Legion

A year ago there was mention from sources in Hollywood that “end of the world” movies were coming.
Legion is one of many and hopefully one of the remaining few.
The story, which is ludicrous and offensive, is about when God loses faith in humankind, he sends his legion of angels to bring on the Apocalypse.
I feel that the star of the movie, Paul Bettany, does not have the charisma nor the star power to keep you interested in the story. The rest of the cast try hard to be believable but the only end up looking stupid. The director, Scott Stewart, has not done many movies and it shows.
All of the special effects in the movie you have seen before. The only cool effect was how the angels fought with their wings however seeing that is not worth the price of admission.

Verdict: Whoever worked on putting together the trailer for this movie should get an Academy Award because the movie is no where close to being as good as those 2 minutes.

Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson wants to be in front of a camera again, why? He is super rich from directing, he already embarrassed himself from a DUI, and his face is full of tracks and crevasses from years of smoking. Maybe he wants to be Clint Eastwood. Whatever the reason Mel was and still is a good actor vs. the many celebrity wanna be actors that are flooding our screens.
Edge of Darkness is about a loner Boston detective Thomas Craven investigating the death of his activist daughter, he uncovers not only her secret life, but a corporate cover-up and government collusion that attracts an agent tasked with cleaning up the evidence. Sounds convoluted? it is. In layman's terms its Mel against corporate America. It reminded me of Harrison Ford in 2006 Firewall. Both movies are "B" movies with "A" grade actors. Mel nails the role of Craven right down to the Boston accent. There is one scene in Edge of Darkness that brings back memories of Lethal Weapon #1. Mel is handcuffed to a gurney in a dark, wet, basement type facility. He breaks himself loose and as soon as that happened I expected Gary Busey to walk in. Mel however has his shirt on rather than off.
If Mel wants to continue to act I look forward to it but he needs to find the same great material that he deals with as a director.

Verdict: Go back and watch Taken if you want to see a father get revenge for his daughter's death.

The Book of Eli

What I expected from this movie was a predictable post-apocalyptic action movie. I was surprised to see that my expectations were exceeded due to a plot twist.
The story is about a lone man (Denzel Washington) that fights his way across America in order to protect a book that holds the secrets to starting a new world. At times the movie feels like a Clint Eastwood western and then there are times that it feels like a Mad Max movie. The Hughes Brothers, ( directors of Menace 2 Society), have done a good job putting together this move and have left room for a sequel.
Denzel is good as always with a refreshing appearance from Jennifer Beals. Mila Kunis plays her daughter and is very good. Gary Oldman shows that in his old age he can still play a bad guy with the best of them (remember The Professional?). He comes across like a reptile in various scenes in the movie.

Verdict: It’s not a slam, bang, action movie. It’s just COOL!

The Lovely Bones

A few years ago this was a best selling book and in cases where best sellers don’t translate to good movies this is one.
The story is about a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family and her killer from heaven.
For someone who didn’t read the book, such as myself, I didn’t understand why the movie is called The Lovely Bones after seeing the movie?
Susan Sarandon is a scene-stealer as the grandmother but her character comes on the scene and builds momentum but has no bite.
The movie’s editing is slow and it seems like it takes a very long time to see what is going to happen.
Michael Imperioli from The Sopranos is good as a cop, but Oscar winner Rachel Weisz is wasted as the wife. I didn’t feel she did a good job expressing her feelings as the mother of a daughter that has died. Surprisingly Marky Mark Wahlberg was good for once after his botched performance in The Happening.
Best thing about the movie is the costumes, staging, and soundtrack. They did a great job of taking you back to pre-milk box carton kids times in the 70’s.

Verdict: The book may have been great but this is an overlong episode of Cold Case Files. FOR REAL!

Leap Year

Amy Adams must be the hardest working actress in Hollywood. For the last 3 years she has come out with 3 movies a year and she will do the same in 2010. The first one is Leap Year. The story is about a woman (Adams) who wants to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day, an Irish tradition which occurs every time the date February 29 rolls around. She ends up going on a cross-country odyssey which just might result in her getting engaged. Adams is great as always and in this flick rather than playing the girl next door her character is more selfish and self serving. Matthew Goode, from Watchmen, and Adam Scott, who you have seen in various movie and television roles, play the men in her life. Both I feel have zero chemistry with her which is one of the major causes of this movie failing. In addition Adams character is one you really don't care for, and finally you know how the movie will end and you don't care. What's also missing from this movie is a great supporting cast similar to other movies in this vein. John Lithgow makes a nice appearance as Adams father but that is it.

Verdict: With the plethora of love movies coming out for Valentine's Day, this is one you can skip.

It’s Complicated

Alec Baldwin mentioned recently in Men’s Journal that he is going to retire after 30 Rock. After watching this movie it would be a big mistake. With Jack Nicholson getting older and making less movies, based on Alec’s performance in this movie he is worthy to the crown. The story takes place during Alec’s son college graduation, Jane (Meryl Streep), hooks up with her ex-husband, Alec, who's married to a younger woman. Jane also finds herself drawn to Adam (Steve Martin) an architect.
It was weird seeing Steve Martin play it straight. Also it was weird looking at his face with his new plastic surgery. Martin shows however that he can play it straight. John Krasinski, who is always funny, does a great job of adding additional laughs. Meryl Streep shows once again that she can slip into any role effortlessly.

Verdict: A date movie that was better than I expected.

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans

About 10 years ago I was new to Hollywood and I was still Starstruck whenever I saw any celebrity from A to Z. One day I was driving down Fairfax from the Beverly Center and I was heading in my car to the 10 freeway. I stopped at a light next to a Bentley and looked over and saw Nick Cage behind the wheel smoking a cigarette. I stared at him because I was a HUGE fan back then. He just looked at me as if I was crazy and just rolled up the smoked glass window. I probably would have done the same but it didn’t change how I felt about Cage's talent.
His choice of movies however has been poor and based on his recent financial issues we now know why.
1992's Bad Lieutenant is a classic masterpiece that stared Harvey Keitel. It’s Keitel’s best performance and he pretty much bares his sole and everything else in this Oscar worthy performance. For me it is one of my favorite baseball movies, I am SERIOUS and I re watch it every year during the World Series. You got to rent it to understand.
2009 Bad Lieutenant Port of Call with Cage has nothing to do with the first movie other than a cop who can’t fight his demons.
Cage stars as Terence McDonagh, a drug- and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants.
You will see an actor portraying a cop throughout this movie and you will ask yourself “Is that Val Kilmer?” and it is! Val looks as if he lost some lbs. and he plays a serious role. Yeah ICEMAN!
I never liked Eva Mendes because I feel she is not talented, PERIOD. In this movie she doesn’t say much which makes you focus on how extraordinarily beautiful this woman really is. I had no idea prior because they gave too much to say in her past roles and all I wanted her to do was shut-up.

Verdict: Cage is slowing coming back to his groove. At times there were flickers of his past crazy manic performance from 1988's Vampires Kiss where Cage thinks he really is a vampire. It’s a another cult classic and if you hate Cage for all the bombs he has made in the last few years you may end up liking him again after seeing Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans.