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Taken Trailer
Director: Pierre Morel

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen

Liam Neeson is one of those actors that makes you say, “oh yeah, I forgot about him. I really like him, I wish he did more movies”. He seems to pop up every decade or so and never delivers a turd, Taken is no exception.

Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills. Ex CIA agent who took an early retirement package so that he could spend more time with his Daughter Kimmy, played by Maggie Grace and make up for the fact that he was away on missions for most of her childhood. His ex wife, played by Famke Janssen has remarried and spends most of her time making it very difficult for Bryan to make amends. Kimmy decides that she wants to spend the summer in europe with her best friend who seems to be a less than great influence. Both His ex-wife and his daughter succeed in making Bryan feel guilty about not wanting Kimmy to go so against his gut feeling that 17 year old girls should not be travelling to foreign countries on their own, he agrees to let he go. Almost immediately, both girls are abducted and Bryan must jump back into secret agent mode to try to save his daughter.

Taken is a classic suspense, action, thriller in the spirit of Frantic with Harrison Ford or Death Wish. It is not very often you get to see a well done, thriller that combines the ingredients of suspense and action anymore. Most action movies are just that, all action, very little suspense or story. Most recent thrillers are either based on absurd plot lines or have such weak performances that you walk out feeling, as Teddy KGB would say, UNSATISFIED. The other characteristic of current action movies and thrillers is their apparent need to sugar coat the endings, taking any edge the film might have had and griding it off. Taken avoids these trappings of the modern action thriller genre and offers 2 hours of car chases and mystery solving that leaves you thinking…Liam Neeson, I like him, I wish he would do more movies.

Director: Susanne Bier

Starring: Halle Berry, Benecio Del Toro, David Duchovny, Alexis Llewellyn, Micah Berry, John Carroll Lynch, Alison Lohman, Omar Benson Miller

Things We Lost In The Fire is the first English language feature by Danish director Susanne Bier and is a powerful, but dreary drama about dealing with loss of a loved one and the pain of addiction. There are potent performances, but not a lot of chuckles with this honest Allan Loeb (21) screenplay. The mood, look and subject matter are all dark, but if you are in the mood for an emotional drama, you could do a lot worse, but the whole thing still feels too familiar.

Halle Berry is Audrey Burke, a suburban housewife with a happy marriage and two kids until her husband, Brian (David Duchovny) dies suddenly and tragically. In her efforts to cope, she finds herself leaning on Brian’s best friend, Jerry (Benecio Del Toro) for support, though she hated him previously for his disturbing presence in her husband’s life. Jerry is a recovering addict who is shocked and changed by the death of the one person who never gave up on him. With his honest and soft-spoken manner, Jerry manages to help those dealing with the loss of a special man, while attempting to find himself again, as well.

Things We Lost In The Fire is a cliched drama, but a well-written one, marked by fantastic acting by Oscar winners, Barry and Del Torro, who haven’t seen much of for too long. For whatever the reason, the film was largely ignored by critics and award presentations, though a couple of acting nominations would have been well-deserved.

Director: Anne Fletcher

Starring: Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Edward Burns, Malin Akerman, Judy Greer

Choreographer turned director Anne Fletcher, did a commendable job with an amusing and clever screenplay, from Devil Wears Prada writer, Aline Brosh McKenna that easily won over the rom-com crowd. The smooth dialog dishes out more smiles than laughs, but still manages to gloss over the stereotypical characters and cliched romantic situations. The overall effect is a pleasant, polished and comfortable feature.

Katherine Heigl is Jane Nichols, a responsible and kind-hearted administrative assistant who is secretly in love with her boss, George (Edward Burns), and specializes in being the perfect bridesmaid (guess how many times she’s done it?), while awaiting for her turn to be the blushing bride. Her dream turns into a nightmare when her flighty sister, Tess (Malin Akerman from The Heartbreak Kid) and her secret love George, start a relationship and soon announce their engagement. While hiding her pain, poor Jane is also trying to duck out, as the subject of interest and affection of Kevin, a cynical but perceptive writer. There are some appealing scenes here, especially the montage of her trying on all of her dresses including one based on Gone With The Wind (movie-themed – Cool!). Judy Greer plays Jane’s friend, Casey and supplies most of the humor. It all leads pretty much where you expect it, too, but that’s ok. With films like 27 Dresses, its the journey that’s important, not the destination.

Arline Brosh McKenna lives up to the promise she showed in her Devil Wears Prada film with this light but entertaining comedy about the clumsy and curvy road to love and happiness. While lacking a character as interesting as Miranda Priestly and a performance as arresting as that by Meryl Streep, 27 Dresses is still an entertaining romantic comedy.

Director: Robert Luketic

Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts,

All right! Finally, a way to make some money in Vegas! Let’s grab some tickets. I’ll learn to count cards during the flight, and I should be rich by dinner! Director, Robert Luketic (Monster-In-Law)takes us to Sin City in this loud, flashy heist-style true story about a group of M.I.T. students who descend on Nevada’s most profitable Oasis to use their math skills like a blunt weapon to beat the dollars out of Vegas. The story is fast paced but predictable, though it does manage a tricky, if somewhat unconvincing ending.

