Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre - Dir. Cary Fukunaga (2011)

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is an indelible work of literature. As such, it has seen dozens of cinematic adaptations including a silent film version in 1915 and a 1996 version directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Hurt. Perhaps, the most famous take is the 1944 version starring Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles and based on a script adapted by John Houseman and Aldous Huxley. Director Cary Fukunaga and screenwriter Moira Buffini (Tamara Drewe) have the unenviable task of breathing new life into a story that has been oft-told in film, television, and on stage.

Bronte incorporated many elements from her own life and beliefs in the original novel (published in 1847) with the title character serving as a sort-of analogue for the author. By all accounts, Bronte was a forward thinking woman, which informed Jane Eyre's views on the ultra-religious and patriarchal society she inhabited. Much like Jane Eyre, Bronte was also sent to a boarding school along with her sisters, including Emily, author of Wuthering Heights. The poor conditions of the school led to the deaths of her eldest sisters Maria and Elizabeth due to tuberculosis.

At a young age Jane Eyre (played as a child by Amelia Clarkson) lost both her parents and was sent to live with her Uncle Reed and his family. When he dies, she is left in the care of her cruel Aunt Sarah (Sally Hawkins), who ships Jane off to the Lowood Institution, a Dickensian nightmare of fear and abuse. The headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst (Simon McBurney), has already branded Jane as deceitful and encourages all others to shun her. The one friend Jane does make dies due to the negligence of the staff.

Jane leaves Lowood as an adult (Mia Wasikowska) to accept a position as governess at the reclusive Thornfield Hall. She is taken in by the kindly housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax (Judi Dench), but finds the lord of the house, Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender), is less than welcoming. Rochester spends little time at the estate and his first encounter with Jane could hardly be considered a meet cute after he is thrown from his horse. He even accuses Jane of bewitching his steed. This is exemplary of the brusque manner in which Rochester treats everyone around him. Yet, he is the first real man Jane has ever met and there is an undeniable attraction. Girls love the bad boys.

As their relationship grows, Rochester discovers Jane is an intelligent, young woman who isn't afraid to speak her mind or stand up to him. He finds her a refreshing change of pace from the cowering servants and the sycophantic bluebloods he usually converses with on a daily basis. But, Thornfield is a sinister place and she and her master hold their own dark secrets.

Fukunaga may seem like an odd choice to direct a 19th century romantic drama having made his feature film debut with Sin Nombre, a thriller about gangbangers and South American immigrants making their way to America. Yet, he and Buffini have found a fresh approach to the source material by focusing on the love story between Jane and Rochester instead of attempting an all-encompassing adaptation. The film begins in media res with the rain-soaked heroine collapsing on the doorstep of the pious St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell). From there, Jane's tale of woe unfolds through a series of flashbacks. Still, it feels as if more screen time could have been devoted to their relationship and that the resolution came too quickly. At just under two hours, Jane Eyre (not counting end credits) is one of those rare instances where an extra fifteen or twenty minutes could have been an improvement to the overall narrative.

Despite a rushed conclusion, Jane Eyre is buoyed by a pair of powerhouse performances by its lead. Mia Wasikowska had already played a similar, eponymous role in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. While Jane Eyre provided a less colorful and fantastical world, Wasikowska displayed the same aura of strength and determination. On the page, Eyre was described as a plain looking girl and Fukunaga can't hide Wasikowska's natural beauty despite tying her hair back in a severe bun and hiding her face inside a bonnet. On film, Wasikowska's expressive eyes and pale, white skin make her look like a porcelain doll come to life, which adds to the fragility of her character. Her leading man is no slouch either. Michael Fassbender has risen in stature after strong performances in indie films like Hunger and Fish Tank. He's come to the attention of Hollywood for his roles in Inglourious Basterds and most recently as Magneto, another tortured soul in X-Men: First Class. Fassbender definitely gets his chance to play tortured again as the conflicted Rochester, running hot and cold at a moment's notice. The supporting cast is also good, including Simon McBurney, who seems to be giving Timothy Spall a run for his money as the go-to British character actor for malevolent antagonists. There's also the always dependable Judi Dench and Sally Hawkins, who does a complete 180 from the cheerful Poppy in Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky.

The actors' work is accentuated by the atmospheric direction of Fukunaga and the cinematography of Adriano Goldman. Using only natural lighting, Goldman crafts a picturesque view of the English countryside, but the movie truly shines at night with only moonlight wafting through the curtains and the flickering of a candle to light the scene. The moody lighting does wonders to highlight the eeriness of Thornfield. You can almost feel the chilling winds hitting your body. It's no wonder so many died of a young age by tuberculosis, typhus, or pneumonia.

Ardent fans of the original novel may find that this latest adaptation is missing too much of the source material. However, Fukunaga's film is hardly a Cliff Notes version of Charlotte Bronte's classic. While it would have benefited from a longer runtime, Jane Eyre is a compelling take on the Gothic love story anchored by two amazing performances from Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender.

Rating: *** (*****)

Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Barbarian - Dir. Marcus Nispel (2011)

The life story of author Robert E. Howard could probably make for a compelling film. He practiced boxing and bodybuilding as a boy and this physicality would inform his later writing. Howard's mother, Hester, contracted tuberculosis from caring for ill relatives before she ever met his father, Isaac, meaning she was dying throughout his entire life. When Hester fell into an unrecoverable coma, Howard (aged 30) shot himself in the head. Many have speculated about his mental state, but what was undeniable was his body of work. Howard wrote numerous short stories for the Depression-era pulp magazine, Weird Tales, which also published the writings by H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. Howard created characters like Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane, and his most renowned creation Conan the Barbarian, which ushered in the genre of sword and sorcery.

Conan was first brought to the silver screen in 1983 with a feature film directed by John Milius, who co-wrote the script with Oliver Stone. It managed to skyrocket the movie career of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nowadays, it's known more as a cult classic of 80's action cheese rather than a faithful adaptation of Howard's stories. It spawned a sequel in Conan the Destroyer and a spinoff, Red Sonja, a character originally created in the Marvel Comics series by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, who based her on a pastiche of other Howard characters. A third Conan film was mired in development hell. One script based on the novel, Hour of the Dragon, was put into production until Arnold backed out. Kevin Sorbo replaced him, but refused to star in a role previously played by another actor. So the studio renamed it Kull the Conqueror to shoehorn in a previous barbarian character Howard had created.

