“Here comes the Woman in Black / Murderous Offender / Here comes the Woman in Black / She’s hard not to remember.”  Yes, those are the catchy lyrics to Will Smith’s “Men in Black” with a few alterations of my own, but it is hard not to manipulate the lyrics of the chorus to fit this film even though they are leagues apart in genre and story.  It simply could not be helped.

Instead of space invaders playing the antagonist to our lead, The Woman in Black is built around the haunted house structure of the horror subgenre as a woman’s angry spirit haunts the grounds and interior of a solitary house cut off from the main land by the tide for large percentages of the day.  Following the death of the previous owner, Arthur Kipps is sent to put her affairs in order, setting in motion a spree of tragedy in the nearby village at the hands of this vengeful ghost.

For those who are familiar with the subgenre, from films like Paranormal Activity to The Grudge, then you will have a decent understanding of what to expect from this story. The film starts with a rather gripping intro scene as the rest of the film takes its time to slowly build to some rather aggressive haunting.  The tension in the film is ever present with the overall look of darker shadows and bleak melancholy within a house that seems to avoid being warmed with light, even with the candlelight trying to diffuse through the dense shadows.  With every shot comes the possibility that something will jump out at our lead, and though cheap scares are named that for a reason, during the length of this film they often relieve the audience of the building tension, so I welcome them with open arms.

Daniel Radcliffe plays Kipps, a man who comes to a village full of residents trying to send him home without revealing their fears, so his first visit is free of the superstitions of those familiar with the story of the house.  His long history as Harry Potter does not impede on the acceptance of his role in this film, and in all honesty, I am sure much of his time spent lurking around the dark halls of Hogwarts as evil creatures tried to do him harm actually aided him with this character.  The only problem with his casting is that he looks too young to be the father of a four-year-old boy, but he earns his keep with the work he does.  Then again, I spent a large percentage of the film actually looking in the background of the camera frame instead of paying close attention to Radcliffe for fear of what may be observing him from the shadows…

The Woman In Black may be the perfect example of a well-worn category of horror films, what separates it from many like those I mentioned above is that its setting as a period piece removes a lot of the complaints common for this genre.  A lot of haunted house films lead to a lot of screaming at the main character for being an idiot for hunting down strange noises in an upstairs room instead of booking it straight out the door, but Kipps doesn’t have our paranoia tacked on by years and years of films that have taught us of the idiocy of falling for these classic horror traps.  Not only that, but there is just something about this period of dress that is creepy.  Just look at those dark leather shoes women wore!  And all those stuffed monkeys!  [Shudders]

A great step for Radcliffe post his Harry Potter run, The Woman In Black comfortably fits into the horror genre with its overall creepiness and shocks that will make you jump in your seat (even if you see them coming), and I actually commend it for the ending it chose in terms of how to deal with resolution.  So though it is nothing incredibly new, it still gets the recommend from me.

Final Grade:  B             Follow @BewareOfTrees

Hello boys and girls!  In this edition of HST Discusses, Alan and Lauren break out the fighting words over Chronicle, the new film about a group of boys who gain superpowers.  Don’t worry, no one was harmed in the making of this (spoiler free) discussion.  And if someone was harmed it would be Alan.  No, Lauren did not write this intro!

Lauren:  Did someone say superpowers!?  Then this movie sure is for me.  At least until it wasn’t.  To put it simply, I loved the premise of the film as any true nerd would, but I just couldn’t help but think that it could have been done more effectively, starting with a better protagonist.

Now before I come off like a cold-hearted B-word (which obviously I can’t be since I won’t even say the word), I will say that Andrew had me in the beginning.  Similar to many a superhero, Andrew’s high school experience is riddled with classic outcast staples of the bullied ranks.  Think Spider-man.  On top of that, his home life is far from the safe haven of other kids his age, making it impossible not to feel for him.  The problem is this sympathy is quickly tainted because there is just something about this character that didn’t feel right to me, thanks in large part with how quickly Andrew turns anti-responsibility with his powers.  Let’s just say Uncle Ben would not be proud.

Alan:  No he wouldn’t, but I am still going to have to disagree with you.  Although I can’t really relate to his abysmal family situation (let alone the super powers), I can really get behind Andrew with the bullying situation.  In fact, after thinking about the movie, it seems like this could be a WAY better form of an anti-bullying movie.  Tell me if this sounds familiar – an outcast from everyone finally has power and ends up abusing it once he is pushed to his limits?  With all of the news stories out there about bullied teens and the lengths they go (or went in some cases) through to get away from it all, Chronicle is almost refreshing in the way it approaches things of this nature.

