Hot Tub Time Machine

"Hot Tub Time Machine" is a silly romp with enough sweet touches and heartfelt moments to balance the utter vulgarity and depravity in the movie.  Starring John Cusack, Rob Corddry, and Craig Robinson as three childhood best friends who have grown apart over the years, the guys decide to recharge with a fun-filled weekend at their old haunt.  Each of the men are dealing with their own mid-life crises, and end up going on a bender to try to recreate the heyday of their youth.  As they reminisce over their carefree party days - in the titular hot tub, no less - things get a little too crazy and the guys wake up back in 1986.  We continue to see the characters as they look in the present, while the rest of the folks back in 1986 see them as the teens that they were back then.  At first, the friends are worried about the so-called butterfly effect and are determined to do everything exactly the same way they did it the first time so as not to dangerously alter anything in the future.  However, they soon start to wonder if maybe all this happened for a reason and what they've really been given is a do-over of sorts.  Of course, the entire plot is just a device to set up these funny characters in hilarious, gross-out situations, and the film delivers the goods with several laugh-out-loud scenes (though maybe relies just a little too heavily on naked man butt for its humor).  The standout here is Corddry, who is fantastic at playing the immature, perverted sidekick to Cusack's more sensitive guy.  The three main actors have a great chemistry, and in between all the gags you feel a real connection between them as they ponder where their lives went wrong.  The ending is pretty over-the-top sentimental, but the film doesn't try to be anything it's not.  "Hot Tub Time Machine" is just a fun-filled, nostalgic trip through time for the 12-year old boy in all of us.


3 out of 5 stars

Inception

From writer-director Christopher Nolan ("Memento") comes another mind-bending masterpiece.  Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Cobb, a highly-skilled thief who specializes in the art of "extraction" - the process of stealing information from a person's mind through their dreams.  The movie opens with an intense scene where Cobb is on the job with his right-hand man, Arthur (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), trying to infiltrate the mind of energy tycoon, Saito (Ken Watanabe).  However, this was all just a test to see how good Cobb really is because Saito has another job for him.  The plan is to knock out Saito's competition by using "inception" - the process by which a thought or idea can be secretly planted into someone's subconscious.  The target is Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), son of Saito's terminally-ill corporate rival, who needs to believe that the idea of dismantling his father's empire is his own.  The concept of inception is questionable at best since it has never been proven to even be possible... except by Cobb who claims he has performed inception before.  The key is to go deep enough into the subconscious for the idea to really stick.  To make matters more complicated, Cobb is wanted in the U.S. for murdering his wife, Mal (played by the always radiant Marion Cotillard) and is haunted by her memory, so much so that she often appears in his dreams and sabotages his missions because he cannot control her in his subconscious.  Cobb accepts the mission on the promise that Saito will have all charges against Cobb lifted so that he can finally return home to be with his children.  Cobb's team is comprised of a ragtag group, each member performing a very specific function, including "architect" Ariadne (Ellen Page), "forger" Eames (Tom Hardy), and "chemist" Yusuf (Dileep Rao).  During the dream missions we are told certain rules about how dreams work; for example, we learn that if you die in a dream you immediately wake up but you can still experience pain during the dream if you are hurt.  The genius of Nolan's writing is his meticulous attention to detail as all rules and situtations are explained cleverly and in an organic way, so that you never feel like you are being inundated with information as you are immersed into this foreign world.  The story unfolds at just the right pace, and as Cobb's team delves deeper and deeper into Fischer's mind we also discover more and more secrets from Cobb's dark past.  DiCaprio delivers yet another amazing performance - he has now perfected the role of the tortured soul seeking redemption - and his cathartic journey adds a moving human layer to the already fascinating and gripping plot.  Page also shines as Ariadne - her angel-faced and sympathetic character is the perfect choice to act as Cobb's conscience, and Cotillard's Mal is fiery and fierce with a stare that cuts like a knife.  This is easily the most original story in science-fiction (or any other genre) that I have seen in at least a decade, and I was completely mesmerized during every minute of the two-and-a-half hour running time (which flew by in an instant).  The stunning, jaw-dropping visuals are almost just icing on this already delectable cake.  All I can say is, I can't wait to watch "Inception" all over again.

