Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Disney Pictures, 2011)

The idea seemed outrageous. Around the turn of the century, Disney & Co. decided to translate one of its most iconic theme park rides into a film. About pirates. Seriously.

It’s not like pirates were all the rage at the time. A good pirate movie hadn’t been made since, well… Ever? Look, I never was one to get lost in the swashbuckling days of yesteryear with Errol Flynn. In my lifetime, I couldn’t remember a single good pirate movie.

Yet, here we are. Having completed its first trilogy, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is now sailing into uncharted waters. No more ghost pirates. No Davy Jones. Will and Elizabeth, our young lovers from the original trilogy, are gone. All of which leaves Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) deservedly at the wheel.

Read the entire review over at MovieSmackdown.com »

Kristin Wiig and Maya Rudolph lead a group of colorful bridesmaids on a wild ride down the road to matrimony in Bridesmaids (Universal, 2011)

The world is probably a better place knowing that women can be just as depraved, insecure, crass, pathetic, disgusting and insanely funny as men. After all, fair is fair.

After spending over $32-million to make Bridesmaids, Universal Pictures followed up with an expensive nationwide spin-job selling their new movie as a bachelorette party version of The Hangover.

What made that original 2009 film a surprise R-rated hit was bringing the Wolf Pack to life in a story that shattered the formula of a raunchy guy’s film and took it to a new level where roofies were just another plot device. The question that Bridesmaids raises is pretty basic: can the same dynamic — bad decisions, outrageous behavior and same-sex bonding — work in a film about some girls who just wanna have fun, too? And, even if it can work, can that film actually be a better one that The Hangover?

Read the full review at MovieSmackdown.com »

1. Tell your story in a linear timeline (i.e. no flashbacks).
2. Don’t set any of your scenes outside at night.
3. Avoid dream sequences.

Why? Because these are difficult things to do well. Within the constraints of an independent film, they’re nearly impossible.

In the short film Via Dreams, director Rodney Wess tackles the idea of the dream sequence as reality and reality as a dream sequence. The result is a film that tries to be something grand and misses.

Claudia (Ann M. Lynn) argues with her husband about the rift in their marriage in the short film Via Dreams. ©2010 R.W. Films LLC.

Via Dreams centers on an estranged husband and wife who, during an argument while driving at night, hit a girl with their car. Roland (Harris Michaels) forces them to flee the scene of the crime, but Claudia (Ann M. Lynn) wants to notify the authorities. As the two begin to physically struggle, Claudia wakes up in bed. But she’s convinced that the events of her dream really happened and her husband is gaslighting her.

Independent filmmakers have to do everything on a shoestring budget. Unlike painting or writing, for example, the cost of producing a film is moderately prohibitive. Even a short film can be costly unless one does most of the work, as Wess has done by being writer, director, producer, cinematographer, casting director, editor, and lead light technician. Unfortunately, by taking so much responsibility, Wess may have let the production suffer.

Via Dreams was shot in HD. Even so, the film — much of which takes place at night — is hard to see. The night scenes are poorly lit, and there are moments when I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to be seeing.

The dialogue is awkward, which may be as much the fault of the actors as the writing. I never felt they were committed to their characters. The only exception to this was Lynn, who gave a decent performance considering what she had to work with.

The story is cliche, so much so that one of the characters explains what’s happening by comparing it to an episode of The Twilight Zone. Oh, if only.

Instead of being innovative, the story fails on two counts. First, it’s trite to have a character who wakes up from a dream wondering if they’re really awake (or if the dream was really a dream). Unless the director has something really interesting to bring to it, like Christopher Nolan did with Inception, it should be avoided. Second, when it does get around to suggesting a cause for what’s happening, the film doesn’t seem to follow its own rules. (I can’t say much more without giving away the entire story.)

Via Dreams is, quite simply, striving to be something great in a short time span. Within the constraints of a short film, however, the characters do not have time to develop. The pacing seems rushed. And the logic of the story ultimately falls apart.

Watch the Via Dreams trailer

Okay, I’ll admit that when I first heard someone was remaking True Grit, I was outraged, not intrigued. But after seeing the trailer, with a hardened Jeff Bridges in the iconic role of Rooster Cogburn, I couldn’t help but get excited.

I’m not going to spend this review comparing the Coen brothers’ writing and directing capabilities to the original version of this tale. For starters, it’s probably been 30 years since I saw the 1969 film. Also, how could I say anything bad about John Wayne?

