Edgar Wright’s long-awaited adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s “Scott Pilgrim” graphic novel series is finally here. Being a big fan of the graphic novels and hearing Wright’s name attached to the film gave me some very high hopes for this project, and, like usual, he doesn’t disappoint. He somehow manages to take the insanity of the series and cram it into a 112-minute film while preserving its essence and important sections, which is pretty impressive seeing as how it’s a . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The Other GuysLooking through Will Ferrell’s filmography is like navigating a minefield of bad decisions. This includes such films as “Land of the Lost,” “Step Brothers,” “Semi-Pro,” “Blades of Glory,” and “Talladega Nights” (though to be fair, he did make a couple of decent films with “Stranger than Fiction” and the musical version of “The Producers”). Not long ago, the terrible film “Grown Ups” was released which featured several SNL veterans who had fallen quite a ways since leaving the show. It’s . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Dinner for SchmucksHere’s a film I’ve been dreading ever since the first trailers and TV spots started rolling. They made this film look like it was going to be something of an agonizing experiencing what with having to watch Steve Carell act like an idiot for an entire movie, and since he’s usually not particularly funny anyway, it could have been just that. This made it all the more surprising that the film was actually amusing and provided a lot of good, . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: SaltThis is one of those movies that it seems like we’ve been hearing about for a long time now. “Salt” was originally scripted for a male lead with Tom Cruise taking the role. However, Cruise felt it was too close to his “Mission: Impossible” films (he’s already done the rogue on the run) and decided to back out, leaving the role open for someone else. In steps Angelina Jolie, causing the script to be revised for a female lead.
Jolie plays . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” reunites director Jon Turteltaub with actor Nicolas Cage, who had both previously worked on the underrated “National Treasure” films. While those films had been fun and full of adventure, it felt like those were the elements that were missing from their latest effort. This film isn’t completely lacking in those areas, but sadly, they seem to have taken a backseat to the special effects.
The story begins with a prologue explaining that long ago the sorcerer Merlin . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: InceptionIn my humble opinion, Christopher Nolan is the single greatest filmmaker working today. Yes, even better than Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese. No one can tell a story quite like Nolan can. In “Memento,” he took us through the film completely backwards in order to identify with its main character who had no short-term memory. In “The Prestige,” he slowly unveiled a story of two rival magicians where things were not quite what they seemed. This time around, he takes . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: PredatorsBack in 1987, a small film called “Predator” rolled into theaters. It wasn’t the kind of film that you would expect to become a staple of the sci-fi/action genre, but it surprisingly became famous and even spawned a few sequels. It’s fair to say that the sequels, which include some team-ups with the creatures from the “Alien” franchise, were not well-received, so it was opted to take the franchise back to its roots.
This reboot of the series begins with Royce . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Despicable MeIn a summer that’s been dominated by Pixar’s “Toy Story 3″ comes a smaller animated film entitled “Despicable Me” that was barely even on my radar before I attended the screening. I expected another short, simple kids’ film with a few jokes and maybe a few loud noises to keep the children interested, but to my surprise, it ended up being much more than that.
It tells the story of a supervillain named Gru (Voice of Steve Carell), who has accomplished . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The Last AirbenderM. Night Shyamalan has been having quite a troubled career. He started off so well with the innovative and creepy “The Sixth Sense” and would go on to make a couple of decent films with “Signs” and “The Village,” but took a sharp dive with his recent projects, “Lady in the Water” and “The Happening,” both of which turned out to be disastrously bad. Sadly, we must now add his latest film, “The Last Airbender,” to that list.
It is set . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The Twilight Saga: EclipseThe first thing I had to do before watching the latest installment in the “Twilight” series was to go back and reread my review of the previous entry, “New Moon,” because I hardly remembered a thing that had happened in that film. It turns out the main reason I hadn’t remembered much was simply because barely anything had happened in the previous film, just one of many problems that weren’t fixed between that film and “Eclipse.” It was easy to . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Knight and DayJames Mangold’s “Knight and Day” is an action-packed, edge of your seat thrill ride that barely pauses long enough for you to take a breath. It’s the kind of movie that has plot, but not too much plot to get in the way of having a good time, all wrapped up in a story that ends up taking you around the world as it keeps its main characters in continuous danger.
