Author: Darren Goodhart

When you see the logo for Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios, you can pretty much bet that if you enjoy genre entertainment, you’re in for a good time.

Producer Robert Rodriguez was pretty much given carte blanche from 20th Century Fox to do something with the Predator franchise. And I think that he and director Nimrod Antal have got something pretty cool here.

Predators starts with our main character, an American mercenary, plummeting from the sky to the ground below. He’s just wakened up and realizes that he has some sort of parachute around him, but he can’t activate it. It activates on it’s own at the last moment and this mercenary lands in the midst of a steaming jungle. One after another, others also land. All of them are warriors from other cultures with one seeming exception, a doctor. They all form a reluctant truce to try and find who tossed them out of an airplane. Well, soon our little band of warriors find that they’re no longer on Earth and they’ve been brought to an interplanetary game reserve. They realize that they’re the game and they’re being hunted by the most fierce hunters in the galaxy, the Predators.

What follows is a pretty cool cat and mouse chase story with this fierce band of prey trying to outwit and escape from the Predators. Oh, there’s really nothing new here, though a new twist is thrown in with the Predator race, but that doesn’t really matter. If you’re familiar with the other Predator movies, you pretty much know what you’re going to get, and that’s some slick and brutal science fiction action.

Predators delivers on that count for sure. While this isn’t anything overly complex in how it’s set up, director Antal manages to have his action unfold logically and for the first half hour of the film, really builds up a nice sense of dread. Our characters are all of the two-dimensional variety, but again, with this series, that’s not really a detriment. And there are some nice bits thrown in along the way, though you really won’t find yourself necessarily identifying with any of these folks, other than just through their desire for survival.

It all really looks good, and in some scenes, I almost get the feeling that Antal and Rodriguez are channeling the art of Frank Frazetta in some places. The visual effects are really nice and of course, with a movie like this, the main standout is more in make-up effects. When you have the best in the business, KNB EFX Group, handling that, you know you’re in good hands.

Another huge plus for the movie is it’s musical score by John Debney which is basically repurposing Alan Silvestri’s scores from the first two Predator movies. With this series, it’d be wrong to do anything any different.

Now as I said, the characters are all two-dimensional (again not a bad thing) but still you want a cast that can give it all some credibility and fortunately, they have a good cast here with a couple of surprises for me anyway.

Adrien Brody leads the cast as our American mercenary (and yeah, he does have a name, but it’s left unrevealed until the end of the film- the name itself isn’t really a big deal, but it’s revelation is something of a turnaround point for this character, so I’m not going to reveal it). Now I’d never expect to see Brody head up this sort of action film, but I have to say, he’s really got the chops to do it. His character seems the most hardened out of the entire cast, so much so that he’s the most ready to sacrifice everyone else for his own survival. As far as I’m concerned, he’s had a pretty good year this year with genre entertainment with both this movie and earlier this summer with Splice. He’s an intense character, not a lot of joy in this man, but you definitely get the feeling that he’s having a good time doing this sort of part.

He’s backed up with a solid supporting cast that includes Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Topher Grace and Laurence Fishburne. Fishburne comes into the movie a little later as previous bit of prey who’s managed to survive in this environment for quite a long time, and as such, he’s a little off his nut. It’s still good work from him though, and again, he’s just the right sort of guy to give this some credibility. the real surprises for me though were Alice Braga and Topher Grace. I’ve not necessarily been a fan of either previously. The last thing that I saw Braga in, Repo Men, she was quite the drag in that film. But here though, she holds her own well with this group of hardened guys, being both tough and having a little maternal quality to her. Topher Grace was really unexpected. He plays the doctor amongst this crew. I really don’t want to reveal anything further about his character, but I’ll just say that for me, this might be the best thing that I’ve ever seen him do, so take from that what you will.

And of course, this wouldn’t be a Robert Rodriguez film if Danny Trejo wasn’t in it in some way or another. Trejo’s here and doing just what we want him doing, playing the badass. Even better though, is that running with Predators we get the trailer for the next Rodriguez movie, which will be Trejo’s starring vehicle, Machete which we first saw with Quentin Tarantino’s and Rodriguez’s Grindhouse and is already looking like it might be some of the most fun on the big screen this year, but I digress…

Predators is just a whole lot of B-movie fun and it really helps to put this franchise back on the map again. I’m not going to denigrate the Aliens Vs. Predators movies (I actually really enjoy them), but it’s nice to see them back in their own movie. You’ve got a rock solid cast here, a great look, terrific visual and make-up effects, and the music that you want to hear with this franchise. By all means, see this one.

M. Night Shyamalan, I really was rooting for you.

After making a big splash with movies like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, an M. Night Shyamalan movie was something like a mini-event when it would come along. These were nice movies that embraced genre filmmaking and all punctuated with a twist of some sort, and they resonated with audiences Then came The Village and Lady In The Water. Things got a little more ponderous. While I like these, I don’t like them to the same extent that I like the other three movies. Then came The Happening, Shyamalan’s only venture into R-rated territory and things really devolved. The movie was ill-cast, there was little credibility to what was on screen and overall it was just plain laughable… and not in the good way.

But I like M. Night Shyamalan, I really do, and so when I heard he was going to adapt the Nickelodeon cartoon, Avatar, The Last Airbender, I was hoping that he was going to succeed with something that didn’t rely on his past formula.

