The Grey

Never in the history of movies has a part been cast so perfectly. With every cell of his being, Liam Neeson embodies this great, Jack London archetype. Not for a moment do you doubt that this suicidal, poetry spewing oil-worker will gladly punch a giant wolf in the face. It’s uncanny how believable he is. The rest of the cast is also good, never shirking common sense, but vulnerable and trapped, they naturally lash out at each other in frustration. We were slightly baffled by the ending, as the screenplay doesn’t follow a traditional three-act structure and the conclusion seems abrupt. (We got lucky and stayed after the end credits.) Still, it’s two-thirds of a good movie that deserves a Nobel Prize in casting.

Underworld: Awakening

The simplicity of the plot is kind of inspiring: There’s a little girl. She’s “the Chosen one.” (Of course.) She’s been captured by baddies. Get the ass-kicking vampire chick out of cryogenic freeze to rescue her, and kill as many baddies as possible. I respect and admire the aspiration to be simple and clear, especially since the previous Underworld movies are horrible mazes of weird history and back-story, which was all meant to be filler in between leather-clad, vampire-chick beat-downs. The consummate Kate Beckensale delivers swift vampire justice elegantly, while the Shakespearean-trained villains chew the scenery reliably. There’s a lot of noise, but not a lot of emotion, and that’s what I expect from my vampires vs. werewolves movies. I guess if I wanted my vampires to emote, I’d watch Twilight, and, come on, I sure as hell ain’t gonna do THAT.

Haywire

This is a custom built vehicle for MMA fighter Gina Carano, who can stunt fight with the best of them and crush men’s balls with a mere gaze. There are some fun fights in this, prolonged, brutal, and absent of the typical action-movie cuttiness. Director Soderbergh is also clever enough to surround non-actor Carano with some of the best in the business, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, and newly crowned leading man Michael Fassbender, all of whom appear to have been ordered to, “Make her look good…” There’s not much story here, and it could easily wait for video, but it’s a successful b-movie spy bruiser that might make Pam Grier or Jennifer Garner proud to have blazed the trail.

The River - Episodes 1 & 2

It’s the first time in the six year history of this weblog that I’ve reviewed a TV series. But I saw The River in a theatre, and if I see it in a theatre on a big screen, then it goes on the blog. Those are the rules.

It seems like a natural progression to take the haunted jungle from Lost and mix in the found-footage, documentary style that’s so popular with the kids these days. The River is a successful fusion -- exciting, dramatic, and also "realistic", thanks to the faux doc structure. But the main reason why it works isn’t the jump scares, of which there are plenty, but because the makers focus on the central family, their fame, their estrangements, and all the weird baggage that comes with that. Quintessential strong mom Leslie Hope and methody British stud Joe Anderson embody their characters expertly, while a motley film crew rounds-out the roughnecks who machete their way through the haunted jungle looking for Dad, who disappears after becoming obsessed with black magic. There's a lot of potential here. Introducing a new kind of black magic each week allows for the creators to have a new set of spooky rules. Hopefully, this will help to avoid violating the previously established spooky rules, the way that Lost so often did. Here’s hoping The River is a long and windy one.

Young Adult

Thankfully Academy Award winner Brook Busey stays away from her claim-to-fame Juno-esque teenspeak to develop these complicated characters through their choices. Charlize Theron uses her natural ability of attractive to skillfully embody this very flawed alcoholic home wrecker. The key relationship is with the high school nerd Paton Oswald, whose growth is also stunted, and the relationship they form is fascinating. Both characters seem to hate themselves, yet each character is completely unwilling to change. It’s a strong character study and a well-made movie, although it reminded me a lot of Bad Teacher, which was better and funnier, IMHO. (Uh-oh! Teenspeak!) On a very positive note, it’s an original screenplay by Busey -- not a spin-off, sequel, prequel, adaptation, historical adaptation, throwback, or any other safe movie-making gimmick. It doesn’t pander to any demographic and there seems to be no cynical effort to cram this movie down our throats, and that is commendable.