Ghostbusters

'Ghostbusters' runs out of laughs, thrills despite cast's best efforts

By George M. Thomas

Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones star

in GHOSTBUSTERS.

“Who ya gonna call?” was a familiar question for those of us who caught the original GHOSTBUSTERS in 1984. That film provided an oasis of silliness along with a few thrills on its way to capturing the summer.

The current incarnation that features a group of talented comedians will likely do the same, just from sheer name recognition.  After all, any film that stars Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon, will likely attract audiences.

And for most of the first half of GHOSTBUSTERS, they deliver the goods in their take on paranormal scientists looking to prove that they’re not quacks and, in the process, make New York City safer.

For that first hour or so GHOSTBUSTERS, which focuses on Abby (McCarthy), Erin (Wiig), Patty (Jones) and Holtz (McKinnon), zips along with clever one-liners and broader comedy.

In the Heart of the Sea

Review by Candice Lee Catullo

You know how fishing stories tend to get bigger as they are re-told? Like how each time your grandpa tells that story, his arms stretch further and further out as the mythic fish grows in his memory. IN THE HEART OF THE SEA is another fishing story, just one of many stories inspired by one whale that swam the Pacific Ocean in 1820.

The true story of the Massachusetts whaling ship - named the Essex - that was sunk by a sperm whale first inspired Herman Melville to write the fictional adaptation “Moby Dick” in 1851. Later, in 2000, author Nathaniel Philbrick told the true story of the Essex in his non-fiction work “In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.” This year, Director Ron Howard is telling the story with a big screen adaptation of Philbrick’s story, IN THE HEART OF THE SEA.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Review by Ric Nimrod

The first thing to cross my mind when I left the theater after watching Marvels AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON was ‘I cannot wait to watch this again’, but then again, I am that kind of nerd. I then looked at my 6-year-old son who had accompanied me and asked him how he liked it, and he replied with a smile and the word ‘awesome’. But after a moment of consideration he finished with ‘but it is not better than GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvels last big screen adventure). Out of the mouths of babes, the kid is right… but not by much.

Blackhat

Review by Bob Ignizio

Sometimes, an A-list director can take a grade B (or even C) script and, through his style, vision, and force of will, somehow turn it into a great movie. Other times... not so much. Sadly, BLACKHAT is one of those other times. The film is co-written and directed by Michael Mann, the same guy who gave us MANHUNTER, HEAT, THE INSIDER, and COLLATERAL. Mann's usual trademarks – soft focus cinematography, the driving synth score, a stoic male protagonist who defined mainly by his professionalism in a highly specialized field – are all here. The problem is, the cyber crime plot they're attached to this time around just isn't very compelling, and star Chris Hemsworth shows none of the charisma that made him so likeable as Marvel's THOR.

Thor: The Dark World

Review by Bob Ignizio

The latest Marvel film to roll off the assembly line is THOR: THE DARK WORLD, and once again it delivers a smart, funny, action-packed piece of superhero cinema. Taking place in the aftermath of 2012's superhero team-up THE AVENGERS, that film's villain Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who also happens to be the adoptive brother of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), about to receive his punishment back home in the other dimensional realm of Asgard. Only the love of stepmother Frigga (Rene Russo) saves the power hungry trickster from the death penalty, his step father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) instead sentencing him to life in prison. But when a menace from Asgard's distant past is unearthed by scientist (and Thor's girlfriend) Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Loki is the only one who can help Thor combat it.

Rush

Review by Pete Roche

A character in Ron Howard’s new racing film suggests men cars as much as women. 

Maybe so for some guys, but in order to get the average moviegoer to care about an automobile—even a Formula One hotrod—any more than the latest model Frigidaire, a director must first get them to care about the men behind the wheel.

Fortunately, director Howard (APOLLO 13, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, FROST / NIXON) accomplishes this task in RUSH, a sports biopic based on the mid-1970s rivalry between F-1 pedal-pushers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl).