Lauren: Well I wouldn’t really say shooting up a school is an “abuse of power,” but rewording that turn of phrase I understand where you are coming from.  I just think that the film could have done a better job at providing this underlying message by creating a conflicted character instead of one with the character arc that Andrew has.  But in the end asking me to sympathize with Andrew was like asking me to sympathize with the boys who shoot up their school in Elephant because they couldn’t find an acceptable way to deal with the situation they have been unfairly dealt.  You wanna go with sympathetic psychotic teen?  Watch the first season of American Horror Story instead.

Moving on from that depressing subject, why the heck was Andrew filming everything?  In the first scene I assumed it was because he wanted to give his father a reason to be afraid of beating him, like he could show the footage to the cops or something.  But then he takes it to school, where he seriously should have known that it would have made him even more of a target.

Alan:  It very well might have been his security blanket.  It helped him with his abusive crap dad, and it probably gave him the satisfaction of winning.  He does state later in the movie that it is his barrier between everyone else and himself, so it could be his emotional and psychological shield blocking him from the rest of the world.  Or, he could be the stereotypical outcast kid who just has a camera with him at all times.  He could’ve made a case like the girl who video blogs her entire life, but he didn’t, which didn’t help anything.

But this movie isn’t just about Andrew, but also about his cousin Matt and one of his close friends Steve, who all stumble upon this…thing…and gain powers right afterwards.  And for me at least, the three of them messing with their powers was a true highlight for me in the movie.

Lauren:  Fun is had, for sure, but everyone knows that really wouldn’t be a satisfying way to put a Lego set together!  As for the barrier, I just find it interesting that instead of going the invisible route, he makes himself more noticeable by strapping a giant camera to his hand.  And in all honesty his father really didn’t seem to mind being filmed as an unfit parent, so I don’t really think the camera helped him there.

And don’t even get me started on the blogger girl!  What was the point of her character, exactly?  She gets a weird doorway scene with Matt, and later comes into play again at a kid’s birthday party, but in all honesty she was just a source of another camera feed.

The more I think about it, the worse the choice of using handheld cameras seems to me, and I am talking more than just how annoying those people who have to film everything can be (think Diary of the Dead).  Which brings me back to questioning why he was filming stuff.  At first it works really well, such as when they find the mystery object, but this style of filmmaking starts to turn against the film as it progresses, and often loses that glitch effect that I love so much.  In fact, sometimes it looks far too cinematic and high quality as the camera slowly pans around conversations.  Granted we see scene after scene of Andrew floating the camera around with his mind, so clearly he is a pro.

Also, why was the camera on when he was in the basement with his dad?  Why was it set up on a tripod at the hospital?  I can’t let these questions go, nor can I stop wondering who the heck made the film!  Usually in something like this there is a screen in the beginning or end that explains that it was found footage, such as in Cloverfield or the handheld footage of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, but here this doesn’t happen.  So who the heck compiled the footage?  It bounces around from Andrew’s camera (including one that was lost) to the blogger girl’s camera to security camera footage just because it looks cool.

Alan:  I wish they would’ve said how they got all this footage, especially the end shot (which I cannot spoil).  Towards the end of the film, I think they kinda threw away the handheld camera gimmick once the final fight started happening (I don’t think that there was a camera at ground level zooming in on the main characters).  With that said, I did enjoy the little gimmick where the POV bounced around everyone’s camera, which all happen to look like HD cameras.  After a while of doing that though, I sat there wondering who is shooting what, and I guess the filmmakers decided not to dig too deep into who those people are.

I get the filming when they are playing around with their abilities.  I mean, who wouldn’t want proof of you flying!  That would be awesome, if of course we could fly.  Overall though, regardless of how it was filmed and its bullying overtones, it was a mildly entertaining time at the theaters.  The acting wasn’t bad (for what it’s worth), and the special effects, no matter how low their budget was, were spot on cool.  It’s not a classic by any means; I thought it was still a nice time at the movies.

Lauren:  Ok this went far more civil than I expected it to considering the intro I wrote, but I would have to agree.  Unfortunately for me, though it was made well enough, minus how obvious the actors made it that they were sitting in harnesses while hovering (making it impossible to believe in their flying abilities at those moments), I still doubt Chronicle will make it into my need to watch again list.  I just can’t stand the main character and the shooting style gets in the way of my enjoyment this time, so if I want a story of a damaged individual being pushed to the brink then I will stick to Magneto in X-Men: First Class.

Alan’s Grade: B Follow @AlanHST
Lauren’s Grade: C+/B- Follow @BewareOfTrees

This is my spoiler free review of our latest book club installment: Ready Player One by Earnest Cline.  Stay tuned for our in-depth discussion of the novel which will be posted soon!

