WHAT IF (2013)

Still reeling from being cheated on by (and breaking up with) his ex-girlfriend, Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe) is a med school dropout working in an office when he attends a party and meets a funny, cute girl named Chantry (Zoe Kazan), his best friend's cousin and an animator with a great sense of humor he instantly bonds with.  Walking her home later that night, Wallace gets his hopes up when Chantry offers her number, so they can hang out again ... but also casually mentions that she lives with her long-term boyfriend of five years, Ben (Rafe Spall).  With even his best friend (Adam Driver) finding romance, Wallace's loneliness is offset only by what turns out to be an amazing friendship with Chantry, the two having so much in common - but can a best-friendship between a man and woman remain just a friendship?  The answer is not as predictable as you'd expect, and the chemistry between Radcliffe and Kazan sparkles on-screen in this sweet, funny rom-com.  (rated PG-13) B+

WHAT IF trailer

NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 2 (1994)

The first Night of the Demons was a fun, silly, entertaining drive-in type of horror movie, engaging in a low-budget way in telling its story of party girl Angela, who hosts a Halloween party in a former cemetery, Hull House, that gets way out of hand when demons set out to posses both hostess and her guests.  This sequel, made six years later, follows up with Angela's younger sister Melissa - called Mouse - who resides in the dorms of a Catholic school, and is caught up in the maelstrom when some of the other students sneak out to Hull House and end up unleashing Angela into the world.  Can only a demonology student wielding a super-soaker gun full of holy water and a stern, yardstick-wielding nun who acts like Bruce Lee in a habit save the school?  The sequel plays the comedy factor up even more, though the blood and b-movie gore has its moments as well, in - surprisingly - a sequel that almost lives up to its original.  Almost.  (rated R) B-

NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 2 trailer

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (2014)

A wave of crime, led by the evil Shredder and his Foot Clan, has all but put New York City in the hands of the bad guys.  Meanwhile, fledgling TV reporter April O'Neil (Megan Fox), seeking her big break, is determined to get the story on the Foot Clan's next move when she accidentally stumbles upon a set of vigilantes in the form of man-sized, teenage mutant turtles who have been living and learning martial arts in the sewers below the city by their master, Splinter (a morphed rat with a heart of gold) ... and may be the city's only hope.  By far the best thing about the film are the turtles themselves; Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael and Leonardo have never looked better, or been more fully-realized.  But a weak, predictable script overly reliant on outrageous action sequences via producer Michael "overkill" Bay, and bad casting via Fox and (even worse) Will Arnett, all work to drag down what could have been a great film to a serviceable feature ... still worth watching just for the turtles themselves.  (rated PG-13) C+

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES trailer

WEDDING PALACE (2013)

Jason (Brian Tee) is nice, befuddled sort of ad executive who has just been jilted at the altar by his bride to be (via an arranged marriage) - and yet that's not the worst of his problems.  Due to a family curse, Jason has to be married by the age of thirty or else he will die, and with the thwarted wedding his over-anxious family (his parents, especially) are freaking out over the possibility of losing their son.  When a business trip to Korea finds Jason meeting and having one date with a girl he met at work, after returning home the two end up growing closer and more in love, via phone and internet, to the point where Brian proposes and she agrees to relocate to Los Angeles for the wedding.  But a very surprising twist may throw the entire marriage - and Jason's life - into turmoil, in a funny, sweet and endearing romantic comedy exploring culture and family ... and firmly anchored by the charm of its male lead in Tee (along with a brilliant cast), who proves he can handle romantic comedy as deftly as the more dramatic - even sinister - characters he normally plays.  (not rated) B+

WEDDING PALACE trailer

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014)

Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) was just a boy when he was taken from earth, but has now grown up to be a sort of space pirate, foraging the outer reaches of the galaxy in search of treasures to make a profit from.  When he obtains a mysterious orb from a far-distant planet, however, Quill suddenly finds himself on the run from others who would possess it, including Yondu, the fellow ravager who helped to raise him, and one of the biggest baddies in the system, Ronan the Accuser (an unrecognizable Lee Pace), who intends to use the orb to destroy an entire race of beings.  Forced to pull together with a motley crew of fellow bandits - including a talking raccoon, a lovable walking/talking tree named Groot, an oversized strongman, and a beautiful green warrior with her own agenda - to prevent disaster, Quill is like a combined Han Solo/Luke Skywalker in what feels very much like a modern-day Star Wars, in a perfectly-executed film full of action, humor and heart.  One of the year's best.  (rated PG-13) A

