Bohannon

While we might have some unseasonable warmth around here, “The Grey” brings unrelenting cold to the bigscreen, and I don’t just mean the temperatures.

A group of workers, including Ottoway (Liam Neeson), from a hellish oil pumping station are flying out for leave when their plans are derailed by the untimely and brutal crashing of their plane in the middle of the frozen wastelands of the far north. The survivors of the crash band together, with Ottoway taking charge early due to his experience as a wolf sniper, and try to get back to civilization, only to face cunningly ferocious wolves, harsh temperatures and unforgiving terrain.

Ottoway describes the men who occupy the station as being “unfit for mankind.” But even though these men are apparently the scum of the earth, the ones who manage to survive the horrific crash become likeable characters, if only because we want them to survive against the insurmountable odds they’re facing.

Against the survivors are all the forces of nature, chief among them, the wolves. Whereas Ottoway and his weary band struggle to survive in the frozen no man’s land, the wolves that follow them do just fine. No matter where the group goes, the wolves always seem to be there, howling and snarling from the darkness.

A particularly haunting scene comes during the first night when the wolves appear at the plane’s crash site, their eyes reflecting back the fires of the group’s torches in the night.

Joe Carnahan, director of “A-Team” and “Smokin’ Aces,” manages to give each of these characters their due time and personality in the film. So often in films like this we see a group of victims, names to be scratched off a list with some new grisly death scene dreamt up solely for the shock value. “The Grey” does an excellent job of making us care for each of these men.

While each of the characters does get a measure of depth, Ottoway gets the lion’s share of the attention. Throughout the film we are shown flashes of him and his wife, who he apparently sees every time he goes to sleep. On the brink of suicide before deciding to leave the station for civilization, he realizes he wants to live and see his wife again. We even get a glimpse into his childhood during a poignant campfire scene in which he tells the men about his father who, despite having a rough streak, wrote poetry.

“The Grey” is a cold film, never showing any real mercy to the characters and not cheapening itself with a storybook ending.

4 out of 5

Luke Bohannon

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The film “Red Tails” focuses on four pilots in particular – Marty “Easy” Julian (Nate Parker), Joe “Lightning” Little (David Oyelowo), Samuel “Joker” George (Elijah Kelly) and Ray “Junior” Gannon (Tristan Wilds). Aside from Easy and Lightning, just about every other character in the movie is completely one-dimensional. Most of the dialogue between characters is in quick one-liners spoken into flight masks or incredibly clichéd conversations on the ground.

Where “Red Tails” fails with dialogue, it makes up for with action. Every plane is rendered beautifully on the screen and every dogfight puts you on the edge of your seat. These aren’t clean or simple dogfights either. Each time the pilots hit the skies it’s a fast and dirty fight for survival against the enemy pilots, and we see time and time again how brave and skilled they are.

One thing that detracts from the film is the lack of impact. Major events in the story seem to hold little to no impact for the characters dealing with them. When Junior is forced to bail behind enemy lines and is captured, nobody seems to care. There’s a moment of grief from Easy, but after that it’s as if nothing had happened at all. We see the other pilots walking around in high spirits as though their comrade wasn’t being held captive by the enemy.

Despite a brief conversation with a new pilot about the idea of death, there’s very little in this movie that suggests that these pilots are actually in a war.

One of the more difficult to believe characters was Major Emanuel Stance, played by Cuba Gooding Jr. It’s not to say that he doesn’t do a good job, but he oversells the part like crazy. Rather than placing his ever-present pipe in his mouth, he seems to chomp down on it like he’s taking a big bite out of an apple. He also does this in nearly every single scene that he’s present in. We seem to constantly be catching the Major at the start or at the end of a good smoke.

“Red Tails” is Anthony Hemingway’s first big screen directing credit. For his first time out, Hemingway has done a decent job creating an entertaining, if rather shallow, action flick.

This is a movie definitely worth seeing in theaters, if only to appreciate the stunning visuals and the action-packed story while they’re still larger than life.

Luke Bohannon

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Mark Wahlberg plays Chris Farraday, a former big time smuggler who’s left the lifestyle and settled down with a wife and kids. But when his brother-in-law Andy botches a cocaine delivery, Chris is forced to step back into the game to settle things with Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), Andy’s greasy boss. Farraday sets up a smuggling run to bring back a massive shipment of counterfeit bills from Panama while his friend Sebastian (Ben Foster) protects his family from Briggs.

