'Surrogates' explores robotic world
Published Friday September 25th, 2009
Opening this week: Fame, Pandorum, Surrogates and Trailer Park Boys 2: Countdown to Liquor Day, with a Friday night showing of Jaws.
* 9 - The animation is so breathtaking in its originality, so weird and wondrous in its detail, you wish there were more meat to the screenplay from Pamela Pettler, who previously wrote Monster House. 9 follows a group of creatures who represent the last vestige of humanity in a post-apocalyptic world.HHH out of four. Rated PG.
* All About Steve - Kim Barker came up with the script in which Sandra Bullock's character, a crossword puzzle writer named Mary Horowitz, is singularly annoying from the first moment we meet her. When Mary finally meets handsome cable-news cameraman Steve (Bradley Cooper), she immediately throws herself at him. Then she misinterprets a comment he makes in the frenzy of scurrying away from her as an invitation to join him on the road covering breaking news, and ends up stalking him across the country. H out of four. Rated PG.
* Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - A scientist tries to solve world hunger only to see things go awry as food falls from the sky in abundance. With the voices of Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris, Anna Faris, James Caan and Andy Samberg. HH out of four. Rated G.
* Fame - The "reinvention" of the 1980 high school musical stays faithful to the spirit and structure of Alan Parker's original while sucking out all the raciness. There's no nudity, no one gets an abortion. No one even lights a single cigarette. So no, it's not exactly the most realistic depiction of modern high-school life. But at the same time, dancer and choreographer Kevin Tancharoen, making his feature directing debut, doesn't turn Fame into the kind of slick, overly edited eye candy you might expect. Starting with Debbie Allen's famous "you got big dreams, you want fame" speech over the opening titles, Fame follows a group of aspiring singers, dancers, actors and musicians from their auditions for New York's competitive High School of Performing Arts until their graduation four years later. HH½ out of four.
* Jennifer's Body - Part of the allure of the Showtime series Diablo Cody created, The United States of Tara - beyond the versatility of star Toni Collette - is the humour she finds in everyday suburbia, the reality and the absurdity. And that's the best part of Jennifer's Body, too. Never mind that it's a mash-up of horror flick and teen comedy: When her characters talk about regular stuff like awkward adolescent sex and high-school dances, it's funny in a relatable way. It's when Cody tries too hard to dazzle us that she loses her footing; meanwhile, director Karyn Kusama struggles in her own way to find the right tone. The result: Jennifer's Body is never scary and only sporadically amusing. Megan Fox is a great choice, though, to play Jennifer, the queen bee in the small town of Devil's Kettle. HH out of four. Rated 14A.
* Love Happens - Aaron Eckhart and Jennifer Aniston are so utterly lacking in chemistry with each other (and they're both pretty bland individually) that it's hard to discern any genuine emotion. What first-time director Brandon Camp gives us instead is a cliché-addled romantic drama that's short on both romance and drama, one that's filled with soggy platitudes and contrived catharsis. Zero stars out of four. Rated PG.
* Pandorum - Two astronauts awaken in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft. It's pitch black, they are disoriented, and the only sound is a low rumble and creak from the belly of the ship. They can't remember anything. Who are they? What is their mission? With Lt. Payton staying behind to guide him via radio transmitter, Cpl. Bower ventures deep into the ship and begins to uncover a terrifying reality. Slowly the spacecraft's shocking, deadly secrets are revealed, and the astronauts find their own survival is more important than they could ever have imagined. H out of four.
* Surrogates - Surrogates, adapted by John Brancato and Michael Ferris from Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele's graphic novel of the same name, stars Bruce Willis as Greer, an FBI agent looking into the murders of several surrogates and their human masters. Like most of the world's population, Greer has two halves: His better-looking (except, it must be said, for the blond toupee) surrogate is controlled by his stay-at-home, a somewhat grizzled, real self. The Stepford-pretty robots (including Greer's FBI sidekick, played by Radha Mitchell) have helped eliminate crime and racism, but their human operators have even less personal contact than modern-day adults who play World of Warcraft all day and night. Greer is increasingly melancholy over the disconnect, as is the Prophet (Ving Rhames), who has established robot-free reservations. "We're not meant to experience the world through a machine," the Prophet implores his followers. H out of four.
* The Final Destination - Crash survivors must figure out how to cheat death before reaching their final destination. With Shantel VanSanten, Krista Allen, Andrew Fiscella, Richard T. Jones and Mykelti Williamson. Written by Eric Bress. Directed by David R. Ellis. H out of four. Rated 18A.
* The Informant! - The exclamation point in the title is your first clue that Steven Soderbergh's intentions are more than a little askew. Then you notice Matt Damon's helmet of hair, his pouf of a moustache, his corny sportswear and the paunch where the Bourne trilogy star's taut abs used to be. And once the strains of Marvin Hamlisch's jaunty score begin - an ideal accompaniment to the faded, '70s-style cinematography - you know you're in some vividly retro, comic parallel universe. HHH out of four. Rated 14 A.
* Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day - Director Mike Clattenburg has described the tone of the film as a little darker than the TV series, but fans of the show won't be disappointed as it aptly captures the antics they've likely come to expect from the characters. There is Julian, the brawny schemer who is never without a rum-and-coke in his clutches; Ricky, his profane, overweight sidekick who can't utter a sentence not laced with F-bombs; and Bubbles, the googlie-eyed heart and soul of the fictional Sunnyvale trailer park. The movie picks up with the boys heading back to Sunnyvale, only to find it abandoned and battered after their archrival, park superintendent Jim Lahey, moved on to manage a pristine, orderly trailer home development. But as soon as the boys return, Lahey begins slipping into his old booze-soaked ways. The tale, complete with its characteristic profanity and steady stream of liquor, ends with the trio again seeing their latest harebrained scheme to make money foiled with dramatic effect. H out of four.
* Whiteout - The only U.S. marshal in Antarctica Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) races to solve a murder before the long winter strands her there with the killer. H out of four. Rated 14A.
- with files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
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