always entertaining, and Damon always seems like he's having fun, no matter what is happening in the story at the time.

The story mixes a mystery with adventure, finding a good balance between the two. Characters have to look for clues regarding Chaney's whereabouts. They ride horses everywhere, and engage in shootouts. Characters travel great distances across the Wild West. There is a good sense of adventure that is given, and there is enough action to keep the audience's attention.

The characters all have depth and they develop throughout "True Grit". We are given reason to care about Mattie right away, as her character is one to be empathized with. Her father's murder gives her motivation. We also end up caring about the other characters, especially that of Cogburn. We want to see him overcome all of his issues by the end of the film. We have that hope throughout, and it helps keep our attention during the slower moments.

"True Grit" is a good film that will get attention mostly because it is a new Western film, something that there have been few of as of late. It has an interesting story, great acting and the Coen brothers' unique style of humor. It's genuinely funny, and stays entertaining throughout. "True Grit" is a well-made film that may inspire similar films to be made in the near future. It's a great Western film, something we haven't had much of lately, and that will allow it to be a success. It's definitely worth a watch, so give it one.

Like many great films, "Black Swan" uses something basic--something simple enough for the audience to grasp, to explore its characters in an interesting way. It uses this basic concept or idea as a backdrop, not focusing on it, and instead giving us a deep look at its characters. In Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan", this basic idea is the ballet, and more specifically, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

Chosen to play the lead role in the play is Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a woman far more obsessed with her career than anything else in life. She has to fight just to get the role, as the director of the ballet (Vincent Cassel) feels that she doesn't perform well as the Black Swan. This role requires freedom of body, something Nina doesn't have. She fits the role of the White Swan perfectly, having near-perfect technique. She practices whenever she has free time, always pushing herself harder and harder.

She has taken over the role from Beth (Winona Ryder), who is retiring shortly. There is also a new dancer arriving. Her name is Lily (Mila Kunis). Nina soon becomes paranoid that Lily is there only to steal her part in the ballet. Lily seems friendly enough, but Nina doesn't trust her. At least, she doesn't right away.

Nina has issues herself; paranoia is seemingly the last of her worries. She wakes up one morning with a rash, one that gets worse as the film progresses. She also suffer from hallucinations, or maybe they aren't actually hallucinations. We can't be sure, and neither can she.

Unfortunately, the psychological issues that Nina faces and has to overcome are actually the worst parts of "Black Swan". The relationships between Nina and her mother Barbara Hershey, Lily and the ballet director are actually far more fascinating than any problems Nina has. Sure, the things going wrong in her head and with her body end up making these relationships more exciting, but when the film focuses solely on these obstacles, it gets less engaging.

As I said, the relationships are the most entertaining parts of "Black Swan", and this is likely due to the mystery surrounding the supporting cast. Nina is a character we get to know quite well, and we can sympathize with her. This is good, but when you combine this with the fact that you don't know the other characters much, if at all, the contrast between them makes their relationships the most entertaining part of the film.

Nina's mother is overbearing and overprotective. She treats Nina like she is 12 years old. (Nina actually mentions this at one point in the film). Nina's mother used to be a dancer, but for reasons we never find out, she gave up on that dream. She is now devoted to Nina's career, viewing it as she wanted to view her own. This brings into question if Nina was forced into ballet, of if it was her own choice. Is Nina as dedicated as she is to please herself, or to please her mother?

Lily is kept the most mysterious, and she works in direct contrast to Nina. If this was Swan Lake, Nina would be the White Swan, and Lily would be the Black Swan. Nina's pure, Lily isn't. Lily loosens up easily, Nina's uptight. Surprisingly, opposites don't really attract in this relationship, and the two, despite Lily's best effort, don't gel well.

If there is one thing that can be said about "Black Swan", it's that the acting is great. Natalie Portman does an amazing job in her self- determined role. Reportedly training for more than six months, both Portman and Kunis are great. They both seem to be good dancers, and we already know that both can act. Their roles are demanding, and you can tell the dedication that both actresses had to their roles.