If I could give this movie more stars I would, but I'll have to settle for:


5 out of 5 stars

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Based on the best-selling novel by Stieg Larsson, this Swedish thriller keeps you on the edge of your seat from the very beginning.  The story begins with our protagonist, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (played by the gruffly superb Michael Nyqvist) being charged with libel after publishing a controversial piece and subsequently being sentenced to prison.  Luckily, he's got some months to kill before actually having to serve his time... just enough time to investigate another high-profile case.  The head of the powerful Vanger Corporation taps Mikael to find out what happened to his beloved niece, Harriet, almost 40 years after her mysterious disappearance.  Unbeknownst to Mikael, the Vanger Corporation has also hired expert hacker Lisbeth Salander (played to sullen and sociopathic perfection by Noomi Rapace) to run a background check on Mikael and make sure he can be trusted.  Through a stroke of luck and sheer genius, Mikael and Lisbeth are unexpectedly thrown together to uncover the secrets of the Vanger family.  Mikael and Lisbeth make an unlikely pair but they complement each other beautifully; watching them discover new clues is like watching a perfectly-executed symphony.  Nyqvist gives Mikael depth and a hard intelligence, while Rapace lets moments of naked vulnerability shine through Lisbeth's angry, hard-shell exterior.  The intriguing and gripping mystery at the center of the film almost plays second-fiddle to the mystery surrounding the two central characters.  A word of caution: The film's intense scenes of sex and violence are not for the faint of heart; the apt (if rather simple) title "Men Who Hate Women" is how the book and film are known in their native Sweden and is indicative of the horrific crimes against women that are depicted.  "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is part of a three-part series of books, known as The Millennium Trilogy, and after watching the first action-packed installment I am on the edge of my seat to see what's next.


5 out of 5 stars

Creation

"Creation" tells the story of one of the greatest minds of all time: Charles Darwin.  Paul Bettany plays Darwin during the period in his life when he was writing his magnum opus, On the Origin of Species.  Unfortunately, this was also a very dark time for Darwin and his wife, Emma (played by Bettany's real-life wife Jennifer Connelly), since they were mourning the death of their eldest daughter, Annie.  More than the great amount of research that went into writing his famous tome, we see the guilt and agony that Darwin experiences as he blames himself for his daughter's death.  He also experiences bouts of depression and hallucinations during this period, and we see him speaking to Annie as if she were still alive.  Meanwhile, the strain in Darwin's marriage that began after Annie's death continues to grow as he works on his research.  Emma is a pious woman who resents Darwin's work because she believes it goes against the word of God.  Bettany is magnificent as Darwin; he is able to both convey Darwin's deep sadness and suffering for Annie as well as his childlike curiosity and wonder at the nature of creatures.  There is an especially moving story within the film about Darwin's relationship with the first orangutan ever brought to the western world.  However, I did wish after watching this film that they went into greater detail of explaining Darwin's work and less time focusing on Annie's demise.  Still, with acting this fine and an interesting take on the controversy surrounding On the Origin of Species - I thought it was clever to show Emma as Darwin's biggest opposer and supporter at the same time - I was pleasantly surprised by this touching film.


