Dreamed up by Max Landis and director Josh Trank, it follows a trio of Seattle high school seniors—outcast Andrew (Dane DeHaan), his cousin Matt (Alex Russell) and popular kid Steve (Michael B. Jordan)—via Andrew’s camera (and, later, other camera vantage points) as they acquire telekinesis, and other abilities, after touching what we assume is an alien artifact.

The film is at its most fun as the boys use their powers for mischief—blowing up a girl’s skirt, scaring people in a toy store, shoving a BMW across a parking lot, skipping rocks. It turns downright exhilarating when they learn they can fly, soaring, and even playing football, among the clouds. Their teenage exuberance at this discovery is contagious.

But the dangers of having these abilities start to become apparent after Andrew playfully shoves a car off the road and into a river. Where Matt and Steve are well-adjusted teens, Andrew is angry, dealing with bullies, an alcoholic father (Michael Kelly) and a sick mother, and so his abilities cleverly reflect his bottled up hostility toward the world. Watch as he unleashes a roar of rage at one point close to the end, shattering windows and making the ground tremble.

So the film descends into ever darker territory, though remains completely compelling, as Andrew spins out of control, killing neighborhood thugs, ripping out a bully’s teeth, inadvertently blowing up a gas station and blowing a hospital room to pieces. It all culminates in a fantastic finale, a super duper showdown between Andrew and Matt that involves, among other things, the Space Needle, a city bus and an exploding helicopter.

Dialogue isn’t the film’s strong suit, to be sure, but it more than makes up for it in other ways, especially in how Landis and Trank are constantly able to have us see Andrew, who’s almost always with camera, via mirrors, the camera of a cute blonde girl (Anna Wood) Matt likes, hospital security footage and the like. Their most ingenious method, though, is having Andrew use his abilities to make his camera float above the action. (The bloody-nose-something-is-wrong conceit is also neat.)

Not to dilute the contributions of Russell and Jordan, who are solid, nor Trank’s skill at inserting convincing effects amid all the handheld mayhem, but none of this would have worked without DeHaan. Resembling nothing less than a young Leonardo DiCaprio, the 26-year-old perfectly and beautifully embodies bullied-teen misery. The only difference is that, when this teen becomes enraged, he can crush a car simply by closing his fist. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Drama/Sci-Fi/Thriller

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 5/15/12

Soon after humans discover the existence of both species and try to eradicate them, Beckinsale’s vamp is captured and cryogenically preserved. Many years later, she thaws out and sets about trying to thwart the genetic machinations of a ruthless scientist (Stephen Rea), receiving help from a pretty-boy vampire (Theo James) and a helpful detective (Michael Ealy).

On a positive note, the plot is relatively straightforward and easier to follow compared to the convoluted mythology storylines of the first three films, and Swedish directors Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein both give the film a pleasingly sleek and slick look and ensure you can actually make out what’s happening during the plentiful, relentless and extremely bloody action sequences.

Beckinsale herself remains a striking figure as Selene, breathtakingly cool and confident as she struts around in her sleek leather outfits, blasts away with machine pistols and evades danger by running up walls and flipping back over the bad guys. She even bodily broadsides a van at one point, sending it flipping and flying. And her character’s graceful landings after jumping from very high places are a thing of elegance amid all the mayhem.

But the action scenes, while blessedly coherent, generally lack energy and style. You first notice this as Beckinsale, James and Beckinsale’s genetically unusual tween daughter (India Eisley) flee in a van from a pack of Lycans, and then later in Beckinsale’s initial tussle with a colossal über-Lycan, a sequence that also serves to remind us what second-rate CGI creations the werewolves are here. Paul Haslinger’s pounding score attempts to make these scenes exciting, but to no avail.

The only sequence that’s even kind of visually interesting is when Beckinsale saunters in slo-mo out of an elevator she’s just blown open, silver nitrate particles drifting down around her like snow. Otherwise, the film has little personality, and gets no help from the too low-key Rea. Its biggest flaw is how it ends so abruptly at the 78-minute mark, leaving you unsatisfied and screaming for blood. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Action/Fantasy/Horror

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 5/8/12

Moscow, that is, where young American entrepreneurs Emile Hirsch and Max Minghella get burned by their Russian business partner (The Killing’s Joe Kinnaman) and meet a couple of cute girls (Olivia Thirlby and Rachael Taylor), with whom they then run around the city trying to evade blobs of orange light that suddenly start falling from the sky and obliterating the populace.

While the visuals are certainly impressive, in particular the way the aliens literally shred people (and a dog) into ash, director Chris Gorak and screenwriter Jon Spaihts squeeze a surprising amount of mileage out of making the things invisible, fashioning some nicely tense sequences around the clever idea that the survivors can only tell if the aliens are coming if lights light up or cell phones ring.

