ParaNorman

Beginning this month, a trio of spooky animated features are due to arrive in theaters way early for Halloween. The first one out is ParaNorman, a stop-motion spooktacular in both 3D and Flatscreen presentations.

Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) can talk to the spirits of the dead. To everyone else, though, he's just "abnorman". And the school bully, Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), uses that as an excuse to torment him. All of this happens in Blithe Hallow, a town with great pride in its Witch-Hunting Heritage.

One day, Norman's crazy uncle Prenderghast (John Goodman) dies. He comes back in spirit to warn him that a nasty Witch's ghost is about to rise. When she does, the dead will walk the Earth. Prenderghast gives Norman the task to soothe the Witch for all eternity; it's a task that Norman'll need lots of help for.

Animated by Laika Studios (Coraline), ParaNorman's cast of puppets are amazing. They move around with such fluid motion that it's easy to forget that this is a stop-motion feature. With 3D printers, the animators gave the characters some of the most expressive faces of their medium. The film's practical sets only add to its wonderful blend of the old and new.

There's also some clever writing in co-director Chris Butler's screenplay. It playfully messes around with horror film cliches, but it knows when to be devastatingly serious when it has to be. On the lighter side, there's Prenderghast, who makes the most of his few scenes thanks to Goodman's performance. On the darker side, there's the Witch's true nature, which I won't spoil.

If you can withstand the film's PG scariness, then ParaNorman will be a spooky good time for the family. At any rate, it'll be a better pick than the live action spooktaculars set to arrive soon. 

The Expendables 2

Once again, an All-Star team of Action Film stars have assembled in one movie. It is The Expendables 2, the sequel to the 2010 blockbuster that I certainly disliked. Fortunately, this bloody, loud shoot-em-up is much better than its predecessor.

As usual, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his mercenary squad, The Expendables, make it their mission to blow up bad guys. Their handler, Mr. Church (Bruce Willis), gives them the assignment to retrieve something from a downed plane. That something, they find out too late, has the location of an abandoned Plutonium mine. They get it, but the evil Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) takes it from them. So now, it's up to them to stop the villain before he can sell his spoils to the wrong hands.

And that's what you need to know about the plot.

While Stallone directed The Expendables, he left this sequel to Simon West (Con Air). What this results in is a film that punctuates carnage with humor. The heroes make fun of their actors' greatest hits while under gunfire. A bloody fight ends with a villain going through an Airport X-Ray Machine. There's also a good supply of amusing one-liners as Good cuts through Evil.

This relaxed tone benefits its characters the most. This time around, they make up an amusing ensemble of rogue heroes that's fun to watch. Amongst the new characters, Booker (Chuck Norris), revels in the film's extremities. Meanwhile, Mr. Church and Mr. Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger), the best characters of the last film, have a delightfully expanded part. Next to them, the hulking Gunnar (Dolph Lundgren) was the best of this Wild Bunch.

This is what the first film should've been like: bloody fun, not bloody boring. That's all its trying to do, and for that reason, The Expendables 2 wildly succeeds.

The Bourne Legacy

Just when you thought that Matt Damon was done chasing spies as Robert Ludlum's rogue assassin Jason Bourne...you were right!

Since director Paul Greengrass wasn't interested in getting Bourne again, neither was his star. With Greengrass gone, Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter for all three Bournes, has been promoted to the director's chair in The Bourne Legacy.

Rather than re-cast Damon as Bourne, Gilroy introduces a new protagonist, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner). Aaron is part of Operation Outcome, the same Super-Assassin program from which Jason Bourne got his skills. One day, while enjoying the Alaskan wilderness, Aaron starts to run out of his Super-Assassin Medicine. And so, he goes back to civilization to find some.

Meanwhile, Government creep Eric Byer (Edward Norton) and his fellow Bureacrats, are irritated with Jason Bourne's meddling. And so, they decide to clean house by killing everybody involved with their schemes.

