Senior Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) finally has it all going on: he’s running with the popular crowd and dating the most coveted girl in his high school. In fact, he’s so cool he’s even dissing his best friend. But trouble arrives when Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. He seems like a great guy at first, but there’s something not quite right—but everyone, including Charley’s mom (Toni Collette), doesn’t notice. After observing some very strange activity, Charley comes to an unmistakable conclusion: Jerry is a vampire preying on the neighborhood. Unable to convince anyone, Charley has to find a way to get rid of the monster himself in this Craig Gillespie-helmed revamp of the comedy-horror classic evil.
“To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.” Hearing those words means Conan the Barbarian is playing on a screen nearby. Well, it means the 1982 version is playing nearby. Nearly 30 years later, a new bite at the franchise apple is upon us. (Does Hollywood even read original scripts anymore, or must every movie come with pre-owned rights and the promise of a built-in audience?)
Regardless of that tangent, this review should be prefaced with the fact that this particular film critic isn’t all that familiar with the work of Robert E. Howard, who originated the character of Conan the Barbarian. Instead, my knowledge of this entry in the sword and sorcery genre comes from former California Governor and current father of our country, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
So upon hearing a reboot was in the works, and that actor Jason Momoa (known best for his role as Khal Drogo on Game of Thrones) was cast into the title role, my expectations were low … REALLLY LOW. There’s just something about the word “barbarian” that makes the notion of hearing Momoa run around and speak generally decent English not all that appealing.
In any case, the film begins on the right foot – earning its R-rating. Whether it’s plenty of half-naked women, watching a young Conan (played well by Leo Howard) pummel some enemies and bring their severed heads back to show his father, or seeing the grown-up Conan stick his finger deep into an enemy’s wound to speed up an interrogation, there are plenty of elements early on that give viewers hope they’re in for something truly worthy of the legacy this franchise spawned.
Stephen Lang is a good choice to play the villain, Rose McGowan is an even better choice to play his creepy sorceress daughter, and Rachel Nichols ably kept my attention whether it was as love interest to Momoa or potential sacrifice for Lang.
Where then does the film fall short? Mostly in being too long … and by that, I mean it would have been best to cut nearly everything that takes place past the halfway mark (with the film clocking in at 112 minutes, that’s a problem). It’s almost as if there were two separate films: the bloody, action-heavy, R-rated beginning and the tedious, eye-rolling, PG-13 conclusion.
Seeing the young Conan strive to be a great warrior and allowing Momoa’s early scenes to be dominated with a true sense that this is one badass warrior people shouldn’t say no to, is where the film excels. As the script seems to succumb to laziness and director Marcus Nispel’s apparent love of fight scenes centered around set pieces more likely to be seen in a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, whatever hope and excitement that’s earned early on quickly turns to chuckling and head shaking.
For action junkies, there are a few good scenes, and there was a nice sense of nostalgia being treated to a return of the sword and sorcery genre (last year’s Clash of the Titans should simply be forgotten and expunged). However, for all the effort Momoa put into the role, anyone attached to Arnold’s take will simply think they’re watching a better-groomed imitation. I can understand being reasonably entertained but the lack of justifiable need to reboot this and the sheer dichotomy of this update to Conan the Barbarian make it far more of a DVD rental than a must-see on the big screen.
Oh, and if you’re wondering about the 3D, don’t. Unless you think paying a few extra bucks to see the opening and end credits in 3D is worth it. Or you like cheaply inserted foreground elements to try and play up the notion that there’s depth to the landscape. In that case, knock yourself out.
GRADE: C+
Conan the Barbarian hits theaters on August 19, 2011 and is rated: R for strong bloody violence, some sexuality and nudity.
Singer Josh Groban continues to add to his acting resume following a supporting role in the romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love. In that film, he played the boyfriend of Emma Stone who was unwilling to commit to a long-term relationship. In his next acting gig, Groban will be playing Ed Helms’ character’s brother on The Office, so says The Hollywood Reporter.
THR says Groban’s only scheduled to appear as Walter Jr. in one episode of season eight as of right now. Stephen Collins and Dee Wallace also just joined the cast as Andy and Walter Jr.’s parents.
30-year-old Groban has lent his voice to animated TV projects and appears on the soundtracks to The Polar Express and Troy, but it appears now he has caught the acting bug and we’ll be seeing more of him on both the big and small screens.
Can’t get enough of Josh Groban? check out his “Higher Window” music video:
“I’m not good at this.” “Maybe we can be friends,” says Dexter (Jim Sturgess) to his latest almost conquest Emma (Anne Hathaway), two college graduates on July 15, 1988 who are just beginning what’s about to become a 20 year friendship in the romantic film One Day. Emma is a working-class girl who dreams of making the world a better place and becoming a famous novelist. Dexter is a well-off, spoiled, self-absorbed charmer who believes the world is his playground and is only interested in having fun, fun, fun.
The film goes back and forth in time, always focusing on the anniversary of the day Emma and Dexter first officially met: July 15th. Through failed jobs, bad relationships, missed opportunities, and tragedy, Dexter and Emma keep turning to each other for support and comfort. Helping – and at times hurting – each other, what originally began as a friendship begins to turn into something much more.
The two best friends start to realize their feelings for each other go much deeper and stronger than they had ever intended. Will Dexter and Emma ever finally have good timing and the courage to reveal to each other exactly how they feel, or will the strain of life and love prove too much and end their friendship?
One Day is a romantic drama that strives to be in the same league as such romantic classics as Love Story and An Affair to Remember but fails miserably. There is so much wrong with this film it’s hard to know where to begin. Let’s start with the horrible miscasting of Anne Hathaway as Emma. Her poor attempt at a Yorkshire accent, which comes and goes throughout the film, is painful and should have been forgotten altogether. There is also NO chemistry between Hathaway and Sturgess on screen. The zero heat and non-existent attraction between the two stars make it impossible to believe these characters could ever fall for each other.