Gorak and Spaihts are also smart in how they have the youths efficiently and believably gain knowledge about the aliens each time they encounter other survivors, first a Russian teen (Veronika Ozerova) and a Russian electrical engineer holed up in an alien-proofed apartment, then a band of Russian cops armed to the hilt with machine guns, flame throwers and a grenade launcher.

Too bad, then, that the characters, save for the engineer who sings to his cat, are a remarkably colorless bunch of people. They’re not quite as irritating as the folks in Skyline, but I really couldn’t have cared less about who lived or died, which was not exactly hard to guess in the first place. Having said that, cat people will probably love this movie, because the cat survives.

If you manage to make it to the end, like I did, but only because the effects were so cool (including the aliens’ X-ray ability), you’ll be treated to a ridiculous and unexciting finale set on a runaway Russian bus, followed by an ending that hints at a sequel, a dreadful idea that, if realized, would truly be mankind’s darkest hour. [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Action/Horror/Sci-Fi

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 4/10/12

Close our eyes then open them quickly because if we can’t see catastrophe then it can’t see us, so it sidles by? Decamp to a personal, illusory safe haven? Take cold comfort in I-told-you-so’s to whoever is left?

We know we’ll pull out the either/or question.

Was I happy, fulfilled and loved? Was I a failure in all things human?

There will be no pie chart dissections or +/- 2% margins of error. We’ll all decide in that moment and probably wish Socrates kept the unexamined life to himself.

Melancholia, a planet hidden behind the sun, is now hurtling towards earth. Calculations are made and scientific opinion is divided as to whether the planet will pass us safely by or meet the earth in an obliterating collision. We find these things out, not in usual disaster movie fashion, with computer readouts, CGI space stations looming, or phone calls between heads of state, but at a wedding, in the words, actions and delusions of those attending.

For Lars von Trier, Melancholia is his gentlest film in overall tone (but that’s easy to say when you stack anything up against his Dogville (2003), Breaking the Waves (1996) and 2009′s Antichrist and you could describe The Idiots (1998) as a mean spirited goof) but it’s still a bitter elegy for the end of us all. He frames the event around the sparring love of the sisters Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) on the night of Justine’s wedding to Michael (Alexander Skarsgard) and in the few days before it all ends.

The film opens with haunting scenes of destruction. Bleak, beautiful and oddly peaceful as they don’t actually occur as the destructive event in the film, they serve as foreshadowing but also as a psychic template for the mindset of the characters.  A limousine has trouble parking on the grounds of Claire’s expansive family estate and Justine’s wedding begins. As everything plays out, the marriage is a sham, family slinks away resigned to whatever comes, Justine’s advertising career is gone (which may or may not matter, of course) and she sinks back into chronic depression, leaving, then returning to Claire’s home days later.

Dunst sheaths her performance of Justine as head-to-toe open wound. At first, a nervous bride at her most insufferable then as her depression grips her again, pale, lost, a sallow skinned oracle who unjustly wields the end of everything as a way to hack at Claire and all the illusions of her life. Claire counts on her husband (Kiefer Sutherland) who smugly holds forth on the science that proves they’ll be safe, but then buckles under the reality rocketing towards them when an astronomical device fashioned by their son Leo (Cameron Spurr) proves Melancholia is still approaching. The thing that cripples Justine allows her a heartless clarity on existence, but in a last act of tenderness she comforts Leo and they sit together under gathered saplings as the blue light of Melancholia engulfs them.

What von Trier gives us in this film is perhaps where the world is right now.

No, not ending… but things aren’t good. Doesn’t it feel like it’s not even gravity but a slug’s grip of inertia that keeps us from being flung into space? And not to be flip, but has another filmmaker ever considered, and audaciously so, how someone suffering from mental illness will perceive an event of this nature? The weighty glory that is living negated against your will, by your will.

So… we’ve all heard the stories about von Trier.
To wit he’s a:
Calculating, deliberate, button-pushing provocateur with misogynistic tendencies?
Lapsed Catholic who’s an atheist?
Pteromerhanophobic who’s suffered with depression himself yet questions psychotherapy?
Megalomaniac who can’t seem to stop himself from creating melodrama on a film set or in his life?
Narcissist whose self-absorption constantly folds in on itself?
Genius who’s a latter day Nazi sympathizer, at least in an interview at Cannes for this very film?
Modern day August Strindberg?
Yammering dolt who doesn’t know when to shut up.

Yes, all of the above, and if these were answers to a multiple choice test, any one could count towards three quarters of your final grade, or make having an espresso with von Trier tedious and aggravating and any one of these has been a reason given not to see his films.

