The Ghost Writer - 3 smiles

“The Ghost Writer,” adapted by Roman Polanski and Robert Harris from Harris’ novel, has a densely packed plot that could have been borrowed from recent political headlines about the Blair-Bush administrations. Pierce Brosnan plays former British Prime Minister Adam Lang who needs Ewan McGregor’s nameless biographer to ghostwrite his memoirs. Ghost, as Lang calls him, knows going into this job that all is not right because his predecessor has mysteriously drowned. The ominous gray skies and incessant rain surrounding the Martha’s Vineyard compound where Lang is staying should be another clue. Nonetheless, Ghost finds himself in the middle of a crisis as Lang is about to be charged by the World Court for his stance on torture of terrorist suspects and Lang’s wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams), is angry over his blatant affair with his assistant, Amelia (Kim Cattrall). And as Ghost pursues scraps of information, he puts his life in jeopardy

Polanski has crafted a thriller that does not claim to be based on fact, but it’s compelling nonetheless. Our hero is your average man who, once his curiosity is aroused, finds he must follow the evidence wherever it leads and Ewan McGregor is effective as the vulnerable ghostwriter. Brosnan has the good looks and charm that make his politician credible and Olivia Williams plays her role like Lady Macbeth, the cold calculating power behind the throne. There are other effective cameos from Jim Belushi, Timothy Hutton, Eli Wallach and Tom Wilkinson. “The Ghost Writer” is a taut political thriller that deserves to be seen. 2/19/10

Shutter Island - 1 1/2 smiles

With “Shutter Island,” based on a 2003 novel by Dennis Lehane, director Martin Scorsese crafts a visually effective look that aims to create a journey into madness built around solving a complicated mystery. However, the central character, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Teddy is not that sympathetic. Yes, he’s a haunted, tortured man and while we acknowledge his pain, we really don’t care about him. So after two hours and a misleading series of red herrings, by the time Scorsese gets to the twist at the end, all I could feel was cheated.

It’s 1954 with the paranoia of the Cold War hovering in the background and the horrors of World War II Nazi Germany not too far in the past. On a gray, blustery day, Federal marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his new partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) arrive on Shutter Island and Ashecliffe Hospital, an asylum for the criminally insane. They are to investigate the disappearance of a prisoner, Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), who has vanished. Her doctors, Cawley (Ben Kingsley) and Naehring (Max von Sydow) are less than helpful about what’s going on behind the scenes. Teddy suspects that all is not as it seems as he stumbles onto clues that suggest experimentation exported from Germany is being used on the hospital’s patients. Since the story is told through Teddy’s perspective, you have to question his ability to determine illusion from reality. Suffice it to say, “Shutter Island,” full of cacophonous music, moody atmosphere, and heightened tension where nothing is as it seems, turns out to be a big sleight of hand, something I didn’t appreciate. 2/20/10

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief - 2 1/2 smiles

Is “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief” supposed to fill the void left by the soon-to-be-ending Harry Potter series? One of the amazing aspects of Harry Potter is the young age of the actors in the first film, obviously paralleling the age of the characters in the book. From the little that I know about the novel by Rick Riordan, Percy is supposed to be about 12. So why is he 17-ish in the movie? And Chris Columbus, who helmed the first two Harry Potter movies, was pulled in to direct ‘Percy Jackson.’ Maybe the distributor, Fox 2000 Pictures, wasn’t sure if there would be a follow-up film and wanted an older central character to expand the audience demographic. Based on the first week’s box office, maybe there won’t be another Percy movie. However, I enjoyed this blend of special effects and updating of Greek mythology. But, then, I’m also looking forward to the remake of “Clash of the Titans.”

Percy (Logan Lerman) has a human mother (Catherine Keener), the Greek god Poseidon (Kevin McKidd) for a father and a pretty nasty stepfather. Percy’s best friend is Grover (Brandon T. Jackson), who is assigned to watch over him and his teacher is Mr. Brunner (Pierce Brosnan), who is really the centaur Chiron. Zeus (Sean Bean) believes that Percy has stolen his lightening bolt, the most powerful weapon every made. To prove his innocence and save his mother, Percy, Grover and Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) set off on a quest first, to rescue his mother from Hades (Steve Coogan) and then to find the lightening bolt. “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief,” an awkward title at best, isn’t going to challenge Harry Potter, but it’s definitely light-hearted entertainment and not too scary for boys seven and up. 2/14/10

Valentine's Day - 3 smiles

Enjoy “Valentine’s Day,” directed by Garry Marshall, for what it is – a fluffy, sweet look at love, not for what it isn’t – a deep meaningful investigation with complex characters. Marshall’s film boasts a raft of A-list stars, perhaps in an attempt to attract audiences of all ages. Nonetheless, the resulting stories are enjoyable with the various characters often intersecting. Ashton Kutcher and Jennifer Garner light up the screen with their charm and charisma. And one of the highlights is the segment in which Garner’s character confronts her philandering boyfriend.

