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**Recommended soundtrack to this review: Joe Jackson’s “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” Cue it up on YouTube and then commence reading.**

The storyline of She’s Out of My League is not a particularly new one. Average boy — with average friends, average job, annoying family and ex-girlfriend — meets Gorgeous Girl with great job, hot friends, perfect parents and a GQ/Fighter Pilot ex-boyfriend. Sparks, amazingly enough, fly. In League, the average guy is Kirk (played by Jay Baruchel, of Tropic Thunder, Knocked Up, and 2010’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice,) — an unassuming “6″ — who works in airport security and one day, through a series of only slightly unbelievable events, finds himself meeting and dating the aforementioned perfect girl, Molly — a “hard 10.” Naturally, Kirk can’t figure out why Molly is interested, so enter Kirk’s knucklehead friends and family who offer no support, ridiculous advice, and eventually beat Kirk’s self-confidence to a pulp… so much so that there’s nothing left — for Kirk or for Molly. Hilarity ensues. Really.

While predictable, somewhat cliche and silly at times, League is entertaining. Baruchel is so easy to root for — adorable, even . Alice Eve plays perfect girl Molly with a lightness and vulnerability that makes her totally lovable. In fact, it’s worth mentioning that because of the actors’ chemistry it isn’t at all implausible that Molly would be interested in Kirk, unlike most of the schlubby pop culture protagonists who end up with unattainable females (see: any network sitcom, Judd Apatow’s films).

Click on the image above to watch the red band trailer for She’s Out of My League.

The supporting cast of characters also provide some nice scene-stealing diversion, but not too much so. T.J. Miller is the standout who, along with Mike Vogel, many may recognize from Cloverfield. He plays the stereotypical a–hole friend with gusto and surprising comedic aplomb, that includes a humorous scene explaining the ubiquitous “rating scale” and how one adds or subtracts points to his or her “number.” He’s already landed a role in Yogi Bear and it is likely we’ll be seeing a lot more of him. Lindsey Sloane is also superb as Kirk’s annoying, trying-too-hard-to-be-hot, slightly trashy ex, Marnie.

First-time director Jim Field-Smith definitely knows his audience, i.e. how far to push the raunch-factor (there are two or three cringe-worthy scenes to worry about, one of which is in the trailer) and keeps the material moving at a good clip. He and his casting director should also be applauded for assembling such a likeable cast of actors. Even though I didn’t like every character, the actors’ performances won me over. The soundtrack is also fun — so much so that I heard an audience member ask a Paramount rep if they’d be releasing it. The rep’s answer: TBD.

League is the next “RaunchCom” in the vein of the Apatow/Rogen/American Pie universe. It is mindless fun, especially for Baruchel fans, with a little heart and surprising charm thrown in for good measure.

Over the last decade or so, we’ve seen the maturation of the comic book genre in film. Releases like ‘Sin City’, ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘Watchmen’ have all elevated the calibre of performance and cinematography to, at times, accolade-worthy levels – but apart from continuing to adapt, reboot and recycle, can this genre make fresh inroads? ‘Kick-Ass‘ proposes an answer of sorts through a marriage of Disney Channel wholesomeness and the kind of foul-mouth dialogue and bloodletting that would make Tarantino proud.

Director Matthew Vaughn, who helmed both ‘Layer Cake’ and ‘Stardust’ to limited success, takes Kick-Ass for a joyride, finally settling on a tone and pace that he can play with.

Aaron Johnson, who most recently played a young John Lennon in ‘Nowhere Boy’, is similarly charming as the unassuming teen everyman, Dave Lizewski. He and his buddies wax on about the realities of superheroics until, after one-too-many back alley beat-ups, Lizewski decides to take matters into his own hands. His alter-ego, Kick-Ass, becomes an overnight sensation on YouTube and suddenly masked vigilantism is in vogue.

That’s the core tale, but the beauty of Kick-Ass rests with the none-too-serious weave of teen drama and surprisingly sharp-toned humour. This is not the kind of film you take an under-15 to, either; there’s a high level of intensity to the adult themes here, hidden under the thin varnish of high school melodrama. The biggest smiles result from knowing nods to current pop trends; the ‘add to cart’ online shopping culture, YouTube infamy, social networking and all the trimmings and other touchstones of today’s connected youth. It rings true, which is a painful admission.

The relationship between Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz, most recently seen in ‘Bolt’, ‘(500) Days of Summer) and her father, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage, happily swinging between manic and saccharine), is arguably the most interesting relationship element in the story. Theirs is a tale worthy of a spin-off unto itself. Moretz is already an accomplished performer and her delivery is dead-on in Kick-Ass. She takes her cues from Uma Thurman’s The Bride in ‘Kill Bill’, but with the eerie detachment that comes with a young girl swinging a katana with a big grin on her face. It should be interesting to see what she does with her leading role in ‘Let Me In’ – itself a remake of the outstanding vampiric love story ‘Let The Right One In’.

Nicolas Cage lovingly apes Adam West’s stilted delivery while in the mock-Batman get-up. However, he’s strongest when exercising his warped parenting techniques, gifting his daughter with two butterfly flick-knives for her birthday and teaching her to take a bullet like a pro by firing a gun at her chest. It’s hilariously twisted stuff from Cage, who, oddly, puts in his best performance in a while – since ‘The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans’.

The fourth ‘hero’ comes in the form of Christopher Mintz-Plasse (‘Superbad’, ‘Role Models’)’s Red Mist. When his criminal overlord father (a delightfully scene-chewing Mark Strong; never quite as menacing as his role in ‘Sherlock Holmes’) begins to feel the impact of Kick-Ass’ crime crackdown, Red Mist steps out of the shadows in style – and suddenly becomes another celebrity crimefighter. While Mintz-Plasse may never shake McLovin from our minds, he definitely has his moments – and he knows how to play to his strengths.

