New Releases

Drugs are bad, 'mmkay? In this post-Nancy Reagan War on Drugs age, we drink from the pharmaceutical fountain more than ever. We have pills to perk you up, pills to calm you down, pills for social anxiety, pills for depression and pills for erectile dysfunction. In fact, it seems like the only drugs it's not okay to take are the ones that exist just to have fun.

In Limitless, Bradley Cooper discovers the most exceptional drug ever created. Unfortunately, for a top-secret prototype, a lot of people seem to know about it and want to get their hands on it. On top of avoiding all the people who want to get their hands on his stash and negotiating corporate mergers to build his empire, Eddie (Cooper) begins to learn that the brain power the drug lets him access has to be paid back with devastating consequences.

When I was a young man in junior high, 25 years ago, I read a passage about a group of young men, cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy who were the last desperate stand of resistance against an unstoppable alien invasion. The author created such an image of heroism that for the next five years it was my entire goal to one day be a cadet at the Air Force Academy.

It took the first Iraq war to scare me away from that path.  The author of that piece was L. Ron Hubbard, and the book was Battlefield: Earth, which was eventually adapted into one of the worst films ever made, a film that flushed John Travolta's career so far down the toilet only Quentin Tarantino could reach down and pull him out. Battle: Los Angeles may be for this generation what that book was for me.  It plays exactly like a two-hour commercial for the US Marines.

Aaron Eckhart is the sergeant, haunted by the loss of his last platoon, ready to retire, forced by an alien invasion to take a batch of new recruits just out of training into the heart of combat on a mission to find and retrieve any civilians in the area before the bombs are dropped to stop the invaders.

The latest Hollywood trend appears to be retelling classic fairy tales, most recently Beastly and now Red Riding Hood. Unfortunately the tale of a young girl and the false grandmother has suffered the same fate of that of "Beauty and the Beast" -- read Jenn's review of Beastly here -- on so many levels. I have no issues with modernization or re-imaging of classic stories, and look forward to Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and Snow White and the Huntsman both set for release in 2012. However, Red Riding Hood makes no attempt to substantiate the classic antithesis of the safety of the village versus the dangers of the forest, instead focusing on the danger amongst friends and families. With director Catherine Hardwicke of Twilight fame at the helm, the film is more intent on pulling in Twilighters that are jonesing for the next in the series, leaving more discerning audiences disappointed.

Set in a medieval village that is haunted by a werewolf, a young girl, Valerie (Amanda Seyfried), falls for an orphaned woodcutter, Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), much to her family's displeasure -- they have plans for her to marry wealthy blacksmith Henry (Max Irons). The star-crossed lovers have plans to run away together, but their plans are quickly abandoned when Valerie's is found dead from a werewolf attack. Father Auguste (Lukas Haas) calls on the expertise of wolf hunter Father Solomon (Gary Oldman) to save the village from the brutal animal, but Solomon turns out to have his own brutal methods. He has no qualms at offering Valerie to appease the beast.

It was disappointing to hear that director Gore Verbinski wouldn't be making the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, but now that I've seen the reason, all is forgiven. Rango, opening today, is a family movie that isn't just for kids, and not only for kids and their parents, either. Rated PG, the animated film includes saucy, bawdy, even raunchy language that will give parents a good belly-laugh, but roll like a tumbleweed right over the heads of most children under 13. And it's still got enough good slapstick humor and standard cartoon elements to keep the kids entertained.

But for lovers of film, Rango is on an entirely different plain of the Old West. First, Rango himself (Johnny Depp) is a chameleon, the actor of lizards, who spends his idle time in the terrarium acting out movies of his own design with his only companions, a headless Barbie doll and a wind-up fish. He spends all his time being other people, but doesn't really have a grip on who he actually is. In something like a Picasso-view of Toy Story in reverse, when Rango is separated from the family who owns him, he doesn't try to get back to them. There's no attachment, and they're gone without a second thought. Instead, he heads into the desert to find water and discover who he is, in an adventure narrated in theatrical style by a chorus of avian mariachis.

In The Adjustment Bureau, Matt Damon is a politician, Emily Blunt is a contemporary dancer, and free will is a joke. The title of George Nolfi's first film comes from a group of bureaucrats who work to keep things in line with "the plan." The movie starts off somewhat awkwardly using a montage with Damon's character David Norris on the campaign trail. In this montage: politician cameos (Madeleine Albright! Wesley Clark! etc.) and talking heads who are given the task of telling us about his character. In the first five minutes of the film, we learn more about his background from pundit Mary Matalin than from anyone else, which just seems strange.

Norris is young and hip, but still loses his Senate campaign. As he practices his concession speech in the bathroom of the Waldorf, he meets cute with wedding crasher Elisa (Blunt). They are drawn to each other, but become separated. This is the main story of the film -- these two gorgeous kids seem MFEO, but the fates are working against them. Except they aren't fates, they are all dudes (the movie flunks the Bechdel test) wearing fedoras, working for "The Chairman" upstairs.

