Film

One of the only guarantees in life is that it ends and throughout our lives we must find ways to cope with loss. Oftentimes, when we lose someone close to us, many questions remain in their absence, and for those that affect us the deepest we wonder what happens now? In Rabbit Hole, everyone deals with grief in different ways, and no one has the same answer to that question.
Rabbit Hole tells the story of Becca and Howie Corbett (Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart), who eight months previous lost their four-year-old son, Danny, in a car accident in front of their house. Now, Becca and Howie each must return to their everyday lives and each of them copes with the loss in different ways. Becca reaches out to Jason (Miles Teller), the teenager who hit and killed her son. Howie finds solace in a support group and then later smokes pot and hangs out with Gabby (Sandra Oh), a woman he met at the group. Becca and Howie must learn how to reconnect with each other and how to go on with their lives.

Russell Crowe, Brad Pitt and Colin Farrell have all donned ancient Roman attire, and now we can add to the sword-and-sandal fraternity… Channing Tatum? Turns out it's not such a bad call, since The Eagle has little dialogue to screw up. This must be “survival month” at the movies because beyond the themes of honor and freedom, at the core this movie is another installment of “will they or won't they make it?”
The ominous tone sets this movie immediately apart from Hollywood mainstream gladiator territory. Academy Award-winning director Kevin MacDonald (The Last King of Scotland) teams up again with screenwriter Jeremy Brock for this historical epic set in second century Roman-ruled Britain. A young Roman soldier, Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum), endeavors to restore honor to his father’s memory by finding his lost legion’s golden emblem, the treasured eagle. It's been 15 years since the Ninth Legion of 5,000 men, led by Marcus' father, went missing in the mountains of Scotland. Aquila’s only traveling companion on his quest for the eagle emblem is his British slave, Esca (Jamie Bell). Along the way they confront the savage tribes of the land and not knowing if Dad's actions were of cowardice or bravery, Marcus is at battle within to prove himself.

Here are two marketing ploys that are really not working for me anymore: “Based on true facts” and “shot in real 3D.” I figured that James Cameron's role as producer and the 3D cinema magic would all but force Sanctum to deliver. It doesn't. I know I'm not known for being lavish with my praise, but this truly is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
The waterlogged story involves an underwater cave-diving team on an expedition to explore New Guinea’s Esa-ala Cave, one of the least-accessible cave systems in the world. When a flash flood cuts off their exit, the team is caught in a life-or-death situation. With supplies dwindling, the divers must navigate a treacherous labyrinth to find a new escape route or die in the process.

When viewers first see the trailer or hear the plot for The Roommate, the new psychological thriller starring Leighton Meester and Minka Kelly, the first thing to come to mind is the 1992 film Single White Female. The films feature similar plots, leading some to wonder if The Roommate is actually a remake of Single White Female. But no, it's not… but it probably would have been better if it actually was a rehash.
When Sarah (Kelly) starts her freshman year at the fictional University of Los Angeles, she's assigned Rebecca (Meester) as a roommate. The two become fast friends, going to gallery openings together and even bringing in a stray cat named Cuddles to join them in their dorm room. Little does Sarah know, Rebecca tends to lean toward the obsessive, psychotic side and by the end of the first semester Sarah will be begging for a normal roomie with faults like forgetting to take out the trash.

For the past few days, I've been wondering if I could, under any circumstance, cut off my own arm. I mean, maybe if I had a light saber and I was super-duper drunk and a group of doctors was standing by my side and someone was going to pay me an offensively large sum of money as part of a demented bet… then I might be able to do it. But, given that light sabers don't exist (yet) and I have awful heath insurance, it's quite unlikely that such a scenario would present itself. So, no – I would not be able to cut off my own arm and I doubt you would either.
But you know who did cut off his own arm? This guy named Aron Ralston, who fell into a canyon in 2003 and had his arm trapped beneath a boulder and then wrote a hilariously titled (but not hilarious) book about it called Between a Rock and a Hard Place. That book has now been adapted for the screen in Danny Boyle's Best Picture-nominated film, 127 Hours, starring actor/author/filmmaker/student/genius James Franco in what might be his best non-soap-opera role to date.

It's not a good sign when an exorcism movie pulls down a PG-13 rating. This means the amount of blood and/or cursing is probably insufficient, especially for this overworked subgenre. Such is the case with The Rite, a vehicle for a demonic Anthony Hopkins who once again glints his eyes, rattles off cantankerous innuendoes and sinister wisecracks in heavy makeup as CGI-enhanced veins pop out of his skin. Think Hannibal Lecter, but even more possessed.
Billed as “based on true events,” this flick treads on thin demonic ice. Tired conventions abound, such as with the father-son (Rutger Hauer/Colin O'Donoghue) funeral home scene. Here, an attempt at creepiness is merely dull – peppered with generic horror movie lines like, “We live with dead people in our house, how much worse can it get?”

As someone who appreciates well-done romantic comedies, as well as any film with Natalie Portman and – gasp! – laughing out loud in movie theaters, I was eagerly anticipating No Strings Attached. After having seen Portman make out with Mila Kunis and dance her crazy heart out in Black Swan last month, we know she can do absolutely anything. No Strings Attached marks the actress' first foray into the romantic comedy genre while raising the question: Can this multi-dimensional actress get laughs?

The Way Back is a grueling, stunningly photographed story of a group of prisoners who escape a Siberian gulag and walk… yes that's right, walk, 4,000 miles through five hostile countries to freedom in India. This sometimes-riveting film is grand scale entertainment though the tediousness of the trek is often disconcerting. Six-time Oscar nominated director Peter Weir (Truman Show, Dead Poets Society) returns to the screen after a seven-year absence with an epic yet by-the-numbers film adaptation of Slavomir Rawicz’s novel, The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom. The veracity of Rawicz's story has been challenged, so Weir and co-writer Keith Clarke try to address the authenticity by giving us the straight story.

The Green Hornet arrived after a ton of negative buzz in the notorious mid-January cinematic dead zone and raked it in as the biggest box office moneymaker of the week. Based on the 1930s radio show and 60’s TV series of the same name, The Green Hornet features Seth Rogen as Britt Reid, playboy heir to the publishing empire built by his father (Tom Wilkinson sleep-walking through his mean-old-dad routine). After dad croaks, party animal Reid inherits the newspaper company, teaming up with late dad’s assistant and eventual sidekick Kato (Chinese pop star Jay Chou) to become a masked crime-fighting team. Their mission: to rid Los Angeles of a local crime czar (Christoph Waltz). Green Hornet is yet another tongue-in-cheek costumed crime-fighter, but neither Iron Man nor Hancock sunk as low as Rogen's tubby icon of idiocy.

Made in Dagenham is the kind of movie that makes most, if not all, women feel some degree of gratitude. Additionally, anyone who has ever had to, or wanted to, stand up for what they believe in will walk out of the theater inspired by this film, which is based on a true story.