The Happening (2008)

Were he not already signed to another picture before the release of this film, it is perfectly reasonable to think that this movie would have ended director M. Night Shyamalan's career. The man who brought us The Sixth Sense and Signs is absolutely at the bottom of his game here. It starts off well enough, as people mysteriously stop in their tracks and start killing themselves en masse for no reason, while school teacher Mark Wahlberg leads a group of “survivors” on a tour of New England to escape the chaos. Things degenerate from tepid to nauseating in quick order from there. The rest is pointlessly graphic violence shoehorned into a script that is, at worst, rated PG and carried out by a cast with the enthusiasm of someone who lost a bet. And don't even get me started on the whole end sequence. This director was once the prodigal child of cinema, someone to look out for. Yet the more he does, the worse his films become. Maybe the mass suicides in this movie is him screaming out, wanting to quit the biz. More likely they're symptoms of a man who still has good ideas, but no longer has any notion of how to turn them into a functioning film.

3 out of 10.

Taken (2009)

For all of Liam Neeson's considerable acting talent, for the cinematic history he's made as a Jedi, a Batman villain, an Irish revolutionary, and Oscar Schindler himself, he just can't seem to pull off an American accent. Or smile, for that matter. Luckily, for this tale of a father on the rampage to retrieve his kidnapped daughter, he has little time to speak and almost no reason to smile. All told, this is very much a by-the-numbers action thriller, but there's a sense of uncomfortable awkwardness both in Neeson's performance, and the director Pierre Morrel's apparent inexperience in the big chair. The result is something far more spastic, and far less dramatic, than necessary. You're rarely, if ever, given the chance to buy in to the events going on. This holds true to the action as well, which frequently uses obnoxiously disorganized editing in place of actual choreography. Still, there's a nugget of fun to be had in its time—the situation presented is appropriately horrifying with or without the actor's help selling it, and when Neeson has to appear threatening and moody, well, history shows us he's quite good at that. The result is a film with a few decent high points among a mostly droning, passive spectacle. It'll scratch an itch, but it's quite forgettable.

5 out of 10.

WALL·E (2008)

At points charming, thoughtful, and uplifting, WALL-E is that rare beast: a Disney film with a message. Earth is in ruins, humanity fled to the cosmos, and left behind to clean up the mess is a single, lonely robot, eternally doing its duty to clean up our mess. And the rest goes from there. It's a simple premise and, for the first forty minutes or so, carried with a sense of grace and presentation unusual in a the genre. The desolate world and its inhabitant are rendered with a sense of melancholy and sympathy that is simply beautiful to behold. This pitch-perfect storytelling doesn't last, however, and though the turn for the worse doesn't make a good film bad, it does take away a considerable amount of its character. Yet the movie going forward still has its message, and a few others too, including some that a few in the audience might even take offense to. But there's a sense of risk and verve in this work that feels truly honest, and frank, and even sometimes important. At its worst, it's a great film. For forty minutes though, it's a brilliant one.

9 out of 10.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Let's get this out of the way: Ben Stiller is still not funny. Luckily, most everyone else in the film is. The setup is simple enough: a foursome of self-absorbed movie stars try to make an Apocalypse Now style war film, and the director decides it would be easier to keep his cast in line by sending them out into the tropic jungles of Indonesia. Broadly painted, R-rated hilarity ensues. By all rights, this is a film that tries way to hard to make us laugh, throwing hundreds of obvious, predictable punchlines shouted through a powerful surround mix while explosions dance around on the screen. It's frequently too much, however a sufficient number of gags penetrate the miasma of noise and still hit home. In particular, Robert Downy Jr. as a method actor in gloriously offensive black face for the movie's duration manages to send up both racial stereotypes in film as well as the practice of method acting in general. Also a delight is an extended cameo by Tom Cruise that shows the controversial actor still has his sense of humor. So it's a lot of pointless noise for it's own sake, and the leading man is pretty much dead on arrival—it really doesn't matter. There's enough charm left in its overblown production to make its two hours go down with a smile.

