Movie Buzz – 2/20

Move over, Harrison Ford! Hit the road, Gene Hackman! There’s a new actor in town for those mature, government, conspiracy theory roles. Dennis Quaid returns to the big screen to prove he shouldn’t be called a “has been” just yet.

Quaid plays a government agent who is part of a group of people, each with a unique viewpoint during a perceived presidential assassination, in “Vantage Point.”

This flick marks Quaid’s first major movie appearance in two years, since he appeared in the Mandy Moore flop, “American Dreamz.”

Other players in this fast-paced action thriller include William Hurt, Matthew Fox (TV’s “Lost”) and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker. Sigourney Weaver is also present to witness the technologically complex crime, her first major role in years.

So it’s ironic that Weaver appears in another of this week’s openers, a comedy based on one of many old-school catchphrases,“Be Kind Rewind.”

Viewers might discredit the flick as just another silly Jack Black vehicle, but they should not be so quick to judge, as “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” director Michel Gondry is the creative force here, too.

The movie finds Black as a man with a magnetized brain whose odd affliction causes the erasure of the movies in a video store run by his friend, played by actor-rapper Mos Def. Black remakes some late, great movies like “Ghostbusters” and “Boyz N the Hood” to keep the store’s quirky renters entertained.

Danny Glover and Mia Farrow round out the cast of movie re-making misfits, which exceeds its nonsense quota when Black plays Jessica Tandy’s role in “Driving Miss Daisy.”

Perhaps Black could use some therapy from “Charlie Bartlett.” Teen Russian actor Anton Yelchin ( “Alpha Dog”) plays the title character, an oddball kid who finds a path to popularity in school when he acts as counselor to his fellow students.

Robert Downey Jr. plays the school’s principal in the flick, which is humorous, as he is known as one of Tinseltown’s most notorious recovering drug addicts.

Whose bright idea is it to keep making movies that feature Larry the Cable Guy?

Apparently the country bumpkins of the world made the chunky, balding comedian’s mindless flicks like “Delta Farce” and “Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector” financially successful.

That’s why I blame them for Larry’s latest vehicle, “Witless Protection.” The flick finds the comedian acting as a bumbling guard watching over the pretty, but otherwise talent-lacking Jenny McCarthy.

Before you spend your hard-earned cash to see this asinine, completely pointless flick, please consider the feelings of people who value good cinema. Please don’t put us through this again. Just wait a few weeks for the DVD release.

Movie Buzz – 2/13

Ryan Reynolds was not the most predictable choice to be a Valentine’s Day  box-office leading man.

While the handsome actor is certainly capable of making hearts race, he’s better known for the sophomoric toilet humor he has dished out during less civilized times in his career (“Van Wilder,” “Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle”).

Starring with three gorgeous love interests and “Little Miss Sunshine” Abigail Breslin should give Reynolds enough of an estrogen boost to make “Definitely, Maybe” a chick-flick success, though.

Rachel Weisz, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Banks play the ladies who each have a piece of Reynolds’ heart as his young daughter (Breslin) convinces him to remember his past in order to find true love.

The film’s title mimics the theme of confusion many people feel when it comes to love.

Should you see this flick with your Valentine? Certainly… well, kind of, if you feel like it. 
 
Apparently the indecisiveness is contagious.

If lovey-dovey chick flicks sound about as appealing to you as a 24-hour marathon of “Murder She Wrote,” there are some interesting and diverse alternatives.

One of them is the spin-off of a 2006 dance-driven film, “Step Up 2 the Streets” features  a different cast of characters than those  featured in the original  “Step Up.” The idea is pretty much the same, though: attract teenage audiences with street dancing and some ridiculous teenybopper melodrama.

Viewers looking for an action movie  will be surprised to see Samuel L. Jackson starring in a fast-paced flick about a young man who struggles with his teleportation abilities.

Hayden Christensen, who  recently shared the screen with Jessica Alba in “Awake,” is the main character in the film, who finds his unique ability isn’t necessarily all it is cracked up to be in “Jumper.”The action should be intense, as our teleporting protagonist finds conflict in  a group of bad guys who don’t exactly  appreciate just how awesome teleportation abilities can be. The film comes from  director Doug Liman, who proved he  has what it takes to make exciting action movies with flicks like “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and “The Bourne Identity.”If your favorite Valentine is a little young for adult romance or an action thriller, you can still rev up their imagination with “The Spiderwick Chronicles.”Freddie Highmore (“August Rush”) plays both Jared and Simon, twins whose family settles into a creepy new home with some unbelievable secrets.A mysterious book opens up a mystical alternative world for the boys and their sister, whose adventure brings back memories of “Bridge to Terabithia” and “The Chronicles of Narnia.”

Look for similarly impressive special effects, too, as real and make-believe worlds collide once again.

Movie Buzz – 2/6

The beginning of the year brings out the most awful, vile movies, those without a snowball’s chance in hell of earning an Oscar, or even a Golden Globe. Just when audiences think movies can’t get much worse than what La-La Land has been churning out over the past few weeks, we hit rock bottom with a flick starring Hollywood super-flake Paris Hilton.

How Hilton’s new flick, not-so-ingeniously titled “The Hottie and the Nottie,” made it to theaters instead of being condemned to a DVD-only release is beyond my comprehension.

The ultra-shallow flick finds Hilton in the “hottie” role being courted by a gawky boy who has admired her since elementary school. There’s just one obstacle to their happiness: The hottie won’t commit until her beastly — hairy mole and all — best friend finds a man, too.

But wait: There is a chance this flick could come up for award contention, when the mean-spirited Razzies honor Hollywood’s most appalling blunders.

There are more shamelessly shallow flicks on the roster for movie-goers this week. Cue Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey as an estranged couple who are brought back together while searching for a massive 18th-century treasure in “Fool’s Gold.”

There’s nothing like treasure hunting to rekindle a romance, though (really?), and the sex-crazed couple takes a shot at finding the valuable goods in between arguing and getting naked.

The pairing reminds the world of another pointless flick featuring the duo, “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.” Movie execs are hoping the ladies who found themselves swooning over McConaughey in that chick flick will head to the box office to give the hunky actor another shot with Hudson some five years later.

What’s that, moviegoers? Are you begging for mercy from the crap Tinseltown is shoving at you this week? Sorry, your wish is denied, as Martin Lawrence stars in “Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins.”

Lawrence plays a television talk-show host, kind of like a convoluted Dr. Phil, who brings his gorgeous new fiancée home to meet his family. Conflict comes in the form of the most crude and obnoxious family anyone has ever seen, complete with Cedric the Entertainer and Mo’Nique.

This flick comes from the creative mind of Malcolm D. Lee, who wrote and directed Lawrence in this film. Let’s just say I would be much happier seeing a new project from Lee’s famous cousin, director Spike Lee. But the more celebrated Lee is making audiences wait until fall of this year for his next project, the story of four African-American soldiers fighting in World War II.

Remember Colin Farrell? The Irish actor was one of Hollywood’s hottest prospects a few years ago and, “Miami Vice” aside, he has not exactly been a frequent flier on the big screen since 2004.

Now Farrell is back in theaters in a limited-release action flick that finds him co-starring with the brilliant Brendan Gleeson in “In Bruges,” a cheeky film that finds two hitmen sightseeing while running for their lives.