Previews (Opening this Weekend):

 

Cop Out

Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan

 

Writer/director Kevin Smith’s CV has given moviegoers the good (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Zack and Miri Make a Porno), the not-so-bad (Dogma, Clerks II, Jersey Girl), and the just-plain-ugly (Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) of independent moviemaking. He has also found the time to work in some acting gigs (Daredevil, Live Free or Die Hard) and produce an animated TV series (Clerks). Despite all of these notches in his H’Wood belt, however, he may have met his match with the Motion Picture Association of America in regards to the title of his latest flick, Cop Out. The organization turned down the movie’s original title: A Couple of Dicks. In Smith’s latest, this R-rated buddy-cop comedy, two NYPD partners (Willis, Morgan) find themselves on the trail of a merciless gangster (Juan Carlos Hernandez) obsessed with a stolen, rare, mint condition baseball card. The Plus: The players. Time (Die Hard) and time (Sin City) and time again (16 Blocks), H’Wood legend Willis has played a cop and played him to the hilt. Together with funnymen Morgan (NBC’s 30 Rock) and Seann William Scott (American Pie, The Rundown), he and Smith might laugh all the way to the bank. The Minus: The odds. Robb and Mark Cullen’s comic screenplay was reportedly one of the best unproduced scripts in the biz before Marc Platt Productions and Warner Brothers snatched up the rights. Smith, however, has only ever directed movies that he has written himself, which makes this go-round a bit of a gamble.

 

The Crazies

Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell

 

Long before the zeitgeist was populated with zombies, George A. Romero knew that the undead were big H’Wood business. Giving the living dead Night and Day as well as the lay of the Land, Romero has seen the Dawn of mainstream horror’s modern reinventions (28 Days Later, a remake of his own Dawn of the Dead) and hilarious comic send-ups (Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland). Now, he is producing a remake of his B-grade 1973 cult favorite The Crazies. In this R-rated thriller directed by Breck Eisner (Sahara), a picture postcard American small town becomes infected with a mysterious toxin that turns its residents into blood-thirsty killers, with only a sheriff and his wife (Olyphant, Mitchell) left to reign in control. The Plus: The genre. Remakes of horror classics Dawn of the Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, Halloween and Friday the 13th scared up box office gold. The Minus: The odds. Horror remakes Halloween II and The Wolfman have not. Even with Romero’s blessing, The Crazies may end up to be a shot in the head – not arm - for Overture Films.

 

Reviews (Now in Theaters):

 

Shutter Island

Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo

 

Horror writer Stephen King reportedly hated Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of his 1977 novel The Shining, going so far as to take a heavy hand in producing a faithful 1997 TV mini-series. Some King readers have taken umbrage with the 2001 auteur stripping away much of the exposition and some plot details. For the pure filmgoing experience, however, Kubrick’s take – not the other leading brand - remains classic—one of cinema’s best thrillers ever, in fact. The horror comes not from cobwebs and fanged monsters, it comes from mind-screwing disorientation. Of course, in addition to a steady and stylish hand, it also takes a great lead actor to help to sell through the spooky goods. And this praise all doubles wonderfully as a review of Shutter Island.

 

In this R-rated ’50s-set thriller based on the novel by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone), two U.S. marshals (DiCaprio, Ruffalo) sent to capture a violent female escapee find themselves stranded on an isolated federal institution for the criminally insane once a hurricane hits. Trapped, they begin to realize that everything is not as it seems and only their escape will bring to light the truth.

 

Some readers might buck at this review’s positive assessment of Martin Scorsese’s latest as mere hero worship. While Scorsese truly remains a favorite of this reviewer, it’s only after he’s shown great diversity having masterfully proven himself in genre (crime-dramas: Goodfellas, The Departed) after genre (period literary adaptations: The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York) after genre (bio-pics: Raging Bull, The Aviator). And oh, what technique and flourish! Now, he adds horror to that grand list…and masterfully so. Here, he deftly crafts an atmospheric spooker that leaves everyone, including the filmgoers, questioning what was real and what was Memorex. Twisty to the point of maddening (and this proves to be a high compliment indeed), Shutter Island defines the sub-genre known as ‘psychological thriller.’

 

Film historian Scorsese also calls on some high-fallutin’ influences in rendering the film’s claustrophobic rat-in-a-maze thrills. A protagonist who goes to an island to help solve the mystery of a mentally ill woman? Why, that echoes the plot of Jacques Torneur’s noirish classic I Walked with a Zombie from famed horror producer Val Lewton quite nicely. Scorsese, however, gives Shutter Island’s violence a starkly naked scare-making panache not unlike Taxi Driver or Cape Fear. 

 

With The Aviator and The Departed as outstanding proof, no director brings Leonardo DiCaprio’s A-Game to the forefront quite like Scorsese. Shutter Island offers the actor his meatiest part yet and he gives filmgoers their every nickel’s worth, wringing out a tortured man fighting for his sanity against all odds—Boston accent and all. Untrusting eyes. Shaky hands. Broken spirit. Yes, it proves to be his best most Oscar worthy performance yet.

