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.

Rush

Howard ducks away from Da Vinci crap to deliver another great film.  Hunt/Lauda features distinctive vintage visuals, gripping races and the best casting and characterization of any true-story film.  Exhilarating action is welded onto stunning historical accuracy creating a vehicle that defies formula but flies through every turn with ease.

Her

Reborn Phoenix proves he can still play an empathetic everyman.  Jonze delivers another soft sci-fi with cinematic brilliance and deep philosophical conjecture.  Adams, Wilde and Rooney are brilliantly quirky/real, but the added sound of Scarlett gives the movie color, leaving Joaquin and us wondering what Her would be without her.

In Time

Niccol creates another gattacan future, with another incredible premise.  Unfortunately surrogate of plot drags film down and on and on into a cheesy underwhelming sci-fi action.  Beautiful young population are well-cast, but there’s little they can do to improve on a weak story.  Finds time for plenty of clever puns.

Cowboys and Aliens

Independence day in Arizona. James Bond’s magic bracelet helps him fight not so Super eight thousand alien gold-diggers, because they stupidly abducted Indiana Wayne’s milkshake hungry son. Ham-handed character development, ridiculously silly story, and inanely Wilde phoenix scene add up to a film that tries too hard. Camp vs. A-listers.

TRON: Legacy

Visually stunning, conceptually creative and adequately loyal sequel to genre classic. Actors lend impressively deep performances to this effects extravaganza, and only overly-used digital Bridges falls short in both regards. Logical leaps, senseless scenes of Sheen’s Bowie and various violent vignettes are all made tolerable by Daft Punk’s inceptional base.

Alpha Dog

From the director of The Notebook comes this unusual approach to a true crime story. Young stars Yelchin and Hirsch easily outshine Willis and Stone. Perhaps one of the only films to leave audience feeling sorry for every character. Not great, but not terrible, earning it the title, Beta Dog.