- From a director of Shrek 2 comes your chance to step into the secret world of garden gnomes -
- Perfect for the whole family, this fresh and funny makeover of one of the world's most timeless
- Caught up in a feud between neighbors, Gnomeo and Juliet must overcome as many obstacles as their
- But with flamboyant pink flamingoes and epic lawnmower races, can this young couple find lasting
- We just gnome it!Features include: -MPAA Rating: G -Format: Blu-Ray-Runtime: 84 minutes
A vengeful father escapes from hell and chases after the men who killed his daughter and kidnapped his granddaughter. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (summit) Release Date: 05/31/2011 Starring: Nicolas Cage William Fichtner Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R Director: Patrick LussierTake lurid 1970s B movies about fast cars and loose women, add a dash of Nicolas Cage at his most deadpan, and sprinkle CG! I and 3D technology on top, and you've got
Drive Angry 3D. Damned badass Milton (Cage) literally busts out of hell to rescue his infant granddaughter from a Satan-worshiping cult leader named Jonah King (Billy Burke from the
Twilight movies). On his way Milton picks up Piper (Amber Heard), a blond waitress with a bad attitude and a worse boyfriend. But hot on their trail is the Accountant (William Fichtner), a demonic emissary of ambiguous intentions but unstoppable power. From there it's a series of car chases, shootouts, and sex scenes, and sometimes sex scenes that are also shootouts (a bit that was done better, it must be said, in the underrated
Shoot 'Em Up). Don't ask for coherence or common sense; this is a movie where pretty much any character's main motivation can be summed up as sheer cussedness.
Drive Angry 3D maintains a general sleazy good humor, and Fichtner at least is enjoying himself--he's giving exactly the kind of unexpected, o! ffbeat performance that Cage used to specialize in. (Cage hims! elf is p retty lackluster here, sadly, and wearing one of his worst hairpieces to boot.) This is self-conscious trash; think of it as a companion piece, both in intention and quality, to Quentin Tarentino and Robert Rodriguez's
Grindhouse compilation.
--Bret FetzerIn the high-octane, action-adventure DRIVE ANGRY, Nicolas Cage stars as an undead felon who breaks out of hell to avenge his murdered daughter and rescue her kidnapped baby from a band of cult-worshipping savages. Joined by tough-as-nails Piper (Amber Heard), the two set off on a rampage of redemption, all while being pursued by an enigmatic killer (William Fichtner) who has been sent by the Devil to retrieve Milton and deliver him back to hell.Take lurid 1970s B movies about fast cars and loose women, add a dash of Nicolas Cage at his most deadpan, and sprinkle CGI and 3D technology on top, and you've got
Drive Angry 3D. Damned badass Milton (Cage) literally busts out of hell to rescue his infant grand! daughter from a Satan-worshiping cult leader named Jonah King (Billy Burke from the
Twilight movies). On his way Milton picks up Piper (Amber Heard), a blond waitress with a bad attitude and a worse boyfriend. But hot on their trail is the Accountant (William Fichtner), a demonic emissary of ambiguous intentions but unstoppable power. From there it's a series of car chases, shootouts, and sex scenes, and sometimes sex scenes that are also shootouts (a bit that was done better, it must be said, in the underrated
Shoot 'Em Up). Don't ask for coherence or common sense; this is a movie where pretty much any character's main motivation can be summed up as sheer cussedness.
Drive Angry 3D maintains a general sleazy good humor, and Fichtner at least is enjoying himself--he's giving exactly the kind of unexpected, offbeat performance that Cage used to specialize in. (Cage himself is pretty lackluster here, sadly, and wearing one of his worst hairpieces to boot.! ) This is self-conscious trash; think of it as a companion pie! ce, both in intention and quality, to Quentin Tarentino and Robert Rodriguez's
Grindhouse compilation.
--Bret FetzerA vengeful father escapes from hell and chases after the men who killed his daughter and kidnapped his granddaughter. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (summit) Release Date: 05/31/2011 Starring: Nicolas Cage William Fichtner Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R Director: Patrick LussierTake lurid 1970s B movies about fast cars and loose women, add a dash of Nicolas Cage at his most deadpan, and sprinkle CGI and 3D technology on top, and you've got
Drive Angry 3D. Damned badass Milton (Cage) literally busts out of hell to rescue his infant granddaughter from a Satan-worshiping cult leader named Jonah King (Billy Burke from the
Twilight movies). On his way Milton picks up Piper (Amber Heard), a blond waitress with a bad attitude and a worse boyfriend. But hot on their trail is the Accountant (William Fichtner), a demonic emissary of ambiguous intention! s but unstoppable power. From there it's a series of car chases, shootouts, and sex scenes, and sometimes sex scenes that are also shootouts (a bit that was done better, it must be said, in the underrated
Shoot 'Em Up). Don't ask for coherence or common sense; this is a movie where pretty much any character's main motivation can be summed up as sheer cussedness.
