THE NORMAL HEART [2014]

Ryan Murphy (Glee, American Horror Story) has a way of shamelessly pandering to a specific audience and spoon-feeding them by the truckloads to match exactly what their generic tastes might be.
The Normal Heart is no different as it is handed to the Academy audience on a silver platter.
Based on Larry Kramer's play of the same name, the film follows the rise of the AIDS crisis in the early '80's within the gay community.  With it's heavy subject matter, we're treated to some pretty great performances that never let a lot of the melodramatic speeches get too out-of-hand.  Murphy's direction isn't as flamboyant as it usually is (with the exception of a few distracting sequences), instead he focuses on the human drama that is actually quite compelling for the better half of the film.
Awards season might have swallowed this like honey but don't let it completely scare you away.

3 Rolodex cards out of 5

LONE SURVIVOR [2013]

Hit & miss director Peter Berg succeeds with Lone Survivor, an Afghanistan War film about 4 Navy SEALs teammates on a mission that goes horribly wrong.
There hasn't been a war film this loud & aggressive since Black Hawk Down so it's a bit of an attack to the senses after all is said and done, however Berg manages to pump out some strong emotions to balance everything out.  The introduction of the men cheaply manipulates you into caring for them which is a little insulting to the viewer but the combat scenes are so impressive with it's editing, bat-shit crazy stunts, sound design and photography you can't help but be drawn in.
It's heavily flawed in the character development but the performances from the four leads and the direction keep you interested in the final outcome.

3½ goats out of 5

BATTLESHIP [2012]

Peter Berg's loose "adaptation" of the Hasbro boardgame, Battleship, marks the first time I've Nutted a film without finishing it first.

One hour into it I gave up on this stupid film.  In the same style as Michael Bay's Transformers films, Battleship is noisy & generic, horribly written, badly acted and poorly edited with loads of childish humour to boot.  

No.  Just no.

½ chicken burrito out of 5 

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

A series of prequels telling one character’s story prior to the first X-Men film was an idea that had potential; it’s certainly more logical than a reboot. I’d have liked a Magneto one, but it would need to be bleak and touch on some heavy political matters that would scare producers.
A Wolverine origin would’ve been my next choice. What we got doesn’t live up to expectations. It’s a mess of badly choreographed action and hurried pacing that presents little opportunity to become emotionally attached to anyone. Hugh Jackman gives it his best, but he can’t save it from itself. It has one emotional scene, but it’s not enough to recommend the film.

1 Ryan Reynolds is a dick out of 5

JOHN CARTER [2012]

Andrew Stanton, the director of Pixar classics Wall-E & Finding Nemo, jumps right into his first live-action feature with John Carter, a blockbuster adaptation of Edgar Rice Burrough's classic Barsoom series.

With series like Star Wars, Conan and many more stealing more than it's fair share from Barsoom, the film comes off as nothing original or new.  The pacing is heavily uneven, there's too many characters to focus on and you just get the feeling it's missing something huge from the story set-up.

Bad points aside, John Carter is corny, pulpy fun that sets out to purely entertain..

2½ men named Virginia out of 5