The Bucket List

STARRING: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 12/25/2007 DATE SCREENED: 12/10/2007 The Verdict OK - Wait for DVD

A-list actors Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman team up to bring us The Bucket List. Nicholson plays Edward Cole, a rich a-hole whose business model is “two people to a room, no exceptions”. When he himself is hospitalized with cancer, he ends up sharing a room with Carter Chambers (Freeman), an auto mechanic also suffering from cancer. Edward wants nothing to do with Carter at first, as he suffers through surgery and chemo alone while Carter is either watching Jeopardy or talking with his visiting wife. Carter remembers an old college assignment to create a Bucket List, which is a list of things you want to do before you “kick the bucket”.

Edward and Carter both receive the bad news that their cancer is terminal. They have only six months to a year to live. Carter balls up his bucket list and throws it away, but Edward retrieves it from the trash and begins to add things to the list. He convinces Carter that there is still time to complete the list, and he will foot the bill. Carter’s wife is very upset with this idea, as she wants to spend as much time as possible with her husband. But Carter can not resist Edward’s offer.

The film becomes a road trip movie, as Edward and Carter bond over their adventures, which include skydiving, auto racing, and visiting the pyramids. Things get serious when Carter adds a visit to Edward’s estranged daughter to the list. But that’s just a minor bump in the road as the two men enjoy their last year of life.

The movie is very predictable, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the striking writers are even worth what they get paid. Two people who seem like opposites meet… they don’t like each other… they discover a shared interest… they embark on some type of journey that bonds them… they have an argument… things get smoothed over in the end as they have learned some kind of life lesson. How many times have we seen that story? On the other hand, Nicholson and Freeman are worth every penny as actors. They have great chemistry together and keep you from getting bored despite the script. You just can’t help but get some enjoyment from watching them together on screen. But I didn’t enjoy them enough to be able to recommend that you spend your time & money seeing this in the theater. Wait for the DVD.

P.S. I Love You

STARRING: Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 12/21/2007 DATE SCREENED: 11/29/2007 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for cable

Academy Award winning actress Hilary Swank, who will always be the female Karate Kid to me, teams with Gerard Butler in P.S. I Love You. I would have expected any late year film from her to be an attempt to nab her 3^rd Oscar, but there is no way she could have expected any Oscar buzz from this romantic comedy.

P.S. I Love You does have a twist to differentiate itself from the generic romantic comedy we’ve seen countless times before. The twist is that one of the characters is dead. That’s not a misprint, as early in the film Holly (Swank) is devastated when her husband Gerry dies of a brain tumor. Gerry does not come back as a ghost, but knowing how his impending death would affect Hilary, he devised a way to speak to her from the dead.

To the chagrin of her friends and family, Hilary reacts to her husband’s death by spending all her time locked in her apartment crying, watching tv, and ordering in. When they come over to surprise her for her 30^th birthday, there is also a surprise gift from Gerry. He has left a recorded message for Holly that not only wishes her a happy birthday, but tells her that she can expect more letters from him over the course of a year and she must do everything asked of her in the letters. Holly is now able to go on with her life, knowing that she will hear from her husband again. Every letter ends with the line “P.S. I Love You”. Does anyone other than me have a problem with this premise? Not Holly’s two friends, played by Lisa Kudrow & Gina Gershon. A bartender, named Daniel, who befriends Holly does end up having a big problem with it. While he’s falling in love with Holly, she is not able to get over her husband. The tasks she must complete range from doing karaoke to visiting Gerry’s family in Ireland. All the while we also see flashbacks that show how Holly & Gerry met and how they ended up falling in love. Eventually, Holly must decide if she can let go and give her heart to another man, like Daniel, or if she is going to spend her life in mourning over her dead husband.

For a romantic comedy, this movie is not funny or romantic. Lisa Kudrow is amusing at times, but her best lines can be seen in the trailer. I did not find anything romantic about a husband not allowing his wife to let go by ordering her around for an entire year after his death. I actually found the idea offensive. The story of how Holly & Gerry met and fell in love was not based in any kind of reality, and they don’t have any kind of chemistry together. The crowd at the screening had almost no reaction to the film, so I don’t know that any women found it romantic either. Hillary Swank does do her part by giving another very good performance, but there is nothing that she could have done to save this script. So what you have is a film that is well acted but forgettable. Wait for cable.

I Am Legend

STARRING: Will Smith View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 12/14/2007 DATE SCREENED: 12/10/2007 The Verdict GOOD - See it in the theater

This was the year of the ‘threequel’, with the 3^rd installment of Spiderman, Bourne, Rush Hour, and Oceans 11 hitting screens this year. With the release of I Am Legend, we get a ‘three-make’, as this is the 3^rd theatrical version of Richard Matheson’s book “I Am Legend”. Having recently viewed the 1971 version, called Omega Man and starring Charlton Heston, my enthusiasm was dulled for this release. Omega Man was a bad movie filled with huge plot holes. But I always hope for the best from a Will Smith movie, since like Will, I am “west Philadelphia, born and raised”.

Smith stars as Robert Neville, a military scientist who may be the last survivor of a deadly virus. What started out as a miracle cure for cancer in the year 2009, somehow turned into a deadly virus that wipes out 90% of the world’s population. 1% of the population was immune, like Neville, and the other 9% have turned into vampire like creatures that can only come out at night. The creatures began to feed on those that were immune. It’s 3 years later, and Neville spends most of the day time hanging out with his German Shepard, working out, hunting dear, looking for other survivors, or going to the video store where he talks to the mannequins he presumably set up. He spends his nights locked in his home, huddling with his dog in a bathtub. It’s the same routine, day after day after day. Through flashbacks we see that Neville was a married father of a daughter, who worked tirelessly to find a cure before things got out of hand. He told his wife that he would “fix this” and he refuses to give up. Even now he has a basement lab in which he spends time working on a cure. In his daily log, after a close encounter with the creatures he comments that they are completely mindless having lost any sense of humanity. That statement turns out to be only partially correct. In reality, they have a leader who has put together a plan to capture and kill Neville as a response to the creatures Neville has captured in order to test his cures. Neville must work quickly, as the creatures are organized and getting closer and closer to finding him.

