I guess when a movie is named THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION, you shouldn't expect subtlety. But isn't it okay to expect a story or at least a coherent plot? Peter Weller (Robocop) stars as Buckaroo, a neurosurgeon, rock star, adventurer with an eccentric band of followers/rockers named the Hong Kong Cavaliers. I THINK that they battle some aliens, try to break the land speed record, drive through a mountain into another dimension, but honestly, I was so bored and so baffled for the entire film that your guess is as good as mine. John Lithgow is a crazy doctor and Lord who spends most of the film screaming his lines, Jeff Goldblum wears cowboy outfits that made Woody from Toy Story look urban chic, Ellen Barkin is Penny Priddy and Christopher Lloyd spends most of the movie in a cheap alien mask. If I knew what was going on, I'd be happy to share plot points, but writer Earl Mac Rauch (New York, New York) seems to think odd is smart and he's not helped by Director WD Richter (this was his only film in the chair) who never corrals anything into a real film. Boring, stupid, incoherent in ANY dimension, the film ends with a big announcement about Buckaroo's NEXT movie adventure. uh....yeah, that didn't happen. Banzai!!!! Here's an F for your efforts.

For me, 2009's ADVENTURELAND has one big headline...."What? Kristen Stewart can ACT???" This is a very funny and touching comedy about 1987 high school graduate James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg, terrific) who has his summer European trip mapped out in prep for a fall move to school in NYC. His parents finances and a bad night of driving force him to rethink his plan and spend the summer working at a fifth rate amusement park called Adventureland. The people he meets there, from hilarious scene stealers Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig as park owners Bobby and Paulette, park maintenance man and stud Mike Connell (in a nice, subtle performance from Ryan Reynolds) and quiet loner Joel (Martin Starr) all impact his summer, but none more than beautiful Em. I've always found Kristin Stewart annoyingly moody and unhappy in appearances on talk shows etc and have promised myself to avoid all things Twilight on principle, so I was shocked and really pleasantly surprised by how great she is as Em. The film captures 1987 with plenty of great music and details from the era and in the hands of director Greg Mottola (Superbad) and delivers tons of laughs and some nice character development too. Eisenberg and Stewart are both terrific. Kristen Stewart can act. WHO KNEW? Adventureland gets an A.

With echoes of "2001: A Space Odyssey" layered over an outer space "Apocalypse Now", AD ASTRA is an intriguing but ever so leisurely personal discovery mission. Brad Pitt continues one of the best acting years of his long career as Astronaut Roy McBride. In stark contrast to his hilarious, explosive Cliff Booth in "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood", McBride is a man of reserve and inner conflict. The film opens with a spectacular sequence in which McBride survives a disaster in Earth's orbit. Plummeting to ground from space heights when a giant energy pulse hits his orbiting space station/antenna array, McBride's pulse never rises above a casual pace. He's called into a top level meeting and told that the massive energy surges appear to be emanating from near Neptune, which also happens to be the last known location of a space expedition led by his legendary father Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones). Roy's mission is to travel to the Moon and then Mars, where he will send his Father a message trying to stop him from what appears to be a purposeful attack on our solar system. Roy departs on his first leg to the Moon, just as Heywood Floyd did in Kubrick's 2001. The special effects are first rate and beautiful. Space is depicted sound free, except for the near constant, haunting music score by Max Richter. Richter's orchestral store lurks in the background for nearly the full 124 minute running time. It's clean, effective and at times mysterious. I loved the unique depiction of the moon, turned into a basic mall with everything from a Hudson News to fast food joints, but the surface is littered with rogue international pirates, ready to kill you for your goods. There's a great action scene with the space pirates that offers up jaw dropping examples of the impact of low gravity on a car chase. It's one of the best sequences in the movie. Roy is soon on the way to Mars and beyond. In "Apocalypse Now" Martin Sheen's intelligent voice-over narration described the impact of the jungles and rivers of Vietnam, detailing how their mission to find Brando's Coronel Kurtz affected him and all the characters around him. It's telling that Pitt's McBride narrates from beginning to end, mostly about the mission's impact on him, his feelings, and his personal relationship with his father. You can interpret much bigger messages about man's constant search for a higher message or a creator, father/son relationships, culturally expired attitudes about masculinity and being in touch with emotions, but much of these layers lay in space waited to be interpreted through your own personal filters. It's very smart but emotionally hollow. In Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" he surrounded Sheen's Captain Willard with a dazzling array of characters throughout the journey, from Duvall's Colonel "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" Kilgore to Dennis Hopper's crazy photojournalist. AD ASTRA's supporting characters are cardboard players that only serve to move Roy to the next episodic chapter of his voyage. Ruth Negga (Preacher) comes off best as a Moon Commander, alongside Donald Sutherland as a former friend of Roy's father. The finale, which I wont describe here, is interesting, but didnt carry any emotional impact for me as a viewer. It should have, but it didn't. Writer/Director James Gray's last film "The Lost City of Z" left me feeling the same way. It also detailed a man's journey deep into the jungle and himself. It was beautiful to look at, never boring but very slow. I liked it, but I never need to see it again. The same could be said for AD ASTRA. It sounds incredible (especially in the AMC Dolby Theatre we saw it in, a WOW for the ears) and is visually beautiful. The Neptune, Moon and Mars scenes are stunning. My ears and eyes were dazzled, but by heart never went on the mission. In that thrilling opening sequence, Roy's pulse never rose above 85. Other than that brief sequence on the disabled ship boarded after an SOS, neither did mine. For all on display here, that seems like a shame. I'm not sure I needed to go a 6 billion miles for the lesson learned. I'll give AD ASTRA a B-.