Never forgetting its roots as a comic book, Kick-Ass delights in breaking into generic trademarks. “Meanwhile” is highlighted in a breakout text box for instance, and later in the film, series of panel-by-panel sketches and illustrations guide the narration, gently reminding audiences that this film has its tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Comic book cues continue with the cinematography and tight edits. The final act certainly stands as the most action-heavy, with excellent and inventive choreography that reminds instantly of Hong Kong action flicks and a terrific pay-off for audiences waiting for the heroes to get let off the chain.

Up to this point, though, there are a few storytelling shortcomings. There’s a definite overreliance on narration from Aaron Johnson which tends to detract from the subtlety (though, that’s hardly a word we could apply to most of Kick-Ass’ production) of the direction. The core story is ultimately as flimsy as you might expect – the high school setting provides the usual gag set-ups, occasionally subverted with some strong banter from the supporting cast. The soundtrack, as it stands it excellent – however, there was some talk of needing to secure the rights to key themes from two classic superhero movies, as well as several high profile tunes. Our fingers are crossed; there’s a lot of energy and appeal at stake there.

‘Kick-Ass was poorly marketed in some ways, too – though it’s admittedly a hard film to pin down in terms of audience, due to the graphic violence and supremely coarse language. It’s stuck in this nether-realm between teen movie and adult-oriented action flick – but the primary colours and bubblegum costumes eschew this one towards a younger audience. In some ways, we wish the tone was even darker and the action more unrestrained – perhaps driving home the adult nature of Kick-Ass a little more firmly.

The cast is likeable and the pace is assured, thanks to tidy direction. As the start of a potentially larger franchise, we think there’s room to toy around with Hit-Girl, and the ending clearly keeps this potential front and centre. Frankly, there are far worse sequels currently green-lit at this point, so we welcome the proposition.

All posturing and fist-pumps and hooting from the audience, Kick-Ass exceeds its modest, even formulaic, sales pitch. It’s more than a teen movie but less than a traditional superhero tale – and by treading this fine line, it comes up with its own hugely entertaining balance between the two.

Until The Hurt Locker won a slew of Oscars this weekend, the Iraq war had been seen as box office poison by those in Hollywood. Various directors tried making films critical of the conflict, like Brian De Palma with Redacted and Paul Haggis‘ In the Valley of Elah. All were gloomy, sombre affairs that dealt with heavy issues such as military censorship or the psychological damage suffered by soldiers – and all made absolutely no money at the box office.

The Hurt Locker bucked this trend because, ultimately, it was an exciting action film as well as a critique on the war, and it’s clear director Paul Greengrass and star Matt Damon were looking to emulate this approach with Green Zone. The pair have dressed up what is a very bold anti-war message in the guise of a fast-paced, action-packed and – let’s face it – very Jason Bourne-esque thriller. The result is a movie that’s exciting and entertaining, but as political statement extremely shallow and heavy-handed.

Opening in Baghdad (the title refers to the area in the city used by the US army) in 2003 as the ‘Shock and Awe’ campaign begins, Matt Damon’s Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller is dispatched to find WMDs. The problem is, despite his team’s best efforts and the wealth of intelligence available, they can’t find any.

Smelling a rat, he starts to ask high command some difficult questions and slowly begins to uncover an elaborate conspiracy involving every layer of government. Miller learns that the source of all the inaccurate intelligence is a shadowy figure known as ‘Magellan’, and decides to go rogue in an attempt to uncover the elusive and uncomfortable truth.

Matt Damon can’t handle the truth.

So begins a rather complex, bullet-riddled trawl through the shadowy underbelly of Iraq circa 2003. On the way Miller encounters Greg Kinnear’s chillingly slimy Pentagon bureaucrat, Brendan Gleeson’s cynical CIA chief and Amy Ryan’s Wall Street Journal reporter – all of whom have their own agendas.

Director Greengrass films the story in his by-now finely honed documentary-esque style, featuring long steady cam shots, lens flares and all manner of cinematic devices designed to make events feel as ‘real’ as possible. It’s an approach that elevated the Bourne movies above run-of-of-mill action fare, and if anything it works even better here.

The opening scene – taking place moments before the US begin shelling Baghdad – positively crackles with nervous energy and vividly recreates the sense of impending apocalypse that the Iraqi people must have felt at the time. You feel as though you were there.

Similarly the sequences showing Damon and his team investigating various bogus WMD sites. Their vain attempts to track down chemical weapons in treacherous factories and tower blocks stuffed with booby traps and snipers are vividly realised, and perhaps rivalled only by The Hurt Locker in their depiction of the frankly terrifying brand of cat-and-mouse combat being fought in the Middle-East today.

Slowly-but-surely, Greengrass cranks up the tension as the tangled web of sinister Pentagon agents, CIA bureaucrats, Iraqi security forces, Ba’ath party fugitives and Miller himself converge on the shadowy Magellan. Events conclude with an almighty shoot-out in Baghdad’s dimly lit back alleys that proves a fitting and suitably nail-biting finale.

Click the image above to see the Green Zone trailer.

As a piece of thrill-heavy entertainment then, Green Zone is a worthy follow-up to the Bourne films; a combination of the same visual style, suffocating atmosphere of paranoia and relentless narrative drive. All of which makes it all the more frustrating that the filmmakers had to be so obvious with their politics.

Early on Matt Damon’s character doesn’t question why America invaded Iraq. But as the story goes on and he delves further into the conspiracy, Miller ends up virtually going to war with the American army and protecting a ruthless former Ba’ath party general who represents – the film suggests – a preferable alternative as rulers of Iraq to the US government. It’s just the first of several plot developments that – along with some extremely heavy-handed dialogue – reinforces the movie’s implicitly anti-American stance in a way that isn’t particulary subtle.