The plot isn’t very complicated, and I’m happy to report that all the plot holes from Omega Man have been plugged. I’ve never read the book, so I can only compare it to the previous movie version. Although the movie is very quiet, as the daytime scenes take place in a deserted New York City, every shot and line of dialog is advancing the story in some way. Some may feel that the movie is starting off slow, but everything pays off in the end. And you don’t have to wait long for everything to start paying off as the movie is only slightly more than 90 minutes. Will does a great job depicting Neville as a man who is fighting a growing insanity as he refuses to give up on finding a cure. This is not the usual Will Smith action film. It’s very tense and somewhat scary at times. After all, he is fighting vampire like creatures. It all culminates in a outstanding action sequence, with a much better ending than Omega Man. The crowd at the screening seemed to enjoy themselves, as they oohed and aahed at all the right moments. See this one in the theater.

The Golden Compass

STARRING: Nicole Kidman, Dakota Blue Richards View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 12/07/2007 DATE SCREENED: 12/04/2007 The Verdict OK - Wait for the DVD

Based on Northern Lights, the first novel in a trilogy called His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass seems like the kind of fantasy film that I would really enjoy. With thoughts of the wonderful Chronicles of Narnia in my head, this was my most anticipated December release. The film takes place in a parallel universe in which every person’s spirit is always right by their side as a daemon. The daemon will take the form of a talking animal, but a child’s daemon can change into other animals until the child reaches adulthood. If a person dies, their daemon dies as well.

The film centers around Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards) , a young girl with a dislike of authority. Living at a college, she listens in on a meeting of scholars run by her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig). He needs funding to go on a quest to the North Pole to gather a mythical Dust that will allow people to travel to the other parallel universes. She quickly learns that people are not allowed to talk about Dust, but that does not stop her curiosity. Marissa Coulter (Nicole Kidman) takes a liking to Lyra and decides to take her on a trip. Marissa is secretly trying to catch up with Lord Asriel to stop him from finding the Dust. Before embarking on her adventure, Lyra is given a Golden Compass called an alethiometer. If someone can learn how to read it on their own, it will allow you to see the true answer to any question on past or present events. It is supposedly the last one in existence. On her trip Lyra discovers that Marissa is an evil woman. She escapes from her and embarks on her travel to the North Pole on her own. She does get help on her journey from people called the Gyptians, from witches, and even a polar bear warrior. She figures out how to read the Compass, learns all about the Magisterium (the dictators running society), and learns of a plot to kidnap children and separate them from their daemons. It turns out that Lyra is receiving so much help because there is a prophecy about how she will be the one to end an impending war.

There is no real ending to this movie, as it will be continued in the next movie in the series. I would have liked to have had a better ending, and the plot is a bit too complicated for a family fantasy film. I was really disappointed. The movie starts off slow, just plodding from point A to point B, and people around me were falling asleep. It does get better as it goes along, but I was never able to completely escape into this fantasy world. There was just not enough interesting things going on, and the first half of the film bored me. The special effects are great, as each person’s daemon is always in the background and always looked like a real animal. The shape shifting was also smooth.

The standout scene in the film is the fight between two warrior polar bears, which is all special effects. This battle had the crowd cheering. The fight at the end between the people who have kidnapped the kids and a team of Gyptians and witches is also thrilling.

The Catholic League had called for a boycott of the film due to a perceived anti-Catholic theme in the source novels. If you pay close attention, the Magisterium who want to strengthen their dictatorship can remind someone of the Catholic church. But it’s not something that most people will notice.

The reaction of the crowd was very mixed. Some people clapped at the end, but I heard others saying that they wasted almost two hours watching a movie that doesn’t even end. I also had a mother tell her son that he will have to read the book if he wants to know how it really ends. The book supposedly had a great ending, which was not used in the movie. It pains me to tell people to wait for the DVD on this one. I won’t be anxiously awaiting the sequel, but I won’t let this disappointment dampen my enthusiasm for Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, due out in May of 2008!

Juno

STARRING: Ellen Page, Jennifer Garner View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 12/05/2007 (limited) DATE SCREENED: 11/08/2007 The Verdict OK - Wait for the DVD

I thought Juno was just the name of an email service. Now I know it’s the name of a city in Alaska, which was then used as the basis for the name of the title character of the film Juno. 20- year old actress Ellen Page, who wowed me in the film Hard Candy, stars as the 16- year old Juno, a quirky high school student who could never be a part of the “in crowd”. She ends up pregnant, thanks to one night with her nerdy classmate Bleeker (Michael Cera), and is forced to start making the tough decisions about what to do next.

A confident Juno walks into an abortion clinic, but walks out without being able to go through with the procedure. As a classmate protesting outside the building reminds her, the baby does have nails already. She can’t get that thought out of her mind.

Juno decides to put the baby up for adoption, meaning she must tell everyone about the pregnancy. Juno’s parents, played by J.K. Simmons & Allison Janney, are shocked but decide to support Juno in her decision. Bleeker doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. Juno scours advertisement for people looking for babies. After Juno and her father visit Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner), Juno is sure they have found the right couple. Mark is a musician stuck writing commercial jingles, who has similar tastes in music to Juno. Vanessa comes off as a bit too conservative, but also someone with a lot of love she is just waiting to give to a baby.

Juno is forced to grow up as we follow her along in this pregnancy. Mark and Vanessa begin to have marital problems, and Juno must face the realization that she might have to take care of this baby herself. She also has to figure out if Bleeker can be anything more than just a sperm donor.

Juno was probably the most popular film at the Toronto film festival. It reportedly received a standing ovation after one screening. I can understand why, as Juno is such a likeable, quick-witted, character right from the start. Ellen Page is sure to receive some Oscar consideration. The film’s offbeat humor is the type of humor that appeals to the majority of the film festival crowd. And all of the characters seem slightly different than what you would expect. But I personally did not find it funny. It’s just not my kind of humor. The humor doesn’t seem to cross over racial lines. I saw the film at a screening for college students. I was one of the few black people there, and the other black students were seated near me. They were bored to death while the rest of the audience seemed to enjoy it. Ellen Page did wow me for the 2nd time, but I still can’t recommend that people see this one in the theater. Wait for the DVD.

