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"THE MECHANIC"

Richard's Review: 3 STARS

Jason Statham isn't so much an actor as he is a brand. When you go to McDonald's you know you can expect the two all beef patties, special sauce and the sesame seed bun to taste the same whether you're in Toronto or Hong Kong. It's that kind of brand management that has made Statham a star. You know what to expect from his movies -- rippling abs, some high kicking action, his trademarked facial stubble and loads of explosions. It's a simple formula but one that works for his fans. Perhaps the advertising slogan for his new film, "The Mechanic," should be "New, But Not Improved."

This time around Statham plays Arthur Bishop, a highly trained and highly dangerous hit man. "Pulling a trigger is easy," he says in his distinctive rumble, "the best jobs are the ones where no one even knows you where there." Like the character he plays in "The Transporter" movies, he's detached, precise and no nonsense. When his mentor and friend Harry (Donald Sutherland) is killed Arthur turns mentor for Harry's troubled son (Ben Foster), teaching him his deadly trade.

What Statham lacks in range he makes up for in muscle tone. His well crafted on-screen persona is equal parts stoic masculinity and lithe athletic ability. He's Charles Bronson (who starred in the original "The Mechanic" in 1972) with better moves, a man of action and few words in the mold of Clint Eastwood, if Clint had a better roundhouse kick. In "The Mechanic," his 27th film since 1998 (and he has at least five more in the pipeline), he doesn't do anything we haven't seen him do before, but no matter, he simply does the things we expect him to do. That's what brands do, and as movie brands go these days he's about as reliable as it gets.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's brand, for example, tries to tread similar ground, but every now and again veers off course with a kid's flick or comedy, but not Statham. "The Mechanic" and his other films are so true to brand they're almost interchangeable. Only the character names, and, occasionally the facial expressions, change.

Is "The Mechanic" a good movie? If you liked "The Transporter," then yes, you'll like "The Mechanic." If not, then perhaps the Statham brand is not for you.

Richard's Review: 2 STARS

If there was an after-school special about exorcism "The Rite" would be it. Its earnest, has a message and there's even a teenage pregnancy angle.

Based on the book "The Making of a Modern Exorcist," "The Rite" is the story of Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue) a seminary student weeks away from graduation and taking his vows. The trouble is, he isn't a believer. He went to the seminary to get out of the family business -- his Dad's (Rutger "Hobo with a Shotgun" Hauer) mortuary. The men in his family, he says only have two career options -- caring for the dead or joining the priesthood. When he tries to opt out of taking his vows an older priest arranges for him to go to Rome and study exorcism, a sure way, the priest thinks, to reaffirm Michael's faith. In Italy he meets Father Lucas, a veteran priest and expert in exorcism, who leads his student into a wild satanic showdown.

The holy man with a crisis-of-faith is by now a standard exorcism movie character. We've seen it as recently as last year's "The Last Exorcism" and we've seen it done with more spirit (no pun intended) than O'Donoghue conjures up here. Luckily he has Anthony Hopkins, master thespian and expert scenery-chewer to keep things lively. Quick! Somebody get Hopkins some mustard to go along with the ham he's selling here.

As Father Lucas he's got the movies best lines and has no problem giving them with gusto. It's an unexpected performance and rather entertaining.

The movie, however, isn't trying as hard as Hopkins. It's not scary, occasionally freaky, but not scary. When Father Lucas asks, "What'd you expect? Spinning heads and pea soup?" I wanted to shout, "Actually, yes Father, I do!" An exorcism movie without those elements is, well, sinful.

Worse than that, "The Rite" is at least twenty minutes too long. It s-l-o-w-l-y builds to an entertaining final exorcism, but the subplot about a pregnant "possessee" goes on too long and the inclusion of a demon mule (seriously) take the focus away from where it belongs -- on the relationship between Michael and Father Lucas. That older priest, younger priest thing worked really well in "The Exorcist" and could have here as well, if only the movie was a tad more interesting.

"The Rite" aspires to be a high-minded story about faith but falls flat when Hopkins isn't on screen. There's little sympathy for this devil...

