Genre: Drama, Musical, Romance

Year: 2010

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Cher, Christina Aguilera, Eric Dane, Cam Gigandet, Julianne Hough

Director: Steve Antin

My Review: Cher, Christina Aguilera, Stanley Tucci and others in a glamorous, bumpkin turned showbiz star story. Ali (Christina Aguilera) says 'See Ya!' to her hay seed home in Iowa. She makes her way to hollywood with stars in her eyes. Attempting to make her way onto stage, she stumbles upon a 'Burlesque' club. The last best review of theater, dance and vaudeville performance in L.A. The club's owners (Cher and Peter Gallagher) are struggling to make those never ending payments, and the girls are engaged in bitter rivalry to stay at the top of the heap. When Tess (Cher) hears Ali's voice, things begin to change. A soaring career is found, and this little known review becomes the talk of the town. The production was mixed; with great musical numbers, but poor character direction. Some scenes were downright painful, and others felt more like a modern musical video than a 'Burlesque' review. The acting could have been better, and Cher's talent was clearly restrained against Christina Aguilera's. The writing wasn't the best, and the negative focus on 'lip syncing' backfires when it's clearly evident that post-production lip syncing was clearly used on all of Aguilera's tracks. I must admit, I liked the sexy, sassy, musical aspects of this movie, but found it lacking in production and acting (Christina Aguilera's debut film role - so we'll cut her some slack). If this movie had been less derivative and more original, we could overlook the other problems. I liked it, but there are many other movies more deserving of the Klieg light. I give it a 3 out of 5.

Summary: The Burlesque Lounge has its best days behind it. Tess, a retired dancer and owner of the venue, struggles to keep the aging theater alive, facing all kinds of financial and artistic challenges. With the Lounge's troupe members becoming increasingly distracted by personal problems and a threat coming from a wealthy businessman's quest to buy the spot from Tess, the good fortune seems to have abandoned the club altogether. Meanwhile, the life of Ali, a small-town girl from Iowa, is about to change dramatically. Hired by Tess as a waitress at the Lounge, Ali escapes a hollow past and quickly falls in love with the art of burlesque. Backed by newfound friends amongst the theater's crew, she manages to fulfill her dreams of being on stage herself. Things take a dramatic turn though when Ali's big voice makes her become the main attraction of the revue.

Genre: Biography, Comedy, Crime, Drama

Year: 2010

Country: Canada

Rating:

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Ruth Marshall, Graham Greene, Hannah Endicott-Douglas, Barry Pepper

Director: George Hickenlooper

My Review: Kevin Spacey's performance in this movie is the only saving grace. If you try to follow the plot, you'll be sadly disappointed. Based on the real-life events of Jack Abramoff's story, here we see Kevin Spacey (as Jack Abramoff) and Barry Pepper (as Michael Scanlon) swindle their way into the pockets of wealthy clients and scam their way into all sorts of illegal schemes. In this dramatic portrayal, it's hard to imagine anyone making Jack Abramoff look like a loving family man. Unfortunately, the writing here goes a bit too far in that regard. History has already written the last page on Abramoff's infamous, self-serving, greedy, legacy. Trying to portray him as a devout, religious, family man made my stomach turn. While lobbyists are one of America's favorite boogeyman, the writing tried it's best to shine a softer light on one of the greatest swindlers of the 20th century. In this movie, the pair are portrayed as jet-setting playboys, living high on the hog of their own personality cult. When their house of cards begins to collapse, the political enemies prove to Jack that politicians are far more powerful than any white collar criminal. This movie misses many of the documented abuses of Abramoff and company, but the performances were outstanding. Kevin Spacey and Barry Pepper were clearly at the top of their game, and Jon Lovitz added a good degree of comic relief. The direction could have been better, and the story lines a bit too diverse to keep the viewer engrossed. Entertaining when one divorces truth from the slightly over the top performances. 3 out of 5.

Summary: A hot shot Washington DC lobbyist and his protégé go down hard as their schemes to peddle influence lead to corruption and murder.

Genre: Crime, Drama

Year: 1998

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Ray Liotta, Anthony LaPaglia, Daniel Baldwin, Jeremy Piven, Royce D. Applegate

Director: Danny Cannon

My Review: Ray Liotta stars opposite some border b-grade actors. Playing Harry Collins a bad cop in the Phoenix police department, Ray Liotta is one of a corrupt core that makes up the department. The cliches here are a bit too many. The corrupt cops are all back-stabbing, wife stealing thugs devoid of real-values. Content to abuse their position; they lie, cheat, steal and ultimately kill to satisfy their twisted personal credos. While Ray Liotta was excellent in this role, the supporting cast exceeded my expectations given their b-roll credits. The casting and character direction was well done (if a bit cliche). The story is a dark spiral of bad cops gone wrong. Ray Liotta plays Harry Collins a cop with a gambling habit, when his losses overtake his common sense he finds himself indebted to a bookie with painful plans for Harry person. He cooks up various schemes as ways out of this predicament, but Harry's bad luck can't be shaken. The level of violence exceeded my tolerance threshold, but the well crafted visuals fit perfectly into the dark themes of this movie. Excellent editing, direction and witty Tarantino'esque dialogue, matched to a dark and violent setting. 3 out of 5.

