RED

title: RED
year: 2010
cast: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren
rating: ***

For anyone who says there's too much over-the-top, unrealistic action involving characters more like superheroes than humans, another can say, "But this is a comedy satirizing bombastic action films." And for those who say it isn't very funny, a response could be, "But it kicks ass." Well it does kick ass, but the characters are introduced as if we already know them: giving the feel of an anticipated sequel with people who already earned their stature, so there's not much development. Bruce Willis is good doing his usual, but he's hindered by love interest Mary-Louise Parker, playing the reluctant "I can't believe I'm in this situation" love-interest to an exasperatingly annoying level. John Malkovich, channeling Murdoch from THE A-TEAM, tries too hard as the comic relief; Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren are way too endearing; Karl Urban makes a fine antagonist, but an old pudgy Richard Dreyfuss is misplaced as the main villain. And although there are terrific moments within, the entirety doesn't always gel: feeling like a spectacular highlights show of a big game... Yet the plays that work, do work well.

KNIGHT AND DAY

title: KNIGHT AND DAY

year: 2010

cast: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz

rating: ***

It seems America is sick of Tom Cruise, which may be the reason for the disappointing returns of this over-the-top team-up involving rogue ex-CIA Cruise helping the "girl next door," Cameron Diaz, survive attacks from trains, planes, and automobiles. But the movie itself isn't altogether bad, and being a satire of high-octane thrillers, delivering too much action with characters surviving too many close-calls than humanly possible, it works despite itself: on purpose. Cameron Diaz never quite knows if her knight is on the right side, and either does the audience: except that it's Tom Cruise, who's always (excluding TAPS and COLLATERAL) gonna win. And while the turnout is predictable, the twists in-between are still a fresh surprise.

THE PRINCESS BRIDE

title: THE PRINCESS BRIDE

year: 1987

cast: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn

rating: ****

One of the most enjoyable, and quotable, films of all time, this thoroughly addictive fantasy seems real even though... as read by grandfather to grandson... we know - and are sporadically reminded - it's make-believe, making the two main character's plight... young lovers Cary Elwes and Robin Wright separated by her impending royal wedding... endearing without being corny. Directed by Rob Reiner and written by William Goldman, there are no filler roles: Mandy Patinkin as a Spanish sword fighter seeking revenge on his father's killer; Wallace Shawn as a short, bullying kidnapper; Chris Sarandon as the haughty villain; and Andre the Giant as a lovable but dangerous lug are equally important in this timeless classic.

BREEZY

title: BREEZY

year: 1973

cast: William Holden, Kay Lenz

director: Clint Eastwood

rating: *1/2

Not sure what’s more unrealistic: a teenage hippie girl instantly falling for an old William Holden, who doesn't resemble his younger self… or even a distinguished version of how he once looked. Or the initial reluctance of Holden to accept this ever-willing free-spirited babe into his house and heart. Directed by Clint Eastwood without any signature style, save for wide-angle landscapes reminiscent of his first directed project, the entertaining PLAY MISTY FOR ME: polar opposite of this pointless male-fantasy melodrama. Kay Lenz, as the title character, looks too old for a teen and William Holden seems far past a midlife crisis. Eastwood himself would have fit better in the role. But the dull script, a breezy ride without any drive, is the real problem.

JUMANJI

title: JUMANJI
year: 1995
cast: Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, Jonathan Hyde, Bonnie Hunt, Bradley Pierce
rating: ***1/2

Completely entertaining kid's flick (that adults can enjoy) about a board game bringing safari animals to life: first pillaging a mansion and then a small town: including lunatic monkeys (liken to the protagonists in GREMINS), bats, mosquitos, rhinos, elephants, and a lion. The special effects, right after JURRASIC PARK's CGI paved the way… are manned by Speilberg student Joe Johnston, directing Robin Williams as a grown-up who, when younger, was sucked into the board game: this where the movie begins. Williams joins two present day kids to finish the game – each move bringing more and more animals, and one lethal hunter, into frantic reality. The pace never lets up, but there are essential pockets of downtime to build the characters: investing you in their, and the game's, outcome.

TEMPEST

title: TEMPEST

year: 1981

cast: John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Molly Ringwald, Susan Sarandon, Raul Julia, Paul Stewart, Sam Robards

rating: ***1/2

“Show me,” says John Cassavete’s intensely desperate character each time a tempest brews: once in New York, where he’s married to Gena Rowlands; the next on a tiny Greek island he lords over with frustrated daughter Molly Ringwald, sexy girlfriend Susan Sarandon, and horny goat herder Raul Julia. The best aspects of this unique dark comedy are how the time-frames are edited together, beginning with Cassavetes on his island; then going back in time to New York where he, as a frustrated Architect, desperately needs a getaway: creatively sustaining past and present till the mainline story connects. The direction by Paul Mazursky can be self absorbed, but in a film centering on a control freak's drive for personal freedom, it all fits. And one particular scene, as an angry Cassavetes storms after Raul Julia for making a pass at his daughter… cutting to a montage of both characters initially bonding… is, like much of the film, a sublime marriage of editor and director.

