Review: Devil

Five strangers walk into an office building and get stuck on an elevator. It is soon revealed that this is not an ordinary elevator maintenance issue, but that there are much darker forces at work.

"Devil" is the first film in M. Night Shyamylan's series of films entitled "The Night Chronicles". These are films that he has written the story for, but are not directing. And boy did he start his chronicles out with a bang. This is a thriller that sunk its hooks into me from the beginning and totally drug me around for its entire length. If there were ever a way to re-legitimize himself in the eyes of the public, "Devil" is it. Even though he did not direct it, this feels like some of Shyamylan's best talents at work.

This is a film that takes the "less is more" philosophy and wears it as a badge of honor. The story is simple, character backstories are just fleshed out enough for us on a need to know basis and the scares are all left to play out in the theater of the mind. I usually am not one for horror films as they usually do not scare me, but everytime the lights in the elevator went off I was terrified about what would be seen when the lights came back on and the results were usually far worse than I could have imagined with some of the craziest kills I have seen in a long time. Yet, this is a fairly tame PG-13 film that I would recommend for anyone looking for a good ride

While "Devil" is a certainly an entertaining film, on a spiritual level it is extremely challenging. I do not talk much about my faith in my reviews, but "Devil" is a film I believe all Christians should see. I would love to see what kind of discussions can rise out of the end of the film.

From the opening, and extremely unsettling shot of an upside down Philadelphia skyline, "Devil" drew me into its chilling "What if?" fable and left me feeling uneasy and ravenous for discussion after its closing scenes. "Devil" is a great little thriller with a deceptively simple set-up and complex payoff.

My rating: 7.5/10

Review: Temple Grandin

Temple Grandin sees things in pictures. Her mind can recall every "picture" it has ever taken and allows her to see the world and solve problems in unconventional and brilliant ways. Her condition is known as autism and Temple used this to help her revolutionize the beef industry and give us the modern method of cattle slaughter.

"Temple Grandin" is an ambitious film, because its subject matter does not seem like it would connect with a modern audience. However, the sheer charisma of Temple has you rooting for her from beginning to end. Much of this is due to the absolutely phenomenal performance put forth by Claire Danes. Her portrayal of the spunky Temple is endearing, funny and touching.

The only complaint I have about "Temple Grandin" is that it is not nearly long enough. The film would have benefited from about twenty to thirty more minutes on its runtime to flesh out the relationship between Temple and her mentor Dr. Carlock (played by the brilliant David Strathairn). And perhaps could have espoused upon some of Temple's days in college after she became "accepted" by her peers.

This is a simple film that deals with a delicate and complex condition with more heart and grace than almost anything I have seen on the subject and all due to an Oscar worthy performance by Claire Danes. Unfortunately, "Temple" is a made for television movie by HBO, but she netted an Emmy along with several other much deserved awards.

My Rating: 8/10

Review: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Twenty-two years ago, the great Gordon Gekko was imprisoned for insider trading. Now he is out of prison and looking to repair his damaged relationship with his daughter by taking her soon-to-be husband under his wing and helping him seek revenge on the corrupt broker responsible for the loss of his original mentor.

The original "Wall Street" is a fantastic film about corruption and greed set in the world of the stock market. "Money Never Sleeps" is a revenge thriller set in the world of the stock market. That is not to say it doesn't work, it is just a different entity entirely than its predecessor. Given our current economic state, a new "Wall Street" film seemed like a brilliant idea, but with the direction the film goes, it serves less as social commentary and more as an extremely entertaining, well-acted corporate thriller.

Michael Douglas picks up exactly where he left off at the end of the original and has not lost an ounce of his despicably slimy yet entirely likable charm and having him seek redemption nearly humanizes the character to make viewers feel sympathy for this once great broker. The rest of the cast fill out their roles brilliantly with Shia LaBeouf being a real standout here. He handles the role with the maturity of someone who, well, is not Shia LaBeouf and gives the best performance I have ever seen him give.