Beowulf

STARRING: Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 11/16/2007 DATE SCREENED: 11/13/2007 The Verdict GREAT - See it opening weekend in 3-D

Beowulf has been adapted for the big screen numerous times over the years, but 2007 brings us the first Beowulf movie to be animated in IMAX 3-D. Cast members were filmed on a motion capture stage, and the rest of the movie was animated based on their likeness and movements. Like it or not, this is going to be a big part of moviemaking in the future. How soon we get to that future depends on the success of Beowulf.

Beowulf tells the story of a warrior who travels across the sea to help rid a town of an evil monster named Grendel. But ridding the town of Grendel only serves to incur the wrath of his mother, an animated version of Angelina Jolie. Beowulf is seduced into making a deal with Grendel’s mother in order to save the town, but returns with stories of how he killed her. Beowulf is made king, and the town is peaceful for years. At least it’s peaceful as far as not being attacked by monsters. The town becomes a more warlike society with a man like Beowulf as their leader. The pact with Grendel’s mother doesn’t last forever, as years later she sends an evil dragon to attack the town. Beowulf must step down from his throne and fight for the town once again. It’s a simple story, but what more can you expect from a movie based on what is basically a long poem?

The stars of this film are the animators. The animation is amazing. Most of the time I forgot I was watching an animated movie. Even a woman’s breasts have a natural bounce to them. There is still work to be done on the hands and some of the facial expressions, but it’s only a matter of time before that is perfected. If you have an IMAX theater near you, you must see this in IMAX 3-D. It’s like you are right there as the story unfolds. It takes you underwater, surrounds you with rain or snow, and has you jumping and dodging things in the action sequences. Birds fly over your head, and horses seem to come from behind you. You will have never experienced action sequences like those in Beowulf. The fights are not kids stuff, but brutal and bloody battles taking place right in front of you. The final attack by the dragon is so spectacular and breathtaking that I won’t even try to describe it. You will not fully experience this film in a regular theater. Even if you can’t get to an IMAX theater, get to a theater with a digital 3-D projector. It was meant to be experienced in 3-D. If you saw the 3-D ending of Harry Potter and were not impressed, don’t worry. The 3-D in Harry Potter is not even in the same league with Beowulf. I feel like I’ve taken a peek into the future of the movie going experience and that future can’t get here fast enough for me. I can’t wait to see what comes out next in IMAX 3-D. A Transformers movie would be my pick.

Love In The Time Of Cholera

STARRING: Javier Bardem, Giovanna Mezzogiorno View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 11/16/2007 DATE SCREENED: 11/12/2007 The Verdict OK - Wait for the DVD

Enshrinement into Oprah’s Book Club is like a license to print money. Love in the Time of Cholera has now made the leap from book club to the silver screen. A love story endorsed by Oprah is not something that I would generally look forward to, but I did want to see how Javier Bardem would handle the lead in this type of film, right after giving such a chilling performance as the psychopathic killer in “No Country for Old Men”.

Set in Columbia in the time of Cholera (a severe disease prevalent in Columbia in the late 19th – early 20th century) Javier plays Florentino, a man who ends up spending his entire life chasing the beautiful Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno). He falls in love with her while still a teenager, working as a telegraph operator. Although they aren’t allowed to see each other too often, they share letters constantly in which they declare their love for each other. Florentino declares his devotion to Fermina by asking for her hand in marriage. She says yes, but her father (John Leguizamo) will not allow it. He wants his daughter to marry a rich man. When his threats fail to derail Florentino from his mission, he packs up the family and moves them away. Florentino grows up to be a soft spoken man who writes poetry about love, and refuses to be with any other woman because of his belief that he will one day be married to Fermina. When he finally meets up with Fermina she sends him away, saying that what they had is an illusion. When a Dr. comes calling for Fermina, she resists at first, but she eventually becomes his wife. Florentino is devastated, but it is only a test of his resolve. He plans to wait for her husband to die. Florentino’s mother gets him a new job, working for a relative, far away from the city. While traveling to the new job, his virginity is basically taken from him by an aggressive woman. Florentino has an epiphany! Sex can make him temporarily forget about Fermina. Who would have thought? He then proceeds to start a journal of all his sexual conquests as he beds woman after woman, year after year, while waiting for Fermina’s husband to die. Meanwhile, Fermina is in a terrible marriage. She did not marry for love, and it shows. She has money but not happiness. As the years go on she is just more and more unhappy. Florentino is a 70 something year old man, in bed with a college student, when Fermina’s husband finally dies. He sends the woman away and begins to court Fermina once again. It turns out that it’s not too late for love, even when you are in your 70s.

Love in the Time of Cholera is an epic story covering so many years and Columbian locations, at a running time of about 130 minutes. I’ve only given you the basics of the story, as it covers a lot in that running time. I wasn’t bored, but at the same time I didn’t exactly enjoy it. Javeir Bardem proves he is a great actor, playing this role that is completely opposite of his role in No Country for Old Men. There are some funny scenes after Florentino has his sexual awakening, but there just seems to be no reason why he would be so devoted to this one woman. There is nothing in her personality that could drive such a level of devotion. She’s not that beautiful. And what man can wait for a woman for over 50 years, basically counting the days? I never read the book, so maybe something that would explain his behavior had to be left out. Or maybe we are not supposed to think about such things and just consider the movie a fantasy. The film is much more ambitious that the generic Hollywood love story, but still has the typical sappy ending. This is the kind of film couples should watch together on DVD. Women will probably like it, and the guy won’t be completely bored.

Fred Claus

STARRING: Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 11/09/2007 DATE SCREENED: 11/03/2007 The Verdict GOOD - See it in the theater

The Christmas movie season kicks off with the release of Fred Claus. Movies about a “scrooge” who hates Christmas for one reason or another is a holiday staple. The twist in Fred Claus is that Fred is Santa’s brother, who has been living in his brother Nick’s shadow for 100s of years, giving him a good reason for hating Christmas. Funnyman Vince Vaughn is Fred and Paul Giamatti puts on the fat suit to play Santa.

