Spans a couple weeks.
The Mechanic: 5.0/10 - Like most things Jason Statham involves himself with, The Mechanic is pure entertainment and might just be the quickest movie you ever sit down to watch. Unpredictably, The Mechanic suffers from a very thin plot and almost seems to force a villain into the story. Everyone single one of the characters is bland and undescriptive. There's no reason for their actions, the audience simply has to take them for what they are. The action is enjoyable, though there's nothing the world hasn't seen before featured in this film. In the end, it's difficult to tell what the point of it all was, whether it is revenge or just the daily happenings of a hit man. In the new age of intelligent assassin movies, The Mechanic settles for being eye candy and nothing more.
The Dilemma: 7.3/10 - It really is a shame that the film succumbs to what Hollywood believes the mainstream audience wants to see. Unlike most critics, I didn't have a problem with mixing the dark material with lighter material. For Vince Vaughn's Ronny, his predicament starts weighing on his mind so heavily that some unintentional comedy will ensue. After all, this is the story of two best friends and trying to find out a way to break the news to him that his wife is cheating on him. Unfortunately, the laughs that The Dilemma aims for are cheap and often fall into Vaughn's strengths, which as of late have become a little redundant. Still, amidst the failed humor, there's a dark, but socially relevant film that resides in The Dilemma that cannot be denied. Yes, the film ultimately fails to find the perfect balance of comedy and drama, but the difficult subject material allows the good to outshine the bad. As for the ending...well...let's dock off about a full point for that one.
Get Low: 9.8/10 - Much of this film's success is due to the stoic, yet powerful performance that Robert Duvall gives. Being that it's a film based on a man who throws himself a funeral before he dies, it seemed destined to be too full of itself in message and arrogant in what it had to say. Duvall, as the main character, makes sure this doesn't happen as he plays the role of a hermit with more to him than meets the eye perfectly. Funny, sad, touching and powerful in all the right ways, Get Low deals with the gripping themes of love lost, shame, death, punishment, regret, repentance, forgiveness and, above all, grief. Though most praise has to go to the cast for bringing both the characters and the story to life, the cinematography is a driving force throughout and comes full circle in the film's final moments in showing that though one may be absorbed by grief and guilty, the world around you moves on and can never truly share or appreciate the matter with an outsiders perspective. Rookie director Aaron Schneider masterly captures the atmosphere of each scene and allows the audience to remain interested due to the fact that its set up to play like a mystery film. On all levels, Get Low is a winner.
The Education of Charlie Banks: 5.1/10 - Somehow it achieves an intensity in its characters and does the little things well like capturing the college scenery; however, the story lollygags along looking for a direction to take its characters while filling its dialogues and conversations with incessant rambling of philosophies and elements of higher learning to try and disguise the fact that the characters aren't actually all that interesting. It jumps around themes such as friendship, forgiveness, becoming a better person, revenge, love and right and wrong, but instead of focusing on one it tosses everything into the blender and hopes that it will bring the characters to life and give the story something to say. In the end, The Education of Charlie Banks is painted up all pretty and might even contain some of the elements it needed to be a success, but it never comes close to coming full circle and the second-half is confusing, falsely deep, uninspiring and, stripped down to the simplest of wording - a little corny. The cast, mostly filled of no-names, actually does a adequate job, but it's hard to tell whose story this really is and each actors performance takes a backseat to the flaws.
Criminal: 6.7/10 - For a small, rather no-name film, Criminal benefits highly off of its story's unpredictability. The characters are all suspicious and, while they have no traits that would make them stand out, all players have a certain mystique that makes them conspicuous. Very well-acted by the cast, the film's pacing slowly works towards a undeniable climax, which is correlated well by the written characters as more is revealed about them. With plenty of twists and turns, Criminal had all the tools to be a suave and all-around well-crafted con story; however, it's final twist tries to be a little too in-your-face and, though it doesn't hold anything back, can't help but come off as a little ridiculous. The pay-off is present, it's just not exactly worthy of what it was built up to be.
Solitary Man: 7.1/10 - It's greatest flaw is that it can't decide whether it wants its main character's actions to be based on his knowledge of looming death or whether he's just an older man looking to regain the glory of his younger days. While neither can justify how he acts, Michael Douglas plays the part so well and so convincingly that he almost single-handedly turns the lead into someone the viewer can sympathize with and root for, yet ultimately what is supposed to be a simple character study based on youth versus old age, family versus fun and love versus lust turns into a piece of work that splits the audience much like it splits the character. Here's a man who doesn't put in nearly enough time with those who care most about him, but he's also put on a level that makes it possible for the audience to care about him. It's consistent and insightful, but just too much to take in and none of the other characters are developed well enough for the viewer to care too much. Douglas is masterful, it's a good portrayal of "old man angst," but it's too unclear of its position of its lead and has too vague of a supporting cast for the audience to make a pure connection on one side or the other.
King of California: 6.3/10 - What could have been (and partially is) a wonderful father/daughter tale becomes more of a crazy-man-becomes-legend story that contains inconsistent quirks throughout. Michael Douglas is, once again, terrific, as is Evan Rachel Wood, but their characters are written poorly and neither seem capable of appearing to be father/daughter. That would have been forgivable except the direction of the film seemed unsure of what it wanted to become. Instead of a slightly distant father and daughter become closer story, the film decides to glorify Douglas' character as a single unit; praise him for his oddities and reveal him to be more insightful and wise than originally though and further separate father from daughter by having Wood's character talk about her father as if he were on another level and she was simply along for the ride.
Welcome to the Rileys: 7.9/10 - Largely hit-or-miss depending on the characters and how you respond to them, this film resonates with anyone who has felt trapped or lonely. It's story is of the utmost extreme, but rather than become some happily-ever-after piece of glorified mush, Welcome to the Rileys simply wants the audience to know that people can form connections with anyone while rediscovering themselves and their purpose while at the same time insists that no one can truly replace a lost loved one. It's a tale that's been told before, but this film is absolutely ignited by its three leads including Kristen Stewart who, coming off praise from her performance in The Runaways, seems to coming into herself as an actress. The film is also cemented by a married, grieving couple who have grown apart and both trying to fill a void in their lives; played wonderfully by James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo, Welcome to the Rileys doesn't settle for anything unrealistic, but instead makes the most out of its story and certainly gets the most out of its leads.
