Reviews

For all the hype, this should be a fantastic movie – it isn't. It's an OK movie, even a pretty good movie, but not fantastic. What makes it watchable is Jeff Bridges. Its fun to see a movie star drop his gut into a role and let the wrinkles show. Bridges lets everything hang as he plays a charming country star sliding down the ladder of success. The problem is that everything else is completely predictable. He's a great guy, drinks too much, has some bad breaks, drinks too much, still gets the girl, drinks too much, loses the girl, drinks too much, makes amends, stops drinking and becomes a success again. That's the storyline of every other movie out there. That Bridges breathes some life into it makes it worth watching.

Maggie Gyllenhaal doesn't have much to work with and doesn't find anything to add. She's too put together to really fall for Bad Blake – he's so obviously a loser. Her clothes are all designer chic (except for that hideous tube top – if you see the movie you'll know which one I mean) and she has a nice home and adorable kid. If she's a struggling single Mom, wow, sign me up.

Jack Nation as Buddy is freaking adorable as the 5 year old. Bridges and Nation together are far more interesting than Bridges and Gyllenhaal. The character roles – old time fans, bartenders, women on the make – are all well done, keeping the thing moving along since it would otherwise die due to lack of action. And it certainly sounds like Bridges and maybe Ryan Bingham as Tony are doing their own songs up on stage and that's fun too, though not great music. So go see it, be glad you're not Bad, and move on to something else.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief My nine year old daughter and I watched this movie together and enjoyed it for different reasons. Rated PG, Percy and the blah blah blah… (I can't ever remember the whole name) is not really as scary as it is intense – the emotional conflict of good v evil rather then the purely physical. This means not much in the way of gore and some really great monsters. In fact, I loved it more for its modern portrayal of teenage fury in an Old World Olympian setting, than my daughter did for the special effects. It is reminiscent of Harry Potter and the…blah blah blah with its special effects and Lord of the Rings blah blah of its battle of good v evil and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (that one I remember) for its centaurs and satyrs. So it's not original; it's a well done and effective story of generational angst. On top of this are the awe inspiring special effects, especially the waterworks of Poseidon and his offspring. However, those never interest me as much as the human drama, and should serve as background, not the whole movie. (Some of us really do believe that) In this case there is a good blend.

Logan Lerman, as Percy, is an angry, lovable misfit who thinks he's a loser and becomes an Olympian. This has nothing to do with the sweat and grind of the Olympics we just watched on TV, but the realization that his absent father wasn't just a lout, he was also a god. This sets up the perennial teenage conflict surrounding the question "Who am I?" Percy's quest is just a bit more bizarre than usual. He is a god, or half of one, and has to discover what that means. Lerman is a great choice for Percy, not a perfect beauty, just a good looking kid, who we identify with and want to succeed. His emotional range is better than that of most actors in kid movies; Percy is conflicted, afraid, puzzled, and determined and it all shows.

Brandon T. Jackson is Grover, Percy's sidekick and protector. Jackson is a solid presence, supporting the lead and lending his soulful eyes to the role. Along with Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth, the awesome fighter and love interest, the three become a team to right the wrongs of the gods. I like to see young women with more to do in a movie than stir a male's passion, and Annabeth (couldn't decide on a name?) does. She fights, she wins, she loses, she gets the boy, and her stunning eyes are clearly descended from the gods. Jake Abel as Luke has the complex role of a neglected god child seeking revenge any way he can - lying, stealing and cheating on his friends. Abel needed to show more passion, more love, more bitterness, to make his downfall all that more spectacular.

