Rango (2011)

 

Editorial Reviews

An animated Western with a chameleon as the hero is an unlikely concept, but Rango is a great film thanks to its witty mix of parody, intriguing characters, and sophisticated humor. When a common pet chameleon who's suffering from an identity crisis crashes headfirst into the stereotypically classic Western town of Dirt, he has the unique opportunity to completely reinvent himself. Dubbing himself Rango, the chameleon boasts of his own heroism and creates a spiral of deception that lands him an appointment as sheriff of a town in crisis. The question is, can one unprepared and completely unqualified chameleon possibly change this little town's future for the better? And how do road kill, enlightenment, and the Spirit of the West figure in to the equation? The animation looks great in this film and kids will love the goofy characters and crazy scenarios. But adults will find the film intriguing on a whole different level because of its comic parody of the iconic classic and spaghetti Western genres and the skilled balance of action, romance, and adventure. Kudos to director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) and the talented voice cast, among them Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Ned Beatty, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, and Bill Nighy, for an award-worthy film. Some kids ages 7 to 9 may find the film rather dark and the action a bit too intense, but kids 10 and older should be fine as long as parents don't object to the PG rating (some rude humor, language, smoking, and action). --Tami Horiuchi

Product Description

Get ready to tango with Rango, a winner with critics and audiences that’s “like nothing you’ve ever seen before” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone). Johnny Depp is spectacular as Rango, a kooky pet chameleon who gets tossed into a wild and raucous town in desperate need of a hero. Refreshingly original with eye-popping animation, Rango is “loads of fun and genuinely funny” (Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times). And now you can get even more Rango on DVD including a never-before-seen ending, 10 deleted scenes, and much more.

Director Gore Verbinski has put together quite the filmography over the years. His first feature film was the family comedy Mousehunt, which he followed up with the R-rated action comedy The Mexican. He also jumped on the successful remake bandwagon before the trend really took off with The Ring. It was the Pirates of the Caribbean films that teamed the director with the hottest actor in Hollywood today; Johnny Depp. Perhaps it's because those films made over a billion dollars at the box office or because they just had fun working together or a little bit of both that Depp was chosen to voice a talking chameleon in Verbinski's bizarre yet spectacular animated adventure known as Rango.

Rango isn't your average animated film. That fact will become abundantly clear during Rango's opening monologue amongst his "friends." The film is actually more adult than any of the trailers let on. Within the first ten minutes of the film, Rango has a rather lengthy conversation with some fresh roadkill. In addition to that, the last half of the film is much darker than the first half. Maybe it's the countless number of bats with gatling guns strapped to them, Rattlesnake Jake being one of the most menacing animated villains in years, the film using its fair share of both "hell" and "damn" quite a few times, the film not shying away from the use of nooses, or, God forbid, animated characters smoking, but Rango just doesn't feel like an everyday, run-of-the-mill film put out by Nickelodeon.

Rango also wears its western references on its sleeve. The old time saloons, tumbleweeds, stare downs before a gunfight, and a town's utmost desire for both a sheriff and something to believe in are proof of that. But perhaps it's Timothy Olyphant's cameo appearance as The Spirit of the West that is both the biggest homage to westerns you could possibly think of and the biggest surprise of the film (at least as far as his appearance goes). Well it's either that or the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas reference. Both are equally amazing.

This has the atmosphere of an animated film that was made for adults. It's very off-balanced in the best kind of way, but a lot of the references and humor are sure to go over a child's head. Some of the characters in the film talk really fast (mostly just Rango and Beans at times) and while Rango is goofy enough to make the kids laugh, the subject content involving the town of Dirt certainly seems to be aimed towards a more mature sense of humor.

Rango is the first animated film from Industrial Light & Magic, the special effects company that did computer generated effects for the first three Star Wars films and the effects for the T-1000 in Terminator 2 among countless others. The film looks phenomenal. There were times when Rango looked like he was walking in an actual desert. While the characters weren't quite as detailed as the owls in Legend of the Guardians, they still looked incredibly realistic or as realistic as talking animals could possibly be.

