The Nice Guys

Black’s colorful caper evokes feel of Boogie and pace of Bang Bang without the heart, wit, or sex appeal of either. Crowe and Gosling spread their wings in a farce that finally lets them both have fun. Inherently over-complex plot proves to be Shane’s vice, and bucks audience before finale.

Cloud Atlas

Ingeniously adapted rendition of seemingly un-filmable literary masterpiece.  Multiple-role casting adds fascinating if tonally confusing element despite occasional silliness of makeup.  Tri-directors and editor manage a miracle by fusing utterly disparate stories without clunkiness or ambiguity.  Voiceovers occasionally wax philosophic, but how can they not in a film about everything?

There's Something About Mary

Stiller and the Farrellys stir their collective quirkiness together and produce a comedy classic with enough memorable laughs to almost make up for their career mistakes. Plot meanders enjoyably, only occasionally straying too far, and a brilliant collection of quasi-cameos keep the insanity fun. Then surprise, an athlete and emotions!

Crash (2004)

Candy coated look at the intersecting lives of several hundred people in Los Angeles. Melodramatic and carefully constructed to remind to the viewer that racism is terrible. Lives intersect repeatedly, and so on occasion to brilliant editing, performance, and music to form several powerful tear-jerk moments. Better title: Hate Actually.

The Princess and the Frog

Disney returns to hand-drawn animation roots with their best story in recent years. Songs are relatively forgettable, but the character’s, comedy, and title-defeating un-princess-like moral message are not. Waxes a bit too terrifying at points, and maybe a tad stereotypical towards New Orleans, but Song of the South it isn’t.

The Quick and the Dead

Raimi approaches western genre with all the subtlety that he brought to horror, and succeeds courtesy of the simple, silly, and highly entertaining plot. Features decent performances from relative unknowns Dicaprio and Crowe. Stone’s beauty (though shortlived) is almost enough to distract from the flatness of her performance. Quick zoom.

Gamer

Neveldine and Taylor crank out this poorly plotted ‘Running Man’ ripoff overflowing with glitchy editing and arbitrary breast shots. Butler is decent but Sedgwick is weak, even compared to Lohman, Luda, and Leguizamo. Michael C. Hall is film’s saving grace, but still, Leonidas vs. Dexter & Terry Crews? Game Over.

Coraline

Interesting clay-mation/digital hybrid takes full advantage of 3-D technology. Story transforms irritatingly from simple fairytale to intensely convoluted horror story far removed from logic. Suffers from complicated book adaptation syndrome. Excellent film for simultaneously scaring girls and producing fetishes in boys. Features the creepiest porcelain spider woman since Toy Story.