The Reel World

"There are dark days ahead."

When Marc Webb took over the reigns of Spider-Man over at Sony, I had very mixed feelings. I was a pretty big fan of the comic as a kid, and the Raimi films were a pretty exciting time for me. OK, maybe not the third one. Webb came along and he put a fresh spin on the web-spinner by returning much of the story to its roots. I liked his first film, although it hasn't aged as well for me as the Raimi films did. But you can't get much better than Spider-Man, and I watched with diminishing anticipation as word leaked out bit by bit what Webb and Sony had in store for Peter Parker beyond The Amazing Spider-Man.

They don't make good romantic comedies anymore. The Other Woman is not a romantic comedy. It is a comedy...about three women having a romance with the same man. But the three women find out about each other and bond together in a “Sismance”. That's not a word, and it doesn't sound as good as bromance, but there you have it. Part of the problem is they don't make enough movies just for women, and that's what this is. It's a charming trifle along the lines of The First Wife's Club. There is always a creepy guy at the center, so creepy guys beware. It's a revenge comedy part of the time.

Cameron Diaz (Carly Whitten) is a high-powered lawyer who thinks she's found good boyfriend material in Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Mark King). He's a rich business developer who blows off a date because he's juggling too many women. Diaz's father, played by Don Johnson, suggests she fix King's pipes herself in Connecticut (since that was the boyfriend's excuse). Diaz finds Leslie Mann (Kate King) as the unsuspecting wife. Diaz didn't know and isn't happy, but she's over it. Leslie is not over it. She freaks out when she finds out her husband is cheating on her. She is floundering and out of control. Leslie doesn't know what to do. Then Cameron and Leslie find out there is mistress number three, Kate Upton (Amber).

Being the last film completed by Paul Walker before his passing, fans are getting the chance to see their star up on the big screen before he takes his final bow in Fast & Furious 7. The only Paul Walker film that managed to get me excited was Running Scared. It was dark and gritty, and I feel director Wayne Kramer pulled a great performance out of Walker. Looking to Brick Mansions, a remake of the parkour French hit District B-13, it seemed like Walker could possibly have another teeth-cutting performance. But that’s not the case.

The Brick Mansions is an area of Detroit that was given its name after a spike in crime. It was decided this rundown area of Detroit should be walled in, keeping its violent criminals and drug dealers in and its law-abiding citizens out. Even in the land of the lawless there has to be a leader, and within the Brick Mansions that leader is Tremaine (RZA). He's the perfect leader within these walls since he’s a drug dealer who has convinced himself he’s both a businessman and a leader.

I have to be honest. Director Richard Shepard probably lost me in the first 10 seconds of Dom Hemingway. I can't help believing that my opinion was shaded a bit as I watched Jude Law as the titular character rambling some nonsensical dialog while having himself "taken care of" by a fellow inmate in prison. It's an image that lives with you long after the scene is done. Surprisingly, I did start to settle in for what looked like a more promising ride than I had first believed. And for about 40 minutes it actually became an almost good film.

Dom Hemingway (Law) is a safecracker who has been in prison for 12 years. He was a loyal crook who didn't roll over on anyone else. Now that he's out, he expects to be rewarded for his loyalty. He also hopes to make it up to his now-adult daughter Evelyn (Clarke). It doesn't look like that's going to be easy. In fact, none of it is going to be easy. Getting new work is hard, because safes have gone electronic since he's been away, and an audition where he bests his privates against a job is handled with absurd cleverness that only backfires.

There is nothing wrong with your movie screen. Jonathan Glazer controls all that you see and hear. That tiny speck of light you see is just the beginning. The beginning of an experience you will not soon forget. The light appears distant...cold... foreboding. It's coming closer to us, or we are coming closer to it. The distant star grows while you are assaulted with some of the most bizarre sounds you have ever heard. It's somewhat uncomfortable. You squirm in your seat. The light grows; its alien forms finally settles into an unexpected familiar form. Still, it's all rather unsettling. Jonathan Glazer controls more than all you see and hear. For the next two hours he controls your sanity... your very humanity.

Your introduction to Under The Skin explains little. There are some general ideas you'll begin to assemble. You'll figure out rather quickly that Scarlett Johansson is an alien. The characters you'll encounter have no names. Many of them will not speak. After the first sensory experience the film fools you into believing you're back on solid ground. Scarlett Johansson drives about the streets of Scotland talking to strange men. She asks directions and inquires about any family or friends they might have. It doesn't take us long to understand that she's hunting, attempting to separate a single prey from the pack. Before she snares her first victim, we know exactly what she's doing, even if we never understand completely why.