In the unnervingly near future, Earnest Cline describes Earth as a world that has been seemingly drained of any semblance of beauty by its inhabitants.  Blue skies are replaced with, pollution and smog, green landscapes replaced by steel high-rises, and even trailer parks have been turned into towering Jenga towers of trailers looming hundreds of feet high to conserve space.  As an escape from the bleak surroundings, people often log in to the OASIS – an immense virtual reality where individuals can go to work, school, and even hang out with their friends (many of whom they have never actually met in person).  For many individuals, the OASIS is not merely an escape from the real world; it is their real world.  Life outside of the OASIS is secondary – nothing more than a place to eat, sleep, and recharge before zipping back into their haptic suits and sliding the virtual reality goggles over their eyes once again.

The book begins by informing readers of the death of James Halliday, the multibillionaire creator of the OASIS.  When Halliday died, he released video footage describing a quest he created in the years leading up to his death.  Somewhere in the OASIS, Halliday hid an “Easter Egg,” and whoever finds it will inherit his billions as well as complete control over the OASIS.  This kind of power attracts hundreds of videogame obsessed egg hunters (who call themselves gunters) including Wade Watts, a lonely kid from a trailer park with nothing to his name.  The story is told from Wade’s perspective, and follows the trials and tribulations surrounding his pursuit of the egg (including trying to stay one step ahead of the fierce competition delivered by other gunters, and his battles with a massive corporation who manages to cheat its way through many of the game’s various challenges).

Overall, I thought the book was a quick, fun read (provided you didn’t take it too seriously).  However, based on reactions from my sister and boyfriend, I wonder if the book will actually be less well received by those who are nerdier than me.  I know a lot of the references went over my head, but even only understanding about half of the nerd and/or 80’s references, I still thought Cline went overboard.  Subtlety is DEFINITELY not his strong suit.  I can only imagine how much more irritated I would have been if I picked up on every single reference.  However, I suppose you could also take the opposite stance – maybe I was only annoyed because I missed so many of the references, and a true nerd or 80’s aficionado would have been in heaven.  Either way, going into this book the reader should expect to be pummeled with a never ending barrage of 80’s pop culture and videogames.  Instead of creating a strong story line and working in 80’s references where they seemed to best fit, it seemed like Cline took the opposite approach.  In other words, it seemed like Cline sat down and made a list of every possible bit of 80’s pop culture that he remembered, after which he created the story around these references.  What we are left with was a story that focused more on the 80’s references rather than the hunt itself.  Somebody should have told Cline that it is about quality, not quantity.

Furthermore, I think Cline should have spent more time immersing readers in the world of the OASIS.  As it is written, the world seems flat and unidimensional, and Cline’s descriptions seem to lack that Visceral edge inherent in Worlds created by other writers (e.g., the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowlings, or Tolken’s Middle Earth).  The characters themselves also seemed to be cookie-cutter nerds.  Almost every gunter fit into the nerd stereotype – fat, acne-ridden, ugly, unpopular, and girl-obsessed.  Plus, the way they talked to one another just irked me!  It’s like they were trying to talk like “cool kids” and failing miserably.

Finally, the aspect of this book which I disliked most of all was the ending.  It read like the end of a Full House episode.  After creating this elaborate quest that demanded that gunters live almost every waking hour logged into the OASIS, Halliday tells the winner of the quest that his biggest regret was not fully enjoying his life in the real world.  In other words, he felt like he wasted his life hiding out in this virtual world, and never experienced true happiness.  If he really had felt this way, don’t you think it would have perhaps been wise to create a quest that didn’t demand all gunters to basically eschew their real world lives for a chance at winning??  Through his ending, Cline manages to leave us with a moral of the story (Danny Tanner style); basically, don’t let computers, the internet, videogames and the like keep you from living your real life.  Cue epiphany, hugging, and a canned “Awwww.”

Like I said, overall I enjoyed Ready Player One.  I would be very interested to hear what others thought of it as well.  I think it probably appeals to a very specific demographic…I just haven’t quite figured out what that demographic is yet!  My guess would be nerdier people in their late 20s, but maybe the references are too “in your face” for them.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

This episode of On Freddie Roach was intense to say the least.  We got to see and learn a lot more about Freddies past, mostly what his home life was like growing up.  We got to a chance to see him interact with his older brother Pepper as well as his mother Barbara.  Both of them work at Freddie’s Wild Card Boxing Gym located in Hollywood California.  Actually I don’t think his mother works there, I’m pretty sure she just spends time there looking after her two sons.  I’m not too sure if Freddie has other siblings.  From the way he and Pepper spoke of their upbringing it sort of sounded as though they did but maybe not.  Either way, Freddie and Pepper are very close to one another as well as their mother, and Freddie takes care of both them with complete selflessness.