With it’s alternate history setting, The Last Airbender tells the story of the four nations of the Earth, each represented by different elements- Water, Air, Earth and Fire. All are kept in check by a being known as the Avatar, who has mastery over all of the elements. 100 years ago (from the present day shown in the movie), a young boy named Aang was chosen to be the next Avatar. Aang was part of the Air Nation and has mastery over the element. Aang didn’t want the responsibility and ran away. He got into trouble and found himself encased in ice only to be discovered 100 years later by Katara and Sokka, two siblings part of the oppressed Water Nation. In the time that Aang was gone, the harmony that the other nations had was no longer in place. The Fire Nation sought domination over the rest of the tribes and now rule the world. Aang now accepts his responsibility, but in order to succeed, he must first master the other elements. He sets off on a journey with Katara and Sokka at his side to first master Water.

The Last Airbender is a loose adaptation of the first season of the animated show. Shyamalan’s got a difficult task here in that he has to encapsulate that first season (20 episodes) into something that can run a reasonable time in movie theatres, and honestly, I think it was more than he could handle. The way the movie plays out, it’s almost as if the season was broken down into a bare bones outline without any of the glue that binds it all together. Of course liberties are taken, and I expected that they would, but some just seem to come out of left field. The biggest of these is just a mispronunciation of Aang’s name. I mean this is just about as basic as it gets- you already have 20 episodes of a show that pronounces the main character’s name in a pretty exact way. That’s right in front of you, so why ignore it?

So that’s the starting point and from there, everything else falls. Characterization hardly exists here. One of the big charms of the animated series is that Aang likes to have fun along the way and he develops a real bond with Katara and Sokka. Well, that fun aspect of the character is almost entirely lost here. There’s little bits in Noah Ringer’s performance as Aang, but it’s real threadbare (and no I don’t blame Ringer or any of the other actors for this). The bond with Katara and Sokka is just there. There’s nothing to show how it develops, it’s just there to move things forward. The only character to have any real sort of development is Prince Zuko played by actor Dev Patel (best known for his role in Slumdog Millionaire). Zuko is the disgraced son of the leader of the Fire Nation. He seeks to gain redemption by being the one to find the Avatar and bring him back for his father to control. Patel does a pretty good job with the character and at least by what’s shown on-screen, he gets the chance to show that he’s not just one-note.

The rest of the cast I think looks really good here, this script just uses them more as placeholders more than giving you something to really care about.

Now I might be willing to forgive the lack of characterization if there was more flow in how events happen here. Like I said above, this plays out as if it was just a plot outline with high points to hit. It hits the points, but it’s disjointed in how it goes from point A to B, it just happens without any real continuity. And when there is continuity, it’s told to us in either narration by Katara or long passages of dialogue by other characters. There’s nothing else to give us any real resonance, it just moves forward.

The animated series is also known for it’s action and the action on the show is quite good. It looks like Shyamalan has studied the action work of directors like The Wachowski Brothers and Zack Snyder and he tries some pretty cool stuff here, but it just doesn’t carry the same impact that you’d get from the Wachowskis or Snyder. They have a real affinity for action and I just don’t think that’s in Shyamalan. He’s never really been a guy to deal with this sort of fast-paced action in the past and I just don’t think that’s something that’s been real important to him. It shows here.

Now I only recently started to watch the animated series. I never watched it when it was on Nickelodeon originally. I only watched the show because I knew this was going to be Shyamalan’s next movie and I wanted find out a little bit more about it before going into the movie. I thought this whole thing was going to be little too “kiddie” for me. I was pleasantly surprised. The series is a whole lot of fun and it’s really sucked me in. Everything is there to craft a good live action movie out of it and yet Shyamalan misses the boat on just about every point. To it’s credit, as I said above, the cast certainly looks good in their parts. The production design is pretty decent and overall the visual effects are very nice. James Newton Howard provides a pretty stirring score. All nice parts, but the man in charge just can’t bring them all together. As the credits roll, the first thing you see is “Written, Produced and Directed By M. Night Shyamalan” and so there’s only one person to blame for the whole thing and that’s really unfortunate. I really did want him to succeed with this and get back on the right track.

One final note, this movie is being presented in 3D. I did not see it in 3D. After seeing Clash Of The Titans, I was pretty much in the camp that if it was a movie where the 3D was simply being tacked on- I was going to avoid seeing the 3D version and save myself a bit of money. I read a few things about the 3D in advance of this and if there was anything that was universal in what I read, it was just that the 3D wasn’t very good. So obviously, I can’t comment on that. It doesn’t matter though, all of the other elements are so far gone here, that even a good use of 3D couldn’t save this mess.

I’d still like to see M. Night Shyamalan succeed, but after the universal drubbing this movie has been getting (and justly deserved), I’ve little hope that that will ever happen again in a big Hollywood production. This one’s right up there with Robin Hood and Jonah Hex as one of the worst that I’ve seen this year.

Near the end of the Civil War, Confederate officer Jonah Hex turns on his commander, Quentin Turnbull as Turnbull is about to lay waste to a hospital full of innocents. As a result of this, Hex in turn kills Turnbull’s brother, Jeb. The war is over and Hex is living a peaceful life with his wife and son. Quentin Turnbull catches up to Hex and enacts his revenge upon him, killing his wife and son and forcing Hex to watch as it happens. In a final moment of torture, Turnbull takes a branding iron and leaves his mark on Jonah’s face. Left for dead, Hex is revived by an indian tribe and as a result of their rituals, now has the ability to talk to the dead.