Based on the novel by Charles Portis, True Grit is the story of Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), a 14-year old girl whose father is shot in cold blood. The killer is Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), who flees into Indian Territory after the murder. But no one can seem to be bothered with bringing him to justice.

With a keen mind and sharp wit, young Mattie settles her father’s business in the town and uses the money to hire a local U.S. Marshall named Rooster Cogburn (Bridges). Her “business arrangement” with Cogburn is complicated by the arrival of a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), who wants to bring Chaney to Texas for the killing of another man.

Hailee Steinfeld plays Mattie Ross and Jeff Bridges plays Rooster Cogburn in Paramount Pictures’ True Grit. © 2010 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. Photo credit: Lorey Sebastian

The thing that drew me into this film is the writing. The dialogue is crisp with beautiful language. There is poetry in the way these people speak, it’s nearly another language. They are at once formal and familiar, brash but respectful in tone. And as good as the dialogue is, it works because every actor delivers it with perfect precision.

Steinfeld is a treasure as Mattie. She reminds me of a young Natalie Portman, wise beyond her years and filled with self-confidence. Her strength as an actress makes Mattie believable.

Bridges is spot-on as Cogburn, with a cantankerous gruffness to his demeanor that slips only enough to show us that he still cares. His deep, gravely voice is perfect.

The real surprise is Damon, who plays the Texas Ranger. He’s hard-headed and hot-tempered, and plays perfectly off Bridges.

Of course, as with any western, the landscape is a part of the film, too. Wide vistas and unblemished scenery make the film a nostalgic reminder of how pristine our country once was. It’s a beautiful film, and the cinematography is outstanding.

Classic westerns have been few and far between. What the Coen’s have given us with their treatment of True Grit is a rebirth of the genre, a classic western for the modern age. It neither dumbs down its characters, nor does it shy away from the violence. Instead, it offers an often-unflattering realism to life in the Old West. But it does this without sacrificing the spirit of the classic western.

Although there are likely to be those who miss the heroic adventures of old John Wayne movies, I would be pleased to see more films like this version of True Grit.

To my delight and surprise, the two-hour premiere of The Cape did something unexpected. It embraced the melodrama of the comic book form to create a story filled with larger-than-life characters.

Though The Cape is a superhero story, it doesn’t feel like recent hero stories (like Iron Man or The Dark Knight). Yet it doesn’t go the Heroes route either, which tried to place heroes in the real world. Instead of striving for realism, The Cape places itself firmly in a fictional world filled with criminal masterminds, scaled thugs, and secret identities.

The pilot episode follows Vince Faraday (David Lyons), a police officer and former soldier who is fighting against the growing corruption in Palm City. The city is in the grips of a criminal mastermind known only as Chess — billionaire Peter Fleming (James Frain from True Blood). The police are corrupt. And Faraday, who is one of the last good cops, is framed for Chess’s nefarious activities. A train car blows up, supposedly killing Faraday who escapes to the tunnels beneath the train yard.

The unconscious Faraday is found by the Circus of Crime. Max Malini (Keith David) is the ringleader of a bank robbing circus troupe. Faraday initially helps him plan heists against Chess’s Ark organization, but he wants revenge. Knowing that his apparent death is the only thing keeping his family alive, Faraday gets the idea of disguising himself as his son’s favorite comic book hero, The Cape.

David Lyons takes a new approach to crimefighting in NBC's new superhero drama The Cape. Photo by Justin Lubin/NBC.

Max becomes Faraday’s mentor, outfitting him in a special costume that includes a super strong and resilient cape. The circus performers, too, help out by giving Faraday the benefits of their secret skills, whether hypnotism, fighting, illusion or escape.

In tracking down a weapons dealer named Scales (Vinnie Jones), Faraday encounters the mysterious Orwell (Summer Glau from Firefly and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles). In a bit of a jump in trust and logic, the two decide to join forces to take down Chess.

As origin stories go, the pilot episode ranks up there with the fun and adventure of stories like Sam Raimi’s Darkman. The only thing missing was hearing Faraday name himself in dramatic fashion. But we get that moment, to comedic effect in the next episode.

The second episode, “Tarot,” takes place a week later. Faraday is still adjusting to his life as a hero. When the store he is in is robbed, he changes into The Cape and thwarts the bad guys. The thankful store owner asks him if he’s a superhero. When Faraday tells the man he’s called “The Cape,” the owner sounds underwhelmed and says, “You’ll work on it.”