Freddie and his brother Pepper grew up tough.  Fighting was a part of life, their dad fought professionally and he wanted his sons to do the same, in fact he made sure they did the same.  Freddie explains during one of his voice overs in the beginning of the episode that, “boxing in [his] house was part of life.  From day one [he] was taught to fight.”  I really like how as Freddie is saying all of this about boxing in his home life they show old 8mm home movies of Freddie at age 6 and Pepper at age 7, both wearing boxing gloves and punching each other.  Both of them have massive smiles painted on their faces as they chase one another around the house throwing punches.

Freddie’s dad was, to put it bluntly, a real hard ass.  He wanted his kids to grow up tough, and decided that fighting was more important than their education.  Pepper explains while giving someone a tour of the gym that their father told them one day “Fuck school you’ll all be fighters, so none of them graduated.”  He follows this statement immediately by saying “I had 8th grade 4 times.”

We see Freddie going through  his typical work day.  For me this was really interesting because anytime I have ever seen him at work it is with one of his superstars.  I have seen him work with Manny Pacquiao several times, and last week we saw him working with Amir Khan leading up to his fight with Zab Judah. This week, though, we got a chance to see Freddie working with his other fighters, ones who fight for peanuts compared to what Khan and Pacquiao bring in.

We also see Pepper working the gloves with a heavyweight, then after some time goes by we see that something is horribly wrong with Pepper.  It almost seems like he is on drugs or something, at least that was my first impression, but no seems to know for sure.  It isn’t until Canada, one of Roach’s other employees, calls 911 and starts saying that he thinks he had a stroke.  He keeps saying this even though no one else is and it turns out that he is actually correct in his assumption.  Pepper has apparently suffered from several strokes before, and he seems to be doing pretty well considering.  I really hope he is able to recover fully from this one as well because is a very likable character.

This event ends up speaking volumes for Freddie Roach’s character.  Right before Pepper was discovered Freddie was signing a contract with a new fighter.  He took care of the situation with Pepper, and once Pepper was on his way to the hospital we see Freddie step into his office a make a phone call.  While on the phone he is sobbing horribly, but the camera never cuts away.  All in one take of less than 5 minutes we see Freddie let out his emotion and regroup himself and get right back to work.  He begins training the fighter he just signed and acts as though nothing has happened even though he was just sobbing minutes ago.  He works the rest of his day and is on his way home a little after 8pm, to complete his 12 hour work day.  Once home he begins watching fight videos on his laptop, and this is how the episode ends.  Roach lives boxing it is his life and even though it gave him the disease of Parkinson’s, it has given back to him in so many ways.  I’m really hoping we find out next week that Pepper is okay.

Rebellion comes to us in many different forms. As of late, it has come in the form of sitting in large parks in major cities chanting things like “We are the 99%!” Others come in forms as simple as changing your hair color or wearing different clothes. Of course, one huge motivator is the presence of music; either in the forms of large gatherings supporting something to artists or bands going against anything and everything. Even the styles that a band adapts to their own is rebelling against anything that one would find “normal,” and challenges its listeners to stay loyal.

This is where U.K.’s Enter Shikari comes into play. Their off-the-wall style and political hatred puts their listeners into a “ride or die” type of situation; either you back them or you don’t. Though, after listening to their newest full length, A Flash Flood of Colour, it is hard to hate a band who can stretch their musical sound into a lot of different spectrums and still be able to put out a solid album.

A Flash Flood of Colour, admittedly, was my first foray into the rally world of Enter Shikari. The album starts out with “System…,” an electronic heavy rise to arms, which builds into a chant-worthy roll call. This leads into “…Meltdown,” a hardcore-set, and dubstep-influenced flagship song that sets the pace for the entire record. Admittedly, it got me head bobbing instead of banging, which was a welcome surprise for a first time listener. “Sssnakepit” is a fast-paced mosh-making ruckus which has frontman Rou Reynolds play both frontman and MC for a while. “Arguing With Thermometers” is a flows seamlessly from a bombastic metal-dubstep fusion to old school British punk in an instant, making it one of the most accessible tracks on the record. “Gandhi Mate, Gandhi” is a soapbox for Reynolds to stand on, which brings a resounding and amazing epilogue, and some of the most hilariously awesome lyrics I wouldn’t think would find its way here (“Yabba Dabba Do One son, We don’t want you rules”).

As loud as Shikari is on the album, they do take some time to slow it down a bit. “Search Party” starts as a melodic ballad, but quickly changes into a rebellious swan song. “Stalemate” is a triplet laden effort to bring across their message of peace without having to scream it in the listener’s faces. The closing track, “Constellations” is a rather beautiful song spirited with hope, spouting inspirational lines that says “forgiveness is our torch” and “imagination is our sword.”

