Unknown

Jethro's Note: Vance, my co-reviewer from The Social Network, insisted he do the same here. I don't know why.

Vance: What’re you watching?

Jethro: Unknown.

Vance: You don’t know?

Jethro: No, it’s called Unknown. It stars Liam Neeson, and it’s a more preferable title than Hors de Moi ("Out of My Head"), the French Novel by Didier Van Cauwelaert that was used as the basis of this American film by Spanish auteur Jaume Collet-Serra.

Vance: I’ll be going now.

Jethro: Good. Now, here’s the review.

In Unknown, Neeson is Martin Harris, a world class biophysicist married to Elizabeth (January Jones). On a routine conference in Berlin, Martin has just checked into the hotel when he remembered a forgotten briefcase at the airport. On the way there, a flying refrigerator causes a chain reaction that lands his taxi into the Spree River.

Four days later, he gets up from his coma and locates Elizabeth. Yet, she doesn’t know him for some reason, and some other guy (Aidan Quinn) has taken his place. With no identification on him, our hero is nearly convinced he’s crazy. That is, until some bad men try to kill him for some reason. With his only ally Gina (Diane Kruger), the driver of the fateful taxi, our hero sets out to solve the mystery.

The film has many good aspects about it. One of them is the Berlin scenery, photographed by cinematographer Flavio Labino. Another is the spectacular action scenes that happen in Berlin. My favorite is the car chase on the sidewalk, especially since one of the cars was going backwards. These scenes were edited nicely, and made the film well watchable.

As Martin, Neeson perfectly puts the audience in the right spot to question reality along with him. Amongst his supporting cast, the best is the extended cameo by Frank Langella as Martin’s “old friend.” He seems nice, legitimately concerned about his paranoia, up until we see that he’s not a good man. When the truth comes out, one can’t help but feel as surprised as our hero.

It’s the time of year where sub-par blockbusters are churned out by studios waiting for the big guns. This is not one of them; instead, this is an action-adventure that’ll keep its audience interested until the credits start rolling.

Jehtro's Note 2: Yeah, Vance didn't stick around. Guess it shows him I'm the real reviewer on this blog.

I am Number Four

To be honest, the back-story of I am Number Four is quite long-winded and likely to take up much space. It’s still a decent sci-fi adventure, so that’s not much of a bad thing.

The aforementioned back-story involves evil Mogadorians, who make a living trashing other planets. One of them was Lorien, where Number Four, alias John Smith (Alex Pettyfer), was originally from. Now on Earth, he and eight other survivors have the special powers needed to thwart the destroyers. For reasons of plot convenience, they can only be killed off in numerical order.

With Numbers One through Three already space dust, Four heads off with his guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant) to Paradise, Ohio. In his new High School, he instantly falls for aspiring photographer Sarah (Dianna Agron) and attracts the attention of the school bully. He also gets super powers, such as shooting light from his hands, which comes in handy when the bad guys show up in town.

Having previously directed two Shia LaBeouf vehicles, Disturbia and Eagle Eye, director DJ Caruso turned his cinematic attention to the same-named novel by the duo of Pittacus Lore. Half of this duo is James Frey, author of the infamous memoir A Million Little Pieces. At least here, the film can’t be accused of fraud; it can, however, be accused of over-abundance.

Its fight scenes emphasize big effects and fast cuts over a steady editing style. A few important plot points, such as the true identity of Four’s dog, are shoved into the last half-hour, when our attention is supposed to be on the final battle. It’s distracting, for sure, especially for the most unwary viewers.

What makes this worth it is that the characters aren’t entirely lost in the cool FX. The heroes are still likable, the villains are campily evil and the dog, Bernie, is the best. If one can keep focus, they’ll see a decent, early year sci-fi flick under the noise.

Gnomeo and Juliet

It should take a glance at a title to guess which Shakespeare play the new animated film Gnomeo and Juliet is a riff on. Available as both a 3-D and flat screen attraction, it’s certain fun for all.