Also requiring mention is the musical score composed by Clint Mansell. Mansell altered Tchaikovsky's original music into something more twisted and fitting to the nature of the film. The soundtrack brings more depth to the feature, and enhances the emotions that are felt within it. It isn't distracting, but it is noticeable. This ends up working fine though, as the soundtrack itself stirs emotions, and ends up setting the tone of the film.

"Black Swan" functions well as a companion to Aronofsky's 2008 film "The Wrestler". Both films are about one person so dedicated to their art that they are willing to sacrifice everything else in their life. The leads in both films wish to become perfect in their field. The cost of this is an imperfect rest of their life. Both films are similar in theme, with the only real difference being the fantasy aspect of "Black Swan".

"Black Swan" is a film that deserves a viewing. The contrast between Nina, a character who is pure at heart, and the rest of the cast is striking, and the relationship between each of the characters is intriguing and entertaining. The issues Nina has to cope with are actually one of the least interesting parts of the film, yet still serve an important purpose. The performances are amazing, the soundtrack is nice to listen to and the film is emotionally engaging. All in all, it's a stunning film that will amaze and affect you both during, and after you watch it.

There are two parts in Fair Game, one of which lasts far longer than the other. This part is how the film opens, and despite being humorous and light in tone, it isn't anywhere near as entertaining as I was hoping the film would be. After surviving the first part of the film, I got to the second, and was thrilled to finally get some excitement from the film.

That isn't to say the first half is bad, it just wasn't anything like I was expecting. Marketed, (although barely marketed at all), as a political thriller, the majority of the film isn't that at all. I'll admit that setting up the scenario and characters is nice, but doing it in a somewhat confusing and overlong way hurt the finished product.

The first part of the film does a decent enough job at setting up the story. We meet our two leads, our antagonist(s), but we don't get much in terms of thrills. We find out that Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) is a CIA agent, and that she is far more ruthless than she first appears. She knows how to get the information that she wants, and she utilizes this technique whenever it is required.

We also meet her husband, Joseph Wilson (Sean Penn), who is, or was, an ambassador from the United States. He is sent to Niger, (not to be confused with Nigeria, as the film tells us), to find out if it was possible that Iraq was buying things that would make them able to build a nuclear weapon. He discovers that it wasn't, and returns home with his report. Valerie is doing her own research regarding this, and talks with many different people in Iraq, promising them safety in return for information.

What I just explained takes well over an hour for the film to show, and that's a shame, because it does feel like it drags on for too long. The second part involves deceit on the part of the government, and Joseph's attempts to clear his family's name. The government decides to completely disregard Joseph's report, and declare that Valerie is in the CIA--something that is apparently not good when said agent is undercover.

It is in the second half, with Joseph fighting for his family's freedom, the tension created from a lying government and the emotional changes in the characters we have gotten to know, when the film starts kicking into high gear. Prior to this point, there is some amusement in the light- hearted nature of the film. There are jokes, (particularly humorous was one regarding the Toronto Maple Leafs), but there isn't much actually going on.

Once the second half begins, things really start to spiral out of control for Valerie and Joseph. Their marriage starts coming apart, they are receiving death threats daily; the entire country seems to have turned against them. Things are going wrong, and since there was such a large build-up to this point of the film, we care about what is happening to our characters. When things start heading south, we are saddened by it.

This is also helped out by great performances by Watts and Penn, who are appearing together in their third film. (The previous films being 21 Grams and The Assassination of Richard Nixon). Watts plays her character incredibly seriously, and it works shockingly well. She means business, and it is apparent right away. Penn is more relaxed, despite having the weight of the world on his shoulders for some of the film.

