3 Razors

Castle – Flowers for Your Grave

  • Title: Castle – Flowers for Your Grave
  • IMDb: link

 

Nathan Fillion‘s new show premiered last night on ABC. In Castle Fillion stars as a mystery/crime novelist who gets called into help the police when a killer begins recreating some of the deaths from the writer’s book. Stana Katic (who you might remember as a cop from The Spirit) plays the detective saddled with fun-loving, and well-schooled, writer.

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The Force isn’t strong with this one

  • Title: Fanboys
  • IMDB: link

fanboys-kristen-bell-posterI’m a self-admitted and unabashed fan of Star Wars and, as such, I really wanted to love Fanboys. Sigh. Sadly it felt like too many people screwed with this cute little project about Star Wars fans until the result was something jumbled and broken, which, is of course, what happened.

The film follows the reunion of young used car salesmen Eric (Sam Huntington) with his old pals (Chris Marquette, Dan Fogler, Jay Baruchel, and Kristen Bell) still rocking to Star Wars years later and counting down the hours and minutes to Episode I: The Phantom Menace. After discovering Linus (Marquette) is dying of cancer and won’t live to see the premiere, Eric and his pals decide to storm the Skywalker Ranch and steal a rough-cut of the film.

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The International (the movie, not the House of Pancakes)

  • Title: The International
  • IMDB: link

the-international-posterThere’s much about The International that works, and almost as much that doesn’t. Still, for a mid-February release it’s much better than expected and one of the few films of the new year worth a look.

Clive Owen stars as an Interpol agent obsessed with bringing down a bank which does shady dealings with both world governments and criminal organizations. Naomi Watts stars as his deskbound partner who, as is often the case in these types of films, hits the streets with him to bring down the bad guys.

Who are these evil-doers he’s willing to risk his life and career to stop? Well, they’re bankers. Um…yeah. As movie baddies go evil bankers ranks slightly below evil party clowns and Elvis impersonators.

Thankfully we’re given Owen who raises the bar here by elevating the script and infusing the character with an obsession both palpatable and a little out of control.

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Gran Torino

  • Title: Gran Torino
  • IMDB: link

gran-torino-posterGran Torino isn’t a bad way for Clint Eastwood the actor to go out (if this is indeed his last starring role), but Eastwood the director lets us down. Walt (Eastwood) is s a recently widowed grumpy old racist living in a neighborhood which has been taken over by the large immigrant population he refers to throughout the film as “gooks,” “chinks,” “zipperheads,” “barbarians,” and other terms of affection. Charming.

Walt is inconvenienced further when he becomes intertwined in the lives of his neighbors, a Hmong family, when the young boy (Bee Vang) is recruited by a local gang to steal Walt’s 1972 Gran Torino. Against his better judgement Walt takes the kid under his wing, finds him a job, and even helps out his sister Sue (Ahney Her) when she gets accosted on the street.

I could go into further detail about the other storylines involving a persistent priest (Christopher Carley) and Frank’s sons and grandchildren with whom he has nothing in common, but each are so predictable simply vaguely mentioning them is all that’s necessary.

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Okay, Man

  • Title: Yes Man
  • IMDB: link

Carl Allen (Jim Carey) is a selfish bastard who never wants to get involved, often ignores his friends (Bradley Cooper, Danny Masterson), and still mourns the loss of his ex-girlfriend (Molly Sims).

One day he runs into a former co-worker (John Michael Higgins) who convinces Carl to check out a Yes seminar run by a guru (Terrence Stamp) who teaches his followers to say yes to everything.  Carl agrees and finds his life suddenly awesome.  He parties with his friends, meets a new girl (Zooey Deschanel), improves his relationship with his boss (Rhys Darby), and generally gets a more positive outlook on life.

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