Comparisons between that version and the all new Conan the Barbarian are inevitable. Enough time has passed from my last viewing of Arnold's Conan that it doesn't cloud my experience of the new one. I will say that Conan's new catchphrase, "I live, I love, I slay and I am content." doesn't hold a candle to…

"What is best in life?"
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women."

This new Conan gets off to a promising start with an expository narration by Morgan Freeman about the history of the mythical Hyborian Age, a time after the fall of Atlantis. It's all about the ancient Mask of Acheron, which could grant its wearer ultimate power. Next is an internal shot of a sword piercing a womb. We cut to a pregnant woman in full battle garb in the midst of a violent struggle. Her husband, Corin (Ron Perlman), comes to her aid. He performs an emergency C-section and pulls his newborn son from her belly. He says, "Name your son," and she answers, "His name is Conan!" Corin holds the baby, covered in viscera and after-birth, to the high heavens and lets out a hearty scream. Cue title logo.

A pre-teen Conan (Leo Howard) undergoes a brutal rite of passage as he slays several attackers in the snow-covered forests outside his village. He tosses their heads at the feet of his father as proof of his brave deed. Unfortunately, these happy days of decapitation end when the forces of Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang) invade in a quest to reassemble the pieces of the Mask. In an homage to Once Upon a Time in the West, young Conan and his Corin are placed into an unfortunate death trap involving molten steel that doesn't end well for daddy.

The adult Conan (Jason Momoa) returns to seek revenge against Khalar Zym and his half-witch daughter, Marique (Rose McGowan). Zym seeks to sacrifice a pure-blooded virgin in order to empower the mask and conquer the world.

It's odd that themes of filial vengeance played such a huge role in both Conan films, despite the fact these elements were not present in the source material. Conan the Barbarian is simply a victim of Hollywood's incessant need to origin stories for every character they get their hands on. His name is Conan the Barbarian. Is there anything more you need to know? Does the audience genuinely need to delve into his psychological make-up to truly understand a guy who just likes to kill and fuck?

The production budget was a whopping $90 million and while it looks better than the original, doesn't look at all like they spent $90 million. The special effects begin to fail in the second half of the film as if the filmmakers started running out of time and money. The worst sequence has to be a third act battle between Conan and a tentacled monster. The creature looks terribly fake and the picture is murky and nearly incomprehensible due to the haphazard 3D conversion. Faring better is a fight scene pitting Conan against ninjas made out of sand. The CGI looks good, but the action is poorly staged by director Marcus Nispel, who makes the common mistake of cutting in too close and too quickly. Nispel, who also directed the remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th, is the primary reason why I had such low expectations going into Conan. He also directed 2007's Pathfinder, a brutally boring movie about Native Americans versus Viking invaders. It almost makes you wish Brett Ratner had stuck around. Almost.

The largely unknown Jason Momoa undoubtedly won fans over for his portrayal of Khal Drogo on HBO's Game of Thrones. He definitely has the charisma and the steely gaze to make a badass Conan. You just wish he had better material to work with. Stephen Lang gets another chance to play the snarling villain. Lang gets to chew up plenty of scenery as does Rose McGowan, who looks like she got make-up and wardrobe tips from her ex Marilyn Manson. Meanwhile, Rachel Nichols as the virgin Tamara doesn't get much to do other than look pretty. Also, it was unclear whether or not she needed to be a virgin for the blood sacrifice because Conan ruins that at the end of the second act. To no one's surprise, they engage in a softly lit love scene that looks like it was lifted from an early-90's skin flick that aired on late night Cinemax.

In between the flash forward, there is a brief mention of Conan's adventures as a mercenary, pirate, and thief. Any one of those stories would have been more interesting than this generic schlock. Conan the Barbarian should have been easy to pull off. Take some of the best elements from Howard's stories, combine with the visceral visuals of Frank Frazetta, and toss in plenty of blood and boobs. Instead, we get a boring series of clichés that is only Conan the Barbarian in name. Nispel's film has more in common with the litany of 80's knockoffs like The Beastmaster, Deathstalker, and Yor, the Hunter From the Future.

Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. Grant me one request. That someone finally make a GOOD Conan movie. And if you do not listen, then the hell with you.

Rating: * (*****)

Cowboys & Aliens

Cowboys & Aliens - Dir. Jon Favreau (2011)

Cowboys & Aliens has one of those high-concept titles that tells you exactly what you're going to get. Just like Snakes on a Plane had snakes on a plane, Cowboys & Aliens has cowboys and aliens. It should have been a cool mish-mash of Western and sci-fi genres, but, again, like Snakes on a Plane worked better as a joke on paper. Based loosely on a graphic novel published by Platinum Studios, Cowboys & Aliens had all the makings of a successful summer blockbuster. It had two renowned leading men together for the first time in Daniel Craig and Harrison (James Bond and Indiana Jones!). It had a talented director with a proven track record in Jon Favreau (Iron Man). Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Brian Grazer were among the producers. Credited screenwriters included Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (Transformers), Damon Lindelof (Lost), Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby (also of Iron Man), and Steve Oedekerk (Kung Pow: Enter the Fist), who was attached to write and direct way back in 1997. Hmm…okay that last one was odd, but you can hardly hang the film's failures on a singular man.

Cowboys & Aliens opens with an unidentified man (Craig) awakening in the desert with no memory of who he is or where he came from. There's also a bizarre bracelet attached to his wrist. After killing a trio of assailants, he makes his way to the small town of Absolution where we learn he is a wanted outlaw named Jake Lonergan. The whole town lives in fear of local cattle baron, Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford), whose sniveling son, Percy (Paul Dano), has also arrived to drunkenly shoot up the place and bully the barkeep Doc (Sam Rockwell). When the Colonel learns Percy and Lonergan have been arrested, he rides into Absolution with the intent of taking them both. Just as the six-shooters are about to be drawn, mysterious lights flash in the sky. The aliens have arrived on crab-like vessels destroying everything below and snatching up innocent people left and right. Among those taken are Percy, Sheriff Taggart (Keith Carradine), and Doc's wife Maria (Ana de la Reguera). Lonergan discovers his bracelet is actually an advanced weapon capable of detecting the aliens and destroying their ships.

