In Theaters: Pirates: Dead Man's Chest

Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley all return for the second installment of Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest. This time around Depp and the gang are on the hunt for the heart of Davy Jones played very well by British Veteran Bill Nighy.
The film is making mega bucks and rightfully so, it’s a loose fun summer movie that delivers. All is not well in the Caribbean though, the film feels very long because there are some scenes in the film that look like they were thrown in so we could see Depp prance around some more. Speaking of Depp, his performance was just as good as the first film even though he wears on you about half way through the movie. I enjoyed him but he comes across like that annoying Uncle that is fun for the first half of the party but you can’t wait for him to leave…and come back.
The film leans heavily on the first, in other words if you didn’t see the first film you may be a little bit lost. The writers must have realized this because there are some scenes that seem to go out of the way to explain what happened the first time around.
Even though the plot is a little contrived and the film is 30 minutes too long ( for no reason) I still enjoyed the Dead Man’s Chest and can’t wait to see the next one.

In Theaters: Superman Returns

Superman has been away, kind of on a retreat to find is former plant, Krypton. He heard that scientists found that his planet was in fact in tact and he takes off for a little homecoming. Superman Returns starts when the man of steel returns to Earth to find things a little different since he left. Lois Lane has a child (but no husband) and has won a Pulitzer Prize for an article titled “Why We Don’t Need Superman”. Not exactly a warm welcome for the world’s savior but nonetheless he is back. Once Superman storms back on the scene with a dramatic aerial rescue he is back to his old ways. Saving the city (and the world) and fighting evil. Evil once again is in the form of a recently paroled Lex Luthor, and this time Luthor is going to change the world, literally.
Bryan Singer (XMen 1&2) directs this 154-minute adventure with a sensitivity not always seen in super hero movies. In fact, one of the criticisms of the movie is that Superman isn’t super at all. He is too sensitive, too introspective and too smitten with Lois Lane to be a true super hero. I didn’t see him anymore smitten with Lois than Spiderman is with his love interest. Both are real life figures with real life problems, that have been thrust into the role of saving the planet. If Superman stuck to the comic book it would be a little to whimsical for today’s sophisticated audiences.
New comer Brandon Routh plays the title role well but he looks ( and acts ) better suited to play Clark Kent and let someone else put on the tights and cape. Routh is almost too boyish to be believable as a super hero but in the long run he doesn’t take away from the film at all. Spacey is at his usual level playing Lex Luthor, while Gene Hackman defined the role in Superman 1&2, Spacey carries the weight admirably. Kate Bosworth’s Lois Lane is the only disappointment for me. She didn’t have the intensity or tenacity that Margot Kidder pulled off effortlessly in the original films, at time Bosworth seemed to be reading her lines of a sheet of paper, maybe she was.
Superman Returns is the super hero movie of the summer, it was fun and exciting in parts and is a good film for the fun summer movie going audience.

In Theaters: The DaVinci Code

If you haven't heard the buzz about this film you must have been living on another planet for the past couple of years. By now everyone should know what the story is about and why it's so controversial, that being said I will get right to it.
Tom Hanks plays the lead role as Robert Langdon, our superhero symbol interpreter that finds himself in the middle of an ancient conflict regarding Jesus Christ's alleged wife Mary Magdalene. Sectors of "The Church" want to keep this a well guarded secret because it would shake the very foundation of the Christian Religion. There you go, that's it in a nutshell, that's what all the fuss is about. I'm not going to go into the controversy surrounding the issue because after all it's just a movie right?
Hanks does a pretty good job as being the always in the dark ( literally ) Langdon as he runs around with co star Audrey Tautou trying to find the truth. Tautou continues to flex her muscles as an american movie star after bursting on to the scene in "A Very Long Engagement", she plays perfectly against Hanks and carries her part with conviction. Hanks was Hanks, and I don't mean that in a bad way. This film confirms that fact that Hanks basically just has to show up in a film and the cash register starts ringing. Despite the controversy the film is doing pretty well.
So the question remains, is it worth seeing? If you want to see an intriguing film that's a pretty good mystery, yes go see it. If you are looking for some spiritual insight into the life of Jesus Christ, skip the film and hit an afternoon mass.

