"Green Lantern:
Richard's Review: 2 1/2 stars
Seven decades after first appearing in the pages of a DC comic book "The Green Lantern" comes to the big screen, but has it been worth the wait?
Ryan Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, a daredevil test pilot, driven to extremes by equal parts adrenaline and the memory of his late father, a superstar test pilot. Meanwhile in a galaxy far, far away an evil entity called the Parallax has escaped it's prison and, after being penned up for eons is eager to generally cause intergalactic mayhem and wreak havoc on the Green Lanterns, an army of green-leotarded creatures who protect the universe.
A showdown with Green Lantern veteran Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison) leaves the green suit near death. Before he shuffles off this mortal (and immortal) coil he must pass along his Green Lantern ring, which gives its recipient infinite power and a snappy green Lone Ranger mask. Enter Jordan. The ring finds him, and after a rocky start he becomes a superhero, battling not only the Parallax but its earthbound minion, the brilliant but evil Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard).
There's more story… but's that's all I could remember. This is an origin story so there's loads of detail and a lot of exposition, but for a movie about a superhero who can manifest any thought his mind's eye can muster, this whole thing is short on imagination.
There are some cool aspects to the action. The idea that the Parallax feeds off people's fear is a great, terrifying premise to hang a villain on and Sarsgaard's transformation from nerdy Hector to nerdy Hector with a huge head provides some fun Jekyll and Hyde moments, but the whole film is bogged down by an overreliance on CGI.
There's no way around big dollops of CGI in most of the films released between May and the end of August every year, but recently the movies that use it successfully have adopted a less is more attitude. The "wow" phase of computer generated images is over. Audiences know that anything is possible when you bang together the right bits of binary code. These days the trick is to find a balance between the organic and digital visual elements to create a satisfying whole.
Director Martin Campbell, a journeyman who specializes in making bland big budget action pics, goes too heavy on the CGI. Even Jordan's silly little green mask is computer generated. Was the costumer off the day they needed him to don the mask?
As for the cast, Reynolds tries to skate through using his Van Wilder charm and comic timing but doesn't hit the right tone. By times he seems to be heading toward the lighter attitude of "Iron Man," while in other scenes it's strictly "Dark Knight" territory. He isn't aided by a cliché-a-thon masquerading as a script, although once the action kicks in near the end it becomes less about the acting or the script and more about entertaining the eye.
"The Green Lantern" isn't a terrible superhero movie, but it can't hold a lantern to some of the seriously good ones we've seen lately like "The Dark Knight" or "Iron Man."
"Mr. Popper's Penguins"
Richard's Review: 3 stars
Jim Carrey is back acting opposite wildlife, but unlike the "Ace Ventura" movies, this time out he's not talking out of his bum, or doing anything which parents may take issue with. "Mr. Popper's Penguins" is total family entertainment, paced for young ones but with enough story to keep older kids and parents interested.
Loosely based on Richard and Florence Atwater's classic 1938 children's book the movie sees Carrey playing the title character, a ruthless NYC real estate agent who inherits a penguin from his late, explorer father. Through a series of misunderstandings one penguin becomes six, and the entire brood becomes a birthday gift for Popper's young son. As the penguins take over his life, Popper's professional career -- he's trying to engineer a deal to buy New York's legendary Tavern on the Green restaurant -- goes into a deep freeze but his formerly flightless personal life soars.
There are laughs in the film, more for the kids than the adults, but I'm not sure I would classify this as a comedy. Carrey has a few funny moments, the penguins -- who could be more rightly called Mr. Popper's Pooping Penguins -- engage in some animal antics, and Popper's "p" popping personal assistant takes alliteration to new heights, but the movie is more about heart than humor. It's about the importance of families, of spending time with the ones you love, whether they are ex-wives, estranged kids or flightless tuxedo-wearing birds.
Carrey finds a balance between his expert slapstick and the more naturalistic style of acting he's flirted with in movies like "The Majestic." The clowning is fun, but his journey to becoming a better dad is the more effective and memorable part of the story.
This isn't the first time Carrey has appeared in a live action kids' flick but the dark edge he brought to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" has been replaced with a sweet side, despite looking up penguin recipes on-line as an initial solution to his penguin problem.
"Mr. Popper's Penguins" isn't a classic children's film, but in a summer cluttered with movies like "The Hangover Part 2" it is a welcome family alternative.
"Beginners"
Richard's Review: 4 stars
There's a reason why "Beginners," a melancholy new family drama starring Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer and Mélanie Laurent feels so authentic. Director Mike Mills (the "Thumbsucker" filmmaker, not the R.E.M. bassist) based elements of the story on his real life. The result is an intimate portrait of a man shaped by the influence of his parents.
In this nonlinear story we follow the broken timeline of Oliver's (McGregor) broken life. He's having a strange year. First his mother dies of cancer, then, just as he is coming to grips with her passing, his 75-year-old father Hal (Plummer) comes out of the closet, announcing that he's always been gay and now that his wife is gone he'd like to explore that long buried aspect of his life.
Hal's news is followed by turns both good and bad. First he meets a wonderful man, but just as their relationship is blossoming he is diagnosed with stage four cancer. The cumulative effect of all these events sends Oliver deep inside his own head to a sad and bad place until he meets Anna (Laurent), a beautiful actress with father issues of her own.
Told in flashbacks embellished with many stylistic flourishes, the movie never allows Mill's montages and other frills to overwhelm the story. Mills, who along with his personal connection to the story, brings a keen sense of how real people conduct themselves in times of stress, isn't afraid to allow his characters to be introspective. A good portion of the story is internal, conveyed by McGregor's dour expressions, Plummer's dignity and Laurent's vulnerability.
Even the meet cute of the McGregor and Laurent characters -- her voice is shot, laryngitis, and she has to communicate with a notepad -- which would normally be too quirky by half for me, works because this isn't a fluffy rom com but a textured look at why people behave the way they do.
Mills has also drawn expert performances from his cast. Plummer looks ripe to earn another Oscar nomination for his touching take on a man who finds happiness only to have it taken away too soon and McGregor and Laurent make a compelling couple.
Topping off the tender tale is the cutest on-screen dog since Benji who provides unique insight into Oliver's emotional maturation.
