The First, Last Race

Jeff Jensen’s motorcycle documentary looking for distribution. Interesting subject-matter, but sluggishly paced. A sharp editor could give it a big boost.

Friday the 13th

It’s ironic that a movie about people being killed by sharp objects would be so dull. It’s a wasted opportunity to revive a franchise and bring something fresh to the genre. Yawn.

The International

I always like seeing Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, but man! The script was a frozen block of turd. I lost count of how many time a character exclaimed, “This could blow this case wide open!” Even lengthy shoot-outs lacked suspense and logic. It had a lot of potential, but they blew it in the execution.

Coraline

Superbly animated and amazing to behold, the story becomes weirder and weirder until it plunges through the looking-glass and into weird-ass, balls-tripping, Lewis Carroll territory. There were lengthy periods when I had no idea what was going on or what the HELL I was watching, but it sure was pretty. The fine work and detail is all on screen, and the filmmaking is commendable. But it’s freaky. Don’t take the kids.