It's dangerous to tempt fate, whether it's baiting a curse-hurling witch or titling a substance-versus-style plotted film "Beastly." In the case of the latter, it's all too tempting to hurl that invective right back at the movie. Unfortunately, it's too self-conscious to earn that moniker.

Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four) stars as Kyle, the vicious, entitled scion ruling over the in-crowd at his prestigious prep school. It's good to be Kyle, or like him, and in his world if you're not like him, you're dumb and/or ugly. All too quickly he offends one of the outcasts who just happens to be a witch (Mary-Kate Olsen).

Beastly doesn't waste a lot of time before jumping into the story, or character development. After Kyle flaunts his position and power one too many times, Kendra (Olsen) curses Kyle to look as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside. Apparently Kyle isn't so ugly on the inside as he appears, as Beastly can't quite go beyond the realm of "pretty-ugly." Instead of making him hideous, he's actually more attractive (and interesting) with his stylish disfiguration. Even Kendra, who is called ugly, has a Lady Gaga freak-chic sensibility that is more likely to cause a fashion craze than it is to repel.

Although no one would argue that Barney Panofsky is a good role model, he's undeniably entertaining.

Hard drinking, completely self absorbed and proudly politically incorrect, Barney (Paul Giamatti) is the protagonist of Barney's Version, a dark, wry and witty study of a life lived fully, if not quite ethically. If creativity and pithy sarcasm are Barney's strong suits, honesty and empathy for others are not; nor are fidelity, sobriety or high idealism. Frankly, he's just short of being a complete SOB.

Why, then, do we find ourselves almost rooting for him now and then? Because thanks to a great script and the even greater Giamatti, Barney transforms SOBism into a high art.

Based on the acclaimed Mordecai Richler novel of the same title, Barney's Version opens as 65-year-old television producer Barney reflects on his colorful and often sordid life. The story is told largely in flashbacks spanning four decades, chronicling Barney's young adulthood in Rome and Montreal in the 1970s, his slightly shady financial schemes, three marriages, and later life of parenthood and career doldrums.

"A vengeful father escapes from hell and chases after the men who killed his daughter and kidnapped his granddaughter." This antiseptic description from IMDb fails to capture the hellacious power of 2011's first truly awesome grindhouse action flick.

Drive Angry 3D inhabits a fantastic world where Hell is envisioned as a literal prison for the souls of the damned who are forced to witness the suffering of their loved ones. Nicolas Cage plays John Milton, a character not unlike Todd McFarlane's Spawn, who steals "The Godkiller" and leaves Hell to hunt down Satanic cult leader Jonah King (Billy Burke) and save his grandchild. Along the way, he picks up Piper (Amber Heard), his partner in ass-kicking, while being pursued by The Accountant (William Fichtner). David Morse later turns up as Milton's best friend, Webster (Daniel perhaps?).

If I Am Number Four feels something like a Smallville episode, it should come as no surprise to learn the screenplay was penned by Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. This is compounded by the small-town high school setting, the orphaned-alien-with-superpowers plotline, and a lead actor -- Alex Pettyfer -- who bears an uncanny resemblance to Smallville's Justin Hartley (The Green Arrow). In fact, it plays like an extended pilot for a TV show that would develop a gigantic following on Fox only to be cancelled before the end of the first season. It's directed by D.J. Caruso, who also brought us Disturbia (the teen Rear Window) and Eagle Eye.

Evaluated by its big-screen merits, I Am Number Four still holds up as a strong film, which draws on familiar elements. The movie begins with an exciting bit of what I can only describe as "jungle parkour," which I could have watched for an hour alone. Another short scene at a beach party follows before the action moves to small-town Paradise, Ohio. John Smith (Pettyfer) has been dragged there, on one of many relocations, by his guardian and father-figure Henri (Timothy Olyphant). Rebelling against Henri's strict make-no-waves policy, he enrolls in the local high school where he picks up a new girlfriend (Glee's Dianna Agron) and picks a fight with her ex. From there, we're in standard teen romance territory until the bad guys eventually catch up to them.

With a screenplay adapted by Jeremy Brock from the 1954 novel "The Eagle of the Ninth" by author Rosemary Sutfcliff, The Eagle provides light entertainment for the sandals-and-swords film buffs. This pre-holy Roman Empire tale that was written for young readers has been brought to the big screen for a wider adult audience.

The Eagle centers around the young Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum), a Roman soldier who attempts to restore his family name. His father had been stationed in the northern wilderness of Britain 20 years prior, and had led the the famous Ninth Legion, which disappeared behind Hadrian's Wall and was presumed dead. The symbolic golden eagle of the legion was lost, bringing shame to the Aquila family.

After receiving a promotion to Centurion, Aquila is sent to the northern reaches of Britain to head a fort. Aquila is critically injured while rescuing his men during an attack, for which he is honorably discharged from the army. Recovering at the home of his Uncle Aquila (Donald Sutherland), he struggles with his injuries and frustration at not being able to restore his family's reputation -- being a soldier is all that he has ever desired and known. However, after rescuing the British slave Esca (Jamie Bell), the young Aquila takes up his goal: to cross Hadrian's Wall, confront the savage tribes of the Highlands and bring back the golden eagle.