"Source Code" Review

What would you do if you only had eight minutes to live?

When an Air Force captain wakes up in a stranger’s body aboard a commuter train outside Chicago, figuring out how he got there is only one piece of the larger puzzle that is the Source Code.

The last thing Capt. Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) remembers before waking up on a train bound for Chicago is flying a helicopter in Afghanistan. Beyond not remembering how he got there, he is shocked to find himself trapped in someone else’s body. His disorientation is short-lived, though, because the train explodes eight minutes after he wakes up.

His world becomes even stranger when he wakes up in a steel hatch to find out that he is part of a top-secret government operation called the Source Code that sends him back in time to the eight minutes before the train explodes. His operations contact in the real world, Goodwin (Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air) , explains that the train was only the first target and the same bomber plans to detonate a dirty bomb in downtown Chicago. Stevens’ mission is to find the bomber so they can prevent the second attack.

Naturally, things become a little complicated along the way when Stevens begins to have feelings for Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan), a girl on the train. Twists and turns abound as he races to find the bomber and save the girl, all in eight minutes or less.

Source Code has a lot of things working for it—The mystery of who the bomber is plays itself out at a nice pace, and does a good job of misleading the audience with every mistake Stevens makes; the eight minute deadline adds nicely to the already-tense situation; and Gyllenhaal provides both gravity and levity to the film, making it easy to empathize with the characters on screen.

Really, the biggest problem with Source Code is its premise. Don’t get me wrong, the idea that someone can be sent back in time to stop a crime is intriguing—though it does feel a lot like Déjà vu. I don’t mean the feeling of déjà vu, I mean the 2006 thriller starring Denzel Washington.

The problem is that Stevens is sent back for eight minutes, then he dies. Then he’s sent back for the same eight minutes, then he dies. Then he’s sent back for the same eight minutes, then he dies. Do you see the pattern? Honestly, the movie started to feel like one of those video games where you have unlimited lives. It was hard to worry about whether or not he’d succeed because he has as many tries as he needs to get it right.

That hiccup aside, Source Code definitely delivers.

7 of 10

"Limitless" Review

What could you do if you could use 100% of your brain? According to Limitless, anything you want.

The movie follows Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper, The Hangover), a down-and-out writer with one of the most epic cases of writer’s block in history. He’s behind schedule on his publication date—in fact, he hasn’t written a single word. That’s when he meets his ex-brother-in-law who gives him a new, experimental drug—NZT—that activates the parts of the brain we can’t use.

Suddenly, Eddie’s capable of miraculous things. He writes an entire novel in four days; he makes $2 million in 10 days; and, he gets a haircut (okay, so that’s not quite so miraculous). His meteoric rise catches the attention of energy tycoon Carl Van Loon, played by the legendary Robert De Niro.

Unfortunately, every addiction has its side effects, and as Eddie relies more and more heavily on NZT to function on a daily basis, the more things spiral out of control. From killer side effects to a killer Russian crime boss, Eddie soon finds himself going to extreme measures to save his sanity and his life.

The best part of the movie is the cast—Cooper’s character has a great sense of humor, and  De Niro electrifies every scene. Director Neil Burger uses a variety of filters and camera effects to give the movie an artsy, independent feel that’s missing from most new theatrical releases.  

That being said, Limitless definitely has its faults—mainly, it feels unbalanced. Even if you suspend your disbelief and accept that Eddie is using 100% of his brain, it still seems that the conflicts that should be the easiest to solve take up most of the film, while the biggest conflicts are explained away by a couple of lines of dialogue, or a glib voiceover from our protagonist.

And, maybe that’s the problem with the premise in the first place—how can there be any real conflict or tension when the protagonist is the smartest person in the world?\

5 of 10 

"Gnomeo & Juliet" Review

Shakespeare’s sure come a lawn way.

Take Romeo & Juliet, exchange all the characters for garden gnomes, move it to the present day, infuse it with some of Elton John’s best songs, and you’ve got the surprisingly delightful animated film, Gnomeo & Juliet.

I’ll admit—having an English degree and being a fan of Shakespeare—the very premise of this movie made me groan. Those groans quickly turned to laughter once the film began.

Like the original, Gnomeo & Juliet takes place in Verona—Verona drive, that is. The feuding families are the Reds and the Blues—the gnomes living in Mr. Capulet’s and Ms. Montague’s gardens, respectively. Capulet and Montague hate each other so their gnomes hate each other, too.

What makes this movie so much fun is its own self-awareness of itself as a retelling of Shakespeare… Does that make sense?

The film begins with a gnome reading the prologue from Romeo & Juliet before being tossed off stage in a vaudevillian manner. From then on the movie is one Shakespeare reference after another. Besides its obvious relationship with Romeo & Juliet, there are references to As You Like It, Macbeth, Hamlet, and The Taming of the Shrew. And, those are the ones I caught without really paying attention. I’m sure there are more if you look for them.

