I Love You Phillip Morris

From writer/directors Glenn Ficara and John Requa (Bad Santa) comes a story that proves truth is really stranger than fiction.  Based on real events, Jim Carrey plays Steven Russell - an upstanding Texas cop with a loving wife and daughter.  From the outside, Steven looks like a happy family man, but he's actually hiding a secret... he's gay.  So he continues living a double life until a near-death experience makes him decide once and for all to come out of the closet.  Now, Steven is living the life he's always dreamed.  But with that life comes a hefty price-tag, and Steven resorts to becoming a con man in order to support his lavish lifestyle.  When the law finally catches up to him, Steven ends up in prison and meets Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor), the love of his life.  But will Steven's game of deception get in the way of his and Phillip's relationship?  Carrey shines in this role and makes Steven such a fascinating character that you can't take your eyes off of him.  The way Steven starts out tricking people is almost forgivable, but eventually it gets to the point where it seems like he lies out of a sick compulsion.  Yet Carrey makes him so charming that not only do you believe Steven can't help himself, but you find yourself hoping he doesn't get caught.  McGregor, as the naive Phillip, is simple and sweet, but when he discovers Steven's been lying to him all this time, he unleashes a surprising anger that I didn't think he had in him.  The two seasoned actors are a pleasure to watch together, and their chemistry is electric (not to mention some racy sex scenes that are simultaneously steamy and comical).  I Love You Phillip Morris tells a story that is almost too bizarre to believe, but the bittersweet reality of these characters' lives provides the perfect balance to the light tone of the film, making it irreverently funny and touching.

4 out of 5 stars

Arthur

In this remake of the 80s comedy staple, Russell Brand reprises the role of Arthur Bach, the millionaire playboy who refuses to grow up.  Arthur lives a life of careless luxury and excess and - as the son of a business tycoon - has never had to work a day in his life.  But all that's about to change once his mother announces he must marry wealthy socialite, Susan Johnson (Jennifer Garner), or be cut off from the family inheritance.  Arthur begrudgingly agrees, until he meets and falls for cute tour guide, Naomi (Greta Gerwig).  Now the big question is... will Arthur choose love or money?  Brand, as the childish and fun-loving Arthur, revels in the opportunity to play such an unleashed character.  But as much fun as he seems to be having, with an ever-present impish grin on his lips, the smile never quite seems to reach his eyes, making his mischievous nature slightly less believable.  It is pretty funny seeing Brand cavort around town, getting completely sloshed and wreaking havoc in his own exact replica Batmobile.  The problem is, Arthur seems to be in on the joke which detracts from his innocent charm.  Brand seems to be better suited at playing the stupid, hollow clown than the stupid clown with an inner heart of gold begging for redemption.  Regardless, Brand is comical enough to keep the crazy train rolling, and with help from his lovely supporting players - Garner, having a ball as the buttoned-up businesswoman with an inner freak, and Helen Mirren as Arthur's stern, but caring nanny - the film gets by on being moderately entertaining.  I just wish Arthur had managed to grow-up on his own terms and not out of a feeling of guilt or obligation.  That's when Arthur stops feeling fun and starts feeling tired.

3 out of 5 stars

You Again

This broad comedy stars Kristen Bell as Marni, the girl who spent her teenage years in acne-covered awkwardness and got bullied by the popular girls at school, specifically by the beautiful and cruel Joanna (Odette Yustman).  But all that's changed now, as Marni is no longer an ugly duckling (gone are the glasses, braces, and bangs) and is a successful executive at her PR firm.  When she gets the news that her older brother is getting married, Marni can't wait to go home and meet her future sister-in-law... until she realizes that her brother's bride-to-be is none other than the queen bee from her torturous past.  Marni becomes determined to expose Joanna's true nature at any cost, with disastrous consequences.  The insipid plot relies heavily on over-the-top situations for laughs, which come off as forced and unimaginative.  From the ridiculous way that Marni ends up looking like her high-school self again, to an embarrassing scene during a pre-wedding dance lesson, the film is rife with preposterous scenarios that exist solely to humiliate the characters.  By the time Marni exacts her revenge on the evil Joanna, I was horrified at the deplorable lows she had to stoop to in order to reveal the truth and wondered who the real villain was.  Meanwhile, Joanna's growth of a conscience is laughable at best, and Yustman's one-note and stiff portrayal of her leaves much to be desired.  It really is a shame that such an amazing cast of supporting actors (Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, Betty White, Victor Garber, and the always resplendent Kristin Chenoweth) is wasted on such a derivative piece of drivel.  The only real laughs come from Weaver who, as Joanna's rich and successful aunt, somehow manages to improve upon a thankless role.  You Again is that most annoying and unfortunate type of comedy that tries to latch onto the most basic form of humor... and still manages to fall flat on its face.