Summary: In Phoenix, Arizona, all is not well at the local police station as some of the colleagues are not good of heart. Superstitious cop Harry Collins is on the take. He a compulsive gambler who is forced to plan a heist with fellow cops Mike, James, and Fred to rip off local pimp and overall bad guy, Louie, to pay off gambling debts run up with "bookie" Chicago.

Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime

Year: 2011

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson, Christoph Waltz

Director: Michel Gondry

My Review: Casting Seth Rogen as 'the Green Hornet' was a mistake, and comedy doesn't work with the Green Hornet themes. The screen play was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (co-writer of Superbad). It felt far too much like a Saturday Night Live skit. The camera work and editing was excellent. The direction great, but the screen play/story made me cringe. The flippant approach to crime-fighting and the death of his father made the Britt Reid character utterly unlikeable. The Kato character was wasted on this Green Lantern. The acting of Jay Chou felt restrained and intentionally low-key next to the bumbling scene stealing character/actor Seth Rogen. The best part of this movie was the slick production, excellent editing and direction by Michel Gondry. Unfortunately, the comedic handling didn't help this movie. I don't dislike Seth Rogen, but this movie doesn't advance his career as we've already seen the funny man schtick. Cameron Diaz was horribly miscast in this movie. The character she played was far too young for her, and the acting?… This super-hero, comedy, bromance rates 2 out of 5. I didn't like it.

Summary: Playboy Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) becomes the new publisher of Los Angeles' "The Daily Sentinel" after the sudden death of his father. Britt's party life is about to change when he and his driver and kung fu expert, Kato (Jay Chou), stop a robbery. With the help of Kato, Britt starts a new career of fighting crime as the masked superhero "The Green Hornet".

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Mystery

Year: 2010

Country: Germany

Rating:

Starring: Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, David Warner, Carice van Houten, Kimberley Nixon

Director: Christopher Smith

My Review: This movie is set in medieval England (mid 1300s) during a bubonic plague outbreak. Sean Bean stars as Ulric, a knight charges with the holy task of routing out the evil suspected to inhabit a remote village spared the ravages of the plague. Ulric and his entourage journey to the remote village, picking up the young monk Osmund (played by Eddie Redmayne) along the way. As they travel to the village, some character development occurs - about ten minutes worth. Once they arrive in the village, they're welcomed with open arms, drugged, tortured. It's a turnabout plot where the inquisitors are the ones tortured. Deception on both sides results in deadly consequences. The writing was well done, as was the camera work. The acting was o.k. but the dialog wasn't period. Some aspects of the movie - casting both parties (Holy knights and Godless villagers) as villains, and some rather explicit scenes of torture and battle, made for a rather dark mood and depressing feel throughout. I give it a 3 out of 5 for the writing, which didn't reduce this movie to a cgi-enhanced action movie with a setting.

Summary: Set during the time of the first outbreak of bubonic plague in England, a young monk is tasked with learning the truth about reports of people being brought back to life, a mission that pulls him toward a village ruler who has made a dark pact with evil forces.

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama

Year: 1967

Country: Japan

Rating:

Starring: Jô Shishido, Kôji Nanbara, Isao Tamagawa, Anne Mari, Mariko Ogawa

Director: Seijun Suzuki

My Review: The number 3 ranked hit man in Japan has a fetish. He gets off by sniffing boiling rice, followed by aggressive lovemaking. Just one of the quirky twists that makes this otherwise mundane yakuza movie into something of a cult classic. Filmed in the late 60s (shot in b&w), this Shagadelic movie had lots of style, a pace that helped immensely and a director with vision and the balls to pull it off. Hanada Goro has missed his mark. Hired by a death-obsessed mysterious woman, he botches a job and finds himself hounded by other assassins. On the run for his life; former employers, lovers and the mysterious number 1 are all out to kill him. The acid jazz soundtrack was an excellent companion to this off-center, stylish, surreal, dark-noir movie. I give it a 4 out of 5.

Summary: The number-three-ranked hit-man, with a fetish for sniffing boiling rice, fumbles his latest job, which puts him into conflict with a mysterious woman whose death wish inspires her to surround herself with dead butterflies and dead birds. Worse danger comes from his own treacherous wife and finally with the number-one-ranked hit-man, known only as a phantom to those who fear his unseen presence.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Year: 2010

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Nick Stahl, Rachel Nichols, Kellan Lutz, Jonathan Tucker, Grace Gummer

Director: Josh Sternfeld

My Review: A crime drama set in backwater community nestled among the Catskills, this slow paced drama provides a excellent opportunity for some new talent to tackle some mature roles. The casting was young, upcoming actors (Nick Stahl, Kellan Lutz, Rachel Nichols, Norman Reedus, Jonathon Tucker, Grace Gummer). Written and directed by Josh Sternfeld, the plot is a rather straightforward crime drama with more emphasis on personal relationships, consequences and loyalties than violence, action or avarice. A young boy is murdered during a bungled burglary, and the clues lead back to Noah Cordin's home town. Can this small-town detective manage to keep the small-town community from being destroyed by this tragic death? Can he navigate the relationships and loyalties of residents in his hometown? Quite good, shows much promise for actors and the writer/directory. I thought the ending was quite good (despite the criticism of others). I give it a 3 out of 5.

