Release date: Friday January 11, 2008
Genre: Comedy
Director: David E. Talbert
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Producer(s): David McIlvain, David E. Talbert, Ice Cube, Matt Alvarez, Tim Story
Screenplay: David E. Talbert
Cast: Ice Cube, Katt Williams, Tracy Morgan, Loretta Devine, Michael Beach, Keith David, Regina Hall, Malinda Williams, Clifton Powell, Nick Turturro, Chi McBride
Official site: sonypictures.com
Rating: PG-13 for language, some sexual humor, and brief drug references

Synopsis:
A caper story about two petty criminals who rob their local church.

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While Hitman is not the best video game to film adaptation, it is nonetheless enjoyable.

Fox’s Hitman may not be the best game-to-film adaptation yet made, but it’s an enjoyable enough diversion despite its many formulaic elements. Offbeat casting helps make otherwise sketchy characters appear more dimensional than they are, while director Xavier Gens and cinematographer Laurent Bares deliver a number of sharp-looking, adrenaline-pumping action set-pieces.

The Skip Woods-scripted film has a simple enough plot: Tthe mysterious master assassin known only as Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) is sent by his employer — referred to here as “The Organization” but called “The Agency” in the games — to assassinate Russian leader Mikhail Belicoff (Ulrich Thomsen). But 47 — who never misses his target and is referred to by law enforcement as “The Ghost” because he’s so stealthy — is advised by his contact at The Organization that there is an eyewitness, a hooker named Nika (Olga Kurylenko), that he will need to eliminate.

Quicker than you can scream “set-up!,” 47 finds himself on the run in the former USSR with Nika in tow and hunted by other bald, well-dressed agents from The Organization. Also in hot pursuit are Interpol agent Mike Whittier (Dougray Scott) and Russian secret police officer Yuri Marklov (Robert Knepper), who are at each other’s throats as often as they’re after 47. Why was 47 betrayed? What are the bad guys up to? These are the questions that drive Hitman towards its bullet-riddled conclusion.

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Crime reporter Paul Avery (ROBERT DOWNEY JR.) gets a tip in his hunt for a serial killer

IGN’s Todd Gilchrist says “Fincher creates a righteous epic about San Francisco’s Zodiac killer.” Read on:

There aren’t a lot of directors today whose movies I’d see even if the plot revolved around paint drying, but David Fincher is one of them. God knows the man legitimized music-video helmers-turned-filmmakers more than any working director, and one suspects that if his story did actually hinge upon the above “plot,” that would indeed be some damn beautiful enamel airing out up there on the screen.

His latest movie, curiously enough, is a story that does seem a little dry on occasion — and I mean that as a compliment. Sublimating all of the visual trickery that distinguished his previous films from the b- and c-grade genres from whence they came, Fincher creates a righteous epic about San Francisco’s Zodiac killer and in so doing offers a cathartic close to the exact kind of serial tomes that made his name as an a-list moviemaker.

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Synopsis:
In “The Reaping,” Hilary Swank plays a former Christian missionary who lost her faith after her family was tragically killed, and has since become a world renowned expert in disproving religious phenomena. But when she investigates a small Louisiana town that is suffering from what appear to be the Biblical plagues, she realizes that science cannot explain what is happening and she must regain her faith to combat the dark forces threatening the community.

Cast: Hilary Swank, Jillian Batherson, Brandon J. Blanchard, Robin Blanchard, Sean M. Blanchard; Directed by: Stephen Hopkins

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Apocalypto delivers. Read on:

Once thought to be the appropriate epithet for his post-mug-shot career, Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto may well represent a step toward the fallen actor-director’s resurrection.

Revisiting similar emotional and visual terrain as he did with his divisive but phenomenally successful The Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto is a period piece set in ancient times that revolves around one man’s struggle to save something of personal importance. For Jesus, the object of salvation was the entire human race. For Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), the quest is more humble. He simply wants to save his family, and his small group of forest tribespeople, from the blunt axe and bloodlust of the Holcane warriors.

If you’re not up on your Mayan history or the timeline of human settlements on the Yucatan Peninsula, the Holcane warriors are fierce killers who serve the Mayan leader and his sacred priest by rounding up mountain-dwelling tribesmen for sacrifice.

With failing crops and a disfiguring illness claiming villagers, the Holcane warriors are working overtime to meet the demand for ritual killing, and when the film opens, Jaguar Paw and his people come face-to-face with a group of ragtag survivors.

