Director: Stuart Beattie
Writers: Stuart Beattie, Original Screenplay by Kevin Grevioux
Stars: : Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, Socratis Otto, Jai Courtney and Kevin Grevioux.

Synopsis: In a dystopian era, Adam Frankenstein becomes involved in a war between a clan of gargoyles and a clan of demons in an ancient city.

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INTRO
We all know the story of Frankenstein a creation by Victor Frankenstein. Over the years the image of Frankenstein has changed but is the latest installment something that Mary Shelley would be happy about or is she turning in her grave? Director Stuart Beattie brings us I, Frankenstein, which stars Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighly, and Yvonne Strahoivski.

DIRECTION
Having the producers of Underworld (my favorite movie series) involved in this film is both good and bad. The great thing is that you can expect amazing visuals effects and a dark theme resonating in the film. The bad things, however, is that you can also expect very similar story lines in fact this film has the same basis that Underworld has. Beattie does a very poor job of representing Frankenstein as we get no real back story and he is hiding in the shadows most of the movie and it seems to me like he was better suited as a side act rather than the main attraction. I also understand that Frankenstein needs to look different but how it appeared on screen was that he simply had scars on his body and didn’t seem like he was “made”. The demons were also poorly done and I was unsure if I was supposed to laugh or be scared. One thing that I found annoying more than anything was the fact that every time a gargoyle or demon died there was a beam of blue light or flames respectively. The one bright spot for Beattie was the amazing work he did with CGI. The visuals in this film were amazing and nicely shot for the most part.

Grade: F

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SCRIPT
There is a war going on between good and evil and in between stands one Selene, I mean Frankenstein. Having the exact same premise of Underworld really blew it for me. The difference between Underworld and I. Frankenstein is that there is absolutely nothing that keeps your interest in this movie. The characters are boring and the dialogue is horrendous. The funniest part of the film to me is when Bill Nightly character reveals his demon and says, “I am a Dark Prince” because it is obvious by that point that he is the leader of the rejected cast from the 1991 TV series Dinosaurs. Beattie starts off by rushing through Frankenstein’s origin and then poorly explains why the demons and gargoyles are at war.

Grade: F

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MOVIE REVIEW: Reasonable Doubt

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PERFORMANCES
I know Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighly are both better than this film so I am going to give Harvey Dent a pass for this movie. Eckhart did not play a bad role I think the character was just bad overall regardless of who played it. Jai Courtney brought the same skills from A Good Day to Die Hard, so you can imagine how things went. No Oscar worthy performances here.

Grade: C

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SCORE
Surprisingly, I,Frankenstein has a wonderful score. During the credits I saw two familiar names: Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek. Heli and Kilmek have done the score for such films as: Run Lola Run, The Princess and, of course, Cloud Atlas. The duo uses a nice mix of big orchestra sounds with strings and bass that help provide a “gothic” feel to the music. Being an action movie the movie will be slow at some parts and then fast at others and Heil and Kilmek are successful at keeping pace with the film. My two favorite songs are “Ride of the Gargoyles” and “This Body is mine”. If you were thinking about watching this film I think your money will best be spent on the Soundtrack.

Grade: A

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IS IT WORTH IT?
If it is not obvious by now, then NO I cannot recommend this film at any time including Redbox or Netflix. I watch over 100 movies a year and I say that this movie will probably end up on my worst list of 2014.

Overall Grade: F

Director: Peter Howitt
Writers: Peter A. Dowling
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Dominic Cooper, Erin Karpluk

Synopsis: A District Attorney has his life turned upside down when he’s involved in a hit and run and another man is arrested for his crime and charged with murder.

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DIRECTION
Peter Howitt, who directed Johnny English and Laws of Attraction, brings us the thriller Reasonable Doubt starring Nick Fury and Howard Stark. Okay, actually I mean Samuel L. Jackson and Dominic Cooper who played those characters respectively in Captain America: The First Avenger. Howitt was able to pin them against one another and created a nice Michigan winter aesthetic that worked for the film with the goals they had in mind. The pacing was a little inconsistent and the camerawork was pretty predictable but Howitt was still able to capture the thrill a little bit. He gets a solid score from James Jandrisch, which really brought up the film from where the it lacked.

Grade: B

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SCRIPT
The script had a descent premise but it doesn’t quite it explore it thoroughly nor do all the characters get the right treatment. However, it does just enough that it gets by with the way Howitt brings it to life. The story centers around a District Attorney, played by Cooper, who is involved in a hit and run accident. However, another man (Jackson) is charged and arrested for the murder. As things start to play out, we see that there are deeper things going on and Cooper’s character is stuck between finding justice and also revealing that he’s not the true criminal. Some of the major themes were actually explained well and Jackson does a good job of revealing those theme. The story could of used a little bit more backbone but for the small thrill ride it wants to deliver, it’s not terrible.