The main character is Reed (Kutcher), who owns a flower shop and has decided to propose to his girlfriend, Morley (Jessica Alba). In the flurry of the busiest day of the year, Reed fails to notice that Morley isn’t as thrilled as she should be. Meanwhile, Reed’s best friend Julia (Garner) has fallen for her new beau, Harrison (Patrick Demsey), a cardiologist. Reed faces a dilemma when he discovers that Harrison is married. Other story lines involve a pro football quarterback (Eric Dane), his agent (Queen Latifah), his publicist (Jessica Biel) and a TV sports reporter (Jamie Foxx); two teen couples (Taylor Lautner, Taylor Swift and Emma Roberts, Carter Jenkins); a phone sex operator (Anne Hathaway) who finds her night job interfering with a possible new romance (Topher Grace); two strangers (Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts) who connect on a 14-hour flight; a older couple (Shirley MacLaine, Hector Elizondo) who hit a bump in their 50 plus years of marriage; and a young boy (Bryce Robinson) coping with his first big crush. “Valentine’s Day” does what it sets out to do: put a smile on your face. 2/13/10

North Face - 2 smiles

“North Face” recreates the July 1936 attempt by German climbers Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser to conquer the Eiger’s North Face, a nearly vertical mountain of snow and ice, in the Alps. When director Philipp Stolzi keeps the focus on the climb (some filmed on location, some in a refrigerated warehouse), the movie is gripping and suspenseful. Unfortunately, there are two problems. Stolzi and his screenwriters do not provide any depth to their characters. So when the climbers’ fate goes from bad to worse, our reaction is more of a reflex than real concern. In addition, someone must have told Stolzi that his story needed not only heroic sacrifice, but also doomed love because he’s fabricated a female journalist to be Toni’s love interest.

In 1936, before Berlin hosts the summer Olympics, the Nazis are determined that Germans conquer the mountain. Kurz and Hinterstoisser care little for German propaganda, but we don’t really know enough about them other than they’re willing to attempt the climb. Stolzi gets a little heavy-handed when he contrasts the alpinists’ suffering on the Eiger with shots of the rich dining in luxurious decadence in the hotel below. “North Face” might make you respect these men for the grueling trek they undertake, but because of the prologue, it’s a depressing journey because you know everyone dies. Subtitles. 2/10/10

The Wolfman - 1 smile

“The Wolfman,” starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins, is a weird mix of moody drama, grisly violence, a ‘Beauty and the Beast’ romance, and attempts by director Joe Johnston to scare the audience. Johnston seems to think that tension and suspense results from furry, fanged creatures suddenly leaping at the camera, but he does this so often that it becomes annoying. What Johnston gets right is the mood with ghostly clouds drifting across a moonlit sky, twigs snapping in a dark wood, the movement of a solitary traveler. What doesn’t work is the unnecessarily graphic depictions of violence: heads and limbs flying, claws eviscerating victims, organs being ripped out. There’s a hint at a romance with Emily Blunt’s character, Gwen and Benicio Del Toro’s Lawrence Talbot. Unfortunately, Blunt doesn’t have enough screen time and Del Toro seems to be going through the motions. And everyone appears to be waiting for the next CGI scenes where the werewolf can take over. Rick Baker does a fine job with make-up as does cinematographer Shelly Johnson. But you have to wonder whose idea it was to remake a movie that didn’t need remaking. 2/12/10

From Paris with Love - 3 smiles

“From Paris with Love” is a pure adrenaline-pumping, popcorn-crunching action movie. And with a bald, scenery-chewing John Travolta in the lead good-guy role, it’s better than your average B action flick. Even the odd-couple casting of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Travolta’s partner works. Pierre Morel, who also directed “Taken,” focuses on building a body count and blowing things up so story takes a backseat. But you don’t go to this kind of movie for the narrative.

The story is told from the perspective of mild-mannered James Reese (Rhys-Meyers), who is the assistant to the American ambassador in Paris and has just become engaged to his girlfriend, Caroline (Kasia Smutniak). James in training to be a secret agent, but so far, his assignments have been less than exciting. Then he is assigned as driver/partner to superspy Charlie Wax (Travolta). At first, Charlie seems to be after a bunch of drug dealers, but as they follow the information, James discovers that they’re really after a terrorist cell that’s planning something big. “From Paris with Love” is essentially big action sequences with brief scenes of exposition in between. If that’s your kind of movie, then you’re going to like this one. 2/7/10

The White Ribbon - 2 1/2 smiles

Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” has won already won many awards, including the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. And it’s nominated for an Academy Award. On the positive side, Haneke is definitely exploring big ideas: that children exposed to emotional and physical abuse, to humiliation and betrayal, to anger and hate, to a rigid and unloving brand of Protestantism will develop into eager followers of Hitler, a future that includes the Holocaust. On the negative side, this movie is ploddingly slow, the images dark and forbidding and the view of humanity is that we are awful creatures, easily persuaded to do dastardly things. So why would be want to spend so much time with these unpleasant people?

