New this week
EVEN THE RAIN (NR) A Spanish drama about a filmmaker (Gael Garcia Bernal) who travels to Bolivia to shoot a film about Christopher Columbus, only to find the lines between past and present, fiction and film, becoming increasingly blurred. Even The Rain opens this weekend exclusively at the Tampa Theatre. (Not reviewed)
LIMITLESS (PG-13) See Shannon Bennett's review.
THE LINCOLN LAWYER (R) See Anthony Salveggi's review on p. 30.
PAUL (R) Shawn of the Dead's Simon Pegg and Nick Frost star in this comedy about two geeks who encounter a real live alien (voiced by Seth Rogen) and go on a bromantic journey together. Paul screened too late for us to get a review into print, but for Shannon Bennett's full take on the movie, check online at dailyloafblog.com. (Not reviewed)
Recent releases
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (PG-13) A young, defeated NY Senate candidate (Matt Damon) meets a ballerina (Emily Blunt), and though they feel an instant mutual attraction, they quickly part ways. All the while, men in dark suits and hats are following their every move. The pair meet again a few years later, but then Damon arrives at work and finds the suit guys brain-scanning his partner. The men work for the titular Bureau and make minor "adjustments" so that humanity follows "the Chairman's" plan for the world. Damon and Blunt must decide whether or not they are willing to sacrifice their dreams for love. The Adjustment Bureau can be heavy-handed in its treatment of the themes of fate and destiny, but in the end, the movie is about the choices we make. Damon and Blunt have excellent chemistry, and even though the chase scenes can go on too long, The Adjustment Bureau mixes genres successfully enough to leave most audiences satisfied. —Upohar Haroon
BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (PG-13) As a title, Battle: Los Angeles is the perfect summation of Hollywood's latest alien invasion fantasy. This is a war movie unconcerned with little things like plot or characterization. Oh sure, there's a general through-line (meteors land off the coast of Santa Monica, aliens arrive on shore and open a can of whoop-ass, U.S. Marines fight to rescue civilians and stay alive) and a few characters get some depth, most notably Aaron Eckhart's Marine Staff Sgt. Michael Nantz. But Battle: Los Angeles only aspires to be a loud, rocking combat film (think Independence Day meets Black Hawk Down), and on that score it's a blast. —Joe Bardi
CEDAR RAPIDS (R) Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) is a small-town insurance salesmen pressed by his superiors to represent his firm at an annual industry convention in the titular Midwestern city. Lippe's boss (the always funny Stephen Root) only has two directives for him: come back with the coveted Two Diamond Award and avoid at all costs some joker named Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly). This Ziegler chap is a real piece of work — loud, obnoxious, insulting, profane. Did I mention he loves to party? His zest for the celebration has him — along with fellow roommate Ronald (The Wire's Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) and the MILFy Joan (Anne Heche) — dragging an unwilling Lippe from hotel bar to gay wedding-crashing to late-night skinny-dipping in the indoor pool. Together, they're an unbeatable comic ensemble. Cedar Rapids is a low-key comedy that only flirts with the over-the-top gross-out humor so popular today. But by turning down the volume, the filmmakers have created something more genuine, and far more funny. —JB
HALL PASS (R) An air of "been there, done that" lingers over the entirety of Hall Pass. The premise — two men are given a pass by their wives to play outside the bonds of marriage for a week — feels tired and, in light of our narcissistic times, pretty lame and unprovocative. Owen Wilson and Jenna Fischer make for a cute married-with-children pair, comfortably in the same middle-class league with onscreen spouses Jason Sudeikis and Christina Applegate. Yes, Hall Pass is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, but the humor isn't born of character or circumstance or misunderstanding. Instead, the movie clumsily drags a series of moments strung along loosely by a gimmicky premise masquerading as plot. Unlike co-directors the Farrelly Brothers' better movies, Hall Pass never reaches a sustained unpredictability that would make its flaws easier to overlook. —Anthony Salveggi
RANGO (PG) Johnny Depp gives voice to the titular lizard who, through some crazy animated hijinks, ends up in an Old West town. Eventually, Rango meets a comely female lizard (voiced by Wedding Crashers' Isla Fisher) and a shadier character named Rattlesnake Jake (the great Bill Nighy), and the lonely little lizard must find a way to be the hero in this interesting spin on the Spaghetti Western. Rango is flawless from a technical standpoint: The animation is beautiful, the detail work outstanding, and the characters are unique and interesting. Sure, take a kid if it makes you feel better, but it's not a "kids' movie." It's an adult movie that's pretty enough to keep the young ones entertained, and should make for an interesting family outing. It may be a bit too dark for younger children (I wonder if little kids will like it at all), but anyone familiar with the work of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood will be grinning throughout. —Kevin Hopp
RED RIDING HOOD (PG-13) Realism takes a backseat in Red Riding Hood, a film that stars Amanda Seyfried as a resident of a town that is being terrorized by a big-ass CGI werebeast with the ability to talk. (Yes, really.) I get that, but I'm not sure why I expected better from the director that brought us Twilight. Then again, I'm not in the target demographic, as this thing is geared toward tween slumber parties where the girls want to pretend they're watching a scary movie, while really they're devoting two hours to getting all worked up over smirking douche-bag males. Who am I to interfere with the nation's teenage girls being programmed to think the hottest thing on earth is a passing stud-muffin who fills the air with the scent of Ye Olde Axe Body Spray? —Shannon Bennett
SANCTUM (R) With James Cameron listed as executive producer, the square-jawed, cartoonish machismo and casual sadism of Sanctum comes as little surprise. What is a surprise is that this lazily written, lifeless film was deemed worthy of theatrical release. A thoroughly rote, lackluster story with an unconvincing father-son conflict are front and center in this Australian production. The few scenes of claustrophobic suspense can't compensate for Sanctum's terrible line readings and Z-grade dialogue. Along with its shallow characterizations and juvenile, scatalogical humor, Sanctum dares to reach for emotional resonance. But the cheap spectacle of daddy and son working out their issues as they try to navigate "the mother of all caves" is offensive for its pandering. —AS
TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT (R) Dorky kid (Topher Grace) works in a video store, his high school crush (Teresa Palmer) comes around, boy drools and plots his grand move for the party of the century occurring that very night (of course). A crazy, off-the-cuff friend (Dan Fogler) gets involved. Hijinks ensues, including: too much alcohol, the boy fucking up his shot at the dream girl, the crazy friend doing crazy shit, cliched songs from a decade that needs to be laid to rest, etc. Take Me Home Tonight is a mediocre soundtrack with a terrible film playing in the background, and I didn't like any of it. —Rabid Nick Refer
UNKNOWN (PG-13) Liam Neeson stars as a man who wakes from a coma in a foreign country on to find another man (Adian Quinn) has assumed his identity and his wife (Mad Men's January Jones) is playing along. Unknown is very similar to Neeson's 2009 flick, Taken, though the plot of Unknown is much more complex, and the film is more thought-provoking for the audience. I enjoyed Unknown more, but is that really saying much? It's yet another "thrill ride" that depends solely on action and intensity as opposed to solid story structure and a sense of reality. —Anthony Allen
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2011.