Lonergan and Dolarhyde reluctantly form a posse to rescue their people and stave off the alien invasion. Among their group include Doc, Dolarhyde's Native American servant Nat Colorado (Adam Beach, the Sheriff's grandson Emmett (Noah Ringer), the gruff reverend Meacham (Clancy Brown), and a mysterious woman named Ella (Olivia Wilde). Eventually they are all forced to team up with a tribe of Apaches and a band of ruthless outlaws in a final showdown with the extraterrestrials.

The film starts with a strong first act mimicking all the standard tropes of the Western with the taciturn hero and Mexican standoffs. Favreau does his best to ground the story in some semblance of reality even after the outlandish introduction of space invaders. Then, things start going off the rails. The momentum built up at the beginning drops into a second act lull as the plot takes its time to develop its thinly drawn characters. The narrative is clumsily dotted with flashback sequences of Lonergan's fuzzy past. Ford is initially cast against type as a gruff and slightly racist antagonist, but he's Harrison Ford and can't stay that way the whole movie. He's significantly softened with two cheesy subplots of Dolarhyde acting as a surrogate father to Nat and Emmett. The movie also gets taken down a notch with the early loss of Paul Dano, who served as an excellent whipping boy to Craig's Lonergan. Despite her insane gorgeousness, Olivia Wilde appears only as a functionary character to deliver helpful exposition and act as a deus ex machine to defeat the aliens. Also wasted are great character actors like Keith Carradine, Walt Goggins, and Clancy Brown.

Favreau is a solid director with a knack for handling large ensembles, but he's not the flashiest when it comes to action. His finales (both Iron Man movies, for example) tend to build up strong and then fizzle out towards the end. Cowboys & Aliens suffers from an anti-climatic finish as the final battle between the humans and aliens becomes monotonous and easily forgettable.

While classic Westerns like The Searchers served as inspiration, Cowboys & Aliens (with its wooden dialogue and silly plot contrivances) recalls the B-movie productions of Roger Corman. There is an underlying irony beneath the pedestrian narrative about our nation's history of genocide and Manifest Destiny, but don't think for an instance this movie is an allegory for American imperialism. Cowboys & Aliens isn't a game changing genre bender. It is summer entertainment. Mindless escapism in its purest form.

Rating: ** (*****)

Meek's Cutoff

Meek's Cutoff - Dir. Kelly Reichardt (2011)

Critics have jumped at the chance to label Meek's Cutoff as a "Revisionist Western" or a "Feminist Western." Some have even snidely referred to it as a big-screen version of the edutainment computer game, The Oregon Trail. I'll jump on the bandwagon and call it an 'Anti-Western' as director Kelly Reichardt has crafted a de-romanticized look at westward expansion and frontier folly. All of this is wrapped in timeless themes of xenophobia and national imperialism.

Based loosely on actual historical events, Meek's Cutoff follows a small group of settlers in 1845. They have broken away from a larger group to follow their guide, Stephen Meek (an unrecognizable Bruce Greenwood), across the Oregon High Desert along a supposed shortcut. What was supposed to be a two week journey has stretched to over a month as the pioneers' supplies dwindle. Among the group are: Emily Tetherow (Michelle Williams) and her older husband Soloman (Will Patton), the ultra-religious William & Glory White (Neal Huff & a squeaky voiced Shirley Henderson) and their son Jimmy (Tommy Nelson), and young couple Thomas & Millie Gately (Paul Dano & Zoe Kazan). Tensions mount as the wandering settlers try to decide whether Meek has intentionally led them astray or is he simply incompetent. The possibility hope arrives when they capture a lone Indian. Meek wants to kill him outright, but Soloman and Emily believe he can lead them to much needed water.

Meek's Cutoff is a challenging film with long stretches of silence and scenes of the characters endlessly walking the bleak terrain. It will try even the most patient viewer so much so that New York Times critics A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis penned an article entitled, In Defense of Slow and Boring, which also referenced divisive films such as The Tree of Life and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. It may be a hard pill to swallow, but Meek's Cutoff skillfully conveys the hardships and tedium that came from this era of Manifest Destiny. Reichardt stays through every painful step of everyday tasks before the advent of modern technology. Grinding coffee and churning butter are a pain in the ass. One scene features Michelle Williams firing a warning shot with her rifle, and then almost farcically going through every laborious step to reload. It makes you wonder how past generations ever got anything done.

Throughout it all, Reichardt (working from a script by frequent collaborator Jonathan Raymond) manages to subvert every trope expected of the Western genre. The film was shot in the old aspect ratio of 1.37:1, commonly referred to these days as fullscreen. As such, the characters are framed in a claustrophobic manner that accentuates their positions of being trapped by the landscape. The beautiful Monument Valley of John Ford's oeuvre is replaced by dry, acrid land bereft of any beauty. Reichardt also keeps the audience at a distance as the picture opens with a series of long shots as the settlers go through the arduous task of crossing a shallow stream. The first bit of intelligible dialogue doesn't occur until approximate seven minutes into the movie. The story is told from a female's perspective with Emily as the lead character. Reichardt places her audience into their point of view exemplified during a sequence where the men try to decide what to do with Meek. She shoots them from an extreme long shot, but stays with the women (their faces hidden behind deep bonnets) who watch from a distance and speculate on a conversation they are not privy to.

Reichardt uses only natural lighting during the production. Night scenes are lit simply by a crackling campfire, which gives off an eerie highlight of orange across the actors' faces. Michelle Williams stands as one of the top actresses working in Hollywood today and gives another stellar performance.

Meek's Cutoff caps off an unofficial Pacific Northwest trilogy by filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, which also includes Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy. Thematically, all three movies have much in common. Old Joy was about two friends (vestiges of the 60's counterculture attitude) on a camping trip and coming to grips with the disparity in their lives. Wendy and Lucy was a heart wrenching tale of a woman and her dog making their way to Alaska amidst the crushing weight of the economic crisis. All three were about the people who have fallen through the cracks of society. Meek's Cutoff won't be to everyone's taste, but those with strong enough convictions will find a powerful drama and a successful exercise in minimalistic cinema.