The story begins at an airport as June Havens (Cameron . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Grown UpsThere are two things you need to know about “Grown Ups” before you even think about possibly seeing it. First, it stars “Saturday Night Live” alum Adam Sandler, who hasn’t been the least bit funny since he left that show so many years ago. Second, this film is directed by Dennis Dugan, whose other failures include “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,” “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan,” and “Big Daddy,” all starring Sandler (This list goes on, but . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Jonah Hex“Jonah Hex” is a film that was riddled with bad publicity from the start. Early test screenings of the film were calling it a disaster, and even after some reshoots earlier this year, the bad word of mouth continued. It was then said that the film would not be screened for critics, which is usually the case with a film that will likely get a slew of negative reactions, but then, all of a sudden, at the last second, early . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Toy Story 3More than ten years after the last sequel to the original animated hit, Pixar finally brings us the latest chapter in the “Toy Story” series. The first two films are marveled at for their amazing animation, excellent storytelling, and their fascinating technique of delving into the emotional bonds between humans and their toys. “Toy Story 3″ hopes to continue that tradition by bringing back all of the old favorites, and even a few new ones.
It’s been quite a while since . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Splice“Splice” is one of those experiment-gone-wrong stories in the tradition of “Frankenstein” or “The Fly.” They tend to involve interesting ideas about what can happen when one pushes the boundaries of science to the extreme in order to discover something new and potentially useful to mankind. However, when compared to those other two stories, “Splice” comes up rather short in its exploration of the idea.
Clive Nicoli (Adrian Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) are geneticists who have been experimenting with . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The A-Team“The A-Team,” an adaptation of the famous television show from the ’80s, is best compared to another recent film, “The Losers.” Both films are silly, over-the-top, and include action sequences that come off as hilarious, and even though the plots may be incomprehensible at times, they still deliver one hell of a ride.
“The A-Team” tells the story of a group of Army Rangers who first met up in Iraq. The team includes Col. Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson), Lt. Templeton ‘Faceman’ . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The Karate Kid (2010)The vast originality of Hollywood strikes again with an update of “The Karate Kid,” a small film that became very popular and even spawned several sequels. Why on Earth somebody thought that we needed a remake of the original film is anybody’s guess, but here it is with a few small changes to the story in an effort to make it seem fresh.
Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) and his mother, Sherry Parker (Taraji P. Henson), have moved to China because her . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Get Him to the GreekNicholas Stoller’s “Get Him to the Greek” is not exactly built off of an original character. How many times before have we seen alcohol, drugs, and promiscuous behavior get in the way of a celebrity’s career? Luckily, this is not the only focus of the film, or there would simply be nothing new here to see. This is supplemented by a story involving what seems like a very simple mission, but what actually turns out to be more complicated than . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: KillersRobert Luketic’s “Killers” takes a worn out premise and somehow manages to make it feel even more tired than before. What we basically have here is a film that is trying to be like “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” with only one of the couple being a killer…..and minus the thrills, humor, chemistry, and interesting dialogue that had made “Smith” memorable.
“Killers” begins in Nice, France where Jen (Katherine Heigl) is vacationing with her parents, Mr. (Tom Selleck) and Mrs. Kornfeldt (Catherine . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time“Prince of Persia” is the latest video game to get adapted into a motion picture. I learn from the always-resourceful Wikipedia that the video game series started back in 1989 and has had more than a dozen games. I have never played a single entry in the series, but that shouldn’t stop me from enjoying the film, right? A good video game adaptation should be able to stand on its own without knowledge of the workings of the game or . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Shrek Forever AfterIt’s hard to believe it’s already been nine years since the original “Shrek” came to theaters. It was an amazing sight to behold; a film that was a great mixture of fairy tale, humor, and drama. This was followed by two decent sequels that had some funny moments to them. Now Shrek returns in what is supposedly the final chapter in the saga.