However as much praise that I have given to Flash Flood, there are some flaws. The last three tracks (besides “Constellations”) go by in a dramatic blur, none of which beats out their previous songs. The album itself, only eleven songs long, goes by rather fast; hitting you hard at first, then lingering on towards the end. And for my take on adding dubstep to the rebel rock? I’m all for it. However, none of the drops or hooks that come in the album will put Bassnectar and other artists out of a job. However, I would LOVE to see Bassnectar remix “…Meltdown” and turn it into one epic single.

All in all, A Flash Flood of Colour is a shot in the arm of the counter-culture music scene. It holds more weight than what New Politics put out about a year or so ago, and songs that would make legends of the rebellious music scene Rage Against the Machine proud. Though it has some minor flaws, the album as a whole is an aggressive wake-up to society; it could make the most partisan government viewer stand up and say “eff the man.”

Final Grade: B+

Go Download: “…Meltdown”

I am a sucker for Best Of/Year End lists. So when I find an relative unknown (or at least to me) on the list, it sparks my interest in whoever the artist is. That’s how I found out about Lana Del Rey, and her first single “Video Games.” After a couple of times through the song, I came up with a personal conclusion that she is, to put it nicely, bad. But alas, I cannot judge an artist off of one song. That’s just unprofessional.

That’s why I waited for her four song EP. Those songs, which I’ll get to below, only reinforced my personal opinion of disliking her. And an awful SNL performance didn’t help matters at all. Now, her debut full length Born To Die is out there for the world to interpret their own ways. And after listening to the fifteen songs in their entirety, I can say with utter certainty that the album is worse than I expected it to be.

Born To Die starts off with the four songs off of her EP, starting with the self titled track. Backed by rather decent string parts (one of the only compliments that I will be giving out) and generic hip-hop beats, Del Rey unenthusiastically mumbles through each verse, singing what I believe are supposed to be rather optimistic lyrics. “Off to the Races” is the closest thing to a club hit on the album, changing her styles from a drunken slur to a Betty Boop-style emphasis once it gets to the chorus. “Blue Jeans” is a lazy love song, as this is the closest thing to match the dumb “Gangster Nancy Sinatra” persona that she is trying to push here. And then there’s “Video Games” itself; a repetitive, unenthusiastic ballad trying to get some sort of message of love across her mumbled lyrics.

Oh, and the lyrics. Born To Die as a whole has some of the worst lyrics I have ever heard in pop music. Here are just some of my favorite examples:

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Besides the ones above, she loves to talk about either falling in love with a boy or dying. And with her downer of a voice, just comes off as a fake, melancholic mess. She even sounds like she mumbles over her words, almost trying not to open up her HUGE lips. If she is trying to become the first artist ever to have a ventriloquist concert, then by all means go ahead and try. I bet that the doll she would be holding would have more pizzazz than her.

One complaint that I normally wouldn’t have towards an album is how long the entire thing is. Born To Die is 15 songs, and only over an hour long, but the album feels a whole lot longer than that. Maybe it’s because of the rather constant tempos (either really slow or slow most of the time), or how bored Del Rey sounds on each track, but Born to Die drags from track to track, waiting to finally end.

To my fellow critics out there who love what Lana Del Rey has put out so far, please go back and REALLY listen to it. It’s boring, zombified pop music wrapped in a package that screams “love me.” Not only do I not love Born To Die, I flat out hated it. Her lazy delivery, truly awful unoriginal lyrics, and no real direction drags this album to a complete halt right out of the gate. I normally do not remove albums from my computer’s memory unless it is corrupt, but I will have no problems wiping it clean of this mess.

Final Grade: D-

Go Download: Nothing.

Joe Carnahan’s latest, The Grey, is half a great movie, it’s a shame it probably never would have gotten made if they didn’t have to include those wolves.

The aspects surrounding the wolves isn’t a complete wash, but it is nowhere near as interesting as watching this group of guys try and survive and stare death in the face.  There are a couple of cool beats with the wolves squaring off against our group of survivors, but it is all kind of silly.  A couple of those moments probably warrant the wolves’ inclusion in the story, but I still think the better movie doesn’t have wolves in it.  It’s no coincidence that the movie began to resonate once the wolf stuff was pushed to the background and when the group has been reduced down to four is when things really take it up a notch.

Carnahan’s film opens with a fantastic voiceover sequence that does a great job setting up our hero, Ottway (played by Liam Nesson), and the setting is also wonderfully realized shot on location north of Vancouver; the movie feels freaking cold.  The vistas are beautiful and daunting as Carnahan and team do a wonderful job at making us feel like these guys are truly in the middle of nowhere, making the isolation of these men all the more affective.  There was only one funky shot that stuck out in the film, but it was thankfully in the best scene of the movie, it’s still a shame they had to use that shot on a number of occasions.