The problem with taking such a highly opinionated approach is that most of the film is fictitious. Green Zone recalls moments we can all remember seeing on the news (we see snippets of speeches made by George Bush for example). However the bones of the plot – Miller’s investigation into the complex web of fabrication that lead the US to believe Saddam Hussein had WMDs – is almost entirely made up; dreamt up by screenwriter Brian Helgeland.

It’s an approach that undermines the entire argument. Green Zone uses evidence from its invented thriller plot to damn the real-life American government. If the filmmakers had been more oblique in their approach – say set the movie in a fictitious Middle Eastern-country or even toned down some the horribly laboured and didactic dialogue, then these political opinions wouldn’t have felt as intrusive. It’s just not particularly enjoyable to be lectured at, especially when you’re trying to enjoy a blood-splattered action film.

It’s a real shame that this over-simplistic approach almost undoes all that this good about Green Zone. As a technical achievement this is first rate in many ways – another example of Greengrass’ special ability to craft top-notch mainstream entertainment (he is matched perhaps only by Christopher Nolan in this regard). There’s still much enjoyment and excitement to be had with Green Zone, as long as you ignore the filmmakers’ attempts to ram half-baked politics down your throat.

Brooklyn’s Finest

Directed By Antoine Fuqua

Released Friday Feb 26, 2010 Nationwide

Running time: 133 minutes

Award-winning Director, Antoine Fuqua is best known for his gritty storytelling and drama-filled films like Training Day, Shooter and most recently Tears of the Sun. His latest cops and robbers-genre release Brooklyn’s Finest doesn’t stray too far from what seems to work for Fuqua – sex, action and naked women.

Set against the bowels of the New York’s East Brooklyn, Brooklyn’s Finest boasts an all-star ensemble led by one of Hollywood’s most talked about bad boys, Wesley Snipes.  Snipes plays Caz, who is also a recently freed drug kingpin that the audience will find it hard not connecting with. Even though we’ve seen this character from Snipes many times before, he’s able to bring Caz to life.

Most Fuqua films highlight a graying between good versus evil. Brooklyn’s Finest is no different as it is able to engage audiences with plenty gun-totting, action-driven movie-lovers. That won’t outshine the greatness of actors like Richard Gere (who plays Eddie) and Don Cheadle (playing Tango).

Both seasoned actors portray roles of vulnerable yet cunning police officers. Eddie, a worn out veteran cop, merely wants to finish out his tenure considered a good cop. When the film opens, he’s at the start of his last seven days of duty. To get him through it, he employs loyal companions – liquor and the neighborhood prostitute.

Tango (Don Cheadle) is an experienced undercover who wants out of his life on the streets for a cushy desk job as a detective. Ethan Hawke plays Sal, a narcotics officer balancing the pressures of a growing family and constant opportunities of temptation. All of the officers have bouts with corruption and failures, all of which become very obvious.

The script was written by Michael C. Martin and Brad Caleb Kane and feels a lot like the burnt-out cop stories that began to sprout in the ’70s, crossed with the dirty-cop movies that have seemingly been around forever. In each of the Brooklyn’s Finest police stories, happening simultaneously throughout the film, these cops have lost all perspective on their jobs yet they seem unashamed and unaware of their own irrational behavior.  This is most apparent with a desperate Sal (Ethan Hawke), who pockets money from a dope bust.

Each characters individual challenge make this male-dominated flick worthwhile and the resulting collision is a brutal ammunition-filled brawl of a movie. Brooklyn’s Finest will meet every-bit of your need for targeted violence and spilling sexuality; especially from newcomer Shannon Kane who spends most of the film in her birthday suite. But the title is a double entendre for the NYPD and may confuse those that associate it with a rap song by Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G. Set in BK, Brooklyn’s Finest is exceptionally produced and evokes greatly a drug-infested environment of East Brooklyn, including community outrage and exploding hostility.

The graphical complexity paired with monetary success of current generation videogames has lead to an inevitable blurring of the lines between interactive entertainment and Hollywood film. Games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Bioshock, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 have pushed the limits of cinematic presentation, but Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain has brought the concept to a whole new level.

Heavy Rain doesn’t draw inspiration from one film or genre, it takes its cues from several; combining elements of mystery, drama, and suspense as players take the perspective of four characters tied together by the investigation of a serial killer — the Origami Killer.

Regardless of whether you’ve only seen clips from Heavy Rain or completed the story yourself, you can clearly identify the films that the game’s creators were influenced by. We’ve made a list, checked it twice, and recommend that readers give these films a gander prior to or after playing thorugh Heavy Rain.

Warning: Minor Spoilers Ahead

The Silence of the Lambs

To anyone who has played Heavy Rain, our selection of Silence of the Lambs should be a no-brainer. During the course of the game, you take the perspective of Norman Jayden, an FBI agent sent to investigate the Origami Killer. Much like Clarice Starling, Jayden is a profiler for the FBI who specializes in tracking down serial killers. While Jayden doesn’t call upon the assistance of a convicted cannibal, the analytical methodology of the two psychological detectives are the same. Also much like Heavy Rain, Director Jonathan Demme manages to maintain a considerable level of suspense amongst lengthy bouts of dialogue. Not to mention, it’s one of Anthony Hopkins’ most memorable performances and one of the most highly-regarded crime films of all time.

Seven

Continuing on our trek of creepy murder mysteries, Seven is most certainly a must-see for fans (or aspiring players) of Heavy Rain. While taking a far more theological approach to a serial killer’s motives, Seven captures the ritualistic mystery of the serial killer in Heavy Rain. The killer toys with the characters of Seven in a similar fashion in Heavy Rain, demonstrating an awareness and seeming disregard for the consequences of their investigation. Seven is definitely not for the faint of heart, as it will definitely rattle a viewer with its atmospheric eeriness.

