(Apologies if you've received this twice, but a number of subscribers reported not receiving it yesterday. Thanks!) Opening This Week: Abduction Nationwide - Sure, Taylor Lautner looks good when he's ripping off his shirt and turning into a werewolf, but does he have what it takes to carry an entire film? "Abduction," his first solo headlining gig since hitting it big with the "Twilight" series, answers this question with a doubtful shrug. In the meantime, the viewer is left to marvel at the number of bad lines, choppy editorial cuts, and just plain asinine occurrences that take place throughout. Dolphin Tale Nationwide - Director Charles Martin Smith and screenwriters Karen Jaszen and Noam Dromi may be guilty of some overdone flourishes and a few hamstrung plot developments, but no one can accuse the makers of not being genuinely sincere. Curmudgeons could probably pick it apart 'til the cows come home, but "Dolphin Tale" is exceedingly hard to dislike. Killer Elite Nationwide - It's not about aesthetics, and it's certainly not about people, so the film settles on a lot of chaos and whirring bullets. Thank goodness for the opening title text, which informs the viewer right off the bat that "the world is in chaos." Point taken. "Killer Elite" is a waste of time and resources. Moneyball Nationwide - "Moneyball" is not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill sports movie. It takes a brave studio picture to recognize that there's sometimes more to the genre than the common trifles and clichés audiences have been predisposed to expect these days. If all a baseball fanatic is looking for is some on-the-field action, they would be wise to look elsewhere. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil Now OnDemand, In Select Cities Sept 30 - More depth and levity to counterbalance the silliness would have lifted the project a notch above being a merely airy confection, but maybe next time. Make no mistake, "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" is a total lark, yet it's also very clever. Real thought and ingenuity were brought to its making, and it shows. |
© 2011 Dustin Putman |
Saturday, September 24, 2011
A little bit for everybody if you feel like missing a few football games......