The shot in question seemed to be an effect shot and that is a nice segue to the shaky effects in general throughout the film.  A couple bad wolf shots take you out of the picture from time to time, and when used to show the sheer number of wolves it is almost too hokey.  Some of the shots look solid, but overall the effects were average at best.  The average effects work disappears with the wolves when the film takes off and focuses on just the men and again I think this is no coincidence that the film excels once the effects are out of the picture.  The effects work in the plane crash sequence was top notch though, it looked great and I wished it was longer.  Disappointingly, they did cop out on the end of the crash which was poor form and felt like a short changing of the audience.

The reason the film takes so long to get to its greatness is that there is a lot of stereotypes, bad dialogue and clichés to get through before the characters we can actually relate to get a chance to shine.  The characters that get all of the attention at the start are annoying and unbearable to be around and I am happy they are dispatched rather quickly.  Especially played against Nesson’s calm and stoic nature, a few of these guys couldn’t have been more grating.  The characters we relate with and can connect with are played by Nesson, Dermot Mulroney, and Dallas Roberts.  Mulroney is unrecognizable for half the film and it’s nice to see Roberts get a boost after his great work on the criminally canceled Rubicon.

When we get down to the last few survivors the film really opens as a character piece and the movie is all the better for it.  On the verge of death I would imagine these guys would get as introspective as they do and these moments are so interesting that I even began to like the character I might have disliked the most in the beginning, Diaz.  Frank Grillo plays Diaz and he deserves some credit for turning a stereotypical embarrassment of a character into someone we care about as our guys’ race for survival.  He has a particularly great moment on a log that shows just how much hell these guys have to go through.

Carnahan seemed to flip a switch and gets a lot more reserved in the film’s second half and I wish he would have carried that tone throughout the film as it works so much better than what he started with.  We don’t need to see the parallels of Nesson to the Alpha wolf, or his extensive wolf knowledge to be engaged; he had the characters that could do that on their own.

The Grey could have been a great movie, sadly its only half of one.  A couple great characters and a solid lead turn by Liam Nesson and his supporting cast make the film very engaging by the end.  Carnahan might take some time to get to the good stuff, but he created a world that engaged even if you hated the characters in it.  When The Grey gets good, it is pretty darn good, I just wish those wolves would have gotten out of the way and let Carnahan explore his characters more.

The Grey is a B

Not just any movie gets one of the stars to do a commentary track over its trailer, so Man On A Ledge must clearly be something special.  Right?

At least for we feeble minded individuals, anyway.  A fellow reviewer said this to cap his review: “Man on a Ledge sets out to be a crowd pleaser and it might succeed at that for some viewers, I just hope you ask for more out of your entertainment in the future because this is a lesser effort.”  And my response to that is this: why not have it both ways?  Not every movie has to be a thinker with depth and complexities; sometimes it just has to be fun.  And you enjoyed Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, fellow reviewer, so I know even you go slumming every now and again.

If you watched the trailer then you already know a lot more than I did going into this one.  I just thought it was about a man who decided one day to go up on a ledge and hang out.  Nothing jovial, but I didn’t quite know to what extent of a hidden motive there was to be had.  Which is why I actually found myself pleasantly surprised that the snide comments I had already planned to use in my review of a disappointing movie were no longer applicable, because this movie ended up being better than I expected.

Now I am in no way saying that this film is a gift from the film gods, but considering how little I was expecting I couldn’t help but be excited for what the film turned out to be.  As Sam Worthington is up on the ledge using whatever accent that was in response to the level of trust Elizabeth Bank’s NYC cop/negotiator is trying to build between the two, turns out there is far more to discover about his character.  Obviously we have to learn who he is and why he is up there, and as this spools out we also get to see what he is doing in order to fix the predicament he is currently in.

Which involves a second story running contiguously to the ledge perching, involving Jamie Bell as Worthington’s brother, and Genesis Rodriguez as Bell’s girlfriend in some situations of thievery for the greater good.  What started out as something that I was rather against story-wise when it is introduced to the plot line because of how out of place it seemed to be (again I was admittedly ill-prepared for the actual premise of this film), I will say that the moments between these two actually ended up being a lot of my favorites.  Worthington is also brought in during these scenes as well, and the dynamic between the three as they work together manages to remain fun even though there is actually a lot at stake.  Plus, they are pretty amateurish at what they are doing, which throws in a few laughs as well as they circumnavigate the problems using their novice level knowledge.

