"Bee Movie" is 'Bee'-Rated

**1/2 out of ****

Among talking ants, fighting insects, dancing penguins, partying cows, zoo animals running amok in the wild and cooking rats, a new member of the critter kingdom gets a chance to be animated. This time it's a bee.

"Bee Movie" is Dreamworks' latest animated film and one of the most "buzzed" about for the past few months. Though the animation isn't as detailed as "Shrek" or "Ratatouille," it is simple and glossy like "Meet the Robinsons," it does a good job making an insect with bad conduct cute enough to stick in a McDonald's Happy Meal.

"Bee Movie" starts off with Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld), an idealistic bee, who just graduated from his three days of school, a clever joke about the short life span of a bee. He and his conservative bee friend, Adam Flayman (Matthew Broderick), now must pick a job to do for the rest of their lives.

Barry decides to become a pollen jock, a bee that leaves the hive to collect nectar, spreading around pollen to give other plants life.

On Barry's first trip out of the hive into New York City, he encounters a few pratfalls. Getting separated from the group, Barry finds shelter in the home of florist Vanessa Bloome (Renee Zellwegger). Vanessa's husband, Ken (Patrick Warburton, a frequent guest star on "Seinfeld"), tries to kill Barry, but Vanessa saves him.

Wanting to thank Vanessa, Barry deliberates whether or not to break bee law number one -- no talking to humans, or giving in to friendliness and curiosity. Affable Barry decides to befriend Vanessa. After the initial shock, Vanessa quickly warms up to Barry and the two become friends. When Barry and Vanessa hint at being more than friends, the movie flies off into act three, as if all this weren't enough.

On a supermarket trip with Vanessa, Barry learns that humans are collecting honey from the bees. Barry is repulsed and so is his hive when he tells them. This leads Barry to sue the human race.

Vanessa and his best friend Adam are his lawyers. But in court, one of the funniest parts in the film, Layton T. Montgomery (John Goodman), a Southern attorney for the honey companies, may be too much for the unlikely team to handle.

The film is created, produced, co-written and stars comedian Jerry Seinfeld in his first major role since "Seinfeld" ended in 1998. "Bee Movie" lacks that extra "sting" to make it rise above the recent animation fare. The extensive cast includes Oprah Winfrey as the judge at the trial, Kathy Bates and Barry Levinson playing Barry's bee parents, fellow "Seinfeld" alumnus Michael Richards, Rip Torn, Chris Rock as a mosquito, Megan Mullally, Larry King as a bee version of himself and Ray Liotta as the label of an evil honey-making company. Even the real Sting makes a cameo, being sued for the rights to his name.

Jerry Seinfeld is goofy, but personable and charismatic, as Barry. With a few jokes that fly over the heads of kids, "Bee" still is a kiddie-flick that can hold the younger crowd's attention, but lacks in keeping older kids entertained, unlike "Shrek."

With all the buzz, this is still a "bee"-rated movie.

Boy Meets Girl?

**** out of ****

Amidst an overflow of serious films in the multiplexes, you can find relief in the light-hearted comedy, "Lars and the Real Girl," one of the gems of 2007.

Ryan Gosling stars as the title character Lars Lindstrom, a lovable loser, who is socially inapt. Lars' rare trips out are either to go to church or to his job, where his new co-worker, Margo (Kelli Garner), is attracted to him. He lives in a sparsely furnished garage off of his brother Gus' house. Gus (Paul Schneider) and his wife, Karin (Emily Mortimer), are expecting their first child.

Gus insists to Karin that Lars likes to live alone. Karin, however, is persistent in her attempts to socialize with Lars.

The events change quickly when Lars actually knocks on Gus and Karin's door to have dinner with them saying he has a girlfriend, Bianca. Gus and Karin want to meet her, but are shocked when they find out that Bianca is a custom made life-size doll.

Lars treats Bianca as if she were real. He even gives her a life story -- that she is a Brazilian missionary with nurse training whose parents died at birth, among other various things.

Gus thinks Lars is crazy and Karin also has her doubts. But family doctor/psychiatrist, Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson), says he is fine but delusional, slowly letting out his bottled up feelings. The doctor recommends that they should treat Bianca as if she were real and Lars will eventually stop using her when he has come to terms with his issues. Easier said than done.