The film begins with the birth of Nick Claus, who comes out of the womb saying “ho,ho” instead of crying. Fred is so happy to have a brother that he promises to be the best big brother ever. It’s a promise he would soon regret during their boyhood years. Nick quickly becomes his mother’s favorite, always helping others with a smile on his face. Mom always scolds Fred by asking him why he can’t be more like his brother. When Nick chops down Fred’s tree to put inside the house, that’s the final straw, and Fred wants no more to do with his brother. Nick reaches adulthood and becomes an actual Saint. Sainthood causes the entire Claus family to becomes ageless. Nick then goes on to become the famous Santa Claus. We fast forward to the present day, with Fred working for a repossession agency. He goes on a rant about Christmas as he repossesses a TV that ends up in his apartment. Needing money for a business venture, he hits the streets to collect donations for a non-existent charity. This only lands him in jail, where Fred is forced to call his brother for bail money and money for the business venture. Of course, Santa can’t say no to his own brother, but Mrs. Claus pushes for “tough love”. As a compromise, Fred must work at the North Pole to earn the money he needs. At the North Pole, Fred is put to work stamping kid’s files as “naughty” or “nice”. Unbeknownst to Fred, an efficiency expert named Clyde (Kevin Spacey) has been sent by the Board of Directors to cut Santa’s funding if his operation is not running smoothly. It’s no surprise that Fred’s arrival causes a major disruption, as he fights with the elves, fights with his visiting parents, and even fights with Santa himself. Clyde sits back and builds up his case for shutting Santa down. Christmas may not even happen unless the two brothers can work out their differences.

The story does get more and more predictable as it goes on, but I still enjoyed the telling of the story. The film kept me smiling through most of its running time. It’s not laugh out loud funny, but a nice film that the entire family can enjoy. Standout scenes would include a chase scene involving Fred and a bunch of Salvation Army Santas, a fight between Fred and an elf DJ (Ludacris) who keeps playing the same song over and over again, and a scene in which Fred goes to an AA type meeting for brothers of famous people. The movie also has a heart, as it does make a good point about the entire idea of categorizing kids as “naughty” and not giving them presents because of it. After all, a kid’s environment does contribute to their behavior, and not giving them presents on Christmas certainly isn’t going to help matters. The film also makes its point about the importance of family. I saw the movie in a theater packed with families, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It’s more than just a silly slapstick comedy. It’s warm and funny and the entire family should see this one in the theater.

Lions for Lambs

STARRING: Robert Redford, Tom Cruise View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 11/09/2007 DATE SCREENED: 10/25/2007 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for cable

Hollywood seems intent on churning out films about the current war. The films have ranged from OK (Home of the Brave) to boring (A Mighty Heart). I suspect that the best films about the war won’t be made until after the war is over, and writers have had time to look back and reflect on it. Lions for Lambs attempts to prove me wrong, with an All Star cast directed by Oscar winner Robert Redford.

Lions for Lambs follows three different storylines. Meryl Streep plays Janine, a journalist hand picked by Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) to visit his office to interview him about a new offensive taking place in Afghanistan. While this interview is taking place, we also see the start of this offensive, as seen through the eyes of two soldiers, Arian (Derek Luke) and Ernest (Michael Peña). Robert Redford plays college professor Stephen Malley who has called one of his best political science students, Todd, into his office for a one-on-one conversation. He sees a lot of potential in Todd, but a lack of motivation. It turns out that the two soldiers, Arian & Ernest, are two best friends who were professor Malley’s top students. They wanted to be involved in politics to help people, and felt that enlisting in the army would give them the understanding of war that they need. Senator Irving is very charismatic, and he is using his charm in an effort to convince Janine to write a positive story despite the fact that most of the information given to journalists about the war has been lies. Janine tries to ask the tough questions, but the Senator always seems to be a step ahead of her. Meanwhile, the new offensive is not going well as Arian and Ernest end up on a helicopter that is shot down in the snow in Afghanistan. They are both injured and trying to survive until help can arrive. We see what their lives were like in Professor Malley’s classroom through the stories he is telling Todd in an effort to get him motivated.

Will Janine write a puff piece despite her reservations? Will Arian and Ernest survive? And will the professor convince Todd to reach for his potential? The film moves at a brisk pace, jumping from story to story with a running time of less than 90 minutes, and leaves two of those three questions unanswered. That seemed odd, and then I realized that I didn’t even care. The movie was not able to pull me in enough to care about the character’s final decisions. That’s not a good thing. The acting here is superb, as you get the performances you would expect from this type of cast. This movie must be very important to Redford, and he has been hosting screenings for the film all over the country, even doing Q&A sessions afterwards. Someone of his stature is certainly not required to do such things. He hosted a screening in Philly for University of Penn students, but I couldn’t get a pass. I guess he is trying to make some kind of statement about politics that he feels is important, but it just didn’t resonate with me. The movie has too much dialog that probably would have put me to sleep if it was any longer. Wait for the cable on this one.

Bee Movie

STARRING: Jerry Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 11/02/2007 DATE SCREENED: 10/30/2007 The Verdict OK - Wait for the DVD

Jerry Seinfeld has been traveling around the country, talking to seemingly every possible newspaper and TV outlet, to sing the praises of the animated Bee Movie. He has been telling anyone who will listen the story about how he had lunch with Steven Spielberg and mentioned an idea for a movie called Bee Movie. Surprisingly, Spielberg wanted to run with the idea, and Seinfeld could not say no to such an icon. He had to actually write a script. DreamWorks Animation then got on board, and the rest is history. By the way Seinfeld is out promoting the film you would think it’s the second coming of Toy Story.

Seinfeld voices the lead character of Barry B. Benson, a young bee who has just graduated from college and must choose a career. Every career choice somehow involves the production of honey. The bees who are allowed to leave the hive to collect nectar are bred for that role from birth. So that is not an option. But Barry someone wrangles his way into a chance to fly with those bees to watch how they work. Of course, he manages to get himself separated from the group. Just as he is about to meet certain death at the hands of man’s boot, he is saved by the man’s girlfriend Vanessa (Renée Zellweger). It’s love at first sight and Barry decides to break the cardinal rule in his society, which is to never talk to humans. Vanessa and Barry are soon hanging out and having conversations, while the boyfriend is pushed to the sidelines. They take a walk to the grocery store, where Barry discovers that people steal honey from bees and eat it themselves. The movie turns into a courtroom drama as Barry sues the honey industry, demanding that the enslaved bees are freed and the honey is returned to its rightful owners.

