Public Enemies

"Public Enemies" simply feels different than all the other gangster pictures that have come before it.
Johnny Depp plays iconic bank robber John Dillinger, but he doesn't talk or act like a movie gangster. There's no complicated back story, no tale of daddy issues and woe. He's calm, cool, calculating and quietly charming.
Depp gives you a real sense of what Dillinger might have been like and why women dipped their dresses in his blood after he came to his unfortunate end outside the Biograph theater.

Christian Bale does excellent work as well as Melvin Purvis, the G-Man assigned to hunt down Dillinger. Bale is clearly a supporting character but provides a nice counterweight to Dillinger's band of bank robbers.

Oscar winner Marion Cotillard doesn't have much to do as Dillinger's girlfriend. There's no grand "Bonnie and Clyde" romance. They're not even really a couple. They're just two people thrown together by their own needs, not a need for each other.

Director Michael Mann's obsessive attention to detail makes this feel more naturalistic than your usual a Hollywood blockbuster.
Even the gun battles pop and crackle with a brutal realism and a spark that makes them feel fresh again.
At times it seems like the moviemakers get a little too wrapped up in the details, and it seems like you're watching the biggest budgeted History Channel special ever.
But it's refreshing to see a big summer blockbuster that aims squarely at your head, even if it sometimes misses your heart.

"Public Enemies:" B+

Works For Me

Larry David is Woody Allen's "Whatever Works" saving grace. Without him, the movie would seem like just another trip down some well worn paths that Allen has explored many times before in the past.

Allen reportedly wrote the script for Zero Mostel back in the 1970's. He's given it a few superficial tweaks, but the story of a grumpy physicist who takes in a teenage runaway from the south, played by Evan Rachel Wood, seems like a little musty to say the least.

David's Boris Yelnikov hates everybody and everything. He's a genius living among a universe of dolts, dunderheads, and dimwits.
and He gets by teaching chess to youngsters. No one is funnier than David at being rude to small children.
The movie encounters a major lull when the runaway's parents track her down and show up at his doorstep. They're bible believing southern hicks who are set free by the bohemian spirit of New York City, and they're easily the least interesting part of the film.

At times it sounds like David has swallowed a theasauris as he spits out mountains and mountains of Allen's dialogue about pain, loss, and free love.
But coming from Larry David the words sound fresh and funny again. And he gives the movie more laughs than it frankly deserves.

"Whatever Works:" B-

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

Let's face it, no one is going to "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" looking for a coherent plot or decent acting.
They want robots, and lots of them, interspersed with a few shots of Megan Fox.
But even by these admittedly low standards, director Michael Bay's sequel is still a headache inducing debacle.

It's bigger, It's louder, and it's a whole lot dumber.
And after the first dozen transformers do their thing, it's hard to work up much enthusiasm.

When he's not staging incomprehensible battle scenes where its impossible to know exactly who's turning who into a bucket of bolts, he's gazing longingly at Megan Fox's pouty lips and tight clothing. And every now and then Bay stops to display a shockingly tin ear for comedy.
Bay's hyperactive camera movements make even Tony Scott's camera work look somewhat restrained by comparison.

The experience is a bit like being stuck next to a jackhammer for two and a half hours with no respite from the blaring assault on your senses up there on the screen.

"Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen" D+

Oh No You Didn't Sister

Cameron Diaz's new tearjerker "My Sister's Keeper" is nothing if not persistent. It's willing to stop at nothing to make damn well sure its audience feels sad and cries.

Abigail Breslin, who has thankfully avoided turning into another creepy Dakota Fanning child robot, is an 11 year old girl. She seems just like any other 11 year old, except she was born for one purpose. Her parents want to harvest her kidney, bone marrow, and whatever else they can get to save her older sister who is dying from leukemmia.
So she seeks out counsel from big shot lawyer Alec Baldwin about gaining medical emancipation from her parents so she won't have to give up a kidney. Baldwin provides a breath of fresh air, and he relieves the unrelenting air of saddness that permeates the rest of the production with some laugh out loud lines.

Cameron Diaz has a difficult job here. She's got to make this mother who refuses to accept the possibility that her daughter will die and will sacrifice her other daughter seem at least somewhat sympathetic. But she's not up to the task. She sounds the same note over and over and after a while you just want to give her a smack to shut her up.