Hex now makes his living as a bounty hunter and he’s good at what he does, with his vengeance fueling his path. Quentin Turnbull resurfaces and now wants to take vengeance on the entire United States and he plans to with an ultimate weapon designed by Eli Whitney. President Ulysses S. Grant thinks that this bounty hunter, Jonah Hex, is the man to go after Turnbull and thusly, enlists his aid.

And so that’s the basic premise of Jonah Hex directed by Jimmy Hayward, who previously directed Horton Hears A Who from an original screenplay from Neveldine & Taylor, who have previously made Gamer and the Crank movies. Neveldine & Taylor were originally supposed to direct this as well, but left due to creative differences and so, from what I understand, their script was heavily altered.

Jonah Hex is also the latest comic book-to-movie adaptation out there. Now, I am a comic fan, but I was never a devout Jonah Hex reader. I’ve read a story or two with, to me anyway, always his most memorable stuff from writer Michael Fleisher (and now his latest series by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray is getting much acclaim). Now even though I wasn’t a fan, I do know a little something about the character and one of the things that I know was that Hex never had any sort of paranormal abilities.

I go into most comic book adaptations knowing that liberties will be taken, but this one seems to come at us right from left field. It doesn’t really help that the whole way in which Jonah acquires this ability is told through a bit of animation and voiceover. And while the animation is nice in it’s limited sort of way, it doesn’t really have any sort of weight for how the use of this power plays out. It’s there to speed things up and get us right into the action. Because this does get sped up, well there’s not a whole lot here to really get invested in.

The whole movie suffers from an edit job that seems more like a salvage operation more than anything else. There’s lots of jump-cutting from scene to scene and not really a lot of glue to hold the whole thing together. Oh sure, it’s plot does progress forward, but it does so at the expense of making this a fuller experience. As such there’s really little to care about when it comes to our main character. From what I understand of the character in the comics, there’s a lot more to him than this two-dimensional drive that he has here.

Now none of this is the fault of lead Josh Brolin who plays Jonah Hex. when I first heard Brolin was taking the part, I thought it was pretty cool, especially since Brolin was coming off of some high-profile work in things like American Gangster, Milk and No Country For Old Men. I think Brolin has certainly invested himself here, and it’s seen through little bits with his character. But as to a big picture, it’s hard to tell, because the editing of the film doesn’t really allow anything to breath.

Much ado has been made about Megan Fox being in this movie. She plays Lilah, a cold prostitute who has a warm spot in her heart for the disfigured Hex. My expectations were pretty low for her coming into this, and while she’s only on-screen for a short portion of the movie, I actually think she does a pretty decent job with what she has (and this isn’t really making huge demands on her, considering what’s on screen) and certainly looks good. My bigger problem is with John Malkovich who plays Quentin Turnbull. Now I’m a fan of Malkovich’s, but here he comes off more disinterested than anything else. There’s no magnetism to the character and you’re sort of hoping you’ll get him as he was in Con Air or In The Line Of Fire but it’s more like he’s just reading the lines and waiting for the check to clear. Even though I’m saying that, it’s still a little hard to fault him due to the editing of the movie and it’s bigger concern to just get action on the screen more than letting anything develop.

Other members of the cast include Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett, Tom Wopat, Michael Shannon, Aidan Quinn and Jeffrey Dean Morgan who’s uncredited as Quentin’s brother Jeb. Everything here from these guys is certainly serviceable, with standouts being Fassbender, who’s definitely eating things up being Quentin’s right hand man, and Morgan who has a pretty good scene as Hex raises him from the dead.

To the movie’s credit, it does have a nice look to it and in the words of SCTV’s Big Jim McBob and Billy Saul Hurok, they blow things up real good. But that’s about it. The way this is edited, it doesn’t want to do anything fuller let alone do anything that could make it be a nice western adventure. Of course though, I have to wonder just what they had originally which would cause this, and unfortunately, I doubt we’ll ever find out. It’s a shame, there’s a lot of talent here and (from what I understand) a rich comic book mythos to mine from and it’s all squandered away.

Young Andy isn’t as young as he used to be, he’s now 17 and he’s not playing with his toys any more. Andy’s about ready to go off to college and now Woody, Buzz Lightyear and all of the rest of our Toy Story friends are worried about their future. Woody, of course being the leader of the group tries to calm everyone down and tells them that they’re going to be going to the attic and still being all together and there for whenever Andy should need them next. But the worries continue, and now Andy’s mother has issued him an ultimatum that he needs to decide what he’s going to do with the toys- either put them in the attic or put them in the trash.

Well, Andy decides to put all of his toys except for Woody in the attic. Woody, gets to go with Andy to college. As Buzz and the rest are ready to be put in the attic, something unexpected happens and they end up mistakenly being put out for the trash. Well, Woody sees this all happening and naturally he wants to save his friends and he does, though his friends aren’t convinced that Andy wanted them to go in the attic. The toys make the jump to another box marked for donations and soon they find themselves in an all new adventure at a daycare center where it looks like their life after Andy is going to be rosier than ever… but of course, it’s not.

This is the premise to Pixar’s and Disney’s latest chapter in the lives of these magical toys for Toy Story 3 and right off the bat, I’m going to tell you this is the best movie I’ve seen all year.

