Movie Reviews

Inception

  • Title: Inception
  • IMDB: link

The latest from writer/director Christopher Nolan is complicated, reality bending, multi-layered look inside the world of unconscious imagination. In the near future the ability to enter into an individual’s dreams and extract information has become a profitable, but highly illegal, enterprise. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Dom Cobb the leader of a group of experts who are the best at this type of information extraction.

As Cobb’s past catches up with him, both in the real world and that of his dreams, he’s offered a single chance to reclaim the life which was taken from him if he can perform the impossible: Inception. The idea is not to steal information from the latest subject, the heir to a business empire (Cillian Murphy), but instead implant an idea in his mind which will grow naturally and change one choice in the real world which could mean billions for Cobb’s client.

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Cyrus

  • Title: Cyrus
  • IMDB: link

At a time when lo-fi music is getting a lot of attention from critics and listeners alike, it’s not surprising to find a similar movement emerging from film. Dubbed “Mumblecore,” these movies forsake high production value for handheld, affordable cameras and a production style that emphasizes improvisation – whether it be camera angles or dialogue. The posterboys for Mumblecore are Jay and Mark Duplass, two brothers that have gotten some attention for their movies including Baghead, and last year’s Humpday (both of which are availible of Netflix Streaming.) They’ve come far enough that, despite taking advantage of low-budget limitations to inform their films’ style, their newest film, Cyrus, was actually financed by a major studio.

Whereas you can easily imagine filmmakers doing totally different things with their budgets when they expand from five to seven digits, it turns out that Cyrus keeps the same aesthetic. The only difference here is that, instead of using themselves and their friends as actors, Cyrus has some pretty well-known talent in front of the camera.

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Despicable Me

  • Title: Despicable Me
  • IMDB: link

Pixar seems to have cornered the market on family films that provide equal measure of comedy and action with the kind of dramatic moments assured to pull at your heartstrings. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a niche left to be filled. Sometimes you just want to sit down to an animated film and have fun (without that punch to the soul or shedding a tear). For those looking for good kid films filled with plenty of laughs and paced within an inch of their life you could do far worse than Despicable Me

Gru (Steve Carell) is a super-villain who never quite hit it big. Sure he’s caused trouble with his freeze ray at the local Sarbucks or terrorized traffic with his giant tank-like automobile. And with the help of his legion of minions he’s stolen small artifacts from around the world. But Gru has never made the big score, and his chances are running out as new, younger super villains like Vector (Jason Segel) are looking to take his place. His latest scheme involving a shrink ray and an attempt to steal the moon may be his last chance to grab the fame which has forever eluded him.

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(Hopefully) The Last Airbender

  • Title: The Last Airbender
  • IMDb: link

For his latest disaster movie writer/director M. Night Shyamalan adapts the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Remember when he gave us great films (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) filled with tension, plots which sucked you in, strong characters, and great performances? Don’t expect any of those things here.

Although it boasts its share of unintentionally funny moments, The Last Airbender isn’t even bad in a fun way. It’s tedious, head-scratching, amateurish, poorly conceived and even less ably enacted on screen. This concept, and its combination of martial arts, philosophy, and fantasy, might work in 20 minute animated segments but it doesn’t translate well to a live-action feature-length film.

The story involves four nations each based off of one the four elements (easily color coded for the slower viewers). Some of each tribe have the ability to control, or bend, the element of their tribe. How rare a gift, and how easy an ability it is to use, varies wildly throughout the film.

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Knight and Day

  • Title: Knight and Day
  • IMDb: link

Tom Cruise is crazy. Crazy I tell you! And he’s soooo dangerous! Or is he? That’s the basic theme of Knight and Day which enlists Cruise to play the burned-out spy gone mad who happens upon the unsuspecting June (Cameron Diaz) on her way to her sister’s (Maggie Grace) wedding. One thing leads to another (don’t you hate it when a plane full of trained killers tries to take you out in mid-air?) and suddenly June is seeing much more of Roy (Cruise) than she bargained for.

In film, as in life, charm can both overcome and hide a number of flaws. And Cruise and Diaz make for a charming on-screen couple. Just not quite charming enough to hide a level of ridiculousness that even The A-Team dared not go. At no time should you attempt to think through the chain of events you are presented with which rely on the kind of dumb luck, chance, opportunity and fate you only find in movies of this genre.

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