Rating: *** (*****)

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger - Dir. Joe Johnston (2011)

"What makes you so special?"
"Nothing. I'm just a kid from Brooklyn."

If the interpretations of Mayan calendars turn out to be false and the world doesn't end in 2012, fanboys will rejoice as they'll be able to witness the glory of The Avengers, in which Marvel's greatest superheroes join forces for the first time in live-action. Before the premiere comic book team (sorry, Justice League) makes its debut, Marvel Studios must place the pieces into play. They laid the foundation with Iron Man and continued to build upon it with The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2. This summer, Marvel Studios had the daunting task of breathing life into two of their more challenging characters. One was a Norse god with a magical hammer. Thor was successfully realized in an epic fantasy with just the right amount of fish-out-of-water humor. Next up was Captain America, a product of World War II jingoism that leapt from the minds of creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

The character made his debut in Captain America Comics #1, published by Marvel (then known as Timely) in March of 1941, a year before Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into WWII . The cover famously depicted Captain America punching Adolf Hitler right in the face. It would be easy to ridicule his unwavering patriotic beliefs, his star-spangled spandex, and a garish code-name. William Klein did just that with the absurdist Mr. Freedom, a biting Cold War satire of American culture. Yet, Captain America: The First Avenger deftly deals with those issues without a hint of cynicism and celebrates the Captain's old fashioned values.

It is 1942 and a 98-pound asthmatic named Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is rejected from enlisting in the Army for the umpteenth time. His best friend, Sgt. James "Bucky" Barnes (Sebastian Stan), tries to console him, but Rogers simply wants to serve his country. He gets his chance when Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) chooses him as part of a clandestine super-soldier program. The project's overseer, Col. Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) has serious doubts about this human toothpick, but Dr. Erskine believes in him and so does British liaison, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). Thanks to Erskine's serum and vita-ray procedure, Rogers is transformed into a buff beefcake with strength, speed, and agility beyond those of normal human beings. Erskine takes the secrets of the process to his grave when a Nazi saboteur (Richard Armitage) murders him immediately following the experiment.

The assassin was sent by Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), the recipient of an early version of the serum, which gave him super-strength, a crimson cranium, and the nickname of The Red Skull. Schmidt has formed his own splinter group called Hydra, which employs high-tech weaponry powered by the Tesseract (or Cosmic Cube to the comic book fans), a mystical object said to be from Odin's treasury. Knowing Rogers is their only super-soldier; the government hones his identity as a symbol of national pride as he performs in propaganda reels and USO shows. Dressed in a wool costume, the Captain pleads for citizens to buy war bonds while leggy dancers belt out a show tune penned by lyricist David Zippel and Alan Menken, the composer of classic Disney movies like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. In a clever meta-textual gag, the comic book character becomes a comic book character with issues of Captain America being read by children and servicemen alike. The Captain eventually makes his way to the frontlines where he battles Hydra alongside Bucky and the internationally diverse Howling Commandos.

There has been a glut of comic book films this year and Captain America lies somewhere in the middle of the pack. It's leaps and bounds above The Green Hornet and Green Lantern, but it's not as strong as Thor or X-Men: First Class. Much like Thor, the story is rushed with the filmmakers primarily concerned with setting up The Avengers than crafting a stand-alone picture. Just when you think you've reached the midpoint of Captain America, you're actually at the climax. There's a lot stuffed into this origin story that introduces numerous characters and builds subplots for later movies. Minor spoilers: Captain America is bookended with the discovery and revival of the Star-Spangled Avenger after spending decades in deep freeze. That's a lot to handle for a single two-hour film. So much so that the movie employs three montage sequences to pare down the narrative. But, the strengths of Captain America outweigh its weaknesses.

Director Joe Johnston has bounced back from last year's critically derided Wolfman with an exciting, four-color adventure that recalls the most underrated comic book adaptation, The Rocketeer, which he also directed. Captain America has a vintage quality that the captures the tone of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Republic movie serials that inspired it. Not much of a surprise as Johnston studied under the tutelage of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as a special effects artist on Raiders and Star Wars. There is even a sly Indiana Jones reference ("The Fuhrer digs for trinkets in the desert…"). Johnston isn't a strong action director, but the battle sequences in Captain America are exciting, despite an anti-climactic finale. There's a Where Eagles Dare-style raid in the Alps and it's a joy to see Cap slinging his shield. The screenplay was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (The Chronicles of Narnia) with an uncredited rewrite by Avengers director Joss Whedon. Though it tends to fall on the bloated side, the script has plenty of sharp humor and the kind of wicked one-liners that could have only sprung from the Whedon's mind.

The production design is impeccable. It doesn't attempt to faithfully replicate the period, but replicate an exaggerated Marvel-ized version of the times, which could only be described as Art Deco Retro-Futurism, what people of the past thought the future would look like. The highlight is an early staging of the Stark Expo from Iron Man 2 with a mannequin of the Golden Age Human Torch (one of Marvel's first heroes) on display. This isn't the WWII from Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers, but a PG accounting with Hydra foot soldiers vaporizing their enemies with chrome-plated laser cannons.

Chris Evans takes on his toughest and highest-profile role to date as the title character. Evans is already known to comic book fans as the Human Torch in Fantastic Four and the skateboarding Lucas Lee in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. As Johnny Storm, Evans brought a charismatic flair to the otherwise abysmal Fantastic Four. The same can be said for his role in another comic book adaptation, The Losers. Evans had turned down Captain America multiple times before revealing he was simply afraid of playing the part. It's lucky he changed his mind as Evans is excellent in the role. Not only does he have the All-American good looks to play Captain America, he brings the right amount of gravitas. Using the magic of CGI, Evans begins the film as a scrawny weakling constantly beating up by bullies, but never backing down. He is actually more interesting as Steve Rogers than he is as Cap, partly because the majority of Cap's scenes are action-driven rather than dramatic. The most refreshing trait of the character was the fact that he didn't go through an obligatory character arc. The majority of recent comic book films revolve around an arrogant protagonist who must learn humility and responsibility en route to becoming a bona fide hero. Steve Rogers is honorable and virtuous throughout First Avenger, yet that didn't make him any less compelling. Secondly, Cap doesn't treat his newfound powers as a burden. Thus, he does not go through the clichéd turning point of quitting only to take up the mantle again after ten minutes.

