'Law Abiding Citizen' gets revenge
Published Friday October 16th, 2009
Opening this week: Law Abiding Citizen, The Stepfather and Where the Wild Things Are.
* 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.
* Couples Retreat - This is what life might have been like if the guys from Swingers had grown up, moved to the suburbs and turned into lame, sitcommy clichés. Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn team up again, on screen and on the script (along with Dana Fox), for this broad comedy about four couples who go on a tropical vacation together. In theory, they're all there to support their friends Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) as they try to save their marriage through the couples' counselling the resort offers. Little do they know they'll get sucked into agonizing therapy sessions that reveal their own rifts. You wouldn't mind getting voted off this island. H½ out of four. Rated PG
* Law Abiding Citizen - A man who witnessed the murder of his wife and child orchestrates his revenge in a series of high-profile murders from his jail cell. Starring Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb and Viola Davis. HH out of four. Rated 18A
* 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. HH½ out of four. Rated PG.
* Surrogates - In a quasi-present day Boston, nearly everyone has a surrogate - a younger, thinner, cosmetically perfect robotic version of themselves. They're controlled while you're reclining at home and plugged into a machine. This means, most importantly, that we have a blond Bruce Willis on our hands. Willis is an FBI agent who, along with his partner (Radha Mitchell), is trying to solve two murders which, though committed on surrogates, also "liquefied" the brains of their human operators. Having a robotic stand-in has some obvious perks: Sexuality is less inhibited. If you fall, you don't scrape your elbows. And if your helicopter crashes, you don't die. But this crime-less utopia is also a superficial wasteland, devoid of meaningfulness. HH out of four. Rated 14A.
* The Invention of Lying - It would be such a joy to bend the truth and say that The Invention of Lying lives up to the potential of its inspired premise. The conceit - that an alternate universe exists where everyone tells the truth all the time - sets up an uproarious beginning, but then the movie plummets precipitously. It's not just the high-concept gag wears thin, which it does. The bigger problem is that Ricky Gervais, in his directorial debut (alongside co-director and co-writer Matthew Robinson), zig-zags awkwardly between dark humour and heavy melodrama. H½ out of four. Rated PG.
* The Stepfather - A student returns home from military school to find his mother in love with a suspicious man that seems to be hiding a dark side. With Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward and Penn Badgley. Screenplay by J.S. Cardone, based on a screenplay by Donald E. Westlake. H out of four. Rated 14A.
* 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. H out of four.
* Where the Wild Things Are - Where the Wild Things Are, the book, is just 339 words long. But in turning it into Where the Wild Things Are, the movie, director Spike Jonze has expanded the basic story with a breathtaking visual scheme and stirring emotional impact. It's a gorgeous film: This may sound contradictory, but it's intricate and rough-hewn at the same time, dreamlike and earthy. What keeps it from reaching complete excellence is the thinness of the script, which Jonze co-wrote with Dave Eggers. The beloved and award-winning children's book, which Maurice Sendak wrote and illustrated 45 years ago, still holds up beautifully today because it shows keen insight into the conflicted nature of kids - the delight and the frustration that can often co-exist simultaneously. HHH out of four. Rated PG.
* Whip It - Drew Barrymore has forged a persona as both an actress and producer with movies that exude a playful sense of girl power, so it only makes sense that her first feature as a director would share that same sort of vibe. What is surprising, though, is Barrymore's ability to find just the right tone all the time, which would be a difficult feat for any first-time filmmaker to achieve - even one who's had the benefit of spending her entire life on movie sets. Whip It is funny without trying too hard to be wacky, sweet without being overly sentimental. HHH out of four. Rated PG.
* Zombieland - Zombieland mostly finds that tricky balance of the laugh-out-loud funny and the make-you-jump scary, of deadpan laughs and intense energy. It's a total blast even if the story is a bit thin, and it does run out of steam toward the end, but thankfully our trip to Zombieland is appropriately quick. First-time director Ruben Fleischer grabs you from the get-go with stylized visuals - the super slo-mo carnage over the opening titles is gnarly and inspired in its detail - and the script from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick is hilariously bizarre while still remaining rooted in contemporary reality. HHH out of four. Rated 18A.
- with files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
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