Because of the simplicity of the story, we’re talking comparable to Denzel Washington and Chris Pine’s Unstoppable in how there are only oh so many options for how the ending can play out (will the train crash or wont it!?), another thing that may surprise the viewer is that the story actually manages to excite at times.  In all honesty I never felt bored during the 102 minute run-time, and though I never doubted the ending, there were still a few aspects that I wasn’t sure how they would play out.  Let’s just say with all that is going on, I wasn’t willing to bet on how Worthington was going to remove himself from that ledge, and if it would be his choice.  Maybe some of those poorly constructed and unoriginal bad guys might have something to do with it, or someone shouting “JUMP!” below might actually give him the push he needs.  Probably not, but I was willing to stick around to find out.

Who knows, maybe I was just in the right mood to see a movie like Man On The Ledge to be able to come out of it with positive thoughts considering I saw the flaws that are causing a lot of bad reviews.  This may mean I am not asking that much out of my entertainment, but sometimes simply being entertained is all that I feel is necessary to ask for.

Final Grade:  B-
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Man on a Ledge is an adequate at best thriller that has an impressive cast, but is seemingly too guided by the studio hand to excel in any area of the filmmaking process.

The film is a smorgasbord of ideas and genres, but it is all watered down and filled with one note characters.  Take the film’s villain played by Ed Harris, there is no doubt from the moment he appears on screen that this is a bad man.  Nasty personality, slicked back greasy hair, and driven by nothing but greed the character is basically a cartoon.  Luckily the character isn’t around all that much, but unfortunately it is a waste of such a talented actor like Ed Harris.  But our villain isn’t the only character with little depth or surprise as our hero, Sam Worthington, is almost just as thin.  A cop who claims to be wrongfully accused for a crime that sent him to prison is attempting to prove his innocence, but any suspense surrounding his claim is erased once you meet the aforementioned character played by Harris.  From here, Worthington is asked to simply move the plot along and most of the action is regulated to the seemingly separate movie taking place caddy corner to all of the man on a ledge drama.

Worthington’s brother in the film, played by Jamie Bell (Tintin!), is on a jewel heist mission with his girlfriend (Genesis Rodriguez) that is somehow wrapped up in the ledge drama.  The problem here is that this aspect of the film seems way out of place from everything else and it asks us to suspend belief at every turn.  First, they set up the security of this vault to be ridiculously impenetrable only to be foiled so easily by a pair of amateur criminals who have been training for a whole year.  Both of the characters involved are also portrayed as dim, one note stereotypes and the filmmakers are never able to build any suspense surrounding them.  Even more egregious, Genesis Rodriguez is overtly over sexualized for nothing more than exploitation.  Nothing against Rodriguez, she is an attractive woman, but this is what I am talking about when I say studio interference.  I can totally see some executive saying, we need more sex in this movie, show off that one’s boobs and get her in her underwear.  If I were Rodriguez’s character, I don’t think I would have my boobs hanging out on a mission like this.  Rodriguez looks great, but there is no point to any of the it other than sex sells.  Worse, all sexual attention is going to overshadow Rodriguez’s tough and endearing performance that was one of the few highlights of the film.

The cops in the film are also as stereotypical as their criminal counterparts and Elizabeth Banks is the only actor to escape that quagmire.  Sure she has an almost over the top accent, but her character is the only one with any compelling depth and Banks makes the most of it.  She isn’t able to elevate the role to anything spectacular, I don’t think anyone really could have, but Banks’ likability goes a long way in making her the only character I really cared about.

The film could have done a lot for itself by making things a bit more interesting visually (how many times can we shoot this guy on a ledge the same way?)  and holding its cards a bit closer to the chest would have gone a long way.  The film waves giant flags projecting where it is heading and it tries to throw you off by taking you through unbelievable situations; it doesn’t work.  Also failing to resonate is a plot surrounding a Kyra Sedgwick that seems to be trying to say something about media and how grotesque it is, or how sick we are for rooting this guy to jump, I don’t know; and oh yeah, it’s mostly played for laughs.

The film’s first two acts are rather dull, predictable, and lack any sort of suspense, but the film’s final act was able to sweep me up into the proceedings.  I did care enough to want to know what happened in the end and the film deserves credit for at least doing that.

Also holding the film back is that our protagonist is set up as an invincible hero to a certain extent and cashes in on that set up before it’s all said and done.  The movie could have been a good one, thankfully it wasn’t an awful one, but if you caught this on cable a few years down the line I imagine it would suck more than a few of you in; and that would be ok.

All that said Man on a Ledge is a predictable and pandering film that hides its surprises to no one.  A strong cast is wasted, everything seems so cookie cutter and studio manipulated, and even though the third act rouses up a hint of suspense it kills it with more than one ridiculous moment in the finale.  Man on a Ledge sets out to be a crowd pleaser and it might succeed at that for some viewers, I just hope you ask for more out of your entertainment in the future because this is a lesser effort.