Jim Sturgess (Across The Universe) seems a little uncomfortable as a smooth M.I.T nerd turned Vegas high roller, as a member of a group of card counting students led by Professor Rosa (Kevin Spacey). At first, it all seems like a never-ending party with money falling from the sky, but soon some dark clouds emerge in that sky in the form of dissension on the team and a surly security specialist, played by Laurence Fishburne.

21 is long on style, but a little short on substance and viewers without an interest in the subject matter will find it repetitious and may not be drawn in by the uneven story. Those who enjoy gambling films, will find this to be an imperfect, but enjoyable distraction for a couple of hours.

Director: Roland Emmerich

Starring: Steven Strait, Camilla Bell, Cliff Curtis, Joel Virgel, Affif Ben Badra, Mo Zinal, Marco Khan

Well, after creating an alien invasion in Independence Day and a giant monster in Godzilla, two things have become abundantly clear about writer/producer/director Roland Emmerich. He is very skilled at creating large-scale CGI spectacles, and he is the worst writer getting rich in Hollywood, today. It’s hard to believe that this is the same mind that brought us the shallow, but very entertaining, Stargate. At least in his previous projects, however, Emmerich was willing to lay out some cash to get his dumb lines delivered by professional stars with some skill and charisma. Not so here. The cast of 10,000 B.C. is largely made up of lost unknowns and untalented newcomers, with the exceptions of Cliff Curtis and narrator Omar Sharif (I‘ve heard of him). The fitful acting is worsened by soap opera quality dialog and a story that belongs on Saturday morning cartoons. Even Emmerich’s direction, which helped his earlier efforts seems tired and unimaginative, here.

The woeful, and historically-inaccurate, story (I won’t even get started with that) of 10,000 B.C. starts out with a clan of mammoth hunters, living a Native-American inspired lifestyle. Their little world, which includes perfect use of all language concepts except contractions, is upset when a young, blue-eyed girl (Evolet) stumbles into their village and prompts their magical mystic (“Old mother” – that’s original) to fire out a doomful prophecy. Aren’t all prophecies doomful? When was the last time anyone prophesized something bland, but pleasant? Anyway, the prophecy prompts the village’s main hunter, and holder of some ridiculously prominent white spear, to abandon his son, and his clan, to go…go…I don’t really know why he left, but he left. Some kind of plan to stop the prophecy, I guess. At any rate, he leaves his son, D’ Leh, who grows up, falls in love with Evolet and becomes a leader. His world is turned upside down when a group of technologically advanced raiders show up and take Evolet, and others, captive. Now, D’Leh and a few companions have to rescue them, which involves crossing the great mountains, meeting new groups, stopping for cappuccino, etc. Okay, I made up the last part, but if they had, it wouldn’t have made the story much more ridiculous than it already is.

The wonderful CGI effects in 10,000 B.C. could not save this sorry effort from the blunt force trauma of my keyboard. Imagine Apocalypto, crossed with Quest for Fire, mixed with Stargate, and drained of all logic, and you have 10,000 B.C., which is nowhere near as good as any of those films (and I didn’t even like Quest For Fire that much). The usual crowd of easily-pleased action fans will like this one, and spout off with typical “can’t you just enjoy the movie” kind of defense, but others should stay away from the shrapnel of this bomb. The CGI animals are cool to watch and they entertained me in a Jurassic Park 2, kind of way for awhile, but there wasn’t even enough of that, so I was left to endure a story that is on a par with the efforts of a motivated eighth grader, disappointing performances from a cast that may improve one day, but I doubt it, and action direction that had all the imagination of an infomercial. If you catch trailer for this one, you have seen the best it has to offer. It only gets worse from there. 10,000 B.C. is the first major cinematic disappointment of 2008.

Director: Marco Kreuzpaintner

Starring: Cesar Ramos, Alicja Bachleda-Curus, Kevin Kline, Paulina Gaitan, Zack Ward, Marco Perez,

Little known German director Marco Kreuzpaintner made this arresting, edge-of-your-seat drama from a script by TV writer, Jose Rivera, who was inspired by a New York Times magazine cover article by Peter Landesman. The difficult subject matter of sexual slavery is balanced by a riveting story and exceptional performances by a largely unknown cast. The potent direction and apt pacing makes this a disturbing standout of a film.

Paulina Gaitan is Adriana, an innocent 13 year-old girl living in Mexico City. Her brother, Jorge (Cesar Ramos), is a street hustler and when Adriana is snatched off the street by a gang of sexual traffickers, he launches into a desperate search for her. Held along with Adriana is a beautiful and scrappy Polish girl named Weronica (Alicja Bachleda-Curus). Jorge’s search for his abducted sister, seems increasingly hopeless, but starts to look up when he finds himself teamed up with an American cop (Kevin Kline). The story here is taut and will keep you both mesmerized and uncomfortable for its entire 2 hour run time.

