The Reel World

Whenever the TV spots for Alex Cross promise that the movie features “Tyler Perry as you’ve never seen him before,” I can’t help but snarkily add “…in men’s clothing!” To put it lightly, I had my doubts when I heard the wildly successful actor/producer/director/playwright/crossdresser would be stepping into the title role, previously played on screen by Oscar winner Morgan Freeman. (Especially when Perry replaced the great Idris Elba on this project, though my giant man-crush on Elba possibly clouded my judgment.)

Following Freeman’s portrayal of Alex Cross, the idea was to reboot the character with a younger actor in hopes of kickstarting a new action franchise. Perry stars as Cross, author James Patterson's brilliant detective/psychologist. Cross and Detroit Police Department colleagues Tommy (Edward Burns) and Monica (Rachel Nichols) square off against a murderous psychopath known as Picasso (Matthew Fox), who specializes in pain and torture.

"Bad things happen to good people, and they deserve to have their stories told."

I have to say that the horror film market has disappointed me of late. With October in full swing, I expect to be exposed to all kinds of horror films, from unknown independent projects to the standard franchise entries that pop up every year around this time. The trouble is that the films I've seen at the theaters so far have either been very disappointing or not really horror films at all. Thankfully, Sinister is not disappointing, and it is a straight-out horror movie in the tradition of films like The Ring.

Ever since Ben Affleck stepped behind the camera and took on the role of director, I’ve found myself not only becoming a fan of his work but believing the man has greatness ahead of him.  When I first watched Gone Baby Gone, I was more than a little impressed; after all, it was his first time at the helm.  But then Affleck released his follow-up film, The Town, and it blew me away.  Sure, there were some great movies that came out that year, but the fact that it didn’t make the list of best picture nominees I just can’t understand.  But with the release of Argo it would seem the Academy will have a chance to right that wrong and shower this film with plenty of adoration.  Sure, this is pretty much a shoe-in for the best picture nomination, but not just because it’s great, but really, what is the competition?

There is a lot that I enjoyed, and dare I say loved, about the film.  As the old Warner Bros. logo appeared on the screen I got a little excited.  No time is wasted, thrusting us right into the middle of a protest growing out of hand, outside the US Embassy in Iran.  The opening works great as the tension builds between the protestors and the Americans doing all they can to destroy all the confidential files they have on hand. With time running out before the embassy is over run, six Americans manage to escape taking refuge with the Canadian ambassador (Victor Garber).

To his credit, Tim Burton has managed to keep the art of stop motion alive and well in Hollywood. He's also proven that it can still be quite effective and just as commercial with such classics as A Nightmare Before Christmas. Since that time he's had a modest number of hits and misses but nothing that has come close to the holiday staple...until now. Frankenweenie is destined to become a Halloween tradition at our house, and I suspect I'm not alone.

Of course, Frankenweenie isn't exactly a brand new idea. In 1984 Burton created a short film on the idea. It made the usual festival circuits and has shown up a couple of times as an extra on his more recent films. The original short certainly had its limitations, but it was a rather sweet little nugget that fans have been quietly enjoying for nearly 20 years. It's actually a bit of a surprise that it's taken the filmmaker this long to revisit the idea, but this time with a budget and running time geared for the mass audiences. Whatever the reasons for the delay, it was well worth the wait, particularly after Burton's very disappointing take on Dark Shadows. While Frankenweenie might not completely redeem that colossal disappointment, it has gone a long way toward making me believe the filmmaker still has the wit and genius that have marked some of his earlier films.

"Ever since you were born I wanted to protect my little ghoul. So I created a place where all monsters could be safe from them."

I love monsters. Both old and new, I've been in love with monsters for as long as I can remember. There were the Friday night Creature Features with Dr. Shock. My Dad and I would watch the old Universal classics, and while I didn't know it then, I was getting my first lessons in cinema. I was being groomed to become the film lover I am today. I still love monsters even when they're making us laugh (preferably on purpose). I love Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, and I recently got to renew my love for the animated camp romp Mad Monster Party. It was with this tradition in mind that I eagerly entered the screening for Hotel Transylvania.

Pitch Perfect is the best big-screen a cappella comedy I’ve ever seen. Of course, the new film pretty much wins that title by default because the hyper-competitive world of collegiate a cappella has been largely ignored by the movies. To make up for that oversight, Pitch Perfect tries to cram all aca-related matters into one movie. The result is a slightly flabby 112-minute running time. Fortunately(?), I’ve been to enough a cappella competitions to appreciate the fact that the movie gets a lot of things right. (Including the annoying habit aca-people have of sticking “aca” in front of everything.)