The Bone Collector

It may not be the most critically renowned films of 1999, nor the most memorable performances of either Denzel Washington or Angelina Jolie’s careers, but The Bone Collector definitely taps into the creepiness and mystery of Heavy Rain’s Origami Killer. The Bone Collector follows paralyzed ex-forensics specialist, Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington), and an active NYPD officer, Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie), as they investigate the crimes of a serial killer known as, you guessed it, the Bone Collector. The two race against time to find the killer before he claims more victims, much like the band of characters in Heavy Rain do. If the idea of Jolie and a bone collecting maniac don’t sell you, maybe Queen Latifah as Rhyme’s nurse will do the job. No?

Zodiac

The most recent of our recommendations, Zodiac is based on the true story of a serial killer in the 1970s, which remains an unsolved mystery to this day. Zodiac is also the second Fincher film to grace our list, the other being Seven. Clearly, Fincher was a strong influence on how Quantic Dream forged the “tone” of the film, and the story of Zodiac is paralleled in a number of ways. Both Zodiac and Heavy Rain follow the pursuits of people on either side of the law, each incorporating the perspectives of an official investigator and a reporter. Like Zodiac, the events of Heavy Rain also span several years, and result in drastic shifts in the lives of the featured characters.

Ransom

In Heavy Rain, the central character of the game is a father searching for his son, and few films match that concept better than 1996’s Ransom. Sure, Ethan Mars may not be a multimedia mogul like Ransom’s Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson), but he clearly is well off when the story begins. Soon after the disappearance of his son, however, his life falls apart. In their desperation, both Mars and Mullen result to unorthodox methods to retrieve their sons. The tone of Ransom is definitely not nearly as dark and ominous as Heavy Rain, but the core concept is just as compelling.

First The Bad:

It should have been a match made in movie heaven. Tim Burton, the visionary writer-director responsible for some of the most aesthetically original films of the last 25 years, adapting Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll’s endlessly imaginative fairytale adored by children and adults alike.

Unfortunately, the collision of those two worlds has created an almighty mess of a movie, full of headache-inducing visuals, performances of wildly varying quality, and a story that never truly comes to life.

A sequel of sorts, the film kicks off with young Alice suffering from a series of (what she thinks are) bad dreams that take place in a wondrous land full of strange talking creatures. Proceedings then flash forward to Alice as a 19-year-old girl trying to navigate her way through prim and proper Victorian society, the dreams very much a distant memory.

Alice is immediately established as a rebellious free-thinker, keen to smash through the social constraints placed upon her by friends and family. With a wild imagination she is metaphorically away with the fairies, and before long that description becomes more literal, with Alice heading down the rabbit hole and into ‘Underland’.

Once there, she is reunited with the friends from those childhood ‘dreams’, including the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Thanks to the passage of time however, Alice fails to recgnise the motley crew, and so much of the movie involves twisted spins on Alice’s encounters from the original tome.

Unfortunately, these awkward reunions add little to proceedings and sometimes have the adverse effect (do we really need a back story for the source of the Hatter’s madness?). There also seems to be little emotional connection between Alice and the characters, making it difficult to sympathise or empathise with any of them.

What plot there is revolves around the land being enslaved by the Red Queen, with Alice teaming up with friends old and new to end her terrible reign. But it’s not enough, the narrative never once intriguing enough to grip, and at times only serving to bore.

Worse still, much of the story seems cynically designed to build to a big Hollywood-style battle so common in the modern fantasy flick. But the work of Lewis Carroll is smarter and more subversive than that, meaning that the film’s bombastic finale feels like a betrayal of the source material.

The star-studded cast is also all over the place. Mia Wasikowska makes a charming Alice, Matt Lucas raises laughs as Tweedledum and Tweedledee and Helena Bonham Carter is on imperious form as the Red Queen, channelling Miranda Richardson’s Queenie from Blackadder II, but nevertheless stealing every scene in which she appears.

Anne Hathaway is flat and forgettable as her nemesis the White Queen however, while Crispin Glover is downright horrible as the Knave of Hearts, lacking the creepy charisma a role like this demands.

In the hands of another actor – like say Johnny Depp – the Knave could have been one of the film’s most memorable characters. But instead, Depp is yet again cast as the bonkers bloke in a Tim Burton film, here trying way too hard as the Mad Hatter.

Depp gurns, twitches and waddles through the movie, but his over-the-top schtick – replete with comedy accent – is painful to watch, and fast becoming old hat (if you’ll excuse the pun).

When Depp is understated – such as in 1990 Burton collaboration Edward Scissorhands – he can be devastating. But all too often in recent years his performances have been so overblown that they threaten to unbalance proceedings, something his turn comes dangerously close to doing here.

A film like this should be saved by its visuals however, but in this respect, Alice falls flat on its face. The imagery is certainly intricate and sumptuous, but it’s also so dark and oppressive that it’s hard to enjoy. That certainly fits with the tone of several downbeat sequences but as the film nears its conclusion, I couldn’t wait to leave Wonderland, something I’m sure Burton didn’t intend.

Adding a third dimension also does little to improve matters and at times makes the visuals exhausting to behold. With a slew of 3D films in the offing this year, one hopes that more thought goes into how and why the process is being used because here it feels like little more than an afterthought.

The result is an almighty disappointment that fails to capture the magic of Lewis Carroll’s tome, but at the same time never truly feels like a ‘Tim Burton’ film. Suffering from a severe deficiency of wonder, this Alice is by turns loud, lifeless and lacklustre, and so what should have been the perfect marriage of moviemaker and material instead does justice to neither.

