Anne Hathaway stars as a grief counselor whose latest clients, the only ten survivors of a plane-crash, begin to develop unusual abilities. Patrick Wilson, David Morse, Andre Braugher, Dianne Wiest, and William B. Davis also star. The film opens everywhere on Friday.
Kristin Scott Thomas stars as a murderer released from prison after 15 years who moves in with her estranged sister (Elsa Zylberstein). Serge Hazanavicius, Laurent Grevill, Frederic Pierrot, and Claire Johnston also star. Check out the official site. The film, presented in French and English with English subtitles, opens in limited release in select cities on Friday. Larger trailer available in the Full Diagnosis.
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Sometimes I think the best job in the world would be as a writer for video games. The plots don’t have to make sense, you don’t have to worry about logic or character development and the story is always a distant third to gameplay and effects. If this is true then the hardest job around just might be the guy who has to take the nonsensical storyline of a video game and attempt to turn it into a feature film. The result, more often than not, is something like Max Payne
The film is based on the Max Payne video game, so stay with me as I attempt to explain the plot.
Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg) is a police detective assigned as a file clerk to the Cold Case room in the bowels of the department. Mostly Max looks angry/constipated as he sits at his desk going over files and in his spare time tries to solve the murder of his wife (Marianthi Evans) and daughter.
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Oliver Stone‘s biopic on George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) is a bit of a mixed bag. On one side you have a terrific lead performance by Brolin and strong performances by Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush and James Cromwell as Geroge Herbert Walker Bush. On the other hand you’ve got a group of caricatures from the likes of Thandie Newton, Scott Glenn, Ioan Gruffudd, Toby Jones, and Jeffrey Wright, among others, all of which seem to belong more on a parody sketch from MADtv than a feature film.
Also, and perhaps more surprising, is that Oliver Stone, the guy who gave us an epic conspiracy in JFK and the foibles which brought down a president in Nixon, doesn’t have much to say about W.
Stone’s basic premise is George is a dumbshit with a daddy complex better suited to be a used car salesman who became president. That’s not exactly breaking news. And although there are some good scenes throughout the film, Stone doesn’t really offer much insight into the character as he’s too busy poking fun at everyone involved.
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Ian (Josh Zuckerman) is a senior in high school and still a virgin much to the dismay of his best bud Lance (Clark Duke) and his over-agressive brother Chet, I mean Rex (James Marsden doing a spot-on imitation of Bill Paxton from Weird Science).
Ian’s life is complicated in his hidden feelings for his best friend Felicia (Amanda Crew) who has a crush on Lance. The threesome pile in Chet’s car for a road trip together to get Ian hooked up with a girl he met online (Katrina Bowden) and hilarity, or vague resemblance to it, ensues.
The film is exactly what you expect it to be, no more and no less. It’s a braindead teenage love story filled with odd humor (Ian dressed up as a donut), the inevitable trip to jail, embarrassing situations, some hot chicks (Alice Greczyn, Jessica Just), crazy people met on the road (David Koeschner, Dave Sheridan, Seth Green), and a slow realization from all the characters about who they are and who they truly belong with. Awwww…
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