Beca (Anna Kendrick) is a reluctant freshman at Barden University. (LSU’s campus stood in for fictional Barden.) She dreams of moving to Los Angeles and becoming a music producer, but is pressed into going to college by her dad (John Benjamin Hickey). Quite conveniently, Beca also has a good singing voice so she is recruited by the Barden Bellas, the all-girl group coming off a humiliating failure at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) competition that opens the movie.

"Time travel has not been invented.  But thirty years from now, it will have been."

What I like most about writer and director Rian Johnson is his ability to tackle a genre that has been recycled and done to death and deliver a film that is fresh and unique.  His first film Brick reimagined film noir and his second feature outing The Brothers Bloom gave us a heist film that was smart, sweet and classy.  In his third feature outing he is setting out to deliver his most ambitious film but also his most accessible film. What makes Looper unique is that it’s not just a film about time travel and hit men, but the question about the value of one’s life against the lives of many others.

"You've broken the law and I am here to arrest you. I am fate with a badge and a gun protecting the prey from the predators, the good from the bad. We are the police."

David Ayer is no stranger to police dramas. You might say it's his favorite cinematic subject. Just look at his list of screenplays which include the likes of S.W.A.T. and Training Day and a director resume that includes Harsh Times. He's not afraid to delve into the darker nature of the police. He's at it again with End Of Watch which he both wrote and directed.

I'm a Minnesota Vikings football fan. Yes, I accept the condolences. However, I didn't say that to get sympathy, and I'm not yet in need of the services of the suicide hotline. After two games, I will keep the number on speed dial, just in case. A thousand years ago we had a star player who made the by now infamous statement that he plays when he wants to play. For a young athlete with an already troubled past, it didn't go over too well. But, over the last decade or so Clint Eastwood appears to be in that same mindset. He acts when he wants to. He's only appeared in three films in the last ten years. The difference is that Clint has earned the right to be picky about when he works. He isn't taking a paycheck when he isn't working, and when others depend on him to hit it out of the park he rarely misses the ball. Trouble With The Curve won't ever rival Eastwood's other roles for action, intensity, or even one-liners, but it's a solid performance in every way. For all of those Eastwood critics in the glory days who said he couldn't pull off a performance without the trappings of Dirty Harry or The Man With No Name, I suspect you're having a hearty meal eating those words after seeing Trouble With The Curve. It's perhaps his simplest role yet. It also happens to be a home run.

Gus (Eastwood) has been a scout for baseball's Atlanta Braves for 40 years. He's responsible for the team's greatest talents going back to Dusty Baker. Now he's in his 80's. New, younger blood has invaded the world of scouting, and they've brought along all of their latest computer toys to do the job. Gus won't adapt to that new technological world. He can tell a hitter's talent by the sound of the ball leaving the bat or the sound of the batter's hands as he gets ready to swing. That's a good thing, because Gus is losing his eyesight. He trips over tables and chairs (enter your own RNC joke here) and isn't the safest thing behind the wheel of his car. His old friend and head of scouting for the team is Pete (Goodman). He's still behind Gus, but the pressure is on. There are only three months left on Gus's contract, and the draft is approaching. Gus has one scouting trip to prove he's still got it, or he's going to be put out to pasture by owner Vince (Patrick).

If it were possible to buy stock in any Under-25 actress today, I’d pick Jennifer Lawrence first, Emma Stone would be a close second, and Kristen Stewart would be last. Lawrence has a pair of blockbuster movie franchises in her back pocket (The Hunger Games, X-Men), is a past Oscar nominee and is generating buzz for the upcoming Silver Linings Playbook. So if a studio were to have a Jennifer Lawrence film on its bench, September 2012 would probably look like some prime real estate.

Prime real estate and a murder-related discount are what attract Elissa (Lawrence) and her mom (Elisabeth Shue) to their new home in House at the End of the Street. Elissa becomes drawn to reclusive next door neighbor Ryan (Max Thieriot). Four years earlier, Ryan’s parents were murdered by his sister, who promptly disappeared. (That explains how Elissa and her mom got such a good price on their rental.) Ryan now lives in the house by himself, but a series of strange occurrences make it clear Ryan’s house hasn’t seen its last dead body.