Now The Good:

Allow your fears to be alleviated – those concerned about Tim Burton’s increasingly indulgent direction can ease back into their seats; Alice in Wonderland does not fall to the same pretension of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It’s not a vanity project or a hollow reboot. Alice in Wonderland is a lovingly filmed and meticulously crafted interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s treasured tale, rife with fantasy, coated in gothic iconography and presented by a superb cast who nail their characters’ portraits utterly.

At heart a tale of empowerment, Alice (Australian newcomer Mia Wasikowska) is haunted by the anxieties of her father’s passing. Set upon by her aristocratic family, she is set to be engaged but takes a tumble down the fated rabbit hole. And so the adventure begins; a brisk and massive production that borrows heavily from Carroll’s darker, more realistic and often bleak illustrations and character designs. Indeed, this is rich soil for Burton, whose design ethic often sidles up nicely with the twisted and impossible vistas of ‘Underland’.

Mia Wasikowska’s Alice is at first shrew-like; her alabaster skin is a gothic throwback in itself, but her piercing eyes are strong and her performance grows in intensity and confidence almost in line with her character’s. She’s an intensely watchable Alice – though we expect a few more years in front of cameras will improve her delivery to match her screen presence.

Watch the latest Alice in Wonderland trailer by clicking above.

It’s a pleasure to see Crispin Glover return to the screen. In his role as Stane, the Knave of Hearts, he’s granted just enough material to chew on – though admittedly his screen presence is aided immensely by a terrific, gangly exaggeration of his body. He weaves through scenes like a praying mantis; a certain stilt to his movement reminded us of a dour Jack Skellington.

Playing opposite as the Queen of Hearts is Burton’s partner and go-to lead actress, Helena Bonham Carter. Her hydrocephalic head is initially all you’ll focus on, but her performance – lisp and quips and lovingly sour delivery – make her a truly despicable and memorable adversary.

Her antithesis is Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. She’s introduced a little late into the story, however, which somewhat undercuts her importance in the scheme of Underland’s fragile political balance. Hathaway’s tiptoe-light grace and affected arm extensions immediately build her persona.

Then there’s Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter. An engaging and eccentric performance, Depp manages to keep from overplaying a role that easily could’ve toppled into cheap exaggeration – something we were vaguely expecting. Rather, Depp’s Hatter is given a great deal of screen time, which may displease fans of the text, but his role is something of an escort for Alice. Depp’s wild eyes and manic, often accent-shifting, delivery consistently hits the right notes. Surely he’s tapped the last wells of his versatility with this role.

All twirling branches, checkerboard patterns and saturated hues, the realms of ‘Underland’ are up there with Pandora for immediate visual impact. The key difference rests with Tim Burton’s wonderful forced perspective moments and careful integration of real-world sets and props. There’s a lot going on here at all times – the colours and shapes will delight the kids, while Burton aficionados will devour the perfectly crafted framing and sequence after sequence of gorgeous costumes, tremendous interiors and careful make-up.

Mia Wasikowska eases into Alice’s shoes (and various dresses) as she goes along.

While initial trailers and stills pointed to a heavy-handed approach to computer-generated characters such as The Cheshire Cat, in practice the animation is so lively and enjoyably upbeat that it actually matches the warped landscape. Screened in 3D, Alice in Wonderland also treats you to some clever depth integration; some flying sequences do hit you over the head with it, but the pace is such that you won’t be dwelling.

While Alice in Wonderland generally dodges the indulgent pratfalls of several recent Burton films, there are still a few thorns that stuck out. Of these, the most incongruous was the inclusion of a baffling (and mercifully short-lived) dance sequence at the end of the film. You’ll probably balk; it’s not a ‘we’re laughing with you there too, Tim’ moment. Similarly the choice of Avril Lavigne’s pop tune as the opening track of the end credits is bafflingly at odds with the mostly excellent Danny Elfman score. Pop beats kill the ethereal feel Burton works hard to achieve in the space of about two minutes. The transparent product licensing pulls the rug out from under Alice at the finish line.

At times, the plotting also feels rushed – perhaps as a result of tight editing to keep the runtime to a family-friendly length. Alice leaps from point to point, character to character, and we’re barely given enough time to really engage with them. Again, it’s not going to affect your enjoyment, but it’s a rare instance where we could’ve spent an additional 20 minutes in Tim Burton’s playground.

For a production that so easily could’ve fallen into any number of its own rabbit holes along the way, it’s a delight and relief to follow Alice through this interpretation of Carroll’s world. Alice in Wonderland never sacrifices its heritage for a broad audience, and the result is a thoroughly entertaining adventure that treads carefully through the beloved text. Tim Burton easily redeems his recent misfires with a dark, delicate and balanced family fantasy.

Though The Crazies doesn’t follow the “Of the Dead” series by title, it certainly does by tone, direction and style. Director Breck Eisner, son of the famed Disney Eisners, clearly took a few notes from the other modern directors that have already collaborated with writer/director George A. Romero to remake his classic 1970s and ’80s zombie titles. The main difference between this and the others is that the original Crazies never caught on with audiences in the way that Dawn and Day of the Dead did in their original releases. So Eisner had to be a bit creative with this remake, but Romero’s role as executive producer kept him close enough for inspiration, but far enough away for Eisner to make a few needed adjustments to the original and politically charged 1973 film.

The basic idea of the 2010 rendition of The Crazies is that the unsuspecting townsfolk of Ogden Marsh, Iowa, have fallen victim to some kind of outbreak that is infecting at random and turning otherwise unremarkable people into uncontrollable, crazed killers. The film opens at a high school baseball game; cheering crowds, rowdy teenagers and one unsuspecting hometown sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) are all gathered for the only excitement the town can muster. Then, out of left field — literally — comes one of the townsfolk armed with a shotgun and looking for a fight. Sheriff Dutton quickly takes the man down, but something in his eyes tells Dutton that there was more than cheap beer in his system.

