New this week
BIG MOMMAS LIKE FATHER LIKE SON (PG-13) Martin Lawrence dons a fat suit and a dress for the latest retread through Big Momma territory. This shit makes Madea look like Citizen Kane. (Not revewied)
I AM NUMBER 4 (PG-13) Speaking of shit, you can tell the studio knows they have a turd on their hands when they screen the film for critics the night before it opens. I Am Number 4 is being pushed as a big action flick with an IMAX release (no 3D, though), but our guess is that Number 4 is really just twice the number two. (Not reviewed)
OSCAR SHORTS Get a jump on next week’s Academy Awards show with this collection of Oscar-nominated short films opening Friday at the Tampa Theatre. Pick your favorite, the tune in next Sunday and seethe with rage when it loses. Check tampatheatre.org for more info and showtimes.
UNKNOWN (PG-13) The ads are pitching Unknown as “Taken meets The Bourne Identity,” with Liam Neeson starring as a man who wakes up after a car accident to find his wife (January Jones) no longer remembers him and some other dude (Aidan Quinn) has stolen his identity. Hitchcock used to toss off films like Unknown in his sleep, but can this movie possibly come close to the work of The Master of Suspense? Check out Anthony Allen’s review online at dailyloafblog.com to find out.
Recent releases
BIUTIFUL (R) Javier Bardem plays Uxbal, a tangential player in Barcelona’s criminal underworld, who works as a middleman between the owners of a Chinese sweatshop, their quasi-slave labor and the cops. Watching Biutiful I was reminded of American films of the early 1970s set in New York City. Through it all is Javier Bardem, who delivers a vivid and heartbreaking performance. It’s so good that I kind of wish I hadn’t seen it. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu enjoys complex narratives (à la Babel), and here he tells a long (nearly two-and-a-half-hour) sordid tale that touches on crime, poverty, parenting, mental illness and even the supernatural. It all adds up to a crushing film experience, one I’m not sure many moviegoers are going to be willing to endure. —Joe Bardi
BLACK SWAN (R) Natalie Portman stars as a ballerina who lands the lead in a modern adaptation of Swan Lake in this engaging psychological thriller from director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler). Vincent Cassel is also on hand as the ballet director of mysterious intent, and Mila Kunis floats around the edges of the film as a competing dancer who might just want the lead role all to herself. Those supporting performances are good, but it’s Portman who steals the show, convincingly pulling off the dancing while vividly bringing to life a deep (and deeply troubled) young woman. In the end, Black Swan is a dark movie that left me thinking more of Hitchcock’s Psycho than of any showbiz drama. —JB
BLUE VALENTINE (R) Blue Valentine follows Dean and Cindy (Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams) at two different points in their relationship, as they first fall in love and then years later after the marriage has turned miserable. The plot contrivance works to show how much the couple has changed, and how the goofy chemistry they once shared has turned into unbearable tension. The actors make the most of this dual structure, not only manipulating themselves physically to look like they have aged, but also maturing their mannerisms along the way. Williams, who’s been nominated for an Oscar for her performance, makes these difficult transitions seem effortless. It’s hard to recommend a painful film like Blue Valentine, but thinking about the film a month after I’ve seen it, the beautiful honesty outweighs the emotional brutality. —Anthony Nicholas
THE FIGHTER (R) Called “the greatest boxing film ever” by Sports Illustrated, director David O. Russell’s The Fighter depicts the rough-and-tumble story of boxers/brothers Dicky Eklund and Micky Ward. However, the story set in Lowell, Massachusetts in the 1990s, is about much more than boxing. Consistently intense and dynamic, the first half of The Fighter centers around Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale), who is still boasting about his match with Sugar Ray Leonard as his life slowly disintegrates due to his inability to stop smoking crack. The second half is centered around Ward’s (played by Mark Wahlberg) improbable run as the junior welterweight champion. Anchoring the film are the women in the cast, especially Melissa Leo, who gives an indelible performance as the mother of the boxing brothers. —Mitch Perry
GNOMEO & JULIET (G) A 3D animated, candy-colored mess. Gnomeo & Juliet is pretty to look at, and so eager to please the viewer with its energy and visual splendor, that it overlooks the need to tell a coherent, engaging story. The film’s screenplay is credited to seven writers and they have little to show for their collective effort. Though I should probably qualify that by saying your appreciation for the movie may depend on how irresistibly cute and funny you find the concept of garden gnomes participating in lawnmower races and falling in love. Despite its brief running time, Gnomeo & Juliet will be an ordeal for all but the most undiscerning viewers. —Anthony Salveggi
