Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1

Directed by Jay Oliva.

2012. Rated PG-13, 76 minutes. 

Cast: 

Peter Weller 

Ariel Winter 

David Selby 

Wade Williams 

Carlos Alazraqui 

Paget Brewster 

Maria Canals-Barrera 

Richard Doyle 

Grey DeLisle 

Sam McMurray 

Andrea Romano 

Tara Strong 

Michael Emerson 

Michael Jackson

It has been ten years since Bruce Wayne (Weller) has dressed up as a bat and went crime-fighting. To fill the void, he partakes in other ways of trying to kill himself...er...get the adrenaline pumping. He's also become quite the prolific drinker. He says it helps him stay on the sidelines. He's really using it to cope with the tragedy that eventually led to him becoming Batman, the murder of his parents. In any event, it's getting harder to stay out of the game now that Gotham has a new menace, an out-of-control street gang calling themselves the Mutants. What makes these guys particularly dangerous is they like to commit random acts of violence, making them unpredictabel. They also like to take over Gotham TV and threaten city officials by name. This includes Commissioner Gordon (Selby) who has just announced he is retiring shortly. He vows to get the Mutants off the streets before punching out for the last time. After a couple of these punks have a run-in with Bruce, our hero decides it's time to don the cape and cowl once more.

We get a Batman that's older and not quite as in shape as he once was. Like an aging athlete, he knows all the moves to make yet can't make them as fluidly as he did in his prime. That said, I'm fairly certain the tight-rope walking act he pulls is a new trick. Still, we see him laboring to do things he once did with ease. Of course, as mentioned, he's still haunted by the death of his parents. This helps paint a picture of a more pathetic Batman than we're used to. We wonder if he's finally gotten to the point where he can't always come out on top.

The Mutants are both a help and a hindrance to our uncertainty about our hero. The leader is a help, somewhat. He's definitely not a match for Batman's wits, but he's more than one for him physically. He is huge and vicious. He's also slightly inhuman in appearance. Unfortunately, this could stand to be explained a bit, but the fact he's called a mutant is all we get. His fights with the Caped Crusader are brutal and well depicted. The guys who follow him are a disappointment. They are a never ending horde of nearly identical dudes who look like 80s punk-rockers and speak a rather corny sounding slang/broken English. They also don't have much heart. This army of knife wielding "slicer dicers," as they like to call themselves are more of  and annoyance than a menace.

Villain-wise, we also get Harvey Dent (Williams) in a truncated story line. At first glance, it seems extraneous. Digging a bit deeper, and maybe forcing it just a bit, it becomes a representation of Batman's past and a reflection of what his own mental anguish is doing to him. Another blast from our hero's past is the Joker (Emerson). However, this is merely to set up Part 2 of our tale.

Overall, Part 1 works very well. The story is fascinating and since we know this is a two-part deal, we can excuse the lack of resolution in some areas. the main drawback is that it covers a healthy chunk of the ground covered in The Dark Knight Rises. The set up is essentially the same. Batman has been away from crime-fighting long enough to fade into myth, yet he's still wanted by police. Plus, a new threat draws him out of retirement. Some of the beats that follow are the same, including how his relationship with Alfred (Jackson) changes. It gives the movie a more derivative feel than it probably wants. The irony here is that the original comic book this movie is based on, penned by the legendary Frank Miller, came out in 1986 and served as inspiration for Christopher Nolan's trilogy ending film. The problem is there are far more people who have seen The Dark Knight Rises than have read Miller's work. Still, this movie holds our interest as it does enough things that are different. Chief among them is Batman's quick acceptance of a young girl who dresses up like Robin (Winter). Again, Part 1 also benefits from the promise of a Part 2. Rather than being a movie with a satisfying conclusion, it gives us something to look forward to.

Speed Racer

ParaNorman

Directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell.

Rated PG, 92 minutes.

Cast:

Kodi Smit-McPhee

Tucker Albrizzi

Anna Kendrick

Casey Affleck

Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Leslie Mann

John Goodman

Jeff Garlin

Bernard Hill

Elaine Stritch

Tempestt Bledsoe

Jodelle Ferland
Ariel Winter

Norman Babcock (Smit-McPhee) is that kid, the one everyone else thinks is weird. They have good reason. After all, he has no problem telling people he talks to the dead. Though no one believes him, he really can. In fact, his most frequent companion is his long passed grandmother (Stritch) who watches TV with him. With no way of proving this, as you might imagine, his living family members are rather disturbed by his behavior. Soon enough, we learn Norman has an uncle, Mr. Prenderghast (Goodman), that has the same ability. When that uncle dies, he warns Norman that it is up to him to stop the curse. Of course, Mr. Prenderghast doesn't tell exactly what the curse is. Matters become rather urgent when zombies start climbing out of the local graveyard. Yes, everyone in town can actually see them. And yes, this is still a kiddie flick.