HEARTBEEPS

title: HEARTBEEPS
year: 1981
cast: Andy Kaufman, Bernadette Peters, Randy Quaid, Christopher Guest
rating: ***

For a movie Andy Kaufman publicly (on David Letterman) apologized for, it isn't so horrible. Two human-like robots, Kaufman and Bernadette Peters, are propped in a back warehouse with a big window. Both stare out at the sunset and want to venture into the forest. On their journey is a comedian robot telling purposefully bad jokes and a tiny cute robot (voiced by Jerry Garcia's guitar) with tractor wheels: much like "Short Circuit" and "Wall-E" years later. The adventure is laidback and has some fun moments. And with a frightening renegade police robot... inspiring two more latter films, "Robocop" and "Chopping Mall"... on their tail: there's even some suspense. Well okay, it's not a great movie, but if you turn off your brain it might just work.

GALAXY QUEST

title: GALAXY QUEST
year: 1999
cast: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell, Tony Shaloub
rating: ***1/2

What really works in this, a fast-paced comedy depicting the cast of a fictional Star Trek-like TV series, "Galaxy Quest"... whose unemployed veterans go from an autograph show into a real life outer space battle... is the last half exceeds the clever premise (borrowed from "The Three Amigos") that puts you headlong in the adventure with terrific CGI special effects that never get tiresome. The nonstop action doesn't take away from the characters: Tim Allen in the William Shatner role... although his famous overacting's filtered into the Spock/McCoy grump, Alan Rickman. Sigourney Weaver is also good but a frantic Sam Rockwell, as the other (unnamed) crewman who will always die on the series, steals the show. And a side-plot involving a geeky fanboy back on earth, aiding his mentors from his home computer, is a terrific, and essential, bonus.

99 RIVER STREET

title: 99 RIVER STREET
year: 1953
cast: John Payne, Brad Dexter
rating: ****

Excellent Film Noir bookended by two boxing matches: one in the ring, one in a shipyard. In-between is a mazy tale of defeated slugger/cabbie John Payne, troubled by his beautiful cheating wife and then tricked by another beautiful "dame," a would-be actress proving her worth on stage in a clever scene with a big twist. But Payne's got more than woman trouble with niche heavies Brad Dexter and Jack Lambert on his trail: not to mention the law for both a murder he didn't commit and a perfectly-landed punch. The pace doesn't falter and the camerawork's topnotch. And the finale fist fight at a murky shipyard, as Payne flashes back to his fighting days, is a standout.

BREAKING AWAY

title: BREAKING AWAY

year: 1979

cast: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley, Paul Dooley, Daniel Stern, Hart Bochner, P.J. Soles
director: Peter Yates

rating: ****

Feel-good classic about teens from the poor side of the tracks, this one distinguished by a confidently upbeat, quirky main character who, while pretending to be Italian, longs to race bicycles with Italy's visiting team. When not peddling around town, Dennis Chrisopher hangs with local slackers Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley, and Daniel Stern, known as "Cutters" and demeaned by rich kids at the local university. The bicycling scenes are wonderfully shot by action director Peter Yates, and although the class envy gets tiresome, and Christopher's relationship with his parents seems a bit cartoonish, as the big race between the locals and students approaches, each character contributes equally to a fantastic (though predictable) conclusion.

THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE

title: THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE

year: 1973

cast: Robert Mitchum, Steven Keats, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan, Mitch Ryan

director: Peter Yates

rating: ****1/2

Several stories build at once: A group of kidnapping bank robbers led by Alex Rocco; Steven Keats as an intensely cautious gun dealer working from his car; Robert Mitchum as Eddie Coyle, quelled by an impending court date with a peripheral knowledge of everything; and Peter Boyle as a bartender thug corresponding with Richard Jordan, a wily cop nudging Coyle to rat his "friends." Mitchum, as the world-weary convict (also a family man), is top-notch. As the walls close in, his expressions alone, mixing maverick-cool and doomed fear... and director Peter Yate's ability to juggle each connected story with sublime precision... makes for one of the great crime gems of the seventies, more ensemble than star-driven.