The movie is non-stop from this moment on: One by one the townsfolk fall victim to the unnamed illness and we, the audience, are forced to follow each individual Crazy as he stalks and kills those most dear to him. It comes down to the few — Sheriff Dutton; his pregnant wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell); Becca (Danielle Panabaker), an assistant at the medical center; and Russell (Joe Anderson), Dutton’s deputy and right-hand man versus a town full of Crazies. Forced to band together, “an ordinary night becomes a horrifying struggle for survival as they do their best to get out of town alive.” With all that said, however, this movie didn’t take the liberties with gore that its predecessor did. Though Eisner wasn’t exactly true to his Disney roots, he certainly held back on the mutilations and blood splatters that have become the zombie industry standard. (And yes, I know that the Crazies aren’t technically zombies, but whatev.)

Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Danielle Panabaker and Joe Anderson aren’t crazy — yet!

The previews for this movie did a good job of prepping the audience for some of the most terrifying moments without giving too much away, but that’s probably because there wasn’t much more to tell by way of gore. We all knew that Sheriff Dutton was going to get into some gnarly fights with the Crazies and that one of them was going to walk around dragging a bloody pitchfork through a hospital ward, but what they didn’t show was just how cleanly the characters got off. A pitchfork through the torso should have coated the walls in gore, but a close-up of the underside of a gurney barely hinted at the carnage we would have seen in other, similar films.

Gore is definitely a style choice, but when it comes down to it, multiple pyrotechnics with zombies… er, Crazies on fire just can’t do what a surgical saw can (and almost did). I don’t need Hostel-style graphics to get me through a horror film, but a bit of blood can go a long way to keep the audience off kilter, rather than doing a lot of slow buildups and sudden pops that end in little more than a blow to the head (followed by a double tap — thank you Zombieland).

In sum, The Crazies remake has the same taste and appeal of the other Romero remakes, but it has the privilege of going a step further as its original was not among the greatly revered original flicks. Eisner does a great job of piecing together what was good in the original, but pulls away from the overzealous political commentary that hampered it in ‘73. The Crazies, though a bit weak on the gore scale, should still be scored with at least 4 stars in the horror category as it nails the popular zombie genre, but it will have to settle with an overall 3.5 as we cannot determine a film’s quality if it is only compared to others in the same genre. The acting is pretty clean and the effects are fun to watch, but Eisner doesn’t bring anything new or edgy to the film. It will definitely do it for horror/zombie fans and it is a great Friday night pick for the average moviegoer.

Kevin Smith has had a bit of a dry spell lately, hasn’t he? We all loved the guy when he first emerged with the indie hit Clerks, and the unique voice exhibited in his films that followed was a welcome break from the usual Hollywood dreck. But in recent years his acting credits have provided more amusement than his directing and writing work. So what’s been the problem?

Frankly, he’s been the problem. That old Kevin Smith style that made his early work so memorable, that witty-cum-vulgar repartee, had become less witty and more vulgar of late. But maybe he saw the writing on the wall as the rest of us have, for unlike some of his writer/director peers who are facing the same issue, he’s decided to change things up a bit with his latest film, Cop Out. Here Smith the director is a hired gun, shooting someone else’s words for a change — the first time in his feature career, in fact. And you know what? It suits him.

Cop Out is the new buddy-cop comedy from Warner Bros. starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. Unlike the detective characters played by the two leads, the film is strictly by the book; the script by TV writers Robb and Mark Cullen hits all the marks of this well-worn genre, never really bothering to color outside the lines. But that’s where Smith — and Willis and Morgan — come in, injecting personality and an offbeat edge into what could very easily have been Just Another Buddy Cop Movie.

Still, at times it almost seems in danger of becoming just that. The premise involves straight man Willis and his cartoonish partner Morgan as they attempt to track down a missing baseball card collectible that will help pay for the wedding of Bruce’s daughter (Michelle Trachtenberg). This search leads them to a kidnapped Mexican hottie (Nacho Libre’s Ana de la Reguera) and also to an on-the-rise drug kingpin (Guillermo Diaz, looking weirdly like Eric Bana’s Nero from Star Trek). Etc., etc.

Punctuating this plot are moments of weirdness and fun, some of which are clearly the input of Smith — “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for!” screams Morgan during a movie-quote laden suspect interrogation scene — as well as the result of 30 Rock star Morgan’s constant, almost exhausting riffing. Willis is often bemused by the goings-on around him, it seems, but in a good-natured way. He never mocks his well-recognized movie cop persona with his role here, but he is able to have fun as he plays along with the hijinks.

Ably assisting these Couple of Dicks (one of the film’s original titles, by the way) is a way underutilized Seann William Scott. He sort of takes on the Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon sidekick role in several scenes, playing a small-time crook blessed with a mastery of parkour (he can climb walls and whatnot), but cursed with a mean case of ADD. Well, not really cursed, since his verbal exchanges with Morgan — as the two mimic one another, Bugs Bunny style — are among the highlights of the film.

Abbott & Costello & Stifler

Unfortunately, while the picture’s marketing would have you believe otherwise, Scott really isn’t in Cop Out all that much. And neither are many of the other familiar faces that pop up, including Kevin Pollak, Adam Brody, Jason Lee, Rashida Jones, Susie Essman and Fred Armisen — it’s all diminishing returns for this group. Jones in particular is shortchanged in a thankless “wife” role, the unlikely spouse of Morgan’s walking cartoon character. The guy’s funny when he’s on a roll, but he’s seemingly unable to make the transition from that state of play to believable human being in his scenes with Jones.