What were we collectively thinking in the 80's? I can remember seeing ACTION JACKSON on DVD back in 1988 and thinking it was a passable action movie. whaaaaaaaaaat? Carl Weathers stars as cop Action Jackson, hot on the trail of a crooked car manufacturing magnate who employs a stealth death squad of ninja assassins against his enemies. Some thoughts.... * If you are going to employ a death squad of ninjas who want to be invisible, it;s probably advisable that a couple of them aren't over 6 feet tall and that one sports an incredibly huge blonde mullet. * In casting an evil car manufacturing magnate as your villain, Craig T. Nelson from "Coach" is probably not your most astute choice * During 80's fever, I know you want to cast a good looking, sexy, popular singer. So you choose Vanity. #1, the songs are awful #2 to say she can't act would be to overpraise her wooden line readings #3 did I mention she can't act? * Detroit looks more like Beirut than an American city, it is apparently populated only by pimps, crooks, hookers, pickpockets, drunks, pushers, and of course Ninjas. * When your concluding action scene includes driving a car up two flights of stairs and electrocuting a bad guy with a string of Christmas lights, you might have run out of ideas. * The dialogue was apparently written by a dozen teenage boys with a dictionary of cliches open, their creativity stifled and their final work doused with profanity. At least a young Sharon Stone has the good sense to die early in the movie. ACTION JACKSON belongs deep in the ground with 80's hairstyles, most of the music and the clothes....its a rad, bad F.