Trade is a disturbing, and revealing glimpse, into the seedy world of sexual slavery, as well as finely crafted film. The story is strong, but does rely a little too heavily on coincidences, but is still an engaging viewing choice. Be careful, though, as it does run the risk of jarring us from our lives of complacency and have us demanding that this horrific criminal enterprise be crushed tomorrow.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Dillon Freasier, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O’Connor, Ciaran Hinds,

There Will Be Blood, by Boogie Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson, is a character focused feature, driven by a powerhouse Oscar winning performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, as the meanest man on film since De Niro’s Jake La Motta in Raging Bull. Anderson’s direction is visually impressive, but his score choices didn’t always seem to fit. The dialog is strong, but sparse (there is actually none for the first ten minutes of the film). The meandering story, written by Anderson, (based Upton Sinclair’s novel, Oil!)is interesting, but always seems to leave the viewer waiting for more to happen. It’s almost like a watched pot that never does boil.

Daniel Day-Lewis is Daniel Plainview, a turn of the century oil man, who arrives in little Boston, California on a tip. Once there with his young son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), Plainview covertly explores the area, before using sweet promises to convince a ranch owner, Abel Sunday, and his forceful, but naive evangelical son, Eli, to lease him their land. Plainview then goes on to use the same tactics to gain control of the whole region, but he doesn’t prove quite as willing to share as he lead his new neighbors to believe.

Striking images, and a memorable performance from the always powerful Daniel Day-Lewis, make this film worth catching and will got it more than its fair share of attention on 2007 awards shows. Many will disagree with my view(what else is new?), but I see the story here as lacking focus and this hurts the impact of its ending. Still, a fine effort and worth catching either at the theater, or, later, on video.

Director: David Wain

Starring: Adam Brody, Famke Janssen, Jessica Alba, Gretchen Mol, Oliver Platt, Paul Rudd, Winona Ryder, Ken Marino

Co-writer and director, David Wain gave us this TV quality comedy feature that is composed of ten different stories that are like un-rated SNL skits, with slightly better production values. The writing is imaginative and a lot of familiar faces put in appearances. The humor is uneven, nd will really depend on your taste.

Paul Rudd is filmmaker, Jeff Reigart, who is putting together a documentary looking at the Ten Commandments, with his bitchy wife, Gretchen (Famke Janssen) hounding him at every turn. Each of the commandments has a little ten minute skit, and they often relate to one another in some way. There is original and funny stuff in here, much of which gets pretty dirty.

The Ten will be enjoyed by SNL fans, who wonder what might be put on without censors. I enjoyed some of it, but still felt like I was watching TV. There are a lot of familiar faces putting in some strong performances and some of the stuff is funny, but is just not consistently strong enough for me to really enjoy it.

Director: Kasi Lemmons

Starring: Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Eljiofor, Taraji P. Henson, Cedric The Entertainer, Martin Sheen

Kasi Lemmons, an experienced character actress, climbed behind the camera for this character-driven, drama (inspired by true events and people, whatever that means) set in the radio biz of the turbulent 60s and 70s. The characters are great and are brought to life by fine performances, particularly by Cheadle, Eljiofor and Henson. The dialog is good, but the story seems to meander, however, and is prone to over dramatization before it suddenly changes from a small DJ’s story to a life-long tale.

Don Cheadle is Petey Green, a straight-shooting street talker who starts out as a prison DJ, who finds himself as a voice of the people in Washington, with the support of his girlfriend, Vernell (Taraji Henson, exuding energy and sexuality) and program director, Dewey Hughes played by Chiwetel Eljiofor. As Petey grows in popularity, Hughes encourages him to set out to conquer the world outside of his DJ booth.

There are wonderful characters and outstanding performances here, but the story doesn’t keep pace with the talent and is soon left behind. The end result is potential that slips slowly away and settles somewhere dangerously close to mediocrity.

Director: David Slade

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Mark Rendall

After a couple of small-scale character films, novice director, David Slade had a bit of a budget to make this blood-soaked, but still weak vampire film. The story, based on a graphic novel series, has an interesting premise, but an execution that requires all logic levers to be put into the off position. The script is ok, but the dialog lacks any snap and the action, what little there is, is often filmed in the jerky hand-held style. The characters lack development, which makes it hard to care much about them. The acting is ok, but can only do so much with a mediocre script.

Josh Hartnett is Eben Olsen. a small-town sheriff for the Alaskan town of Barrow, which is suffering from a strange string of property crimes and is also watching many of its residents getting ready to leave for a month because the town is about to be plunged into a month of mid-winter darkness. Among those preparing to leave on the last plane is Olsen’s estragned wife, Stella (Melissa George). Logic gets on that plane and leaves, but when circumstances keep Stella in town. Almost immediately, the town’s remaining residents are forced into a month long fight for survival against a band of bloodthirsty vampires. There is some nice tension and a little suspense, but you can’t think too much.

The bad guys are sometimes cunning vampires (apparently with impressive technical knowledge) and sometimes growling zombie-like creatures. The survivors seem to get supplies from nowhere and the action scenes could have been more impressive. Still, it is acceptable Friday night horror movie fare for those who remembered and enjoyed movies like Near Dark (far better) and John Carpenter’s Vampires (about on an even level)