Drag Me to Hell

The actress Alison Lohman is 29, six years removed from playing the 14-year-old daughter of Nicolas Cage in Matchstick Men, and she’ll probably still be able to pull it off a decade from now. She projects innocence and seems so delicate a mere touch might break her.

So while watching Drag Me to Hell, you can all but hear the mischievous cackling of director Sam Raimi and his trusted makeup artist Greg Nicotero as they drench her with blood and other, even less pleasant fluids, throw her into walls, turn her into a punching bag for an old gypsy—essentially subjecting her to one abuse after another through most of the movie’s 99 minutes.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

The director (Shawn Levy), writers (Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon), star (Ben Stiller) and several other actors (Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais) from Night at the Museum (2006) have returned for its sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. No surprise then that what we get is more of the same—"more” being the key word.

That’s not such a bad thing in this case. The concept—a museum’s exhibits come to life each night—is flat-out cool (how much more fun would school field trips be?). That and the sheer likability of the returning cast and some of the new faces are enough to make the movie a pleasant enough way to pass 100 minutes on an uneventful weekend afternoon.

Terminator Salvation

It is telling that when McG, whose directing resume includes the two Charlie’s Angels movies, made his pilgrimage to James Cameron to ask for his blessing to make a fourth Terminator film, the writer-director of The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) refused.

The story was fully told after T2, its message one of hope for the future—“no fate but what we make for ourselves.”

Twelve years later, along came Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, under the direction of Jonathan Mostow. Now “Judgment Day,” the day the supercomputer Skynet becomes self-aware and declares war on the human race, is inevitable—optimism replaced by its opposite. You can see why Cameron wouldn’t want to be involved.

Angels & Demons

Angels & Demons, the second film based on a novel by controversial author Dan Brown, is better than its predecessor, The Da Vinci Code (2006). But that’s not saying much.

Tom Hanks is back as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, and Ron Howard is again in the director’s chair working from a script co-written by Akiva Goldsman (with David Koepp).

The murder of a scientist experimenting with antimatter, the theft of said antimatter, the kidnapping of four cardinals (all leading candidates to become the next pope) and the threat of the antimatter being used as a bomb bring Langdon to the Vatican—at the request of the Roman Catholic Church, no less—to assist in the investigation. Though Brown wrote this novel first, the movie is positioned as a Da Vinci Code sequel and the church is aware of Langdon’s particular expertise as a result of his previous adventure. A secret society known as the Illuminati—of whom Langdon has extensive knowledge—appears to be behind the plot.

Star Trek

“Space, the final frontier.”

Those are the famous first words of the narration heard at the start of every episode of the original Star Trek TV series. But that was the 1960s, and over the course of four decades, 10 feature films and four more TV series, Star Trek lost that sense of wonder. Boldly going “where no one has gone before” had gotten boring. The last movie, Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), grossed only $43 million at the domestic box office. The most recent TV series, Enterprise, became, in 2005, the first since the original to be canceled.

Paramount’s long-running cash cow appeared to have been milked dry.

Not so fast.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

After the trilogy of X-Men films, I can't say I had any burning questions left regarding Wolverine, the mutton-chopped mutant who is a literal man of steel—er, adamantium—with razor-sharp claws that spring forth from his knuckles. In X2 (2003), he found not only the man responsible for fusing the metal to his skeleton and erasing his memory but also the place where it all went down.

Unless you're dying to find out exactly why he took the name "Wolverine" or how he got his stylish motorcycle jacket, you probably haven't thought too much about what had been left unsaid.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine then is really just an excuse to keep the big screen franchise rolling and introduce a few new mutants without the burden of explaining why some familiar faces have gone missing.

And you know what? I'm OK with that.

A review I wish I had written

Actually, it's just the first paragraph of AP movie critic's Christy Lemire's review of Fast & Furious, which tells you all you need to know: "Noise, noise, noise. Crunched metal and shattered glass. More noise. Revving engines. Vin Diesel's giant head. Hot chicks in tight miniskirts. Even more noise. The end."

News good and bad

First, the good ... Director David Cronenberg told MTV News that he is moving forward with a sequel to his superb 2007 film Eastern Promises. DO NOT follow the link if you have not seen the film, as it reveals a crucial plot twist. Without giving it away, the ending made the movie—though it was satisfying on its own—feel like a small part of a much larger story. When it was over, I wanted to see more of Viggo Mortensen's Nikolai and the Russian gangsters operating in London's underworld. Viggo and Cronenberg will have their hands full trying to top Eastern Promises, but given that they have made not one but two excellent films together (see also: A History of Violence), I think they will be up to the task.




Now for the downer ... Actor/musician Andy Hallett, best known as the green-skinned, karaoke-singing demon Lorne on the TV series Angel, died Sunday, of congestive heart failure at the age of 33. Apparently, he had been suffering from heart problems for the past five years, problems so severe that they had virtually ended his acting career. Andy was always such a warm presence on Angel, a show that went to some awfully dark places. He was far from a household name, but he had many fans (I'm one of them), who I'm sure are sending their thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.

R.I.P.

Andy Hallett

1975-2009

The Haunting in Connecticut

The Haunting in Connecticut is "based on the true story," but that matters little to me. Wherever its origins lie, a movie lives or dies on its own merits. Even if the events depicted actually happened, a movie should be well acted, intelligently written and competently filmed to be worth your time and money.

Too often, I feel, movies—particularly in the horror genre (think The Amityville Horror)—use the "based on the true story" preface as a crutch, as if it somehow adds weight and importance.

Back to The Haunting in Connecticut.

Duplicity

In Duplicity, writer-director Tony Gilroy's follow-up to his superb Michael Clayton (2007), nothing is what it seems. Always keep that in mind as twists and double crosses are doled out at every turn. It plays like a more sophisticated Ocean's Eleven, the extra heft coming from its corporate setting.

The lead roles of former MI6 operative Ray Koval and ex-CIA agent Claire Stenwick all but but cry out for movie stars, and Clive Owen and Julia Roberts fit the bill. The movie is at its best when they share the screen. There is an old Hollywood charm and chemistry to their verbal sparring, the banter and energy between them sizzling.

Roberts has appeared mostly in supporting roles this decade, so seeing her in a star turn now feels fresh again. Owen plays everything so slick and smooth that when he's rattled it's enough to do the same to the audience.