Ark makes a play to take over Palm City’s prison system. The only thing standing in the way is the Secretary for the Bureau of Prisons. To eliminate the Secretary, Chess hires a French assassin named Cain (Raza Jaffrey). Also known as The Chef, Cain specializes in knives and poisons. Orwell informs Faraday that Cain’s tattoo of a tarot card marks him as part of a secret organization of killers known as “Tarot.”

Let me take a moment here to mention the spectacular use of chapter names for each of the show’s segments. With titles like “The Circus of Crime” and “The Cape vs. Chess, Part I,” these chapter breaks create little stories within the stories. Not since NBC’s Frasier have I seen this technique used, and this show does it well.

The key to The Cape’s success thus far is how well it balances the realism of the hero with the fantastic elements of the story. Faraday has no super powers. In the course of the first two episodes, he’s beaten, tied in chains and thrown in the ocean, stabbed, and poisoned. He comes back, but he bears the scars.

Whereas Faraday uses circus tricks and a specially designed cape, the villains read like characters from a Dick Tracy comic strip. The aptly named Chess is a criminal mastermind. The gunrunner Scales has a condition that gives him snake-like scales on his skin. And the poisoning knife thrower is called “The Chef.” Even the secret criminal organization “Tarot” has a cool name.

If The Cape is going to make it in the long run, it needs to follow the pattern in has laid out in the first episodes. Keep the story simple, keep the characters interesting. Most importantly, the show needs to keep its sense of humor. As long as The Cape doesn’t take itself too seriously, it should be able to reach an audience.

When director Gerard Lough (Stolen Wings) told me he had adapted King’s short story “The Boogeyman” for a short film, warning bells started sounding in my head. I respect Lough’s work, but there are few filmmakers I would trust to adapt this story convincingly.

I needn’t have worried. Lough embraces the intamcy in this tale of a man confessing the horror of his children’s deaths to a psychiatrist.

As the story begins, Andrew Billings (Simon Fogarty) is explaining to Dr. Harper (Michael Parle) that his children’s deaths, though ruled accidents, were actually murder. At first, the film is dialogue driven, a conversation between the two men, but it soon flashes back to show how he lost them to the mysterious Boogeyman.

For a short story, “The Boogeyman” packs in a lot of horror. Lough’s film, too, leads the audience through some horrible revelations, as it becomes more and more believable that Andrew may not be crazy.

Something lurks behind the closet door in the short film adapation of Stephen King's The Boogeyman. ©2010 Arcadia Video

I’ll say this. Lough’s screenplay is very faithful to what I remember of the original. Most of the noticeable changes are for the sake of setting. In moving it from America to Ireland, nothing is lost, but the language does change a bit. The dialogue has a few Irish idioms that added authenticity to the piece.

Produced on a shoestring budget — I read it was made for 2000 euros — the sound quality is not quite perfect. But the directing is spot on. There’s a beautiful change in color when Andrew remembers his own childhood and the root of his fear of water. And the transitions after the first death of a child subtly reflect the passage of time.

If I had one complaint about the film, it would be that it didn’t show as much as I would have liked. Too often, the action taking place in the past was merely talked about in the psychiatrist’s office. In particular, the pregnancy of Rita (Joanne Cullen) after the death of her children was reduced to a mere phrase about knitting and eating pickles. I think it would have been nice to see her more.

Overall, I heartily recommend The Boogeyman if you get a chance to see it. This short film is an outstanding example of what independent filmmakers can do — even with limited means.

Watch the trailer

In this groundbreaking series, drama dovetailed with historical record in a story that blurred the line between fantasy and reality.

Dark Skies tells the story of John Loengard (Eric Close), a young congressional aide on Capitol Hill during the Kennedy administration. When Loengard begins investigating the Air Force’s Project Blue Book (the official team that investigated UFO sightings for the military), he stumbles across a top-secret organization called Majestic that has been fighting a secret war since the UFO incident at Roswell.

Together with his fiancee Kimberly Sayers (Megan Ward), Loengard goes on the run from Majestic and the alien threat that seeks to undermine humanity.

Dark Skies is top-notch science fiction. It tells a solid story that, aside from having something new to accomplish each week, also has an overarching theme that gets more complex as the series continues.

With its rich 1960s setting and costumes, one might think of Dark Skies as a Mad Men-styled science fiction drama. But Dark Skies has more in common with the film Forrest Gump, which wove a fictional character with historical events. And it’s interesting how easily the UFO mythology is woven into history so seamlessly.

In the first episode, “The Awakening,” Loengard interviews Betty and Barney Hill, a New Hampshire couple whose 1961 encounter with aliens is one of the first abduction stories. In the episode “Moving Targets,” Loengard meets up with former Major Jesse Marcel, one of the most outspoken voices about what really happened at Roswell in 1947.

