Snap Judgments - a Quick Review of 5 Movies

The Fourth Kind

An Alaskan psychologist (Milla Jovovich) discovers 3 of her patients are experiencing identical, horrific nightmares and that it may be the result of alien abductions. Documentary video and audio footage is edited together with reenacted footage very well by director Olatunde Osunsanmi. There are many creepy and shocking moments which will last with you for months. It also makes you confront which type of filmstock (video, 16 mm, 35 mm, etc.) is more "real" to you and why that is. Unfairly overlooked, you'll enjoy every one of the 98 minutes. Just don't research the backstory too much, because then you'll feel cheated. B

Brothers
It doesn't know if it wants to be a gritty POW drama, a budding relationship lovefest, or (as its title would suggest) a fraternity exploration. Its 105 minute running time doesn't give enough time to do any of it well. But the performances are outstanding which was expected from Natalie Portman and a humorously relaxed Jake Gyllenhaal. Tobey Maguire is surprisingly great as the presumed-dead POW who comes home to find everything different. Director Jim Sheridan chose his material better this time out (last film - Get Rich or Die Tryin'!), but he's much better at making personal (In America) or Irish (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father) stories. This whole affair seems a bit detached and too faithful to the original Danish film. B-

Paranormal Activity

In this low budget thriller, a couple investigates strange night-time occurrences by placing a video camera in their own bedroom. Comparisons to The Blair Witch Project are appropriate given the bad acting and the low-rent visuals. There are some genuinely creepy moments but credibility is strained when the film bends over backwards to get the duo to stay in their home when they really should have run far, far away. OK the first time, but I doubt there's anything to gain by an encore viewing. C+

Serious Moonlight
A successful lawyer (Meg Ryan) discovers her husband (Timothy Hutton) is cheating on her with a younger woman (Kristen Bell), then bounds and gags him in their vacation home to force him to fall back in love with her. The characters have no likable traits and the action is more suitable for the stage with basically one location. Does anyone really wants to see an unhappy couple fight for 90 minutes? The best scene is the last where there's a nifty little twist. Directed by Cheryl Hines! D+

Armored

Nimrod Antal is the most unpleasant director ever. It's hard to make Laurence Fishburne, Matt Dillon, and Jean Reno completely detestable, but Antal achieves this feat after doing the impossible and making me hate both Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale in his last movie Vacancy. In Armored, security guards decide to steal their own payload, but their most recent addition (Columbus Short) has second thoughts. Stupid characters, stupid violence, stupid plot, stupid dialogue, and the worst cinematography ever. Up next for Antal - Predators - you've been warned. D