The supporting cast is equally good with even the smallest role performed memorably. Hugo Weaving is villainously over-the-top as Cap's arch-enemy, employing the distinctive inflections of eccentric auteur Werner Herzog to his cartoonish German accent. The make-up is excellent too, making the Red Skull a hideous by-product of Aryan genetic engineering. Toby Jones plays the Red Skull's right-hand man, Arnim Zola. Jones subverts the cliché of the sycophantic henchman by injecting a sense of apprehension in the face of the Skull's overwhelming evil. Tommy Lee Jones essentially does Tommy Lee Jones as the Captain's gruff and grizzled commanding officer. Dominic Cooper also turns in a great performance as Iron Man's father, Howard Stark, a Howard Hughes-esque playboy industrialist.

This isn't Captain America's first film. The character was previously brought to life in a pair of 70's made-for-TV movies with Reb Brown as a motorcycle helmet wearing Captain America. There was also a direct-to-video cheapie with Matt Salinger (son of J.D. Salinger) as rubber-eared Captain America who fought an Italian Red Skull. Captain America: The First Avenger is the version fans have been waiting for.

Rating: *** (*****)

Happythankyoumoreplease

Happythankyoumoreplease - Dir. Josh Radnor (2010)

The last few years have seen a rise in the so-called mumblecore movement, a brand of low-budget independent film marked by character-driven stories about twentysomethings in a post-collegiate malaise. Happythankyoumoreplease isn't mumblecore. It belongs to mumblecore's big brother, hipstercore, a term I haven't seen used in conjunction with cinema. It is certainly apropos for a far too preciously titled film about trendy, young urbanites set to a soundtrack of acoustic guitar driven coffee shop pop.

Josh Radnor from CBS's How I Met Your Mother makes his debut as a writer and director with Happythankyoumoreplease. He also takes the starring role of Sam Wexler, a struggling author living in New York City. He's looking to make a big break with his novel entitled, The Other Great Thing About Vinyl. However, Sam's problem is he is a white guy from the suburbs and has nothing truly profound to say. Sam's life changes when he meets Rasheen (Michael Algieri), a little boy who is separated from his family on the subway. Rasheen has been bounced from foster home to foster home and refuses to be taken to child services or the police station. Sam ludicrously decides to let Rasheen stay with him for the time being. Sam's friends know this is a bad idea and their lives intersect with the main story.

Annie (Malin Akerman) is a bright-eyed office girl with alopecia, a condition that causes loss of hair throughout her body. She's a nice girl, who only seems to go out with jerks. Annie receives unwanted flirting with a nebbish co-worker also named Sam (Tony Hale). The original Sam's cousin, Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan), loves the Big Apple and is troubled by her boyfriend Charlie's (Pablo Schreiber) desire to move to L.A. Sam's love life is in turmoil as well. He tries to romance a lovely bartender by the name of Mississippi (Kate Mara).

Reviews have inevitably compared Happythankyou with Zach Braff's Garden State. Aside from the fact that both marked the filmmaking debuts of sitcom stars, they don't have that much in common. For one thing "Happythankyou" lacks the strong female performance from Natalie Portman. As a director, Radnor is missing the visual cleverness of Braff. Radnor's style is competent, but bland and has all the visual flair of your average single camera sitcom.

Radnor's screenwriting feels like an earnest attempt to recapture the feel of Woody Allen's prime. The characters all have their neuroses, but never seem to rise above perfunctory quirks to become multi-dimensional human beings. One of Allen's most iconic characters was the city of New York itself. Happythankyou may be set in NYC, but it isn't uniquely New York and could have been set in almost any bustling metropolis. Radnor also spreads the script too thin by getting sidetracked with all the parallel subplots. The relationship between Mary and Charlie is the least developed and least interesting and could have easily been excised. The blossoming couple of Annie and Sam #2 wind up being more compelling than the A-story between Sam and Rasheen. This is due in no small part to the performances of Malin Akerman and Tony Hale. Akerman (who was so wooden in Watchmen) brings an infectious perkiness to her character. Meanwhile, Hale plays a low-key variation of the awkward Buster Bluth from Arrested Development.

The story of a struggling artist is always hard to sympathize with, especially when he's the mopey kind who lives in a spacious apartment he couldn't possibly afford. Happythankyoumoreplease tries so hard to be hip and insightful, but comes off as a derivative bore.

Rating: * ½ (*****)

Horrible Bosses

Horrible Bosses - Dir. Seth Gordon (2011)

This summer has been the season for raunchy comedies. The Hangover Part II is one of the highest grossing films of the year, despite a severe critical lashing. Bridesmaids is in the top ten for domestic grosses and received far more critical praise. The summer has also yielded Bad Teacher, the upcoming body switch laugher The Change-Up, and the workplace comedy Horrible Bosses.

Horrible Bosses plays into the dark fantasies we've all had about gaining a measure of revenge against an abusive supervisor. It also touches upon the frustrations that have been cultivated by the turbulent economic climate. However, don't expect a sharp treatise that handles those themes with a wry intelligence. Horrible Bosses earns its R rating by being a silly and profane comedy.

Jason Bateman is Nick Hendricks, a white-collar worker at a financial firm under the tyrannical reign of Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey). Harken represents the worst aspects of the corporate world. He dangles and denies a vital promotion to Nick, then laughs about his dead grandmother. Jason Sudeikis is Kurt Buckman, an account manager for a chemical company. Unlike his buddies, Kurt actually loves his job probably because he works for kindly Donald Sutherland. Unfortunately, the old man dies of a heart attack leaving the company in the hands of his odious sleazebag son. Not Kiefer, but Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell sporting a beer belly and a comb-over). Bobby plans on running his dad's legacy into the ground to feed his appetite for cocaine and hookers. Finally, there's Dale Arbus, a chaste dental assistant, who suffers from daily sexual harassment from his nymphomaniac boss, Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston).