Now on DVD, Dark Skies: The Declassified Complete Series is a wonderful return to this exciting and groundbreaking series. The story is still interesting and compelling. Even the special effects are — for the most part — still believable. The only thing disappointing about this set is that it reminds us that even the best storytelling doesn’t always survive the television network axe.

In addition to the complete 20 episode series on five disks, Dark Skies: The Declassified Complete Series DVD includes a sixth disk with numerous bonus features:

• International pilot
• Cast & creator commentaries
• “Signal To Noise: Uncovering Dark Skies” — A 3-part intimate look back with creators Bryce Zabel & Brent V. Friedman and stars Eric Close & Megan Ward
• Network promos
• The Dark Skies Glossary
• Original sales presentation
• EPK (Electronic Press Kit)
• Never-before-seen Season Two proposal

Matt Smith (right) as The Doctor, introduces Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon) and a frozen beauty (Katherine Jenkins) to the meaning of Christmas in Doctor Who "A Christmas Carol." ©2010 BBC

Christmas specials are one of my favorite parts of the season. Whether it’s a holiday special about Santa’s favorite reindeer or a holiday-themed episode of my favorite television show, I love seeing a feel-good Christmas story. As a fan of Doctor Who, I’m especially fond of how the time-traveler celebrates Christmas.

And when The Doctor (Matt Smith) celebrates Christmas, he does it right. In the aptly named “A Christmas Carol,” the Doctor serves up a Dickens-inspired holiday story.

The tale begins with a crashing space liner on which the Doctor’s companions, Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill), are trapped. To save the space liner, the Doctor must convince Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon) to use the spire to open up the clouds and allow the ship to land.

You can see where this is going, can’t you? The miserly Scrooge character must be shown the true meaning of Christmas. And without any ghosts readily available, the Doctor improvises in the way he knows best. He travels into the past and teaches a young Kazran about love and self-sacrifice.

At its best, Doctor Who tells emotionally packed stories that transcend sci-fi. In fact, many have pointed out that Doctor Who may better be described as a fairy tale. And in his current incarnation, that is certainly true. The fantasy quality of the series comes through here, as the Doctor helps an evil king find kindness in his heart by rescuing a sleeping beauty.

The “sleeping beauty” in this tale is Abigail Pettigrew (played by Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins). Frozen as “security” for her family’s debt to Kazran’s father, Abigail is released by the Doctor and introduced to a young Kazran, who is instantly smitten. So they promise Abigail to visit her every Christmas Eve.

All seems to be going well, as we see the old Kazran looking through photos and reliving “new” memories he never had before. But after several years Abigail reveals a secret to Kazran, now a young man, who then locks her away forever.

While there are a few crazy moments in the story (including a “one-shark open sleigh”), “A Christmas Carol” tells a wonderful holiday story that is filled with emotion. This may be one of the best Christmas specials I’ve seen from a television series.

Beginning with David Tennant’s first appearance in “The Christmas Invasion” (2005), the Doctor’s Christmas specials have become something of a tradition in the UK. But for Doctor Who fans in the United States, Christmas has always come late. We have had to wait until spring — or later — to view these episodes (which often had little to do with the holiday itself). This year, however, BBC America aired the first simulcast for a Doctor Who Christmas special.

This effort to bring Doctor Who to America in time for Christmas has given fans on two continents reason to celebrate. Let’s hope it’s the start of a new holiday tradition.

Already a science fiction fan and lover of video games (yes, I played Asteroids when it first came to my local pizza parlor), seeing TRON introduced me to another side of computers. The story, filled with floating bits and I/O towers, seems almost archaic today. But it’s still a pretty good story. Having watched it again this week, I decided it is more than a guilty pleasure. It’s a fun movie, even if the visuals are dated by today’s standards.

Enter TRON: Legacy. Just as 30 years has improved our computer-generated graphics, it also changed the landscape of the world Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) created in the original film.

According the back story told in the first few minutes of the film, Flynn was at the height of his success when he disappeared fifteen years ago. His son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), is now in charge of his father’s company. Though Sam prefers to be a silent owner, protesting the board’s corporate greed.

When Sam goes to his father’s old office to find the source of a mysterious phone call, he is swept away to the fabled “grid” his father often spoke of in his bedtime stories. No longer a place for free information, the grid has become a closed system under the fascist regime of Clu (also played by Bridges). Clu was programmed by Flynn to create a perfect system. Under his totalitarian rule and his warped idea of perfection, the grid has become a model of order where any program considered imperfect is either “repurposed” or sent to the games.