3 out of 5 stars

The Runaways

This is the story of the 70’s all-girl punk-rock band The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as front woman Cherie Currie.  Knowing nothing about the history of the band or any of their music, it was really interesting to see how they got started.  The movie starts out following Joan and Cherie, leading separate yet parallel lives on their way to stardom.  Both just 15, we see their shared love for music even before they meet.  Cherie is obsessed with David Bowie, and Joan just wants to rock out.  It was different times back then, a time when girls were only supposed to play acoustic guitars and if you were a girl who wanted to play electric guitar you weren't taken seriously.  Even though the band was formed as some sort of novelty act (much like the boy band surge of the 90's), the girls had musical chops.  Through practice and perseverance, The Runaways paid their dues and gained international fame along the way.  The brains and testosterone behind the operation was their manager Kim Fowley (played by the always intense and creepy Michael Shannon), a sleazy eccentric who exploits the band's youth and sexuality to sell the music.  While the ploy does work, it is at the expense of their innocence, especially for Cherie who succumbs to the excesses of drugs and alcohol and eventually leaves the band.  Fanning does a convincing job of playing Cherie from naive teen to burnt-out junkie, and Stewart is also great at portraying Joan as a girl trying to break through the walls of social convention with a rebel yell.  While the story felt a little formulaic - band rises to fame, band turns to drugs, band breaks up... it's the oldest story in the book - I still really enjoyed the bumpy ride of The Runaways' journey.  It's empowering to see young girls rocking out in a time when they were just expected to put out.


3 out of 5 stars

The Bounty Hunter

“The Bounty Hunter” is one of those movies that you keep watching hoping it will get better or redeem itself at some point and then it never does.  That’s saying a lot considering my hopes for this one were already pretty low.  Jennifer Aniston doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to movies and Gerard Butler can’t seem to be good in any movie that calls for an American accent.  Much like certain people cannot walk and chew gum at the same time, Butler cannot manage to sound American and act at the same time.  Aniston plays Nicole, a plucky reporter on the trail of a hot story.  Butler plays Milo, a down-on-his-luck ex-cop who is trying to make a living as a bounty hunter.  When Nicole misses a court appearance and skips bail in pursuit of a new lead, Milo is put on the job of bringing her in.  Oh, did I mention that Nicole and Milo used to be married?  (Cue ensuing hijinks here.)  The film throws comedic situation after situation at you, along with some action-filled car chases for good measure, and none of it works.  The laughs are so forced that there may as well be someone in the corner of the screen with cue cards for the audience, letting them know when to laugh, cry, or applaud.  And the chemistry between the two leads was non-existent.  The couple is supposed to go from hating each other to loving each other, and I felt like there was no connection whatsoever between Aniston and Butler (contrary to tabloid rumors during and after the filming of this movie).  I could not find a single redeemable quality about this movie... it just gives fun romantic comedies a bad name.


1 out of 5 stars

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 7

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” is really one of those polarizing shows that you either love or hate, and that mostly has to do with its central character, Larry David.  In a role where the actor is essentially playing himself in fictionalized situations, he comes off as the most inappropriate, rude misanthrope that you will ever find on this earth.  And that is the genius of what makes this character so funny… Larry says and does all the things your inner asshole would love to say and do but normal social conventions tell you better not to.  Season 7 picks up shortly after Season 6 left off, with Larry now cohabitating with Loretta Black after his ever-patient wife, Cheryl (Cheryl Hines), finally left him.  All of Larry’s old friends are back for guest appearances (Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, and Richard Lewis, to name a few), plus some new guests (Christian Slater and the entire cast of “Seinfeld”).  The central story line this season is Larry’s engineered plan to win back Cheryl by getting the “Seinfeld” cast back together for a reunion special.  Larry thinks that if Cheryl can just see him back in his element (and maybe if he throws her a bone by casting her in a role), then maybe she’ll take him back.  I won’t spoil it by saying if his plan works or not, but it makes for some pretty hilarious and cringeworthy shenanigans, as usual.  Plus, it is a fantastic excuse to get these 4 great comedic actors – Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards – in the same room again for a reunion that we’ve all been dying to see.  It’s extremely satisfying, and all in all pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.


