Pitch Perfect

Imagine if Christopher Guest (Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman) directed a 90-minute version of Glee. That will whet your appetite for this delightful comedy from director Jason Moore (nominated for Broadway's 2004 Tony Award as Best Director (Musical) for Avenue Q). The film stars Anna Kendrick as Beca, an edgy young woman whose dreams of being a music producer in the big city are stalled by the time she has to spend at the preppy college where her dad is a professor. Through a series of unfortunate -- and increasingly funny -- adventures, Beca ends up joining the school’s all-girls a cappella singing group where she finds friendship, romance and an outlet for her creative musical ideas. It’s not much of an idea, but thanks to a fantastic cast, particularly the comedic styling of Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy, and an irresistible soundtrack, Pitch Perfect manages to find its own tempo to become a truly original and very funny comedy.

Savages

God bless Oliver Stone. In a movie year where cinemas are primarily filled with comic book movies, kiddy cartoons and crappy comedies, the maverick (some may say mad) director unleashes Savages, a dark, violent and very funny story of drug dealing and double crossing  cranked up to operatic proportions. It’s a far from perfect film, especially the insane ending, but the energy and imagination that Stone and his cast put  into it are so damn refreshing it makes you realize just what pale, pathetic junk we’ve been force fed so far this year. The film stars Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson as a pair of pot growing geniuses who have developed a strain of marijuana that’s 30 times as powerful as anything ever smoked before. These Robin Hoods of Refer see their most powerful pot as a gift to mankind, especially those with the medical prescriptions to get it legally, and if they happen to make a lot of money along the way so be it. It isn’t too long, of course, before the gangsters and drug war lords dealing in inferior product decide they want a piece of the boys’ action and the blood starts to flow in buckets.

Dredd

Set in the grimly photogenic apocalyptic future movies have been warning us about for decades, Dredd 3D tells the story of the ultimate law enforcement agent, Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) – he’s judge, jury and executioner on every case he investigates – as he takes a rookie judge (Olivia Thirlby) through the paces of a normal day to see if her she has the potential to be a judge despite her miserable academy test scores. It’s pretty clear early on the ‘normal’ is not a word in Judge Dredd’s vocabulary when his investigation of a grisly murder at a ghetto apartment block leads him to go head-to-head with a ruthless drug queen named Ma-Ma (Lena Heady) and her psychopathic minions. Urban plays Dredd with such a 'world-weariness that you half expect him to put the business end of his high tech weapon into his mouth and pull the trigger. If it wasn’t for the job, and the code of honor that makes him show up to do it every day, he might, too. Thirlby, best known for playing the wacky sidekick in light comedies like Juno and The Answer Man, shows she has a brass backbone as the rookie judge trying to prove herself. Like Dredd, her character never gets an instance to try and milk the audiences’ sympathy for her. And any fan can tell you that an action movie is only as good as the bad guy in it, and on that level Dredd 3D really scores bug time with Heady’s intense work as Ma-Ma. The script gives her plenty of moments to say and do lots of horribly nasty things, but it’s the way she makes ma-Ma feel like a threat when nothing is really happening that makes the part so effective.

Pawn Shop

SNL alum Garrett Morris stars as Rey, the crotchety owner of a prosperous pawn shop who is unsure he can trust his oldest son, Mike (Robert ‘Foolish” Spearman), who dreams of getting out of the pawn business and opening his own custom rim shop. To get the money he needs, Mike tries a variety of quick money schemes, including trying to sell a stolen chain for a local bad guy named Pierre (Joe Torry). The plot is pretty basic and the jokes are pretty simple, but there’s some real chemistry between the cast, especially between Morris and Spearman playing father and son. When writer/director Parrish Redd stays focused on them, the movie runs like clockwork and is a lot of fun to watch. When he veers off course to try and milk jokes out of some of the weaker material, like the two bumbling/annoying local cops, it stops dead in its tracks.

Doomsday Book

You have to give writer/directors Pil-Sung Yim and Jee-woon Kim credit for the ambitious nature of their collaboration in Doomsday Book. They’ve come up with three great ideas in one movie, but forgot to figure out a believable way for them all to tie together into a single satisfying cinematic whole. That’s just nitpicking; maybe the connection can be found with repeated viewings. (And you will see it more than once). Of the three, the story about a robot who not only gains awareness, but Buddha-level enlightenment, works the best. It’s not only beautifully shot, but the special effects are so well done that you will think the robot more alive than some of the actors in the story. The story about a little girl who orders a billiard ball online and sets off a chain of events that could destroy the world is fun, even if trying to figure it out leaves you mind feeling like Jell-O. The opening chapter about zombies running amuck on the streets of Seoul is good, just not as good as the other two.

Just Henry

At first, the mystery of Just Henry seems to be painted in such broad strokes that it’s hard to keep concentrating on the plot because you think you’ve got it figured out already. If that happens, stop the DVD, walk away for a while then come back and watch it with fresh eyes and less of an attitude. The plot, involving a young man’s search for his missing presumed dead father, may be a bit too predictable, but the performances from the entire cast are strong enough to make even the most hackneyed lines feel alive. Josh Bolt is particularly good as He, as is Campbell Moore as his dad. Hats off to director David Moore (Merlin) who paces the story well enough to give the cast room to do their job.

Hardcore Logo, Hard Core Logo 2

There have been countless movies made about the rock and roll lifestyle, both the good and the bad, but few have captured the scene with as much honesty and humor as this classic movie from director Bruce McDonald. It’s a quasi-documentary film following a Canadian punk band called Hard Core Logo as they try to capitalize on a planned benefit show to hit the road and recapture the magic they had when they were an up and coming punk band. There are plenty of Spinal Tap level moments in the movie, most of which feel like setups just for a cheap laugh, but there’s also a lot of heart and soul in the performances on and off stage that raise it to the level of art; Hugh Dillon and Callum Keith Rennie capture lightning in a bottle with their performances as banc leaders Joe Dick and Billy Talent. The sequel, made 14 years later, is a pale imitation about a manic, drug-fueled lead singer with a punk band that’s convinced she’s been possessed by the spirit of the late Joe Dick.