This one has it all- comedy, action, adventure, romance and sentiment. It’ll probably end up being one of the funniest movies that you’ll see all year and at the same time it’ll get you all welled up by it’s end- it certainly did for me.

I’m continually stunned at just how well Pixar makes movies. Oh sure, we know that their computer animation is just the best all around, but the fact that all of their movies are terrific stories is truly amazing. They’ve come so far since the first Toy Story (and that’s still brilliant), especially with their cinematic techniques, but none of it has ever been at the expense of their stories or their characters.

Pixar has always managed to truly make something for everyone, and Toy Story 3 is no exception. There’s plenty of entertainment for the kids to be sure, but there’s always something there for the adults as well. I saw this preview screening in a packed house with probably a 50/50 split of adults and kids, and from what I could tell, all were entertained.

All of your favorites are back, but we also get introduced to some brand new characters- Lotso, the “kindly” but villainous old teddy bear who’s in charge of the toys at the daycare center, Big Baby, Lotsie’s “enforcer,” and my personal favorites, Ken and Barbie. Barbie starts off with the rest of the crew at Andy’s house, she being one of Andy’s sister’s toys and getting ready to be donated. We’re introduced to Ken at the daycare center and of course, it’s love at first sight for these two. For me, the funniest gags in the whole movie revolved around Ken and of course, his impeccable fashion sense.

The voice cast is truly fantastic. Of course Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, Wallace Shawn are all back and it wouldn’t be a pixar movie without John Ratzenberger. New to our main cast is comedian Blake Clark taking over for the late Jim Varney with the voice of Slinky Dog. New to this movie are Ned Beatty as Lotso and Michael Keaton as Ken, and they perfectly fit in with the main cast. Out there on the side though is Timothy Dalton doing one of the voices and it’s only for a couple of scenes, but he’s truly memorable with what he does.

I saw this in 3D, and much like the 3D was with Up, the 3D here is used mainly for depth of scenes more than give you an eye-popping effect. It’s good, but it’s not essential to your enjoyment of this movie. Like all of the previous Pixar features, we get a short film with this as well. This little film is called Day & Night and really this is more of a showcase for their use of 3D than the main movie. It’s a really nice combination of 2D and 3D animation that features two characters, one filled with night and the other filled with day and it will not disappoint.

Don’t miss this. As I said above, this has now become for me the best movie that I’ve seen for the year, and I’m looking forward to seeing it again in a couple of weeks. Pixar knocks another one right out of the park, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

By coincidence, (or as one character of this movie might think, extreme planning), four elite Army Rangers come together on one special mission. Those men are:

• Colonel Hannibal Smith, known for having a plan for everything.
• Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck, a smooth talker and Smith’s comrade for this mission.
• Sergeant Bosco “B.A.” Baracus, a disgraced Ranger who unexpectedly gets drafted into this mission.
• Captain H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock, their pilot who is “recruited” at the hospital where he’s being held for reasons of insanity.

Their mission is a success, and eight years and 80 missions later, this team is now highly regarded as an elite unit who basically specialize in the impossible. Now stationed in Iraq, the team is contacted by a CIA Agent named Lynch to take on a mission. Lynch reveals that the Iraqi are in possession of U.S. treasury plates being used to manufacture counterfeit currency. Lynch wants the team to steal the plates and over a billion dollars in cash before it can make it out of Baghdad. At the same time, a Department of Defense captain, named Sosa comes into play, warning her ex-lover Faceman to stay far away from this mission. Of course, the team takes the mission and they’re successful with that, but it all falls awry in the end, and now the team finds themselves all dishonorably discharged and having to serve prison sentences.

Six months into their sentences, Agent Lynch makes contact with Smith again, and gives them the chance to clear their names.

That’s the premise to The A-Team, the big-budget film re-birth of the iconic 80s TV series from producer Stephen J. Cannell. When the TV series made it’s debut, I saw a few of them, but wasn’t really a big fan of the show (though I wasn’t really against it either). It was criticized for being the most violent hour of television on the air and along with that, of course, a sign that TV was going to hell in a handbasket. It was in essence, a big live-action cartoon with bigger than life characters and ridiculous situations and that’s certainly recognized by director Joe Carnahan.

Carnahan knows he’s dealing with a live-action cartoon and he surely amplifies that with this movie. The characters, at least to me, are even more extreme and the film’s action scenes are just really ridiculous… but for the most part, it all works and it’s a pretty fun ride, as long as you know what you’re getting into.

Yes, the action scenes are ridiculous, but they’re also pretty thrilling and very well-made. They fit this film and if Cannell and company would’ve had the budget back in the day, they probably would’ve done the same type of stuff on television. For the biggest set pieces, Caranhan does a pretty skillful job of interweaving the action with the description of the plans. It’s a nice touch and if this should go to a franchise, this should remain as a signature for future films.

I do have a few problems with the film though, and those are mostly with the casting and an element of the casting.