The story is actually based on real events, detailed in Valerie Plame's memoir, Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House. How true the movie stays to what actually happens, I'm not so sure. It would likely be best to not assume that the film is entirely truthful, as with most films, liberties have to be taken to make the film compelling for the audience. It would be ignorant to believe that the film is entirely truthful, so if you decide to watch Fair Game, keep that in mind.

Not being entirely familiar with politics, American politics in particular, I'm not sure as to how much it defaces one side or the other, but there is certainly some badmouthing going on. I would almost think that having a film based almost entirely on American politics would make the film less interesting for those not knowledgeable about the subject, but thankfully, this doesn't happen. The film is still overall fairly enjoyable, even if politics aren't your forte.

Had it not been for a slow and somewhat confusing opening hour, Fair Game would have been an excellent film. The beginning is its only real problem, with everything else being top-notch. The acting performances are great, the story is interesting once it gets going, and you do begin to care about the characters. The set-up does its job, establishing the characters and setting, but it isn't engaging enough to keep the audience's attention. Push past it though, and you'll get a great final act, with tension, suspense and, most importantly, entertainment.

Like many character dramas, "The Fighter" uses the feature that sets it apart--the boxing aspect--as a backdrop. It doesn't focus on it prominently at all, and instead chooses to look at its characters. Said characters, based on real people, are all solid and interesting, and it was likely a good decision to not focus on them instead of the actual boxing matches.

That isn't to say that the boxing itself isn't entertaining, it's just that the fights can't compete with the drama aspect of the film. The family drama, as well as the ones of specific characters and their relationships with one another, easily outclasses the boxing matches. Maybe it was the fact that I'm not a big boxing fan, and care more about good characters than watching two guys pummel each other for minutes on end.

There's another possibility as to why the fights didn't leave as big an impact on me as the rest of the film did. It might be because of the way they were shot. Director David O. Russell hired a guest director from HBO to film these scenes, and used the same type of cameras that were used in the time frame that the film takes place in. The fights are shot as if they were going to be shown on cable TV, and it looks far worse than the rest of the film does.

Even though this was the intended effect, it didn't work out as well as it should have. Sure, it gives the fights a more realistic feeling, but the novelty quickly wears off, leaving me wanting to see the fights more clearly. There is a lot of movement with the cameras during these scenes, making the fights somewhat difficult to follow. The times you do get to see them, the choreography is well done, even though it's exactly what you'd expect from a boxing match. Punches are thrown, people cover their faces, and more punches are thrown. Described as a "chess match" within the film, boxing fights to me aren't all that entertaining to begin with. Maybe I just don't get them.

The story that takes place around the boxing matches is more interesting, and makes "The Fighter" worth seeing. "Irish" Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) is a struggling boxer, never quite making it. His brother Dick (Christian Bale) is his sparring partner, and his mother (Melissa Leo) is his manager. Things aren't working out well for him, and after losing an unfair fight, he considers quitting boxing for good.

He doesn't, of course, as he is egged on by his girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams). His issues with her, and with the rest of his family, take centre stage from this point forward. Dick is a crack addict, and is constantly late for training. His mother seems to favor Dick over Micky, and doesn't seem to have Micky's best interests in mind. Micky is a passenger in his own life, always having his decisions made for him.

The characters are all interesting, and they all attempt to make you care about them. You will. Their characterization is all strong, from Micky's passive demeanor, to Dick's back story, all of it is well done. You see the characters' flaws, and you want them to get past them. The film want you to feel hope, a feeling that you may or may not get to experience by its finale.

The story is the only real problem that the film has. Even without seeing many, if any, boxing movies, I figured out how each of the matches would end. Predictability is something that "The Fighter" has, and this factor does take away a slight bit from the story that the film tells.

The acting, on the other hand, definitely helps the story out. All of the main actors did a great job in their roles. Christian Bale especially stands out, playing the drug-addicted older brother to our lead character. He sells the role perfectly, and, as Bale is prone to do, he went through some physical transformations for the role. While he didn't lose the same amount of weight as he did for "The Machinist", (where he lost an astounding 63 pounds), he did lose quite a bit of weight. He looked like he could be addicted to drugs, and this makes you feel sorry for his character.