Picking up where the third film left off, Shrek (Voice of Mike Myers) is married to Fiona (Voice . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: MacGruberJorma Taccone’s “MacGruber” is a great example of just how far “Saturday Night Live” has fallen in the last several years. A show that once held great comedic talents has withered away into an unfunny batch of lame skits. As has always been the tradition, there have been movie spinoffs from certain skits, some more successful (and funnier) than others. MacGruber is a relatively recent character creation, first appearing in 2007, and now, in a desperate attempt to recapture some . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The Secret in Their EyesOne of the big shocks of the Oscars this year came when Juan José Campanella’s “The Secret in Their Eyes” beat out the front-runner, Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon,” the film that had won top honors at the Cannes Film Festival, to win Best Foreign Language Film. Campanella’s film hadn’t been heard about very much in the states prior to the ceremony, but now, thanks to its Oscar win, it’s getting the release it deserves.
The film centers on Benjamin Esposito . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Just WrightI remember watching this film a couple of weeks back when it was called “The Back-Up Plan” and before that it was known by many other titles. Sure the plots aren’t necessarily the same, but they hit the exact same beats every single time. So this time, we have the same old, dried-up formula coming back for another round, this time with some sport sprinkled in.
Leslie Wright (Queen Latifah), a physical therapist, lives together with her best friend, Morgan (Paula . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Robin HoodIt’s hard to say just how many different version of the Robin Hood legend there have been on film. It seems everyone has tried to tackle it at one time or another from the amazing 30s version with Errol Flynn to a much later version starring Kevin Costner. Mel Brooks has even given us his humorous take with “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” Now Ridley Scott, reteaming with Russell Crowe, gives us a different perspective on the old tale.
Robin Longstride . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: BabiesI’ve written before about how documentaries must follow the main rule of being about an interesting subject. “Babies,” the new documentary by Thomas Balmes, doesn’t have this problem as babies can be fascinating to watch sometimes. However, there is another rule, one that is more secondary because it is not usually a problem, even when the documentary breaks rule number one: It must have something to say.
The film follows four babies in four different cultures from their birth to when . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Iron Man 2The long-awaited sequel to 2008′s mega-blockbuster has finally arrived, and with it, everyone’s favorite narcissist-turned-humanitarian Tony Stark. The debate has already begun as to whether or not “Iron Man 2″ lives up to its predecessor, or perhaps even surpasses it. Admittedly, I was not a huge fan of the first film, though I did enjoy it overall, so I would have to say that I fall into the second group.
The sequel picks up not long after the first film ends. . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The LosersSylvain White’s “The Losers” is the most entertaining film of the year so far. It’s loud, full of explosions, and contains 2-D characters, but none of that ends up mattering due to its sheer entertainment value. Sadly, most critics have been seeing these traits as a bad thing, but that’s because they’re missing the point of a movie like this. It knows, like the audience knows, that no Oscars will be coming its way. It’s here merely to give you . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)It’s been more than 25 years since Wes Craven gave us the original horror classic, and now, several sequels later, “A Nightmare on Elm Street” gets an update with fresh faces, a slightly different Freddy, and a few scenes of homage to the original. So far, the remake has been receiving a critical lashing, which makes it quite a surprise to find out that it’s actually not half as bad as people have made it out to be. It has . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The Back-up PlanAlan Poul’s “The Back-Up Plan” is another film in a long line of films that are formulaic to the bone, containing little to no originality, all while following around characters that we could care less about. We’ve already had a fair share of films this year following this same formula, such as “The Bounty Hunter” and “She’s Out of My League,” so where was the need for yet another?
This time around, the main character is Zoe (Jennifer Lopez), a woman . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Date Night“Date Night” pairs two of the most popular comedians working today for a night that neither of the main characters will ever forget. Before the night is over, they are threatened, shot at, chased, and humiliated, all because of one of those amazing plot devices simply known as the “mistaken identity.” Amazing how one little mistake can go such a long way.