Farraday and a group of other smugglers sign on to a cargo ship making runs between New Orleans and Panama. The captain of this ship is none other than J.K. Simmons, the dad from ‘Juno’ and J. Jonah Jameson from the ‘Spiderman’ films. He’s possibly the most entertaining performance of the movie, causing trouble for Farraday by trying to catch him in the act. Even though the captain makes a lot of trouble for Farraday and his group, one can’t help but like him.

It’s somewhat difficult to take Briggs seriously as a villain considering that the voice he uses for the role is laughable at best. Luckily, David O’Hara (‘Wanted’) provides at least some menace as a shadowy crime boss. His role in the story isn’t all that well established, but he occasionally shows up, makes threats or offers, and then disappears, taking, at times, an overly thick Scottish accent with him.

Overall the entire movie is slightly ridiculous, stretching the bounds of believability and even its own timetable. Upon arriving in Panama, Wahlberg and his merry band of smugglers only have a short time to get the counterfeit bills and return to the ship before it leaves.

In this “short time” they find the bills, realize they aren’t good, manage to find another supplier – even though nobody knows how to get to his warehouse – and get mixed up in an armored car robbery. Where did they find all the time for this? Probably the same place Briggs found his ridiculous accent.

While there are a number of light-hearted scenes in ‘Contraband,’ it doesn’t hesitate to travel into dark areas as well. Briggs’ attacks Farraday’s wife played by Kate Beckinsale who takes her fair share of physical brutality over the course of the movie.

In the end, the film does the best it can with the tired heist storyline, but it’s nothing all that special.

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Luke Bohannon

The last few years have seen so many different revival projects for old franchises that it gets easy to just brush them aside and ignore them, but that would be a mistake when it comes to “The Muppets.” Proving that the old crew can be fresh and entertaining even today, the film manages to bring in a healthy dose of nostalgia for older fans and an even bigger dose of comedy for everyone.

The Muppets have been forgotten, and it seems the only people who miss them are Gary (Jason Segel) and his brother Walter (A Muppet). When Gary takes his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) to Los Angeles for their anniversary, he brings Walter along to see the Muppet Studios.

During the tour, Walter manages to overhear a dastardly plot by Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to bulldoze the studio to drill for oil unless the Muppets can raise $10 million to buy it back. Walter and Gary set out to reunite the scattered Muppets to put on one last show to save the studio.

One of the great things about the Muppets formula is that while it may not be the most original, it’s still entertaining. Really, saving the old theater by raising money with a last minute show? It’s been done to death, but with the classic Muppets formula incorporating huge numbers of guest stars, witty laughs and heart-warming moments, it’s easy to forget the unoriginality. Plus it certainly doesn’t hurt that the Muppets themselves are remarkably self-aware and poke fun at their own slightly tired storyline.

While there are plenty of jabs at old school humor, “The Muppets” takes aim at modern entertainment too. The number one show in the universe is called “Punch Teacher” and is hosted by Ken Jeong (The Hangover). The show consists of, well, punching teachers. Even Tex Richman provides a tongue in cheek joke when he brings in his own team of Muppets called the Moopets, who he calls a “hard cynical act for a hard cynical world.”

The film is also chock-full of cameos. From old timers like Mickey Rooney to newer stars like Selena Gomez, “The Muppets” brings in more celebrities than you can shake a stick at. My personal favorite cameo was from Jim Parsons.

All in all, “The Muppets” is a heart-warming movie that’s great for viewers of all ages and perfect for the holiday season, even if it’s not a Christmas movie.

Luke Bohannon

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Luke Bohannon

“J. Edgar,” much like the man it’s based upon, is shadowy, enigmatic and infinitely fascinating. The collaboration of Clint Eastwood and Leonardo DiCaprio led to the creation of a film that is truly a masterpiece in almost every way. Shifting between the personal and public lives of J. Edgar Hoover, Eastwood has created a unique portrait of an individual who was once regarded as one of the most powerful men in America.

Hoover was the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nearly 50 years, during which he transformed the woefully underpowered agency into an efficient crime-fighting organization.