5 out of 5 stars

Chloe

From director Atom Egoyan (“The Sweet Hereafter”) comes another lurid tale of forbidden sexual desire.  When Catherine (Julianne Moore) suspects her husband David (Liam Neeson) of cheating, she hires a beautiful escort named Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) to seduce him and report the details back to her.  Chloe does her job faithfully at first, but soon she’s doing her job a little too well.  As Chloe’s stories about David become increasingly intense, Catherine finds herself unexpectedly aroused by her husband’s infidelity.  Soon Catherine and Chloe are entrenched in their own affair and you begin to wonder what Chloe’s endgame is.  The film is beautifully shot and heavy on style, but at times it feels like one step above late-night Cinemax (a.k.a. Skinemax) and less like an art-house film.  Egoyan delivers on the hot-and-heavy, and the steamy sex scene between Moore and Seyfried lives up to the hype, but there’s not enough insight into Chloe’s ulterior motives to make this a satisfying psychological thriller.  Moore does an excellent job of bringing Catherine to life.  Catherine is an extremely lonely woman who realizes she and her husband have drifted apart but feels powerless to stop it.  Even though I disliked the character of Catherine at first (she is such a doormat that she can’t even confront her husband and ask him outright if he’s cheating, and on top of that she lets her morose teen son walk all over her), Moore portrays her with such a sadness and quiet desperation that you can’t help but end up sympathizing with her.  Seyfried does her best playing the enigmatic seductress, but we never get a feel for what Chloe is really about.  I think the mystery around Chloe may have more to do with how the character was written and less with Seyfried’s inexperience with playing a femme fatale.  Instead of being fierce, Chloe comes off as vulnerable and confused, and maybe even a little mentally unstable.  In the end, I felt like there was a missing element from this movie that was always just out of reach, and it leaves you feeling a little cold instead of hot and bothered.


3 out of 5 stars

A Single Man

Colin Firth plays George Falconer, a British college professor in 1960s Los Angeles who has just lost his partner of 16 years in a fatal car crash.  It's been 8 months since the accident and George is still reeling from his lover's death.  Matthew Goode plays George's partner, Jim, in flashbacks that show the pair in various stages of coupledom, from sitting together on the couch reading and listening to records, to how they first met.  It's these quiet moments of watching George and Jim doing the most mundane activities that couples do that are the most effective.  Firth is pitch-perfect playing George as a serious, introspective man.  We see George's pain in every glance from Firth, every slight downturn of his mouth.  Firth plays George with incredible restraint, because George himself must be restrained with his emotions; during this period gay men were still closeted, even in L.A., and it is all the more excruciating for George that he must grieve in silence.  The only person he can outwardly share his pain with is his best friend Charlotte (played by the radiant Julianne Moore), a boozy divorcée who drinks to ease the pain of being alone.  First-time director Tom Ford brings his own distinctive style to the film.  He uses an interesting technique (so subtle at first I thought I imagined it) of making the colors on the screen more vivid whenever George is talking to someone, possibly as a metaphor that the only times George is still able to feel alive are during his interactions with others.  As a very well-established fashion designer I think I expected something flashier from Ford, but instead he approached the story (for which he also co-wrote the adapted screenplay) with a delicate manner which was well-suited to the film.  Speaking of suits, Ford of course lends his designs to the wardrobe; George is always impeccably dressed and his perfectly-tailored suits are just another layer of armor to protect himself from the outside world.  George is so reserved and guarded that it is a breath of fresh air when we see him finally have an outburst of emotion, and you almost feel privileged to have caught a glimpse of insight into this single man’s life.