Mark Wahlberg also underwent significant weight changes for his role of Micky Ward. Unlike Bale, Wahlberg had to bulk up for the film, and actually began training four years prior to filming. He looks like he could be a boxer, and despite being nearly 40 years old, he looks like he could be the 31-year-old Micky. His performance wasn't quite as scene-stealing as Bale's was, but it was impressive nonetheless. Unlike previous roles, Wahlberg plays a quieter, more docile character in "The Fighter", something that works quite well. He usually plays more alpha- male style roles, but here he gives some genuine depth to his portrayal of the real-life Micky Ward.

To say nothing of the supporting cast would be a travesty. The secondary performances were likely better than the leads, but they do feel overshadowed at times. Melissa Leo and Amy Adams were both excellent, making you focus your attention on them whenever they appear on-screen.

"The Fighter" isn't so much about boxing as it is about the relationships between different members in a specific family. It uses boxing as a backdrop, a catalyst to bring forward the drama that the film deals with. The drama is intense, the fights are entertaining, and the characters are interesting. All of the performances were great with the supporting cast overshadowing, yet not totally negating Wahlberg's performance as the lead. Based on the true story of Micky Ward, "The Fighter" tells an intriguing story, one that will keep you interested from start to finish.

I've heard a lot of people say that reviewing the newest Harry Potter movie is a pointless exercise. By now, people have made up their minds regarding the film series. If they are on-board, then they'll see it regardless, and if they don't like it, they aren't going to make an exception for the newest one. That's fair enough, but it's not a sentiment I necessarily agree with.

I don't think that has to be correct, because Deathly Hallows Part 1 has convinced me it is not. I think it actually could turn people off the series. That's not to say that it is a terrible film, but all of the charm that the previous films had seem to have been lost with this one. There is also the worrying thought that since Part 1 and Part 2 were shot back-to-back, the second film will have the same flaws.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is the first of two films based on JK. Rowling's seventh Harry Potter book. It, once again, stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger. That's about all the actors who "star" in the film, as none of the secondary actors are given much chance to enhance or establish their characters.

This ends up being the first problem with the film. None of the secondary cast members get their fair share of screen time. Take, for example, Alan Rickman as Severous Snape. He's a character that was incredibly interesting in the first few films, and pivotal in the last one. Here, he gets maybe two scenes over the course of the film, none of which are that important. This is true for all of the other secondary characters as well. They show up, disappear for a while, and then reappear for another scene. That's all we get from them, and it doesn't allow any time to get any insight into their character that we hadn't already been shown.

While you are expected to have watched the previous six films in order to get a feel for the characters, it almost feels like you could have skipped them and still have gotten a good idea of what is happening. Not being in that situation myself, I cannot be sure, but the film did seem to be a bit too direct in an attempt to fill the audience in on what happened previously. Certain plot points continue to be hammered home, multiple times, and it makes you feel like the film doesn't think you are smart enough to remember them.

Without involving the secondary characters, the film turns out to consist mostly of Harry, Ron and Hermione, one of which ends up being absent for a large chunk of time, searching around various locations for the remaining Horcruxes. Since Hogwarts has now been taken over, they can't go back there, so they instead decide to ditch their final year of classes and go on an adventure. The Hogwarts setting is actually what made a lot of the previous movies interesting for me, meaning this change was not a good one in my mind. Yes, I am well aware that this also happens in the book, and can't be omitted, but making it happen for almost all of the entire two and a half hours the film plays for is not welcome.

