Movie Reviews

Totally Redundant

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  • Title: Total Recall (2012)
  • IMDB: link

total-recall-2012-posterA little more than 20 years after Arnold Schwarzenegger and director Paul Verhoeven worked together to give us a theatrical adaptation of Philip K. Dick‘s short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” Sony Pictures decided to tap Underworld director Len Wiseman for a remake. For fans who remember the original Total Recall, this dumbed-down remake will feel unnecessary and bereft of even a hint of intelligence in front, or behind, the camera.

Gone are the dreams of Mars and mutant rebellion. In their place screenwriters Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback give us a dystopian future where the Earth has become largely uninhabitable with the exception of parts of Britain and Australia. Australia, now referred to simply as “The Colony” is the condensed living quarters of all the worlds’ working stiffs including assembly line worker Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell). One of the only bright spots in the film is the imaginative set design that works in futuristic and ancient Asian styles into the creation of The Colony.

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The Dark Knight Rises

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  • Title: The Dark Knight Rises
  • IMDB: link

dark-knight-rises-posterJoel Schumacher killed Batman, at least in the movies, and at least for the better part of a decade. In 2003 the Caped Crusader was still in limbo six years after the theatrical debacle known as Batman and Robin. (One word: Bat-nipples.) Enter Christopher Nolan.

Batman Begins would hit theaters two years later followed up by the critically acclaimed The Dark Knight in 2008 featuring the Oscar-winning performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker. Four years later Nolan releases the third, and final, movie of his Bat-trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, which brings the story of Nolan’s version of Batman full circle.

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To Rome with Love

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  • Title: To Rome with Love
  • IMDB: link

to-rome-with-love-posterThe latest from writer/director Woody Allen is a return to the absurdest formula from his earlier career that crafts a tale of Americans and Italians dealing with love, fame, passion, death, and dreams. Unlike most of the director’s films over the past two decades To Rome with Love is a true ensemble that grabs absurdity with both hands and runs full speed right into a brick wall, producing some glorious insanity and plenty of laughs.

Broken into four separate vignettes, which are not forced to intertwine in the film’s final act (as many Hollywood movies of this type often do), To Rome with Love focuses on the absurdity of love set against the beautiful backdrop of one of Europe’s grandest cities. Given its setting, the film will undoubtedly be compared to last year’s acclaimed Midnight in Paris, but in truth To Rome with Love is far closer to Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (although we sadly don’t get a sequence with Gene Wilder and a sheep).

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The Amazing Spider-Man

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  • Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
  • IMDb: link

After the trainwreck that was Spider-Man 3 Sony decided, rather than allow director Sam Raimi to continue with the character, to reboot the entire franchise. Together director Marc Webb and screenwriters James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, and Steve Kloves were chosen to return Peter Parker to high school.

The result, The Amazing Spider-Man, at times feels very much a retread of Raimi’s Spider-Man as it focuses on a very similar plot and villain. However, Webb’s film makes a number of different choices that make it at least the equal of Raimi’s first Spidey film.

Andrew Garfield is cast in the role of science nerd Peter Parker, a Midtown Science High School student and loner. The film begins with a scene of Peter’s parents (Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz), scientists for Oscorp, leaving Peter with his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) just before they disappear.

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Safety Not Guaranteed

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  • Title: Safety Not Guaranteed
  • IMDb: link

safety-not-guaranteed-poster

Time travel stories are tricky and the number of movies that intelligently discuss the topic are outnumbered by hundreds that don’t (for proof look no further than the pathetic likes of The Time Machine, Timeline, Black Knight, Freejack, and the truly awful adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder). Thankfully, director Colin Trevorrow‘s Safety Not Guaranteed doesn’t fall into this category. Instead, it produces one of the year’s most unexpected and memorable films.

Seattle Magazine reporter (Jake M. Johnson) sells his editor (Mary Lynn Rajskub) on the idea of doing a puff piece on a man  (Mark Duplass) who posted a classified ad looking for a companion for time travel. Roping in two interns (Aubrey Plaza, Karan Soni) to do the actual work, Jeff heads to the coast for his real purpose of a paid vacation and reconnecting with his teenage girlfriend (Jenica Bergere), but the story the threesome uncover turns out to be far more interesting than they expected.

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