THE GREEN HORNET (PG-13) Seth Rogen stars as Britt Reid, a man whose wealthy father (Tom Wilkinson) croaks and leaves him a newspaper empire. Reid meets his father’s mechanic, Kato (Jay Chao), a martial arts expert and a mechanical genius, and the pair bond by stopping a mugging. Things go well enough that they decide to become superheroes, and the rest of the movie is concerned with their clash with a crime kingpin (Inglourious Basterds‘ Christoph Waltz) and blowing up a lot of stuff. Sound cheesy? You’re right. Hornet is less Iron Man, more Rush Hour, and though it may not be for everyone, I rather enjoyed it. It’s a little silly and a lot of fun. —Kevin Hopp
THE ILLUSIONIST (PG) The latest animated film by acclaimed director Sylvain Chomet, The Illusionist takes place in a melancholy Edinburgh populated by aging vaudevillian performers trying to stay alive in a fast-changing modern world. We center on Tatischeff, an old-school magician finding it harder to book gigs, who finds temporary work in a seaside town in where he befriends an orphan girl who believes his magic is real. Chomet is working with an abandoned screenplay by one of cinema’s greatest comic directors, Jacques Tati. The Illusionist is a profoundly sad film — but one that goes down surprisingly easily. There are light comic touches everywhere and an adorable little love story tucked in the middle. Like Chomet’s previous film, 2003’s The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist functions as a silent film, with a world of character development portrayed through simple gestures and body language. It’s cinema in its purest form. —AN
JUST GO WITH IT (PG-13) If you caught any Super Bowl coverage, you no doubt saw Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston pimping this insipid-looking comedy about a guy who pretends his assistant’s kids are his own in an effort to impress a big-titted hottie (Brooklyn Decker, filling her role nicely). My eyes bleed from the preview alone. (Not reviewed) —JB
JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER (PG) Part documentary, part snazzy 3D concert film, Never Say Never does for Justin Bieber what Riefenstahl did for the Nazis. The documentary portions of the film are actually quite engaging, and the concert footage interspersed throughout is not tragically grating. Justin Bieber is uber-talented, a seemingly good kid and a decent-looking teenage lesbian, and Never Say Never is a fun little snapshot of him, one that offers more proof that he’s got the goods. But be warned: This film makes it clear that Justin is going to continue to use his super-powers for world domination. I, for one, am openly embracing my future middle school girl overlords while I can. —Rabid Nick Refer
THE KING’S SPEECH (R) Do believe the hype: Colin Firth’s exquisitely detailed performance as King George VI, the reluctant monarch with the persistent stammer, deserved its Golden Globe and deserves an Oscar. Geoffrey Rush gets a little too twinkly at times as the unorthodox speech therapist who challenges the king to overcome his speech defect, but the intellectual (and sometimes visceral) sparring matches between the two are a pleasure to watch. —David Warner
THE MECHANIC (R) Jason Statham, Ben Foster and Donald Sutherland star in a movie that has action, some gore and plenty of frozen facial expressions. Statham plays Bishop, a high-end assassin scrambling to fill his work schedule. When one job gets too personal, Bishop’s conscience bothers him into taking on a reckless apprentice, played by Ben Foster (The Messenger). If you’re thinking The Mechanic looks like The Transporter, another Statham action yarn, let me assure you that you’re way off — there’s no driving in this movie. Statham looks stern throughout as he sleepwalks through uninspired action scenes that soon blend together. Overall, The Mechanic isn’t an awful movie, just one that’s been done before … three times, in fact, for the Transporter series. —KH
NO STRINGS ATTACHED (R) Emma (Natalie Portman) is funny and sad but refuses to acknowledge her sadness. Adam (Ashton Kutcher) is freakishly happy and fairly normal. Boy meets girl, girl has sex with boy and that keeps happening for a while. I won’t spoil the ending, but you already know the rest of the story. If 27 Dresses and Knocked Up had a lovechild, it would be No Strings Attached. It’s not groundbreaking or profound, but it is entertaining and cute. —Amanda Allwood
THE RITE (R) A young priest with daddy issues (Colin O’Donoghue) finds his path in the seminary, only to have his lack of faith keep causing him grief. He eventually goes to see Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins) to lend a hand with exorcisms. In the end, he must find his faith before something really bad happens. Overall, The Rite is the same old exorcism thing with nothing new brought to the table. (Though Hopkins does chew the scenery in admirable fashion.) If you have to see it, wait until you have a free movie rental. —KH
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, an obviously tacked-on element in a film that should have gone straight to DVD. —AS
TRUE GRIT (R) With its beautiful landscapes, well-captured action scenes and sparing use of cuts, True Grit has the feel of a classic Western, captured anew by the Coen Brothers. All of the actors have some serious shoes to fill — the original starred John Wayne — but Jeff Bridges steps up and delivers a great performance as the aging U.S. Marshall who’s still as tough as nails. The surprise here is young Hailee Steinfeld, whose strength of character mixed with sadness over her deceased father is very well-portrayed. Western fans will love True Grit. This is a cold, tough movie with true grit all its own. —KH
This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2011.