In Theaters: XMEN3: The Last Stand

Director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour 1&2) takes the helm for the third and final (?) Men film and delivers, big. As of this writing, the film has already broken records and grossed 100 Million Dollars in three days. The critics have been hard on the film but I think it is well done and worth seeing.
This time a major pharmaceutical company develops a “cure” for the mutant strain in human’s DNA. Some mutants line up to take the “cure” and others see it as the first step in a mutant genocide campaign. Naturally the peaceful Professor Xavier wants peaceful resistance and the separatist Magneto wants to go to war. The XMEN again are caught in the middle of the conflict and have to bring order to civilization.
The pacing of the story is a bit awkward at times but with bold plot twists and an overarching tone of finality, XMEN 3 may be the best of the three films. Ian McKellen is absolutely chilling as Magneto and Halle Berry finally gets an expanded role as Storm, one of the elders of the XMEN. Quick dazzling special effects used to compliment story instead of overwhelm it, adds a touch of reality to what could have been a standard superhero affair. The Last Stand is well worth the effort.

NOTE: Sit through all the credits for a small scene at the end that answers a lot of questions.

Mission Impossible 3

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in the third installment of the Mission Impossible series. Directed by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias) MI:3 kicks off the summer with a bang.
This time around, Cruise is retired as a field agent and living in the suburbs planning to live out the American dream. He gets sucked back into fieldwork and assembles his team and the rest is action movie history. While the movie versions bear little if any resemblance to the T.V. series, they are exciting action films that make for good summer entertainment.
The addition of J.J. Abrams to the series is evident from the beginning and remains so throughout the film. The pacing, storyline and character development is exactly like an “Alias” episode. The movie starts with Cruise in a harrowing situation and the rest of the movie brings us up to that point, just like on “Alias”. Even one of Cruise’s supporting cast is an “Alias” rip-off, not in a bad way just an evident way.
It is worth mentioning that Phillip Seymour Hoffman is absolutely chilling as the evil villain. Hard to believe this is the same person that played Truman Capote so well. If they gave out Oscars to action movies he would have one for this role. MI:3 works, see it on the big screen.

In Theaters: Inside Man

Inside Man stars Denzel Washington, Clive Owens and Jodie Foster in a heist movie that is probably one of the best since Dog Day Afternoon.
Washington is a flawed cop trying to negotiate with Owens who has taken hostages during a bank robbery in Manhattan. Foster plays a political mover and shaker that has her own agenda tied to the robbery. Without spoiling the movie for everyone that is about as much as can be said about the plot. The movie itself is well done and stylish, Director Spike Lee again expertly uses music and cinematography to tell a story. That is part of the reason this movie comes across so well, while it’s a simple heist movie Lee brings all his subtle touches to the film and elevates genre. Background music that is truly in the background and not obnoxious and commercial, editing and cinematography to convey time and attitude and Hitchcock type camera angles all make Inside Man easy to watch.
The script is peppy and very realistic, particularly the conversations among the law enforcement officers on the scene. Washington and Foster again put in “A” list performances, particularly when they are on the screen together. Supporting roles by Willem Defoe and Christopher Plummer round out the cast.
Inside Man is the first “don’t miss” of the year.

In Theaters: Firewall

In his first major release since 2003’s Hollywood Homicide, Harrison Ford returns to the big screen and is back to playing the strong, intelligent hero. In Firewall, he plays the role well.
Ford stars as the head of security for a major bank in Seattle Washington; he has a dream house on the water, a wife two kids and yes even a dog. His life is shattered when his identity is stolen and his family is held hostage until he complies with the thug’s outrageous demands. While the story is far from original Ford’s big screen presence and ability to carry an entire movie on his own makes Firewall a fun, intense thriller. While watching Ford you can help but anticipate that eventually he is going to shift in high gear and take care of some business. What separates Firewall from some of the “cookie cutter” thrillers out there is that it has a sharp script and multiple character development and doesn’t lean on close ups of the lead actor.
If there is any complaint at all, it is the bad guys. Each of them is carved out of Hollywood action movie clichés almost to the point of absurdity. The entire group is taken right out of “Die Hard” and dozens of other twenty-year-old action flicks.
Ford more than holds his own but at sixty three years old his ass kicking days may be winding down…then again “Indiana Jones 4” is due out in 2007 and im sure I will go see it.