There is such a huge cast it's hard to comment on everyone. Of the older generation Pierce Brosnan as Mr. Brunner / Chiron gives a "yes I remember what it's like to be young and full of myself just like you" performance of the wise and patient mentor, Uma Thurman is a delightfully evil Medusa, Sean Bean, well, in my book Sean Bean is always a god so he played Zeus very well. Steve Coogan as Hades and Rosario Dawson as Persephone are fun. If it's possible to play a kidnapped woman as funny, these two manage it. Joe Pantoliano as Percy's step dad Gabe Ugliano (like the name) is a good creep but the character seems dated. Ordering a wife to fetch beer is very Archie Bunker – do jerky step dad's still do that? Maria Olsen's fury and Julian Richings Ferryman are small parts with a big impact and they are each perfectly evil. Max Van Ville has his three seconds on film as a 70's kid and uses them to perfection. These three are (therefore) perfect examples of bit parts making a difference - it is the accumulation of believable detail that carries us along on the fantasy. Catherine Keener is the washed out Sally Jackson, Percy's Mom. Since she is more heroic than the heroes, it would have been nice to see a little spark in her somewhere in her martyrdom – why would a god fall for her except that she can wear a pair of skinny jeans? (Maybe that's enough) Since a lot of Mom's are going to see this PG movie it's nice to have a son risk everything for her, as lame and uninspiring as she appears to be. In fact, the premise that these teenagers were all abandoned by, not loser parents, but by superior perfect god parents becomes a comment on parenting itself - maybe Hollywood parents in particular –rich and successful parents dumping their kids to be raised by mere mortals, the nannies and day cares of the world? However godlike Percy may be he is clearly ticked off at being abandoned and the scene with his Dad at the end encapsulates the drama.

At 118 minutes (let's see, 118 divide by 60, 2 minutes shy of 2 hours) it felt a little long. My daughter was squirming by the end. Part of her restlessness was likely the result of all the previews and being pummeled by the non stop wave of sound. Does it really have to be that loud? We were plastered to our seats with our fingers in our ears for the swelling crescendos of the battle scenes. Hey movie theaters, any body listening? (Take your fingers out of your ears) It's too loud! And those earnest, dedicated multi-millionaire movie stars exhorting us to reach into our pockets for Haiti? How 'bout each of you giving a million or two and be done with it.

If it is possible to age gracefully – and it isn't really – Jackie Chan makes a pretty good case for it in The Spy Next Door. Known for his trademark marshal arts and comedy combinations, Chan is able to turn the inevitable loss of agility in age into a comedy about a retiring spy who wants the comfort and boredom of family life. With The Spy Next Door, Chan delivers a kid's film with the tongue in cheek humor of his adult films, to the gratitude of moms everywhere.

Director Brian Levant uses an array of stills from Chan's actual early career to create the secret past of the middle aged spy Bob Ho. For the adults in the audience it's wonderfully nostalgic – is that baby faced marshal artist our lovable Jackie Chan/Bob Ho? Is it really 10 years since Shanghai Noon came out? What was I doing then and why am I spending my afternoons watch PG films? My nine year old daughter is, of course, oblivious to all of this. She likes seeing Hannah Montana's dad Billy Rae Cyrus on the big screen and recognizes George Lopez from commercials, though she can't yet stay up late enough to watch his TV show. Plus she gets a kick out of the smart mouthed kids giving the adults a hard time.

The plot is instantly engaging to kids and adults – a secret agent (awesome!) who wants to retire and get married (aw!) to a single Mom with three bratty kids (ha ha ha!). The adults identify with the parents knocking themselves out for their kids and the kids love the extreme chaos: secret agent gadgets, Russian assassins and children behaving more deviously than the agents themselves. That a formerly death defying secret agent is nearly defeated struggling to wrangle three rebellious children is funny and something any single mom could tell you all about,( but then, that isn't so funny).

Though her role as a single Mom is quietly heroic, as Gillian, Amber Valetta is instantly forgettable. I had to look her up to write this piece and wasn't sure who she was even with the credits in front of me. Sufficiently emaciated (as required for a Hollywood actress), Valetta is a cardboard cutout put in place to deliver her lines to keep the movie going forward. It is likely that actresses are discouraged from contributing substantively to a role designed only to highlight the male star's qualities, so I have no idea if there's more to Valetta. If so, it isn't apparent in this move. The kids Madeline Carroll (Farren), Will Shadley (Ian) and Alina Foley (Nora), fare better. They are clearly having a good time undermining the parents at every turn, even when, or perhaps especially when, they're trying to help. Carrol is excellent as a young teen, desperate for guidance and rejecting it at every opportunity. The scene of Chan trying to take down the bad guys with a four year old wrapped around his leg is parenting in a nutshell.