4 out of 5 stars

Eclipse

The third installment of the Twilight Saga finds the human/vampire couple Bella Swan and Edward Cullen basking in their renewed love after spending time apart and narrowly escaping death at the end of the last chapter "New Moon".  However, their happy reunion is short-lived as there are new dangers afoot.  Vengeful vamp Victoria (now played by Bryce Dallas Howard after a mid-sequel casting change) is still after some payback on the Cullen clan for murdering her mate.  This time around, Victoria starts putting together an army of newborn vampires (who are stronger than older vampires because their human blood still lingers in their veins) to go after the Cullens and kill Bella once and for all.  After a series of rash killings and strange disappearances overtake Seattle, Edward and Bella are tipped off to something bad coming... but is it Victoria behind these crimes or the Volturi, coming to collect on the promise that Edward made to change Bella into one of their own?  Bella's humanity is a central issue throughout the Twilight books, but it is the main argument Bella and Edward have in this film as the pair barter and compromise over when the transformation will take place.  The saga is really just a chaste love story at heart.  Bella loves Edward and wants to be with him at all costs, even if that means giving up her human self.  Edward loves Bella and wants to protect her soul at all costs; he is reluctant to change her for this reason, and also wants to wait to have sex until they are married, much to Bella's chagrin.  He loves Bella so much that he is even willing to let her go and choose Jacob (her werewolf bestie) if she so desires.  Of course, we all know who Bella will choose in the end, but Jacob's persistence in winning over Bella and the friction that the love triangle causes between the two alpha males is fun to watch.  Director David Slade ("30 Days of Night") does a fantastic job with keeping the action moving and making the lovey-dovey scenes less saccharine and mopey.  The fight scenes are exhilarating and had me holding my breath at times.  Bella still gets stuck in brooding mode from time to time but Kristen Stewart is a beautiful sulker, and as Bella transitions from girl to woman Stewart plays her with more confidence and maturity than in previous films.  Robert Pattinson does his job well, playing Edward with a smoldering intensity that would make any girl swoon.  As Edward and Bella's impending nuptials loom in the not-so-distant future, the closing scene of "Eclipse" has us Twihards chomping at the bit to see what's next.


4 out of 5 stars

The Wolfman

Based on the 1941 horror classic, "The Wolfman" is as dark and cold as the moors where it takes place.  Starring Benicio Del Toro as Lawrence Talbot, who eventually becomes the titular character, this film is too serious to be taken seriously.  The movie is devoid of any of the fun you would come to expect from a classic creature feature.  Anthony Hopkins costars as Lawrence's father, a grizzly, curmudgeonly old man with secrets to hide.  His character is a rehash of other (better) characters he's played in the past, a watered-down version of the patriarch from "Legends of the Fall" with a little bit of Dr. Van Helsing from "Bram Stoker's Dracula" thrown in for good measure.  Emily Blunt seems equally bored in her role, subjected to stare longingly after people and occasionally give pained, constipated looks.  By making the story so dismal and dreary - not even a hint of tongue-in-cheekness is present here - the film becomes as bound to boredom as The Wolfman himself is bound to the lunar cycle.


2 out of 5 stars

The Crazies

A remake of the 1973 George A. Romero film, "The Crazies" doesn't have many surprises.  Though there is not much to the plot and the story is pretty predictable, the movie still manages to deliver on the typical thrills and chills you would expect from this type of zombie film.  I use the term zombie loosely because the people in this film don't quite turn into your run-of-the-mill zombies.  Instead they just seem a little off at first, until they start seeming a little stranger, and then they are all out crazy and out to kill you, sans the feasting on human flesh - these fuckers just want you dead, the more violent the better.  The first ones to catch on that something isn't quite right in their good ol' small town is Judy, the town doctor (played by Radha Mitchell) and her husband David, the town sheriff (played by Timothy Olyphant).  As usual, there is a government conspiracy involved and all hell breaks loose as the military step in and try to contain the situation.  David and Judy fight tooth and nail to survive and make it out of their town alive, all the while battling crazies that jump out from every corner.  The enjoyment lies in seeing the couple narrowly escape death time and time again, and both actors are convincing in playing the folks in peril.  As it gets harder and harder to get creative and original with movies in this sub-genre of horror films, "The Crazies" makes a decent addition to the zombie film collection.


3 out of 5 stars