Jim Sturgess’ performance as the charming, selfish, needy, gigantic jerk Dexter is shallow and without any depth. It’s impossible to fathom why Emma, a smart, nice girl would be friends with, let alone fall for, such a grade F, unlikeable, needy, pathetic loser. The scenes with him calling her at all odd hours whining about his life and how he needs to talk to her become intolerable.
Another big problem with the film is with the directing. Only focusing on the anniversaries of the day the two characters met throughout the entire movie both distracts and limits the attention on Emma and Dexter. Since the audience is only seeing the characters on one day of the year, throughout the years there’s no opportunity for the audience to connect and care about Emma and Dexter. The blunt and uncreative ways the director (Lone Scherfig) chooses to let the audience know what year the action is taking place goes from being distracting to out and out annoying. The current year bouncing around on Emma’s computer at one point as a screen saver before finally fading received groans from this audience member. The film also lumbers on and feels as though it takes 20 years to sit through.
Uneven, tedious, boring, and ultimately uninteresting, One Day is a film that won’t leave you with heartache, just heartburn, and frustration that you wasted money on one of the worst movies of the year.
GRADE: F
One Day hits theaters on August 19, 2011 and is rated PG-13 for sexual content, partial nudity, language, some violence and substance abuse.
I’ve got to say I’m loving this first trailer for Machine Gun Preacher. Of course the fact it stars Gerard Butler doesn’t hurt… Relativity Media’s first look at Machine Gun Preacher sets up the story and shows that it won’t be just an action film, despite the fact it’s got machine gun in the title. And it appears as though it won’t get overly ‘preacher’-y either. Machine Gun Preacher stars Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Kathy Baker, Madeline Carroll, and Michael Shannon, and is set for release on September 23, 2011.
The Plot: In this inspirational true story, Machine Gun Preacher is about Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children. Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization in Golden Globe-nominated director Marc Forster’s (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) moving story of violence and redemption.
When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region’s vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it’s most needed—in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens. But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA’s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives—and eventually his own.
Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway star in the romantic drama, One Day, based on the bestselling book by David Nicholls (and adapted for the screen by the author). The film tells the story of two college students who spend the night together on their final day at school and make an unexpected connection that lasts for decades.
One Day hits theaters on August 19, 2011 and in this video provided by Focus Features, Jim Sturgess discusses the film’s story, the appeal of playing Dexter, bonding with Anne Hathaway, shooting on location, and what audiences can expect from the movie.
The Plot: Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess) meet on the night of their college graduation – July 15th, 1988. She is a working-class girl of principle and ambition who dreams of making the world a better place. He is a wealthy charmer who dreams that the world will be his playground. For the next two decades, every July 15th reveals to us how “Em” and “Dex” are faring, as their friendship ebbs and flows with the passing of the years. Through laughter and romance, heartbreak and exhilaration, they experience the grandeur of life. Somewhere along their journey, these two people realize that what they are searching and hoping for has been there for them all along.
The Plot:
Selene escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species.
Sam Worthington in ‘Texas Killing Fields’ – Photo Credit: Gusmano Cesaretti, Property of Anchor Bay Films
Sam Worthington and Jessica Chastain will soon be seen on the big screen together in The Debt, a dramatic thriller also starring Marton Csokas, Helen Mirren, Tom Worthington, and Ciaran Hinds. But The Debt isn’t the only film Worthington and Chastain co-star in. They’ve also got Texas Killing Fields, directed by Michael Mann’s daughter, Ami Canaan Mann, and based on a true story, coming in October.
The cast is impressive – in addition to Worthington and Chastain, the film features Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Chloe Moretz – and the trailer for the R-rated drama really hooks you in. Set for an October 7, 2011 release, Texas Killing Fields follows two police detectives who investigate 60+ unsolved murders in an area known as the ‘killing fields.’
The Plot: Inspired by the string of real-life unsolved murders in a small Texan town, this tense and haunting thriller follows a local homicide detective (Sam Worthington), and his partner, a transplanted cop from New York City (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as they track a sadistic serial killer dumping his female victims’ mutilated bodies in a nearby marsh dubbed “The Killing Fields.”
The killer changes the game and begins hunting the detectives, teasing them with possible clues at the crime scenes while always remaining one step ahead. When a familiar local girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) goes missing the detectives find themselves in a race against time to find their killer before she is murdered.
Check out the first trailer from Puncture and see what you think:
The Plot:
Mike Weiss (Chris Evans) is a talented young Houston lawyer and a functioning drug addict. Paul Danziger (co-director Mark Kassen), his longtime friend and partner, is the straight-laced and responsible yin to Mike’s yang. Their mom-and-pop personal-injury law firm is getting by, but things really get interesting when they decide to take on a case involving Vicky (Vinessa Shaw), a local ER nurse, who is pricked by a contaminated needle on the job. As Weiss and Danziger dig deeper into the case, a health care and pharmaceutical conspiracy teeters on exposure and heavyweight attorneys move in on the defense. Out of their league but invested in their own principles, the mounting pressure of the case pushes the two underdog lawyers and their business to the breaking point.
Nicole Scherzinger, former lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, just released the second single from her upcoming album Killer Love which is set for a November 2011 release. Scherzinger’s Killer Love combines Scherzinger’s “love for rock, soul, and funk with alluring pop productions” and showcases her voice and songwriting talent.
Next up for Scherzinger is a stint as judge on Simon Cowell’s The X-Factor alongside Cowell, Paula Abdul, and L.A. Reid.