They are in shock, and they have the vacant look of someone already half dead. Jaguar Paw’s father tells him they are sick with fear, and as a result, their fate is sealed. A few scenes later, we meet the Holcane warriors in the flesh and immediately understand the terror they inspire.

Zero Wolf (Raoul Trujillo) is the death squad leader and, thanks to his epaulets made of human mandibles and his necklace made from fragments of human skull, we can be assured he’ll figure as the central villain.

The rest of the narrative is self-sustaining: Jaguar Paw must elude capture by the Holcane, save his wife and son from certain death, and preserve his tribal way of life for future generations.

Seems simple enough, but surviving massive cultural upheaval and a climate of ambient fear is not easy — and if Apocalypto has any great thematic goals, it’s teaching its audience some timely lessons about the perils of paranoia, and the risk of non-resistance.

Jaguar Paw comes close to certain death several times over the course of this adrenalin-fuelled jaunt through the jungles of Mexico, but thanks to his manly resolve and the acceptance of his own human limitations, he refuses to fold in the face of terror.

In this way, he shares some key similarities to other Gibson heroes — including the blue-faced warrior William Wallace (Braveheart) and Jesus (Jim Caviezel in The Passion of the Christ).

Even Gibson’s pre-lapserian alter egos from the Lethal Weapon and Mad Max franchises fit under the same manly banner.

Gibson seems to enjoy watching half-naked, muscular men engage in bloodsport. Half the scenes in Apocalypto involve mano-a-mano bonding and intense violence.

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Andy Serkis, David Bowie and Hugh Jackman in the The Prestige

Director, Christopher Nolan scores big with The Prestige. Read on:

Cinematic sleight-of-hand is a tough thing to pull off these days. No matter how secretive or sophisticated a filmmaker’s approach might be, there are always folks savvy (not to mention cynical) enough to figure out what’s happening long before any of their fellow filmgoers. And that is what makes The Prestige the ultimate movie magic trick.

As the film’s dialogue suggests, the true purpose of magic is not to trick or deceive, but rather to convince an audience that “something” can appear to be “something else” entirely. Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, the man responsible for the misdirection-filled Memento, this idea is elevated to new artistic heights — even as it temporarily appears to be just another tool in a master storyteller’s arsenal.

The film stars Christian Bale (Batman Begins) as Alfred Borden, an aspiring illusionist with tricks to spare, but hardly enough panache to sustain an audience’s attention. Meanwhile, his colleague, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), has plenty of stage presence, but not enough chops to make it as a legitimate magician. The two quickly become embroiled in a battle of wills for domination of London’s stages. But when their competition results in the accidental death of a loved one, the longtime rivalry escalates and threatens to destroy both men — not only professionally, but personally.

There’s no good reason to reveal any more about the film, unless you are one of those savvy (not to mention cynical) folks who prefers to have all of a film’s secrets spoiled before stepping into a theater. That said, The Prestige adds up to far more than the sum of its parts. This is largely due to Nolan’s script, co-written by his brother Jonathan, which functions simultaneously as an expose into antiquated magic tricks and a testament to the fact that almost all of them still work. But the careful construction of characters is what keeps the film tethered to its emotional center.

Bale, a masterful actor capable of incredible subtlety and power, portrays Alfred as the ultimate purist — an artist who barely needs an audience to feed his work except as a sort of last-ditch commercial crutch. Jackman, on the other hand, exploits his own theatrical experience to play a performer who courts attention — indeed, he craves it — and whose determination to learn Alfred’s secrets is connected to personal desperation as much as professional envy.

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Eastwood scores another winner with Flags of Our Fathers, solidifying him as one of the great filmmakers of our time. Read on:

Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here. Whenever a film is released that seems so obviously aimed at winning awards, my defenses rise up and my cynicism kicks into overdrive. But the simple fact remains that some “event” films are actually good enough to deserve every last accolade they will inevitably generate.

The undeniable fact remains that Clint Eastwood is one of our greatest living filmmakers, and never has he been so clearly angling for awards as he is with Flags of Our Fathers. Does that mean the movie is not good? Absolutely not. The story behind the six men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima, which resulted in the single most famous wartime image in history, is beyond fascinating. Eastwood has gone the extra step to tell this story right by hiring two-time Oscar winner Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby) to co-write the screenplay (with William Broyles Jr.), and the results are largely phenomenal and endlessly fascinating, especially to those who know nothing about the true facts behind this legendary flag event.