Like a lot of movies aimed at children, ParaNorman focuses on how an outcast becomes a hero. It just chooses to do so through much more macabre means. It traipses into horror's shallowest waters but never immerses itself. Terrifying the audience is off-limits. The characters on the screen are plenty scared, but their plight is handled with a good deal of levity. And the jokes actually work. Dialogue is often sharp, though it does lapse into the standard Disney Channel schtick of a big sister being mean to her brother on too many occasions.

Even without frights, ParaNorman still manages to create tension. Much of this is due to the fact there is quite a bit of mystery surrounding just what Norman is supposed to do and why. This partially clears up, but even as we near the climax we're not real sure what he's going to do. Even he's not particularly certain. Rest assured, he does "something." It's a bit of a letdown because the last few minutes of our showdown scene get a bit too preachy, spelling out the moral of the story for us. Still, it's very enjoyable to that point.

Opposite Day

Directed by R. Michael Givens.

2009. Rated G, 88 minutes.

Cast:

Billy Unger

Ariel Winter

Pauly Shore

Colleen Crabtree

French Stewart

Dick Van Patten

Renée Taylor

Nadji Jeter

Kristen Combs

Dylan Cash

George Wendt

There are hints that we are about to witness an evil that threatens man’s very existence before the movie even starts. The first thing we notice is the DVD cover for Opposite Day proudly displays the image and boldly printed name of Pauly Shore. We remember there was a time when he was inexplicably thought to be funny. We remember how he parlayed our misplaced trust in his comedic ability into multiple, horribly unfunny movie roles. We shudder as a coldness descends our spine; a warning that this may in fact be an actual depiction of the apocalypse masquerading as a benign family comedy.

We know it’s a family comedy because the full cover features Shore and an adult woman on the right wearing youthful looking outfits and goofy “Hey, I’m a kid!” looks on their faces. On the left we see two actual children, a boy and a girl sporting faux-stern visages and more adult clothing. We give them the once-over because they are children and remind us we have some of our own waiting to watch what we’re sure will be crap piled higher than anyone’s ever seen before. We choke back angry tears, lamenting the lengths to which we go to please our offspring. We told them we’ll never break a promise so we curse the Most High that sitting through this is one of the ones we made.

The blurb on the back of the cover informs us this is a zany “switch” movie. In this case a thingamajig operated by a bumbling scientist causes all of the adults and children in a generic town to switch roles. In other words, the children do all of the things adults normally do: parent, hold jobs, drive, etc. while adults play hop scotch, video games and destroy things. We think back to a promise we must break to honor the one to our kids: one made to ourselves. We recall that after suffering through an earlier movie in which children and adults switch identities we vowed to never again subject ourselves to such an experience. We know that they are almost always terrible, painfully so. Yet like Pharoah, with a hardened heart we refuse to heed God’s warnings, Pauly Shore, dippy outfits and the like, and let the show begin.

As expected, Opposite Day is a nightmare of biblical proportions. The plot, dialogue and acting by the almost all child cast is unfathomably bad and punctuated with an exclamation point by that icky scene where the young brother and sister wake up in bed together as if…never mind. The movie is so horrendous, our children aren’t laughing. It’s so loathsome we become riddled with guilt as if this whole thing were our idea. We pray our punishment will be swift and just. We happen a glance out the window. Sure enough, we see an elder bearded gentleman with a reluctant look on his face waving a staff and hear wind gathering to incomprehensible speeds.

MY SCORE: 0/10

Killers

Directed by Robert Luketic.
2010. Rated PG-13, 93 minutes.
Cast:
Ashton Kutcher
Katherine Heigl
Tom Selleck
Catherine O’Hara
Rob Riggle
Alex Borstein
Lisa Ann Walter
Kevin Sussman
Katheryn Winnick
Martin Mull
Ariel Winter

Jen (Heigl) is trying to get over being dumped. To cope, she’s decided to go on vacation abroad with her parents. Not long after the plane lands, she meets pretty boy Spencer (Kutcher). Unbeknownst to her, he happens to be an assassin for some government organization, the blah blah blah as he puts it. Since the two fall head over heels for each other he quits his rather unique job for a chance at normalcy with her. Fast forward three years, the lovely young couple is now married and are very regular suburbanites. Since all of this happens in the first 15 minutes or so, something else has to happen. That something else is Spencer getting a message from his old boss who wants him to do another job. To make a long story short, Spencer suddenly finds himself with a $20 million bounty of his head and just about everyone trying to collect.

