A Good Day to Die Hard ***

Short Take: This 5th installment in the Die Hard series lacks bite due to an underdeveloped storyline and villains who lack charisma.

Reel Take: I have seen every one of the Die Hard movies since the first one appeared back in 1988. That one was an instant classic. Die Hard 2 (1990) was the usual lackluster sequel while Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) and Live Free or Die Hard (2007) were a return to form especially the latter which showed that it was possible to make a good PG-13 action film out of previously R rated material.

What made the original Die Hard and numbers 3 & 4 so enjoyable were the villains (Alan Rickman in the first, Jeremy Irons and Timothy Oliphant in the others) that Bruce Willis’ character had to deal with. Since John McClane is basically an American version of James Bond, he needs to have a baddie worthy of him and that’s not the case here. In fact there are actually 3 villains but it doesn’t help.

Having exhausted all the domestic possibilities in the first four films, John McClane now has to go overseas to find the action and where better to go than our old Cold War nemesis, Russia. The former Soviet Union now has all of the Western vices especially crime and corruption on an international scale.

A powerful Russian official plans to eliminate a whistleblower (Sebastian Koch) who is being protected by McClane’s estranged son (Jai Courtney) who works for the CIA. After an assassination attempt fails, McClane, his son, and the Russian are now on the run. When the whistleblower’s daughter is kidnapped, the trio must decide what their next move is. From Moscow the next stop is the ruined nuclear plant at Chernobyl.

It is here that the film’s big “surprise” is unveiled. As surprises go this one is not bad but once it has been revealed there is nowhere else for the movie to go. What to do? Why not throw in some spectacular action sequences involving the world’s largest helicopter.

Bruce Willis is now simply a presence in the series much like John Wayne was at the end of his career. Jai Courtney, memorable as a bad guy in the recent Jack Reacher, is perfectly adequate as the son which is all he needs to be. German actor Sebastian Koch (The Lives of Others) does the best he can in the role of the whistleblower but the part is seriously underwritten.

AGDTDH is easily the weakest of the series although there are far worse ways to currently waste your cinematic time. A theater director I worked with many years ago once told me, “If you can’t be good, then be fast”. At 97 minutes (credits included) this film does its best to fulfill that maxim.

Rated R for violence and language (including the famous catch phrase).
Review by Chip Kaufmann

Beautiful Creatures ****

Short Take: A surprisingly intelligent, well made supernatural love story that is loaded with choice dialogue and solid performances from its young leads and cast of veterans.

Reel Take: Clearly I am not the target audience for this movie. Not only had I not read the book, but I was unaware that a series of Beautiful Creatures novels existed. Now that I have discovered that fact, I won’t be going out of my way to read them but I found this movie adaptation to be a class act loaded with quality performances and lots of rich dialogue.

The setting is the fictional town of Gatlin, South Carolina, a classic Southern backwater which teenage Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich) can’t wait to escape from. For months he has been dreaming of a mystery girl whose face he can’t see. When newcomer Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) starts attending Ethan’s school, he immediately knows that she’s the girl in his dreams and he wants to know more about her.

It turns out that Lena and her family come from a long line of witches and warlocks or “casters” as they call themselves. In addition to Lena’s warlock uncle (Jeremy Irons) there’s her siren cousin (Emmy Rossum) who can make men do anything and her diabolical mother (Emma Thompson) who can inhabit other people’s bodies. Lena is about to turn 16 which means that she will become either a dark witch or a light one. Her mother and cousin want her to become the former while her uncle and Ethan try to get her to use her powers for good. A final showdown will determine the outcome.

While there’s nothing new about this supernatural coming of age storyline, writer-director Richard LaGravanese has filled it with clever, intelligent dialogue and infused it with a remarkable visual sense that extends from the small town drabness to the Gothic South mansion and its unexpected ultramodern interior. The special effects, until the very end, are refreshingly CGI free which lends a sense of gravity to the whole affair and that adds to the enjoyment.

However the real pleasure comes from the wonderful performances by all concerned. In addition to Irons, Rossum, Thompson and the two young leads, Viola Davis gives a sincere, intense portrayal of the family “help” who has a much larger role in the proceedings than her humble status would suggest. It’s hard to beat good writing and a cast that knows how to bring it to life.

Unfortunately, Beautiful Creatures is not faring that well at the box office. Certain changes made by the filmmakers have not gone down well with the fans of the series and some critics are being incredibly shortsighted by dismissing it out of hand. Warner Brothers had hopes of making this the first of a series but unless the box office improves, this is likely to be it. Catch it on the big screen if you can but it will play just as well on the small screen when the time comes.

Rated PG-13 for violence, scary images, and some sexual material.
Review by Chip Kaufmann

Identify Thief **1/2

Short Take: When a man confronts the woman who’s stolen his financial identity, mayhem ensues.