The battle scenes–and there are many of them–are some of the bloodiest a studio film has ever released, and I applaud Eastwood and Co. for giving an unflinching look at how dirty, gory, and borderline unmentionable this part of WWII really was. But fighting isn’t what this movie is about. Flags of Our Fathers is about manufacturing heroes during wartime. There is absolutely no doubt that the men in the flag-raising photo are heroes (three of them died on that same battlefield), but as the truth is revealed to us about the circumstances of that event, one can’t help but be reminded of the military repeatedly inventing or exaggerating events during wartime to generate support for causes and wars that may not have been popular at the time. For those who don’t know the details, I’ll let the movie tell the facts. Part of the entertainment value of the film is learned piece by piece the truth. But the rest of the film follows the three surviving soldiers in the photo as they are sent across the country to drum up support for the war and drive war bond sales.

The events these three men attend are often embarrassing and troubling to them, as they are faced time after time with the image of them with that flag. What troubles them the most is that one of the men who died was misidentified in the original photograph, and the family of the real sixth man don’t find out for many years that it was their son in the photo. But more than that, the three men feel more like mascots than soldiers.

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Although formulaic, The Guardian has some gripping action scenes and the pairing of Costner and Kutcher is a good one. Read on:

The Guardian, the latest Kevin Costner film to clock in at over two hours long, recycles every mentor/student and military movie cliché in the proverbial book yet it does so effectively and with enough heart to prove see-worthy.

Costner once played the learner to Sean Connery’s crusty older mentor; now the fiftyish actor finds himself the teacher to a younger star. The torch has indeed been passed to a new generation. A noticeably trimmer Costner portrays veteran U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Ben Randall, who holds all the records that can be held. But after a rescue mission goes tragically awry, Ben finds himself stuck with a teaching gig at an Alaska-based Coast Guard academy.

Randall’s tough methods are daunting not only to his students, including high school swim champ Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher), but to the other instructors (including Neal McDonough) as well. The school’s commander (John Heard), though, trusts that Ben will make Rescue Swimmers out of these callow youths.

Ben takes a particular set on Jake making his life as hellish as Lou Gossett, Jr. did for Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman (which both this film and Annapolis owe a great debt to). Yes, of course, Ben sees something of himself in this young hotshot. But he also senses a reluctance on Jake’s part to save someone if they were in true jeopardy. So the question that both mentor and student must answer is whether Jake has the courage to sacrifice himself should that moment ever happen.

Jake’s not the only one who must overcome an inner obstacle. Ben, too, has fear and pain left over from the failed mission that led to his instructorship. Does Ben Randall, a legend to his fellow Guardsmen, still have what it takes to be a rescue swimmer? Or is it time for him to retire and try to patch things up with his estranged wife (Sela Ward)?

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The Last King of Scotland belongs to Forest Whitaker, but the rest of the cast give stellar performances as well. I see Oscar nods for Whitake here. This is a “must see” movie. Read on:

Based on Giles Foden’s novel of the same name, The Last King of Scotland is a gripping work of historical fiction that explores the reign of infamous Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and the moral disintegration of a good-hearted but callow young Scottish doctor who becomes the ruler’s confidante.

Directed by documentary filmmaker Kevin Macdonald from a screenplay adaptation by Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock, The Last King follows Dr. Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) who comes to Uganda in the early 1970s to work at a missionary clinic just as Amin (Forest Whitaker) takes control of the country in a military coup.

After tending to an injured Amin, Garrigan soon finds himself the apple of the dictator’s eye and eventually his closest advisor. A product of the British army, Amin has a fascination with Scottish culture and customs after serving with Highland regiments. He gave his sons Scottish names and incorporated Scottish dress and bagpipes into Ugandan military processions. Nicholas ultimately becomes like a son to Amin, and the young doctor is too starstruck to see the cruelty of the man he once thought was the hope of his new homeland.

When Garrigan finally realizes how close to the devil he has allowed himself to get, it’s almost too late to extract himself from the situation. Nicholas’ moral blindness and reckless behavior triggers brutal repercussions; only historical events beyond his control can possibly save him.

Amin is not portrayed as merely a bad guy. He is a multi-faceted person, vicious at one moment and a big teddy bear the next. He genuinely loves his country and despises the British who helped create him. In an interesting commentary on post-colonialism, the film shows how both Nicholas — a Scot — and Amin — a Ugandan — are products of British rule. Yet Nicholas is ultimately no better than all the other white men who indulged their base natures at the expense of Africans.

Garrigan may have come to Uganda to help people, but — like a corporation there to exploit the locals for their natural resources — he seduces local women and enjoys the good life that his association with Amin provides him, all the while remaining blind to the brutal truth. It’s not until he causes others to suffer that Nicholas realizes what he’s become.

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