Ten years ago in 2007, visionary director Julie Taymor (The Lion King on Broadway, Frida) melded 30 Beatles songs and a story of young love against a 60's revolution to create ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. You have to admire her guts. The last time filmmakers decided to bring a couple dozen Beatles songs to the screen in story form was 1978's mega-bomb career killer "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band". It slayed Peter Frampton's entire livelihood and helped usher in the end of the disco era. Thankfully, Taymor infuses her brilliant perspective and visual style into every frame and the results are powerful, and powerfully entertaining. Jim Sturgess (21, Cloud Atlas) stars as Jude, a young, poor Liverpool dock worker who comes to America to track down the American soldier father who abandoned he and his mother 18 years before. Upon hitting our shores, he meets Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) as Lucy, an upper middle class girl in love with her boyfriend who's heading off to Vietnam, her brother Max (Joe Anderson) and their click of friends. As the impact of Vietnam and the tide of sixties cultural revolution overwhelms our young group, Taymor fills the screen with incredible visuals and new orchestrations of classic Beatles songs, sung by the talented cast. Love, Death, Violence, Unrest & Anger wrap the characters, along with their bohemian discovery of art, rebellion and freedom. Taymor's incredible here, creating something that's exciting to watch. Using animation, costumes, huge puppets, incredible sets and choreography, she immerses you in her visual interpretations of over 30 classic Beatles songs. Joe Cocker's "Come Together" is a highlight, as is the entire military induction scene, "Hey Jude" and the perfect "All You Need is Love" finale. Bono's a terrific Timothy Leary-like Dr. Robert. Eddie Izzard's Mr. Kite fails to connect but its a minor flaw from a normally talented actor/comedian who just seems a bit disconnected from the spirit of the film. The Civil rights scenes pack a hell of an emotional punch, turning "Let It Be" into a moving gut punch against racism. I've always been a big fan of Taymor. She turned Disney's "The Lion King" into a live spectacle that wows adults and kids alike on Broadway, her film "Titus" with Anthony Hopkins is another feast for the eyes. I've also witnessed her biggest failure, sitting in my seat bored and stunned at how badly brilliance can fail when I saw "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark" on Broadway". All that visual creativity and style can ring incredibly hollow without a story balancing her vision. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is a triumph. The music is incredible and your eyes will be just as pleased as your ears. Taymor's created a powerful memory of a pivotal time in American history, captured the music of the Beatles and given you new ways to hear the lyrics with fresh perspective. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is incredible and gets an A. We'll definitely be watching this one again and again.

1994 was one hell of a year for Jim Carrey, starting off with his first starring role in the box office bonanza ACE VENTURE: PET DETECTIVE. At the time, I was one of the seemingly rare folks that thought Carrey's debut was mildly amusing, but way too over the top and stupid to really be great. I love stupid humor. "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun" movies make me laugh a lot, over and over, but this one definitely did not connect with me. Watching it again many years later, the first half hour hit me the same way, mild chuckles, some eye rolling but no laughs. But moments like Carrey's William Shatner impression and "Do Not Go In There!" bathroom scene started to crack me up. By the time Ace's quest to find both the Miami Dolphin's live mascot and their QB Dan Marino really kicked into gear, the laughs come a lot more frequently. The scenes with Ace pretending to be Cox's brother at the insane asylum are hilarious. Sean Young is a solid straight man for Carrey. Their fist fight is a thing of beauty. Courtney Cox (pre-Friends) is hilarious and clearly can't stop laughing at Carrey's antics. This was his first starring role and he gives it 1000% with pratfalls, numerous catchprases ("Allllllll righty then!" and "Laaa-whoooo--saaa-herrrrr" still hold up nicely) and enough character tics to make Ace a very annoying but ultimately amusing dude. That same year, he would go on to make "The Mask" and "Dumb and Dumber" and rocket into the stratosphere as a huge box office draw. It's very silly, way over the top like some manic 90's Jerry Lewis comedy, but it's got enough funny moments and physical comedy to earn a B-. It was followed the next year by 'Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" which I absolutely hated when dragged to it in the theatre, so I'll just stick the the original and cut my losses. Favorite way to enter a party: "Aye, Captain Stubing. How are Gopher and Doc? Permission to come aboard, sir!"