This is where Sam finds himself when he arrives in the grid, without any identity disk. He is quickly ushered through preparation, where his only training is advice to “survive.” He then finds himself competing in a disc battle, followed closely by a race to the death on light cycles.

A recognizer floats over the grid in TRON: Legacy. ©2010 Disney Pictures.

After a timely rescue by Quorra (Olivia Wilde), Sam’s reunited with his father. The homecoming is filled with tension, however, as the elder Flynn disagrees with Sam about the best way to free the system and keep Clu from gaining access to our world.

As someone who has been down on 3D films after last year’s stunning Avatar, I didn’t really think I wanted to see this film in 3D. But seeing TRON: Legacy in IMAX 3D was like going through the looking glass. Like watching Dorothy go from black and white to color in The Wizard of Oz, the transformation from Sam’s 2D world to the 3D world of the grid is amazing. Coupled with the stunning update in computer-generated graphics, the TRON universe has never been more beautiful or surreal.

The film also boasts a soundtrack with a score by Daft Punk. I am partial to Wendy Carlos’ 1982 score that featured the digital synthesizers, and miss that original sound. I understand that may be more fueled by nostalgia than an appreciation of good music, but a nod to Carlos’ inventive score would have been nice.

While the special effects of TRON: Legacy beat the heck out of the original, the story is more simplistic. In 1982, the original film seemed to speak a different language. Maybe it’s a byproduct of the Information Age, but the grid now seems more like a video game than another world. Sure, it’s still filled with “programs” who inhabit it the way people inhabit our world, but little is made of the computer-ness of that universe.

For all its nods to the original — and there are quite a few — TRON: Legacy ultimately feels more like a new version of The Matrix, with a philosophical undertone that pushes audiences to examine their reality in a digital age.

Even so, it’s a fun film to watch and a worth successor to the original.

Rated for sequences of sci-fi action violence and brief mild language
127 minutes
FilmGuru’s Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

The buzz this season seems to be about Black Swan, and deservedly so. This compelling drama is filled with amazing performances and outstanding direction. Though filled with raw emotion, it stays real — giving audiences a glimpse into the darker side of the fine arts. 

Black Swan centers on Nina (Natalie Portman) a young ballet dancer competing for the coveted role of the Swan Queen in her company’s upcoming production of Tchaikovsky‘s Swan Lake.

Like the White Swan in the story, Nina is a fragile but beautiful creature. Her attention to detail and technique have made her a favorite for the auditions, but Thomas (Vincent Cassel) feels Nina will not be able to perform the Black Swan, the seductive, alluring evil twin.

Even after she is awarded the roll, Nina finds herself at war with her own doubts and fears. She is haunted by the past lead of the company, a bitter aging dancer named Beth (Winona Ryder). Beth rages at being forced into retirement, and directs her anger at Nina who is already doubting her ability to take up the mantle.

And Nina finds herself looking over her shoulder as a new dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) enters the picture. Lily seems at times a seductress, but Nina is unsure whether Lily is trying to befriend her or sabotage her chances at playing the part.

Natalie Portman and Vincent Cassel star in Black Swan (©2010 Fox Searchlight). Photo by Niko Tavernise.

The story is backed by a powerful cast, including Barbara Hershey as Nina’s mother, Erica. Hershey delivers an outstanding performance as an overbearing mother who oversees every aspect of her daughter’s life. The tension between her and Nina is palpable. There seems to be a tremendous back story to their relationship, and every scene between these two characters is powerful.

Let me add that Portman, who until now has often tackled roles beyond her years, finally gives us a look at a fragile character instead of a strong one. I loved seeing her portray a young woman devoid of self-confidence and power. Instead, we see a girl who is so wrapped up in her ideals of perfection that she resorts to self-mutilation to correct imperceptible flaws.

And herein lies the greatness of Portman’s performance. She made me believe it. From her soft voice to her anguish over every choice she makes, her Nina comes through as completely real.

Leave it to director Darren Aronofsky to create a haunting and visceral adaptation of the ballet Swan Lake by setting it within the world of ballet. The film is both haunting and beautiful, with the cast bringing a level of complexity that raises it above a mere thriller.

The film does an excellent job of combining the beauty and elegance of ballet with the ugliness and fragility of the world behind the stage. The story takes the viewer on a mad ride, following Nina as she spirals through a life filled with duplicity and deception of her own making.

Rated for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use.
108 minutes
FilmGuru’s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars