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George Romero is apparently remaking all his old movies for a new generation. I will take the cynical view that making money is easier than taking a chance on a new movie. I have yet to see the original 1973 version (I just added it to my Netflix cue) and am interested in making a comparison once I do. This a rather standard government lets something bad out and has to clean it up story and the only questions are who survives and how long it takes. This is slasher type stuff and the only thing you wonder about is how gruesome the next guy or gal’s demise will be. There is little suspense and we find out very early what is going on. Most of the movie is just our lead characters dealing with crazy after crazy and having fewer and fewer characters left. Will our hero and heroine survive? Will the crazy menace be contained? Will the government do the right thing? Will I spend money on the next movie with this same premise? I don’t know, maybe.

Kevin Smith fans might think it a bit timid and some folks will think it too raunchy. Either perspective is probably right. I would have liked some edgier material and thought some of the potty humor a bit boorish. Nevertheless, I thought Cop Out was an OK buddy film with some funny bits and some not so funny bits. Bruce Willis can do comedy and Tracey Morgan is very good and really carries this film. His skills are lost on the small screen. His facial expressions are some of the best parts of the movie. The chemistry is pretty good and both play off each other well. Willis is the straight-man or Abbott to Morgan’s Costello. Seann Thomas Scott adds a third dimension and his scenes are probably the best in the movie. For Smith this is an attempt at a real mainstream type comedy and he largely succeeds. It is entertaining mostly and there is some over the top raunch that you would expect, but overall it is rather tame and you wish Smith would let it all out with Willis and Morgan. It would be risky, but could have been brilliant. We’ll never know. Maybe there are some cut scenes that will show up in an unrated version down the road. Hopefully this will get Tracey Morgan exposed as a real screen talent and we’ll see him more on the big screen.

Martin Scorsese knows how to make a movie. He has a huge respect for the work and it appears, the audience. Actors want to work with him and he gets consistently great performances from them. Shutter Island is a classic psychological thriller. It is not a horror flick. It draws the viewer in and keeps you guessing throughout the movie. You think you have it figured out and it changes. The performances are  brilliant. Kingsley as the head psychiatrist and Max Von Sydow as another doctor are wonderful. Dicaprio is very good, he continues to suffer from boyish good looks, which makes it hard to accept him in mature roles. The setting of a 1950′s asylum is beautifully rendered and the costumes are delightful. The music is great, as in all Scorsese films, and is skillfully used to add tension much more subtly than modern horror movies. There are images that may be disturbing to some folks, especially the back story scenes of Dicaprio liberating a concentration camp in WWII. Nothing to me was gratuitous and was meaningful in establishing context and history of the character. You can’t say very much about the movie without spoiling things for those who’ve yet to see it. See it you should. Scorsese has another hit in a genre you don’t associate with him. A fine film that is engaging and entertaining and makes you think in very Kafkaesque ways.