Phil (Steve Carell) and Claire Foster (Tina Fey) are married and have two kids. Their relationship seems to have . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Kick-AssMatthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass,” based off the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., is an extremely violent, profanity-filled, action-packed film. It also makes for quite a fun time at the cinema as it doesn’t simply use it all for entertainment value, but rather explores a theme that has been explored before, except this time using much younger heroes.
Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is your typical nerd in high school. He’s ignored by all the other kids except his equally . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Death at a Funeral (2010)In an age of movies where remakes are churned out one after the other comes yet another with “Death at a Funeral,” a remake of the hilarious comedy of the same name from all the way back in 2007. You read that right: 2007. Apparently ideas are so sparse nowadays in the movie business that even movies from just a couple of years ago need to be remade.
The film tells the story of a family as they come together for . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Clash of the Titans (2010)Louis Leterrier’s “Clash of the Titans” is an update of the 1981 film of the same name that starred Laurence Olivier and was directed by Desmond Davis. Like the original, the update is a special effects extravaganza that uses the effects to pull the audience into the adventure. Many have already claimed that it fails to do this, however, I must admit, I had fun watching this remake that taps into the spirit of the original.
The film opens with a . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Hot Tub Time MachineWhat a fascinating title. It’s the kind of title that heightened my anticipation based on it alone. Then the trailer came out and the anticipation dropped a few notches. It still had the potential to be funny, and to be fair, it does have its share of funny moments. I suppose how many depends entirely on the viewer.
The film starts by introducing us to its main characters: Adam (John Cusack), his nephew, Jacob (Clark Duke), and Adam’s two friends, Nick . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Why Did I Get Married Too?Tyler Perry has had an interesting career. Despite most of his movies getting a critical lashing after their release, for he apparently doesn’t allow them to be screened prior, they have always performed quite well at the box office. He apparently has a niche that is devoted to his films, and his latest was no exception.
Perry’s follow-up to “Why Did I Get Married?” follows the same characters from the original. Four couples decide to take a vacation to the Bahamas . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Remember MeWhat struck me most after watching “Remember Me” was just how one-note the whole film felt. The entire film casts a feeling of doom and gloom that is inescapable from scene to scene, always present, never lifting, even in the most joyous of moments. That probably explains why Robert Pattinson was attracted to the material. He’s used to such a tone.
The story begins in 1991 as Ally Craig (Caitlyn Rund, later played by Emilie de Ravin) watches her mother get . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: How to Train Your Dragon“How To Train Your Dragon” is another one of those stories of the unlikely hero who will end up saving the day when everything looks hopeless. We may have seen such a story before, several times before actually, but somehow the creative team behind this film still manages to make it feel fresh, while keeping us engaged in its plot.
Set on a small island, the film follows a tribe of Vikings who have to deal with the threat of constant . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Repo Men“Repo Men” is best described as “Repo! The Genetic Opera” meets “Minority Report.” Never heard of that first film? Don’t feel bad. It didn’t make much of a splash when it came out and was a terrible film to boot. Anyways, it just goes to show that “Repo Men” didn’t have much originality to begin with despite where it was getting its source material from, which in this case, was the book “Repossession Mambo” by Eric Garcia.
The story takes place . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The Bounty HunterAndy Tennant’s “The Bounty Hunter” takes what could have been an interesting premise and stretches it out into a nearly two-hour tedious exercise. In its overly-bloated runtime, it offers little in the way of entertainment mainly because the material doesn’t require nearly this much time, so we end up with a lot of excess fluff. Isn’t there a lesson to be learned here? If you have a lot of excess material in your story, it will easily cause it to . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Green ZonePaul Greengrass’s “Green Zone” has a fascinating premise which some may claim to be factual, though the film is apparently not based on a true story. Imagine that the war in Iraq was based off of fabricated intelligence. Imagine the only reason that the US went to war there was because a top official in the CIA lied about the existence of WMD….despite being told by a top Iraqi general that there were none.
