The Hoax (2007)

Had 2004's The Aviator not been made, would yet another movie whose antics center around Howard Hughes have been greenlit? With The Hoax, we get Richard Gere and Alfred Molina as real life authors Clifford Irving and Dick Suskind as they try to manipulate their way into publishing a biography about the eccentric and reclusive billionaire, but along the way the film seems to lose itself in its own lies and obscured truths. By that I mean precisely the self-defeating confusion that the characters experience also occurs to the film. In trying to adapt Clifford Irving's autobiographical book to the screen, important details seem lost or poorly elaborated on. I expect that if you were around and paying attention when a lot of this was actually happening you'll get a lot more out of it, but the rest might be left scratching their heads on a few bits. Still, Gere and Molina do a fun job portraying their grand-scale con. While it never pays off the way it feels like it should, there's little to directly poke holes in. If you know the story then chances are you'll be intrigued; if not it could go either way for you.

6 out of 10.

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2008)

Calling this director Uwe Boll's best film yet is like calling something the best doctoral dissertation given by someone with an IQ less than 50. Simply put, if the best thing your movie has going for it is a camp-tacular performance by Matthew Lillard of all people, you ought to just give up. But no, Boll marches on. And in the case of King, you get two hours of feces that alternates between being laughably bad and a prescription strength sleep aid. Sadly, this is a step up from his previous work. How does this man keep getting funding? It used to be because of a loophole in German tax law, but with that closed there's no reason for this man to be employed. More importantly, how does he keep getting such notable actors to slum it? I can understand that Ray Liotta, John-Rhys Davies, and Burt Reynolds might be desperate for a paycheck, but Ron Pearlman and Jason Statham aren't exactly hurting for work lately. And how can Kristanna Loken have made this mistake TWICE?! This is an awful movie made by an awful director whose actors have made awful choices. Unless you like torturing yourself, or have a crowd of friends and enough mild-altering substances to change reality itself, do not give Uwe Boll any reason to release another atrocity.

1 out of 10.

Rescue Dawn (2007)

Mixing elements of The Great Escape and Platoon, this is a Viet Nam War flick that never really finds its footing but is interesting nonetheless. While it gets its setting and story from the experiences of real life war pilot Dieter Dengler, there are simple missteps in both plausibility and characterization. Christian Bale plays Dengler with such air-headed bravado that it's difficult to gain any sympathy for his exceptional plight beyond the general disgust Viet Cong torture merits. His plausibility is constantly chipped away due to his never-ending supply of brash optimism. Meanwhile the supporting pile of fellow castaways are all varying combinations of Stockholm Syndrome and dysentery, played either with broad character strokes or no personality at all. The second half is fairly dramatic however, though still a bit scatter shot. All told this is a take-it-or-leave-it film. If you're interested in the struggles of POWs it's worth a cursory inspection, but past that there isn't a lot worth going out of your way for.

6 out of 10.

Hairspray (2007)

As good an idea as sticking John Travolta in a fat suit and drag may seem on paper, the result is quite horrifying. In fairness, remaking the musical based on the film by cinema's most creative pervert, John Waters, should also be horrifying—it pretty much was for The Producers. Fortunately, the result is anything but! Catchy music and some ridiculously inspired casting decisions that include Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, and James Marsden raise what could've been an another unnecessary exercise in remakes into something rather delightful. Part of it has to do with the plot, which pairs an upbeat 1960s sunny day with a pitch black subtext of ingrained racism and sexism, and the odd jab at the plus-sized crowd. Also, there's newcomer Nikki Blonsky as our overweight heroine, whose perky enthusiasm is infectious bordering on toxic. Basically the film is a fun little number that pours a pound of sugar on a sour little core of serious issues (and Travolta in drag making out with Walken). If that doesn't scare you off, there's a good chance you'll enjoy it.

7 out of 10.