One Dr. Shearing (Rachel Weisz) survives one of their house-cleaning schemes. She's now targeted for death since she knows about the Super Medicine. For that reason, she's the first person Aaron seeks out and now must protect.

For around the first half-hour, I was surely bored with Bourne. Nothing really happened. All the names that were relevant in the last three films made the backstory almost incomprehensible. And it surely felt longer than half an hour.

But once it speeds up, everything gets better. The film's action scenes, edited by Tony's brother John, master both style and substance. While these scenes contain plenty of exciting stunts, there's also some masterful suspense involved. So much so that it could easily follow its predecessor, The Bourne Ultimatum, to a Film Editing Oscar.

Having not seen the prior Bournes, I don't know where this measures. But as a standalone, The Bourne Legacy is some fine entertainment. Let's just hope that the next one gets it better, or else we might just get stuck with The Bourne Redundancy.

Hope Springs

Just as they did in The Devil Wears Prada, director David Frankel and star Meryl Streep bring some dramedy for the summertime in Hope Springs.

Kay (Streep) has been married to Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) for thirty-one years. Their marriage has been so distant nowadays that they don't even sleep in the same room together. One day, Kay finds out about self-help guru Dr. Feld (Steve Carrell) and his miraculous couples counciling. She immediately drags Arnold along for a week-long therapy session in Feld's town of Great Hope Springs, Maine.

Upon arriving, Arnold hates it. In fact, he hated the thought of even going. And he especially hates the thought of confiding with some stranger about his marriage. Which leaves the important question: will this be even a good week?

There were a few laughs here. A few of them came from a very deadpan Carrell as Dr. Feld. At least, those were the few legitimate giggles. A lot of the other humor comes down thanks to the film's gentle tone. As a result, it comes down in one of two flavors: "huh?" or "awkward."

At the core of the film, there's Streep and Jones. On the bright side, Streep gives a reliably good performance as Kay. It's quite understandable that she's bored that he's boring. Or rather, that she's upset that he's dense. But on the down side, the film doesn't develop their problems further than that. It ends up making it hard to fully emphasize with their relationship.

If you wish to see this film, then go ahead and do it. It's a harmless dramedy, nothing more. But then again, it'd be nice if there was something more with the New England scenery.

Total Recall

Even though Phillip K. Dick still has literary works that have yet to gain cinematic life, that hasn't stopped his works from getting repeats on-screen. One such short story, We Can Remember It for You, Wholesale, already had cinematic life as Total Recall in 1990. And now, it's been brought back with that title intact.

In the far off future, World War III has happened, and only two superpowers, the United Federation of Britain (Europe), and The Colony (Australia), remain. One such Colony citizen, Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), works in a factory for Robot Soldiers called Synthetics. Bored with his life, Quaid decides to go to REKALL, which specializes in implanting fake memories in its customers.

So, he decides to be a secret agent. But then, everyone, even his wife, Lori (Kate Beckinsale), wants to kill him. Because, apparently, he really is a secret agent. And he's the only one who can help the Resistance, which includes his new friend Melina (Jessica Biel), overthrow the tyrannical Federation.

Or, maybe not. It is Phillip K. Dick after all.

Whereas the original story and film dealt with the Planet Mars, this new incarnation by director Len Wiseman (Underworld), keeps the action on Earth. What he's replaced the Red Planet with is a scenic blend of two other Phillip K. Dick adaptations: Blade Runner and Minority Report. It has Towering cities, East/West Art Deco, Flying Cars, Robot Soldiers, and many more. It's all great to look at, that's for sure.

There's also a few mindbending scenes, including a fake-out ending, that work really well. Unfortunately, there's also quite a bit of the wrong kind of mindbending as well. First, there's padding that ends up dragging the film up to two hours. Second, and more minor, is the eerie similarity between Lori and Melina. Those parts just turn the film from "Huh? Whoa!" to "Uhh, wha?!"

Overall, this is a film worth remembering, but not with enthusiasm. Still, it's not so bad that it'll make you want to forget it. It's just not a certified classic like the original film was.