Let me say something about myself. I have a saying. Atheists are stupid and agnostics are smart. The reason agnostics are smart is because they know they don't know. Faith is belief. The problem is that this is a cynical age. There are so many people who are atheists because they can cite facts about the universe and science. I always think it's absurd to hear an atheist talk, because they are so insulting to anyone who doesn't agree with them. So am I an agnostic? I would say I am not. I have faith, but I will say that it is not an easy or blind faith. I have examined all areas of the unknown which includes a wide variety of religions and various scientific investigations. My problem with atheists is that human knowledge is limited. It has grown tremendously, especially in the last century, but the more we learn, the more we open new unexamined areas of knowledge. I'm going to have to come back to that.

Heaven Is for Real is a sincere and enjoyable film of faith. It's about a family of four who live in a beautiful Nebraska farmland countryside. Todd (Greg Kinnear) and Sonja (Kelly Reilly) Burpo have two lovely young children. They live in a place that seems like heaven. Todd works as a pastor for the local church, a repair man, a volunteer fireman and whatever else he has to do to make ends meet. He is not making ends meet. His four-year-old son gets a ruptured appendix which has complications in emergency surgery. Everyone thinks Colton (Conor Corum) will die, and when the boy finally pulls through, everyone is overjoyed. Colton's life goes back to normal except for some things he starts remembering. He remembers seeing Jesus on a horse, angels, and a sister he never knew he had.

"Hi, little guys."

There was a time, decades ago when Walt Disney Studios was doing quality documentaries on a pretty regular schedule. Many of them appeared on the television show The Wonderful World Of Disney, and more than a few were released as feature films. And while that tradition has continued somewhat, it's been a while since I was truly impressed by a Disney documentary. That all changes with the release of Bears.

Just about any project that Christopher Nolan has any attachment to is going to get my attention.  And from the first glimpses of the film in the early teasers, Transcendence always felt like a film Nolan would seem right at home making.  Instead taking the helm for the first time as director is Wally Pfister.  Though this may be his first time in the director’s chair, Pfister is no stranger to working on pictures of large scale; after all, he’s been Nolan’s director of photography since Memento back in 2000.  So how does Pfister do with his first at bat?  Well, it could be a lot worse…

The film opens up in the not-too-distant future where technology has become a thing of the past.  Man is now forced to go on with their lives without the use of computers, and the relics of technology are nothing more than doorstops.  But what could have happened to make this world technology-free?  Well, to answer that the film jumps back five years, and that is where the story begins.

When I saw the trailer for this film a while back, I was intrigued by what I saw.  Sure, we’ve seen the haunted mirror film before, but that doesn’t bother me; I actually enjoy the notion of haunted mirrors and the notion that what we see in the reflection may not necessarily be real.  With Oculus they take the idea of altered perception and play with us the viewer, and I have to admit I liked everything that this film had to offer; unfortunately what the film actually delivers is something entirely different.

When we first meet Tim (Garrett Ryan) and Kaylie (Annalise Basso) they are simply little kids hiding and scared of something in their home.  Peeking out through the safety of their room, they see a man walking around with a gun.  These are only glimpses to the story that will later unfold for us.  With a jump to present day we meet an older Tim (Brenton Thwaites) who is finally being released from a mental facility; after all these years of therapy, he’s come to terms with these terrible event from his past and simply needs to accept there are no monsters or ghosts.  Unfortunately for Tim his sister (now played by Karen Gillan), who has led what appears to be a privileged life yet obsessed over the past, believes that a mirror that once hung in their home is evil, and it’s her mission to reveal the truth and kill it.

When I first experienced The Raid it was a film that simply put my jaw to the floor in awe of the action spectacle.  The Raid was everything I could have wanted in an action film, fun gun play and intense bare-knuckle martial arts brutality just about from start to finish.  This is the kind of film that after you see it you simply have to tell your friends about it and simply gush over simply how awesome and cool this movie is.  So when I first heard about a sequel in the works, already I was excited.  And when the first trailer dropped for the sequel, it teased us with visuals that promised not just an escalation of action but a film that was on a much larger scale.  And just what has director delivered us?  A film that not only exceeds in scope, but this time he brings us a story about family, honor, and revenge.  It’s a tale so cleverly told and through the eyes of a director who seems to challenge himself from one film to the next, where if you were to compare Gareth Evens to Sergio Leone, The Raid would be his Fistful of Dollars and The Raid 2 could stand right up there with The Good The Bad and The Ugly.

The Raid 2 opens up just hours following the events that occurred in the first film.  Rama (Iko Uwais) wants to take down his Captain but instead finds himself caught up in an undercover investigation that puts him in position to take down more dirty cops, only to get Rama where he needs to be he is given a new identity and is thrust into the prison world where he needs to forge a connection with Uco, the son of a crime boss.  Making matters worse, Rama discovers his brother has been killed, but there is no time for revenge since the man responsible for killing his brother also happens to be connected to Uco.  This thirst for revenge is what drives Rama.  His time behind bars isn’t easy as we see him singlehandedly taken on a horde of prisoners kicking and pounding on his bathroom stall.  But in these films I don’t really see him as a simple man; he’s a force of nature who takes on all comers and leaves them broken and bloody.