The Namesake (2007)

Spanning from 1977 to the present, through one and a half generations of a transplanted Indian family before finally settling down on the story of a son's quest to know his heritage, The Namesake is an interesting and touching look at cross-cultural, and cross-generational lines that probably should have stayed a novel. While everyone in the film does a great job with their respective roles, the total scope of what's being depicted is simply too big to fit on screen. Add to that some wildly inconsistent pacing that on two occasions follows tragedy with French techno and gangsta rap, and parts of the film just feel like a missed opportunity. Even so, the many character journeys are interwoven beautifully and told with a teacher's hand for a people toward whom the audience may know little about. It makes for a great taste of the exotic, but the meal as a whole falls well short of gourmet.

7 out of 10.

The Great Debaters (2007)

Formula films can be a tricky lot, especially with the dreadfully overused “underdog sports movie” template. Every time you step into one you pretty much know how it's going to work out, who's going to triumph, and when each of the various character setbacks are going to occur. But it's when you take formulaic tenets and apply them in unique ways that you can come up with an exceptional film. Here the creed is applied to my favorite of college bloodsports: debate. And it's not just debate here; it's debate as an allegory for civil rights circa 1935. Director and star Denzel Washington's second effort behind the camera is a finely paced, relevant, and uplifting film. The casting and acting are uniformly excellent, and the underdog struggles of African Americans in the film are depicted with just the right balance to be honest but never preachy. The argument isn't all perfection, though. While the debates and discussions and the intellectual food for thought brought to the table are wonderfully enthralling, like all movies of the template the personal issues around the players can be hit or miss. Thankfully the majority of the movie is on the good stuff, leaving the gristle to pop its head up from time to time to break up the pace. While it has the same failings as (by now) hundreds of movies of its ilk, this is the rare movie that applies its modus operandi to great effect, becoming a touching tribute to the struggles of a people.

8 out of 10.

Atonement (2007)

Watching Atonement is like reading Dickens or Joyce; it's so utterly stuffed with superfluous detail that it tends to forget that it needs to have a story. Don't get me wrong, there still is a tale told here, and the details themselves are lavishly produced and include what is easily the most impressive single camera shot I've seen since 2006's Children of Men, but there just isn't a lot to involve the viewer here. It's all exceptionally straight forward stuff, even if its premise is fairly original. In adapting the novel, it seems director Joe Wright got caught up in trying to reinvent the filmcraft of the period romance at the expense of emotional involvement. That doesn't make it a bad movie, but for as many beautiful bits of mise en scène and clever instances of musical scene-setting that populate this movie it just feels like by the end there should be some huge torrent of feeling. But where is it? Probably caught up in the competent but never-exceptional performances, and the rest laying between huge chunks of a timeline that jumps around the long years of its story like a frightened gazelle. If you like looking at beautiful things, there's a lot to enjoy here, but if you're going in for the narrative and catharsis these sorts of aristocratic yarns yield you might be left wanting.

7 out of 10.

The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007)

As far as kid's films go, The Water Horse is above average, but not particularly special. While I give it a lot of credit for taking a largely unexpected direction toward the end, ultimately this isn't much more than an adorable cross-breed of Jurassic Park and Free Willy. All the characters are broadly telegraphed stereotypes: you've got your oblivious parent, a pile of supporting cast members who all know something is up, the rogue adult who's in on the whole thing, and a generic precocious youth determined make things right. Also there's a cuddly, made-for- marketing Loch Ness "Monster" that is so damn lovable you can taste the saccharine. It's all here and for the most part it plays out exactly how you'd expect it to. That's not all bad news; the effects on the titular Water Horse are exceptionally well done, and while the pacing is probably a bit slow for the youth of today's ritalin-based diet, the patient will likely enjoy the predictably precious affair. There's not a lot that stands out from the crowd here, but what's here works in spite of its stock elements to deliver a family film that gets by almost solely on cute factor.

6 out of 10. (but it's a very cuddly 6)