"Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps"

Richard's Review: 2 stars

"Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," the long awaited sequel to Oliver Stone's 1987 Oscar winning film "Wall Street," is bogged down by financial claptrap. The explanation of how Wall Street ended up in Bailout City is almost endless. Money terms like short selling, moral hazard and derivative are tossed around like coins down a wishing well. Luckily a lot of the dialogue is delivered by good actors like Frank Langella and Michael Douglas, but ultimately the whole experience is kind of like watching an episode of Mad Money with better looking people.

Shia LaBeouf, continuing his resurrection of 1980s film franchises, plays Jacob Moore, a Wall Street trader with a conscious -- a mix of greed and green. He's ploughing millions of dollars into sustainable energy, but just as a major project is on the brink of a breakthrough the bottom falls out, his firm goes bankrupt and his mentor (Frank Langella) commits suicide.

At home things are better. His girlfriend Winnie is devoted to him. She's also the estranged daughter of Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) the disgraced inside trader recently released from prison. Jacob and Gekko make a deal -- a non-financial one. Jacob will facilitate a reconciliation between father and daughter and Gekko will help find out who was responsible for the rumors that led to the death of Jacob's mentor. The question is, can Gekko, who once famously said, "greed is good," be trusted?    

"Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" shows how Wall Street fell due to crashing markets and clashing egos. Stone wants us to understand how it all fell apart, but unfortunately the inner workings of banks and big financial deals, at least the way they are presented here, aren't that dramatic. Real people losing their jobs, their homes, their bank accounts, that's dramatic, but a bunch of bankers sitting around talking about money is less so. Stone fails to listen to his own creation, Gekko, when he says, "it's not about the money, it about the game." Unfortunately the game is a little dull.

The cautionary message about greed and its effects is good and timely -- "Bulls make money. Bears make money," says Gekko, "Pigs get slaughtered." -- but it is wrapped up in a movie that is too earnest and a little odd tone wise. A meeting between Gekko and Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen), the man responsible for sending him to jail in the first movie, is played for laughs which seems out of place, and frankly, kind of unlikely. Stone tries to cram too much story into the film -- the father-daughter story, the meltdown angle, the revenge plot, the Gekko comeback -- and with each of those plot shards comes a different tone.

Like the people who caused the financial meltdown that inspired this "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," director Stone seems to have lost perspective. He draws good performances from the cast -- Douglas could be nominated for a second time for playing Gekko, and LaBeouf is very good -- but allows the rest of the movie to get as bloated as Lehman Brothers on a spending spree.

"You Again"

Richard's Review: 2 stars

"Nobody gets through high school unscathed," says Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis), consoling her daughter Marnie (Kristen Bell).

Marnie, now a successful PR person in Los Angeles was once an unfortunate looking girl with the even more unfortunate initials M.O.O. She was tormented in school by the popular girls, led by Joanne (Odette Yustman) a pretty, but vicious cheerleader.

Joanne would have been a long forgotten memory, if not for the fact that she is engaged to Marnie's brother. The weekend leading up to the wedding brings up long suppressed memories for Marnie, and her mother (Curtis), who, it turns out had a high school nemesis in Joanne's aunt Mona (Sigourney Weaver), a wealthy business woman with the annoying habit of littering her speech with tidbits of French and Italian.

Did I mention this is a comedy? Better stated, an alleged comedy?

"You Again" has one of those over-contrived kind of plots that could really benefit from a dose of reality. I don't need deep torment from the characters to make their predicaments plausible, but a whiff of real feelings for the audience to hang onto from time to time would elevate the whole thing from the level of a Saturday night sitcom to something that could inspire genuine laughs. Slapstick is fine, and silly humor is OK too, but this movie wants us to sympathize with its characters and unfortunately we don't because they're not characters but the blandest of comedy stereotypes.

Not even a sprinkling of Betty White's now patented slightly crazy grandmother character can liven things up, although a surprise cameo near the end suggests there might have been a better, and funnier story to explore with these characters. If only they had made the prequel first.      

"Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of ga'Hoole"

Richard's Review: 2 1/2 stars

Producers of "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" probably hope their film will do for owls what "Happy Feet" did for penguins. That is, make their stuffed character counterparts a must-have gift for the little ones come this Christmas. The mix of cute owls, action and goofy humor has made the Guardian books a hit with the kids, but I fear the movie isn't likely to inspire the same kind of warmth.

Based on the first three books of the fifteen novel series by children's author Kathryn Lasky, "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" begins with Soren (voice of Jim Sturgess) a young barn owlet and his older brother Kludd (voice of True Blood's Ryan Kwanten) are kidnapped by the Pure Ones. Taken to the remote isle of St Aggie's they discover the evil Pure Ones are building a slave army of "moon blinked" owlets with the intention of taking over all owl kingdoms in the world. With the help of some new friends, but minus his brother who joins the Pure Ones, Soren escapes and alerts the Guardians of the island of Ga'Hoole to the wicked scheme.

The first thing you'll notice about "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" is how beautifully animated it is. The owls and owlets are photo realistic, and the wonderfully rendered backgrounds are moody and atmospheric. In fact, one sequence of Soren flying through some extremely rough weather is as visually spectacular as anything we're likely to see this year. It's just too bad you're unlikely to give a hoot about the story.

The story is as standard as it gets. The addition of Lord-of-the-Rings-esque character names like Eglantine and Allomere and some owl on owl violence can't disguise the fact that this is a story that never really takes flight. Mix and match Cain and Abel with a taste of "The Lion King" and you get the basic story outline.

Perhaps director Zach Snyder was trying to keep it simple after his last film, "The Watchmen," earned savage reviews for its abundance of story, or perhaps he underestimated his audience, assuming that children would be wowed by the visuals and don't need a great story.

The film does have its pleasures. The voice work is uniformly good, although some of the English accents might be tough for little, unaccustomed ears to decipher, and the 3D action sequences are quite good, although, again, perhaps a bit violent for young eyes. 

In the end "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" is undeniably a big handsome picture that is, unfortunately, more style than substance.

"Never Let Me Go"

Richard's Review: 4 1/2 stars

"Never Let Me Go," the new Carey Mulligan film about a world where children are cloned and raised to be spare parts for the ailing is the least science fictiony sci fi film ever.

There are no spaceships, ray guns or robots anywhere to be seen. Instead it is a beautifully acted, deliberately paced story about the nature of love, loyalty and the cost of life. Based on Kazuo Ishiguro's 2005 novel of the same name --called the book of the year and the decade by Time magazine -- it's not an easy movie. There are no villains, even though these children are essentially being slaughtered, nor is there much dramatic conflict. In their place are questions, ideas and an intellectually devastating climax.

Grounding the movie are three remarkable performances. Carey Mulligan is luminescent as Kathy in a performance so subdued and so beautiful it's hard to believe she is acting. Keira Knightley digs deep as organ donor Ruth, and Spider-Man-to-be Andrew Garfield (also soon to be seen in "The Social Network") shows some real promise.

"Never Let Me Go" is a sophisticated horror film that will stay with you long after you leave the theatre.

"I'm Still Here"

Richard's Review: 1 star

"I'm Still Here," the pseudo cinéma vérité documenting Joaquin Phoenix's shift from actor to rap star isn't a documentary but an elaborate piece of performance art.

Directed by Casey Affleck -- Phoenix's brother-in-law -- it purports to be a chronicle of a complicated artist who feels "stuck in a prison of self imposed characterization."

Along the way we see Phoenix snort cocaine, yell, mumble and chase down Sean Combs while slowly turning into a bearded, tubby Zach Galifinacis look-a-like and singing the worst hip hop since Vanilla Ice rocked the mic.

Part of me wishes this wasn't a hoax because if it really was a portrait of a man in collapse I could excuse the sloppy, self indulgent filmmaking. What could have been an exploration of fame and insecurity is instead a one joke sideshow stretched to an hour-forty-five.

It feels like being the only sober person at a party full of drunk and high people. They are, of course, more entertained by the goings on than you are. I do give Affleck and Phoenix points for commitment, but commitment doesn't make a good movie.