Cloud Atlas

What?

That's probably what you'll ask yourself after seeing Cloud Atlas. It's very long, has a story cosmic in scope, and that story is broken up into six mini-stories, going back and forth between them at any time. It's easy to get lost in the story, but its artistic qualities give it good marks.

Like the play Angels in America, its multiple stories feature the same cast, playing a different character in each one. For its cast, this movie features such actors as Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Bae Doona, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw. Over the centuries, they play the following:

1. A lawyer (Sturgess) in 1849, who befriends a Moriori stowaway on a voyage back to San Francisco.

2. A musician (Whishaw) in 1936 Belgium, trying to compose his masterwork, the Cloud Atlas Sextet, while living under the domineering rule of an aging maestro (Broadbent).

3. A investigative reporter (Berry) in 1973 San Francisco, looking into the shady going-ons of a Nuclear Plant.

4. A book publisher (Broadbent) in 2012 London, confined against his will to a nursing home by his brother (Grant).

5. A clone slave (Bae) in the next century Seoul, who escapes the confines of her existence at a Fast Food place with the help of a revolutionary (Sturgess).

6. A tribesman (Hanks) in the way-off future Hawaii, who meets Meronym (Berry) of the advanced Prescients.

Its story was so big that it had to have three directors. Two of them are the Wachowskis, creators of The Matrix and the third is Tom Tykwer, director of Run Lola Run. Their adaptation of David Mitchell's novel has not only the visual splendor of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but also its tendency for confusion as well.

Its makeup department, headed by Daniel Parker and Jeremy Woodhead, deserves the most attention. They render the actors into a wide variety of characters, even some unexpected supporting ones. Weaving, for example, goes from an allegorical devil in the last mini-story to a Nurse Ratched parody in the fourth. This display of prosthesis makes the game of "spot the actor" a fun one.

As I said before, its non-linear structure and massive length punishes those with low attention spans. It's quite easy to lose some names, characters and plot points as the film ponders life's mysteries more and more. For those unprepared, the end result is not a serene "whoa," but a stumped, perplexed "what?!"

A second take maybe necessary for those who wish to see this movie. It's not the kind that you can just get in a day. Not in the least.

Pitch Perfect

Imagine Glee in College, add in some edginess and basically, you get Pitch Perfect. The results aren't actually perfect, but there's some good pitch in there.

Beca (Anna Kendrick) wants to DJ in Los Angeles. But her father makes her go to college instead. Not only she must attend college, but she has to join a club. The club she joins is The Bellas, the local all-girls A Capella group. Their leaders are the authoritarian Aubrey (Anna Camp) and the more liberal Chloe (Brittany Snow). Meanwhile, her new friend Jesse (Skylar Astin) joins the all-boys group, the Treble Makers. Since the two groups are rivals, this naturally leads to conflict.

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

As for credentials, there's a few noted names on the crew. It's somewhat based on GQ editor Mickey Rapkin's non-fiction book and adapted by 30 Rock writer Kay Cannon. It's directed by Jason Moore, who began his career on Broadway as a director for Les Miserables. What kind of film did they make?

It's a silly film, to say the least. A few bits of the story either made little to no sense. As a result, I found it a bit easy to get lost. However, individual performances of the supporting Bellas raised the pitch up a bit. Particularly noticeable were Hana Mae Lee, as the barely audible Lily and Rebel Wilson as “Fat Amy.” The song performances, thanks to both stars and sound mixers, were great. All in all, I found it a bit more enjoyable than the dud Rock of Ages, which means a lot.

If you plan to see this movie, go ahead. At the very least, the whole cast is enjoyable to watch. Meanwhile, I'll wait for Les Miserables the Musical to make its cinematic debut.

Argo

Argo is about a fake film that was used to help resolve a real crisis. While the crisis did end rather well, this film'll keep you guessing how well it will end.

It's 1979 and the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran has been taken over by Revolutionaries. Six Embassy workers got out before it got really worse, and then took up residence in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garbor). Even though they're safe in the house, the workers know that it won't be long before the Revolutionaries come knocking.

CIA operative Tony Mendez (Director/Co-Producer Ben Affleck) decides on an outlandishly plausible story to get the six out. He decides to pass them off as a Canadian film crew scouting exotic locations for a Sci-Fi Film called Argo. For his Hollywood contacts, Mendez chooses producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) and Oscar-Winning Makeup-man John Chambers (John Goodman). Along with a script and some concept art, Mendez flies to Iran to get the six out of the country quickly and quietly.

Using Mendez's memoir The Master of Disguise, as well as the article The Great Escape by Joshuah Bearman, Chris Terrio wrote the film's screenplay. It's a screenplay that's both funny and suspenseful, often in the same scene. At one moment, there's a public table reading of Argo's script by folks in crummy costumes. At the same time, there's a mock execution of Embassy hostages. Thanks to editor William Goldenberg, the balance between funny and serious works wonderfully.

Although Affleck is the one in charge, on-screen and off, his supporting cast stands out wonderfully. Amongst the ensemble, the chemistry of the six escapees was the real highlight. They really worked well together, even when their characters were at each others' throats. Meanwhile, Goodman and Arkin provided much appreciated comic relief. Another great performance was Bryan Cranston as Mendez's CIA superior.

As a thriller and a period piece, Argo gets it right all the way. If Affleck keeps it up, then his career as director and star is secure for a long time.

Seven Psychopaths

Seven Words for Seven Psychopaths: Insane. Violent. Bizarre. Tense. Funny. Loony. Good.

For more words, read on.