Certainly his real world message always seems to contradict then go oddly, caustically in hand with what he presents onscreen. Barring Terrence Malick, though, was there another director last year or for that matter at any point in their career, who consistently takes real, messy conceptual chances when trying to put the experience of being human on film?

That’s a pass/fail question. [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Drama/Sci-Fi

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 3/13/12

Tarsem Singh

Set in 13th century Greece, it centers on the efforts of Greek peasant Theseus (Brit-born Henry Cavill) to stop evil King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) from acquiring a mystical bow that will allow him to free the Titans (immortal beings who fought the Gods eons ago) to spite the Gods for allowing his family to suffer.

Despite its ancient-Greek setting and gory, slo-mo battle scenes, the film is not a 300 clone. It’s actually far less hyper-stylized, with Singh giving it a somewhat grittier feel and more energy than you’d expect in a sword-and-sandal picture. And though we do see men shirtless, including Cavill and the male members of the Gods, it’s infrequently and they’re not dressed in leather bikinis.

The biggest difference is that Singh is a much more skilled composer of images than is Zack Snyder. Not just of majestic CGI landscapes, themselves seamless and beautiful here, but of more elegant imagery, in particular a scene in which Singh juxtaposes Freida Pinto‘s Oracle priestess, wrapped in a bright red cloak, against Cavill, who, like the rest of the background, is covered in black oil.

What really differentiates the film, though, is the unique, some would say bizarre, touch Singh brings to some of the costumes. While this includes the priests in Cavill’s village who wear candle holders on their heads, or the Gods with their indie-art headpieces, it generally applies to the spiky-eared bunny mask, as a colleague’s girlfriend described it, Rourke sports in numerous scenes.

And the wonderfully grand and operatic dialogue thought up by screenwriter brothers Charley and Vlas Parlapanides makes the film feel even more grandiose. They give the most delicious pieces to the perfectly cast Rourke, all mangy locks and scarred visage, who delivers them beautifully in his deep, raspy rumble of a voice. He makes Hyperion into a truly nasty fellow.

Cavill himself is perfect as the hero of the piece, conveying confidence and hurt, and displaying some superb athleticism, as well as an impressively ripped physique, during his fight scenes. He confirms his leading-man chops when giving Hellenic soldiers a rousing we-must-fight pep talk, a scene that fairly oozes testosterone despite the fact that all the men are wearing skirts.

Among the supporting players, Pinto is alluring and intelligent as the Virgin Oracle and John Hurt warm and encouraging as Theseus’ mentor, while Stephen Dorff is glaringly miscast as a horny Hellenic slave. The young people playing the Gods, including Twilight hunk Kellan Lutz, seemed to have been cast for their improbably pretty looks, though Luke Evans makes for a nicely fierce Zeus.

Let it be known, though, that this is a very violent movie, which you almost forget amidst all the visual razzle dazzle of giant tidal waves and Gods zooming to and from the heavens. Characters are speared, run through and beaten, throats get sliced, heads chopped off, eyes gouged out and, at one point, a solider is castrated in probably the most painful way possible.

Before I go, I do need to mention one more thing, an absolutely stunningly constructed moment in which the shot of an enemy soldier in his medieval helmet gradually melts away into a shot looking down on a same-shaped boat sailing on the ocean. That description doesn’t quite do it justice, of course. Like the movie itself, it’s something you have to see to believe. - [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Adventure/Drama/Fantasy

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 3/6/12

This new film chronicles exactly what happened to the Norwegian team, which is conveniently augmented by enough Americans (in particular Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who inevitably becomes a Ripley-esque heroine) to allow most of the dialogue to be politely spoken in English. Winstead’s character, Kate Lloyd, is a paleontologist recruited to assist when the ancient flying saucer is discovered along with its frozen passenger. Lloyd soon butts heads with the snooty head of the Norwegian base, Dr. Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen), who presses on with studying his new find despite her warnings. The creature escapes from its block of ice and proceeds to devour–and perfectly duplicate–its victims.

One compelling aspect of the Thing films, which distinguishes them from a great many horror flicks, is that their characters are educated and rational people, not histrionic teenagers lined up to be chainsaw fodder. The best weapon against the Thing, apart from a reliable and fully-fueled flame thrower, is the Scientific Method itself. As intense and grisly as the creature effects in Carpenter’s film were, it really unfolded more as a logic problem than an action movie. In order to eliminate the alien menace, one had to be cool-headed and methodical in figuring out exactly who was–and who wasn’t–infected by it. This is what provided most of the tension.