Smith handles the action and gunplay stuff well, thereby amping up his resume with a whole new skill set. But some shoddy technical notes must be pointed out: Seann William Scott’s parkour stunt double is noticeably slimmer than the actor (and while this may be intentional and meant as a gag, it doesn’t play that way) and there are several continuity errors when Smith (who also edited the film) crosscuts between the players in dialogue scenes.

And yet, Cop Out is so amiable and just off enough that you’re willing to forget most of its faults. And while the die hard Smith fans may be arguing over whether or not this is a movie that exists in the Askewniverse, when Morgan’s cell phone rings early in the picture and the Knight Rider theme song starts playing, the point seems moot.

As every fan knows, the word “crisis” has a special meaning in the DC Universe. It conjures up images of epic, cross-world stories that have a lasting impact on the characters and continuity of entire franchises. So when fans see the title Crisis on Two Earths, there’s a reasonable expectation that the story will be epic and world-changing. While this direct-to-DVD animated title meets the first criteria quite masterfully, it is important to note that it is a standalone title, bearing no connection to any other existing Justice League storyline. Had it been produced as it was originally intended — to bridge the gap between the two TV series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited — it might have had more of an affect on the DC Universe as a whole. That said, it’s still fun and filled with a good balance of plot, action and humor that ought to win over even the most skeptical fan.

Those who want to see the seeds of that connection between Crisis and the television incarnations of the Justice League won’t have to look very hard. The character designs are similar, and although the lineup of heroes is slightly different, it begins with a small, core team working on the satellite that will eventually become the base of operations for a larger cast of characters. The main cast includes Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern (Hal Jordon, not John Stewart, as in the TV series). There are also cameos galore, including some characters we already know and their evil alter egos from a parallel world (who are fun to figure out if you know anything about the DC Universe).

To further distance this story from the others that have come before, there have been some voice cast changes as well. The new voices take some getting used to, and in some cases it’s tough to get over the image that goes along with the voice. But once the well-animated action kicks in, you’ll start to see Batman instead of William (“Billy”) Baldwin, Superman instead of Mark Harmon and Lex Luthor instead of Chris Noth. Not to be outdone, the villains also have some marquee names to their credits, with none other than James Woods providing the subtly sinister voice of alt-universe Batman, known in his world as Owl Man, and Gina Torres sounding at once seductive and strong as Super Woman, an evil counterpart to Wonder Woman.

Taking inspiration from the storylines of the comics — Crisis on Earth-Three and JLA: Earth 2 specifically — the movie finds the Justice League clashing with their evil counterparts in the Crime Syndicate after a desperate, alt-universe Lex Luthor arrives in our world to seek their help. In his own universe, he’s not only a hero, but the former leader of the Justice League, and its sole remaining member. With no one left to stop the Crime Syndicate, Lex fears that his world is doomed to fall into chaos. It takes some convincing, but eventually Superman (Harmon), Wonder Woman (Vanessa Marshall), Flash (Josh Keaton) and Martian Manhunter (Jonathan Adams) join up. So pretty much everyone except Batman (Baldwin) agrees to come and help him save his world.

The Crime Syndicate is run much like the mob (or at least how the mob is portrayed in movies and TV), with a handful of captains managing their own crews, consisting of legitimate super-powered criminals and “made men,” or underlings who are given powers in exchange for their loyalty and service. The upper echelon of villains includes Ultraman (alt-Superman), Owl Man (alt-Batman), Superwoman (alt-Wonder Woman) and Johnny Quick (alt-Flash). They have become so powerful that the authorities look the other way, but the standoff is quickly disintegrating and there are fewer and fewer individuals with the power or the will to stand up to them. When they acquire enough firepower to tip the balance, it’s up to the heroes of our world to stop them. But it’s not just their own world they’re out to destroy.

Wonder Woman director Lauren Montgomery teams up with Planet Hulk director Sam Liu, bringing the best of both of those projects (two of the best to come out of their respective company’s direct-to-DVD lines) to the screen. The animation is impressive, fluid and detailed, with a scale that seems to stretch far beyond the small screen. There’s a lot of action in this too, ranging from intimate one-on-one fights to major conflicts between dozens of characters. Both are handled equally well, and with a playful sense of humor that screenwriter Dwayne McDuffie (a former writer for the Justice League TV series) infuses in the film from the very first scene. There are also pop-culture references abound, from Air Force One to Star Wars to Watchmen.

Whether you’re a longtime comic-book reader, a fan of the television series or completely new to the Justice League franchise, there’s something in this for everyone.

A masterpiece on par with Pixar’s very best films, Andrew Stanton’s overdue follow-up to Finding Nemo is everything one could possibly want from a film about a robot finding love, and even more. But the problem is that its substance is all so visible and understandable that it demands, and needs, no further analysis. All of which is why the best that should be said about it is it’s wonderful, and if you haven’t already you should see it as soon as possible on Blu-ray. The beautifully animated film has undeniable technical and conceptual merits, but it’s its emotional core that makes the difference between just another animated film and what this one uniquely offers. It doesn’t matter if you think about the movie, only if you feel something while watching it. Ultimately, WALL.E serves its potential audience — that is, everyone — extremely well because it offers older viewers the opportunity to examine its deeper themes while it thrills younger ones with colorful imagery and a fun, simple and most of all beautiful story.

In typical Pixar tradition, it should come as no surprise that WALL.E arrives on a stunning Blu-ray transfer. The wonderfully conceptualized worlds through which WALL.E travels are offered the very best that the format has to offer — scope, scale, color, clarity, contrast… Everything one would want from a home viewing experience is to be found here. The 5.1 DTS-HD mix is nearly flawless, utilizing music and sound effects to create a fully realized emotional world for a robot who hardly speaks. With 45 minutes of the film running without dialogue, that it could sound so spectacular is praiseworthy in itself. Lastly, the animated shorts, commentaries, interactive games, deleted scenes and making-of are all worth the price of admission, but it’s the beauty of the film’s content and presentation that should really keep you coming back to this disc time and time again.