With the perfect check and balance between a fascinating character study and a slam-bang action flick of the first order, THE ACCOUNTANT delivers. Ben Affleck stars as Christian Wolff (at least that's his name this year) a savant mathematician who specializes in dropping into the globe's biggest crime operations to help them track down money leaks or to balance their books. Christian shows as much skill getting in and out of these dangerous scenarios as he does with numbers. As he begins to pop up in too many of those "from a distance, over the shoulder" FBI shots of bad guy gatherings, the Treasury Department begins to take an interest. Soon to retire agent Ray King (a terrific J.K. Simmons) wants to find out who "The Accountant" is and enlists upcoming young agent Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to take point on that hunt. Meanwhile, Christian begins an investigation into the finances at a huge Robotics company, owned by Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow) and his sister Rita (Jean Smart). It appears someone inside the corporation is stealing money and the suspects pile up. The leaks were first found by company accountant Dana (Anna Kendrick) who is also a numbers whiz and nearly as socially awkward as Christian. I bet you know where this story is going, right? You don't. Director Gavin O'Connor (Warrior) and writer Bill Dubuque (The Judge) take the road less traveled. The film is filled with flashbacks to Christian and his brother as young boys. Christian spends most of his hours rocking back and forth and screaming in a panic if anything is out of order. His mother's lost and his Father is a strict Military officer with a fierce hate of medical options and a passion for fixing Christian himself. The flashbacks inform the present in subtle ways, slowly unwrapping the details in intriguing style. By the conclusion, when a hired hit-man (John Bernthal) and his troops are descending on Christian, all the pieces have fallen into place and its much more than just a shoot out. Affleck is excellent, repressing any traditional emotion for much of the film in a finely tuned performance. He's equally adept at brandishing the most amazing collection of massive firepower I've seen in any movie in a long time. Anyone that's got a ceiling mounted, modern Gatling gun in their garage has my complete attention. Filled with great performances and excellent action scenes, THE ACCOUNTANT gets a cool, calculated A

There’s a pivotal moment in Steven Spielberg’s beautiful new film THE FABELMANS that takes place in the Scottsdale of my youth. The long demolished Kachina Theatre looms in the background for over a minute. Sure, Camelback Mountain may be in the east instead of the west where it belongs in the scene, but the giant “Home of Cinerama” sign on the side of the building is right where it belongs, as is the Kachina logo. My love of film was born in that theatre with its tiny lobby loaded with coming attraction posters, stills and doors to one of the biggest movie palaces I’ve ever sat it. My family saw “Airport” 8 times in six months at the Kachina in 1970 and I remember it vividly. Yes kids, movies really did used to play for that long in one theatre! The care with which Spielberg places it in his memories as a budding filmmaker is just one of the personal connections that he lays bare in this stirring, revealing look at his family. The Fabelmans are indeed the Spielbergs. The film opens with young Sammy, the film’s obvious Steven, seeing his first movie, DeMille’s “Greatest Show on Earth”. The major train accident at the conclusion of that film rivets Sammy, who immediately recreates it with his toy train set. When his mom suggests he film the toy train crash once and then relive it on film, a future genius is born. Mom Mitzi (Michelle Williams) is a free spirit, a talented concert pianist and a dreamer, inspiring young Sammy from his earliest youth to embrace his dreams. Dad Burt (Paul Dano) is a brilliant engineer, looking at life in exact numbers, black & white. Mitzi and Burt are opposites but care deeply for each other and their family. Sammy and his sisters find balance in the ying and yang of their parents. Burt’s best friend Bennie (Seth Rogan in a terrific dramatic performance) seems to practically live with the Fabelmans and even makes the move with Burt when the family relocates to Phoenix for Burt’s work. Teenage Sammy is now played by Gabriel Labelle in one of the most compelling and understated performances of the year. He stands toe-to-toe with Williams and Dano, who both deliver world class performances. I expect Oscar nominations all around come February, along with a best supporting actor nod for Judd Hirsch as Mitzi’s Uncle Boris, who arrives at the family’s doorstep spouting Yiddish and wisdom in equal measure. Boris had a life in show business and sees the same spark in Sammy. His speech about the conflict between family and a career in the movies is brilliant, just one of many moments crafted by Tony Kushner (Lincoln, Munich) and Spielberg with his first writing credit since “AI” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Sammy’s love of film continues, and we watch as he assembles 40 fellow boy scouts to film a war movie. Hints of future Spielberg are everywhere and it’s obvious that he had a lot of fun recreating these pivotal moments from his teen years. The film takes another turn as the Fabelmans relocate to northern California to follow Burt’s work. Relocating in a WASP town that Sammy calls “the land of the giants”, he’s a short Jewish kid facing bullying, violence and anti-semitism every day in the hallways. Spielberg has said that the treatment he received over his religion turned his away from his faith for many years until his wife Kate Capshaw converted and he went on to make “Schindler’s List” and create the Shoah Foundation. Over the course of two and a half hours that feels much shorter, Spielberg weaves together the story of his journey and desire as an artist with a deeply personal look at his family. Williams and Labelle have some heart wrenching moments as a mother and son with secrets too heavy to bear. Dano has the more difficult role as the clenched, tightly wound Burt, but his silent moments around a campfire as Mitzi dances in the headlights of the family car are powerful, revealing every bit of what he feels but can’t express. Longtime collaborator, director of photography Janusz Kaminski delivers a beautiful look, capturing the Arizona desert and California towns of the 50’s and 60’s, while composer John Williams provides one of his most quietly compelling scores. The film closes with a legendary meeting between college dropout Sammy and one of his film director idols. Spielberg has said that every moment of the encounter was exactly as it appears in the film. The fact that he cast one of modern film’s most visionary directors in the role of that film legend is a bonus. Spielberg saves one of his best directorial flashes for the film’s very last seconds, with a sly and hilarious reference to what that director taught him. He’s clearly taken that advice to heart, building one of the greatest film legacies of all-time. In those last seconds, Williams’ music score suddenly grows happy, echoing the soaring music he’d create for Spielberg’s blockbusters. The music and that visual gag combine for the perfect moment that Sammy becomes Spielberg. With THE FABELMANS he delivers his most personal work. Quiet, dramatic, funny, and sometimes painful, it’s a moving tribute to what forged him, all the while delivering another Spielbergian experience at the movies. If that’s not a word, it ought to be. THE FABELMANS gets an A+.