Bee Movie attempts to be a movie that the entire family can enjoy. It looks like a cute kids cartoon, but most of the jokes are aimed at adults. The screening I attended was full of parents with their children. There were a few scenes that had the kids laughing early, but as the movie moved into the courtroom phase, it was only adults that laughed. I’m not sure that anyone was completely satisfied. I certainly didn’t laugh much. There is a fumy cameo by Chris Rock as a mosquito. The movie started to feel like it was running long, even at a reasonable 90 minutes, as there is an epilogue after the court decision that feels tacked on. Bee movie is no Toy Story. The animation is great, which is what you would expect from DreamWorks. It’s a “cute” movie that might be good for a family outing, but I think it would be best to wait for the DVD.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

STARRING: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 10/26/2007 DATE SCREENED: 10/18/2007 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for Cable

A famous Irish toast, "May you be in heaven half an hour before the Devil knows you're dead", serves as the inspiration for the film Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Oscar winning actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Marisa Tomei, team with Ethan Hawke in this drama that has been on the Film Festival circuit since early September.

The robbery of a “mom & pop” jewelry store turns out to literally be the robbery of mom and pop’s jewelry store. Two brothers, Andy (Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke), are desperate for money and plan the robbery of their parent’s jewelry store. Andy is the mastermind, and Hank was supposed to carry out the robbery. Nobody was supposed to get hurt, and the jewels were all covered by insurance. Things don’t go according to plan when Hank enlists the help of a local thug with a gun. Two people end up dead and Andy & Hank are left to try and clean up the mess left behind. Actually, Hank is so distraught that the cover-up falls mostly in Andy’s lap.

The plot does not unfold in a linear fashion. The film starts out with the robbery, but then we go back and see the days leading up to the robbery, from both Andy and Hank’s point of view. Then the aftermath of the robbery is seen from Andy, Hank, and each of their parent’s points of view. Through the different frames of reference we watch a family drama unfold along with the main plot. Andy is dealing with a drug problem, hates his dad, and can’t please his wife (Marisa Tomei). Hank is having problems of his own with his “baby mamma”, and is sleeping with his brother’s wife weekly.

I enjoyed seeing the plot unfold from each character’s standpoint. I liked the story of how the brothers got to the point of the robbery. As an added bonus, Marisa Tomei is naked for most of the first half of the movie. She looks better than ever. The sex scenes and scenes of drug use are extremely explicit. I don’t know how the movie managed an ‘R’ rating. The acting was average, not at the level you would expect from Oscar winners.

The problem is that the way things spiral out of control after the robbery is completely ridiculous. It’s like the writers ran out of ideas and just decided to throw in some blackmail and a shootings to add some excitement. What started out good, ended in disappointment. You end up watching a family drama that you don’t care about because the family is full of mean and evil people. I guess that’s what makes the title appropriate, but that doesn’t make for a good moviegoing experience. The film just gets worse and more depressing as it goes on and on. Wait for cable, unless you always wanted to see Marisa naked.

Gone Baby Gone

STARRING: Casey Affleck, Ed Harris View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 10/19/2007 DATE SCREENED: 10/16/2007 The Verdict GOOD - See it in the theater

Ben Affleck oversaw three seasons of Project Greenlight, along with his buddy Matt Damon. It was a reality tv show whose goal was to find the next great filmmaker. The person with the best movie idea would get to make their movie. All the show really accomplished was to produce slightly interesting television, and three bad films by filmmakers we will never hear form again. Ben Affleck takes matters into his own hands with Gone Baby Gone. He produced, co-wrote (based on a novel), and directed the film, with his younger brother Casey Affleck cast in the starring role. I went into the screening with doubts as to whether or not Ben could do any better than the filmmakers he hand picked on Project Greenlight.

Right at the outset of Gone Baby Gone, we see that the abduction of a 4-year old girl, right from her home in one of the poorer neighborhoods in Boston, is the top story on the local news. The family hires private investigator Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck), who works with his girlfriend Angie, to assist the police in the investigation. When they visit the home, Officer Jack Doye (Morgan Freeman) reminds Kenzie that if a child isn’t found within the 1^st day, the child is usually found dead or not at all. With each day the odds of finding the child get lower. It’s now day 3. Unbeknownst to Office Doyle, Kenzie has connections that the police don’t. He grew up in Boston and has maintained friendships among the neighborhood underworld of drug dealers. Although he doesn’t look it, Kenzie is a foul mouthed tough guy who isn’t intimidated by anyone. He finds out that the abducted girl’s mother wasn’t honest about the events on the night of the abduction. She lied to the police, and to all the local news outlets. Two cops, played by Ed Harris and John Ashton, are assigned to work with Kenzie and they interrogate the mother again. It turns out she was involved in a robbery of another local drug dealer. Finally, there is a lead. A typical investigation follows, as one lead may turn up dead, but that points to another lead, and then another. But eventually, things take an unexpected turn. Nothing is as it seems in this movie. The plot twists continue to pile up as Kenzie is obsessed with finding this girl even when everyone else, included the girl’s mother, have long since given up.

Ben Affleck has managed to make a compelling thriller, with twists and turns I didn’t see coming. Casey Affleck is proving to be an up and coming star, with great performances in this film and The Assassination of Jesse James, back-to-back. I spent my college years in Boston, and I felt like I was back again as I watched this movie. I was drawn in completely. I felt all the tension as Kenzie got himself into some sticky situations with dangerous people, most notably two scenes in the home of three child molesters. I wanted him to find the kid and wanted the “bad guys” to be punished. Then the movie throws in a moral dilemma towards the end that had me pondering things long after I left the theater. The film leaves you thinking, and doesn’t try to force and answer on you. Some of the twists and turns do present themselves a little bit too conveniently to be believable, so Ben can get better on the writing side. But as a filmmaker, he knows what he is doing. It seems he should have been making movies himself instead of wasting time trying to find other filmmakers with Project Greenlight. He can finally distance himself from the nickname 'Bennifer'. Definitely see this one in the theater.