But the film shows us much more than just Hoover’s public life and career. We are given a view into a fairly sensationalized version of Hoover’s personal life, focusing primarily on his relationships with his long-time secretary and confidant Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) and his closest companion Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer). One other relationship highlighted in the film is that between Hoover and his domineering mother, Annie Hoover (Judi Dench).

Hoover’s relationship with each of these people is defined very quickly through subtle cues, brilliant acting and perfect direction. Eastwood must be applauded for balancing Hoover’s very well documented public life and his somewhat murky private life, including the prevalent rumors of Hoover’s homosexuality. All of these aspects are explored through incredibly powerful scenes that showcase the true acting abilities of the cast.

While DiCaprio is the main character and does a truly masterful job, Armie Hammer’s portrayal of Tolson is a somewhat downplayed but undeniably powerful one.

Hammer is possibly best remembered for his dual role of the Vinkelvoss twins in “The Social Network,” and he surpassed himself in every way in this film.

From a young agent in the FBI to an old man suffering from the aftereffects of a stroke, Tolson’s character presents a plethora of challenges for an actor, and Hammer not only overcomes these challenges, but thrives, out-shining DiCaprio in many scenes.

Any great film needs an outstanding cast, a visionary director and an inspired writer. “J. Edgar” definitely has all three, with Dustin Lance Black as the author behind the script. Black’s most prevalent work before this was “Milk” in 2008.

Black, rather than trying to guess at what these people may have been like, has presented the film in a manner which allows for the accepted public image of these individuals to be presented. The majority of the film is told through the ingenious device of Hoover dictating his memoir to several young agents as they write it over the course of several years. While this does lead to a somewhat distorted timeline, jumping between past and present, it never becomes tedious and actually allows for added drama.

There’s a lot that can be said about this film. “J. Edgar” is one of the best, if not the best film of 2011.

Luke Bohannon

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Luke Bohannon

Just when I was beginning to wonder where Matthew Broderick went, he shows back up with Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller to pull off a heist. Honestly, I didn’t see that coming.

But make no mistake – “Tower Heist” is way more of a heist movie than it is a comedy, despite what the trailers might lead you to believe. Although, there are definitely a few solid laughs throughout the film.

The Tower is a luxurious apartment building where only the very wealthy can afford the rent, and they certainly get their money’s worth. The staff, headed by Josh Kovacs (Stiller), are courteous and competent, attending to the tenants from the moment they enter the Tower, where they’re greeted by kindly Lester, the doorman (Stephen Henderson).

One of the most notable tenants is financial powerhouse Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) who owns the penthouse of the Tower as well as a bright red 1953 Ferrari, once owned by Steve McQueen. However, the Tower is turned upside down when Shaw is arrested by FBI agents, lead by Claire Denham (Tea Leoni) and accused of running a Ponzi scheme, which includes the pension plans and investments of the Tower’s employees, even old Lester the doorman.

Outraged, Kovacs rounds up a group of employees, plus a crook named Slide (Murphy), and sets out to rob Shaw’s penthouse in order to steal back their money. Of course things don’t go quite according to plan, but it’s a heist movie.

“Tower Heist” is all about the ensemble, and this one is pretty good. The core team is Kovacs, Slide, Mr. Fitzhugh (Broderick), who’s jobless and has lost his family following his eviction from the Tower, Charlie the concierge (Casey Affleck), the bellhop Enrique Dev’reaux (Michael Pena), and Odessa the maid (Gabourey Sibide). This odd mix of traditionally serious actors like Affleck and Sibide and comedians creates a cool dynamic that allows the movie to switch between serious and funny at the drop of a hat.

Aside from the cast, “Tower Heist” also had an all-star production crew, including Brett Ratner, best known for the “Rush Hour” franchise. Ratner managed to create a movie that defies traditional genres, not just being a comedy or a drama, but rather a subtle blend of the two, all the while giving every actor their moment to shine.

Of course, Ratner doesn’t get all the credit. Writers Ted Griffin (Ocean’s Eleven) and Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can) created a screenplay that plays perfectly with the tone of the times, touching on the battle between Wall Street and the working guy.

While it wasn’t quite as funny as I expected, “Tower Heist” was a thoroughly enjoyable movie, offering both laughs and genuine quality drama. Definitely check this one out.

Luke Bohannon

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Luke Bohannon

“In Time” combines an interesting new story concept with a well known moral tale to create a fairly unique film that delivers exactly what it promises.

Starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried, “In Time” tells the story of a world very different from our own where time is literally money. Each person is genetically engineered to stop aging at 25, after which they’re given one year to live. But people can work to earn more time. So as long as their time doesn’t run out, they never die… unless they’re murdered or die in accidents. Basically, the rich can live forever and the poor try to survive day-to-day.

Will Salas (Timberlake) works a menial job, earning barely enough time to keep himself alive until one night he meets a wealthy man named Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) in a bar who has over a century on his clock. After Salas helps save his life, Hamilton gives him his remaining time and dies. Salas uses Hamilton’s time to cross “time zones” into New Greenwich, a wealthy district, and meets Sylvia Weis (Seyfried), the daughter of a wealthy citizen.

He soon finds himself accused of murdering Hamilton and is forced to go on the run, pursued by the “Timekeepers,” a police force led by Raymond Leon (Cilian Murphy) and a mob-like group called the Minutemen. Salas and Weis end up going on a crime spree, giving time to the poor.

The film is helmed by Andrew Niccol, director of “Lord of War” and producer for “The Truman Show.” Niccol does a good job with this film, not overdoing the action or drama, which serves to increase its appeal.

But one flaw is that the film doesn’t explain the whole history of the time currency system very clearly. We’re given a very cursory explanation of the whole idea and left to figure the rest of it out on our own.

The casting for this movie is spot on, and while there wasn’t a great deal of emotional depth in the script for the actors to work with, each cast member played their parts well.

There wasn’t anything “bad” about the film, however, there wasn’t much that really made it stand out from other action movies. The Robin Hood-esque storyline has been done before and the premise of the movie didn’t add much to it.

While “In Time” wasn’t anything overly special, it was still entertaining and definitely worth seeing for anyone who’s craving a good action movie.

Luke Bohannon

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Luke Bohannon

I’m a huge fan of the “Paranormal Activity” movies. The unique way in which these films have utilized the “found footage” style has been both refreshing and horrifying – that is, until now.

“Paranormal Activity 3” has fallen very short of the legacy of the series, and it’s a shame to bear witness to.

This prequel to the first two films takes place in the late 80’s and again focuses on the sisters Katie (Chloe Csengery) and Kristi Rey (Jessica Tyler Brown). The sisters are living with their mother Julie (Lauren Bitter) and her boyfriend Dennis (Chris Smith), and have befriended an invisible entity named Toby who lives in their house.

Naturally, some spooky stuff starts happening in the night and Dennis, who just happens to be a wedding videographer, decides to set up cameras in the house to catch said spooky stuff along with a lot of unnecessarily long pan shots and a completely random sub-plot involving witches.

As I said, I’m a fan of this style of filming, but “Paranormal 3” didn’t bring anything new to the table aside from stretching the bounds of believability. There were several moments in the film that I found myself wondering why the cameraman was carrying around a camera at that particular moment or even why the camera was left on.

One possible reason for the shortcomings of this installment could be the directors, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Neither have worked with the “Paranormal” franchise before this, although they have made another “found footage” film called “Catfish.”

The true disappointment lies with producer Oran Peli, who has been involved as a writer with all of the “Paranormal” films as well as “Insidious.” Seeing as he remodeled his own home to film in and bankrolled the original film, you would think he would have looked at the third one and said, “Maybe this isn’t the direction to take.”

The biggest downfall of this movie is that all the cool and interesting moments advertised, as well as the plot advertised in the commercials, were not actually in the movie. The previews show a house fire that played a large part in the back-story this movie was supposed to portray, yet it was completely absent in the final product.

Also, nearly all of the scary moments shown in the trailers that were omitted from the film for whatever reason were replaced by rather lack-luster scares and false-alarms, aside from one rather inspired moment in a kitchen.

“Paranormal Activity 3” had the potential to be another great addition to the “Paranormal” series, but instead it became a tedious exercise in unrewarded patience for this unhappy viewer.

Luke Bohannon

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Luke Bohannon

What happens when you toss George Clooney, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti and Ryan Gosling into a political drama? Good things happen.

“The Ides of March” follows a young, idealistic Stephen Myers (Gosling) who is the junior campaign manager for Pennsylvania governor and democratic presidential candidate Mike Morris (Clooney). Myers is working alongside senior campaign manager Paul Zara (Seymour Hoffman) in an attempt to win the voter support for Morris along with the presidential nomination.

