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While not quite as good as either, this movie is solid action fun. The plot has has enough twist to keep it interesting and Travolta is very good as the manic ‘operator’ who specializes in wet work. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is the wannabe agent who gets more than he bargained for when assigned to help Travolta on a mission. The Paris background is not bad to look at and there is enough action, gun play, and violence to keep most males entertained throughout the movie. I would wish the gun handling was more realistic, but this is an over the top caricature of cloak and dagger work and realism doesn’t sell tickets. There is the obligatory car chases and explosions of course, drug cartels and bad guys of every ethnicity. You’ve seen it before and you’ll probably see it again. If it’s done well with some witty dialog and memorable characters, then I’ll spend the money and enjoy the ride.

Part costume drama and part horror flick, this movie is entertaining and pays homage to those great horror films of the 1930’s and 40’s. The first shot we see of Benicio del Toro resembles Lon Chaney Jr. to a remarkable degree. The story is vaguely similar to the 1941 original in that there is a gypsy camp (but no Bela Lugosi or Maria Ouspenskaya) and Larry (or Lawrence) Talbot gets bitten by a werewolf. The real homage is to the makeup. The original Wolfman is so distinct to those of us who were terrified by it as kids in late night reruns that anything too different would spoil it for us. Benicio’s wolfman is updated, but in the vein of the original. The transformation scenes parallel the classic, and add some new technology to make it somewhat more realistic. Why Sir Anthony Hopkins is in this I can’t explain. As the father, he takes the plot wildly out to left field and it fails for me in that sense. If you have no knowledge of the original, then this may make no difference to you. The gore and violence of modern movies do not make them scarier. What they did 70 years ago with lighting, sound, and camera angles created more tension than we see today. I liked this Wolfman, but there really is only one and that will always be Lon Chaney Jr.

This is a very good movie. It was even better and more original when it was Tender Mercies (1983) and Robert Duvall gave an Oscar winning performance. Jeff Bridges does a great job and is worth a nomination to be sure. These small character studies are not big money makers. Duval was also listed as a producer and had a cameo to add some more star power to the mix. The big surprise was Colin Farrel as a country music star. A small role and he seemed a bit out of place. Still that shows that this is an acting movie and actors like good roles and working with good actors. We see these riches to rags to riches stories and we like seeing people redeemed and getting their act together and this is a worthy production. The music and soundtrack are wonderful. Homage is paid to legends  of country music and the educated will hear a snippet of the great Townes Van Zandt which is more than fitting as his tale didn’t have such a positive ending. Does the Dude deserve an Oscar? Maybe, maybe not, but we can appreciate these performances and this fine film.

Do we ever get tired of big evil companies and government conspiracies? I don’t know, but Edge of Darkness is mostly a retread of any number of political thrillers like The Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor, Enemy of the State, and a host of others. In this one Mel Gibson dons a wicked Baaastin accent and does his best to unravel the mystery of his daughters death. You’ve seen it all before. The car chases, the killing of everyone connected, corrupt politicians, shadowy government entities etc, etc, etc. So, does this measure up to say Frank Sinatra in The Manchurian Candidate? No, but it’s not so bad either. Gibson does OK as the grieving and gritty detective. The weaselly villain is easy to despise and the action scenes are well done. The story is rather James Bondish and makes suspending disbelief  that more difficult. Mediocrity may rule these days, so Edge of Darkness fits right in.

Another end of the world flick. This time angels come to finish us off and there might be a story in there somewhere, but this movie misses on almost every level. I was tricked by the trailer, which is better than the whole movie. Whoever edited the trailer, should have done the whole movie. The collection of stereotyped characters was embarrassing. A black hoodlum, a white yuppie family, an old man who lost his faith?? Come on, show us some respect. And the setting for this morality play is a little diner in the desert called Paradise Falls. Not too subtle folks. Lots of guns, but no training for the actors, just never ending magazines as they shoot from the hip and hit what they want. The acting was OK. Kudos to Dennis Quaid and Charles Dutton for being able to do a take without laughing at themselves. It must have been difficult. Thankfully all the sinners are redeemed, usually by a gruesome death, and the film ends with a climactic angel vs. angel fight that they put a lot of effort in and apparently thought the audience would take seriously. I couldn’t. At least the human race was saved by the birth of a baby sometime around Christmas. I wonder if that is supposed to mean something? This may be a top contender for Rotten Tomatoes best of the worst.

