Title: Perfect Sense Directed By: David Mackenzie Starring: Ewan McGregor, Eva Green, Ewen Bremner, Connie Nielsen, Stephen Dillane, Alastair Mackenzie After catching a disaster film, my family always gets a laugh out of trying to figure out exactly what each of us would do in a time of crisis and I’m proud to say that the odds are generally on me to survive. However, if I ever found myself in the situation presented in Perfect Sense, I might just spare myself the stress and put an end to it before my time is really up. Then again, that probably has to do with the bleak and disheartening tone of the…

Title: Chronicle Directed By: Josh Trank Starring: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly, Bo Petersen, Ashley Hinshaw If you got superpowers, what would you do with them? Seriously? I’d like to bet most wouldn’t suit up like Spider-Man and clean the streets of crime. Well, not initially at least. High school-aged or not, most of us would probably partake in the shenanigans the leading trio of Chronicle enjoy. But that’s not to say this novel superhero flick is all fun and games. In fact, it boasts a great deal of depth, intertwining the out-of-this-world action with some very real troubling issues. Andrew (Dane DeHaan) is a bit…

Title: The Innkeepers Directed By: Ti West Starring: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis, George Riddle, Alison Bartlett, Lena Dunham, Jake Ryan, John Speredakos Sick of all the same old tricks in the horror genre? Well, get ready because The Innkeepers uses them all. Eerie tracking shots, spooky noises and an unoriginal story, but, oddly enough, writer-director Ti West manages to put enough of his authorial expressivity on the piece to deliver something that may not feel fresh, but is still refreshingly nostalgic. It’s the Yankee Pedlar Inn’s last days in business and Claire and Luke (Sara Paxton and Pat Healy) are the only two employees left, assigned to keep…

Title: The Grey Directed By: Joe Carnahan Starring: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, James Badge Dale, Joe Anderson, Nonso Anozie, Dallas Roberts, Ben Bray Liam Neeson and director Joe Carnahan are back together again, but this time around, they’re working with material that’s far less fun than The A-Team. But less fun doesn’t make The Grey a bad movie. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Rather than turn The Grey into an utterly unrealistic survival adventure story, we get something far darker and, while it still has those handful of moments that make you think twice, it completely sells the severity of the situation. Neeson’s Ottway works for a…

Title: Red Tails Directed By: Anthony Hemingway Starring: Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Elijah Kelley, Marcus T Paulk, Ne-Yo, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Bryan Cranston, Daniela Ruah, Michael B. Jordan, Andre Royo, Method Man Sure, a January release is never a good sign, but how can you have low expectations for a film about the feats of WWII’s Tuskegee Airmen? Plus, you’d think a script based on such a stirring true story would have enough of a head start not to fall into too many holes. Maybe I don’t know as much as I think about screenwriting, but I know enough to say that Red Tails has a…

Title: Coriolanus Directed By: Ralph Fiennes Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox, Gerard Butler, James Nesbitt, Paul Jesson, Jessica Chastain, Lubna Azabal, Ashraf Barhom Back in high school, I always knew I should appreciate Shakespeare, but getting through his work was so tedious, it often took away from the narrative. Then, once I finally understood the text and perhaps should have gone back for a second go-around to appreciate it as a story, it was onto the next book of the semester, forever branding his work a mere school assignment rather than something that was meant to be enjoyed. Thanks to Ralph Fiennes, if Coriolanus ever comes up in…

Title: Loosies Directed By: Michael Corrente Starring: Peter Facinelli, Jaimie Alexander, Vincent Gallo, Michael Madsen, Joe Pantoliano, William Forsythe, Marianne Leone Having never watched Nurse Jackie, for the past few years, Peter Facinelli has been Carlisle Cullen and Carlisle Cullen alone. However, thanks to Facinelli’s itch to write, we get Loosies and even though Facinelli’s writing is average, it really shows he’s an incredibly talented actor. He seems to have some ability in the writing department, but now I’m more excited for The Twilight Saga to come to a close so Facinelli can sink his teeth into some meatier roles. Bobby (Facinelli) may look like a stockbroker, but the suit…

Title: Contraband Directed By: Baltasar Kormákur Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi, Ben Foster, J.K. Simmons, Diego Luna, Lukas Haas, Caleb Landry Jones Movies are all about making your wildest dreams come true, right? Okay, only in some instances, but when you’ve got a film about an elaborate heist, I’d like to bet the real thing, if the real thing even exists, is far less exciting than what goes down when we catch a heist movie. So, naturally, Contraband falls into quite a few ludicrous plot holes, but thanks to strong filmmaking all around, they’re generally accepted for the sake of enjoying the adventure. Chris Farraday was once into…

Title: The Darkest Hour Directed By: Chris Gorak Starring: Emile Hirsch, Max Minghella, Olivia Thirlby, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman, Veronika Ozerova Tell us an alien invasion movie is on the way and, regardless of who’s in it or what it’s about, it sparks intrigue. Not only am I particularly guilty of this in general, but upon hearing the concept backing The Darkest Hour, I fell head over heels for what should have been a wildly original dose of ET destruction. However, perhaps test screenings didn’t go as planned, because as the film’s Christmas day release approached, its marketing campaign fizzled out, warning us of what’s to come. Is it all…

Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Columbia Pictures Grade: B- Director: .David Fincher Screenwriter: Steve Zaillian, from Stieg Larsson’s novel Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgard, Christopher Plummer, Joely Richardson, Embeth Davidtz Screened at: AMC Empire, NYC, 12/19/11 Opens: December 21, 2011 You can bet that producer Scott Rudin spent no more than two minutes thinking about the director he should hire for the American version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” The story is right up David Fincher’s alley. Fincher, whose “Seven” deals with two detective tracking down a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his method of operation, and whose…