Now our main players are really well cast. Liam Neeson plays Smith, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson plays B.A., Bradley Cooper plays Faceman and Sharlto Copley plays Murdock. Neeson was the big surprise to me when I first heard about this movie. Even though it is a huge cartoon, putting an actor of his calibre here is a huge, huge plus and he genuinely looks like he’s having fun in the part. Jackson’s really rock solid as B.A. and while I’m not exactly looking for huge depth in something like this, he actually does try his best to bring some to the role and it works. Cooper and Copley were both coming off of some big films before making this (Cooper had The Hangover and Copley had District 9 and I still think Copley should’ve been Oscar nominated for District 9) so their stars are on the rise. Copley’s my favorite in this cast and yeah, he’s nuts, but he also brings a huge zest for life in just about every scene he has. Cooper is smooth and suave and he certainly looks good. He does a nice job with the part, but he’s also one of my problems with the film.

Basically, near the end of the film, this starts to lose the team dynamic that was built up so well at the start and it becomes the Bradley Cooper show. Now this isn’t really Cooper’s fault, it’s more in the script and taking advantage that this guy is popular now and on the rise. I get that, I understand why they’re doing it, but it does hurt the film and shortchanges the rest of the main cast, in particular Copley. I would’ve liked this even more had they been more even with everyone for the final action scene.

Patrick Wilson plays CIA Agent Lynch and Brian Bloom (also one of the film’s writers) plays a leader of a private military contractor group and they’re the bad guys of the movie. They both do a pretty good job with this with Bloom getting to be the more venal of the two and Wilson getting to have the better dialogue moments. Jessica Biel plays Sosa and she’s my other problem with the movie. I’m sorry, I’m just not a fan and with the exception of her part in the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I tend to think she’s ill-cast in everything else that I see her in. This doesn’t really make any huge demands on her, but she doesn’t really bring anything to the table either.

This is the second of the three big “men on a mission” movies for the year. I prefer The Losers over The A-Team so far and am still hoping for greatness from The Expendables. Overall, director Joe Carnahan and the writers do a nice job of translating this TV series to the big screen, with the stumbles just being in a part of the casting and the amplification of one of the main characters over the others by the film’s end. If you have an appreciation for the TV series or love big over-the-top action films, you’ll have a pretty good time with The A-Team.

In the world of genetics, Clive Nikoli and Elsa Kast are rock stars. They’ve been working on combining parts of the DNA of various animals and they’ve been succeeding. They’re working for a pharmaceutical company who’s end goal is to profit from the protein compound that they’re promising to deliver. Clive and Elsa want to take the work to the next step and now add human DNA into the mix. Their employers don’t want them to do that and being ambitious scientists, this doesn’t sit well with Clive and especially Elsa. They agree to go along with their employers, but secretly, they plan to take their work to the next step.

After a few failures, they finally strike gold with a successful combination. Their creation starts to grow at an alarming rate, and soon our ambitious scientists are way too caught up in their experiment, naming their creation Dren and virtually treating it as their child, all the while fighting over the ethical aspects of their experiment. And then there’s Dren, who of course is developing into her own.

Splice is from director Vincenzo Natali, who’s at least best known to me for previously making the science fiction movie Cube, which I enjoyed quite a bit. It puts me in the mind of the type of movie that David Cronenberg used to make, and at least for me, that’s a good thing. Cronenberg’s earlier sci-fi/horror films manage to bring up some high ideas that get on the disturbing side thanks to the ambitions of their lead characters, and Splice certainly does the same.

Now honestly, I don’t know how accurate the science is in something like this, and I don’t necessarily care. It’s science fiction with the accent on the fiction. The story at it’s core has been done before- man plays with nature, man is successful playing with nature, nature has it’s own ideas, nature runs amok, and man must atone for what’s he’s done. That’s certainly here, but the ride getting there is another matter entirely.

Splice has a nice leisured pace and it doesn’t really go for any sort of shock scares. Oh there’s a few, mostly near the end of the movie, but for the most part, Natali is content to fully have you watching Dren’s development and to get both comfortable and disturbed by it. The film certainly has a good look to it, and I think the visual effects work with Dren are absolutely first rate.

Clive and Elsa are played by Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley and they’re both quite good at playing two exceptionally smart people who end up doing some stupid things, thanks to their own inner demons and ambition. Clive is the warmer of the two, and Brody plays him in an engaging way. Elsa, on the other hand, suffers some deep scars, and we see those play out as she engages with Dren. When the situation becomes too much for her to handle, she goes to a detached state which complicates matters even further. Polley does a good job with this and she’s not really a likeable character, but you certainly understand how she got to where she is. A real surprise here though is actress Delphine Chanéac who plays Dren in her most developed state. Chanéac’s got a tough part here, especially having to deal with special effects end of her physical form. She manages it well though and makes Dren, at least to me, the most sympathetic character of the film.

I had a great time with this. As I said above, it evokes the type of film that David Cronenberg used to make and seeing that Cronenberg isn’t making movies like this any more, it’s time for someone else to pick up the reins. Vincenzo Natali is the guy to do it, and I certainly look forward to seeing what he does next. With all of the big budget effects laden films and lame-looking comedies, even with it’s familiarities, I thought Splice was a breath of fresh air.