1 out of 5 stars

Trust

In this intense and emotionally-charged drama from director David Schwimmer, Clive Owen stars as successful family man, Will, who has a loving wife (Catherine Keener) and a perfect family.  Until one day, his daughter Annie (Liana Liberato) innocently enough strikes up a friendship in an online chat group and becomes prey to an internet stalker. While her parents cope with the tormenting aftermath of the attack, Annie must face the talk of her peers at school and help the authorities hunt down the man who raped her.  But can Will piece his family back together - and learn to trust his daughter again - without letting his rage consume him?  Having tackled comedy in his last big-screen directing effort (2007's Run, Fatboy, Run), Schwimmer now explores the terrifying and still very relevant topic of online sexual predators.  Owen is at his best here as a father at his wit's end who feels like he doesn't know his daughter anymore, and his grief and frustration are palpable.  Likewise, Keener brings to the role of Annie's mother what she brings to every role - a reliably refreshing dose of realism, from the way she talks about her oldest son going off to college, to the way she carries a seemingly ordinary conversation with Annie about establishing her self-worth.  And newcomer Liberato holds her own well amongst these Hollywood heavies as she perfectly portrays an angry, confused, and deluded teenage girl.  Trust is a harrowing look at the destruction of youthful innocence and the perils of technology in today's modern computer age.  There's a newfound sense of hope and understanding at the end, but you secretly pray that you never have to experience this devastation yourself to come to such a gritty realization.

4 out of 5 stars

Source Code

From director Duncan Jones (Moon) comes this mind-bendy action thriller.  Jake Gyllenhaal plays Capt. Colter Stevens, a decorated military helicopter pilot who finds himself on a strange mission: He must go back in time and inhabit the body of a stranger who happens to be on a train about to explode from a terrorist attack.  While in this man's body, Colter must figure out the killer's identity so that a possible second (and bigger) attack can be prevented.  But who is the train bomber?  Who are the cryptic military officials giving Colter orders and what exactly aren't they telling him?  How is this revolutionary neural technology able to send someone back in time to the last few minutes of another person's life?  And who is the beautiful girl named Christina (Michelle Monaghan) sitting across from Colter on the train who acts like she knows him and keeps calling him Sean??  All these are questions that Colter must answer, and he's only got 8 minutes to do it - aided by his brusque and unsympathetic handler (Vera Farmiga) - so he is forced to relive the same final moments over and over again, like a recurring nightmare he can't escape.  Jones is adept at the sci-fi, psychological thriller genre, and here delves further into the effects of isolation on the human mind (as he first explored with Sam Rockwell in Moon).  Colter may be completely surrounded by other people on a train, but he is the only one who knows what is going to happen, and in reality he's in a cramped chamber receiving instructions over a small computer screen... completely alone.  It's enough to mess with anyone's mind, and the audience is left to piece together the puzzle along with Colter in trying to decipher what is real.  Gyllenhaal is fantastic in this role, finally striking the right balance of action-star and thinking-man (after his Prince of Persia flop last year).  There was kind of a "huh?" moment at the end that wasn't really explained to my satisfaction, but in light of the already confusing and unbelievable "science" at work here, I guess it's forgivable.  I found the nuances in each replay of the past exciting and it was fun watching Colter react to things that he, along with all of us, knew was coming.  Like a dark, action-thriller version of Groundhog Day, Source Code is mind-blowing repetition that you won't tire of.

