Culture

Here is a good idea for a movie: After serving his stint on the Iraq frontline, an American soldier is assigned to work in casualty notification and alongside a struggling alcoholic partner he appears on the doorstep of the mothers, fathers and spouses of the dead to offer the apologies of the Secretary of the Army. The relatives react, but the soldiers are supposed to keep to the script and then walk away.
The Messenger must have looked great on paper, good enough to attract an impressive cast including Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton and Steve Buscemi who saw the potential of this previously untold story. The film, however, never gets off that paper, remaining as a series of annotations on this good idea. The scenes are held together sketchily with far too much in the margins. It could be a New Yorker article, but it never quite makes it on celluloid.

Judging from the previews, Armored looked destined to deliver high-octane thrills. Instead, we're handed a weakly written and simple-minded heist movie that wants us to believe it's a character study. The intro begins with sad tremolo guitar that attempts to induce despair and sincerity, trying to resemble “indie cool” and something heavier than it is. It's nothing short of boring. I needed a thick shell of armor to protect me from the banality.

In a world of Jessica Rabbits and Disney princesses, a world in which female audiences are largely ignored in the attractive animated characters department, Wes Anderson has not only provided a charming, roguish and sharply dressed fox voiced by George Clooney but in creating this creature the director overtly references the first cartoon crush of many, the handsome fox of 1973 Disney movie, Robin Hood. An adaptation of the short story by Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox incorporates the love theme music from the Disney film, along with the rambunctious, playful attitude of the Merry Men.

According to the notorious ninja website (realultimatepower.net), “Ninjas are awesome; they cut off heads – they flip out and kill people.” In the case of Ninja Assassin, they also sever main arteries, hack off limbs and entire mid sections causing torsos to spurt towering fountains of blood. There is enough blood pumping out of veins in this movie to fill an aquarium tank at SeaWorld.
Brought to you by the same team as V for Vendetta (produced by the Wachowski bros and directed by James McTiegue), the plot is simple with the opening delivering the best scene. The Yakuza gang delinquents suffer a collective blood-spewing, decapitation death at the hands of an invisible knife-wielding foe. Later, Interpol agents in Berlin learn that demon ninjas are to blame, and the biggest, baddest-ass of them all is Raizo (played by Korean pop star Rain).

There were two movies at the theater this weekend portraying the experiences of teenage girls as they navigate the territory between girlishness and womanhood. One of these films claimed teenage girls to be the powerless victims of men's will and lust. That would be the other film reviewed on this page, the latest installment of the Twilight saga, New Moon.
The other film is one of the best of the year and gives teenage girls a space and respect they're rarely allowed. An Education is encouraging and supportive, centering on Jenny – a strong, rounded, complex character who makes decisions that have realistic consequences. It's a refreshing and heartening film, and by its mere existence questions the usually harsh treatment of young women in film. It also makes the bold claim that their minds are more important than their bodies, but if they want to have a bit of fun they don't have to be ruined. Jenny is not the mere facilitator of some man's fulfilled destiny, but the architect of her own.