This also means that the film does get kind of boring. The secondary characters made the previous films more interesting, but since most of them are absent from this one, we can only focus on our three leads. These are characters who, after this film, I have grown to dislike. I didn't before, because there would always be side-sessions with other characters dispersed between long sequences with the primary cast. Here, we don't get that, and I began to grow tired of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

The worst part about it is the fact that the film does attempt to have some emotional moments. Sadly, they almost all fall flat on their face. There is one scene, right near the end that was sad, but the rest of the time, I was sitting there questioning why they even bothered to try to stir emotions. There were also attempts at humour throughout, none of which worked in lightening the mood, and only served to remind me that when the film tries to change the mood, it fails.

The best part about the film was the visual effects. From transforming characters into multiple Harry Potters, to the house elves, to the spells used, you can tell that a lot of effort was put into the visuals. The film looks nice all around, and it does take you to various locations. At least you'll have some nice scenery to look at.

I'm still not sure whether or not I can dissuade Harry Potter fans from going to see Deathly Hallows Part 1, but I hope that they will take this review as a caution. This is perhaps the weakest film of the series, and it fails to bring any depth to any character that isn't named Harry, Ron, or Hermione. The scenery and visuals are great, but the secondary characters are pushed aside for ones that end up getting on your nerves. I do fear, however, for Part 2, as they were shot back-to-back. Hopefully they will rectify them in the editing process, or even go back and re-shoot some scenes before release. Either way, I was let down by Part 1.

Red is a 2010 action film directed by Robert Schwentke. It stars Bruce Willis who, as the title indicates, is RED, (Retired and Extremely Dangerous). Recently forced into retirement, Miller is having difficulty adjusting to the retired-life, and spends his time sitting around, watering an avocado and talking with a customer service agent named Sarah Roses (Mary-Louise Parker). Soon after the film begins, Miller comes under attack from a hit squad. This leads him to believe that Sarah is also in danger, so after fending off the attack, he packs up and goes to Kansas City to protect her. The pair hit the road and soon run into a large cast of other retirees.

The most prominently featured secondary cast member is Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich). He's really the only character that Miller and Sarah run into that actually gets the screen-time they deserve. The additional characters actually make the film more entertaining, because when they aren't around, Miller and Sarah mostly just spend their time going from place to place. The action only really kicks once they recruit the ever- rotating number of characters they meet.

It's really a shame that Red lacks so much in the action department, because that is the biggest thing it had going for it. Seeing good, albeit old, actors involved in crazy shootouts and other over-the-top action sequences is something that I was really hoping to see from Red. Instead, I got some mediocre actions scenes that occur only intermittently between the plot points being hammered out or scenes that attempt to be dramatic. They are too infrequent and mediocre to really be effective at keeping the audience entertained.

What actually takes the most time out of the action is the film's attempt to actually explore what it would be like to go from being an action star to a retiree. Sadly, none of these scenes really add up to anything. They seem there just to kill time, and never actually explore this idea in as much depth as I had hoped.

Seeing as how the majority of the actors in the film have been around for a long time, one would believe that at the very least, the acting of the film would be really good. While it isn't bad, nobody, except Willis, stood out. The characters are all fairly one-dimensional, and none of them show any real depth. They seem to always know pretty much all that is going on, and seem to hope that the action scenes would carry the entire film. When actual depth is attempted, the film falls flat. It becomes boring, and this isn't helped by mediocre acting.

Even though none of the actors really made an impact on me, the film was still better when more of the actors were on the screen. The action scenes appeared to be waiting for there to be at least 3 main characters to show up before anything would happen. Bruce Willis actually does carry the majority of the film, and is the one constant throughout. The other characters come and go, seemingly at will, so you can never get used to any specific one.

If there's one thing that Red does have in its favor, it's the fact that it is intermittently humorous. Some scenes, like the opener, are actually really funny. Sadly, this level of humor does not keep at a high level throughout, and ends up becoming kind of dry by the end. The times where the film is funny mostly come from Willis playing the entire thing with a straight face, while dealing with everyone else that is around him. There are certainly times where Red will make you burst out laughing, but those times are quickly replaced with boredom.

