Arts and Culture (Movie Reviews)

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 3/17/11

Rango

A hilarious western cartoon spoof sure to haunt the dreams of young children

Rango (voiced by Johnny Depp: The Tourist) is a chameleon with an identity crisis. Kept in captivity, he makes himself the hero of elaborate plays, using a Barbie torso, a windup fish and a dead bug as a supporting cast. His bleak little theater troupe is shattered, literally, when his tank falls out of his owner’s car and lands on a desert highway. Bewildered by new surroundings, Rango meets Roadkill (Alfred Molina: The Tempest), an armadillo partially flattened on...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 3/10/11

Take Me Home Tonight

Do you love the 1980s? Then skip this movie.

Poor Matt Franklin (Topher Grace: Predators) is having a bummer of a year. After graduating from MIT, Matt decides to forgo a career working for the corporate machine. Instead, he works at the mall’s Suncoast Video — which is a corporation, but don’t tell Matt — and makes plans for his future. Matt sees his opportunity to turn his loser luck around when his high school crush, Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer: I Am Number Four), visits the store. He lies...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 3/3/11

Drive Angry 3D

Fast cars, naked women and explosions add up to a surprisingly dull ride

Drive Angry 3D After winning the best actor Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas, Nicolas Cage decided to become an action star. For 14 years, Cage has made a career out of kicking ass and taking names. Yet the actor never seems comfortable playing the badass. His oddly nuanced voice and pregnant pauses come off as uncertainty instead of a quirky character trait. If Cage can’t convince himself he’s an action star, what chance does he have of convincing the audience?...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/24/11

Unknown

An excellent cast struggles to elevate a spy thriller that thinks it’s smarter than it is

Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson: The Next Three Days) is having a bad day. After realizing that he’s left his briefcase, containing vital information for a bio-medical conference he’s speaking in, at the Berlin Airport, he leaves his wife (January Jones: Mad Men) at their hotel to retrieve the case. One cab crash and concussion later, Martin wakes from a four-day coma and returns to his wife and the conference. Only one problem: His wife doesn’t know him....

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/17/11

The Mechanic

Two hitmen make mincemeat out of the company that betrayed them in this highly entertaining shoot-em-up

In a South American cartel compound, a wealthy drug jeffe dives into the blackened waters of his swimming pool. As his guards carelessly look away, he is caught by a scuba-geared assailant and drowned. Changing from scuba gear to a kitchen uniform, the assassin slips past the dozens of armed guards, who stare bewilderedly at their expired leader. It’s ridiculous, yes, but it’s also pretty damn entertaining. The Mechanic casts Jason Statham (...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/10/11

The Company Men

An economic downturn upends three corporate Americans in this redemptive recession drama

In the wake of 2010’s unyielding recession and the threat of a takeover, conglomerate GTX decides to secure the company’s bottom line by laying off thousands of workers. GTX doesn’t see people. It sees falling profits and nervous investors. By trimming non-essential jobs, the CEOs can keep their private jets, $500 lunches and mahogany-trimmed offices while also fending off corporate raiders. Turns out, most laid-off people believe their jobs are essential. As the cuts go...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/3/11

The Rite

A few Hail Marys might have saved this horror movie

Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue: The Tudors) doesn’t want to join the family funeral business. To escape this morbid life, Kovak joins a seminary, hoping for a free education. As far as the drawbacks — the whole celibacy thing, the fact that he doesn’t believe in God — Kovak figures he’ll just quit before he makes his vows. What does the church do when this Doubting Thomas tries to quit? They send him to an exorcism class in Rome. Why a priest with actual...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 1/27/11

The Green Hornet

A fun action flick with a buzzkill for a lead

In Seth Rogen’s (Funny People) latest leading role, which he wrote for himself, he creates a superhero with all the personality faults of Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man but without any of the charm or competence. It’s a bold choice to craft a possible superhero franchise around a tiresome jerk, but Rogen relishes the challenge. The film tells the story of Britt Reid (Rogan), the son of a newspaper magnate who hates his father and wants to save people. When his father...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 1/20/11

Blue Valentine

Come for a love story, stay for an emotional evisceration

Blue Valentine isn’t a romantic drama; it’s a horror movie for romantics. Derek Cianfrance’s (Cagefighter) film asks questions that most modern romantic movies attempt to avoid: What happens to a married couple when they fall out of love? What if you’re not meant to be with the person you married? The answers to these questions are often painful, messy and uncomfortable. So is Blue Valentine. But it stirs up all of these emotions without once turning into a melodrama....

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 1/13/11

Season of the Witch

A B-movie with an A-List cast earns a failing grade

A priest, some crusaders and a witch wander into the woods. Turns out the joke is on whoever pays to see the movie. An overwrought, overstuffed tale of medieval mysticism, Season of the Witch fails on every possible level, from storytelling to acting to star Nicolas Cage’s improbable hairpiece. The film follows two Crusade deserters, Behman (Cage: Kick Ass) and Felson (Ron Perlman: Tangled), who return to their homeland only to find that the Black Plague has ravaged the people. The clergy...