Another great part of this fun, post-modern Shakespeare adaptation is the cameo appearance of William Shakespeare himself—Well, his statue, anyway. During Gnomeo’s exile from

Verona Drive

, he winds up at Shakespeare’s statue in a park. He recounts the details of his and Juliet’s forbidden love, and Shakespeare tells him that their story sounds awfully familiar. *wink*

There is also a brilliant reference to the popular Powerthirst commercials. If you don’t know what Powerthirst is, do yourself a favor and YouTube it.

Of course, anyone expecting a completely faithful presentation of “Romeo & Juliet” is going to be disappointed—although, if you’re surprised that a movie about garden gnomes doesn’t follow the original 100 percent, you should probably go take a few tests.

My only real complaint with this movie is that it was too short--a total runtime of only 84 minutes. I would've gladly sat through another 30 minutes if it were as cleverly crafted and enjoyable as the rest of it.

8 of 10

"Hall Pass" Review

In the latest comedic outing from the Farrelly brothers (There’s Something About Mary), two men are given a week off from marriage to live out their sexual fantasies with other women, consequence free. Unfortunately, Hall Pass winds up being even dumber than it sounds.

Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Saturday Night Live's Jason Sudeikis) are both 40-something married men who have delusions that—were it not for their wives—they’d be able to sleep with all of the beautiful women they see around them. Sick and tired of their husbands’ ridiculous behavior, their wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) give them a week off from marriage to do whatever they want.

The boys quickly learn that they are not quite the charismatic pick-up artists they had thought, and they spend most of the week having misguided misadventures in their quest for tail. Their wives—Maggie (Fischer) and Grace (Applegate)—however, have a considerably more successful week off.

While this film has a couple of good moments—and it’s nice to see Owen Wilson playing a normal guy for a change—it never figures out if it’s a raunchy buddy comedy or a romantic comedy with heart. Instead of committing to one or the other, it tries—miserably—to juggle the two.

The most disappointing part about Hall Pass is that, by all right, it could’ve been really funny. Like, The Hangover funny. In fact, it’s the perfect premise for a Hangover-esque buddy movie. Instead, it’s nothing more than a string of adolescent sex jokes made by 40-something year old boys who just never seem to have grown up.

There is an emotional undercurrent to the movie but it seems completely out of place, which also makes the film’s resolution borderline unbelievable.

In the end, Hall Pass feels a lot more like detention.

3 of 10

"The Green Hornet" Review

The Green Hornet hits all the right marks to make it the first fun buddy-cop – well, sort of – movie of 2011.

The long-gestating remake of the 1960s TV show stars Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Pineapple Express) as Britt Reid, the irresponsible, hard-partying son of newspaper editor James Reid (Tom Wilkinson). He is joined by Taiwanese pop sensation Jay Chou as Kato and Cameron Diaz as Lenore Chase.

As the movie opens, we learn very quickly that Britt’s relationship with his father is strained because he buries himself in his work as editor of The Daily Sentinel, L.A.’s largest family-owned newspaper. Flash forward twenty years and Britt spends his nights partying and making tabloid headlines.

Everything changes when James Reid dies from an allergic reaction to a bee sting. Britt meets Kato, his father’s mechanic, who also happens to be an inventor, weapons expert, martial-arts extraordinaire, all-around genius and cappuccino guru. Together they devise a plan to wage a war on L.A.’s criminal underworld by dressing like masked superheroes.

The interesting thing about the Green Hornet is that instead of clearly being a hero, they pose as criminals who want to take over L.A.’s gangs. This attracts the attention of L.A.’s criminal mastermind, Chudnofsky, played by Academy-Award winner Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds), and eventually things escalate into a full-blown gang war.

Full disclosure: I’ve never seen the original The Green Hornet TV show, nor listened to the radio drama so I went into this movie with absolutely no preconceived notions of who the characters were supposed to be, or how the story should’ve been executed. That being said, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

I certainly had my doubts about Seth Rogen playing anything close to a super hero, but in the movie they make it clear that Kato is really the talent. In that context, Rogen makes a lot more sense because Britt spends most of the movie fumbling around trying to be relevant. It isn’t until the very end that he starts to carry his own weight.

The on-screen chemistry between Rogen and Chou adds a great levity to the movie, and the scenes with the two of them are definitely the most fun to watch. They banter and bicker like a married couple, continuing the bromantic trend we’ve seen develop in recent years.

The best thing about The Green Hornet is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously – a running gag is whether or not Chudnofsky is scary enough as a villain. He decides it isn’t and changes his name to Bloodnofsky. In the end, it’s that sense of humor that makes the movie a pleasure to watch.

7.5 of 10

"The Rite" Review

An atheist and an exorcist joining together to fight the forces of evil sounds like a bad sit-com. In fact, it would've been better that way. Instead, it’s the premise behind the supernatural thriller – if you can call it that – The Rite.

The movie, suggested by Matt Baglio's book The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, is about a would-be atheist who becomes an exorcist after witnessing the effects of demoic possession first-hand.

Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue) is an atheist who joins the seminary so he can get away from the family-owned and operated funeral home. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he tries to resign by claiming to have a crisis of faith, though that was actually his plan all along.

Rather than accept his resignation, the priest in charge of the seminary sends Michael to Rome for two months to take a new course about exorcism being offered by the Vatican; part of a new Vatican initiative to meet the increasing reports of demonic possessions. Note: The Vatican really does have courses to train priests in the ancient rite of exorcism.