Killers does a nice job mixing the action-flick with the romantic comedy. The comedy portion depicts a young couple who’s relationship appears to have hit a plateau, at least in Jen’s eyes. There’s the usual bad advice from her friends, conflicts between her job and personal life, dad and hubby not getting along, etc. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but it’s handled decently. On the action side, the scenes are fun, mostly because the people coming after him are hardly your typical bunch of movie goons and henchmen. They’re seemingly normal, if somewhat annoying people. Kutcher’s character helps in this, also. Even though he still looks like an underwear model, his character isn’t quite the Superman that Tom Cruise is in Knight and Day. He gets knocked around plenty actually seems mortal.

On the other hand, Kutcher the actor is problematic. It’s not that he does a bad job. I’m not one of those Ashton haters who just has a disdain for everything he does. It’s just hard to believe that this guy was ever the stone-cold killer he’s made out to be. I hate to keep going back to Knight and Day, but they’re similar and came out about the same time, if I remember correctly. In that one, Cruise is easier to digest as a walking murder weapon. The Tom Cruise persona lends itself to that better. Let’s face it, most of us who don’t practice Scientology think he’s at least a little crazy. The tabloids would have you believe he keeps Katie Holmes chained to a wall in his dungeon. Cruise killing a bunch of people while flashing that winning smile is more believable. Kutcher comes off as the guy from Punk’d or as Demi Moore’s boy-toy. Not quite the same, is it?

A bigger problem than our hero is our villain. Once we find out who is behind all this, we’re not really surprised, yet somehow we also still don’t anything. What happened, and why, to bring us to the point at which we inevitably arrive is never really clear. Of course, this means there is really no solution. More or less, we abruptly get told “Happily ever after, the end.” Sure, that gets us out of the movie, but hardly completes the story.

Killers is actually fun in a non-threatening sort of way, despite all the violence. For the most part, when people die it’s a very 1950s style bloodless death and there are plenty of gags within the action. Heigl, as the damsel in distress/frantic wife is solid, though the chemistry between her and her co-star is lacking. Catherine O’Hara as Jen’s mom has a number of the film’s funnier moments. It won’t make you forget Die Hard, but it has its moments.

MY SCORE: 5/10

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
2009. Rated PG, 90 minutes.
Cast:
Bill Hader
Anna Faris
James Caan
Andy Samberg
Bruce Campbell
Mr. T
Bobb’e J. Thompson
Benjamin Bratt
Neil Patrick Harris
Ariel Winter

Flint Lockwood (Hader) yearns to be a successful inventor. As you can imagine, he’s also a social outcast on Swallow Falls, the tiny island he calls home. We’re told it is right beneath the “A” in Atlantic Ocean, if you were looking for it on a map. From his elementary school days until sometime in his twenties, one invention after another of his fails. One day, he accidentally discovers a way to make it literally rain food. From that point on, everything changes for him. He becomes the island’s most famous and beloved citizen, even becoming known around the world.

Of course, there are plenty of bumps in the road after that or there wouldn’t be much of a movie. The eventual dilemma leads to a climax far too similar to the dreaded, Armageddon. Thankfully, everything before that is much better handled.

The screen is filled with fun imagery. In particular, the ice cream scene stands out. More than any other in the film, it’s a representation of something almost all kids wonder about, especially if they grow up somewhere where it snows. On top of that, the circumstances surrounding it is heart-warming. It’s rather hard not to crack a smile while it plays.

The story is pretty straight-forward. However, it does mix in some social commentary about greed, gluttony and the environment. Still, it’s subtle enough that you don’t feel like you’ve been bludgeoned with someone else’s morality.

As with any other kiddie-flick, there are some laughs to be had. For me, I found it more touching than funny. In that vein, it’s similar to Up. Another major factor in animated fare is the voice-work. Here, it’s very good. Hader is solid in the lead, as is Farris. James Caan and Bruce Campbell are excellent. Surprisingly, the standout is Mr. T as Earl, seemingly the island’s only cop. As a regular actor, Mr. T was nothing special. He made his bones on his persona, not his acting chops. As a voice actor, he’s outstanding. I hope to hear more of him, in the future.

If you’re not totally aversed to kiddie-flicks, take a gander at Cloudy. It’s one you can actually enjoy sitting through with the little ones.

The Opposite View: Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle

What the Internet Says: 7.2/10 on imdb.com (9/24/10), 86% on rottentomatoes.com, 66/100 on metacritic.com

MY SCORE: 7.5/10