Despite some occasionally dazzling visual ingenuity on display and the efforts of a wonderful voice cast, Strange World is one of the most forgettable Disney animated efforts in recent memory.
Dennis Quaid
Like opening up a Hallmark card and getting sprayed in the eyes with napalm, the shameless and shameful sequel A Dog’s Journey will appeal only to those who like tears jerked from their face with maximum force and by any means necessary.
Overblown and cranked to eleven at all times, the ludicrous home invasion thriller The Intruder isn’t a great movie, but it’s a great time at the movies.
Opening across Canada at a theatre near you: a teenage girl takes on the CIA in the modern action fairy tale, Hanna; Russell Brand plays a lovable man-child in Arthur; medieval times get a bit dopey in the comedy Your Highness; and a girl gets back on her surf board after a shark attack in Soul Surfer.
Paul Bettany stars in not one but two new films opening in theatres this week, including the drama Creation, about the life of a young Charles Darwin, and the horrific action thriller, Legion. Other new arrivals include Extraordinary Measures with Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser, plus the sugary-sweet comedy, The Tooth Fairy starring Dwayne Johnson.
With fall slowly taking shape around us, the theatres are packed with new movies this weekend, including the sci-fi thriller Surrogates; the musical remake, Fame; the spacey horror film, Pandorum; Trailer Park Boys Countdown To Liquor Day; plus the dramas The Boys Are Back, and Coco avant Chanel open in limited release.
Spies, hitmen, shantytown gangsters and terrorism are all front-and-centre this week with the latest new arrivals on DVD featuring drama and laughs, but only two legitimate must-sees: the dramatic comedy In Bruges, and Brazil’s City of Men.
There is a grim sense this week that the cinemas have become a dumping ground for third-rate films that the studios don’t want to release during the peak season, which kicks off in May. Whether that is the case or not, the list of sub-par films in cinemas this weekend is at least short. Keanu Reeves leads the charge as the star of the cop-revenge film Street Kings, followed closely by the horror remake Prom Night, while Dennis Quaid brings up the rear in the dark comedy, Smart People.
When The Alamo is good, it is very good. The battle scenes are terrifically and terrifyingly stages. The characters are well drawn and memorable, and the storytelling is smart and interesting (for a change we have a film that doesn’t venture to insult the intelligence of the average twelve year). When it isn’t quite so good, it is still okay, it just feels a bit slow and uneven.