Summary: Small-town detective Noah Cordin is called to solve a juvenile homicide that occurred during a home burglary in his affluent town of Hilliard. The dead boy's mother, Allison Connor, is a member of the Meskada County Board of Commissioners, and a powerful woman in Hilliard; and the entire township rallies together in solidarity - to support her and Detective Cordin's efforts to find the killers.

Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller

Year: 2011

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Tony Goldwyn, Donald Sutherland, Jeff Chase

Director: Simon West

My Review: A remake of the 70s classic thriller starring Charles Bronson. This time around, Jason Statham plays Arthur Bishop, Donald Sutherland plays the mentor, and Ben Foster plays the apprentice. When Arthur Bishop's mentor is murdered, the hit man trains the mans son to become a professional hit man. Together they hunt down the man responsible for Harry's death. The plot has one twist on the original, but that doesn't make this a better movie. The movie is pretty good; up until the last thirty minutes, when it turns into an unravelling action movie. Leaving plot threads twisted, broken and discarded. This Mechanic doesn't improve on the original, but Jason Statham's acting moves a notch above the wooden and stoic Bronson. I give this one a 3 out of 5 (tying the original)

Summary: Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a 'mechanic' - an elite assassin with a strict code and unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets. It's a job that requires professional perfection and total detachment, and Bishop is the best in the business. But when his mentor and close friend Harry (Donald Sutherland) is murdered, Bishop is anything but detached. His next assignment is self-imposed - he wants those responsible dead. His mission grows complicated when Harry's son Steve (Ben Foster) approaches him with the same vengeful goal and a determination to learn Bishop's trade. Bishop has always acted alone but he can't turn his back on Harry's son. A methodical hit man takes an impulsive student deep into his world and a deadly partnership is born. But while in pursuit of their ultimate mark, deceptions threaten to surface and those hired to fix problems become problems themselves.

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Year: 2010

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Hayden Christensen, John Leguizamo, Thandie Newton, Jacob Latimore, Taylor Groothuis

Director: Brad Anderson

My Review: With a unoriginal beginning and a preposterous plot, this story falls flat a few feet from the gate. Never getting of the ground, the only thing it's got going for it is production value. When an unexplained power outage is followed by shortening days and murderous shadows, the story leaves you wondering wtf is going on? This movie feels like '28 Days Later' meets a Stephen King short story. The acting is weak; led by a junior cast, the only veteran is John Leguizamo. Unfortunately, his casting didn't feel right and the role had little impact. This thriller lacks impact and the story went nowhere. I don't know what happened with the writing, but no one finished this story. A little bit horror, a little bit thriller, a little bit mystery, a little bit of plot. Little by little, this movie failed to impress. Watch the previews and you'll get all you need to know. I give it 2 of 5.

Summary: When a massive power outage plunges the city of Detroit into total darkness, a disparate group of individuals find themselves alone. The entire city's population has vanished into thin air, leaving behind heaps of empty clothing, abandoned cars and lengthening shadows. Soon the daylight begins to disappear completely, and as the survivors gather in an abandoned tavern, they realize the darkness is out to get them, and only their rapidly diminishing light sources can keep them safe.

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Western

Year: 1992

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Val Kilmer, Sam Shepard, Graham Greene, Fred Ward, Fred Dalton Thompson

Director: Michael Apted

My Review: A murder mystery set on an American Indian reservation. The photography and location was excellent. The plot pretty good. The acting not so hot, but the efforts by the cast raises this mediocre movie above the fold. The story keeps moving, evolving and challenges the viewer. Val Kilmer (who is reportedly of Cherokee descent) plays an FBI agent with Sioux blood. He's sent into a Badlands (South Dakota) reservation to help investigate some mysterious murders and a possible uprising from within the Sioux Nation. Set in the 70s, this movie has political overtones, loosely connects with historical events, and brings the viewer in with it's fantastic locations and the heartfelt efforts of various American Indian actors. Val Kilmer's acting wasn't the best, but it worked well against the rest of the cast. The depictions of American Indian culture and life on a reservation were well done, and respectfully handled. The characters were well developed and the pacing was perfectly handled. Michael Apted's direction was excellent. I give this movie a 4 out of 5.

Summary: An FBI man with Sioux background is sent to a reservation to help with a murder investigation, where he has to come to terms with his heritage. Slowly he rejects the intimidating tactics of his fellow FBI agents, who are not so interested in solving the crime as covering up an incriminating situation with the locals, and as he becomes more tuned to his heritage, the locals begin trusting him. Based on actual Reservation occurrences of the '70s.