Oliver Stone is one of my least favorite directors, but "Money Never Sleeps" is one of his more polished films and while that means "studio tainted" for his die hard fans, it means "accessible" for the rest of us. The pacing moves at a clip which is nice, but leaves no room for questioning so the viewer has to stay on top of the plot or it will lose you in its sea of financial world jargon. The script could have been a bit tighter, but Douglas's scenes make it all worth it.

"Money Never Sleeps" could have been a biting commentary on the current state of our economy, but plays it much safer than people thought it would or how Mr. Stone operates. Overall, we are left with a superbly acted thriller deserving of a watch, but not to be taken as a serious statement on the world today.

My rating: 7/10

Review: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

"Lord of the Rings" in the world of "The Lion King" shot like "300".

"Legend of the Guardians" is one of the most paradoxical films I have ever had to review. This is not a particularly entertaining film, but it is absolutely riveting to watch. Similarly, there is almost nothing going on in terms of story, yet there is far too much going on for a viewer to care about.

If you take any standard fantasy storyline and apply it to this film, you will more or less catch the idea. A young owl is taken out of his home and embarks on a journey to save his loved ones and the world. On the way he finds not only the tools necessary to defeat evil, but awakens a greater destiny deep in his spirit and so on. The reason my synopsis paragraph is structured the way it is is because I literally stopped paying attention to the story and started substituting plots from other films. Also, during one of the hokier points of the film, the accompanying soundtrack during the young one's training montage was provided by "Owl City". Get it?

Now, what makes "Guardians" such a compelling film is its absolutely staggering visuals. Director Zack Snyder has an eye for making things look "cool" and this is no exception. All of his trade marks are here, inspirational speeches, crazy, unnecessarily ramped action sequences and shots of characters reacting abound and are all beautiful. Part of the reason why I stopped caring about the film is because I was too busy LOOKING at the film. It also boasts the absolute best 3D I have seen to date and shows how far we have come with this technology in just over a year.

"Legend of the Guardians" made me understand how people that liked "Avatar" felt. The story is so by the numbers it hurts, but looking at the film is a spectacle all its own and demands the extra cash for 3D if you plan on seeing it. Unfortunately, much like "Avatar" this is a film that is all sparkle and no spirit, which makes attaching a rating here extremely difficult so I will leave you with this. If you are expecting an epic fantasy adventure, re-watch anything else, but if you are looking for an eye-popping, turn your brain off special effects bonanza, by all means give this film a go.

Review: The Town

Deciding to put his life of crime behind him, Doug MacRay sets out to pull one last job and leave Charlestown forever. However, between maintaining his new relationship with Claire and keeping his loose cannon buddy, James in check, leaving may not be as easy as he would like.

"The Town" marks Ben Affleck's second directorial effort and after proving himself with some serious chops on "Gone Baby Gone", this was going to make or break him as a director. Fortunately, "The Town" delivers on all counts. Do you remember Apple's old slogan "it just works"? That is exactly how I felt about "The Town". This is a film that tells a bank robbery story just like every other bank robbery story, but is so well crafted that you cannot help but submit to its tale.

Almost all of what makes this film work the way it does lies in the performances and everyone is at the top of their game. While the entire cast is absolutely phenomenal, Jeremy Renner is a show stealer who turns in a performance worthy of a supporting actor nod come awards season and almost certainly solidifies him a spot as a new "it" guy in Hollywood. Mr. Affleck himself turns in his best performance since his Kevin Smith days, though he's a bit too broody (I swear I felt it through the masks) and Jon Hamm does well with what he was given, but his part is fairly miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

The action and cinematography in "The Town" pick up exactly where "Gone Baby Gone" left off and left me just as impressed. Ben Affleck is one of the most effective directors working today and while his films might be leaving something to be desired visually, at least we know what is going on during the action sequences and who is where at what time. The film's two hour plus runtime flew by and I could not believe we had actually been in a theater that long.

Making a bank heist thriller in a post-"Heat" world is risky and yet, "The Town" remains a totally separate film on all levels. This absolutely the best decision Affleck could have made and it helps the film to stand up and out from the rest of the films in this genre. That is not to say the story is wholly original, but it is presented to us in such a quality package that one cannot help to look at it and be left totally satisfied by the fade to black.