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY trailer

OUIJA (2014)

Having had an experience on a Ouija board, over 25 years ago, that pretty much guaranteed I will never lay hands on one again, it doesn't mean enjoyment can't be had when a bunch of good-looking college kids pay a dastardly price for messing with one in this film, "based on the popular game".  This standard horror story starts with a girl named Debbie who offs herself after working a Ouija board alone, and her best friend Laine (Olivia Cooke of "Bates Motel") who can't let Deb's death go to the point where she gathers the girls best friends together to try and contact Debbie on the other side.  Mayhem ensues when they release something far more evil - but even with a competent cast and a couple of decent jump scares, the script and ending both make this film a mediocre, seen-it-all-before addition to the horror genre.  Not that bad ... but could have been so much better.  (rated PG-13) C-

OUIJA trailer

THE PAINTING (2011)

This beautiful, thematically complex animated French film centers around a painting that holds characters who live and breathe as you and me: the Alldunns, who are finished characters who live in splendor and label themselves rulers of the land; the Halfies, whose colors were never fully painted in by the artist (the lower middle class, if you will); and the Sketchies, those who are but rough drawings never fully realized by their creator.  When an Alldunn falls for a Halfie, upsetting authority, an Alldunn, a Halfie and a Sketchie all go on a quest to find the painter, in the hopes he or she will finish them all, making everyone in their world equal.  But life beyond the painting is not all they expect, and neither is the painter ... in a colorful, wonderful, and deeply thoughtful film that touches on themes and values most American-made animation wouldn't (at least not at this level).  One of those films that, once you see it, you wish everyone else could, too. (not rated)  A-

THE PAINTING (LE TABLEAU) trailer

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2014)

Amazing, how the reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise is producing such terrific films - this one being no exception.  A fan of the original series, I was wholly impressed with its predecessor, but Dawn easily lives up to it, with the level of special effects achievable in film today worthy of these stories ... yet not overshadowing them, instead giving you a backdrop of mostly-ape characters that you grow to love and care about even more than their human counterparts.  Here, ten years after a pandemic (the "simian flu") has killed off most of the world, in San Francisco a remaining faction of humans must access a dam in order to keep their power going - and find it rests in the middle of the forest land apes have called home since Caesar led the revolution years ago.  Will peace, or war, will win in the end?  With both sides having both friends and enemies within their own camp, it comes down to Caesar and the human's leader Malcolm (Jason Clarke) to try and keep things civil even as war is plotted from within.  Brilliant film. (rated PG-13)  A

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES trailer

WHITE BIRD IN A BLIZZARD (2014)

Shailene Woodley, adds another notch to her formidable acting belt here, playing high school girl Kat, who in 1988 is so emotionally distanced from her parents that it's hardly a blip on the radar when her mother, Eve (Eva Green), disappears one day.  Kat's dad, Brock (Christopher Meloni), is distraught, even though his wife treated him like crap for most of their marriage, and is the one putting up posters and searching for what appears to be his runaway wife, but Kat had her own issues with Eve so after awhile it just becomes natural that it's only her and her dad ... until three years later when, home for break from college, Kat starts to realize there might be more to the disappearance than she ever suspected.  Green and Meloni are terrific, as is the supporting cast, but ultimately the film suffers a bit from feeling stiff and emotionless - though worth a viewing for the cast and its quirkiness, alone. (rated R)  C+

WHITE BIRD IN A BLIZZARD trailer

CHEF (2014)

Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) is highly-acclaimed in southern California who seems to have lost his mojo - mainly due to being pushed into "safe" menus from his current boss, restaurant owner Riva (Dustin Hoffman).  Divorced from his wife and with little real quality time for his 10-year-old son, Carl's world tumbles even further when a bad review from a major blogger critic leads to a meltdown that gets him fired, world famous on YouTube for being a nutcase, and - in desperation - purchasing a food truck that, in the end, could be both his personal and professional saving grace, after all.  Written and directed by Favreau as well, the film hits all the right marks and some really sweet moments, but overall for me just felt kind of devoid of real emotion that made me feel connected with the characters.  And with no real conflict via its story, it plays more like a TV-movie maybe just one or two sugary step away from The Hallmark Channel. (rated R)  C

CHEF trailer

HORNS (2013)

Based on the novel by Joe Hill, Horns is the story of Ig Parrish (Daniel Radcliffe) - deeply in mourning after the mysterious murder of his girlfriend Merrin (Juno Temple), though the entire town and even his family think he killed her - who, one morning, wakes up to find a pair of decidedly devilish horns growing out of his forehead. Worse still, as the horns grow Ig finds they also bring out the worst in anyone he comes in contact with, his mere presence bringing out every nasty, hateful, bitter, evil (and, sadly, honest) trait that most of the human population has otherwise buried deep down inside.  With no explanation for the phenomenon forthcoming, Ig decides to use this new talent to learn the truth about what happened to Merrin, and while the film (and its ultimate denouement) comes off a bit anti-climactic, there's a lot to like in this bizarre dark comedy/drama that is not for everyone ... but certainly cements Radcliffe's ability to leave the boy wizard even further behind him. (rated R)  B

HORNS trailer

INTO THE STORM (2014)

Whatever you do, do NOT move to Silverton, Oklahoma, as this town spends nearly ninety minutes getting the crap kicked out of it by an unprecedented series of tornadoes ... while, in between some pretty decent special effects (it comes off at SyFy Channel level at first, but gets better), telling the story of a widower and his two sons - both of whom are, at dad's request, working on a video time capsule of their lives - as well as a group of documentary-making storm chasers, a couple of local yokels, and an entire high school full of kids that may as well have a fifty-foot wide target painted on it.  Silly, unevenly acted, but with at least a halfhearted attempts at character development, Into the Storm works best at what it does best - being a disaster film where people are incidental compared to the royal shagging Silverton gets by Mother Nature herself. (PG-13)  B-

INTO THE STORM trailer

WALKING ON SUNSHINE (2014)

Eighties music junkie that I am, this film had my full attention.  Indeed, it seems like every six or seven minutes of Walking on Sunshine's 97-minute runtime, some character is breaking out into an '80s song - and though half of them turned out to be songs from that decade I didn't like anyway, what really lost me here was the horrible acting and a lack of story.  Like a low-budget Mamma Mia! set in a beautiful coastal town in Italy (the film's best feature), it's a weak story about Taylor, a British girl summoned back to Italy - to a town where she had a summer romance three years before, prior to heading off to university - to meet up with her sister Maddie, only to find Maddie about to marry an Italian she's only known for two months, who just happens to be (wait for it) - the same man Taylor dated three years before!  The acting is spotty, the cast way too camera-conscious throughout (even beyond the musical numbers), and the ending one you could predict five minutes into the film.  I wanted to like it!. (not rated)  D

WALKING ON SUNSHINE trailer

A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES (2014)

Harking back to the days of Death Wish and other New York-based crime thrillers from the 1970's, A Walk Among the Tombstones - while not breaking any new ground in the genre, or in fact even in this simple story of faded ex-cop-turned-private-eye Matthew Scudder (an emotionally scruffy Liam Neeson) who takes on the case of a drug dealer whose wife was abducted, then tortured and murdered even after a hefty ransom for her was paid.  Dark, violent, and somehow completely intriguing, as the case gets more and more sinister Scudder finds himself trailing not one but possibly two serial killers at work ... and as simple and spare and stark as the film is, for fans of the genre it's simplicity is exactly what makes the film so watchable, Neeson's grumpy, do-what-it-takes private eye is a welcome throwback to when gutsy urban crime films didn't need a twist ending or dazzling special effects to simply entertain. (rated R)  A

A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES trailer