Rango is one of the most eccentric animated films you'll ever have the pleasure of sitting through. Its homage to westerns combined with its explosive action sequences, an endless amount of hilarity, tender and sentimental moments that actually make you feel sorry for a talking lizard, and even a little bit of romance pretty much has all your bases covered as far as genres are concerned. Rango is a dark, witty, and entertaining ride that's also fairly mature for an animated film. All in all, Rango is easily the best movie of 2011 so far. 

Review Unstoppable (2010) Movie

Chris Pine has really become quite the actor. I saw him first as Captain Kirk in Star Trek, and since then, I have gone back to watch a couple of his earlier movies along with the lower-budget Sci-Fi flick, "Carriers." In "Unstoppable," he really turns on the heat, and side-by-side with good ol' Denzel, he shines.

Here was a movie that, while viewing the trailers, I was thinking, "Really? An entire movie about a runaway train?" Well, the resounding answer is, "YES!" An excellent back-story, along with a perfect amount of character-building to get us to really like these people, made for a foundation on which to build one heck of an over-the-top mountain of suspense! In addition to Chris, Denzel Washington was excellent, as always, and the rest of the acting crew, especially Rosario Dawson, were perfectly cast and on top of their game as well. The main character was more than just a menace, though, it was downright deadly...THE TRAIN!

A review I read on another site said that this movie started slow, but by the time Chris and Denzel's characters got in on the action it was non-stop fun. Well, I'm here to tell you that this movie gets rolling within the first five minutes...literally...rolling. The action and suspense builds by leaps and bounds, second-by-second. On more than one occasion, "Unstoppable" gets you to hold your breath in anticipation of the next scene, or simply steals it altogether. This one comes highly recommended. 

Review No Strings Attached (2011) Movie

- Commentary with Director Ivan Reitman
- Sex Friends: Getting Together
- Inside The Sassy Halls Of Secret High
- Deleted Scenes
- Alternate Storyline Scenes

What "No Strings Attached" lacks in originality and unpredictability is made up for in the charm and likeability of its leads. Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman not only have great onscreen chemistry, they also are individually well developed - at least, as well developed as they can be within the boundaries of a romantic comedy. It's also surprisingly funny, although it's only partly because of the well placed raunchy sex jokes; the film is one of the few recent romantic comedies to successfully find that balance between sweetness and silliness, and while that's only moderate praise for writer Elizabeth Meriwether and director Ivan Reitman, at least it's proof that they know how to take innately ridiculous material and make it accessible to general audiences.

The film is not realistic in any way, shape, or form, but that's just stating the obvious because we don't go to movies like this looking for meaning or truth. It tells the story of Adam and Emma (Kutcher and Portman), who first met as teenagers in summer camp and saw each other off and on over the next several years. In the present day, they live in Los Angeles, Adam an assistant on a TV series that crosses "Glee" with "High School Musical," Emma a doctor at UCLA. They have successfully maintained a friendship, although there's always a flash of jealousy whenever one of them shows up with a significant other. When Adam's girlfriend dumps him for his father (Kevin Kline), he goes on a bender, makes several phone calls to women he knows ... and wakes up in Emma's apartment, naked and surrounded by Emma's friends and fellow residents.

No sex took place the night before. The morning after, however, Adam and Emma suddenly drop their defenses and just go for it. That's when they decide to take a stab at being friends with benefits; they will use each other for sex at any time of the day, but they won't commit to anything long-term. Surprisingly, this comes at the insistence of Emma, who for reasons left a little obscure is frightened by serious relationships. This is made clear in her habit of texting Adam rather than seeing him in person, a trend that has become all too real in today's smart phone society. I'll stop short of saying this movie is sending a message about technology limiting social interaction, although there are hints of it all throughout.