A young orphaned boy, Dastan, living in the streets, displays an amazing bit of courage that impresses King Sharaman of Persia. The King, so impressed, adopts the boy and over the years, Dastan grows up to be a fine warrior and leader, though somewhat rougher around the edges than his brothers, Garsiv and Tus. Tus, the older brother is looking to expand the rule of the king and seeks to take the holy city of Alamut, though later we find out that this is against the wishes of the king, but still it’s happened and now it’s time to make the better of it. Along the way, we meet the beautiful Princess Tamina of Alamut, who’s also a guardian of something sacred within the city. Tus plans to make the Princess one of his wives, but the King has different plans and chooses to make her the wife of Dastan instead. At the presentation of the Princess to the King, the king dies under some mysterious circumstances and immediately everyone thinks Dastan is the one to have planned the murder. Now, Dastan and Tamina are on the run and Dastan seeks to bring the real murderer to justice. On their run, Dastan discovers what the princess was the guardian of, and there finds the real reason for the invasion of Alamut…

That’s the premise to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time the latest video game-to-movie adaptation to hit the big screen. It’s a pretty enjoyable romp, though there’s nothing of any real big surprise through the film. We know that Dastan will save the day. We know that he and the princess will eventually come together. And we know who will be uncovered as the real mastermind behind the plot to kill the king. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but the ride is fun getting there.

This is a big production from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, though it seems somewhat restrained in comparison to some of Bruckheimer’s other big action movies, and here that’s a pretty good thing, nothing ever really gets too overbearing.

That’s thanks to veteran director, Mike Newell, who’s basically making the type of movie that you’d see in the 40s, 50s and 60s but with today’s technology at his disposal. The production values are high, the effects are very good, and everything moves at a pretty even clip, all making for an entertaining adventure.

Now I’ve played a few Prince of Persia games in the past, though I’m certainly no expert on their history. I do know that through these games, with the exception of a couple, there’s little continuity between them. This movie does feature the involvement of the game series creator, Jordan Mechner, which for fans of the game will be welcome. They’ve basically (from what I understand) have created their own new story that borrows elements from past versions of the game and puts them together for something new here.

One of those elements, has always been that each Prince is a very nimble and athletic character, and it’s certainly put to good use here, using lots of factors from the sport of parkour. Now I’m sure some of these moments are helped out by visual effects, but others feel like they’re all done in-camera. The combination comes off well on the big-screen.

What also comes off well is the chemistry between our two leads, Dastan played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Tamina played by Gemma Arterton. I have to say, both actors look fantastic here, like they literally stepped out of the games into real life. Arterton, who we saw earlier in the year in Clash of the Titans is just stunningly beautiful, and she’s credible on screen (and as an aside, I personally think she’s someone who Warner Brothers and DC Comics should be eyeing to play Wonder Woman). Jake Gyllenhaal looks like he’s having a great time making this. He’s certainly had more meaningful work on the big screen, but I think he commits himself just as well to this pure popcorn material.

Ben Kingsley plays the Prince’s uncle, Nizam. We pretty much know the moment we see him, what sort of part he’ll play in the movie. He always brings a level of credibility to just about any part he plays. I almost wish he wasn’t cast here though, and someone less known would’ve been thrown into this part, just to maybe add a little more surprise to the film. It’s still solid work, just not as surprising as I would like. Alfred Molina is cast as Sheik Amar, a rogue “businessman” who Dastan and Tamina meet on the run. He really steals the show in just about every scene he’s in, bringing in just the right touch of humor without being obnoxious.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is solid B-movie fun. It doesn’t do anything new, but it doesn’t do anything wrong either and that’s a good combination for a summer popcorn film.

King Richard The Lionheart is fighting an unpopular war with France. One of his best archers is a man named Robin Longstride. On a night before the big taking of a castle, King Richard wants to know what an honest man thinks of his war, and Robin Longstride, who’s just been in a tussle with a man named Little John, voices an incorrect opinion and finds himself along with his men then put into laughingstocks and made to sit out the taking of the castle. Well, King Richard gets killed and when word reaches Robin and his men, they immediately desert because their prospects of being payed by a dead king are pretty slim. Along the way back home to England. Robin and his men come across Sir Robin Loxley of Nottingham, one of the king’s most trusted men. Loxley and his men have been ambushed by the French as they’re along the way to return the king’s crown back to England. Robin Loxley is dying and in his final moments, he asks Robin Longstride to return his sword back to his father, Sir Walter Loxley. Robin Longstride agrees and he assumes the identity of Robin Loxley and makes his way back to England, where civil war is about to erupt.

That’s the premise to this newest version of Robin Hood from director Ridley Scott, writer Brian Helgeland and lead actor Russell Crowe. This movie attempts to give a new origin to the legend, but one that has a lot more weight to it than what previous films have done. What it does instead, at least for me, was deliver a huge mess, and at least in my mind, deliver the worst movie of the year so far.

This re-writes the legend in a big way. Now that prospect doesn’t really bother me as long as the creative team is committed to what they’re doing. For instance, Quentin Tarantino does it well with Inglourious Basterds, (though what he’s re-writing is based on fact) and I’m one of those who really appreciates Antoine Fuqua’s re-telling of the legend of King Arthur in King Arthur. But with Robin Hood, it appears that director Ridley Scott really doesn’t give a damn about even wanting to really deal so much with Robin Hood and more wants to do something that has a lot more angst to it and deliver his own very thinly veiled political message.

Now from what I understand, this movie has a pretty checkered history. Scott was (and again, this is all from what I understand) contracted to deliver a Robin Hood movie and the original film that he was going to do was going to have the same man in the role of both Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham, which of course, sounds like a pretty bad idea. There was also supposed to be some issues with Russell Crowe when he came on board (I think mostly around some weight gain that Crowe had for a prior film that he made with Scott) which in turn caused a re-casting of Lady Marion (played here by Cate Blanchett). These things don’t really give one a lot of confidence that it mattered to these guys about actually wanting to tell the story of Robin Hood, so they came up with their own way of doing it.

