Devil

Why do awful things happen for no apparent reason?  According to this movie, it's the devil at work wreaking havoc on people who deserve to be punished.  After an unusual suicide at a highrise downtown office building, Det. Bowden (Chris Messina) is called in to investigate the scene.  Coincidentally, five strangers get stuck in an elevator in the same building, and start getting picked off one by one.  But who is the killer among them, and will Det. Bowden be able to save them in time?  The plot's premise is based on old Catholic beliefs of the devil as a mythical bogeyman.  One of the building's security guards explains how his mother used to tell him stories of the devil and signs to look out for warning that the devil is near - explanations that are cringe-inducing and laughable at best.  The tension that the story tries to build by trapping these people in close quarters and then watching them each get brutally murdered is diffused by the fact that we know and care nothing about these characters until near the end of the film, and by then you've lost all interest in their back stories or any relevant connection between them.  There are a few good thrills and a definite creepy vibe, but overall the story is too nonsensical to be taken seriously.  When Det. Bowden first hears the security guard spouting his theories about the devil being behind these unexplained murders, he responds by saying that he doesn't believe in the devil because mankind is capable of doing bad things all on their own.  And he's absolutely right; the proof is this movie.


2 out of 5 stars

The Social Network

From acclaimed director, David Fincher ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") comes this fiercely smart biographical drama about the spawning of Facebook.  Jesse Eisenberg stars as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who is just a sophomore at Harvard when the story begins.  Zuckerberg is an arrogant, socially inept guy who we see get unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend in the opening scene of the film.  It's this break-up that inspires Zuckerberg to go on an angry, drunken blogging rampage while hacking into his school's student directories to create a distasteful ranking of female students based on their hotness.  While this clever stunt lands Zuckerberg in trouble with the university authorities, it also plants the seed for what will become the most ingenious social network ever created.  The question is, who had the idea for Facebook first, and ultimately, who's entitled to reap the profits?  As with any story worth telling, there's always two (or more) sides, and this story is no exception.  Written and told with razor-sharp dialogue (as only scribe, Aaron Sorkin, could pull off), the story centers around Zuckerberg and his relationship with best friend, Eduardo Saverin (an adorably sincere Andrew Garfield).  It's through this friendship that we really get a sense of what type of person Zuckerberg is: narcissistic, with a superiority complex to hide his inner inferiority complex, and utterly brilliant.  Eisenberg - who up until now has mostly played the nebbishly awkward, sensitive guy - humanizes Zuckerberg by portraying him at times as a hurt, lost puppy, and the rest of the time like a great white shark, preying upon the intellectually inferior with all the power his great mind is capable of wielding.  Whether you end up loving or hating his character, Eisenberg captures Zuckerberg's fascinating charisma to the core.  Justin Timberlake also brings allure to the screen by playing Napster founder Sean Parker, an intoxicating and highly persuasive personality who eventually leads Zuckerberg to turn his back on his one and only friend.  Will we ever know the true story of how Facebook came to be?  Probably not (as most of the parties involved in arbitration signed away all rights to publicly discuss the matter as part of their settlements).  But the version of the truth told here is an absorbing tale of friendships, fame, and betrayals that shines a whole new light on the modern pastime that is now seen as rote in most of America's eyes.


5 out of 5 stars

Frozen

Two best friends, Dan and Joe, and Dan's girlfriend, Parker, hit the slopes for a weekend of fun at a scenic New England ski resort.  Joe (Shawn Ashmore) is a bit sour at Dan (Kevin Zegers) for making Parker (Emma Bell) tag along on their boys' weekend, but the trio decide to make the best of it and enjoy the day skiing and snowboarding.  As nightfall approaches, they decide to get one last run in before closing - against the chair-lift operator's better judgement.  When the employee leaves for a break, Dan, Parker, and Joe are mistakenly left dangling in mid-air as the resort shuts down, with no one scheduled to return for days.  Will the three friends manage to survive the extreme cold long enough to find help?  This intense thriller, directed by Adam Green (who also directed the low-budget, mediocre slasher film, "Hatchet"), is about as taut and suspenseful as they come.  With elements of horror thrown in, the story unfolds with one terrifying predicament after another as Dan, Parker, and Joe struggle to stay alive and escape from their frozen deathtrap at any cost.  The actors are a bit stiff and generic in the opening scenes of the movie, but become more believable once the real action begins.  The plot is a little far-fetched, of course - how negligent are these resort employees, anyway?  Law suit, anyone? - but all that is quickly forgotten as you watch these unfortunate college kids stranded with no one to hear their cries for help, facing certain death, completely and utterly scared and alone.  "Frozen" delivers on the spine-tingling chills and thrills and will keep you petrified until the last scene.  Just be forewarned... you'll never want to go skiing again.


4 out of 5 stars

Salt

Angelina Jolie stars in this fast-paced action thriller directed by Phillip Noyce ("The Quiet American", "Rabbit-Proof Fence").  Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA operative who was held prisoner some years back while on a mission in North Korea.  While there, she meets and falls in love with her mark and subsequently ends up marrying him after her rescue.  Now, Salt is happily juggling married life and her job, despite her incredibly dangerous line of work.  But when a mysterious stranger breaks into the CIA and claims that Salt is a Russian sleeper agent, she must go on the run to prove her innocence and find her husband before the people trying to frame her get to him first.  Jolie is simply electrifying in this movie and plays Salt with equal parts calculated hardness and vulnerablity.  In a role that was originally written for a man (and briefly linked to Tom Cruise), it definitely lends itself well to a female lead, and Jolie proves that she can easily go toe-to-toe with any male in the action genre arena.  Noyce - who, up until this point, has mostly done quiet thrillers - also demonstrates his adeptness here at creating edge-of-your-seat chase sequences (my heart was in my throat during most of a scene involving Salt jumping from car-top to car-top on a double-decker highway).  All that would make for a fairly-satisfying, mindless spy flick, if there wasn't also a pretty intelligent script with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing.  Throw in a couple of seasoned actors as Salt's colleagues - the always amazing and reliably competent Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor - and you've got the perfect formula for a smart action thriller.  "Salt" is high-speed, nail-biting fun, with a charismatic heroine, and a cleverness that won't have you feeling devoid of a few brain cells afterwards.


4 out of 5 stars