Billy (Sam Rockwell) and Hans (Christopher Walken) specialize in being Good Samaritans for owners of lost dogs...lost because they stole them. Billy's roommate, Marty (Colin Farrell), just wants to be left alone to write his newest screenplay: Seven Psychopaths. To inspire himself, Marty listens to the stories of Serial-Killer Killer Zachariah (Tom Waits), an avenging Quaker (Harry Dean Stanton) and the on-going hunt for a Killer who whacks Mafia Wiseguys.

One day, Billy takes Bonny the Shih Tzu, whose owner is Mafia man Charlie (Woody Harrelson). Instead of doing the sane thing and returning the dog, Billy decides to hold on to the little pooch. Naturally, Billy and Hans face the wrath of the world's angriest pet owner and his crew. Meanwhile, Marty has to find someway to survive this madness and get his film made.

Writer/Director Martin McDonagh follows up his debut film, In Bruges, with this twisted comedy. Its screenplay is filled with great dialogue and some effective twists. Its ensemble of actors, particularly Walken and Rockwell, is perfectly cast. Best of all, it's a dark satire that wonderfully mocks the absurdities of violence. It has fun with it for a while; the pointlessness of it all hits home when it gets serious.

From its title, and much of its content, Seven Psychopaths sounds like an unappealing film. But for those willing to see what it's about, they'll find a much better work than Hollywood's usual spectacles of Ultra-Violence.

Frankenweenie

Back when he was an animator with Disney, Tim Burton got to make some weird short films. One of them, Frankenweenie, was so weird that Disney fired him for "wasting company resources" on a "creepy film." Years later, Burton's "creepy film" has now been reborn as a Disney 3D stop-motion spooktacular. And this is certainly not a waste of company resources.

Young Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) just loves to make films starring his dog, Sparky. One day, Sparky chases a ball into the street and gets run over. Sad and lonely, Victor takes up weird science to bring back his doggy. And just like Frankenstein, Sparky is brought back with the right dosage of lightning. After that, Victor has to hide the new Sparky from his neighbors. Of course, that doesn't end well.

Unlike Burton's Dark Shadows from earlier this year, this one knows what it wants to be. From the black and white to Danny Elfman's music, its inspiration from 1931's Frankenstein is obvious. Its characters may be oddly designed, but they're all eccentric and likable. And with its 87-minute runtime, there's never a dull moment. What it wants to be is a quirky take on early day monster movies, and it succeeds. Even when it does get sad, for obvious reasons, it wasn't jarring at all.

As with Paranorman, Frankenweenie does have creepy moments that earn it its PG-rating. If either you or your family can withstand it, then they'll certainly enjoy what it's all about: a tale of a boy and his dog. Either in 3D or Flatscreen, it's certainly a more sane pick for them than something like Sinister.

Looper

What would you expect from a film called Looper? From the title itself, you probably don't know what you'll get. Seeing the film itself, you won't know what you're going to get either.

And that's a good thing.

In the not so distant future, time travel will have been invented in their future. Since it is also very much illegal, only crime bosses have access to time machines. They use it to send some unlucky victim back in time to be blasted by a waiting assassin (the Loopers). And when the Looper's services are no longer required, the unlucky victim is their future self.

One such Looper is Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who's living the good life in Kansas. One day, his latest target (Bruce Willis) turns out to be his future self. In the future, Joe'll have run afoul of the psychic Kingpin, The Rainmaker. Now in the present, Old Joe escapes to find The Rainmaker before he can cause chaos. Present Joe, meanwhile, has to find his future self before his employers kill him in the here and now.

The screenplay, from writer/director Rian Johnson, is what makes it work the most. For one thing, it doesn't try to confound its audience with techno-babble. Instead, its main focus is just to get to the point of its main concept. Bit by bit, it also introduces more plot twists to throw its audience through a loop. In the end, these plot twists all pay off wonderfully.

On a $30 million budget, Johnson's crew has worked technological wonders. Its cities of the future look great, as does the its display of psychic powers. With cinematographer Steve Yedlin and editor Bob Ducsay, the film creates an amazing blend of action, character study and dark humor. Also of note is the impressive use of makeup to make Levitt look like Willis; and in one scene, Willis look like Levitt. None of these wonders are visual overloads, which makes them most amazing.

This is an action film whose style is substance. It's that substance that keeps the audience interested from the very beginning. For that reason, Looper is certainly worth your time. Pun not intended.

Hotel Transylvania

Now comes the second cartoon spooktacular this year and the only one of the three in CGI. It is Hotel Transylvania, whose premise you can easily get out of its title. But, I'll spell it out for you anyway.

There's Count Dracula (Adam Sandler), who owns the titular Resort: a Five-Star Hotel for Monsters. His frequent guests include Werewolves, Gremlins, Frankenstein's Monsters, Invisible Men and Mummies. The real purpose of Dracula's Tourist Spot is to keep his now 118-year-old daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), away from humans.

One day, a human traveler named Johnny (Andy Samberg) shows up at the Hotel. Naturally, Dracula has to fight tooth and nail to keep him away from the guests. But that gets difficult when sparks fly between Johnny and Mavis.

Genndy Tartakovsky, well known for his work on Cartoon Network, makes his first feature film here. What results is one of the silliest monster mashes on-screen. There's an amusing display of cartoon physics not unlike a Looney Tune. A few jabs at monster movie cliches also earn some good chuckles. Its only real flaw was that, at times, it was a bit too lighthearted.

Amongst the other monsters, one of the best was Wayne the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), a harried father of too many. As the only “villain” in this romp, Chef Quasimodo (an unrecognizable Jon Lovitz) also adds some good silliness along with his rat, Esmeralda. The rest of the monsters are so quirky, it's not hard to like any of them.

As usual, it's available on both 3D and Flatscreens. Either way, it's still good fun if one finds Paranorman or  the almost-out Frankenweenie too scary.