No more of the plot needs to be described. It goes through the motions and ends exactly the way we expect it to end. There are, however, a couple of side characters that deserve to be mentioned. One of the best is Adam's on-set colleague, Lucy (Lake Bell), who's deeply neurotic and talks at a hundred miles an hour. Making this kind of character likeable is next to impossible, and yet Bell pulls it off, probably because she understood that there's a fine line between comedy relief and annoyance. And then there are Adam's best friends, played by Chris Bridges and Jake Johnson; they aren't given all that much to do, but you can count on them for a few good male-oriented one-liners. Kline is somewhat underutilized as Adam's father, a former TV star who does drugs as if it was the 1970s and has a thing for much younger women. He's mostly just a counterpoint to his son, a way for the audience to see what Adam should not do when it comes to meeting and loving the opposite sex.

One of the film's funniest scenes is in Emma's apartment, where she and her girlfriends - along with one gay man - spend the night together in the throes of menstrual agony. Knowing they're all on the same cycle, Adam stops by with a box full of cupcakes. He also gives Emma a period-specific mix CD, with titles I probably can't repeat for the purposes of this review. There's also a moment when Emma gives Adam a Valentine's Day card, which reads, "You give me premature ventricular contractions." I laughed hard. But then again, I was raised by registered nurses who specialized in cardiology, so I probably have an unfair advantage.

Reitman made the right choices in the casting of Kutcher and Portman, for they have that compatibility movies like this require. Kutcher is especially enjoyable and plays what may be the warmest, most caring role of his entire career. Portman is also a natural fit for this movie, which is surprising given her latest stint as a mentally ill ballerina; it's good for even the most dedicated and serious of actors to reveal that they do in fact have a sense of humor. "No Strings Attached" is by no means a great movie, and it will never be in the same league as "Ghostbusters" and "Ghostbusters II," my two favorite Reitman comedies. But if you're in the mood for a conventional lightweight romantic comedy, this movie gets the job done nicely. 

Discount Cowboys & Aliens (2011) Movies

Cowboys & Aliens fuses rip-snortin' horse opera with some whiz-bang sci-fi, melding dry and austere badlands with slimy, mucusy aliens. Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig, of James Bond fame) wakes up in the midst of sagebrush with a mysterious gadget around his wrist and no idea who he is--but he sure does remember how to take care of the bounty hunters who want to bring him in. His path soon crosses with a ruthless cattle baron named Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford, of Indiana Jones fame), who's not too happy with Lonergan, who got Dolarhyde's son in trouble. But their fracas becomes beside the point when spaceships descend and start lassoing people like cattle. The humans, including a mysterious woman (Olivia Wilde, Tron), a Native American tribe, and some snaggletoothed outlaws, band together to fight off this invasion from another world. The first two-thirds of Cowboys & Aliens is peppy fun, with its tongue-in-cheek Wild West-ness and colorful supporting cast (including Sam Rockwell, Keith Carradine, Paul Dano, and Walton Goggins) and fairly understated CGI. The last third, with the obligatory assault on the alien vessel and a mess of clichés and inconsistencies, deflates a bit, which isn't surprising given that six screenwriters were involved. Director Jon Favreau (Iron Man) does what he can to keep things lively. Fortunately, the good spirits of the first two-thirds will carry most viewers through to the end. --Bret Fetzer

 

Review Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

A galaxy's worth of nihilism buried under a '70s Velveeta topping, the Planet of the Apes series stands today as a dark marvel of pop cinema, a group of wildly variable films that combine to form a giant inescapable kiss-off to the human race. (That said message was able to withstand such distractions as ever-cheapening makeup and Charlton Heston loudly pounding sand makes its achievements even more impressive, really.) Boasting a keen awareness of its predecessors' particular charms and a gem of a central CGI performance by Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes makes for a rather miraculous summer movie: a big-budget special effects extravaganza that also delivers a killer backhand. Sort of redoing 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the film follows the events set in motion when a bereaved scientist (James Franco) attempts to create a cure for Alzheimer's, resulting in a supernaturally intelligent chimp named Caesar. The old bit about science tampering in God's domain quickly applies. Director Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) displays an admirable sense of pacing, deftly levying the escalating action scenes with small character moments from the likes of John Lithgow and Brian Cox. That said, the film belongs to Caesar, whose path from wide-eyed innocent to reluctant revolutionary generates the ironic pulp empathy that gave the original series such a kick. Watching the climactic confrontation on the Golden Gate Bridge, it's distressingly easy to figure out which side to root for. Chuck Heston would no doubt grit his teeth in approval. Note: Those skeptical that this revamp could wholly retain the original's doomy backbeat would do well to stick around during the end credits. --Andrew Wright