Reel Take: As a critic, I really can’t give Identity Thief a good review, and I really wanted to like it. Instead of being in the league of Bridesmaids or even The Hangover, it is series of missed opportunities. However as a critic I must also consider the audience; the audience I saw it with seemed to really like it, and it trounced the competition in its first couple of weeks at the box office. At Rotten Tomatoes, critics give it a 23% approval rate while 64% of audiences give it thumbs up. Between this and Safe Haven, I guess there’s no accounting for taste. Kidding! What I really mean to say is that, while I’d hoped both films would be better than they were, they are exactly what they are intended to be – no more, no less. By and large their intended audiences are pleased with the results, and at the end of the day that’s what it’s all about.

With that in mind, I’ll try to tread a little more gently than I’d like to. Melissa McCarthy is on a red hot winning streak right now. Jason Bateman has cherry picked some great roles since critical success on Arrested Development. Both are great comedic talents. Unfortunately their talents are largely wasted in Identity Thief.

Bateman plays Sandy Bigelow Patterson. He’s a dependable, upstanding, all round nice guy. After he unwittingly gives his personal information to an identity thief over the phone, he becomes a hapless chump. Facing arrest, loss of job and insurmountable financial damage, he decides to hunt down the perpetrator and bring them to justice. His quest for justice brings him to Miami, Florida where he corners (or attempts to corner) the false Sandy Bigelow Patterson (Melissa McCarthy), aka ‘Diana.’ Though she did not deserve the slanderous verbal beat down from Rex Reed, McCarthy’s Diana is every repulsive cliché you can think of in one plus size package.

Sandy’s goal is to bring Diana back to Denver police in order to clear his name, but getting there proves challenging [of course]. The result is the road trip from hell. It should have been hilarious, but instead is peppered with a few genuinely funny moments, some painfully strained comedic efforts, and some downright unnecessary and forced humor. It doesn’t seem that director Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) allowed his leading the lady the improvisational opportunities where she’s a scene stealer and that’s too bad; Bateman’s straight man to her improv would likely be something to see.

Along the way, the two characters eventually forge a friendship of sorts. It seems our identity thief may even grow a conscience. I didn’t have a problem with the film having a heart, but, Steve Conrad’s (The Pursuit of Happyness) screenplay just seems a little too contrived. Ultimately it’s a mediocre comedy at best.

Here in Asheville it’s the kind of film I refer to as ‘a Pizza Company’ movie; second run movie theatre prices and a pitcher of beer is a perfect combination for Identity Thief. But what do I know, it’s cleaning house at the box office, so we’ll likely be subject to Identity Thief 2.

Rated R for sexual content and language.
Review by Michelle Keenan

Safe Haven **1/2

Short Take: The latest film adaptation from the king of schmaltzy popular romance novels.

Reel Take: Nicholas Sparks is the reigning king of schmaltzy popular romance novels, and each book seems tailored made for the big screen. While I have not read Sparks’ novels it strikes me that The Notebook must be the best of the lot because it was, and is, the only film adaptation of his work that’s been anything truly worthwhile. Unfortunately, that generalization also applies to his latest book brought to the big screen, Safe Haven.

Released on Valentine’s Day, Safe Haven has a target market. It isn’t remotely close to being a great movie let alone a love story for the ages, but to that target audience, Safe Haven suits just fine as exhibited by the audience rating vs critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics give it a13% approval rating while 72% of audience members liked it. (My guess is the other 22% were dutiful husbands and boyfriends escorting their valentine to the local Cineplex.)

Safe Haven has many of classic earmarks of a Sparks story – a sleepy coastal North Carolina town, easy sunsets, sudden rainstorms, and a man and a woman who fall in love, only to have that love tested by a mysterious past. In this case we are introduced to a young woman (Julianne Hough) holding a bloody kitchen knife. She quickly manages to cut and color her hair and makes her getaway, boarding a bus for Atlanta.

During a pit stop in the bucolic town of Southport, NC, Katie gets off the bus and never re-boards. In Southport she meets Alex (Josh Duhamel), a handsome young widower (and apparently the town’s most eligible single dad), who quickly takes a shine to her. Guarded at first, Katie begins to settle into her new life. But just as their romance begins to blossom, the Boston detective (David Lyons) doggedly on her trail, threatens to destroy everything.

Julianne Hough, who is known more for her dancing prowess (TV’s Dancing with the Stars) than her acting chops, is quite likeable and natural. Even though Safe Haven integrates issues of domestic violence into the story, the demands for dramatic depth are slight, so it’s actually a good vehicle for her. She and Duhamel have a nice chemistry and he seems very comfortable in the role, although the dialogue is often wanting.

Pleasant but banal, the whole thing is perhaps made slightly more interesting by a mysterious wrinkle that’s not as smart as it thinks it is and by a ludicrous (albeit not entirely surprising) plot twist that must have translated better for readers than it does on screen.

No disrespect to Mr. Sparks, but I question the source material in regards to the film’s failings. Director Lasse Halstrom, whose credits include Chocolat, The Shipping News, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, My Life as a Dog and even another Sparks novel, Dear John, (which modestly better notices) is competent director of adapted works. I had actually hoped for a little more from this film because of Halstrom.

Bottom line, Safe Haven is easy on the eyes and a sweet enough pill to swallow, especially if you are its target audience. You know who you are.

Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving threatening behavior and for violence and sexuality.
Review by Michelle Keenan