The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Hey do
you like movies which invite you to spend 90 minutes laughing at
(rather than with) their characters? Me neither. Unfortunately,
that's The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
in a nutshell. Despite a real knowledge of and fondness for
magicians and their craft, the film can't overcome its fundamental
mean-spiritedness.
Incredibly,
Burt Wonderstone
couldn't pull so much as a chuckle out of thin air. I should have
cleaned out my house's raingutters, instead.
Elysium
Elysium
is Matt Damon's shot at a Big Concept, Big Budget science-fiction
adventure. Unfortunately, the Big Concept is that Rich People are
Bad, which is laughable coming from a studio owned and run by rich
people.
Sanctimony,
however, isn't Elysium's
greatest flaw. That honor gets divided between dullness and
ugliness. Elysium is
dull because its hero takes so long to get from “self-absorbed
jerk” to “hero” that we've lost empathy by the time he's made
the transition. It's dull because its villains are so villainous
that they aren't even interesting. It's dull because its internal
contradictions glare so brightly that they keep the audience from
suspending disbelief. And it's dull just because it drags. Elysium
is ugly because – heck, I don't know, maybe director Neil Blomkamp
(of the remarkable District 9)
just likes ugliness.
This is a tedious, dull, annoying, ugly film. Pass it by.
The Wolverine
I saw The
Wolverine about a week ago, and I've already forgotten nearly
everything about it other than a ridiculous hand-to-hand battle with
a cyborg samurai. It's as if the movie had never even existed.
Taken 2
If you
liked Taken, you'll
like Taken 2. It's an
unapologetic rehash of the first film, set this time in Istanbul.
Hey, I liked Taken. I
like Istanbul. I got my money's worth.
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