The Spy has delightfully subtle jokes throughout that entertain the grown ups without interfering in the kids' experience. The ridiculous clothes on the Russian spy, the slow motion walk as the bad guys come to town, lines like "I've got two words for you college boy, thirteen" got me laughing while my daughter paid little attention to them. The show concludes with Chan's outtakes, letting us in on the jokes that almost got away. A movie that entertains kids is good; a movie that entertains kids and adults is a gem.

I could watch Robert Downey Jr. all day. Those chocolate brown eyes (70% cacao) grab me and hypnotize. Even his wrinkles and crags are interesting. And while I know the magic of the silver screen smooths out the many imperfections of age, whatever it is – his looks, disease, insanity, talent – whatever it is, I love to watch it. Downey as Sherlock Holmes, another drug addicted, crazed, brilliant and erratic creature, is a perfect fit. I didn't even think about Basil Rathbone, whose Sherlock Holmes was equally, though differently, inspired. Rathbone's Holmes emphasized the analytical, precise, cerebral and obsessive genius while Downey went with an intense, physical, neurotic, humorous and homo-erotic Sherlock Holmes. Both were brilliant.

As John Watson (His first name is John?) Jude Law comes off reasonably well as the adoring and put-upon sidekick, though he doesn't dazzle as Downey does. His good looks are tamped down and he only occasionally entices with a twinkle from his razor sharp blue eyes. The love story between them, whether platonic or consummated, is an engaging development, absent from earlier portrayals of a dowdy Watson and almost asexual Holmes. This Holmes' interest in Watson is even more understandable when compared to his other option, Irene Adler as played by Rachel McAdams. What Hollywood forgot, or didn't care to acknowledge, is that Holmes loves Adler because she is as bright, deviant and intriguing as he is himself. McAdams' Adler does not reach this level. That McAdams/Adler is beautiful – and I don't recall if Adler is in the books – is secondary. Adler is the mysterious lost love of Holmes' tortured past. Here, McAdams looks like a precocious teenager, in make up and grown up clothes without a line on her face. Every time she opens her mouth, it is a tiny, flat, little girl's voice. – no richness, no depth, no deceit – no interest. It seems the only thing Hollywood directors want from their women performers is a tight butt – and this, of course, McAdams does have. Difficult to miss in her painted on pinstripe trousers. Maybe that's all Holmes wanted after all, a nice piece of…mmmm. No. Hollywood prefers to infantilize its women and usually, since their roles are little more than sex props for the men, no one cares. Every male actor over 40 must have a contract clause requiring a sex scene with a virginal actress. Downey passes in this film, which was odd until I noticed Susan Downey is a producer. Mystery solved. Anyway, McAdams comes across as an ingénue not a woman of cunning and experience. A love interest between Holmes and Adler on screen required something more than McAdams had to give.

Kelly Reilly does better as Watson's love Mary Morstan. She has some fire in her. As the sidekick's lover, she's allowed to be less attractive than Adler and therefore can show a little personality. Her shame, then disgust at Holmes's revelations about her past is compelling, unfolding in her few moments of screen time. The movie is better for it.

The villain Lord Blackwood is a one dimensional foil for the heroes. However, Mark Strong is elegant and sinister here – a vampire bent on destruction – so he provides what's needed. I spent the whole movie thinking the villain was played by Stanley Tucci, who is a great actor so the comparison is a complement. Then I found out it was Strong, who, I've never heard of. Now that I know who he is, I'll look for Strong next time in a…stronger role.

Neither Downey nor McAdams do well with an English accent, while Law's and the supporting casts' are naturally excellent. Downey's accent is passable to American ears but would never fool a Brit. At least he isn't jarringly American. Downey consistently drops his R's and breathes into his A's in a passing attempt to keep up the pretense. McAdams is noticeably worse as her speech breaks the mood of old England - her R's are as flat and hard as those of a New Jersey waitress.

The Special Effects are, as Mr. Rogers would say, special. Everything exploding, catching on fire, dropping into the river, the cameras twirling around; they are fantastic. Still, the scene that stays with me is Downey moving his face in and out of several pillars, stalking, hiding, teasing his nemesis as his eyes suck us in with a tidal pull.