Richard's Review: 2 ½ STARS

"Casino Jack" is a dark look at the American dream. Based on the true story of Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff's rise and fall, it recreates the heady days of DC's greediest decade.

Director George Hickenlooper (who died last year at age 47) lays out a complicated story of how Abramoff peddled his influence on Capitol Hill in return for large cheques. The trouble really starts when he defrauds a Native American tribe out of millions of dollars that he then invests in a floating casino. Add to the mix a crooked mattress salesman (Jon Lovitz), a psychopathic gangster (the late, great Maury Chaykin), a kosher restaurant and a trophy wife or two and you get the essence of Abramoff's strange tale.

The film begins with a bravura scene of Abramoff (Kevin Spacey) delivering a pep talk to the bathroom mirror that sets the tone for the rest of this fast talking film. The movie moves along like a rocket, propelled by Spacey's performance. One quibble though, throughout the movie Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon (Barry Pepper) stop the action dead time after time by quoting, verbatim, scenes from other movies, complete with vocal impressions and facial tics. It's annoying in real life when people do that and it is a device that wears out its welcome VERY early on in the movie.

Apart from those missteps there are good performances all round, although this is Spacey's movie. The only actor who comes close to pulling focus away from the two time Oscar winner is comedian Jon Lovitz, who has a showy and funny role as a devil-may-care sleaze bag.

Hickenlooper pitches the tone of the entire movie around Spacey's tightly wound performance. The movie is as playful as the performance, which is sometimes at odds with the story. Abramoff was a narcissistic and nakedly greedy character, not qualities to be admired, but the movie seems to be a bit too impressed with him nonetheless. It's true that he was a complicated guy who gave away much of the money he illicitly earned but despite his occasional good works he isn't the loveable scamp the movie tries to present. For a different, and more accurate portrayal, of him check out Alex Gibney's documentary "Casino Jack and the United States of Money."

Richard's Review: 3 ½ STARS

When you see Helen Mirren's name in the credits of a comic book adaptation you know that either hell has frozen over or you're in for a pretty good bit of cartoony fun. Luckily it isn't time for Old Scratch to buy a parka. Mirren stars in "Red" -- an acronym for Retired, Extremely Dangerous -- joining an all star cast of grey power actors like Bruce Willis (who would likely be grey if he had hair), Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich in a dramatization of a three-issue comic book mini-series about retired CIA agents called back into duty.

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is retired and bored. Padding around his comfortable suburban home he carries on a phone relationship with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), a clerk at Social Security. Their flirtation, however, goes to a whole new level when Frank's home is invaded by some very bad men with some very large guns. He dispatches them, then realizes that not only is he a target, but very likely so is Sarah, the only person he ever talks to on the phone. They've never met face to face, so he travels to Kansas City, kidnaps her (for her own safety, of course) and embarks on a truth seeking mission that will reunite him with his old CIA workmates (Mirren, Morgan and Maklovich), uncover a war crime and a plot that leads to the very upper echelons of power.

"Red" serves up a clever mix of one-liners -- "I miss the old days," says Ivan Simano (Brian Cox), "I haven't killed anyone in years." -- and action with a chaser of Geritol. We're used to seeing Willis do action, so that's not much of a stretch, but it's a hoot to see his co-stars play against type. Malkovich's paranoid (and rightly so) weapons expert, Mirren's mild-mannered assassin ("I kill people, dear.") and Morgan Freeman's deadly intelligence officer are old timers, but unlike other lame retiree movies like "The Crew" (which starred "Red" bad guy Richard Dreyfuss) "Red" proves these grandparents don't need Red Bull to be Red -- Retired, Extremely Dangerous.

In the supporting cast Mary Louise Parker as Sarah, the clerk who finds she enjoys the life of danger Frank offers up, is a livewire. Parker takes a role that could easily have been played as the hysterical girlfriend cliché, puts a spin on it and very nearly walks away with the whole movie. Also strong is Karl Urban as an up-and-coming CIA black ops agent. He's a family man and killer and is an effective foil for Willis and company.

"Red" isn't great art, but it is a lot of fun and worth it to see tough guy Willis tucked in bed reading a romance novel called "Love's Savage Secret."