These are pros here though. Director Nick Cassavettes knows how to get his audience worked up, and he throws in everything and the kitchen sink too.
Sad music? Check.
Doomed love affiar? Check
Pouring Rainstorms out of nowhere during scenes of big emotional loss? Check

I kind of admired its sheer relentlessness as it shamelessly pressed every button around.
But it's manipulations of the heart are so obvious, and they're so tinny this time, I found it got to be unintentionaly hilarious by the end.

So as a tearjerker, it's an interesting failure.
But for unintentional comedy, it's Cameron Diaz' funniest film in years.

"My Sister's Keeper:" C

A Time Before Laughter

It's been a bad summer so far for prehistoric comedies.
First Will Ferrel.
Now Jack Black has stranded audiences in a time without laughter in the comedy "Year One."

The film aspires to be a gag filled romp through Genesis and seems to be inspired by Mel Brooks "History Of The World Part 1." But I've got news for you, that movie wasn't all that good either.

Black and Michael Cera are two inept hunter gatherers who are kicked out of their tribe and the garden of Eden for one too many screw-ups and then explore the world. Jack Black can be a charismatic presence on screen, but his hyperactive mugging schtick is starting to get seriously tired. He does little here but make googley faces and fall down a lot.

Michael Cera has the films only genuine laugh and he saves the film from being a total disaster. David Cross also provides some of the films only chuckles as a delightfully evil Cain.
But mostly the script is just filled with prehistoric poop and Sodom and Gomorrah jokes.
"Year One" might have seemed like a good idea on paper, but on screen its just dreadfully dull.

"Year One:" D+

The Proposal

Going into the theater for "The Proposal" you just have to accept the plot is ridiculous. It is. But you're not there for plot. You're there to watch two appealing stars interact and play with the warm familiar constructs of a romantic comedy.

What you get however is two appealing stars with no believable chemistry, and a script that seems pieced together from spare parts of other films.

As for the plot, Bullock's bitchy book editor blackmails her assistant into marrying her to escape deportation back to Canada. In just days they're up at his family's home in Alaska to visit his Grandmother for her 90th birthday to prove they're in love and engage in some "sweet home alabama" big city girl in a small town hijinks.

Ryan Reynolds has lost much of the Dane Cook-y smugness of his early roles and has perfected an air of indignant, sarcastic detachment.
He gets off plenty of good lines at the expense of Sandra Bullock's holy terror of a boss.
Her time seems to be spent either harassing reluctant authors to be on Oprah, or firing uncooperative underlings.
As if to drive the point home and make it clear to the simplest intelligence the script has one of her underlings actually call her a mean bitch.
But Sandra Bullock is such an appealing personality, you know she's not as bad as she seems.

It's mild enough until the wheels completely come off in the third act.
The filmmakers try to cram every cliche they can think off in the finale. There's a person getting left at the altar, a heart attack, the predictable run to the airport, and a "jerry mcguire" inspired declaration of love in the middle of a crowd of coworkers.

All in all, charm only takes this proposal so far.

"The Proposal:" C

The Taking Of Pelham 123

John Travolta is laughably hammy as a madman who takes a new york city subway train hostage in "The Taking Of Pelham 123." You can practically see the flopsweat as he chews every piece of scenery he can get his increasingly meaty paws on but to no effect. He's got lots of tics but no character.

Denzel Washington is stuck playing a role he's played dozens of times before- the cool guy at the center of chaos.
He does just fine with the role, but it's sketched in the most superficial of terms. It's really only there to get the mechanics of the plot going.

Director Tony Scott uses every cheap camera trick he can think of to ramp up the energy before the opening titles are even over. His motto seems to be, why shoot from a tripod when you can shoot a scene from helicopter, or rather 2 helicopters.
All the showiness of it seems to indicate he doesn't trust the source material and doesn't trust the audience either. The film feels like it was shot by a 22 year old hopped up on coke, speed, and meth all at once.

This remake of a gritty 1974 hostage drama seems destined to run endlessly on rainy saturday afternoons on basic cable.
It's got a lot of energy, and the compact nature of the story keeps the film going at a brisk clip. But it's just empty images moving across the screen.

"The Taking Of Pelham 123:" C

Take Me Away

"Away We Go" is the rare film where you actually hope for a sequel.
"The Office's" John Krasinski and "SNL's" Maya Rudolph play an unmarried couple with a baby on the way searching for a place to set down their roots and raise a family.
It's one part family drama, one part road comedy that never feels forced or fake as the couple travels across the country visiting relatives and friends trying to find a place they want to call home.