Drive Angry 3D maintains a general sleazy good humor, and Fichtner at least is enjoying himself--he's giving exactly the kind of unexpected, offbeat performance that Cage used to specialize in. (Cage himself is pretty lackluster here, sadly, and wearing one of his worst hairpieces to boot.) This is self-conscious trash; think of it as a companion piece, both in intention and quality, to Quentin Tarentino and Robert Rodriguez's
Grindhouse compilation.
--Bret FetzerMaster diver frank mcguire leads a team-including his 17-year-old son-to explore the largest most beautiful and least accessibl! e cave system on earth. But when a tropical storm cuts off the! ir only escape route the team must work together to find their way through an uncharted and dangerous labyrinth. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 06/07/2011 Starring: Richard Roxburgh Ioan Gruffudd Run time: 109 minutes Rating: R Director: Alister GriersonIf there's an undersea adventure with high-tech equipment, macho posturing, and lots of underwater photography, you know James Cameron must be swimming around the vicinity. Add the fact that
Sanctum was released to theaters in 3-D, and it's clinched. Cameron served as executive producer to this crazy tale of a cave-diving expedition forced to improvise when a typhoon inundates their New Guinea location. (The film, shot in Australia, is allegedly based on a true event by co-screenwriter Andrew Wight, but it might be safe to conclude that the original incident was a jumping-off point for the high melodrama on display here.) A globetrotting billionaire (Ioan Gruffudd, of
Fantastic Four) is underwritin! g this exploration of a hidden cave maze, which explains why he gets to bring his girlfriend (Alice Parkinson) along. As a measure of their thrill-seeking habits, we are told they met on an Everest climb. The cave-diving boss is a crusty old pro (Richard Roxburgh), who is rough on his underlings and even rougher on his teenage son (Rhys Wakefield); naturally, the cataclysm that follows will be an occasion for some extreme father-son fence mending. As cornball as these elements are, and as generally toneless as director Alister Grierson's ear is with the dialogue scenes,
Sanctum does work up some bona fide thrills: the sheer power of water is unleashed at a few memorable spots, as is the panic of losing an oxygen tank at a crucial moment. It's also pretty brutal, with a steep body count and a few grotesque bits of bodily injury. It ought to be easy to dismiss
Sanctum as a silly piece of boy's adventure, but--curse you, Cameron!--one must admit that the thin! g is awfully effective.
--Robert HortonThe fourth ins! tallment of the hugely successful
Resident Evil franchise,
Resident Evil: Afterlife is again based on the wildly popular video game series, and will this time be presented in 3-D. In a world ravaged by a virus infection, turning its victims into the Undead, Alice (Milla Jovovich), continues on her journey to find survivors and lead them to safety. Her deadly battle with the Umbrella Corporation reaches new heights, but Alice gets some unexpected help from an old friend. A new lead that promises a safe haven from the Undead takes them to Los Angeles, but when they arrive the city is overrun by thousands of Undead - and Alice and her comrades are about to step into a deadly trap.A barrage of 3-D effects enlivens Paul W.S. Anderson's
Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth entry in the seemingly endless action-science fiction horror franchise based on the popular Capcom video game series. Plot, dialogue, and character development all remain secondary considerations; w! hat's key here are the set pieces that allow Milla Jovovich to unleash maximum damage to virally infected zombies, villainous henchmen, and just about anyone else who stands in the way of her stopping the shadowy Umbrella Corporation. Jovovich retains the blend of grit and pulchritude that have made her a fanboy favorite (though said viewers may decry the film's bit of shower-scene interruptus), and she's well supported by returning cast members Ali Larter and Boris Kodjoe (
Undercovers) and
Prison Break's Wentworth Miller, who, as Claire's brother, is back behind bars in a postapocalyptic jail overrun by plague zombies. And the 3-D effects are impressive and give a shot of adrenaline to the already hyper-driven action and CGI elements. Those looking for more than what the
Resident Evil franchise is designed to provide--souped-up, B-movie thrills--are advised to lower their expectations; franchise devotees should be pleased, especially by the film's fina! l scene, which (naturally) sets up another sequel.