TRUE GRIT (2010)

title: TRUE GRIT
year: 2010
cast: Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin
rating: *

The Coen Brothers claim this is not a remake, but rather, a brand new vehicle more faithful to the source novel. But with the exception of a few scenes, it's a pale imitation of the John Wayne classic. The plot has an assertive fourteen-year old girl who, in order to track her father's killer, hires a violent U.S. Marshall, Rooster Cogburn. The entire first act, setting up the three leads... also including Matt Damon as an uptight Texas Ranger with aims of his own... never settles into any worthwhile communication. By the time the search is underway, we hardly know the characters: each at odds but without seeming genuinely motivated. The villains are an afterthought, and antihero Jeff Bridges, as the legendary tough guy, is more a sloppy town drunk slurring tales that, if visualized (and comprehended), might make a more interesting film. At attempting to make an arthouse Western, the Coens failed twice: it's not intelligent nor involving or exciting. And the beautiful scenery feels condensed and wasted throughout.

YOU DON'T KNOW JACK

title: YOU DON'T KNOW JACK
year: 2010
cast: Al Pacino, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Brenda Vaccaro
rating: **

Although parts of this biopic of Jack Kevorkian are interesting, it's as dull as any propaganda can be. Al Pacino looks, and sounds, the part: but in playing a famous (or infamous) person the director's obviously praising, it's more a one-note impersonation than reality. The good guys, including Jack and his cohorts, are proud, enlightened and flawless; while the bad guys aren't the big stalking media who named him "Doctor Death," but a small fraction of over-the-top Christians. The direction by Barry Levinson flows decently enough, but the story of a man this controversial needs balance to work.

THE IN-LAWS

title: THE IN-LAWS

year: 1979

cast: Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Penny Peyser, Michael Lembeck

rating: **

Peter Falk and wife have dinner with their son's future in-laws, including Alan Arkin, an average-guy dentist who's stunned as Falk lies through his teeth. Seeing these two unique actors mix and mismatch is wonderful. If the entire film, which quickly becomes a zany adventure involving espionage within a third world country, remained on this extremely odd couple putting up with each other instead of battling thugs (which any actors could do), it might have been something. Although one scene involving flying bullets and the word "serpentine" is hilarious, most of the action/chase scenes are typical and monotonous, taking away from the personalities within.

GROWN UPS

title: GROWN UPS

year: 2010

cast: Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Chris Rock

rating: *1/2

The problem with this horrendous Adam Sander (and friends) comedy isn't the plot, a BIG CHILL clone about a group of grown ups spending a rural weekend in honor of their recently departed basketball coach: a prime mentor during the good old days when they played boardgames and hung around outdoors, something their kids, all video game addicts, find boring... It's the terrible one-liners, choppy editing, and the way in which, like many of Sandler's lesser films, the ensemble cast (Adam's usual cronies) are having more fun than the audience.

BEAUTIFUL GIRLS

title: BEAUTIFUL GIRLS
year: 1996
cast: Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Michael Rapaport, Uma Thurman, Noah Emmerich, Natalie Portman
rating: ****

Timothy Hutton, back in a role worthy of his talents, is an undefined city-dwelling piano player in his late twenties, returning to his small town and quickly getting back into the swing of things: consisting of drinking and hanging-out with old pals Matt Dillon, who's having an affair with a married woman; Noah Emmerich, a faithful dad and husband; and scene-stealer Michael Rapaport, who not only refuses to grow up but has a theory: the fantasy of the perfect woman (aka supermodels) exceeds the promise of true love. Uma Thurman plays the quintessential beautiful girl who, along with a cute, intelligent thirteen year old neighbor Natalie Portman, helps Hutton not only realize what life and love are about: but if they can be one in the same. Funny without being silly; serious without pretentiousness... this is the epitome of an "uplifting" movie where every character shines.

INCEPTION

title: INCEPTION

year: 2010

cast: Leonardo DiCaprio

rating: **

The premise of entering another person's dreams is intriguing enough, as are scenes where Leonardo DiCaprio explains, often visually with applied mind-trip tours, how the whole thing works. But a confusing plot (or plots) and overlong action scenes distract from the essential element of dreams and inception, as do detours about Leo's dead wife which, after a while, becomes the entire film: leaving the other characters... fellow dream-teamers, clients and villains... in the dust. Director Christopher Nolan loves his dialog, but (like always) uses way too much of it. Perhaps a YOU ARE HERE red dot would help what becomes information overload after a while.

VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER

title: VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER
year: 2010
cast: Georgie Henley
rating: **

Sadly, the most action-packed of the C.S. Lewis Narnia books is a boring film as the titular DAWN TREADER... a gallant sea vessel with King Caspian, Lucy, Edmund, an annoyingly miscast Eustace Scrubb and a crew of humans and creatures we never really care about... sails from one bland island to the next. What are they searching for? It's never quite clear. Either is any particular villain. With the exception of a whispering green mist, there's nothing to fear or fight; except a CGI sea serpent which, compared to the rest, is a relatively quick round within a long, sluggish bout.