My rating: 8/10

Review: Resident Evil: Afterlife

Project Alice is still mad at the Umbrella Corporation for experimenting on her and presumably for making sure that freaking Rihanna song does NOT die. After taking care of some unfinished business in Tokyo, she travels to Alaska to meet up with Claire and from there they travel to L.A. for no reason only to find out that Alice's business wasn't exactly unfinished. Also, there are supposed to be zombies, but there are none.

I checked my phone during "Resident Evil: Afterlife" only to notice that the film was more than half over and not a single zombie had been shot. There were zombies present, but they were held safely at bay by large walls until some of them become inspired by dig dug and tunnel their way into the facility our heroes are seeking refuge in. And right about then is when I started to fall asleep.

This is one awful excuse for a film. Everything about it is absolutely atrocious. The performances are either lifeless or so tongue in cheek that Agent Smith was giggling and the script was as vacant as any motel that had the unfortunate name of "Bates" after "Psycho" came out. We saw this in 3D because it was supposed to be shot with the same technology James Cameron used on Avatar. The only problem with this, is that James must have left the instruction booklet at home, because the 3D looked terrible.

All of the action sequences in this movie were just paint-by numbers templates that I think I could find right here on blogspot and the score had to have been done in FrootyLoops. Characters show up and die and then come back with no rhyme or reason and the main villain is horrendously uninteresting.

I know Paul W.S. Anderson does not make high quality films, but the first "Resident Evil" is decent enough and even "Death Race" is worth a watch. Here, it is obvious he is trying to turn a quick buck on 3D and his blatant use of green screen offended my retinas. Overall, I now give up on the "Resident Evil" franchise of films as they have lost focus completely and have now become more about "sticking it to the man" than killing zombies, and if we are truly honest, we need all the zombie films we can get. Not because they are good, but because they are necessary training tools for the inevitable zombie uprising.*

My rating: 3/10

*is not actually a belief held by this writer.

Review: Harry Brown

Mourning the loss of his wife and the brutal murder of his best friend and chess partner, 77-year old Harry Brown decides to avenge his friend and take down the street gang responsible for his murder. Meanwhile, the British police begin a search for the man responsible for killing the gang member's murders.

The first thing I have to do in this review is admit two things to my readers: 1. I absolutely love Michael Caine. 2. I absolutely love revenge thrillers like this and "Death Wish". Now that that is out of the way, our review can begin. "Harry Brown" is awesome. I know that all these revenge thrillers offer nothing new and play out exactly the same every time, but these films are about execution (pun not intended). And this is exactly where "Harry Brown" succeeds.

The obvious twist here is that our main character is not the first person you would peg to single handedly take down a young street gang, but Michael Caine is such an iconic and incredible actor he is the only one you could take seriously in this role. And holy cow is it serious. The acts committed by the gang in this film are absolutely atrocious and rooting for Brown becomes one of the easiest choices you will make while watching a film.

Of course, the film tries to open up the debate on whether vigilantism is ever justified, but by the film's end it is more spectacle than actual social commentary. This actually works to the film's advantage as it does not come off as preachy or hamfisted and the action is believable, but not so realistic you are completely depressed by the end. Harry's brand of justice is certainly fun to watch, but a very clear distinction that this is just a movie is made early on and stays that way.

The character of Harry Brown is intriguing and is presented in such a way that we know there is a history to his character, but the audience never quite figures out what that is and we are left to our own devices to figure it out. This is clearly a man who has seen things and Caine's riveting performance carries all of that through the defeated eyes he carries throughout most of the movie and through his quiet victory in the end.

"Harry Brown" is no different than any other vigilante movie you are likely to come by, but as a fan of the genre it certainly executes itself very well with a commanding performance by the always incredible Michael Caine that makes you absolutely buy into a world where a 77-year old ex-royal marine will absolutely destroy you if push comes to shove. And for that, "Harry Brown" wins.

My Rating: 7.5/10