Now that’s fine and dandy if they commit to what they’re doing, and as the movie plays out, this first seems to be like it will be a watchable version of the story, though unremarkable when compared to the other Robin Hood films. But then we get to the end of the movie… and oh man…

The last five minutes of the movie betrays everything that’s been set up in the prior two hours and basically tries to set Robin Hood back to it’s status quo, with Robin still considered one of the greatest of outlaws. The ending here absolutely makes no sense, especially considering what has happened to get it to this place. This ending feels very tacked on. It’s like Universal wanted to set this up for a possible franchise, Scott didn’t give a damn about that, told the story that he wanted to tell, and then made it safe for Universal to pursue a series if they wanted to. Who cares if it made any sense?

The real shame is that you have a lot of talented people connected to this and it just didn’t seem like anyone’s heart was actually in it, except for the craftsmen who were trying to make sure that it was technically proficient and some of the supporting cast who genuinely look like they’re trying to make the best of what they can with the situation.

Crowe’s Robin is a uninspired (and I say this as a fan of his prior work). There’s really nothing in the opening of the piece that makes you as an audience member want to really get behind him. Points come out along the way to try and rally you behind him, but Crowe just doesn’t feel like his heart is in this, except for a few moments when he has some scenes with Max Von Sydow, who plays Sir Walter Loxley. Cate Blanchett does the best that she can with this, but there is really no chemistry between her and Crowe. Scenes between the two that are meant to evoke some sort of emotion and eroticism basically fall flat and are pretty boring. You just want to move on to the next scene. Mark Strong is in this film (I think he’s supposed to be in every big movie these days), playing the villainous Godfrey and Englishman who has an allegiance to the French. Again, Strong does his best with what’s here, but what’s here isn’t so much a character as a plot device and so this villain doesn’t really have a lot of fire to him.

There’s better work from the support here. Kevin Durand and Mark Addy are really well-cast as both Little John and Friar Tuck. Scott Grimes and Alan Doyle are also well cast as Will Scarlet and Allan A’Dayle. These four are the actual “Merry Men” of the piece and they’re the only ones who look like they’re actually bringing any fun to the movie, something this sorely lacks. I mentioned Max Von Sydow above, and he’s also solid in his part, and for the age of his character actually brings a lot of life to the piece. There’s also appearances by William Hurt as William Marshal and Danny Huston as King Richard The Lionheart and they’re both solid, though I think Huston fares a little better.

In the end, this was for me a huge mess. It’s few bright spots are limited to it’s technical proficiency and some of the supporting work. There’s no real chemistry or passion amongst it’s leads and there’s just no sense of fun. Deconstruction is certainly the rage these days in lots of forms of entertainment. I think it works best though when there’s still some sort of semblance in place to the source and there’s little of that here. The biggest thing missing though is any sort of sense of fun and any sort of passion for the source. Kevin Costner’s version, Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves is a much maligned movie (though I don’t get it, I loved it), and by the end of this movie, it just made me want to re-visit that all the more. This movie is an inflated waste of talent, and for me, so far the worst movie of the year.

It’s been six months since Tony Stark has revealed to the world that he is Iron Man. In that time, Iron Man has become a deterrent to other nations aggressive to the United States. That isn’t enough for the United States though, as they want Stark to fully turn over the Iron Man armor to them. Stark won’t do it though, claiming that he and the armor are one and the same, though there may be more nobler intentions than that. The power source of the armor is infecting Stark and raising his blood toxicity levels, though he’s keeping that little fact to himself. Other nations, and even another American defense contractor, Justin Hammer, are trying to develop their own Iron Man-type of armor but with little success. But success does come to one, a Russian named Ivan Vanko who has his own grudge against Stark.

That’s the premise to Iron Man 2 from Marvel Entertainment and director Jon Favreau and it’s a far better movie than what I thought it was going to be based around it’s initial trailer. I was sort of turned off by it’s initial trailer and seeing the more flippant images of Robert Downey Jr. in his confrontation with the government. i was half expecting in those scenes for him to suddenly turn into Rodney Dangerfield from Caddyshack and at the end turn to the crowd and say to everyone “Now let’s all go back to my place and get laid!” But, those trailer scenes are fortunately shown out of context from the main movie, and so as they play in the main movie, there’s actually a little more subtext to them.

This doesn’t quite have the same impact that the original film had, but I don’t think that that’s a bad thing at all. What it does well though is present a continuing story of the character that’s really more on the mark with the original comic material. Further, it expands the mythology that Marvel is shooting for with the films that they’re actually producing around their characters. It stands alone well as another Iron Man film, but I think it’s even richer as part of the bigger picture that Marvel is painting.

I think some of it’s quieter scenes could’ve been tightened up a bit and I certainly wouldn’t have minded maybe another earlier action sequence with Iron Man, but still what’s here is a lot of fun. Director Favreau is obviously committed to what he’s doing with Marvel and I think the evidence is right up there on the screen. It’s as technically proficient as these movies come.