Red Dawn

Review by Bob Ignizio

Having finally given up on their nuclear program, North Korea decides instead to attack the United States of America by using EMP bombs and paratroopers in RED DAWN. The portion of the invasion we witness takes place in Spokane, Washington where a group of high school kids and one twentysomething marine (Jed Eckert, played by Chris Hemsworth) fight back against the Asian invaders in a ninety minute commercial for the NRA. You know how they're always saying we need assault rifles so we can fight back against tyrannical invaders/Democrats? This is that fantasy brought to life. And lest you think the rather high number of casualties suffered by the patriots might put a damper on said fantasy, just remember that to some, there is no better way to go out than a hero's death.

The original 1984 RED DAWN may not have been a great movie, but it captured the tenor of its times and exploited it well. It was the height of the cold war era, and the possibility that the USSR might attack America at least felt like a legitimate fear. And it was a fear that crossed party lines; whether you were a Democrat, a Republican, or an independent, chances are you believed the Russians were our enemies and intent on doing us harm. In such a climate, a story about a few well armed American teenagers waging guerrilla war against Soviet invaders held fairly wide appeal.

Snow White and The Huntsman

Review by Pete Roche

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho! 

Snow White has been re-imagined countless times in fiction and film.  1937’s SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS was not only Disney’s first full-length picture, but the first-ever full color cartoon movie.  Instant classic.  Heck, even the ghoulish GREMLINS took a break from tearing up Kingston Falls to enjoy watching it.  More recently, Indian director Tarsem Singh interpreted the Brothers Grimm fable as the musical comedy MIRROR, MIRROR, with Phil Collins’ daughter starring as the titular teen.

Universal Pictures’ SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN returns us to “Once upon a time” but introduces a more mature Snow White, played by TWILIGHT’s Kristen Stewart.  Fledgling director Rupert Sanders makes other significant changes: Two suitors vie for the maiden’s hand this time out instead of just one, and there’s an extra little person whistling while he works—bringing our dwarf count to eight. 

Marvel's The Avengers

Review by Bob Ignizio

Ever since 2008's IRON MAN, Samuel L. Jackson has been popping up in the Marvel Studios films as Nick Fury, leader of the government security agency S.H.I.E.L.D., to talk about his plans of putting together a group of superheroes. He finally gets around to it in MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS, bringing together Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to, as Fury puts it, “fight the foes no single superhero could withstand.”

The foes in question are led by Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the same guy who caused trouble in THOR. Still smarting from his defeat in that film, Loki returns using his powers of deception and manipulation to get his hands on something called the Tesseract. This glowing McGuffin has seemingly limitless power, but its main purpose here is to open a gateway to another dimension so that an army of CGI space aliens can come through and attack the Earth. After the obligatory fighting amongst themselves, partly caused by Loki's manipulations but mostly due to their own arrogance, the aforementioned heroes come together to face this threat as a team, tearing up large portions of downtown Cleveland (standing in for New York City) in the process.

Thor

Review by Bob Ignizio

Thor makes for an interesting departure from the usual super hero formula. He has no secret identity, and no need for an origin story or any pseudo-scientific explanation for how he got his powers. He's purely and simply Thor, the God of Thunder we know from Norse mythology. Or to be more precise, the immortal alien being the Vikings once worshiped as such, dodging any possible theological issues the character might otherwise raise.

As played by Chris Hemsworth, Thor is something of an arrested adolescent who isn't happy unless he's fighting or partying, He's arrogant, rash, and certain he knows better than his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), who Thor will one day succeed as ruler of the Asgardians. Thor mistakes his father's caution and thoughtfulness for cowardice. With a little subtle nudging from his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), he openly defies Odin by breaking a truce with another race of immortals known as frost giants. Odin contains the mess as best he can, but realizes his progeny needs to be taught a lesson in humility. To that end, he strips Thor of his powers and sends him to earth.