It’s a funny thing, but often the films that look the very best on Blu-ray are the ones that existed long before HDTV’s and Blu-ray players were a twinkle in some mad inventor’s eye. The Wizard of Oz may be over 70 years old by now, but it’s one of the finest visual experiences you can have with your Blu-ray player.

The picture quality on the 70th Anniversary Edition eclipses all past remastered versions. The film’s bright color palette and imaginative imagery wowed audiences in 1939 who were still accustomed to dingy black-and-white movies. Now that same effect is finally replicated for the home viewer.

The copious extras in this set should also please even the most stringent of Oz fans. Numerous documentaries and featurettes are present that explore every aspect of the filmmaking process, the actors, the music, and even the original Oz books themselves. Those who love the soundtrack will be delighted to find several hours’ worth of alternate song takes and choral arrangements. In short, this three-disc set offers something for every Oz lover. It’s hard to imagine a Hollywood classic being done better justice on Blu-ray.

Leave the gun. Take the cannoli. And definitely take this Blu-ray collection! Containing the first two Godfathers, widely considered to be a pair of the greatest films ever made, as well as the third, which isn’t as horrible as it’s often made out to be (but pales in comparison to its predecessors), this high-def set is an offer you can’t refuse. You should be sleeping with the fishes if you don’t pick this one up. Johnny Fontaine never gets the high-def release of these films!

Go ahead: Pick your favorite Godfather line and use it to express why this set is so awesome.

It’s hard to overstate the painstaking work that has gone into this restoration, which was complicated by the fact that the original negative has been damaged over time thanks to the many prints that have been struck from it. Combine that with the style of cinematographer Gordon Willis — who created an astonishing range of black levels contrasted with blown-out whites — and you have a pretty challenging restoration project on your hands. But somehow, the technical wizards have worked their magic here and recreated a beautiful, clear picture. Even director Francis Ford Coppola himself admits that he’s forgotten how the films looked when they first came out. This is as close as they have ever been. Coppola also supervised a fine new Dolby Digital 5.1 mix for the 2001 release, and that hasn’t really been improved upon here. The TrueHD presentation, however, adds some richness and oomph to that track that makes for a fuller sound.

A host of new extra features is mixed in with older ones that were previously created for the 2001 standard-definition release. As if the restored films alone would be reason enough to own this set, the extra features are plentiful and mostly informative. And the inclusion of “additional” scenes (34 in all) is a completist’s dream come true. They’ve all been released before on various sets over the years, but have never been collected in one place like this before. Yet another reason why this set is a must-have.

If you really want to impress and earn the envy of your Blu-ray deficient friends, sit them down in front of your HD set and throw this baby into your player. You’re guaranteed to hear a chorus of “wows” right from the first astonishing image. Now, this is probably not the kind of thing you’ll want to sit down in front of with a bowl of popcorn on a Saturday night, but it’s a surprisingly engaging and utterly gorgeous look at all the different facets of this world we call home.

With a production crew consisting of 71 cameramen in 62 countries, the BBC ventured out to create the largest and most breathtaking view of nature ever seen. Produced by those responsible for the Emmy-winning series Blue Planet: Seas of Life, Planet Earth features rare footage of nature as it’s never been seen before, all set to a sweeping score. With lush landscapes and action-packed chase-hunt scenes, even the most finicky viewers will be mesmerized by this incredible production.

By separating this multi-part documentary across four DVDs, this stunning, high-def presentation sacrifices neither fidelity nor overall quality, allowing each exquisitely filmed documentary to comfortably fill the available space, avoiding any signs of compression or noticeable artifacts. In truth, the visual quality of Planet Earth probably rivals the vibrancy and detail of actual human eyesight. It appears as if every detail of every landscape, rock-face, reflection, leaf, sand dune, animal and bug has been perfectly captured and painted across your television screen. You’ll be trekking from shore to shore in gorgeous HD, completely unaware that you’re actually being educated.

There aren’t any special features in this collection, which is a shame because we’d really love to know how some of those amazing shots were achieved. But that’s a small quibble for a landmark series that rivals any nature documentary ever filmed. Nearly as crystal clear as life itself, Planet Earth deserves to explore the forefront of your Blu-ray collection.

Star Trek instantly takes its place among the best of the movies in the franchise, even while embracing the healthier aspects of the series and wholly rejecting much of the dead weight. The film looks bigger and better than any Star Trek ever has, and makes new and old fans eager to see more adventures from this Enterprise crew.

With that said, that sound you hear is your mind being blown when you watch J.J. Abrams’ reboot in 1080p. We here at Blu-ray HQ duked it out, like Kirk and the Gorn, over which transfer was better — Trek’s or Planet Earth’s. Ultimately, we chose Trek because Blu aims to capture the cinema visual experience in your living room, and this Paramount release does exactly that.

Unlike some blockbuster titles, Trek’s transfer does a better job of maintaining its filmic quality, especially during extensive special effects scenes. Devestator and Prime Deluxe during the climax of TF2 look great, but they also pop a bit from their real-world backgrounds, reminding us that they are a special effect. That is not the case with Trek. The assault on the Kelvin is nothing but ILM at its best, each explosion and torpedo hit looks just as real as it did on the big screen.

The subtler effects sequences, such as sky extensions or green screen effects, are also effectively realized here.

Color levels are perfect; the film jumps between warm reds and oranges, gun-metal blues and whites, and sickly Romulan greens without missing a beat. The Enterprise bridge and the Enterprise itself provide significant image detailing and depth — the way the light refracts off the ship’s aztec paint job is one of the nicer details this transfer captures. Flesh tones and facial details overall are very natural and intricate, again a testament to the filmic quality maintained here.