4 out of 5 stars

The Adjustment Bureau

In this sci-fi thriller, Matt Damon plays fresh-faced politician, David Norris, whose reckless past costs him the senate race in his home state.  On the night of his concession, David meets a beautiful stranger, Elise (Emily Blunt), who immediately steals his heart - and inspires him to give the best speech of his career - then vanishes without a trace.  David becomes obsessed with finding his mystery girl, until a clandestine organization intervenes to keep them apart.  Now, he is torn between his career and his love for someone he barely knows - all while being watched by men who want to ensure that David keeps to their predetermined plan.  The Adjustment Bureau is yet another film based on the seemingly endless collection of adaptable short stories by Philip K. Dick.  In this one, however, the romance between the two main characters takes center stage above the sci-fi aspect of the story.  Damon, completely believable in the role of an idealistic politician who truly believes he can make a difference, is perfectly cast as a reformed congressman with a bad-boy past.  And when he meets Elise for the first time, David is not just "in lust at first site" - it's much more than that.  Something about her sparks something in David and makes him feel truly alive for the first time... as if he's been waiting to meet Elise his whole life and finally realizes his true purpose.  Blunt, looking breathtakingly gorgeous as ever, gives Elise just the right blend of frankness and seductive charm, without being overtly sexy - it's no wonder David finds her completely irresistible and unforgettable.  There were some plot holes that I couldn't overlook (Why didn't Elise go looking for David when he couldn't find her?  Was she playing hard to get?), and the overall message of the story was hokey at best.  The film does raise some interesting philosophical questions, though, and that, paired with clever visuals and exciting chase scenes, were enough to keep me entertained.  If you try not to question the movie as much as David questions "the plan" and allow yourself to just enjoy the ride, then you'll probably be pretty entertained, too.

3 out of 5 stars

Red Riding Hood

Catherine Hardwicke ("Thirteen") directs this reimagining of the classic fairy tale.  Amanda Seyfried ("Chloe") plays Valerie, a grown-up version of the titular heroine. Valerie and her family live in a medieval village bordering woods inhabited by a ferocious werewolf, and for years a peaceful pact has kept the evil creature at bay.  But now, the monster is thirsty for blood and the townsfolk are being picked off one by one.  Meanwhile, Valerie has been betrothed to the blacksmith's son, but is secretly in love with the poor, lowly woodcutter boy she grew up with.  Valerie must now choose who to give her heart to, but will she survive long enough to get her happily ever after?  This film so shamelessly tries to cash in on the “Twilight” phenomenon that it’s embarrassing.  From the hokey love triangle (complete with sincere good boy on one side and dangerous bad boy on the other), to the werewolves, to the wide sweeping shots of gorgeous, mountainous tree lines, it’s like Hardwicke followed her own template for creating an angsty-romantic-horror movie for the tween set.  The similarities end there, though, and without a decent plot or characters to rely on, the story goes nowhere fast.  Seyfried does her best naive-beauty-with-a-dark-side act, but comes across as insipid and prosaic.  Then there’s the boys: Max Irons (son of Jeremy) is adequate as the unrequited (read: Jacob) side of the love triangle; Shiloh Fernandez, on the other hand, is so irritatingly surly all the time that it’s impossible to take him seriously.  Lastly, I had to scratch my head at why the great Gary Oldman makes an appearance here… it seems he has developed a penchant recently for bad scary movies with supernatural forces at hand that only he has the power to stop.  Or maybe he just likes to show up for quick scenes where he gets to make grand entrances in mechanical elephants and yell at everyone for being far less intelligent than he is.  Who knows.  Either way, this unimaginative and trite retelling is one bedtime story worth skipping.


2 out of 5 stars

Insidious

From director James Wan ("Dead Silence") comes this gripping horror starring Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson.  Josh (Wilson) and Renai (Byrne) are new homeowners, and at first it seems that their dream home promises a better life for them and their three young children.  But soon after they move in, their son Dalton mysteriously falls into a deep coma that no one can seem to explain.  Then, Renai starts noticing strange happenings in the house and wonders if she's going crazy from stress... or is it possible that a sinister presence is wreaking havoc on their family and threatens to keep Dalton away forever?  Before I comment, let it be known that as a huge horror film buff, I've seen my fair share of scary movies (both good and bad) and I don't scare easily.  That being said, I cannot recall the last time I was this terrified from watching events unfold on my television screen.  Wan, a master of suspense who directed the original "Saw" (in my opinion, the only good "Saw" in the franchise) expertly sets the dark tone of the story from the very first frame where we see an indelible image of a grotesquely disfigured old woman.  The pace is perfect as the spooky events start off small and dismissible, and gradually build to panic-inducing occurrences that even a rational person can no longer ignore.  Byrne is terrific here as the haggard, stay-at-home mom who is forced to deal with keeping the household and caring for Dalton almost single-handedly while her husband goes off to work everyday.  Meanwhile, Wilson (who has experience playing men trying to break free of suburban life, see "Little Children") is the dad who copes by ignoring the problem and leaving all the heavy-lifting to his overburdened wife; Wilson does this so well that you want to yell at the screen for him to man up and do something already.  The imagery is thoroughly creepy and the score elegantly done - you won't find any cheap scares here that resort to a cat jumping out from behind a curtain while a loud violin tries to startle you.  "Insidious" is unsettling to watch and will have you squirming with anxiety - a rare feat of a horror film that will not easily be forgotten.