Best Buy Movies Get Low (2010)

"Get Low" takes place in the thirties and is about Felix who lives in the Tennessee woods for forty years as a foul-tempered recluse having little to do with the local townspeople. The old bearded coot is played by Robert Duvall who does a great but effortless-seeming acting job. He has a guilty secret which has driven him into seclusion. When an old acquaintance dies, he decides to have a funeral, but he decides he wants it to be a party, and he wants people to tell stories about him, and he wants to be there while he's still alive. Felix infrequently comes into town with his old mule. It's fun looking at the old thirties cars and the period hearse.
It's only later as the movie moves along that you realize this is really a mystery movie. One of the first clues comes when an old flame Sissy Spacek runs out on Felix after seeing a photograph on his wall. As a viewer you wonder what gets her so agitated. What Felix wants is one particular friend, an Afro-American minister (played by Billy Cobbs) to tell what he knows about him. Not that Felix built a beautiful church for the minister but what he confessed to him.
As the funeral director, Bill Murray is very winning playing the part of a man who is funny, sly, maybe a bit of a crook. He is only too happy to get paid for the strange funeral party because his business is tanking, not like his former home in Chicago where people were regularly getting bumped off.
It's actually a tour de force role for Duvall, but movie acting has gotten so deeply ingrained in him that he can make it seem organic. The movie is about peeling away layers of humanity in each character, and we slowly see them evolve into better people that we can admire.
It's a piece of magic storytelling which moves at a stately pace, a measured pace, but you don't get bored and you don't want it rushed because it is inevitably going to be revelatory, and Felix's secret is going to be eased out.
Basically it's a very simple story concerning a man who does not want to go to his grave with a guilty conscience.
Murray's young assistant, the deus ex machina, the catalyst, for a lot that happens in the story, is well-played by good-looking young Lucas Black. It's a movie of subtlety, humor, and deep human emotion, but I do have a lot of trouble remembering what I think is a lousy title.

Discount Real Steel (2011)

Sometime in the not-too-distant future, boxing has been outlawed and replaced by fighting matches with robots. Big robots. Hulking, rock 'em, sock 'em mechanical robots. But if those machines are cutting edge, Real Steel sticks to an old-fashioned style of storytelling, with a tale of a down-and-out fight manager (Hugh Jackman) looking for a good 'bot to get back in the game, and get back out of debt. Hearts are further tugged by the arrival of this guy's 11-year-old son (Dakota Goyo), who hasn't seen his dad in many years but now needs tending. There's something endearing about the way nobody ever pauses to remark on the fact that they are in the presence of giant remote-controlled prizefighting robots; it's taken for granted in this cockeyed universe. Loosely inspired by a Richard Matheson-penned episode of The Twilight Zone, Shawn Levy's film is lavishly mounted and fairly ridiculous--although in this case, the human interactions are more preposterous and formulaic than the fun robot action. Jackman plays to his roguish strengths, Evangeline Lilly (Lost) gets the perfunctory love interest role, and the villains are uncomplicatedly hissable, from Jackman's good ol' boy rival (Kevin Durand) to the heavily accented owners (Olga Fonda, Karl Yune) of the most fearsome of robots, the undefeated Zeus. If you can imagine Rocky restaged with a pile of spare parts, you might be the audience for Real Steel. --Robert Horton