We Own The Night

STARRING: Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 10/12/2007 DATE SCREENED: 10/09/2007 The Verdict OK - Wait for the DVD

We Own The Night derived its title from a slogan the NYPD used in the late ‘80s to publicize their anti-drug efforts. The twist is that the film is more of a family drama than a film on the war on drugs. Set in 1988, Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) manages a hot night club in Brooklyn, and has a hot girlfriend played by Eva Mendes. His big secret is that he has changed his last name to hide the fact that he comes from a family of cops. That’s not a good thing in the nightclub business, especially when your club is frequented by drug lords. His father is Deputy Chief Burt Grusinsky (Robert Duvall), and his brother Joseph Gusinsky (Mark Wahlberg) is a detective, following in dad's footsteps. When a Russian mobster who frequents the club is targeted by police, Bobby is asked by his family to become an informant. Bobby refuses, as he wants nothing to do with his family or the police department. Later, Joseph leads a raid on the club in which the Russian mobster comes up clean, but Bobby ends up being arrested for possession and resisting arrest. This further widens the rift between Bobby and his family.

The night before Thanksgiving, Joseph is shot in the face, right in front of his home. He survives, but is hospitalized. The father suggests that if Bobby had worked as an informant, this may have never happened. While dining with his girlfriend, Bobby gets a visit from the Russian mobster. He wants him to help distribute drugs to his patrons at the club. But the Russian makes a big mistake by telling Bobby that he is the one who had the cop shot. Bobby keeps his cool and says he needs to think about it. He goes right to his father, but his father does not want him involved. Bobby goes behind his father’s back to work with other members of the NYPD. Bobby tells the Russian that he will help him but needs to sample the product. Bobby is eventually taken to one of the secret drug dens. While there, his cover is blown and the police are forced to barge in, in what is one of the most well crafted scenes of that type that I have ever seen. The Russian is arrested and Bobby and his girlfriend are placed in protective custody. Just as Joseph has healed from his injuries and gone back to work with the NYPD, the Russian escapes. This leads to a spectacular car chase scene, as Russians try to assassinate Bobby in a driving rainstorm. Bobby’s father is the one who ends up being shot. The brothers bond and Bobby must step up and join the NYPD, against his girlfriend’s wishes, to help take down this Russian mob.

The film is like a retro action drama. It has the feel and pace of older movies from the ‘70s, with a grittier look than we normally see today. The problem is that the slow pace of movies from the ‘70s does not hold up well today. The movie is almost 2 hours long, and it felt longer. On the positive side, it has two scenes that I won’t forget for a long time. Although we’ve seen raids on drug houses before, and seen car chases in movies ad nauseum, you rarely see them as well done as they are in this movie. You really feel the tension. The final showdown was also well done. The family drama bored me for the most part. The acting performances were just average, and I would have preferred Marky Mark taking on the lead role as opposed to Joaquin.

The audience at the screening didn't have much of a reaction to the film at all. One couple thought it was a family film and brought their baby and two kids. It's definitely not a family film, but a sex scene in the first 5 minutes did nothng to convince the young parents otherwise. There were some claps at the end. I can’t really recommend you spend the time and money seeing this in the theater based on 2 great scenes. It might be worth it if you are a big fan of ‘70s cop movies. Otherwise, wait for the DVD.

The Final Season

STARRING: Sean Astin, Powers Boothe View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 10/12/2007 DATE SCREENED: 9/27/2007 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for cable

Sean Astin acts as the Executive Producer and Star of The Final Season. The film centers around the true story of Kent Stock, who gave up his job and wedding plans to take over as head coach of the Norway High School baseball team. The film was actually shot in Norway, Iowa, a small town of maybe 600 people who believe in the saying that “on the 8th day, God created baseball”. The high school baseball team was their pride and joy, winning 19 state titles.

Kent is an admirer of the school’s legendary coach Jim Van Scoyoc (Powers Boothe). He originally had to take a job as his assistant, just to be able to learn from his idol. After another championship season, the state has decided that the school is too small and must merge with a nearby high school. The neighboring school doesn’t put any importance on baseball, and with the student’s lengthy commutes back and forth every day, the town knows that the baseball team as they know it, along with their local economy that revolves around it, is about to come to an end. Jim is fired as coach due to his protests, and Kent is hired to take over for one final season before the merger.

Kent is an inexperienced coach, so the town does not have any hopes for another successful season. The stands are empty at the first practice, when they were always full in past years. Many of the kids have quit the team. Luckily, a troubled teen named Mitch (seemingly based on Kelly Leak from the Bad News Bears) had just moved to Norway to stay with his grandparents. He has been causing trouble at school, but maybe joining the baseball team is just what he needs to straighten him out.

The returning players have no respect for Kent, or the new kid Mitch. As the team goes through the ups and downs of the season, the coaches and players have a chance to bond, and before you know it the stands are full again for another Norway playoff run.

Does any of this sound familiar? This is nothing we haven’t seen countless times before. Is there anyone who doesn’t know how this movie is going to end? Would anybody care that they threw in a romance between Kent and a woman sent by the state to work on the merger? Sean Astin may have had fun gaining weight and hanging out in a small town playing baseball, but it was not fun for me or the audience at the screening. I think only one person clapped when the film reached its inevitable climax. I couldn’t have cared any less about the “big game”. When a “feel good” sports movie is done well, you can’t help but get involved in rooting for a person or a team, even when you know the ending. When this type of movie is done poorly, you keep looking at your watch hoping the film is about to come to an end. The Final Season falls into the “poorly done” category. If you like baseball you might get some enjoyment out of the film, but wait for cable.

Michael Clayton

STARRING: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 10/12/2007 DATE SCREENED: 9/26/2007 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for cable

Tony Gilroy takes the director’s chair for the first time with Michael Clayton. Tony has made his mark in Hollywood as a writer. Before writing/directing Michael Clayton, he was best known for scripting all three Bourne movies. There is a lot of advance “buzz” surrounding this film, but I didn’t like the plot of any of the Bourne movies. I know I’m in the minority with that opinion, but I only enjoy them for the action scenes. I have already forgotten the storyline of every Bourne film. Since Michael Clayton is a serious drama, I hoped it would have a story that I could get into.

George Clooney is Michael Clayton, a “fixer” at a large law firm in New York City. He basically has to handle any of the “dirty work” involved in a particular case. The film opens with him being called to assist a client who has been entangled in a hit-and-run accident and is looking for an alibi. This type of personal case is not Michael’s cup of tea, so he leaves after assigning it to someone else. On the drive back home, he pulls over to the side of the road when he is distracted by horses. After exiting the car and walking to the horses, the car explodes.