The movie progresses as Lars and Bianca step out and the snowy, small town accepts Bianca. She and Lars actually become minor celebrities.

Taking the place of last year's "Little Miss Sunshine," "Lars" is a subtle comedy with laugh-out-loud moments. At times it is a sad film about loneliness and the kindness of others, which is inspiring at the end.

After "The Notebook" and coming off his first Academy Award nomination for "Half Nelson," Ryan Gosling is a smart guy when it comes to films, and this only adds to his near perfect resume. Gosling is phenomenal as Lars. In a role with spare lines, he pours his emotions out on screen.

Indie-film star Emily Mortimer shines on screen. Playing a natural do-gooder, Mortimer is memorable in one of the few tear-jerker scenes towards the end where she confronts Lars.
Patricia Clarkson also stands out. Her character connects with Lars with their mutual loneliness in heart-touching conversations.

This is director Craig Gillespie's first film (his second "Mr. Woodcock" was released in September), and is a marvelous attempt. The same goes for screenwriter Nancy Oliver -- this is her first feature film screenplay.

'The Game Plan' Fumbles

* out of ****

"The Game Plan" is the newest Disney family comedy romp, though there aren't many X's and O's on the chalk board.

The Game Plan is about ace pro-NFL quarterback, Joe Kingman (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), who plays for the fictional football team, The Boston Rebels. While Kingman is a national sensation, closing huge endorsement deals left and right, he is also an idiotic, self-absorbed playboy and portrays this behavior pretty much through the whole movie.
He never throws to his open receivers and runs the ball himself no matter how much it hurts the team, kind of like Terrell Owens.

While he throws huge parties in his lavish penthouse with his multiple girlfriends, he is also lonely. That is the cue to bring in Peyton Kelly (Madison Pettis), Joe's 8-year-old daughter that he never knew existed. And her arrival happens at the worse time imaginable, of course, because Joe is about to lead his team to the football championship.

While there are certainly many question marks such as: Would a mother really leave her child on a man's doorstep that she hasn't seen since she got divorced from him? Isn't there a better suitor for the job? Is emergency humanitarian work in Africa an excuse to leave her child for a month without a phone number or means of contact?

However, this is Disney so don't expect much to be answered.

The rest of the film focuses on Joe learning that little girls don't like protein shakes or workout regiments but ballet and dolls. Peyton acts equally as dumb as Joe, turning a blender on with the lid off, and putting two bottles of bubble soap into a bath tub. These comedic scenes, though, don't leave the audience laughing.

When Peyton convinces Joe to take her to ballet school, he falls for her ballet teacher, Monique Vasquez (Roselyn Sanchez), where he gets the ballet-is-a-sport-too nuance and she gets a crash lesson in football.

If Disney's game plan for "The Game Plan" was to make it as cute as possible, they scored a TD, but not really anywhere else.

Director Andy Fickman ("She's the Man") provides a certain level of originality, though it seems hackneyed and contrived; trying to please all demographics.

Wrestler-turned-actor Johnson is a decent in dramas ("The Gridiron Gang") and comedies ("Be Cool"). You see him genuinely trying to be funny, but he is so over exaggerated, when he first sees Monique, you think his eyes and heart would actually pop out and start thumping.

Ultra-cute, tinkering on being fake, Madison Pettis, who you might recognize from the Disney Channel, is funny, but starts to annoy halfway through when she's in one too many scenes.

Kyra Sedgwick is wasted as Joe's ice cold agent, Stella Peck, being too cartoonish -- like Cruella De Vil -- to pose a threat.

Meanwhile the best actor could be Spike (Tubbs), Joe's bulldog who gives off some funny sight gags thanks to a tutu and nail polish.

The movie's biggest problem is you probably saw it all before with titles like "Kindergarten Cop," "Father Hood," "Mr. Nanny" and "The Pacifier."

"The Game Plan" is silly, fun and harmless if you are 10 and younger. However, it's not so cringe-worthy you can't sit through it, and you'll probably get a laugh or two. "The Game Plan" is a weak one, but it's not a complete shut-out.

'Fracture' just can't be healed

** out of ****

Fracture plays it straight, among a realm of thrillers with twists that don’t make much sense (Premonition, The Reaping, Perfect Stranger). Though, playing it straight all the way through may not be a good idea either.

Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, The Notebook) plays Willy Beachum, a young hot shot assistant D.A. on the fast lane, who takes the case of Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins). Crawford, a construction engineer, attempted to kill his wife, Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) sending her into a coma, after finding out that she was having an affair. With a signed confession the case seems like an easy win for Willy, who has an outstanding 97% conviction rate.

When Ted reveals, during trail, that his arresting officer, Rob Nunally (Billy Burke), was the man having an affair with his wife the case goes into a dramatic tailspin. The confession can’t be used and the gun that Ted used against his wife can’t be found, therefore he walks off a man free.

Beachum and Nunally know that Crawford killed his wife and they won’t stop until he is behind bars. Providing for a soul searching balance of truth or justice.

Although the audience knows what is happening every step of the way, the thrill is supposed to be how Beachum will find evidence to convict Crawford or how Crawford will get away with it. The thrill however gets old lessening the suspense and the final impact of the film. If Fracture were a 60-minute TV show it would be a nail bitter, but one thrill and no twists aren’t enough to carry a 112 minute movie.

Gosling does a great job verbally sparring with Anthony Hopkins, but Hopkins steals the show. Playing Crawford with the same intense charisma and wit as Hopkins own, Hannibal Lecter, every scene he is in is enticing.

Director Gregory Hoblit does a pleasant job, but doesn’t do anything that makes Fracture notable. Writers Daniel Pyne and Glenn Gers make a wonderful screenplay that is both witty and clever with snappy dialogue.

Fracture has a good premise but has nothing that makes it stand out among must-see films.
Starting off good Fracture gets worse and the “cast” can’t heal it either.

'Perfect Stranger' is far from perfection

** out of ****

According to Perfect Stranger, actions have consequences, if that is true then everybody involved in this film should never be able to step foot on a movie set again. Halle Berry, still recovering from 2004s ultra-flop Catwoman, and Bruce Willis star in one of 2007s many disappointing suspense-thrillers, ranking in the with Premonition and The Reaping.

Perfect Stranger is centered on Rowena (Halle Berry), a strong-headed investigative journalist for a New York newspaper. Waiting for a subway she runs into her childhood friend Grace (Nicki Aycox). Grace is a woman scorned, out to find the married rich top ad executive, Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis). Grace claims to have met him online, having an affair with her. Grace hasn’t heard from Harrison for days, leaving messages, and is out to tell his wife about the whole thing.

Soon after their encounter Grace shows up dead, Rowena thinking Harrison did it. Isn’t that a pretty big conclusion?

Rowena goes undercover at Hill’s ad agency, with help from her computer savvy co-journalist Miles (Giovanni Ribisi), to find the truth about Grace’s murder. As the movie progresses, Hill, known for his interoffice flings, seems to become more and more likely to have committed the crime and his wife more suspicious about his whereabouts.

Perfect Stranger is pretty much a game of cat-and-mouse. Full of red herrings and plot twists Perfect should be a nail-bitter. The thing is, you aren’t even clenching on the armrest. The tension is nowhere to be found, mainly because it is hard to have plot twists when there isn’t really a plot to twist.

Every character in Perfect Stranger has dark secrets. Though they are so dark you really don’t care about the characters, whether if they are guilty or innocent, live or die.

The ending is completely implausible, no matter what way you look at it and the more it is being explained the worse it sounds.

Willis gives a half-decent performance and Ribisi gives one of his best. Berry did a decent job, but due to poor editing, which also hurt the story, it seems as if she is having a mood-swing in almost every scene.

The end contradicting the movies message about “actions have consequences”; Perfect Stranger is a notch above Berry’s Catwoman and Willis’ The Whole Ten Yards, but that doesn’t say much either.

'Thirteen' is a lucky number for 'Ocean's'

***1/2 out of ****

A-List gang is back for comedy heist flick, Ocean’s Thirteen, the third installment in the Ocean’s franchise. Minus Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones but adding Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin, and Eddie Izzard the cast doesn’t miss a beat.