Van Heijningen’s prequel follows most of the same story beats as before, and it shows immense respect for the details established in Carpenter’s film. For instance, when Kurt Russell and Co. scouted the wreckage of the Norwegian camp in 1982, they spied a fire-axe embedded ominously in a wall. You can bet you’ll see how and why that axe ended up there. But, despite all of its slavish attention to detail, this one doesn’t really have much tension or menace of its own. The camera drifts lazily across character’s faces without any particular attention or style. The question of who has been replaced by the alien is given its due, even with a couple new and clever twists, but our heroes seem to come up with the same ideas used in the previous film without following the same logical steps to get there. Winstead’s character may be clever, but sometimes it feels like she’s got intuition bordering on psychic powers. Eventually too much time is spent running from room to room chasing after something that very obviously needs to be killed.

Bottom line: if you’ve never seen either of its forebears, some of the twists in this Thing might be effective. If you’re a fan of Carpenter’s version, you’ll probably get a mild kick out of seeing all of the references to it. But the movie taken on its own really isn’t as exciting, despite solid performances and mostly effective creature effects. - [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Loosely based on a 1950s short story by Richard Matheson that was also the basis for a Twilight Zone episode, it’s set in 2020, when mechanical boxers have replaced human ones, and casts Jackman as an ex-fighter scraping out a living entering secondhand robots in unsanctioned matches whose life takes a turn when he takes temporary custody of his preteen son (Dakota Goyo).

The script is equal parts Rocky and Over the Top, and so is predictable, and is peppered with dialogue that will have some rolling their eyes. “I want you to fight for me,” Goyo tells Jackman at one point. “That’s all I ever wanted.” As well Goyo is improbably made out to be an expert robot programmer simply because he plays a lot of video games.

And yet, the film works, incredibly so, in part because Levy not only manages to fashion such an interesting, lived-in world, with its myriad styles of robots and the idea of a World Robot Boxing league, but makes the bot battles themselves fun and energetic exhibitions full of rock music and crowds of people cheering wildly as mechanical behemoths pound away at each other.

What’s more, Levy (Night at the Museum) infuses the film with lots of heart, making the characters feel surprisingly real and ensuring that we genuinely care for them. As corny as it may sound, the film really is about Jackman and Goyo bonding, and less about fighting robots, though I suppose an exception could be made for Atom, the instantly endearing sparring robot Goyo saves from a junkyard.

Granted, Levy gets a lot help from his cast, starting with Jackman, who gives a great performance, capably conveying con-man charm, don’t-bother-me-kid gruffness and palpable paternal feelings. He gets a wonderful co-star in Goyo, who possesses surprising poise and emotional range for a 12-year-old, and lends the film a contagious exuberance. He and Jackman play off each other so well you almost forget about all the impressively rendered CGI automatons around them.

To all that you can add ex-Lost beauty Evangeline Lilly. As Jackman’s childhood buddy/romantic interest, she combines feistiness, intelligence and vulnerability into a very appealing package, becoming more than just the shoulder Jackman cries on. I especially liked the scene in which she fills Goyo in on his father’s career, though her rooftop reconciliation with Jackman is a nicely tender moment.

As well Danny Elfman‘s excellent score not only sounds like something Trevor Rabin might have composed (a good thing in my book), it succeeds in making the action feel rousing and triumphant, and the quieter moments poignant. Suffice it to say that, if you don’t smile when Goyo teaches Atom to dance, or cry even one tear during the big-match finale, then you must be a machine. – [DVD]

Action/Drama/Sci-Fi

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 1/24/12

It does, however, employ his oft-used theme of children encountering supernatural or fantastical elements, focusing on a little girl (Bailee Madison) forced to go live with her architect father (Guy Pearce) and stepmother (Katie Holmes) in a 19th century Rhode Island mansion the pair is restoring, where she becomes the target of tiny goblin-like creatures inhabiting the ash pit in the home’s basement.

As long as we don’t actually see the creatures, the film really isn’t that bad. Director Troy Nixey succeeds, at least for a while, in making the big old house itself nicely creepy, especially in any scene with Bailee in bed, bathed in the light of her carousel lamp. And he gets a great little actress in Bailee, who convincingly conveys a decent range of emotions.

Thing is, the creatures themselves, when we finally do see them, really aren’t that scary. Oh, they’re ugly, hunchbacked little CGI things who can swarm all over a man and nearly kill him, but they look just a little too adorable. The only time they’re even kind of frightening is in the drawings of them Holmes discovers at one point, or when we hear their whispers emanating from the ash pit.

Pearce and Holmes do adequate work, and the script manages to eke out some genuine emotional resonance with the resentment-at-the-stepmother angle. But we know from the start that the girl will warm up to Holmes. Sigh. If only del Toro himself had been the director. Then I might really have been afraid of the watching this movie, in the light or the dark. – [DVD]