Jupiter Ascending

Soaped up space opera lets solid sci-fi ideas slip through the matrix as it juggles too much spectacle.  Mike’s Magic shoes send him soaring around in superficial circles while queen bee Kunis bats her eyes ad infinitum. Intergalactic humans fall for Aliens ending as everything combusts in a murky mess.

Third Person

Get Taken for a few Hours in an Adaptation of grief by Neeson’s Beautiful Mind.  Meandering, unusual parallel story film in which the frame is 1/3 of the picture.  Phenomenal performances keep over-long film from dragging.  2/3 of people won’t get it, but it really caters to that third person.

Ted

Live action family guy complete with arbitrary and obscure referential cutaways.  Kunis and Wahlberg perform hilariously on their second date, and a strange cast of supporting stars distracts away from lamely straightforward plot and a few flat self-directed jokes.  Stupidly juvenile premise works great, but could have used heavier R.

Book of Eli

Sheriff Gordon rallies EVERYONE to hunt down Kimbo Slice in I Am The Road Warrior. Comic book perfectly stylistically rendered for screen. Washington meets George and Martha before massive shootout and strange boat scene straight from Children of Inside Men. Then, like Clockwork the eternal king of dystopian Doomsdays appears.

Black Swan

Aronofsky introduces wrestler’s scarier sister, beautifully depicted by petrified Portman. Ryder and Kunis are brilliant as washed up and insincere respectively, and Cassell is expectedly outstanding, though his ‘black/white swan’ speech gets old. Still, brilliant script steers clear of campy horror despite staple leg snapping, finger ripping, and lesbian sex.