The thirteen that make up the Ocean’s gang are led by Danny Ocean (George Clooney): one of the master minders behind the heists along with, Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), the rookie, Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), the machinery expert, Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle), a casino dealer, Frank Catton (Bernie Mac), Danny’s rich mentor, Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould), con-artist, Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner), brothers that have knowledge in all fields, Virgil Malloy (Casey Affleck) and Turk Malloy (Scott Caan), expert in technology, Livingston Del (Eddie Jemison), acrobatic master, Yen (Shaobo Qin), the rich casino-owner that the gang robbed in the first two Ocean’s films, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), and another connoisseur in technology, Roman Nagel (Eddie Izzard). These thirteen make up a tidal wave of action.

Returning back to Las Vegas, Thirteen isn’t about getting the, money, but revenge. The victim? Willy Bank (Pacino), famous for his hotels winning the ‘Five Diamond’ award. Willy cheated Reuben out of his money and ownership in his new ultra-luxury hotel/casino in Vegas appropriately named, ‘The Bank’. The stress caused old man Rueben to have a heart attack.
The plan for revenge? To rig everything, from the blackjack tables to the slot machines by opening night so all of the gambling patrons will win, setting Willy back half a billion dollars, bankrupting him in the process.

Ocean’s Thirteen is back to its original glossy form, a slight notch below Ocean’s Eleven, but a vast improvement from the utterly disastrous Ocean’s Twelve whose heist was ripping off us American movie-goers $125 million.

The acting is first-rate like the first two, with the cast pulling in the audience having an extremely fun time. Ellen Barkin is great as the icy Abigail Sponder, Willy’s right-hand man. Pacino’s acting job as Willy Bank could be a dub for the Donald, but is too light in some scenes for a villainous character.

Directed again by Steven Soderbergh, Thirteen has a lickety-split pace, but never seems rushed. Soderbergh manages to give each of the cast members their own scene, a rare directing quality that keeps you involved throughout the film, though the presence of Pitt, Clooney, Damon, Barkin, and Pacino command most scenes.

New writers, Brian Koppelman and David Levein do a fine job, with an easy to follow enjoyable script, being taken along as if part of the heist. But in some scenes the lingo gets to technical to the point where you just say “Huh?”

So far out of this summer’s disappointing threequels, Ocean’s Thirteen beats the odds and comes up a winner.

'Mr. Brooks' is a killer thriller

*** out of ****

'The Hunger Has Returned to Mr. Brooks' Brain. It never really left'. These chilling words start off the creepy dramatic thriller that is Mr. Brooks.

Kevin Costner stars in the title role as Mr. Earl Brooks. Earl leads two lives. On one side he is a husband to Emma (Marg Helgenberger) and father to his high-school daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker). He is also named ‘Man of the Year’ in his community and well off, owning a successful box company. However, the other side of Mr. Earl Brooks is much darker and sinister than anyone can imagine, he is an elusive serial killer, nicknamed by the media, ‘The Thumbprint Killer’. Though he doesn’t like to murder strangers he is urged by his imaginary counterpart, Marshall (William Hurt) to do so.

Holding off temptation of killing from his alter ego for two years he breaks down and murders a couple (Megan Brown and Ross Francis) in their bedroom.

The next day Earl discovers someone caught him in the act and has pictures to prove it. He is Mr. Smith (Dane Cook), who lives in the apartment complex next door to the couple. However, Mr. Smith doesn’t blackmail Earl or threaten him that he is going to the cops, but rather wants to go on the next murder with him. Without a choice Earl accepts.

At the same time, Detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore), who is going through a bitter divorce, is on Earl’s trail. Devoting herself to this long-running case she thinks she is closer than ever before. However, as a side plot, escaped serial killer, Thorton Meeks (Matt Schulze), put away by Tracy, and his girlfriend, Sunday (Yasmine Delawari), are out to kill the Detective for vengeance.

Mr. Brooks is wildly original with many unexpected plot twists that actually make sense and lead up to a shocking revelation. However, Brooks never takes itself very seriously with laughs strewn about.

Good guy Costner is terrific as the sinister Brooks, a role that audiences are not familiar with him playing. Hurt playing Costner’s alter ego is marvelous and Moore adds direction throughout. Though the most surprising performance comes from funnyman Dane Cook, in his first dramatic role, stands his ground with the award winning trio.

Director and writer Bruce A. Evans gives the film style and terrifically manages to build up tension and releases it in short action filled bursts of time.

A great movie to see: Mr. Brooks is a killer of a thriller.