--Paul G! aita The buzz around
The Green Hornet comes from the collision of weird talents involved: Seth Rogen plays the crime-fighting hero and writes the movie with his
Superbad bud Evan Goldberg; pop star Jay Chou plays Kato; and the whimsy-headed Michel Gondry directs. Toss in
Inglourious Basterds Oscar winner Christoph Waltz as a super-villain highly self-conscious about his brand, and you've got a blockbuster that definitely isn't going for the normal. And for a while, the movie's Apatovian comedy and bromantic tendencies supply some definite fun; plus, Waltz and his double-barreled revolver (along with an uncredited cameo by James Franco) launch the picture with a giddy opening action sequence. At some point, though, you want all this stuff to mesh, and
The Green Hornet keeps zipping about in three directions at once, never quite maintaining its early comic zip, but not grounding itself in an engaging enough crime-fighting plot, either. And there's little! to do for nominal female lead Cameron Diaz; although both millionaire playboy Britt Reid and Kato make half-hearted passes at her, it's clear their main interest is each other. You just knew a franchise that began as a radio serial in the 1930s (and took a brief but memorable detour into TV in the '60s) would end up being part of that unavoidable 21st-century genre, the male-bonding comedy. Of course, it's really a triangle. Their boss car, Black Beauty, also gets a lot of love.
--Robert HortonMilton è un ex galeotto indurito dalla vita che viene rispedito sulla Terra dall'inferno per la sua ultima possibilitàdi redenzione: deve fermare e sgominare con le cattive una setta satanica che gli ha ucciso la figlia e ha intenzione di sacrificare la nipotina alla prima notte di luna piena per aprire le porte all'avvento del demonio. Ad aiutarlo c'è Piper, una giovane e sexy cameriera che mette l'auto del suo ex fidanzato a disposizione delle imprese di Milton, ch! e però se la deve vedere anche con la polizia che è sull! e sue tr acce e con un misterioso killer noto come "Il contabile" che è stato inviato dal Diavolo in persona per riportare Milton nel mondo dei morti.Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/11/2011 Run time: 89 minutes Rating: RDebating the merits of
Piranha 3D, director Alexandre (
Mirrors) Aja's testosterone-driven valentine to Joe Dante's 1978 original and the excesses of '80s genre films in general, is a fool's errand; it is, after all, a movie about prehistoric fish preying on hormonal partygoers in various states of undress--and in 3D, mind you--so any review must answer the question--does it deliver what its key audience (young men, ages 14 to 24) require? On that front, the answer is an unequivocal yes. Special effects creators Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger present a veritable buffet of gruesome ways for the thinly drawn characters to die, from a piranha burrowing through a swimmer's head to the horrible encounter between a boat propeller and a lo! nghaired victim. The sheer amount of nudity on display rivals a week's worth of Cinemax late-night screenings, rendered all the more excessive in 3D; as for the gimmick itself, it lends some unsettling depth to the underwater attacks. In short, if one attends
Piranha 3D for grindhouse-style yucks, it's bound to be a rollicking good time. All others may find its relentless, Red Bull drive wearying; the whole affair is clearly meant to be a goof, just as Dante's original (produced by Roger Corman and penned by John Sayles) was, but where Dante's target was monster movie camp of the '50s and '60s (as well as
Jaws), Aja and writers Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg take aim at either cynical zeitgeist elements like the
Girls Gone Wild series (with Jerry O'Connell striking the right tone as its craven creator) or hapless partygoers, which leaves an unpleasant aftertaste of misanthropy. Where the film does succeed is in its supporting cast, which strikes the! same winking tone as Dante's version; Richard Dreyfuss and Ch! ristophe r Lloyd poke fun at their
Jaws and
Back to the Future roles, while Adam Scott, comic Paul Scheer, and Eli Roth give appropriately broad turns. Elizabeth Shue, of all people, is the sheriff hero and acquits herself well to the absurd story line, as do Steven R. McQueen (yes, Steve's grandson) and
Gossip Girl's Jessica Szohr as the film's Young Lovers. Again, taking issue with
Piranha 3D is like finding fault with a cheeseburger for being greasy, but for those expecting a full-course meal, the fish get all the big bites here.