The narrator of this chilling tale, filmed in stark black and white, is the local schoolteacher, who recounts the story as an older man. Mysterious and disturbing things have been happening in a small German town just before the outbreak of World War I: a death of a peasant, children beaten and mistreated, the serious wounding of the town’s arrogant doctor, a burning barn. The white ribbon turns out to be a tool of shame. The minister of the town ties one to the arm of his oldest son and daughter, a public reminder that they have failed to uphold his standards of purity. Yet the more he and others tighten their control over the children, the worse the unsolved crimes become. “The White Ribbon” might be an artful examination of the impact of cruelty on the younger generation, but at 2 ½ hours in length, it’s a difficult journey to take. Subtitles. 2/5/10

When in Rome - 1 1/2 smiles

“When in Rome” isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but it’s not that good either. When the scenery takes center stage in a movie, you know you’ve got a problem. First, there’s the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, where Beth (Kristen Bell) works as a curator, charged with putting together a huge charity event. The spiral set up of the museum’s displays is unique and provides an intriguing setting for many of the movie’s scenes. Then things shift to Rome (beautiful) where Beth’s sister Joan (Alexis Dziena) is getting married. There, Beth as maid of honor meets best man, Nick (Josh Duhamel). Under the influence of too much wine, Beth challenges the Fountain of Love, swiping five coins. She later discovers that she had cursed herself and the men who threw those five coins into the fountain become her besotted suitors. Among her sudden admirers are Danny DeVito, Dax Shepard, Jon Heder and Will Arnett. Nick is among them, too, but he insists his feelings are real.

Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel are certainly beautiful people and they look spectacular together. Unfortunately, because the script by David Diamond and David Weissman calls for numerous pratfalls and inane dialogue, it’s hard to see any chemistry between them. The plot, a young woman being stalked by four crazy suitors, becomes overly repetitious and tiresome. And there’s little character development even within the confines of the rom-com genre. So if you are in the mood for something light (very light, almost mindless), “When in Rome” might be what you’re looking for. However, you should probably wait until it’s on cable. 2/2/10

Edge of Darkness - 2 1/2 smiles

The previews for “Edge of Darkness” suggest that Mel Gibson’s latest movie is an actioner similar to “Taken,” starring Liam Neeson. The only similarity is both movies have grieving fathers. Gibson’s Tom Craven does take some vigilante justice, but this is more of a detective movie with portions of the film getting bogged down with a complicated plot involving an energy corporation cover-up, a corrupt government and nuclear weapons. When the movie opens, Tom Craven, a Boston cop, welcomes home his daughter Emma (Bojana Navakovic) for a visit. Soon she is vomiting and suffering nosebleeds. When Tom decides to take her to the hospital, a masked man shoots her as they step onto the porch. Boston PD believes Tom was the target, but Tom disagrees and begins his own investigation. He discovers that Emma was trying to blow the whistle on some shenanigans at her work. Things get more complicated with the appearance of Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), a man who operates in the shadows and warns Craven that men in high places often call on him to fix things. You’re kept guessing about Jedburgh’s allegiance until the end of the film.

“Edge of Darkness” isn’t a great film, but engrossing enough thanks to strong performances by Gibson and Winstone. Unfortunately, when the script isn’t creating confusion, it’s being predictable, filled with moments in which you know someone who has just given Craven a bit of information is going to end up dead. “Edge of Darkness” is a satisfying revenge fantasy: the cop gets the bad guys. But you know that going in. 1/29/10

Fish Tank - 1 smile

“Fish Tank” resembles “An Education” in that a restless teenage girl takes up with an unreliable older man. However, that’s as far as the comparison goes. “Fish Tank” features an angry, alienated Mia (Katie Jarvis), who is at war with everyone, including herself. Much of what happens in this story is typical of teenage rebellion and there’s not much story here. Yes, Mia’s mother, drunken and promiscuous, does not provide any support. Yes, Mia lives in the British equivalence of the projects. Yes, Mia has one passion, dancing. Unfortunately, writer/director Andrea Arnold doesn’t get Mia to reveal much more so the film, despite some potential and a few gripping scenes, is ultimately tedious and annoying.

Perhaps the biggest problem is casting Jarvis, who had no previous acting (or dancing) experience. Jarvis brings realism to Mia, but she’s not acting. Lee Daniels, who directed “Precious,” recently explained that he auditioned any number of young women to play Precious, many who lived Precious’ life. He wanted, instead, someone who could act, someone who could provide clearly defined character traits for the audience to understand and sympathize with. Although “Fish Tank” is an earnest character study of a fifteen year old, there’s not enough there for the average filmgoer to find enjoyable or worth spending 2 hours with Mia. 1/31/10