One of James Cameron's lesser known films, but in my opinion one of his best, THE ABYSS is a terrific action/sci-fi hybrid that takes place beneath the ocean's surface. As the film opens, the crew of an oil rig is commissioned by the Navy to assist in the rescue of a downed nuclear submarine that has sunk to the ocean's floor nearby. Bud Brigman (Ed Harris) and his estranged wife Lindsey (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) are at the end of their marriage and on opposite sides of the Navy takeover. When a Seal Team boards the deep dive rig with a mission of their own, tension grows and suspicions rise. The rig crew is filled with great actors who delivery laughs and realistic friendship in the face of danger. Writer/Director James Cameron is swinging for the fences here, following up "Terminator" and "Aliens" with another non-stop action piece. Like Aliens, once he sets the story up, hurricanes, disasters, violence and suspense kick in and never let up. Michael Biehn is scary as the Seal commander who doesn't react well to the pressures of the deep and Harris & Mastrantonio have some great scenes together as their relationship comes full cycle in the face of crisis and death. There are more than nukes at the bottom of the sea and the special effects throughout were state-of-the-art in 1989 and hold up very well today. Alan Silverstri's music score is excellent and is always present. It's odd to note that Cameron has written Lindsey as a shrew for the first half of the film, setting her up with rudely misogynistic comments from other characters. Cameron is responsible for some of the bravest, boldest female action heroes in film history (Sigourney Weaver's Ripley in Aliens, Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor in Terminator 2) and Lindsey is an odd fit in that screenplay canon. Look for Letterman regular Chris Elliott as a member of the crew, he does a great job. The Abyss dives deep and comes up a winner with a tense and exciting A.

