ANGELS & DEMONS

Rating:

Reviewed by: John Devore

Directed by: Ron Howard

The Skinny: The sequel to 2006's hit The DaVinci Code finds famed "symbologist" Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) in the employ of the Vatican, the ancient bad guys from the first movie. This time, however, Hanks' character has to apply his vast knowledge of arcane ciphers and codes to a devious plot involving kidnapped Cardinals and a ticking time bomb. Latin is spoken.

The Good: If you loved The DaVinci Code, then Angels & Demons is more of the same, sans a naked, self-flagellating albino monk. There's pop history, whispered clues, and medieval violence, not to mention evil priests. There's also Hanks, a man impossible to dislike, as our hero, who's like Indiana Jones, only without all the annoying "action." The movie looks amazing, especially since all of the scenes that take place in Vatican City were actually sets and CGI. Ewan McGregor plays a priest, sufficiently. There is a lot of nice architecture.

The Bad: The movie is about as exciting as Mass. It's hard to hate on a director like Ron Howard. He doesn't make bad movie, but then again, he doesn't make great ones. If his movies were a culinary dish, they'd be an excellent, delicious meatloaf and mashed potatoes. But man, when he makes a boring movie, he makes a boring movie. We could feel plaque forming on our teeth, this movie was that tedious. Play all the thundering orchestrations you want under people driving cars. Unless said cars are being chased by villains, then it's just people driving cars. It was like watching a $100 million version of one of those History Channel shlock docs with titles like "Secrets of the Vatican: Revealed." You know what doesn't send shivers up our spine? A bunch of old dudes in lace-bedecked frocks living in a marble tomb in Italy.

OMG Potential Spoiler: There is no such thing as a canister of "anti-matter" that will explode in a blinding flash of destructive light if the battery runs out. Just saying.

Theater, DVD, or TNT in five years? Wait for TNT.




THE BROTHERS BLOOM

Rating:

Reviewed by: Eric Alt

Directed by: Rian Johnson

The Skinny: Two brothers who have been running scams since they were this high (Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody) set their sites on a rich, lonely shut-in with enough personal quirks to fill an entire indie film festival (Rachel Weisz).

The Good: Remember the old Kids in the Hall sketch where Dave Foley's self-proclaimed "bad doctor" says, "How far can you coast on charm? Well, pretty far, it turns out." That's an apt way to sum up Brothers Bloom. It's a tad too in love with its own cuteness and it lifts so much from Wes Anderson that a Wilson brothers cameo would seem perfectly at home, but it still manages to be mostly winning thanks to its understated sense of humor and, well, its charm. Especially when Weisz is introduced—she is the movie's true heart and soul (although Ruffalo and Brody have a nice, uneasy chemistry) and you'll instantly go doe-eyed for her. And when the movie aims for laughs, it mostly hits.

The Bad: The movie falters in its final act, when it tries to inject seriousness and meaning into what has previously been a light, whimsical romp. And the movie's mysterious "villain" is not only a step too far into camp (what is he? A gypsy pirate?) but his purpose and storyline could be completely chopped out of the movie and it wouldn't suffer at all. In fact, it might improve in some ways.

Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang: She may have been sprung wholesale out of "Male Fantasy 101," but Rinko Kikuchi's mute explosives expert Bang Bang—the brothers' "muscle"—is, for lack of a more articulate term, really cool.

Theater, DVD, or TNT in five years? With its surprising globe-trotting scale, Brothers Bloom looks great on a big screen, but it'll play OK on DVD, too.