Eat Pray Love
As much as I adore Julia Roberts, this would've been a much more enjoyable film if it were titled Eat Prey Love about a killer who stalks candy givers on Valentine's Day. But it's not, and the adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's famous ode to female empowerment and enlightenment is mostly warmed over schlock. Beautiful warmed over schlock, featuring a wonderful performance by Roberts, but schlock nonetheless. Do yourself a favor and don't even attempt to watch this on an empty stomach like I did. Big mistake.
The Expendables
The best thing about Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables wasn't the film itself, it was the year long build-up to it's release. The on set interviews and clips painted a hilarious picture of action hero comraderie that we all hoped would spill over on screen. Did that happen? Well, yes and no.There's no doubt that seeing greats like Sly, Bruce Willis, and Schwarzenegger together for the first time ever is hella fun. But does that scene work like you want it to? Probably not. In fact I think people might be surprised by exactly how much blistering action is actually involved. This one was a game time decision for me but ultimately I landed on the side of buying it with hopes that the sequel lives up to all my lofty expectations.
Madea's Big Happy Family: The Play
Tyler Perry continues to be entirely too comfortable in that getup.
Crank/Crank 2
One of these insane, juiced up action flicks starring everybody's favorite grim faced hero is really awesome. The other is Crank 2: High Voltage. For that price it's a steal, though.
Flipped
How bad have things gotten that we can't get a national theatrical release for a Rob Reiner coming-of-age film? The man practically invented them! Flipped flew in and out of theaters before most people even knew it existed, but hopefully now they'll find this sweet tale of childhood romance.
The Disappearance of Alice Creed
You'd think that a Brit crime thriller featuring the scorching hot Gemma Arterton(Clash of the Titans) could find at least a little bit of traction here in the States but it mostly vanished without so much as a peep. This twisty crime caper features the gorgeous redhead as a woman who is kidnapped by a pair of ex-convicts. I certainly hope the reluctance to push this film further had nothing to do with the open homosexuality of the two perpetrators.
I'm Still Here
Ultimately I had to ask myself "What was the point of all that, really?" Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck's self destructive mockumentary gained a ton of national attention for the former's supposed fall into terminal neuroses. Phoenix became a public pariah, ruined a perfectly good flick's chances of success(Two Lovers), and then out of nowhere he just reveals it was all a big fake and that he's perfectly normal again. Huh? But as with all movies of this sort, the only thing that matters is whether or not the film is entertaining, and it's definitely one of the most engrossing and disturbing docs I've seen in quite some time. For that reason alone I simply have to recommened it.
The Winning Season
This well-regarded sports drama from last year features a killer cast that would be great in anything other than a flick about girls' basketball: Sam Rockwell, Emma Roberts, Shareka Epps, Emily Rios, and Rooney Mara. Pretty hard to ignore that.
