Friday, October 28, 2011

Oct 29 - Review Round-Up (Take Me Home Tonight, African Cats, Lincoln Lawyer and more)

TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT – C
Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Dan Fogler
Despite the emphasize on wild ‘80s fashion and music, Tonight isn’t designed as a spoof of the decade so much as a tribute. Unfortunately, it just ends up coming across as a reheated leftover, with a generally shapeless narrative, overly aimless characters and bland screenplay.


 AFRICAN CATS – B
Documentary
This Disneynature documentary, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, has a more consistent storyline than previous efforts like Earth and Oceans as it follows a single mom cheetah and a pride of lions. But while it may be more engaging for children, it also loses some scope in the process.

LINCOLN LAWYER, THE – B
Matthew McConaughey. Ryan Phillippe, Marisa Tomei
Fancy lawyer duds look good on the customarily shirtless McConaughey in this slick thriller, favourably bringing to mind his early turn in 1996’s Time to Kill. Lincoln occasionally falls back on familiar procedural tropes, but the drama’s shifting moral compass keeps things interesting.


DILEMMA, THE – C
Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly
Director Ron Howard returns to his roots with this comedy built on a shaky premise for laughs: a cheating wife and clueless husband. The film ends up straining under the weight of all the misunderstandings that could have easily been solved if the characters actually spoke to each other. 

UNKNOWN – C
Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones
Neeson continues his late career bloom as an action hero (following 2009’s Taken) with this absurd thriller about a doctor with questions about his past. Unknown comes across as a pale imitation of The Bourne Identity, with an exceedingly inexpressive Jones as Neeson’s wife.

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