Mr. Capulet and Ms. Montague, who live on two sides of the same house, his painted red, and hers’ painted blue, hate each other. Their garden gnomes, who come to life Toy Story style when they’re not looking, hate each other too.

The Blueberries, from which comes Gnomeo (James MacAvoy), always try to upstage the Redbricks, one of which is Juliet (Emily Blunt). Eventually, the two lovebirds meet, but angst over their chromatic differences. Only if they find a way to stop their families’ pointless feud can they subvert their namesakes’ fates.

Yes, this story’s been told before. “A lot,” says the gnome in the hilarious prologue, “Now we’re going to tell it again. But different.” When he’s yanked off stage before he can finish reciting Romeo and Juliet’s prologue, we know how different it’s going to get. After that, we’ll know how fun it is.

Much of its fun comes from the numerous supporting characters. Ranging from the sprinkler frog Nanette, to the mute Shroom, and the pink flamingo Featherstone, they all provide great comic relief for this story. The best one is the statue of the Bard himself (Patrick Stewart), oblivious to how this interpretation of his story is playing out.

Among other good aspects of this adventure include hidden Shakespeare references, a few Elton John tunes populating the soundtrack, and a monstrously powerful lawnmower (Hulk Hogan) that sets off the climax. They help add up to what should be a fun time for kids and adults alike.

Oscar Nominated Short Films 2011

When the Academy releases its Oscar nominations each year, aside from top awards as Best Picture and Best Director, they also have the dreaded Best Short categories. Since these aren’t that widely seen by the public, there are two options for making an educated guess.

You can either pick a winner at random, or preferably, seek out the shorts yourself. One way to do so is to watch the theatrical compilations of the Oscar Nominated Short Films. I watched the compilation of the Animated shorts, and these nominees are quite worth it.

The one that stuck out for me was Let’s Pollute, a six-minute faux educational video about how our economic ways mess up the eco-system. It’s quite an interesting piece due to its style and satirical humor, which borders a bit on meanness.

Day and Night, which many viewers will have seen already with Toy Story 3, also stood out because of its 3-D scenery within its 2-D characters. Madagascar, a Journey Diary, an animated travelogue of the African island, is sure to get some attention due to its shifting styles. An Australian effort, The Lost Thing, and The Gruffalo, a British short with an all-star cast, are the welcome two that round out this category.

In the end, though, my favorite short was one of the two extras that were on the nominations shortlist, but didn’t make it. It was The Cow who wanted to be a Hamburger, a toon about just that. It’s quite a humorous, good-spirited short, whose message I’ll sadly probably ignore afterward.

But ironically, by the time of this writing, the theatrical compilations’ll have come and gone in theaters. Still, find the individual shorts if you can, and you won’t be disappointed.

The Eagle

If I can describe what I thought about the action flick The Eagle, shortened from its source material novel The Eagle of the Ninth, in one sentence, it is this: the best part was the end because it was over. For a longer summation of what I thought of it, read on.

Our hero, Marcus Flavius Aquila (Channing Tatum), is a Roman Centurion who gets command of his first post in Britain, but is quickly, honorably discharged after getting wounded in battle with the natives. Before then, his name’s been legendary for all the wrong reasons; his father commanded the long-lost Ninth Spanish Legion, whose symbol was a golden eagle.

He rescues a slave named Esca (Jamie Bell) from the gladiator games, and together, the two head off to explore what lies beyond the ominous Hadrian’s Wall. The plan is to find the Eagle, bring it back to Rome, and find out about the last days of the Ninth Legion. Or something.

It may be a bit under two hours, but it sure felt longer than that. Stuff happens in this movie, and unfortunately, not a lot of it is interesting. The editing of the fight scenes is choppy, particularly in the fight scenes, which look like they’ve been obviously censored for its PG-13 rating. Whatever meaningful messages it tried to say was just lost in dull city.

The Eagle has landed, and by landed, I mean crash landed. Hopefully, everyone involved, particularly director Kevin MacDonald (The Last King of Scotland) will walk away just fine.