All three buddies have their reasons for not simply quitting their jobs. Harken promises to blackball Nick from the industry should be leave. Kurt doesn't want to see Bobby destroy the company. Dr. Julia has taken pictures of herself molesting an unconscious Dale and threatens to show them to his fiancée (Lindsay Sloane). Poor Dale is also a registered sex offender, the reasons for which are too funny to spoil.

After reaching their breaking point, the protagonists decide to kill their bosses. Of course, none of them have any clue about how to do that. Kurt comes up with the harebrained scheme of going into a bar in East L.A. and ask around. They meet an ex-con named Dean "Motherfucker" Jones (Jamie Foxx), who agrees to be their murder consultant.

Anybody who has ever watched an episode of CSI will figure out their plans aren't likely to be successful. What follows is a farcical series of events as these frat pack Three Stooges fumble their way through their half-assed murder plots. It is the interactions between the leads that sells Horrible Bosses. None of the main actors are doing anything new. Bateman reprises the role of the exasperated everyman he has portrayed since his comeback on Arrested Development. Sudeikis is doing his horndog shtick though Horrible Bosses is a better showcase for his comedic skills than the Farrelly Brothers' inert Hall Pass. Meanwhile, Day is basically reprising his role from FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Day also provides some of the funniest moments of the movie from his manic motions after accidentally breathing in Bobby's coke stash to singing the Ting Ting's "That's Not My Name" while alone in a car.

Day's performance also saves his particular subplot, which might be the most tenuous of them all. Let's face it, Aniston's perpetually horny cougar is the dream boss for any heterosexual male. But, Day imbues Dale with a dim-witted naiveté that makes it somewhat believable for him to be offended by Julia's advances. For Aniston, this is a drastic departure from her usual girl-next-door roles. It's not exactly the most nuanced character or the most politically correct, but she plays it with gusto. To no one's surprise, Kevin Spacey turns in a solid performance as an asshole boss, a return to his Buddy Ackerman from Swimming with Sharks with a dash of John Williamson from Glengarry Glen Ross. Colin Farrell is sadly short-changed in screen time. He is wonderfully over-the-top.

The film is competently directed by Seth Gordon, who made his debut with the excellent documentary King of Kong. He has since turned into a director of slick Hollywood comedies.

Horrible Bosses is a safe, mainstream Hollywood picture masquerading as an edgy black comedy. The characters are cartoonish and the plot moves ahead through a series of sitcom contrivances. But, it's entertaining and humorous enough to warrant at least a rental.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)

Kill the Irishman

Kill the Irishman - Dir. Jonathan Hensleigh (2011)

"...if any of these maggots in the so-called mafia want to come after me, I'm not a hard man to find."

Cleveland is known as the home of the Indians and the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Most folks don't realize that the city was also known as a hotbed for the mafia back in the 70's. In fact, Cleveland earned the dubious nickname of "Bomb City, USA" due to the violent struggle between rival mob factions and their use of bombs as the preferred method of murder. Thirty-six explosions were set off in 1976 alone. Hip deep in the thick of things was an Irish gangster by the name of Danny Greene, who serves as the basis for Kill the Irishman, a fictionalized account of those violent events. Kill the Irishman was co-written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, who also wrote and directed The Punisher, starring Thomas Jane in the titular role. Oddly enough, the star of his newest film is Ray Stevenson, who took over as Marvel's premiere vigilante in the sequel/reboot, Punisher: War Zone.

Stevenson plays Greene as a physically imposing man with a barrel chest and a shock of strawberry blonde hair. His rise in the world of organized crime began as the head of the dockworkers' union. To consolidate power, Greene struck a deal with the Italians in exchange for goods pilfered from errant shipping containers. It was through this relationship that Greene met John Nardi (Vincent D'Onofrio), who would become one of his staunchest allies and the only Mafioso that actually liked the Irishman. A scathing news article exposed Greene's corruption and he was banned from the union for life. He escaped jail time by agreeing to become an FBI informant. In real life, Greene was one of the highest profile informants for the feds along with Whitey Bulger, the recently arrested mob boss who served as an inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in The Departed.

Greene would eventually work as a leg breaker for notorious loan shark Shondor Birns (Christopher Walken). A sour business transaction would end their relationship and ignite a blood feud between a mafia desperate to retain control of the city against Greene's gang, which was quickly consolidating power. After surviving multiple attempts upon his life, including an explosion in his home, Greene brazenly dared the mob to come after him during a televised interview. Of course, the all good things must come to an end.

Kill the Irishman is a familiar story told in a familiar way and full of familiar faces. To put it bluntly, it's a knockoff of Scorsese films and assorted episodes of The Sopranos. Hensleigh recycles plenty of ideas from movies like Mean Streets and Goodfellas. There's a montage showing Greene's rise to power and chart-topping pop songs ironically contrasting violent scenes. The dialogue consists of clichéd tough guy lines like, "Your enemies are my enemies."

Pretty much anyone who has ever played a gangster is in Kill the Irishman. There's Walken, D'Onofrio, Paul Sorvino, Steven Schirripa, Mike Starr, Tony Lo Bianco, Robert Davi, Tony Darrow, and Vinny Vella, along with Vinnie Jones (sporting an awful looking tan and an even worse Irish accent) and Bob Gunton. Linda Cardellini takes on the Lorraine Bracco role of the put upon wife who can only stand by her man for so long. Finally, Val Kilmer appears as Det. Manditski, a former childhood acquaintance of Greene's who serves as narrator. This cast of noted character actors is the film's sole saving grace and serves as fine support for a strong performance by Stevenson. The former Titus Pullo imbues the role of Danny Greene with a natural charisma, even if the character is thinly written. Greene is painted as a Robin Hood figure and a blue-collar underdog in t-shirts and jeans defiant against the elitist Italians in their tailored suits.

Hensleigh adds to the authenticity by dotting the narrative with archival news footage of the actual events.

Kill the Irishman fails to live up to the renowned gangster pics it tries so hard to emulate. It's neither original nor memorable, but is worth a look because of a game and talented cast. Hey, Christopher Walken is always fun to watch.

Rating: ** (*****)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Dir. Michael Bay (2011)

"Years from now they're gonna ask…where were you when they took over the planet?"