It seems film makers are obsessed with the end of the world these days. Maybe with the stagnant economy folks like to see an even bleaker future than their own. If The Road was dark and colorless, then The Book of Eli is just black, and that’s not referring to Denzel Washington’s skin color. If Viggo had run into Denzel on the road, then maybe The Road would have been more entertaining. In this film Denzel is the drifter on a quest. He carries a book and his mission is to deliver it to some unknown enclave of humanity to the west. He is one badass road warrior and demonstrates it throughout the movie. He’s Rambo, Jason Bourne and Shaft all wrapped up in one. Gary Oldman is the villain and you can hardly find one better. His trademark psychotic laugh tells the story. He knows the power of the book. With the right words, he can takeover what little pockets of society remain. One man is ruthless, one might be called righteous and together that makes for conflict which advances the story along. The visuals are stark, nothing you haven’t seen before, color is deliberately muted or filtered. There may be a twist you didn’t expect or maybe you saw it early on. Denzel makes the movie because you believe his character even in an unbelievable time and place. The parables poor forth and you can pick them out yourself. Without Denzel’s performance, this would be just another end of civilization story like the the half dozen others this past year, but he and Gary Oldman carry it a cut above the standard fare and I thought it a rather enjoyable film and story.

I had low expectations about this film and was very pleasantly surprised by the wit and humor. The offbeat characters and basically cameo performances by the likes of Jean Smart, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi, Fred Willard, Justin Long (I’m a Mac), etc. play off our sad hero Michael Cera wonderfully. It’s almost like a very disturbed Alice in Wonderland with all the bizarre characters. Cera plays dual roles as the dweeb and his alter ego Francois, the bad boy he thinks he wants to be. Portia Doubleday is his love interest and is adorable in a teenage psychotic way. What lengths he goes to to win her heart is the basis of the movie and it is sweet and funny and cynical and schizoid like most of us will admit our teen years were.I thought the film was well made and innovative in the use of animation at interesting points. The soundtrack is excellent and you may or may know the songs, but you think you do. This isn’t a Porky’s at all. It’s a smart inventive comedy that I enjoyed more than I thought I would.

What happens when vampires takeover? Well, just like humans they poorly manage resources and have trouble feeding themselves. Ethan Hawke is a reluctant vampire and is trying to find a substitute for blood. Willem Dafoe is a former vampire who found a way to reverse the vampirism in a most improbable way. Humans are in short supply and that sets the stage for all kinds of wacky vampire drama. Lots of time is spent on showing how vampires cope during the day and how society devolves when starvation threatens. Wooden stakes still work somehow when they pierce the unbeating heart and of course prolonged exposure to sunlight is a killer. Leaving behind the folklore problems, the story has some sense and the acting is good. Sam Neil is the head corporate vampire and capitalist villain. There is plenty of gore and action and some stupid attempts to startle you with bats aflying. Vampires smoke a lot too, I guess it can’t hurt them and what else are you going to do for an eternity? I get the point: dead white men are the real vampires and a socialist utopia would mean plenty of blood for everyone. Give me my stakes, garlic and holy water, I’m agoing hunting.

Hyped as THE holiday premier blockbuster extravaganza is a high expectation to meet. Sherlock Holmes is entertaining and a decent movie, but falls short in the end. Had I seen it before Avatar and Up in the Air, I may have thought differently. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are very good in their roles and actually worked very well together. There was a chemistry that I didn’t quite expect and that really carried the film. The storyline was a bit over the top in the National Treasure sort of way that is distractingly unbelievable. Holmes’ powers of deduction are center stage and used for comic relief on occasion. The scenes of Elizabethan London were visually appealing and the costuming and set dressers deserve much credit for their work. Guy Ritchie knows how to put a movie together and seems to be doing some good work since the material girl is gone. The insinuation of a love interest for Holmes didn’t quite work for me and Rachel McAdams just didn’t come up to the level of Downey and Law. The Nefarious Moriarty is introduced as a shadowy figure and is clearly the basis for a sequel. The audience was enthusiastic and appeared to thoroughly enjoy the entire movie. I was hoping for a bit more. Nevertheless, Sherlock Holmes is worth seeing and it will probably be successful enough to spawn another adventure, if someone can manage to bring Law and Downey back together again.

Think of the most depressing and thankless job (besides your own), put George Clooney in it and you have a dark, dark comedy that will certainly get him an Oscar nomination. The key to this movie is the script. The dialog is so intelligent and clever, you can see yourself in the conversation. Clooney makes it even more natural with his talent. Smart films are not common these days and certainly not at the time of big holiday releases. The movie sets up a number of contrasts between youth and maturity, love/lust, compassion/callousness, alienation/inclusion, and we get a sense of the characters motivations for their particular viewpoints. Clooney is the centerpiece that you follow through a personal journey that is often funny, sometimes depressing, maybe heart wrenching, but always interesting. The supporting cast is great with Jason Batemen as the boss, Vera Farmiga as the romantic interest, and Anna Kendrick as the protegé. Clooney is consistently putting out very good work and I really hate him for his talent, smile and politics. If he continues to make quality films like this, I’ll overlook the other stuff.