Culture

Ahoy there!The same team responsible for the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre is
back again with less fervor and a rote take on an already tired genre.
With the newest Friday the 13th nothing has changed to reinvigorate the
worn-out formula. Jason, it seems, has been resurrected for the sole
purpose of raking in box office revenue. (Which he did, by the way to
the tune of $24 million over opening weekend - tops at the box office)
What the film sorely lacks is something dastardly different. Slasher
flicks depend on originality because we've seen it all before.

While
I found it sacrilege to remake TCM, Friday the 13th sinks to new
depths.The original film added suspense to the grisly killings with a
secret killer whose identity was revealed at the end. Only in
serialized sequels does the saga of hockey-masked Jason Voorhees
commence. Here in redux land we get a mini intro explaining the
decapitation death of Jason's mom and his subsequent rampage. The first
part of the movie is strong, reminiscent of 2002's Cabin Fever.
Marginally interesting characters actually seem like they're
interacting, and the inevitable demise of the oversexed, weed smoking
campers is hilarious, frightening and, true to any early slasher flick,
ripe with abundant sex, gore and nudity.

Owen and Watts make a lonely run on the bank. I have never been to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, but I
imagine the trip would be a heckuva lot more fascinating with non-stop
Uzi fire and fountains of spurting blood. That is one thing The
International understands pretty well. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a
firm grasp on much else.

Tom Twyker, the German-born director of
1998's cult hit Run Lola Run, helms The International with the
intention of producing a film that is equal parts James Bond and
political thought piece. The problem with trying to straddle two very
different worlds is that you usually end up with a cramp in your groin
and fall flat on your face. That's sort of what happens here.

Give a hand to 3-d animation.After My Bloody Valentine, I was convinced that every movie should be
in 3D. Now that I've seen Coraline I'm not so sure. It's already so
cool to look at with its ingenious concepts and artistic designs, so I
say why bother? This movie is a psychedelic treat to the eyes and more
colorful than anything I can remember. Using stop-motion animation,
puppeteers moved models 32 times for every second we see, so this movie
took about five years to make. The 3D, as effective as it was, almost
distracted from the already flawless animation.

Cute and
warped-that's Coraline in a nutshell. This movie sends mixed messages
and creates a metaphor that reinforces the age-old belief pounded into
the heads of children that being good will bring you the things you
want. But given the twisted approach, Coraline might just be too creepy
for kids. Moms and dads will have a lot of explaining to do if they
bring the kids. It's definitely dark and there are some real blatant
sexual themes, including cartoonish fat old English biddies showing off
their scantily clad, enormous hooters. But in addition, moms themselves
are depicted in two ways: completely evil or incompetent.

We told you Dakota Fanning's cute days were limited.During the closing credits for Push, a sci-fi lark with an incoherent plot, boring action sequences and listless dialogue, I felt like I was being given a list of people to blame. Though I know they cannot all be held responsible for this movie's failures, the smart ones would have picked a pseudonym.

Push is a little like reading an Encyclopedia Brown book, except the ending pages have been ripped out and most of the mystery's clues are covered in graffiti and fecal stains. The movie stars Chris Evans (the fiery dude from Fantastic Four) and Dakota Fanning as Nick and Cassie, young superheroes blessed with, respectively, telekinetic and clairvoyant superpowers. These powers make them targets for government capture and control by a badass agent and "pusher", played by Djimon Hounsou, virtually the only adult in the film. Luckily, Nick and Cassie are not alone. An entire race of humans with these rare abilities walks the earth. Think X-Men without the sideburns.