The summer blockbuster season reaches its nadir with the third installment of Transformers, based on the popular toy line from Hasbro, and directed by Michael Bay, purveyor of overblown schlock. Bay’s first Transformers film was lifted above its leaden coming-of-age narrative by a Spielbergian sense of wonder as an unassuming suburban boy meets a race of giant robots from outer space. The sequel, Revenge of the Fallen, was an atrocity of epic proportions that was hastily slapped together before the Writer’s Strike of late 2007 to early 2008. Even Bay and star Shia LaBeouf apologized for the rancid turd they unleashed from their bowels. Not that it matters, audiences ate it up as if the manure pile were a tasty bowl of ice cream. Thanks to them Revenge made over $800 million worldwide. Dark of the Moon has already grossed half that in its opening week. In financial terms, it's a rousing success, but what about the actual movie?

I can honestly say that Dark of the Moon is better than Revenge of the Fallen. However, that's the equivalent of saying being smashed in the face with a pipe wrench is better than having your genitals hooked to Bumblebee's car battery.

Much like X-Men: First Class, Transformers plays with revisionist history by planting the idea that the entire space race was predicated on the discovery of an ancient Autobot ship that crashed on the moon. The prologue is peppered with archival footage and actors who look nothing like their real-life counterparts. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (who makes a cameo appearance) explore the massive spacecraft and sworn to secrecy about what they've seen. And just when you think the story is building momentum, it all comes crashing back to modern-day Earth as we follow the plight of Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) in the current economic crisis.

Poor Sam has helped the Autobots save the world twice, but he can't find a job and mopes a lot. You'd think he would be way happier considering he has yet another insanely gorgeous girlfriend. Following the acrimonious departure of Megan Fox, Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley replaces her as the pouty lipped, hot chick that runs away from the robots. She plays Carly Spencer, a former British attaché now working for millionaire playboy Dylan Gould (Patrick Dempsey). The film spends an interminable amount of time introducing us to a cavalcade of new characters like John Malkovich as Sam's orange-skinned boss, Frances McDormand as a director of intelligence, and Ken Jeong doing his usual Ken Jeong schtick. We are also reunited with several returning characters such as soldiers Lt. Col. Lennix (Josh Duhamel) and Robert Epps (Tyrese Gibson), Sam's parents (Kevin Dunn & Julie White), and the eccentric Agent Simmons (John Turturro). It goes on and on until finally scenes of actual importance occur in rapid succession as Decepticons murder human beings and Optimus (voiced once again by Peter Cullen) revives his long-lost predecessor Sentinel Prime (Leonard Nimoy). It all builds to 45 minutes of pure, unadulterated Bay-hem as a full-scale Decepticon invasion force lays waste to downtown Chicago.

Dark is just as loud, obnoxious, and over long as the previous pictures and filled with plot holes big enough for Optimus Prime to drive through. On the positive side, Bay has toned down the puerile humor as well as the blatant misogyny and racism. The ridiculous, buck-toothed Twins from Revenge are thankfully gone though the Joe Pesci-esque Wheelie (Tom Kenny) is still around to provide a poor excuse for comic relief. Still, Michael Bay cannot help being Michael Bay and there is underlying sexism throughout the narrative. Dark of the Moon has no strong female character whatsoever. Women in Bay movies are generally nattering twits (Sam's mother), shrewish harpies (McDormand's Charlotte Mearing) or blatant sex objects (everyone else). This is never more apparent than the replacing of Megan Fox with a lingerie model, who can serve as each one of those archetypes. At least, Bay had no pretensions at all to the role. Why hire an actual actress when all you need is someone to walk around in their underwear. Bay's sensibilities for fast cars and beautiful women are comparable to a hormonal adolescent boy getting aroused by covers of Lowrider displayed at the local supermarket magazine rack.

The first shot of the film following the prologue is a gratuitous butt shot of Huntington-Whiteley as she pads up a staircase barefoot and clad in skimpy panties and a man's dress shirt. Fox may not be an incredibly nuanced actress, but at least she displayed some semblance of personality and got involved in the action scenes. Huntington-Whitely is a complete cipher whose only talents are squeezing into form-fitting dresses and staring blankly into the distance as objects explode behind her in slow motion. Her romance with LaBeouf's Sam arbitrarily runs hot and cold according to narrative conventions.

The main problem with Bay's Transformers films has always been the inordinate amount of screen time wasted on human characters that nobody cares about. You would think a Transformers movie would be about the Transformers. Not that the machines are depicted as multi-dimensional beings. Giving them funny accents are about as deep into characterization as the writers go. There is just something about giant death metal robots clashing and causing massive amounts of property damage which appeals to simple-minded pleasures. Bay provides that in spades with an extended battle in the Windy City as skyscrapers topple and Transformers perform Mortal Kombat-style fatalities on each other. It's certainly the most ambitious action Bay has ever directed. It feels like he watched Independence Day, Cloverfield, Inception, and Spielberg's War of the Worlds and said, "I can do better." However, the climax is lacking in any kind of coherent flow. There's never a sense of where everyone is located in relation to each other and how each section connects with the other. It's more like a jumble of incomplete sequences strung together. Bay appears to be afflicted with the worse case of ADD as scenes and subplots abruptly end as if he walked away halfway through and moved on to the next thing.

Bay also has a habit of recycling the same action sequences over and over. How many times have we seen a highway chase where cars attempt to dodge heavy objects hurtling at them? There's one in every Transformers movie. It's gotten to the point where Bay has lifted entire shots from The Island and reused them for Dark of the Moon. Granted, he was unable to complete the sequence due to the horrific accident to an extra. Nevertheless, the fact that Bay so easily integrated old footage from an entirely different picture speaks volumes to his unoriginality.

The one shining light in Dark of the Moon is Leonard Nimoy, who is related to Bay by marriage, proving you can pick your friends, but not your family. Nimoy previously voiced Galvatron in the animated Transformers: The Movie and imbues a gravelly gravitas to the inane dialogue he's forced to spout. There are also a couple Star Trek references thrown in, a call back to Wrath of Khan and another that cleverly foreshadows a crucial plot twist.