Man on a Ledge is a D+

Red Tails is a long gestating project from George Lucas about the Tuskegee Airmen during WWII and the results are a good ole fashion war movie that overcomes its shortcomings through a likable cast and great action.

George Lucas didn’t direct this film, that would be Anthony Hemingway, but he has been talking about making this for years, having a real passion for the material.  Right from the get go the tone of the film is set with the over the top, old school propaganda feel that paints our heroes as great and honorable Americans and the Nazi’s as the scum of the earth.  The face of the enemy is put on the lead Nazi pilot and he is a cartoon of a character, evil to the core.  That sort of juxtaposition to our good natured heroes is a perfect set up to how you should perceive Red Tails and it meets that tone from start to finish; root for the heroes as they eradicate evil on the other side of the battle.

The film is a fun action ride, but it isn’t without its problems.  The 2^nd act has a couple issues in the relationships between a few of the characters and the film forces emotion to try and create some drama in the film.  The film’s leads are a pair of good friends, Easy and Lightning, and the chemistry between the actors who play them, Nate Parker & David Oyelowo, is one of the highlights of the picture.  That is why it is such a shame that they had to force such a wedge between the two while giving Easy such a cheap weakness in his apparent alcoholism.  To make matters worse they imply that Easy’s drinking is causing a ton of problems for him and the squadron and then supply not one shred of evidence that shows him doing so.  So when Lightning gets pissed at Easy over his “drinking problem” he just looks like an idiot, leaving the audience perplexed.

Lightning is also part of a romance sub-plot with a young Italian girl and while a lot of the film’s non-flying plotline is dedicated to them it still feels forced and doesn’t resonate.  It’s not terrible, but it seems like wasted time and effort when there are a lot of other elements that work better.  The film is at its best when the Tuskegee’s are together and seeing a couple who can’t communicate because they don’t speak each others’ language is not nearly as compelling or as endearing as the filmmakers thought it was.  Outside an awkward, at times, performance from Cuba Gooding Jr. (though his hamming it up worked in the context of the film I think) and a couple of slow spots those were my only real complaints, they just took up way too much time at the end of the 2^nd act.

There is a lot to like in the film and I found myself enjoying my time in the theater far more than taking issue with it.  I mentioned before that the camaraderie among the pilots was one of the strengths of the film and the ensemble they assembled is a joy to watch.  Parker and Oyelowo are both solid as our leads, even if they couldn’t elevate the weak elements placed upon them, but they aren’t alone in doing good work in the film.  Elijah Kelly injects a lot of humor into the film and is also able to pull off the dramatic chops asked of him.  Leslie Odom Jr., Tristan Wilds, Kevin Phillips, and Michael B. Jordan round out the rest of the main faces we get to know and all do the best they can do when they get a bit of screen time.  The banter in the planes is particularly good and it is just a blast to watch these guys go back and forth with one another.  We believe these guys have been together for some time and we never once doubt their dedication to one another.  Also appearing is Terence Howard who has nothing to do, Bryan Cranston makes an impact in the two or three scenes he gets, and Andre Royo is a lot of fun as the lead mechanic.  The cast is full of interesting and diverse characters and Hemingway deserves some credit for making the bond between these guys so natural.

The main reason to check out Red Tails is for the action and the excellent work by the effects teams at ILM and Pixomondo.  Some of the dogfights are breathtaking and they get a lot of suspense out of each individual set piece.  All the action is easy to see, feels fresh, and doesn’t have a shoddy shot in the mix.  The film’s first two big flying scenes are the best the film has to offer, but the later make the most of their limitations.  Those limitations are due to the history the film is based off of and the fact that the Red Tails are forced to stay with their bombers and not get all flashy.  That doesn’t mean they aren’t able to create some suspense and solid action beats out of these scenes, they just don’t allow for the versatility of some of the earlier sequences.  Regardless, the action in Red Tails is top notch and will rank high up on the best of the genre after it’s all said and done.

Red Tails might be a little too gung ho and old school for some, but the film doesn’t try to hide where its inspirations lie and I think it is exactly the film it sets out to be.  It could have executed a few elements a bit better, probably been a tad shorter, but there is a lot to like in Red Tails for war buffs and action fans alike.  The flying sequences are some of the best you will ever see in the theater and I am glad Lucas was able to finally bring this story to the big screen.  He saw some great material and he and his team executed quite affectively.  Beyond the action I really like the cast of characters and would love to see the prequel and sequel Lucas is already talking about to complete the Tuskegee Airmen story.

Red Tails is a B