"Abduction"
Richard's Review: 1 star
In "Abduction," "Twilight" werewolf Taylor Lautner is Nathan, a typical teen who discovers his life isn't what he thought it was when he finds a photo of himself on a missing person's website. His investigation into the origin of the picture makes him a pawn in an international game of intrigue involving the CIA, an encrypted text message and the pretty girl from next door.
There is a certain percentage of the population who would pay to see Lautner stand shirtless in a field, abs rippling in the wind. That would be a better movie than "Abduction." He's got the teen angst eye roll down to a science but other than that hands in the most wooden performance since Geppetto carved Pinocchio out of a block of oak. Beware of woodpeckers.
He's in every scene and despite a tense fight scene here or a loud gun battle there; "Abduction" is sunk by bad acting and even worse dialogue. Even old pros like Alfred Molina and Sigourney Weaver can't get past lines like "there's a bomb in the oven," one of the most hilariously bad lines this year.
"Abduction" will leave you wondering how, exactly, that bomb got into the oven and how exactly, this bomb made it into theatres.
"Moneyball"
Richard's review: 4 stars
"Moneyball," the new sports drama starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, begins with the Mickey Mantle quote: "It's unbelievable how much you don't know about a game you've played all your life." The legendary New York Yankees outfielder and first baseman played eighteen seasons in the big leagues but likely wouldn't recognize the game as played in this behind-the-scenes drama.
Based on the book of the same name by Michael Lewis, Pitt plays Billy Beane, the real life General Manager of the Oakland A's. Faced with having to piece together a pro team with a budget one-fourth as large as the New York Yankees he breaks with 100 years of baseball tradition -- using scouts, instinct and guts -- to find a scientific method to build a team on the cheap. With a Yale trained economist (Jonah Hill) he creates sabermetrics, a mind boggling combination of facts, figures and computer algorithms to recruit his team.
It all sounds very dry, but so did "The Social Network" before you actually sat down and watched it. "Moneyball" takes what could be a dry subject of baseball stats and spices it up with complex, interesting characters, and a compelling human story while leaving the usual sports movie clichés behind.
It moves at about half the speed of "The Social Network" but that's OK. We're not dealing with the fast moving world of cyberspace here but the more relaxed pace of America's favorite pastime.
But this isn't a baseball movie. Pitt and Hill, in a rare serious role, dominate the movie with their behind-the-scenes stories. Like "The Social Network" "Moneyball" places the onus on the characters and not the technology that drives the story. We've seen baseball movies before, but we've never seen the game from this angle. It's a new take on the game, one that may leave Mantel scratching his head but should leave audiences rapt.
"Dolphin Tale"
Richard's Review: 3 stars
There have been boy-and-his-dog movies before and earlier this year James Franco starred in a-boy-and-his-chimp movie but not since "Flipper" has there been a boy-and-his-dolphin story on the big screen. "Dolphin Tale," a new movie based on the real life relationship between a lonely boy and an injured bottlenose dolphin, is an aquatic love story for kids.
Inspired by the true story of a dolphin named Winter rescued off the Florida coast, the movie stars Nathan Gamble as Sawyer, a young boy who finds the injured dolphin stranded on a beach. Taken in by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium the fish loses his tail to infection but a VA prosthetic designer, an Iraqi war vet and some very determined kids are determined to put a new end on this tale. By the time the kids start praying to their dead parents for help, literally no stone, natural or supernatural has been left unturned in seeking help for this dolphin
Despite its PG rating, "Dolphin Tale" is gently paced family entertainment. Feeling like old school live action Disney, it wears its heart on its sleeve as well as a rubber tail on its main character. It sometimes stretches a bit too far in search of a big moment, but without a cynical bone in its body it never seems too cloying.
Director Charles Martin Smith blends in several story threads guaranteed to pluck at the heart strings. There's precocious performances from the kids, a cousin who comes back from Iraq with an injury and, of course, the brave and plucky dolphin. It's old fashioned in its enthusiasm and heartfelt in its tone, which might not appeal to kids who demand the thrills of recent kid's entertainment, but with its messages about cooperation, loyalty and rights and respect for disabled, it wholesome entertainment.
"Killer Elite"
Richard's Review: Four Statham stars, 2 1/2 stars for everyone else
Statham has made this movie several times before. Different title, and usually without the big name supporting cast -- Robert De Niro and Clive Owen -- but the story of a tough guy who wants to go straight is directly in the actor's wheelhouse. Either Statham is remarkably consistent or just really enjoys playing guys who can break your neck with his steely gaze. Whatever the case, when you pay your money for a Statham flick you know what you're getting and "Killer Elite" is exactly what you expect it to be.
Based on a true story Statham plays Danny Bryce, an ex- special ops agent. He's mad, bad and dangerous to know but trying to cool it on the whole killing people thing. But like Michael Corleone, every time he thinks he's out they pull him back in. He's convinced to strap on a gun once again when his mentor and friend Hunter (Robert De Niro) is kidnapped. In return for Hunter's release Staham agrees to hunt down and murder the assassins of a rich sheik's sons. He doesn't count on is a shadow world of government intrigue and a renegade ex-SAS agent (Clive Owen).
Statham movies aren't about the scripts, which is a good thing because this is a cliché-o-rama from its opening minutes. For example, he's an ex-mercenary who's "done with killing" (although it appears that killing is not done with him.) He gets called a "crazy S.O.B." -- or some form of that -- frequently and is a man who knows when people are lying to him. How does he know? Because their lips are moving. He lives in a world where "everybody knows the rules; there are no rules."
Every line from the action movie manual is here, along with the prerequisite Statham droplet of romance, the expendable female character who may, or may not become a plot device in the movie's third act.
It's predictable as hell. "You gotta be kidding me!" you'll be tempted to say at some of the plot twists in this movie, if only the characters in the movie didn't beat you to it first. It's a cliché-a-thon alright, but because Statham understands his audience and his persona his movies work. His super macho presence is more important than the script. As long as he is in motion, running and leaping, kicking and punching, and giving voice to action movie clichés in his distinctive English grumble his movies work.