Michael Bay has lashed out at his critics by claiming his movies are meant to be fun summer films, which means his films aren't supposed to have highbrow nonsense like logic, great acting, and a coherent storyline. There's no reason for these things to be mutually exclusive. Iron Man and The Dark Knight are proven examples that big-budget blockbusters don't have to be mind-numbing special effects extravaganzas. Unfortunately, Bay seems more than content to wallow in soulless spectacle and audiences are happy to line up around the block. The two highest grossing movies in 2011 are The Hangover Part II and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Transformers: Dark of the Moon has taken the fourth spot less than a week after release. I admit Dark of the Moon provides a visceral gratification to our base desires of seeing things get blown up, but I crave something with more substance.

Final Thoughts: I caught Dark of the Moon in IMAX 3D and if you are going to see the most excessive movie of the year, see it in the most excessive way possible. The 3D effects are surprisingly effective. The opening sequence, in particular, has a very noticeable depth of field. It's one of the most pleasant 3D experiences I've had and I'm no advocate for the process. There's no feeling of flatness and very little dimming since Bay implored theater owners to burn out their projection bulbs to display the film at the proper brightness levels. The 3D also forces Bay to rethink how he directs action sequences since rapid editing, tight close-ups, and jarring camera movement do not work with 3D cameras.

Rating: ** (*****)

Cars 2

Cars 2 - Dirs. Brad Lewis & John Lasseter (2011)

Pixar stands as one of the few certainties in this topsy-turvy world. They consistently churn out some of the highest quality pictures out there. Their films always find themselves on numerous critics' year-end lists and have earned the studio 26 Academy Awards. Yet, there always seems to be some doomsayer just waiting for Pixar to slip up. These cynics are likely sitting in the back of the theater (next to Armond White) waiting for the moment when the credits roll so they can finally stand and give a round of slow, sarcastic applause to Pixar's first failure. Everyone seems to be pegging Cars 2, as the first misstep. It's received the worst reviews of any Pixar film thus far. Why should Pixar sequelize one of their weakest efforts, when something like The Incredibles is far more deserving of a second installment? As Spaceballs' guru, Yogurt, would say, "Merchandising, merchandising, merchandising." Hot Wheels toys based on the characters sell like hot cakes to kids and adult collectors alike, but the movies don't share the appeal to a wide range of age groups. Most Pixar productions feel like movies made for adults, but enjoyed by kids. Cars 2 feels like a movie made for kids that will be enjoyed solely by kids.

As all sequels tend to do, Cars 2 goes global as Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) enters the World Grand Prix, a three-pronged race sponsored by former oil tycoon Sir Miles Axelrod (Eddie Izzard). Axelrod is now an advocate for alternative fuels and is using the race to promote his newly invented, Allinol. McQueen takes along his best buddy, Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), who proves you can take the redneck out of Radiator Springs, but you can't take the Radiator Springs out of the redneck. Mater's slack-jawed yokel act winds up being an embarrassment for McQueen.

Meanwhile, British super spy Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) is investigating the notorious Professor Zundapp (Thomas Kretschmann), who is attempting to sabotage the Grand Prix in order to protect big oil's interests. The two storylines intersect due to a Hitchcockian case of mistaken identity when Mater comes into possession of photographic evidence that could reveal the identity of the evil mastermind. Mater teams with McMissile and his assistant Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) to save the life of Lightning McQueen and stop the villains.

Cars 2 continues the themes of its progenitor by extolling the virtues of small town values and folksy Americana. The sequel keeps the spirit alive and places it on an expansive, international scale. The stakes are raised immensely by the new element of espionage, which allows Pixar to further delve into this world of cars. It's clear the Cars franchise is a passion project of noted auto enthusiast John Lasseter (who co-directed with Brad Lewis) due to the attention to detail. Pixar remains the gold standard when it comes to gorgeous animation. Every shot is vividly rendered, especially the scenes set in Tokyo, which is shown as a neon metropolis full of cutesy anime-style characters. Much like the third Toy Story, the majority of the 3D effects in Cars 2 are rather subtle and aren't worth either the extra price or the dulling of the bright animation.

Cars 2 might be the most action-packed Pixar flick yet. There are enough car chases through European streets to make the late-John Frankenheimer drool. The movie opens with a spectacular sequence as McMissile battles an army of henchmen on an oil rig. There's also an exciting climax in Italy on a race track clearly modeled after Monaco. Parents should be warned that several cars meet unfortunate demises, but never in a graphic manner.

While Pixar may have put it into neutral for Cars 2, they are hardly deserving of all the critical drubbing. The screenplay by Ben Queen (with story credits by Lasseter, Lewis, and Dan Fogelman) tosses in a few clever gags. The best joke revolves around an alliance of disgruntled Pacers, Gremlins, and Yugos, who serve as the car versions of the mob as well as the muscle for Prof. Zundapp.

The voice acting is sold with Owen Wilson returning as the affable Lightning McQueen, no longer the jerk he was in the first film. The denizens of Radiator Springs are also back in much smaller roles though three cast members have sadly passed away in the intervening years, Joe Ranft, George Carlin, and Paul Newman. Red the fire engine appears, but has no lines while Carlin's Fillmore the hippie dippie van has been recast (Lloyd Sherr). Newman's Doc Hudson receives a poignant remembrance. Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer are welcome additions, but the most memorable is John Turturro as formula one racer Francesco Bernoulli. Turturro is wonderfully over-the-top as McQueen's arrogant rival. The funny accent turns him into a G-rated version of The Jesus from The Big Lebowski. Pixar even finds a way to work in the legendary Bruce Campbell as American muscle car spy Rod "Torque" Redline. The one question mark that hovers over the film does so above one Larry the Cable Guy. The buck-toothed Mater graduates from comic relief sidekick to main protagonist. His backwoods persona does grow tiresome and a little annoying as Cars 2 zooms towards the finish line.

There's good and then there's Pixar good. Cars 2 is merely good, simply lacking the emotional depth of triumphs such as Toy Story and Up. Still, it's no lemon like the henchcars it features. Cars 2 is a lightweight, lighthearted, and candy-colored adventure that possesses just enough charm to appeal to younger audiences and the occasional adult.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)