--Paul GaitaFollows an elite hit man as he teaches his trade to an apprentice who has a connection to one of his previous victims. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/17/2011 Starring: Jason Statham Donald Sutherland Run time: 93 minutes Rating: R Director: Simon WestThe 1972 version of
The Mechanic is a tough-minded action film that reflects its disillusioned era. While no masterpiece, it does g! et points for the retro-coolness of prime-era Charles Bronson, cast as an ice-cold hit man who begins teaching the tricks of the trade to a young apprentice. So the prospect of a 2011 remake isn't especially sacrilegious, and handing the central role to 21st-century tough guy Jason Statham is a logical choice; Statham's got the moves, the voice, and the three-day stubble necessary for the role. In some fairly significant ways, though, the remake backs away from the hardness of the original and settles for a less daring approach. Director Simon West (
Con Air) manages to make even New Orleans locations seem monotonous, as he covers everything in a baked-butterscotch glaze and surrounds his antihero with the sleekest, most boring kind of modern hardware (the old skool LP turntable is a nice exception). Statham stays in his locked-down key throughout, while, as his student, Ben Foster--somewhat less jittery here than in the likes of
3:10 to Yuma or
Alpha Dog--strides into one reckless situation after another. Playing ! peripher al roles as members of the hit man's shadowy network, Donald Sutherland and Tony Goldwyn successfully read their lines. The actual targets of the hits are creepy enough so that we aren't unduly troubled by Statham's line of work, and the ending falls far short of the memorable original. A take-no-prisoners approach to violence makes this seem even more like an empty exercise. --Robert HortonFrom a director of Shrek 2 comes your chance to step into the secret world of garden gnomes - Gnomeo & Juliet. Perfect for the whole family, this fresh and funny makeover of one of the world's most timeless story features music from Sir Elton John, and the voice talents of Emily Blunt, James McAvoy and sir Michael Caine. Caught up in a feud between neighbors, Gnomeo and Juliet must overcome as many obstacles as their namesakes. But with flamboyant pink flamingoes and epic lawnmower races, can this young couple find lasting happiness? Complete with hilarious never-before-seen bo! nus features, Gnomeo & Juliet is an out-of-the-ordinary animated comedy your entire family will love. We just gnome it!It's the age-old story of forbidden love between feuding families, but Shakespeare's classic tragedy Romeo and Juliet becomes quite a comedy when the young lovers in question are different-colored gnomes from backyards on opposite sides of a tall wooden fence. Lured out of their respective gardens by wanderlust and an exotic orchid, Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) meet and instantly fall in love. Their forbidden love blossoms with a little help from a plastic pink flamingo named Featherstone (Jim Cummings), and soon life-threatening lawnmower races ensue, an epic battle is staged, and wisteria trees and gnome hats are hacked to bits in the process. Shakespeare himself (Patrick Stewart) makes an appearance and declares that, while this story bears a marked resemblance to one of his own, he's not sure it will end in quite the same way. ! Shakespunian nuggets of wisdom include "A weed is by any other! name, s till a weed," and that fairness demands "a hat for a hat," and of course the philosophical question "What's in a gnome?" just has to be asked. Executive producer Elton John's penchant for over-the-top showmanship finds a perfect home in the gnomes' elaborate backyard sets, and his musical score is an effective blend of classic and original songs, including a new collaboration with Lady Gaga called "Hello, Hello." Other legendary musicians lending their talents to the voice cast include Dolly Parton and Ozzy Osbourne. This film is funny, engaging, and, with the possible exception of one particularly scantily clad gnome, appropriate for the whole family. (Ages 5 and older) --Tami Horiuchi
is a Western spoof about two women, Maria Alvarez (Penelope Cruz) and Sara Sandoval (Salma Hayek), who seek! to avenge the tragedies befallen both their fathers under robber baron, Tyler Jackson (Dwight Yoakam). Jackson, employed by the Bank of New York, is sent to Mexico to buy land and open banks to the detriment of local culture. Jackson kills Sara's corrupt father, Don Diego, while bandits burn down Maria's home. The two ladies band together for the community's cause. Under the tutelage of Bill Buck (Sam Sheperd), Sara and Maria develop bank robbery skills. When criminologist, Quentin Cooke (Steve Zahn), hunts them, they convert him with their strong moral sense and good looks. Like any Thelma and Louise-ish tale of women who take charge, Maria and Sara are foil characters who eventually become an invincible, sisterly team. This comedy is built around their bickering. For Sara, with European education and penchant of designer clothing, Maria is a hick who lacks refinement, yet Maria, horse whisperer, can fire a gun. The slapstick is overkill, for example when Sara wond! ers whether a bandana is Gucci or Prada. However, viewers will! love Pe nelope Cruz on horseback and the two actresses practice-kissing their foe in a brothel. Bandidas is a light film with some laughs and mucho sex appeal. -- Trinie Dalton