After openly denying the existence of the devil in a class, Michael is sent to meet Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), a Welsh priest who regularly conducts exorcisms. On his first visit, Michael witnesses an exorcism involving a pregnant 16-year-old girl who was raped by her father. Despite experiencing first-hand the unusual behavior attributed to demonic possession, Michael refuses to believe anything supernatural is happening and instead insists that the girl is internalizing the trauma caused by her father.

Father Lucas warns Michael, “refusing to believe in the Devil will not protect you from him.”

Naturally, things begin to escalate after that first exorcism. Michael is tormented by a demon who seems intent on destroying him, and when Father Lucas becomes possessed he is forced to confront the same evil he has denied even exists.

Really, this movie has very little going for it. The story is predictable; the execution is … well, cheesy. I’m sorry, but what part of a red-eyed horse demon that just stares at you is scary?

The protagonist’s stubbornness is aggravating. His skepticism is understandable at first, but after seeing the girl vomit nails, and hear her tell him unknown details of his childhood, even the most stalwart skeptic would say, "Holy sh*t! Maybe I'm wrong." But, not Michael. His die-hard skepticism makes his epiphany at the end of the film hard to swallow.

Another shortcoming is the movie's abuse of special effects. For about the first hour, the film is very atmospheric -- using a nice balance of shadows and light to create tension. Unfortunately, as the possessions get worse, special effects bombard the screen and the creepy atmosphere is destroyed and replaced by a movie that feels more like a slasher flick than a supernatural thriller.

The movie’s ultimate failure, though, is not having faith in its villain. The devil should be scary enough considering his sole purpose is to torment mankind and destroy our souls. Instead of relying on that mythology, the filmmakers turned the devil into a villain who uses cheap parlor tricks and clichéd horror movie devices to scare the audience.

The only glimmer of light in this otherwise dismal film is Anthony Hopkins. He truly is a master of his craft. There are few actors alive who can convey an entire range of emotions with just a twitch of his eye. His understate subtlety is the only thing that makes the movie watchable.

Unfortunately, not even Anthony Hopkins can save The Rite from itself. The devil couldn't've made it any worse.

4 of 10 - Bad

How I Met Your Mother - "Last Words" Review

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the previous episode, "Bad News," don't read this review. Unless someone's already told you about the huge plot event that happened at the end of the episode.

"Last Words" continues HIMYM's sidestep into serious territory as the gang travel to St. Cloud to help Marshall deal with his father's death. Everyone comes up with a job: Lily decides to help Marshall's mom, Judy, any way possible; Robin is "Vice Girl" -- basically, she has anything Marshall might need to help him grieve, including alcohol, cigarettes, and "Crocodile Dundee 3" --; and Ted and Barney decide to make Marshall laugh by showing him YouTube videos of guys getting hit in the nuts.

I had some high hopes for this episode because HIMYM has never delved into such a dramatic subject before -- even Ted getting left at the altar pales in comparison to a death in the family -- and I thought it was a bold move for the series. I have to say, I was a little disappointed. It was still a good episode, but it could've been better.

The main story revolved around the decision for everyone in the Eriksen family to share the last words Marvin said to them before he died. Marshall is disappointed because everyone else had ideal last words, but he got, "Rent 'Crocodile Dundee 3.'" He spends the episode trying to remember something better and ultimately finds a butt-dial voicemail from his father the day he died. After five minutes of pocket rubbing, Marvin realizes he called Marshall, picks up the phone, and tells Marshall he loves him.

It's a nice, emotional ending, but the rest of the episode is just kind of ... eh.

Aside from Robin, the rest of the gang didn't have much to do beside stand around and look dumb. Ted and Barney were ridiculously juvenile whenever they showed one of the videos they found -- Marshall even yells at them at one point --, and Lily's way of helping Marshall's mom was making her freak out because that made her eat and sleep, which she hadn't done since Marvin's death. .

A side-plot that sprang up and disappeared involved an old bully, Trey Platt, from Marshall's high school days. Trey is the son of the reverend who is supposed to perform Marvin's funeral but has to leave because his daughter goes into labor in Chicago. Marshall is upset that Trey is performing the funeral, and Trey is a downright douchebag to everyone in the family, but then walks out of the shot and isn't seen again.

It really felt like the writers were trying to get a lot accomplished in this episode, but 22 minutes just wasn't enough time.

Despite its shortcomings, this episode had a lot of good moments. When Marshall hears his dad's voice at the end of the voicemail and it was hard to fight that urge while watching it. And, Robin was hilarious as "Vice Girl" who kept hooking up the other funeral attendees with booze, etc.

"Last Words" did an excellent job of setting up some major story arcs for the rest of the season. Naturally, Marshall is going to take some time to grieve and I think the show can benefit from the seriousness. And, after the funeral, Barney calls his mom and tells her that he's ready to meet his dad.

Like I said, I thought this episode could've been better. But, I'm really excited to see where things go from here.

Rating
8 (of 10): Excellent - A great episode with some minor flaws.