'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
"Epic," a 3D computer-generated animation from Blue Sky Studios, known for the “Ice Age” series, is fast-paced without being too intense for young moviegoers and manages to be romantic without being treacly or suggestive.
"Oz the Great and the Powerful" clicked with moviegoers.
"Dead Man Down" _ Danish director Niels Arden Oplev makes his Hollywood debut, re-teaming with his "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" star Noomi Rapace in this lifeless thriller about two lost souls bent on vengeance. Colin Farrell plays a brooding gangster, Victor, who's infiltrated the brutal gang of Alphonse (a typically velvety Terrence Howard) to avenge the deaths of his wife and daughter. He's joined in revenge by Rapace's Beatrice, who spies him from across a neighboring high-rise and blackmails him into killing the drunk driver that crashed into her. Her left eye is surrounded by scars from the accident, and though her beauty is hardly marred, children throw rocks and shout "Monster!" at her. The film either can't stomach having its star actress appear actually maimed, or it's simply too lazy to make Beatrice's motivations plausible. But such things are common in the preposterous dialogue and haphazard plotting in the screenplay by J.H. Wyman ("Fringe"). There's some solid noir atmosphere, courtesy of cinematographer Paul Cameron, but the tension finally bursts as inelegantly as it was manufactured. With, oddly, Isabelle Huppert as Beatrice's ditzy mom. R for violence, language throughout and a scene of sexuality. 118 minutes. One star out of four.
Suspending disbelief is a part of watching most any action film, where bullets fly like birds and mayhem explodes as easily as a shaken soda can. But even in such a contrived movie world, it's asking far too much for us to accept that Noomi Rapace would be hounded as a "monster" for a little scaring around her left eye.
Highlights of Hollywood's 2013 schedule (release dates are subject to change):
Academy award-winning actor Russell Crowe has been reunited with his family, returning to Sydney and visiting the home of his estranged wife, Danielle Spencer, where his children live.
Liam Neeson's "Taken 2" has defended its box-office title with a narrow win over Ben Affleck's "Argo."
Writer-director Martin McDonagh ("In Bruges") wants to have his darkly comic cake and eat it too with "Seven Psychopaths," a gory bucket of blood that uses its postmodernist structure to hint at a deeper, counterintuitive meaning – maybe even a moral.
"Argo" _ A movie about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis probably doesn't sound like it would be a laugh riot _ or should be _ but that's just one of the many ways in which this is a glorious, gripping surprise. Directing his third feature, Ben Affleck has come up with a seamless blend of detailed international drama and breathtaking suspense, with just the right amount of dry humor to provide context and levity. He shows a deft handling of tone, especially in making difficult transitions between scenes in Tehran, Washington and Hollywood, but also gives one of his strongest performances yet in front of the camera as the film's star. It's exciting to see the confidence with which Affleck expands his ambition and scope as a filmmaker. "Argo" reveals his further mastery of pacing and storytelling, even as he juggles complicated set pieces, various locations and a cast featuring 120 speaking parts. And the story he's telling sounds impossible, but it's absolutely true (with a few third-act tweaks to magnify the drama). When protestors stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 people hostage, six employees sneaked out a back door and sought refuge at the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber). Longtime CIA operative Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a crazy scheme to rescue them: He'll fly to Tehran, pretend that they all entered the country together to scout locations for a schlocky sci-fi movie called "Argo," then walk right out the front door with them and fly home. Bryan Cranston, John Goodman and Alan Arkin are among the excellent supporting cast. R for language and some violent images. 120 minutes. Four stars out of four.
In his second movie, the Irish playwright Martin McDonagh has mangled together a comic, self-aware revenge flick that's half Guy Ritchie, half Charlie Kaufman.
"The Dark Knight Rises" topped the box office for the third week in a row, making $36.4 million this past weekend.
Colin Farrell replaces Arnold Schwarzenegger in the new version of "Total Recall," and the smug sense of campy meanness that made the original 1990 film feel so muscular and grotesque gives way to a vibe that's slick, shiny and deadly serious.
Colin Farrell replaces Arnold Schwarzenegger in the new version of "Total Recall," and the smug sense of campy meanness that made the original 1990 film feel so muscular and grotesque gives way to a vibe that's slick, shiny and deadly serious.
This weekend's Comic-Con has turned out to be an old-fashioned revival meeting. As in, revival of hobbits, Superman, the Lone Ranger, Godzilla, Captain Hook, Dracula, the Wizard of Oz, scores of undead zombies and a former California governor named Arnold.
This weekend's Comic-Con has turned out to be an old-fashioned revival meeting. As in, revival of hobbits, Superman, the Lone Ranger, Godzilla, Captain Hook, Dracula, the Wizard of Oz, scores of undead zombies and a former California governor named Arnold.
He also said the film is getting back on track to perform at its expected pace following the opening-night shooting in Aurora, Colo., that left 12 dead and 58 others injured.
"This is played a lot straighter," Farrell said. "What I'm saying is, I don't have one-liners."