Grade: B

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MOVIE REVIEW: Spike Jonze’s Her

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PERFORMANCES
As mentioned, Cooper plays a District Attorney who is in a fight he didn’t expect and Cooper plays it pretty straight forward. While some elements could of been dealt with better, Cooper does a descent job. It’s not his best piece of acting but the kind of script this movie had, it was appropriate and never over-bearing. Samuel L. Jackson was great as the antagonist but he never swears once and that’s a disappointment. Okay, all kidding aside, he was good, although he doesn’t have a ton to do and mostly needed to look menacing. Ryan Robbins has a very small part but I liked it when he was on screen. The dynamics and relationship he has with Cooper’s character seems a bit forced and wasn’t explored as much, but Robbins plays it pretty well.

Grade: B+

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SCORE
As I mentioned, James Jandrisch has a pretty solid score for this little Canadian film. It’s a more digitized, almost Only God Forgives-esque score, but it’s different enough and works to enhance the thrill elements of the movie. There’s a nice little theme that plays throughout which was fun and made for a much better score than most of these type movies usually get.

Grade: A-

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FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, Reasonable Doubt leaves a little room that there is some but it’s still satisfying. The main story arcs are done well and explores some pretty tough territory that we’ve seen before, but it plays it a unique way that’s pretty rare. The films suffers from pacing issues as well as forcing some story tropes that needed to be explored more. There was good potential here and it’s not entirely wasted. While this isn’t a needed theater experience, it’s not a terrible Netflix watch once it’s up there.

Overall Grade: B

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writers: Adam Cozad, David Koepp, Tom Clancy (Based on characters)
Stars: Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh

Synopsis: Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.

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DIRECTION
Kenneth Branagh, who directed Thor, brings us Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, which is more or less another reboot of the character. This film is really divided in the sense that the first half was much, much stronger than the second. The first half had a sense of mystique and curiosity, along with some well written scenes to enhance those qualities. However, the second is the same-ld tropes and story arcs we’ve seen over and over again. Although, there are some settle differences, Jack Ryan isn’t anything new by a long shot. The way Branagh handles the mysteriousness was fantastic, but the reveal was pretty much mundane on every level, with a few exceptions. He doesn’t overplay the relationship drama within the reveal that would make it cheesy and very distracting. Branagh also does a nice job of making you think he’s going in one direction but then plays it differently, which was nice. And that’s a credit to creative camerawork and well thought out set pieces, especially when exploring the Moscow aesthetic.

Grade: B+

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SCRIPT
Okay, where to begin with this one? This is easily the worst part of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, but mostly it’s just lost potential and it’s not the worst thing we’ve ever seen. Again, the first half is strong and where lots of scripts overwrite certain scenes, Adam Cozad and David Koepp pull back the reigns a little which was nice. The dialogue in the first half was realistic and kept it in the same mysterious aesthetic. However, the middle act becomes a bit muddled and forces some moving parts that didn’t need to be going at those speeds. The recruitment of Ryan is one good example that went by with no real explanation other than he’s really smart. The third act seems to move away from what worked earlier in the film and mostly becomes the same mundane action movie we’ve seen over and over again. The dialogue becomes cheesy and lazily written, while not exploring the areas it needed to be. It’s like they wanted to be the new Bourne movie, but with Jack Ryan instead of Jason. There’s no real reason every explained how Ryan goes from the analysis chair to “in the field”, other than he was a Marine so maybe that works? Anyway, while I like that they went away from the North Korean bad-guy trend, this story isn’t anything to boast about and doesn’t add anything new. The second and third acts are pretty weak, and if not for better direction and better acting, this could of been much worse. There was a lot of potential here for it to be something descent, and while it’s certainly not the worst thing in the world (see Die Hard 5), it’s mostly dry and mundane.

Grade: C

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MOVIE REVIEW: Spike Jonze’s Her

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PERFORMANCES
Chris Pine was pretty good in the role of Jack Ryan. He fits the analysis persona really well but has enough physical ability that he could do the action sequences when he needed to. His chemistry with Keira Knightley was interesting in the fact that it didn’t seem to be that great, but in many cases, that was pretty intentional. So when you look at it like that, it’s kind of hard to tell. Knightley, while I love her, was pretty average here. She didn’t have as much to do and her dialogue was very poorly written, especially in the third act of the film. I’m looking at you Cozad and Koepp. Costner was fantastic as the older CIA operative who is recruiting Ryan, however he was kind of hard to buy in the action pieces. Thankfully there wasn’t a ton of that for him. The director himself, Kenneth Branagh, plays our main Russian villain who is stereotypical in almost every fashion. There is actually one piece of dialogue where a security guy says he has the “same problems” that are his weakness; vodka, women, infidelity and everything else that comes with Russian bad-guys. Again, it’s a script issue. The performances themselves are fine.