Red was a film that I actually had fairly high hopes for. It was supposed to be a fairly humorous film with high-profile stars involved in exciting action scenes. The only part of that premise that really happens is that the film does have high-profile stars. It's just too bad that they aren't really given all that much to do, and what they are given isn't all that entertaining. The film does have times where it is really funny, and a couple big action scenes, but the gaps between these almost managed to make me want to fall asleep. There just isn't all that much to Red. It doesn't really explore what getting old is like, it isn't incredibly funny, and what action scenes it does have are too infrequent to actually matter.

The Social Network is a 2010 drama film directed by David Fincher (Se7en, Zodiac). It is essentially a story that tells the drama that ensued during, and following the creation of Facebook. Starring Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's creator, the story is told through flashbacks as Mark is being simultaneously sued by two separate parties. The first party is Mark's former best friend and business associate Eduardo Saverin, (Andrew Garfield), while the second is a pair of twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer).

What's really surprising about The Social Network is how engaging the entire production is. Even when nothing all that important is going on, it's set up in a way that makes you want to see more. The vast majority of the film is just dialogue, from really smart people, but it is exciting to watch. To me, that's really impressive, especially given the fact that the film doesn't move at a quick pace. It's a slower paced film, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially with the way the film plays out. Despite being on the slow side, it's very exciting, and never gets boring. This excitement may actually come from how well you get to know the characters.

I'm not sure how accurate a job the film does at representing the characters within it, but the film does do a good job at characterizing them all. You actually end up feeling worse for the people suing Mark, than for Mark himself. Zuckerberg acts like a jerk for the majority of the film. He's unlikable, and ends up losing his girlfriend before the opening credits. His former best friend, Eduardo Saverin ends up not being in the film for a good portion of the final half, but really is the character that ends up being empathized with the most. He more or less gets cheated out of the company by Mark, and is abandoned mid-way for Napster founder Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake). Parker is far less serious a person than Saverin, but promises Mark that Facebook will take off if he comes on board. The other main characters, the Winklevoss twins, also get deceived by Mark. They came up with an idea similar to what Facebook ended up being, and they hired Mark to program for them. He ended up turning around and creating a basic version of what is now known as Facebook.

By the end of the film, you end up caring about all of the characters, even if you don't want to. Like mentioned above, Mark Zuckerberg is a jerk, and while you don't like him for that, he's built up in such a way that you will end up caring for him. Each of the other characters gets enough screen time to develop as well, and this is brought out by the excellent acting done by each actor. They really all do a great job bringing their characters to life, and do it with consistency. There are not really any times where a character acts unexpectedly, or their emotional response doesn't relate to the current situation. The subtleties of acting all appear to be there, and for that, I'm quite grateful.

I am not, however, grateful for the way the story was told. It's not so much the idea of flashbacks being the driving point of the story, but it's the fact that this storytelling idea gets constantly pushed aside after the film takes off. There are 30 minute sections at a time where this tactic is forgotten about. Having flashback sequences that long is a maneuver that I didn't feel worked out all that well. If given a couple intermissions, where the present day interactions occurred, even for a minute, it would have been a great way to tell the story. As it is, it ends up being fairly meaningless. The only other grip I really have with the film is the CGI used during one scene. Mark and Eduardo go outside into the cold, and their breath seems really fake. By far one of the pettiest gripes I've ever had, but it did eliminate some of the immersion that the film tried so hard to have.

The Social Network is a film that works on almost every level. It's engaging, entertaining, well made and well acted. It's a solid package of everything required in a film coming together. It has real tension, the characters are well-developed, and while they aren't all likable, you'll end up caring about them all. While the flashback structure of the film doesn't always work the way it should, it ultimately is a decent way to show the story, instead of just jumping forward in time. If nothing more, it's the best film I've seen so far from David Fincher, and it's an impressive film to watch.