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 | "The Shield" for the People with ADD For his second effort as director, David Ayer ([b]Harsh Times[/b]) decided to return to modern-day Los Angeles, police corruption and vigilante justice with [b]Street Kings[/b], a formulaic, convoluted, if no less action-packed, crime drama featuring a surprisingly convincing turn by Keanu Reeves ([b]Constantine[/b], [b]The Matrix[/b] trilogy, [b]Speed[/b]). Even though Ayer didn’t write [b]Street Kings[/b], it fits easily into his rapidly expanding oeuvre of violence-obsessed male characters confronted with conflicting loyalties and life-or-death moral dilemmas.More |  | ...Doing Very Stupid Things Directed by Noam Murro and written by novelist-turned-screenwriter Mark Poirier, [b]Smart People[/b] is a sometimes too clever, sometimes too contrived comedy/drama centered on a dysfunctional family and their many missteps as they learn, once again, that it’s love that offers the answers to all of life’s seemingly unanswerable questions.
Predictable as that sounds, [b]Smart People[/b] benefits hugely from a talented cast adding nuance and shading to their screwed-up characters and Poirier’s often witty, insightful dialogue.More |  | Alas, the Third Time isn’t the Charm For his third directorial effort ([b]Good Night, and Good Luck[/b], [b]Confessions of a Dangerous Mind[/b]), actor/writer/producer/director George Clooney choose sportswriters-turned-first-time-screenwriters Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly’s period screwball comedy, [b]Leatherheads[/b], an homage-laden, occasionally engaging, sporadically entertaining, affectionately nostalgic celebration of the early days of professional football.More |  | More Like A Rough Cut, Unpolished Gem Directed by Michael Radford ([b]The Merchant of Venice[/b], [b]Il Postino[/b], [b]1984[/b]) and written by Edward Anderson, [b]Flawless[/b] is a 60s-set heist film starring one old pro, Michael Caine, and co-starring another, less-old pro, Demi Moore, wending their way through a maze of mostly predictable obstacles on their way to a big money day, a serious beatdown, and pleasant smiles all around. Although [b]Flawless[/b] is smoothly paced, skillfully directed, it is far from the perfection suggested by the title. However, it’s as entertaining as a character-first, heist-second film can be.More |  | Actually, It is Just a Game Loosely based on (actually "inspired by") Ben Mezrich’s non-fiction bestseller, [b]Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions[/b], [b]21[/b] is an underwritten, clichéd, implausible, contrived film that fits all too neatly into the rise-fall-redemption narrative structure we’ve seen countless times before. Directed by Robert Luketic ([b]Monster-in-Law[/b], [b]Win a Date with Tad Hamilton![/b], [b]Legally Blonde[/b]) from Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb’s screenplay, [b]21[/b] is part morality play, part wish-fulfillment and pure Hollywood hokum.More |  | Yet Another Asian Horror Remake Just when you thought it was safe to venture back into your local multiplex, along comes [b]Shutter[/b], the latest in a seemingly inexhaustible series of Asian horror remakes. [b]Shutter[/b] closely follows the original film, co-written and co-directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom’s and released in Thailand five years ago. Outside of a semi-interesting premise involving so-called “spirit photography” and a handful of effective scares, lethargic pacing, superficial characters, and a weak mystery storyline undermined the original. That didn’t stop producers from picking up English-language remake rights, of course.More |  | Surprisingly Fun, Entertaining Family Film [b]Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who![/b], the fourth CG animated feature-length film from Twentieth Century-Fox’s animation division, Blue Sky Studios ([b]Ice Age[/b], [b]Robots[/b]), is, as the name suggests, an adaptation of Dr. Suess’ (a.k.a. Theodore Suess Geisel) beloved children’s book, [b]Horton Hears a Who![/b] First adapted for a 1970 television special with Geisel ([b]The Cat in the Hat[/b], [b]Green Eggs and Ham[/b], [b]How the Grinch Stole Christmas[/b]) on script and Chuck Jones handling animation duties, [b]Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who![/b] showed up on television screens on an almost annual basis, ensuring generations of fans.More |  | Highly Entertaining Heist Flick In 1971, a daring bank heist of the Lloyd’s Bank on Baker Street in London netted the bank robbers more than 500,000 British pounds. A ham radio operator overhead the bank heist in progress, but Scotland Yard failed to find the bank location in time. Lloyd’s Bank also held safe deposit boxes owned by a cross-section of London’s political players and members of the criminal underground. Four days of intense media coverage ended when the British government issued a gag order, a so-called “D-Notice,” forbidding the press from continuing their coverage. Almost forty years later, questions about the Baker Street robbery remain unanswered.More |  | An Oscar-Worthy Foreign Film Directed and adapted by Stefan Ruzowitzky ([b]All the Queen's Men[/b], [b]Anatomie[/b], [b]Die Siebtelbauern[/b]) from Adolf Burger’s book, [b]The Counterfeiters[/b] ("Die Fälscher"), the 2008 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, explores the moral and ethical dilemmas confronted by concentration camp inmates during World War in Germany. The men, mostly, but not exclusively Jewish, were handpicked for their skills, talents, and experience to participate in the largest counterfeiting scheme in history, codenamed “Operation Bernhard.”More |  | A Whimsical, Gossamer-Thin Fairytale It’s taken all of two years for [b]Penelope[/b], an earnest, romantic comedy/fantasy (think [b]Beauty and the Beast[/b] in reverse) starring Christina Ricci and James McAvoy and produced by co-star Reese Witherspoon, to see the light of day or rather the darkness of a movie theater. Written by Leslie Caveny ("Everybody Loves Raymond") and helmed-by-first-time-director Mark Palansky, [b]Penelope[/b] may not have been worth the wait. As a pleasant, unchallenging fable with a simple, straightforward message about believing in and loving yourself, [b]Penelope[/b] is set in a fantasy world far, far away from our own.More |
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