Roy Miller (Matt Damon) is the leader . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Our Family WeddingRick Famuyiwa’s “Our Family Wedding” takes a tired premise and is able to inject it with the much-needed humor it requires in order to keep it from going stale. It’s kind of like a mix of other films, taking a little bit from “Father of the Bride” and combining it with “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” and while it doesn’t get to the level of those films, it still provides several good laughs in the process.
Lucia Ramirez (America Ferrera), a . . .
Jeff Beck reviews: She’s Out of My LeagueJim Field Smith’s “She’s Out of My League” is another one of those comedies that you’ll be able to tell whether or not you’ll enjoy it from the opening scene. It has the kind of lowbrow humor that you would find in films like Kevin Smith’s most recent work, “Cop Out.” If you’re into that kind of humor, you might enjoy it, but for everyone else, it’s an excruciating ride from beginning to end.
Kirk (Jay Baruchel) has a job with . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Brooklyn’s FinestDirector Antoine Fuqua returns to the underworld of cops who are corrupt and on the edge, where violence is an everyday fact. Fuqua previously explored this world in “Training Day,” except that in his most recent film, “Brooklyn’s Finest,” he has three stories running simultaneously instead of just focusing on one.
The first involves a cop named Sal (Ethan Hawke). From the opening scene, we find out that he is corrupt, stealing drug money for his own purposes, but as . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The CraziesBreck Eisner’s “The Crazies” has been advertised as a kind of horror/thriller, which makes it rather strange that the film is somewhat lacking in both of those areas. There is some horror to the situation in which the characters find themselves, but if you’re looking for horror in terms of something that will scare you, then you’ll probably be a bit disappointed.
The film takes place in a small, seemingly normal, town in which everyone, including the local sheriff, David (Timothy . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Alice in WonderlandDirector Tim Burton, well-known for his dark style of filmmaking (“Sweeney Todd,” “Edward Scissorhands,” and “Batman” to name a few), returns with his take on Lewis Carroll’s classic story, “Alice in Wonderland.” You’ll find many of the elements, characters, and events here from the original Disney version, but knowing Burton’s work, it’s not going to be as simple as all that. He takes this story, which has been adapted multiple times, and adds his own touch to it.
As the film . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Cop OutIt’s rather difficult to have to talk about Kevin Smith in a negative sense. His films tend to be interesting, charming, witty, and character-driven, which is everything that is missing from his latest film, “Cop Out.” He puts those positive characteristics aside for others like dull, painfully-unfunny, poorly-written, and filled to the brim with clichés and plotholes.
The film follows two policemen, Jimmy (Bruce Willis) and Paul (Tracy Morgan), as they try to stop a group of drug dealers. After fumbling . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: The White RibbonMichael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” is a film that has already had a lot of buzz about it ever since it won the Golden Palm (the equivalent of Best Picture) at the Cannes Film Festival last year. Now that it’s gotten a limited release it has gathered more positive reviews from critics and even a couple of Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film, but is it worthy of the buzz it’s been receiving?
The story begins with . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: From Paris with LoveThroughout Pierre Morel’s “From Paris with Love,” I was constantly reminded of two films from last year: “Terminator Salvation” and “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.” Now if you’ve seen either of those two films (both of which got dishonorable mentions on my list of worst films of the year), you know that this can’t possibly be a good thing.
As for why I was reminded of those films, take a look at a brief synopsis: James Reece (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) . . .
Jeff Beck Reviews: Crazy HeartWhat else can be said about Jeff Bridges’s performance in Scott Cooper’s “Crazy Heart?” He’s had just about every accolade thrown at him from every conceivable angle, but he’s deserved every bit of it. At the risk of saying what’s already been said, it truly is that good of a portrayal of a character that we’ve seen before, but not quite in this way.
Bridges plays Bad Blake, a washed-up country singer who used to be quite big, but is now . . .