The relationship between Krasinski and Rudolph feels real, and is full of those little details that define a relationship.

Some of the relatives and friends they meet along the way are a real hoot.
There's a boozy former co-worker Allison Janey who cuts down her beaten down husband and overweight children with a non stop barage of cutting insults
And Maggie Gyllenhaal shines as a women's studies professor in wisconsin with some unusual parenting techniques.
I found a lot of these characters were able to walk the line without being too over the top.

It's a rare comedic effort from Director Sam Mendes, and he brings an eye for detail to the story.
The experience was a little like going over to a really funny and smart literary friend's house for a party.
I was a little sad when it was all over.

"Away We Go:" A-

A Lack Of Imagination

Much like George W. Bush before he was elected President the first time, Eddie Murphy has steadily sought to lower the bar for success.

After audiences have sat through such drek as "Doctor Doolittle," "Daddy Day Care" and the dreadful "Meet Dave" anything that isn't cringe inducingly awful can be viewed as something of a triumph.

"Imagine That" stars Murphy as a workaholic divorced dad with no idea how to connect to his seven year old daughter who spends all her time under a blanket talking to imaginary friends.
But things change when he discovers his daughter's imaginary friends are full of hot stock tips.

The only reason this film doesn't fail miserably is that it doesn't try.
It's genial enough, but no one puts any real effort into the movie at all.
Every now and then Murphy tries to fake some energy, but he's really just cashing a check here.
And Thomas Hayden Church deserves special scorn for his awful performance as Murphy's rival who dispenses stock advice with a little faux native american goobeldygook.
The end result is a film that's not as bad as "Norbit."
But it is sorely lacking in inspiration, and ambitions.

When I saw this in a theater full of young children I heard a lot of noises coming out of the crowd.
But the one thing I didn't hear a lot of was laughter.

"Imagine That:" C-

One Hell Of A Hangover

You could quibble a lot with "The Hangover."
You could say the characters never really grow beyond the one word archetypes in the script.
You could say the plot is just a ratty clothesline to hang the gags and set pieces on. But there's no denying that I laughed consistently and heartily throughout.

It's a raunchy what-happens-in-Vegas tale that only gets more deliriously weird as it goes along. A groom, his fiance's oddball brother, and his two best college buddies head to Vegas for his bachelor party. But things get out of hand and they lose him somewhere in Vegas. Nobody can remember anything about what happened. But apparently it involves a chicken, a late night trip to a wedding chapel, a baby, Asian gangsters, and Mike Tyson's tiger.

Stand up comic Zach Galifianakis has just the right unnerving presence and comic timing to make even jokes about sex offenders seem funny in just the right unsettling way.

"Daily Show" and "The Office" alum Ed Helms does a fine job as a henpecked dentist under the thumb of a controlling girlfriend. Only Bradley Cooper seems to be playing the same smarmy douche bag persona over and over again.
It lacks that special human touch to make these characters entirely relatable. But for a film from "Old School" director Todd Phillips, it's pretty good.
And you'll be quoting lines even after the movie becomes a hazy memory.

"The Hangover:" B

Lost Cause

People who hate Will Ferrell now have all the ammunition they'll ever need in the unfortunate big screen adaptation of the old TV show "Land Of The Lost."

Ferrell is an overeating crackpot of a scientist whose obsession with time warps has gotten him laughed out of the mainstream. But a pretty young English scientist restores his confidence, and with the help of a redneck guide slash fireworks salesman they unlock a portal to a parallel dimension populated by dinosaurs, lizard people, and a tribe of missing links.

All the Ferrell hallmarks are here- the shirtless exploits, the comically worded pop culture referencing exclamations, and his infatuation with warbling through ballads and show tunes. But there's nothing fresh about any of it, and his brand of comedy doesn't gel well with the rest of the pseudo sci-fi plot.

And it seems to go on forever. Imagine my pain and heartbreak when I looked down at my watch and realized only 1 hour had gone by.

It's a boring uninspired mess that stinks like a big pile of dino poo. In fact dino poo and other bodily fluids are the basis for most of the jokes.
Maybe Ferrell should just avoid TV adaptations altogether because he hasn't had much luck so far. You'll get a sense of how bad this one is when I say that even his unloved Nora Ephron disaster "Bewitched" starts to look good in comparison.


"Land Of The Lost:" D