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.
