Not much has made me laugh this year. There’s been an onslaught of R rated comedies and nothing has hit the spot quite like “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.” Eli Craig’s horror comedy is a film that works more so as a comedy film and it had me laughing non-stop for ninety minutes with a premise so clever it’s shocking that this is the first time we’ve seen it accomplished before. The premise is tricky, but Craig handles the material with enough finesse and creativity to where nothing feels forced or drawn out to fill time. The film is a merciful ninety minutes and that’s all it needs to tell its story. You’d think with a movie featuring such morbid dark humor that Craig’s creative work would be mean spirited, but surprisingly, he opts for unbelievable dark humor that works in ways that will leave audiences slapping their knees with laughter.
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Take Me Home Tonight (2011)
“Take Me Home Tonight” operates on the basis that we still give a squat about the eighties and thanks to the financial failure that was this film in early 2011, it’s great to hear America isn’t budging in their resounding boredom with the decade. This was only further remedied by “MacGruber” and its eighties crapola that touted the same sentiment “Take Me Home Tonight” does. Director Michael Dowse’s film doesn’t so much want to be a coming of age film from the eighties so much as it wants to be an eighties film. It takes every chance to define itself as the decade love letter that it almost convinces itself that it’s a movie ripped from that decade.
Thor (2011)
Marvel’s Thor has always skidded on the edge of mainstream entertainment and literary fare. As a comic book series it’s always been one of the most sophisticated of the pantheon of characters, so not every fan has subscribed to what tale the god of thunder has told fans for decades. And even with big names leading the pack like Natalie Portman and Kenneth Branagh, “Thor” is a hard sell for fans of the superhero cinema who want their entertainment and battles here and now and have to wait for their meals.
Teddy (2011)
The funny thing about “Teddy” is that there is no reason for it to go beyond an eleven minute run time. This film’s premise is so hackneyed and predictable, it’d barely make a decent feature length film. Which is not by any means a criticism, just an honest observation. You have to respect Slasher Studios for comprising an entire narrative and condensing it in to only eleven minutes.
Transporter 3 (2008)
Frank Martin is back and is in deep doo doo for the third go around in the “Transporter” series. Now retired and taking a long needed vacation, fate comes crashing down his doors as he’s confronted with a colleague who is killed in the middle of what was supposed to be his job all along. When Frank is taken off guard he awakens to learn that he and his car can not be separated or else he and the enigmatic women in his co-pilot seat will go up in a burst of flames. “The Transporter” series has been one of my favorite knock offs of “The Driver” this millennium and Jason Statham is a wonderful successor to Ryan O’Neal as this man with tones of gray allowed more breathing room this go around.
TRON: Legacy (2010)
After the massive box office bust that was “Tron” it was surprising that Disney would ever invest in another movie from the property again. In many ways while the film was a failure, the concept was merely ahead of its time and it deserved another chance at box office gold and a fan base. Even decades after the film caught on with cult buffs and garnered a fan base, the success of another “Tron” is still in doubt and with this sequel, it’s all still a gamble. Especially in the age of cynicism where CGI epics are a dime a dozen. “Tron Legacy” isn’t so much about a game and the user that masters it as it is a son re-connecting with his dad.
The Town (2010)
Ben Affleck impressed with his debut as director for “Gone Baby Gone,” a criminally underrated film. And he manages to impress yet again with “The Town,” a film about crime becoming a way of life, and death just another consequence for a profession. When is enough finally enough for someone? This is examined with Doug McRay, a man who has resorted to robbing banks for a living after a descent in to drugs. He’s mastered bank robbing down to a fine art, and one he specializes in that keeps him and his group of gun toting guns for hire constantly on the verge of being murdered on the job. As examined by the prologue, crime is often a way of life for folks in their city, and with Charlestown being the number one source for bank robbers, Doug only knows how to commit crimes, and is a veteran of such an common trade that he can barely remember what life was like before it.