In 1997, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in a terrific adaption of David Baldacci's bestseller, ABSOLUTE POWER. It was the start of another great run for Eastwood at the box office, proving he had his best work ahead of him at the age of 67. Eastwood is career jewel thief, Luther Whitney. On the surface, he's retired and living the straight life after a stint in prison, but as the film opens, he's in the middle of his last big heist at the palatial home of political operative Walter Sullivan (a superb EG Marshall in his last film). Mid-robbery, Luther finds himself hiding in a huge closet with a one-way mirror as a man and woman engage in drunken passion that soon turns violent and deadly. The man is President of the United States Richmond, played with a killer blend of power and entitlement by a great Gene Hackman. Luther escapes, but the Secret Service is hot on his trail. The highest reaches of government, the FBI and Luther are soon in a complicated and enjoyable game of cat and mouse as a truth too damaging in the halls of power must be silenced at all costs. Eastwood is terrific, especially in his scenes with clever FBI agent Seth Frank, played to perfection by Ed Harris (The Right Stuff, The Abyss). Eastwood also shines in his interaction with estranged daughter Kate (Laura Linney) who only knows one version of her father, with his real persona being revealed alongside the facts of the mysterious death and burglary. Eastwood pulls off every scene in front of and behind the camera and keeps the suspense moving, supported by a great adaption of Baldacci's novel by one of our best screenwriters, William Goldman (All The President's Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride, Heat). Scott Glenn is great as a Secret Service man with morals, Judy Davis is menacing as the President's Chief of Staff and Dennis Haysbert is strong as another Secret Service man, years before he played the President himself on TV's "24". Eastwood crafts great movies and he's at his best in this taut, fun thriller. He didnt make a lot of spy/espionage thrillers in his career, but this along with "In The Line of Fire", "The Eiger Sanction" are standouts. Clint Eastwood is in ABSOLUTE POWER throughout and steals a solid B

An interesting early 80's take on the responsibility of the press and the truth vs. character assault, ABSENCE OF MALICE weaves an interesting tale that will keep you guessing. Sally Field (never one of my faves, but downplaying her usual overacting in one of her better roles here, one that Diane Keaton turned down) plays reporter Megan Carter, who is leaked a story by a prosecutor desperate for leads. The attorney general's office is sure that Liquor Wholesaler Mike Gallagher (Paul Newman) is involved in a mob hit on a union boss, because Gallagher's father was a mob boss. Gallagher, by all accounts, has never been involved in his father's business. As Megan writes a story implicating him, the ramifications begin to take apart Gallagher's life. Newman is terrific as a good man scorned. When he decides to turn the tables on Megan and the Attorney General's office by beating them at their own game, am intelligent chess match of truth versus a good story emerges. When Megan and Gallagher get to know each other better and a romance begins to spark, she's torn between the man she's getting to know and the man in her story. Wilford Brimley (Cocoon, The Thing) all but steals the show as a no-nonsense judge who arrives near the end of the film to unravel the many pieces of half truths and just who's pulling the strings. Director Sydney Pollack (The Firm, Three Days of the Condor) does his usual fine job behind the camera, bringing in a taut legal drama with more than its share of smarts. It plays like the counter argument to "The Post" and "All the President's Men". How would you react if you were falsely accused on the front page? Newman gives a master class on how an imperfect man pushes back. Malice gets a B.

Critics savaged this mash-up of history and horror, but I vote for ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER as an interesting, fun winner. Adapting his own hit novel, screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith takes the true history of Abraham Lincoln and turns everything slightly askew, starting with young Abe's witnessing of his mother's death at the hands of a vampire. The Gettysburg Address, Abe's rise from shopkeeper to President, the Emancipation Proclaimation and slavery are all addressed with historical accuracy, but through a clever prism just askew enough to merge the facts with exciting fiction and Abe's night job as a slayer of the undead. It's fun, exciting, action packed and well written.Benjamin Walker is very good as Lincoln, Dominic Cooper is his vampire guide Henry and Rufus Sewell is very good as the vampire villain of the story. The conclusion aboard the railroad on the way to battle at Gettysburg is a fantastic action sequence, well crafted by director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) and Producer Tim Burton. Set aside your knee jerk reaction to the title and the concept and let this one take you on a wild ride. The critics assassinated this one and audiences stayed away in droves, but honestly, I give Abe 4 hatchets. A solid, fun B!