Robert Downey Jr. really has found a good character for himself in Tony Stark. Yeah, sure there’s a lot that’s over-the-top with the character, but I also think that there’s some considerable subtlety that he’s displaying as well. Most of that comes into play when Stark has his dealings with Nick Fury and SHIELD. Stark gets a little humbled by that, though he certainly still has his own brand of bravado. Gwyneth Paltrow and Jon Favreau are back from the original cast, reprising their characters of Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan, and they’re both solid. Also we have Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg back respectively as SHEILD’s leader Nick Fury and Agent Colson and though their scenes are fewer than the rest of the cast’s, they’re still a lot of fun when they come up.

New to this series though are actors Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson. Cheadle takes over the part of James Rhodes, established in the first film by actor Terence Howard. This won’t stand out as one of Cheadle’s great roles, but he’s rock solid in the part and looking like he’s having some genuine fun when he’s in his own armor. Mickey Rourke plays Ivan Vanko and he brings some nice weight to the film. He’s essentially been billed as playing a villain from the comics called Whiplash, though in the actual comics, Vanko was the inventor of the Crimson Dynamo armor and as the movie plays out, that’s more evident to longtime fans. Sam Rockwell plays industrialist Justin Hammer and he certainly brings a lot of smarm to the part and he does it in an entertaining fashion. My personal favorite of the new additions is Scarlett Johansson. She plays a character named Natalie Rushman, who’s really a SHIELD agent named Natasha Romanoff who in the comics is also known as the Black Widow. Now, on the acting front, she’s serviceable here, but then again it’s not her movie. She fills a role for the film and the mythology and that’s fine. But she does have presence and that’s considerable. She’s certainly beautiful and physically, she sort of reminds me of the days when John Byrne drew the character over in the pages of Marvel’s Champions comic. She, at least to me, drew my attention every time she was on screen and I also think she has the best single action scene of the whole film.

Iron Man 2 is a lot of big fun and I certainly think it’s a step in the right direct yet again for Marvel’s own movies. It may not carry the impact as the first movie did, but I think in Marvel’s big picture, it’ll fit just fine and add to the richness of the cinema mythology that they’re building. If you’re planning to see this, well stay through the entire credits as you’ll get a nice taste of what’s to come from them next year. Good stuff here… go see it.

An elite CIA Black Ops team is in Bolivia to kill a special target. Led by Colonel Clay, the team consists of Roque, a knife expert and Clay’s second-in-command, Jensen, a specialist in tech and communication, Cougar, an expert sniper and Pooch, their transportation expert. They’re in Bolivia to take out a drug lord and everything for them looks run of the mill until they see that children are involved. Clay tries to call off the mission, but it goes ahead anyway, under the orders of Max, who heads this entire operation. Clay and his team decide to buck the order and go in and rescue the children. They accomplish what they set out to do and their target is still killed. They lead the children to the helicopter that the team was to be extracted in, with Clay and his team staying behind due to weight limitations. The helicopter is destroyed right in mid-air, and now Clay and his team find themselves left behind and wanting revenge. They get that opportunity thanks to a mysterious women named Aisha, who has her own vendetta against Max. And then hijinks ensue.

That’s the premise to The Losers another new comic book-to-movie adaptation from Dark Castle Entertainment and director Sylvain White. The comic itself is from DC/Vertigo and is written and illustrated by Andy Diggle and Jock. I haven’t read the comic before, but if the movie is any indication, I know I want to lay my hands on some trade paperbacks as soon as I can. I thought this was one highly entertaining film.

I’m not familiar with any of Sylvain White’s other work. Previously, he’s directed Stomp the Yard and I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, two films that I didn’t really have any interest in seeing. With The Losers though, he shows that he can really put together a tightly paced and stylish action movie. One of the things that I really like about this though is that it seems a sort of throwback to some of the B-movie action films of the 80s, but with a little modern spin on it. I also really like his action set pieces, they’re very nicely staged and just have a terrific look.

But the biggest thing that this has going for it is an excellent cast. Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Clay, has sheer credibility to his character and I’d certainly buy that these guys would be willing to follow him to hell and back. The rest of the team features Idris Elba as Roque, Chris Evans as Jensen, Oscar Jaenada as Cougar and Columbus Short as Pooch. All of these guys are great, but I have to give special props to Evans. Evans is the wise-ass of the group and he does it without being annoying and in fact is very entertaining. Zoe Saldana plays Aisha and she’s on a real roll lately having appeared in such films as Star Trek and Avatar. She continues to impress here with both her sexuality and her willingness to get in there and get dirty with the boys. Jason Patric plays Max and he’s really good in his bad guy turn. He chews scenery in an understated way and the fun that he looks like he’s having on-screen certainly shows.

They all have solid material to work with thanks to a nice script from Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt. It’s my understanding that Berg was originally slated to both write and direct this. After bowing out, his first draft script was given over to Vanderbilt for a re-write. I have no idea how much of the original script remains here, but if what’s on screen is any indication, I could easily have seen this being something by Berg (Hancock withstanding, he’s one of my favorite directors working today). Also, having not read the source, I don’t know how true to it the movie is. From what I’ve seen of the comic’s visuals though, it certainly looks on point.

I had a ball with this. Yeah, there are all sorts of cliches and stretches of real-world logic, but when it’s put together this well, it doesn’t matter. This is the first of our three big “men on a mission” movies of the year. The other two movies being The A-Team and The Expendables and I’m really looking forward to both. The Losers sets the bar for them to follow and it does it really well. If you like 80s style team action movies with a pulp flavor, you couldn’t do better than to go out and see The Losers. Highly recommended, one of my favorite movies of the year so far.