Grade: B+

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SCORE
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit has an oddly great score for a typical action movie. That is, until you see that it was scored by Patrick Doyle and then it all makes sense. And while this isn’t on the same level as his Thor score, it’s still very good, especially for this movie. It’s high energy with some really good subtle themes throughout. He uses a lot of drums that adds to some great dynamics with his strings, which he’s good at maneuvering. This is a solid piece of music and was used well in the film. Many of the tracks are actually pretty good to listen to outside of the film as well, which is hard to do for movies like this.

Grade: A-

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FINAL THOUGHTS
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is far front the worst I’ve ever seen. And it’s way better than that action movie that was in Russia last year at this time (Die Hard what?). However, the mystery isn’t all that exciting and it tries to be something that it’s not. The script needed some work and to edit out all the cheesy dialogue that makes this film seem very empty. While the performances are good, this is going to be another failed reboot with the character and for good reason. If you like typical action movies, this will be a good Redbox rental or Netflix watch, but it’s nothing more than that.

Overall Grade: B

Director: John Wells
Writers: Tracy Letts (screenplay)
Stars: Meryl Streep, Dermot Mulroney, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepard, Margo Martindale

Synopsis: A look at the lives of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.

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DIRECTION
John Wells, who’s only other feature was The Company Men, brings us the stage play August: Osage County to the big screen. And the big question everyone wants to know is, does it translate well from stage to film? Well it depends on what you’re looking for. Wells’ Osage County definitely feels like a stage play in the sense that there is very little narrative but it’s filled with lots of heavy dialogue and acting. The film even opens in a meta style with Sam Shepard speaking directly to the audience, so you feel the stage aspect immediately. While Wells’ lacks in showcasing any sort of story, he does let the actors act and he sets an aesthetic that is appropriate. We’re dealing with small-town middle American with a middle-class family, which is going to feel relatable to a lot of people. I haven’t seen the play, but the way Wells tells this story doesn’t make it appealing.

Grade: B

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SCRIPT
The script is a mixed bag of craziness and genius all at the same time. In terms of an overall narrative, it’s lacking big time. It’s simple, which isn’t a bad thing, but there’s not much concrete there to solidify it. However, it’s deep and dark in terms of the themes being portrayed and it comes across in it’s characters, which at least gives them purpose. It’s also what makes the film feel like a play. The dialogue is heavy and goes into some really difficult places that will either engage you heavily or drive you away fast. The brilliance of the screenplay is the interaction of the characters and the consequences of actions within a family and how an upbringing can heavily influence you. Those themes and characteristics come off realistic and it’s what drives these characters. The kind of situations they are forced to deal with is arduous but something some families have to deal with when it comes to death, cancer, and the devastation that families sometimes have. The ending is ambitious and in this case, not sure if it’s appropriate. However, it’s also a play and feel like a play, so it kind of makes sense.

Grade: B+

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MOVIE REVIEW: Spike Jonze’s Her

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PERFORMANCES
The performances are outstanding. Meryl Streep is incredible and her aesthetic is almost sickening. As an older woman who has mouth cancer, she looks very sick and she does a great job of portraying that. It’s not just her strong dialogue but she loses her mind and showcases that in her actions. Julia Roberts is brilliant as the daughter who is forced into making family decisions, and compelling in doing so. Her dialogue is delivered with passion and hilarity in many case. She’s amazing. Roberts also has some great dynamics with Ewan McGregor too, which is a strength to the film. I kind of wanted to see more of them together. Margo Martindale and Chris Cooper don’t have much to do but when on screen they have some pretty great moments. There’s one emotional moment they have toward the third act as well that was touching. This is a rarity, and while he was okay, Benedict Cumberbatch was miscast in this film. He does a fine job but sometimes that British accent came through when trying to have a mid-western dialect. Sam Shepard has had some of the best small roles we’ve seen in film lately. He’s not in the film a ton but he has a presence when he’s there. However, the biggest achievement in this film has to be Abigail Breslin. I can only imagine she was intimidated out of her mind when acting in the same room with Streep, Roberts, McGregor, Cooper, Cumberbatch, Martindale and not to mention Dermot Mulroney. She holds her own though and has some really nice scenes.

Grade: A

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SCORE
Gustavo Santaolalla has an okay score but the film is too saturated with actors and dialogue that you’ll mostly miss it. There’s some nice moments where it’s showcased, along some good choices of soundtrack music that make the film a little more engaging. Overall though, you’ll mostly miss this score and it just fills up the background space that’s needed. Nothing more, nothing less.

Grade: B-

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FINAL THOUGHTS
August: Osage County has some fine actors and some fine acting in it but the narrative is lacking a foundation and it leaves the viewer to decide whether or not to buy into the characters. The family dynamics feel real and authentic in most cases, however some scenes and narrative pieces are very contrived. The film definitely speaks to some great family themes though that are important and the consequences of parents’ actions. The film overall is Oscar-baity bit nothing that stands out other than a few performances. The dinner scene was great but perhaps a bit over-played by the end. There are some good things here, in particular Streep and Robert. Roberts is absolutely magnetic.

Overall Grade: B+