We are then taken back to 4 days earlier. One of the company’s top litigators, Arthur (Tom Wilkinson), seems to have gone crazy. He is arrested after jumping on a table naked at a meeting. He was working on the defense of a class action suit against a chemical company that is one of the firm’s biggest clients. Michael is good friends with Arthur and goes to bail him out of jail, while trying to cover for Arthur with the other law firm executives. It turns out that Arthur has been gathering evidence that they are on the wrong side of this class action lawsuit. The chemical company’s chief attorney, Karen (Tilda Swinton), is desperate to make sure this class action suit is settled, and hires a “fixer” of her own to watch Arthur. Arthur miraculously ends up dead of an apparent suicide. Michael suspects murder, and picks up the trail of clues that lead to the predicable conclusion.

The plot also has little sidebars that show that Michael has a gambling problem, and family issues involving his son. All of this adds up to a movie that is too long and way too boring. I almost dozed off a couple of times during the film. It seems that Tony Gilroy’s scripts just don’t resonate with me. I’m not a fan of the non-linear style of writing, in which nobody knows what is going on at the beginning and then you go back and try to explain everything. When you structure the story that way, the explanations better pay off, and here they don’t. I ended up wanting the story to be more about the chemical company’s chief attorney Karen, as opposed to Michael. She seems to have some serious issues that are worth more of an exploration. The acting performances are solid, but there are just too many uninteresting things going on for me to care. Wait for cable if you must see this one.

Notes:
Tony Gilroy himself attended the screening and did a Q&A session afterwards. The movie received polite applause at the end, I think more so because people knew he was there. He said he had been working on getting the film made for 8 years, and he loved it too much to turn it over to another director. He also planned to rename the film, but was never able to come up with a better title.

Things We Lost In The Fire

STARRING: Halle Berry, Benicio Del Toro View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 10/19/2007 DATE SCREENED: 9/25/2007 The Verdict OK - Wait for the DVD

Halle Berry follows up the extremely disappointing Perfect Stranger with Things We Lost in the Fire. She is teamed with fellow Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro in this serious drama that the studio surely hopes will garner some Oscar recognition.

Halle plays Audrey, a recently widowed mother of a two, a son named Dory and a daughter named Harper. Her husband, played by David Duchovny, was murdered helping to protect a woman who was being beaten by her husband. Benicio plays Jerry, Aubrey’s husband’s good friend, who has been battling a Heroin addiction. Through flashbacks we see that he would visit Jerry, against Audrey’s wishes, to treat him to dinner and spend time with him. For reasons that never became quite clear to me, Audrey invites Jerry to come live in one of their garages, which had been turned into a guest room. Jerry is determined to honor his friend by staying clean of Heroin. He begins to study real estate and becomes close with Audrey’s kids. Audrey is having a lot of difficulty adjusting to life without her husband. She can be charming one minute, and then snap the very next. Jerry ends up having to prevent Audrey from experimenting with drugs in order to help her cope. As the story moves along we see more flashbacks to show us what a wonderful marriage Audrey had, and what a great guy her husband was.

Eventually, Audrey goes off on Jerry once again for no good reason, and tells him to get out. This leads to his relapse. Aubrey goes to find him, and with the help of her brother and another former addict, they lock him in his room and force him to go through withdrawal. The two of them have serious issues, but they must figure out how to co-exist and provide a stable environment for the two kids, who desperately want Jerry around as a father figure.

Both Halle and Benicio were surely attracted to this movie because the roles give them a chance to really act. Halle has the opportunity to show the complete range of emotions as Audrey, and Benicio really sinks his teeth into portraying the ups and downs of drug addiction. The problem is that the story is only mildly compelling. The movie is almost 2 hours long, and I was bored at times. I don’t like the title of the film, or the feeble attempt at explaining the title. Something was missing in the character development, as I never cared about the characters as much as I should have. There is one unnecessary scene in which Aubrey asks Jerry to help her sleep by coming to bed with her and rubbing her ear, like her husband used to, while she hugs up against them. Now, Halle tries to downplay her beauty in this movie, but the audience couldn’t help but laugh knowing what would happen if a guy was hugged up in the bed with Halle Berry. The acting is top notch, but you can wait for the DVD on this one.

Trade

STARRING: Kevin Kline View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 9/28/2007 DATE SCREENED: 9/19/2007 The Verdict Good - See this in the theater

Trade is based on a 2004 New York Times Magazine cover story about worldwide sex trafficking. Definitely not the kind of subject Hollywood would want to touch, so this movie ended up being financed independently with German funds. Thanks to a successful premiere at Sundance, the film is getting a national release.

In Mexico City, a 13 year old Mexican girl named Adriana is kidnapped after sneaking out early one morning to ride her bike. Her 17 year old brother Jorge, who makes his living robbing unsuspecting male tourists looking for prostitutes, finds out about the kidnapping and is determined to save her. He discovers that a Russian gang has been kidnapping girls and taking them to NJ to sell them to pedophiles over the Internet. We then follow Jorge and Adriana, on their separate journeys to NJ. Adriana is being held with another girl, woman, and boy. One Mexican kidnapper sneaks them over the border, and once there an American helps get them to Jersey. Along the way they are drugged, abused, and their “services” are sold for traveling expenses.

Jorge crosses the border illegally in the trunk of the car of a federal insurance fraud investigator named Ray, played by the only recognizable actor in the film, Kevin Kline. Ray was investigating the same house that Jorge discovered was used by the kidnappers while in Mexico City. Once in Texas, Ray realizes he has a stowaway. He wants to take Jorge to the police, but Jorge is able to convince him that he has to get to NJ to save his sister. It turns out that Ray was in Mexico City on his personal time, in search of his lost daughter. He had a child outside of his marriage while in Mexico many years ago. He only recently found out that the mother sold his daughter, and he has been looking for her ever since. Ray knows it’s too late to help his daughter, but it’s not too late to help Adriana. Everyone ends up in an unnamed city in NJ, where it becomes a race against time to save Adriana before she is sold in an Internet auction. The police won’t help, as they are willing to sacrifice these Mexican girls until they can gather evidence against the ringleaders. It’s up to Jorge and Ray to handle things themselves.