7 out of 10.

Blade Runner (1982 / DC 1991 / FC 2007)

Hot off of the success of the horror classic Alien, Ridley Scott crafted this dark, stylish, and original sci-fi film noir. When a group of androids escapes into a dystopic future Los Angeles, it's up to Harrison Ford to play detective and track them down. But the androids themselves are fearful that their short lifespans are about to come to a close, and seek to find a way to prolong their lives. While the story remains simple, the questions raised are certainly not. Long thoughts on identity and reality, of mortality and fear and the uncertainty of being each get their time, and the result is a somber, melancholy movie that may ask more questions than it has answers for, but has a deep understanding of its subject matter. It's heady stuff; the kind of content that sticks with you long after the credits roll. It's dense, it's daring, and it's visionary. Blade Runner is a film that rightly deserves its place in the sci-fi pantheon.

9 out of 10.

Note: If you have the choice, the 2007 re-re-release, optimistically titled Blade Runner: The Final Cut, is definitely the one to see.

007 Casino Royale (2006)

Start from scratch. Strip away the liscence to kill, the shaken martini and fast cars, and even the double-oh from James Bond, and you get a film about a man struggling with hard lessons on the path to become the world's greatest spy. This new iteration of the classic character isn't afraid of dirty work, and more resembles a thuggish assassin with delusions of style than the suave, invincible macho male fantasy of movies past. The humanizing reboot mostly works, focusing much tighter on characterization than explosions, which in turn causes the few action sequences and tricky situations to carry a heft almost unseen in the series. That said, at points the attempt to portray a more relatable, realistic Bond goes too far, especially in the final act which not only feels like a break from earlier parts of the film, but leaps unexpectedly into an entirely different genre. Despite all this, the wager to pick apart the cinematic icon was a wise one, showing a fresh version of Bond who is flawed and fallible, but more exciting as well.

8 out of 10.

007 Quantum of Solace

A first for the now 22 film strong series: a direct sequel! Picking up within an hour of the conclusion of Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace sees the apparent conspiracy from the first widened into a global affair, with key players in all places and Britain's best super-spy cum one man army out to tear it apart. It works almost every bit as well as the previous film, and has the advantage of not spontaneously changing genres in the third act. The focus is different however, preferring to build a larger, credible threat while a guilt- and rage-ridden Bond slowly works through the morass, killing his way to bigger and better leads. The action is remains solid if a bit over the top (though still mercifully shy of the ultra-silliness that much of the series is known for), and the characters stay as compelling as the last film. It's a fine effort all around, continuing the strengths of its predecessor, and while it really doesn't break any new ground it still remains some damn fine entertainment.

8 out of 10.

Batman Begins (2005)

Christopher Nolan's take on the Caped Crusader is worlds apart from the flashy and stylized works of Tim Burton's and Joel Schumacher's earlier Batman movies. In a way, it can be seen as the series dropping back to punt, abandoning all the good and bad that came before to start on fresh soil. The gambit pays off big, ultimately asking the question of what it would take to make a man risk himself as a vigilante. Essentially split into two films, the first half of Batman Begins shows the inspiration and training as a man turns tragic rage into motivation for action, while the second half becomes the tale of a city under siege in need of a savior. It's all portrayed in a darkly realistic, though still somewhat fanciful light, creating a grounded tableau for fantastic feats. It's helped along by some excellent performances, including Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Batman, Liam Neeson and his exceptional charisma as the enigmatic Ducard, and an excellent turn by Michael Caine providing the film's powerful heart as the Wayne family's butler Alfred. The end result is sometimes a little silly, sometimes a little overblown, but yet manages to feel important and earnest. By its end, there is a need for Batman, and a feeling of ragged hope that is admirable in and of itself.

8 out of 10.