Movie Reviews

Smart People Can Be Dumb Too

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Smart People
  • IMDB: link

“You told me my paper was sophomoric.  I was a freshman.”
“That’s not what sophomoric means.”

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The basic premise of the film is that smart people can be dumb too.  As premises go, it’s not exactly insightful.

Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a grumpy professor of English literature who finds himself in need of assistance after an accident involving his car, the campus impound lot, and a fence.  His children are both as miserable as he is (although the film is less sure why) including his Young Republican daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page) and his son (Ashton Holmes) who wants to be a poet.  Enter Lawrence’s brother, by adoption, Chuck (Thomas Hayden Church) the free spirit and a former student, now doctor (Sarah Jessica Parker), to further stir the pot.

I know these characters; you know these characters.  We’ve seen them in countless films.  We’ve got the grump who learns to care.  The uptight kid.  The misunderstood kid.  The smart and attractive woman entering their screwed-up world.  And the dummy with more simple wisdom then all of them combined.

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Street Kings

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Street Kings
  • IMDB: link

“We can get these guys!”

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Detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) is a problem solver.  Part of a specially trained unit put together by his boss (Forest Whitaker), Tom is asked to do the dirty work which needs to be done.

Tom’s life gets complicated when a former member of the unit (Terry Crews) is killed while he is tailing him and looking for payback.  Tom instantly becomes part of an Internal Affairs investigation led by Hugh Lurie (without a cane), is forced to destroy evidence, and begins questioning his role as a cop as he searches for the killers who no one wants found.

This film, based on a story by James Elroy, has been passed around Hollywood for years before landing in the lap of director David Ayer.  What he gives us is an okay action flick which wants desperately to also be a stark drama, for which they cast Keanu Reeves.  Reeves does what he can with the material, but he isn’t able to elevate it to make it mean something more. At least it’s better than Ayer’s last attempt at a self-destructive cop on the edge (read that review).

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Leatherheads

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  • Title: Leatherheads
  • IMDb: link

“The game of professional football has come of age.”

The year was 1925 and professional football was a joke and losing money fast.  Out of money and options Dodge Connelly (George Clooney), the owner, captain, and marketer of the Duluth Bulldogs, comes up with a plan to save the sport by offering college stand-out and war hero Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski) a spot on the team.

The film has both big jokes and a sly wit.  Dodge, it turns out, is the game’s best promoter, and does what it takes to make his meal-ticket into a star even at the cost of his own glory.  Although the film takes pleasure in Dodge’s loosing influence over the team and the sport, if you watch closely you will also notice Dodge slowly helping out and making sure it’s Carter’s play which gets celebrated.

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The Ruins

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  • Title: The Ruins
  • IMDB: link

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Scott Smith adapts his own novel for the screen, and maybe he should farm himself out for other projects because if he can do this good a job with a screenplay about a some dumb kids and a plant think what he could do for the countless other horror scripts out their which need some serious help.

Two couples (Jonathan Tucker and Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore and Laura Ramsey) on vacation in Mexico learn there are more things to be afraid of than the local water.

A chance encounter with a German (Joe Anderson) leads the group on an expedition of a recently uncovered Mayan temple deep in the jungle.  Despite the distance the group makes it to the temple only to find themselves attacked by a local tribe and quarantined for their exposure to the forbidden locale.  Surveying the scene and searching for the archaeological team leads some of the members into the temple and to uncover the reason why the locals fear the place and will make sure nothing leaves the area.

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Nim’s Island

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Nim’s Island
  • IMDB: link

“Be the hero of your own life story.”
 

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Abigail Breslin stars as Nim, a headstrong young girl with a good heart who lives on a deserted island with her reclusive scientist of a father (Gerard Butler).  When her father is delayed on an expedition Nim asks for help from the most logical source – the hero of her favorite novels Alex Rover (also played by Gerard Butler).

Nim’s cries for help do not reach Alex Rover adventurer, but Alexandria Rover (Jodie Foster) author.  Alexandria suffers from acute agorophobia, motion sickness, and a host of other issues which makes it impossible for her to help Nim, but she can’t turn the child down.  And so with her make-believe hero in tow (also, quizzically, played by Butler) Alexandria begins a trip by boat, plane, and helicopter, to help.

Nim’s situation if further complicated by a cruise ship who decides to stop on the island and let its passengers enjoy the beach.  Unwilling to allow this encroachment into her home, Nim forms a plan with the help of her animal companions to turn away the invaders.

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