Trade pulled me in from the very beginning. Being that I had never read the NY Times article, I had no idea this kind of sex trafficking was going on between Mexico and the U.S. This film not only has a message about how this type of thing has to be stopped, but is also entertaining as well. You grow to care about all the characters and really root for them. Adriana bonds with another kidnapped woman named Veronica. The things that they have to go through are horrible, and they do have a chance to escape. It’s heartbreaking when they are recaptured by the kidnappers. As the Internet auction got under way, I felt all the tension involved as Jorge and Ray had to execute their rescue plan. It’s easy to see why this film did well enough at Sundance to warrant a national release. Both of the young actors who played Adrianna and Jorge (Paulina Gaitan & Cesar Ramos) did a great job and have bright futures ahead of them. The film is 2 hours long, but doesn’t feel like it. The kidnapping happens right away, and there is always something going on during each person’s journey. I was completely engrossed the entire time. Definitely see this one in the theater. Much of the film is in Spanish, with English subtitles, but don’t let that scare you off.

Sydney White

STARRING: Amanda Bynes View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 9/21/2007 DATE SCREENED: 9/6/2007 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for cable

Syndney White was filmed under the working title of “Sydney White and the Seven Dorks”. The basic idea was to do a modern retelling of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, set in college. “Snow White” becomes “Sydney White”, played by Amanda Bynes. The Seven Dwarfs are replaced by Seven college geeks, loosely based on the dwarf characters. I honestly don’t know how someone actually got the movie financed based on such a flimsy premise, but I walked into the theater hoping that maybe I would be surprised.

Sydney grew up with her father, working with him on various plumbing and construction projects. Her mother passed away when she was young. Sydney is the type of girl that knows how to play sports and use a hammer, more so than how to do hair and makeup. It’s time for Sydney to head off to college, and she plans to honor her mother by pledging the same sorority that her mom was a part of. On her way to the first pledge party, she immediately draws the ire of the sorority leader, Rachel Witchburn, by talking to her ex-boyfriend. But Sydney is a legacy, so she has to be allowed to pledge. It doesn’t take long for Sydney to realize that she does not fit in with this sorority, which is full of the stereotypical stuck-up blonde bitches. Rachel is jealous of Sydney’s growing friendship with her ex, so Sydney is publicly kicked out of the sorority. She ends up at a small broken down house on the end of the block, which houses the students who are so weird that they can not live with anyone else. They bond over Sydney’s comic book collection. The college is basically run by the fraternities and sororities, and Sydney is determined to put an end to it. She rallies her band of misfits and organizes a campaign to run for student body president against Rachel. Through this campaign, Sydney attempts to rally the entire school against the “evil” Greek system led by Rachel.

First I’ll get the positives out of the way. Amanda Bynes is adorable as Sydney White. She’s a joy to watch on screen and certainly has a bright future. But that’s where the positives end. The script she has to work with is garbage. Every other character is just a stereotype. The stereotypes of the geeks are slightly tweaked in order to match the dwarfs. One of them is sleepy all the time, another one sneezes all the time, another one is grumpy all the time, etc… But they are basically the same nerdy characters we’ve seen before. The actions of the sorority girls follow the same movie conventions we’ve seen countless times, most recently in the Bratz movie. The script is completely predictable, as it follows the same “revenge of the nerds” formula that has been around for over 20 years. If you’re the person who has been waiting for a re-telling of Snow White, then this is the move for you. If not, wait for it to come on cable just to watch Amanda Bynes. And only watch it as a last resort.

3:10 To Yuma

STARRING: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Ben Foster View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 9/7/2007 DATE SCREENED: 9/5/2007 The Verdict OK - Wait for the DVD

I’m not much of a fan of Westerns in general, but I can’t help but look forward to any film starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. 3:10 To Yuma is a remake of a 1957 Western of the same title. Crowe brings a natural charisma to any role, and Bale is putting together a nice body of work with Rescue Dawn, The Prestige, and Batman Begins being recent films of his that I have really enjoyed.

Crowe plays Ben Wade, the leader of a group of bandits. Bale plays Dan Evans, a rancher with a wife and two sons, who is being forced off his land to make way for a new train line. The two characters meet when Dan and his sons stumble upon Ben’s band of outlaws right after they have successfully robbed a stagecoach. Ben takes Dan’s horses, but lets his family go about their business of rounding up their cattle unharmed. The lone survivor of the stagecoach robbery needs medical attention, so Dan takes him into town. Although the bandits split the money and disbanded, Ben stayed in town to be with a woman. Dan runs into Ben once again in a salon, and while they talk Ben is surprised and captured by the local sheriff and his men. He needs to be transported to the town of Contention in order to take the 3:10 train to Yuma prison. Dan is desperate for money, so he agrees to a payment of $200 to join a group of locals to help escort Ben to the train station. Ben’s gang gets word of his capture and are determined to rescue him before he can get on that train. Ben is not exactly the model prisoner. He uses any trick he can think of to try and escape. To make matters worse, Dan’s son comes along as well, against the wishes of his father. There are a few fights and gun battles along the way, and it all culminates at the train station with the arrival of the 3:10 to Yuma.

I’ve never seen the original 3:10 to Yuma, so I can’t compare the two. I have seen High Noon, and this film is similar. Both films are basically a countdown to a big shootout. Both films end up with one lone hero being abandoned by a bunch of cowards as the crucial time approaches. But High Noon is the better film. 3:10 to Yuma just drags on way too long. There is some kind of psychological warfare going on between Dan and Ben, as Ben tries to convince Dan to just walk away and let him go. Dan refuses to back down because he wants to be a hero in his son’s eyes. But that storyline didn’t grab me. And their treatment of Ben as a prisoner just didn’t make sense. They were way too nice to him considering the things he was doing. The action scenes were exciting for the most part, and people die when you don’t expect them to, but the final showdown was a bit too far over the top. Too many bullets were flying, with people not getting hit. The very ending was pure Hollywood, which is not a good thing. I hope the original had a better ending. Crowe was great, as always. Bale was just ok. His role doesn’t really require much acting. Wait for the DVD.