THE MAN OF TAI CHI is stopped by Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves does many things right in his directorial debut. He hires Woo-ping Yuen as his Action Director and he casts Tiger Hu Chen as the lead character, as well as using martial art legend Yu Hai to teach the style’s life lessons. There is some great choreography and variety to the film’s action sequences. Tiger Hu Chen’s adversaries all bring something different to the table. The problem arises when Reeves casts himself as the main antagonist, which was cool to watch him play the villain, however his acting range bleeds into Nicolas Cage territory when he attempts to be menacing. It is almost comical at times and the film would have been served better if he took a back seat and stayed in the director’s chair. Also, his “fighting skills” have diminished since the Matrix Trilogy, although he keeps his signature black outfits.  The Man of Tai Chi has some moves but it cannot evade Keanu’s poor acting.

WORD COUNT: 159

Chuck’s Grade: C+

Adam’s Grade: N/A

Upside Down stays in the middle

I loved the premise of the sci-fi film, Upside Down from writer/director Juan Diego Solanas, but the film gets stuck in a middle ground because it does not have an identifiable antagonist for the hero character, Adam(Jim Sturgess) to overcome. Instead, a predictable love story unfolds amongst a backdrop of amazing circumstances. His love interest Eden (Kirsten Dunst) is pleasant and their relationship is nice, but it seems insignificant compared to the dominating visual effectS. I think it was a valiant attempt at something great. The idea of two planets with opposing gravitational forces was exciting, even though I needed a quick science lesson at the beginning of the film to answer the obvious questions an audience would have after 15 minutes. However, the main story, like gravity pulls the film down.

WORD COUNT: 131

Chuck’s Grade: C+

Adam’s Grade: N/A

Deadfall lands in my guilty pleasure pile

Deadfall lands in my guilty pleasure pile. Although, much of the dialogue is heavy-handed and Zach Dean’s script is hellbent on trying to fix his broken protagonist with a couple of lines of forced honesty, the film still held my attention because all of his characters were a little off. I was curious to see what was going to happen next. Director Stefan Ruzowitzky keeps the film moving forward with well-staged action and a cast of actors that brought the film to another level. Liza’s (Olivia Wilde) eyes were mesmerizing like a boa constrictor waiting to squeeze its prey while Addison’s (Eric Bana) cold-blooded politeness revealed the disconnected voice of a killer. Dean splits his two villains up and forces them to take alternative paths to the unsuspecting home of June (Sissy Spacek) and Chet (Kris Kristofferson), where the ending tries to do too much by tying up all the loose ends with a predictable shootout that everyone saw coming.

WORD COUNT: 160

Chuck’s Grade: C+

Adam’s Grade: N/A

Freelancers work familiar roles

Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cent is quickly becoming the undisputed star of straight to REDBOX/NETFLIX films these days. Freelancers is another gangster film made for a modest budget with some big name actors, such as Robert De Niro (Captain Sarcone) and Forest Whitaker (Detective Lurue) to give the film some respectability and credibility. These two Academy Award winners are a pair of dirty cops that run an intricate underground crime organization right beneath the noses of the NYPD. Jackson (Malo) is a new member of the force and is asked by De Niro to join his “special” unit because Malo’s father used to be Sarcone’s partner. There are many familiar gangster motifs found in the film that keep it moving forward, but at the same time the unoriginal scenarios produce a predictable script. Jackson’s acting is noticeably getting better with each film, but he is still far from being a capable anti-hero character that wears the street on his sleeve.

WORD COUNT: 159

Chuck’s Grade: C+

Adam’s Grade: N/A

This just in: Anchorman delivers comedy

Writers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay created a great spoof movie about local news networks. Anchorman is an ideal satire for this generation because the film contains so many memorable one liners that fans of the film cannot help but quote it amongst friends. The film follows Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), the “voice” of San Diego, who finds himself threatened by the arrival of an up-and-coming news woman, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). There is an all-star comedic cast surrounding that take the film to another level with their quirky characters. Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, and David Koechner round out Ferrell’s news team while including guest appearances from Seth Rogen, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, and Vince Vaughn to mention a few.

Anchorman’s strength is in its dialogue and its hilarious guest artist scenarios, such as the infamous news station battle royale. There are moments when the film slows down, but for most the newsroom there’s a great source for comedy.

WORD COUNT: 160

Adam’s Grade: B+

Chuck’s Grade: C+

Resident Evil spawns a zombie franchise

The first installment of the Resident Evil franchise shoots its way into the zombie genre with its video-game like approach to the film’s story and action. Action films usually inspire video games, but in this case the opposite is true. The premise is simple and director Paul W. S. Anderson wastes no time letting loose the T-virus in an secret underground research facility. The Umbrella Corporation sends in a special unit to stop the outbreak, but encounter a mysterious woman named Alice.

Milla Jovovich takes command and transforms Alice into an iconic zombie killer. There are many female actors that have tried their hand at the action star genre but have failed. Jovovich successfully turns her mediocre scripts and sup-par supporting casts into her favor by allowing her intoxicating screen presence to carry Alice to another level. Resident Evil does not measure up to George Romero’s genius, but the this film entertains its video game followers and zombie movie fans.

WORD COUNT:160

Chuck’s grade: C+

Adam’s grade: C