4 out of 5 stars

Tron: Legacy

Picking up 20 years after the last "Tron" film left off, we follow Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), son of computer genius Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), who mysteriously disappeared when Sam was just a boy.  Cut to present day, where Sam is all grown-up and and causing mischief for his dad's corporation, which is now run by greedy suits lacking the vision that Kevin Flynn had when he first started the company.  Until one night, Sam receives a cryptic page from the closed-down arcade that once belonged to his father, and gets sucked into the same cyber-world where Kevin has been trapped for the last 20 years - a dangerous place where computer programs are forced against their will to participate in death matches for the pleasure of their despot, Clu.  Will Sam survive long enough to find his father and make it back to the human world?  Much like its 1982 predecessor, this movie primarily relies on glittery special effects to weave its tale.  However, this modern update improves greatly on the now dated pre-CGI imagery of the original film.  Director Joseph Kosinski creates a dazzling landscape of neon colors and sleek grids, where programs speed around on virtual motorcycles and hovercrafts that leave bright trails of light in their wake (all set to a seductive, pulsating electronica score by Daft Punk).  Everything is a computer-generated marvel here, including Clu - a program that Kevin created to help him build a new utopian society - who is actually a digitized version of a young Bridges circa the 80's.  Clu is now a power-hungry, vengeful perfectionist who hates his maker, and Bridges does a good job of humanizing him through his voice-acting - despite the limitations of CGI, which result in a rubbery-looking Clu with a finite range of facial expressions.  On the other hand, Bridges lends some kitschy fun to the role of Kevin by playing him as a Zen, techie version of the Dude himself (Bridges un-ironically utters "Radical, man" in awe as he watches Sam perform a death-defying escape).  The film is pure popcorn pleasure, but also tries to deliver a powerful message, eschewing the pursuit of perfection and instead focusing on learning to appreciate beauty in the world around you (a little cheesy in its naivete, but hey, it works for the story).  Overall, this eye-candy paradise is geek heaven for the sci-fi lover and gamer alike.

3 out of 5 stars

Horrible Bosses

In this black comedy from director Seth Gordon ("Four Christmases"), three friends are driven to madness by their bullying bosses who cross every line imaginable.  Nick's (Jason Bateman) manager is an insane tyrant who works him to the bone while holding an elusive promotion over his head.  Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) loves his job... until the company's benevolent owner passes away and leaves his cokehead son in charge.  Then there's Dale (Charlie Day), a dental assistant who can't work anywhere else because of an unfortunate incident that branded him a sex offender, so he's forced to put up with his employer's incessant sexual advances.  Given the poor economy, Nick, Kurt, and Dale decide it may be easier to kill their bosses rather than start over again at other jobs.  But as they attempt to execute their scheme and their respective superiors, things start to go haywire and the friends realize that their half-baked plans could land them in prison.  It's been awhile since I can remember a film this dark and raunchy be this hysterical.  The story hooks you right from the get-go as the so-called horrible bosses are introduced: first, we meet Nick's boss, played by a superbly despicable Kevin Spacey, who Nick succinctly and hilariously describes as a Total Fucking Asshole (with those 3 words emblazoned on the screen in all caps).  It's from that early scene that you know you're in for something good.  Likewise, Colin Farrell - in a prosthetic gut and bald head rendering him almost unrecognizable - plays an equally detestable human being, with a proclivity for drugs, prostitutes, and karate.  But I was most delightfully surprised by Jennifer Aniston, who was clearly relishing her role as Dale's dirty dentist boss.  The things that came out of this lady's mouth were shocking, and I couldn't help but look forward to the next time she was on screen to hear what crazy thing she would say next.  The movie's premise is decidedly silly, but ultimately it's just a device to get these characters into absurdly laugh-inducing situations.  Perhaps in less capable actors' hands, the bosses would come off as too over-the-top to be enjoyable, but as played by Spacey, Farrell, and Aniston, I just couldn't get enough of these wackjobs.  Bateman, Sudeikis, and Day garner plenty of hearty chuckles, too, but the show truly belongs to the villains and these guys are just along for the crazy ride.  We've all at some point fantasized about terrible misfortunes befalling our own awful managers, and this movie allows us to vicariously experience our darkest fantasies played out on screen.  And when "Horrible Bosses" finally serves up its comeuppance, it's deliciously satisfying.

4 out of 5 stars