Movie Reviews - new films reviewed

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is a very ordinary guy whose only ‘superpower’ is to be invisible to girls. But there is a nagging question going through his mind: Why did never anybody dress up as a costumed vigilante and went out there on the streets, protecting the good people and catching the bad? ‘Because they would get their ass kicked’ is what his geeky friends tell him. And he soon finds out they were totally right when he first attempts to prevent a crime – he gets his ass kicked, stabbed and hit by a car. But the extensive surgery he needs has some advantages – due to nerve damages Dave’s pain perception is reduced, and a lot of metal reinforces his bones now (“… like Wolverine!”). And so, after his recovery, Dave goes crime-busting again. This time, a guy films his fight against three thugs with his mobile phone and “Kick-Ass” becomes an internet phenomenon. But when Dave meets fellow costumed vigilantes “Big Daddy” (Nicolas Cage) and “Hit-Girl” (Chloe Moretz) things become really serious.

Dave Lizewski: With no power, comes no responsibility. Except, *that* wasn’t true.

Superhero movie, coming-of-age story, teen comedy, action film, drama, parody – “Kick-Ass” blends all genres into something that can only be called “tarantinoesque”, including the choice of music (Ennio Morricone for the showdown) and the occasional ultra-violence. The cast is in an excellent mood, with 13-year-old Chloe Moretz stealing each scene she is in. And Nicolas Cage can finally play a superhero – not Superman, but at least a Batman-lookalike in a cheap costume … with one major difference to the real Batman: he uses guns (of any calibre), and he leaves corpses behind whereever he shows up.
This movie kicks ass!
Attention: Bad language and extremely violent scenes – this is not a movie for kids!

Thug: The fuck is wrong with you, man? You’d rather die for some piece of shit that you don’t even fucking know?
“Kick-Ass”: The three assholes, laying into one guy while everybody else watches? And you wanna know what’s wrong with me? Yeah, I’d rather die… so bring it on!

Kick-Ass movie trailer

It’s London, 1891, und Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) is bored due to a lack of intellectual challenges. That changes when Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), who killed five people and was caught by Homes and Dr. Watson (Jude Law) while preparing his sixth ritual killing, rises from his grave after his execution and plots to assume power over Britain and the United States. Another case – Holmes has been hired by former lover and professional thief Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) to find the missing Mr. Reordan – seems to be linked to the Blackwood case.

The setup – a man declared dead by no other than Dr. Watson himself haunting London, ritual murders, the mix of magic and technology – is quite fitting for a Sherlock Holmes flick, but the big question is if Sherlock Holmes really needed an update. No deerstalker hat, no bumbling Watson, but explosions, bare knuckle fights and an action-heavy script for a generation who regards Bad Boys a classic and probably hasn’t even heard of Basil Rathbone.
There is one character who really benefits from the update – Watson is not the bumbling sidekick and comic relief of the classic Holmes movies, but gets the treatment he deserves. He is, after all, a war veteran and Holmes’ friend and equal, and that’s where Guy Ritchie puts him. But what about the great detective himself? Robert Downey Jr. is great (as usual), and the script lets him draw some conclusions worthy of a Sherlock Holmes, but all in all Sherlock Holmes is just an action buddy movie set in the victorian era, Robert is not Sherlock, and less random action and a tighter script might have helped to make Sherlock Holmes a true new classic instead of just another blockbuster.

Sherlock Holmes movie trailer

Filmmakers Milo (director Tao Ruspoli) and Bella (Olivia Wilde from House Md) have one day to get Milo’s brother Leo (Shawn Andrews) from jail to rehab – and to raise the $ 5.000,- fee for the rehab clinic. Based on real events and filmed in documentary-style with handheld camera, Fix shows an alien, vast and barren but beautiful Los Angeles rarely seen in movies. As elusive as the city is Leo – for the police he is a junkie and a criminal, for his brother the irresponsible black sheep of the family who needs to grow up, for Bella he is an obstacle for the documentary about prison conditions she originally wanted to film, for others he is a saint who was sent to help and protect them. Milo and Bella make it their mission to deliver Leo to rehab in time to save him from three years of prison, but if that kind of freedom is enough for Leo remains to be seen.
You won’t find Fix on any big screen near you, but if you want to see something fresh instead of the latest blockbuster, get the DVD for your next home movie night.

FIX movie trailer

It is after World War II, and U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are sent to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando, an inmate of the Ashecliff Hospital for the criminally insane on the remote Shutter Island. Rachel has been hospitalized here because she has murdered her three children, and she has apparently vanished from her locked room and through another room full of guards. Head Psychiatrist Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley) is attending to the Marshals, and he seems to be friendly and helpful, but the longer the Marshals stay, the more menacing he appears to Teddy, and the situation gets more enigmatic with every day. How could Rachel disappear from a locked room? Is Teddy really the hunter, or has he been lured into a trap and has become the hunted? What happens in Ward C and in the lighthouse? Are there connections to the Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany? And who is patient number 67?

Another Scorsese/DiCaprio collaboration (after The Departed), another cineastic success. Shutter Island is a film noir in the tradition of the 40′s and 50′s Hollywood, inclusive floppy hats, mysteries and a hero with a dark past and tormented soul.
But accolades go not only to Leonardo DiCaprio, but also to Mark Ruffalo and especially to Sir Ben Kingsley for his inscrutable psychiatrist who is as caring and helpful as scary, and to the production design for making Shutter Island and the Ashecliff Hospital another memorable character.
If you like mystery thrillers, film noir, DiCaprio or Scorsese, then don’t miss Shutter Island.

Shutter Island movie trailer

2056. A world where everybody is young, good-looking, healthy and powerful. No discrimination because of skin color, gender or looks. That’s the world of FBI agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis), his wife Maggie (Rosamunde Pike) and his partner Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell). 98 percent of the world population lives in this seemingly perfect world, where injuries or fatal accidents are merely property damage, because all those people live their lives through remote controlled robots, so-called “surrogates”, while staying in the safety of their homes. The remaining two percent live in reservations, their leader is the “Prophet” (Ving Rhames) who preaches against surrogates and the unnatural, artificial lifestyle they bring about.
When a new kind of weapon appears that kills people when it is used against their surrogates, Tom must leave his comfortable home and investigate in person.

A grand vision, superstar Bruce Willis, a story that calls for action and suspense, the promise of relevance and darkness – could this be a new Blade Runner? It seems so. And it might have been in another – perfect – world.
But unfortunately, Mostow stays strictly at the surface of things and keeps it as polished and shallow as his “surrogates”. Lacking any detail or critical thoughts about this world (How could all those people afford to buy surrogates? What are the ethical, philosophical and social implications and consequences? What about hackers?) as well as those big action scenes you might expect, Surrogates is just that – the surrogate for the much better movie it should have been.
Why three and a half stars, then? One star is strictly for what might have been.