As a debate between Morris and his opponent nears, Myers is contacted by rival campaign manager Tom Duffy (Giamatti) with an offer –  jump ship and work for him. Myers refuses the offer. At the same time, Myers new girlfriend is one of the interns on Morris’ campaign.

Little does he know, Myers’ meeting with Duffy and his new relationship are catalysts that will send him on a journey into the dark reality of politics.

Clooney’s directing is at a high point in this movie, and he also managed to portray an interesting behind-the-scenes look into the campaign of his character and at the same time deliver a satisfying amount of intrigue and drama.

Along with his directing, Clooney does a great job on-screen as Morris, looking and sounding every bit like the political powerhouse he’s supposed to be.

But Clooney isn’t the only actor who shines in “Ides.” Most, if not all, of the cast does a fantastic job. Gosling plays his part with simple grace, slipping through his character’s transformation during the film without missing a beat. Hoffman, of course, delivers a great performance as Zara, and Giamatti is a perfect foil to Hoffman’s character.

“The Ides of March” is based on a play titled “Farragut North” by Beau Willimon, and it definitely shows. The whole movie plays out like a stage production, focusing on characterization and character-driven drama.

Many hot-button political ideas are addressed in this movie through debates and town-hall meeting, including religion, same-sex marriage and foreign policy. The combination of smart story-telling and political topics will leave viewers with a lot to think about after they’ve left the theater.

The one notable flaw of “Ides” is that it lacked an emotional impact in many scenes, mostly due to the music, or lack thereof. The score of “Ides” is somewhat awkwardly carried out.

In some scenes the music was very obvious, playing out with faux-patriotic tones that bring to mind cheesy History Channel educational videos about politics. But when some sort of musical cue was really needed to underscore a major event, all the viewer gets is silence.

Still, if you’re politically inclined or just looking for an interesting drama to watch, I definitely recommend this film.

Luke Bohannon

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Luke Bohannon

I can only imagine that the creators of “Dream House” were trying to do something different, and I guess that they succeeded in that aspect.

“Dream House” is advertised as a horror flick, but that’s not the case at all. It’s actually something else entirely.

The film presents the audience with Will Atenton (Daniel Craig), a successful publisher from New York City who quits his job and moves to a quiet New England town with his wife Libby (Rachel Weisz) and their two daughters.

But soon after moving in, the family begins to realize something is amiss. First, they see someone spying on them. Then, they find mysterious footprints in the snow and rumors about the dark history of the house start to surface. The truth comes to light when they discover that the house was the site of the murder of a mother and her two daughters, supposedly at the hands of a father who is still alive.

Will begins to investigate the murders and he finds a lead in the form of Ann Paterson (Naomi Watts), a neighbor who was close to the murdered family. As the investigation continues, Will makes a startling discovery that throws everything into doubt and sets the stage for a wild ride of twists and turns.

Director Jim Sheridan is perhaps best known for his most recent film “Brothers,” which starred Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal, and is a far cry from “Dream House.” Sheridan isn’t the most prolific director and has a fairly good record, but “Dream House” just doesn’t cut it in most aspects.

While I was watching it there were no moments that made me sit back and say, “Now that’s cool.” The cinematography was bland and boring most of the time, which is a real shame because there were moments in “Dream House” that could have been “wow” shots.

Much like the filming style, the acting in “Dream House” was average and nothing to get too excited about. Craig gave the best performance in the film. It’s tough to go into why his performance stood out from the others’ without delving into serious spoiler territory, but suffice it to say that his role shifts rather dramatically during the course of the plot and he shifts along with it without missing a beat.

His wife and daughters offer up enough good acting to fulfill the cutesy family moments in the movie, but aside from that they didn’t really bring anything special to the table.

But I do have to give some credit to the writers of “Dream House” for giving me a surprise. The film is a crafty movie, preying on that somewhat jaded movie-goer mindset that has developed over the last several years of movies with a twist. Just when you think you have it all figured out, something new happens and throws everything out the window.

Overall, I have to say that “Dream House” definitely has its moments and the story will keep you guessing, but it’s not all that special. I’d say that if you’re really bored and you’ve had your mind set on “Dream House,” check it out. But if you’re looking for a really great film, look elsewhere.

Luke Bohannon

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