 

Moreso, Shutter Island is a damn good thriller, baiting discussion days after and inviting more viewings. If the film had been released in the fall of last year like it was originally scheduled, Academy voters would be considering this horror gem as opposed to unworthy Best Picture nominees like The Blind Side and District 9.

 

Down-to-the-Wire: Shudder to think—it’s THAT good.

 

Avatar

Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana

 

In this 3-D PG-13-rated actioner, revolutionary and rousing popcorn instant classic, a paraplegic ex-Marine (Worthington) who, through a scientific process funded by the U.S. government (Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, et al), appears as a blue-skinned indigenous being on an alien world housing an extremely rare and profitable element. Never forsaking the script, Avatar’s landmark 3-D IMAX-ready bells and whistles merely enhance the well-envisioned drama and action. Beyond all this, the movie manages to wear a social consciousness (go green, people) without sermonizing. Here, writer/director James Cameron also gives a lesson in filmmaking economy. Even with an epic-length story, the writer/director never wastes an inch of film or lick of time in the 2 hours and 40 minutes it takes to tell this story. Better effects will follow, but not a better mantle.

 

Down-to-the-Wire: Out of this virtual world.

 

Crazy Heart

Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal

 

In this R-rated drama, a broken-down hard-living country singer (Bridges) reaches for salvation through a journalist (Gyllenhaal), who is on a quest to find the real man behind the musician. Not unlike the classic songs that made Nashville famous, this amazing ballad is all about story and voice, wearing them on its sleeve like a whiskey-drenched showman staring down 60. The heart of Crazy Heart, Bridges, will rightly win for his performance, which is not a gold watch for a lifetime of H’Wood service. It helps that his heartfelt and gob-smackingly true turn keeps perfect cadence with the straightforward direction and warts-and-all script of Scott Cooper. Backed with excellent turns by Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall – as well as a killer soundtrack – this Heart sings a beautiful song.

 

Down-to-the-Wire: Crazy in love.

 

Dear John

Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried

 

In this PG-13-rated romantic-drama, time and distance take their toll on two young lovers—a soldier home on leave (Tatum) and the conservative college student that he’s fallen in love with (Seyfried). Dear John sweeps and swoons with an all-too-familiar rhythm but the ace cast really try ratcheting up the emotion. It not only includes a modern bent (he re-enlists in the Army after the events of 9/11), it also taps into a genre that rarely gets, ahem, tapped these days. With enough tear-soaked horrors in the world, audiences still love sad tales about star-crossed lovers…just not this tale. The third act puts out some dubiously dodgy plot points, but all involved (especially Richard Jenkins as Tatum’s father) nearly sell the wares to audiences wholesale…nearly.

 

Down-to-the-Wire: Dead letter.

 

Valentine’s Day

Julia Roberts, Jaime Foxx

 

In this PG-13-rated connect-the-dots rom-com, Ashton Kutcher plays a flower shop owner who just popped the question to a hesitant Jessica Alba but he’s also a friend of Jennifer Garner, who is dating Patrick Dempsey, who’s married but she doesn’t know…are you still there, readers? In Valentine’s Day, the audience somehow assumes a thankless role, getting fed multiple simplistic love stories so pre-packaged that they could have come from a motel vending machine that rents rooms by the hour. Truly aiming low, this star-studded patchwork rom-com blows kisses at the same moviegoers who made the standard-issue lovey-dovey mosaic She’s Just Not That Into You into a hit last year…only it’s much worse. The paycheck-cashing stars (probably guiltily) stumble through the Z-grade jokes like a young lover trying to say the L-word.

 

Down-to-the-Wire: Love on the rocks.

 

When in Rome

Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel

 

In this PG-13-rated romantic comedy that will actually make moviegoers want to drown the entire genre in Moon River, a disillusioned New Yorker (Bell) travels to Rome where she plucks coins from a magical fountain and attracts a host of odd-duck suitors (Jon Heder, Will Arnett, Dax Shepard, Danny DeVito). Even if the insipid dialogue clogs the flow for the audience, Bell and Duhamel’s Meet-Cute will lure them back in for the waterworks … and this is a bad thing. The couple has chemistry, but this rom-com’s traditional feel quickly takes on a magical bent that becomes more cartoony (think: The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze) than enchanting (think: Roman Holiday). Worse, the camera goes out of focus at least once and another scene doesn’t match its lead-in!

 

Down-to-the-Wire: Rome is crashing and burning.

 

The Wolfman

Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt

 

In this R-rated remake that smartly revels in its ‘30s studio horror roots, Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) is lured back to his family’s estate following his brother’s death only to find his father (Anthony Hopkins), brother’s fiancé (Blunt), and a feral destiny awaiting him. When it bears it teeth, The Wolfman proves to be quite the heart-stopping scare-maker. Here, Del Toro and all involved give winning nods to this past (the monster’s ‘look’ and some story elements) while ratcheting up the script a step further. Moving the action to London for the 2^nd act builds great momentum, but sometimes director Joe Johnston fights too bloodily to earn the movie’s hard R. Still, if ‘30s Universal had this much leeway, they probably would have made the fur fly a lot like this.

 

Down-to-the-Wire: Howling good.