Total Recall (2012)

Its all in your head; or is it?

Douglas Quaid is a normal working stiff.  He lives on an oppressive future version of Earth where the majority of the world has been wiped out.  When he seeks an escape from his humdrum life, he infds out that there is more to himself than he could have ever imagined.  Total Recall is a big budget action film with a sci-fi backdrop.  It is not the greatest film ever made, but is a good entry into the 'sci-fi/ action' genre.  Having said all that, this film is still way better than the 1990 Schwartzeneggar version. 

Total Recall gets a respectable 3 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Len Wiseman (Underworld franchise)
Writer: Kurt Wimmer (The Thomas Crown Affair, The Recruit), Mark Bomback
(Live Free or Die Hard)
Starring: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, and Bryan Cranston
Rotten Tomatoes: 31%
Metacritic: 43 out of 100

Klown (2010)

Skip this one

Over the top crudeness made this unwatchable for me. The kind of humor in this film, jokes about bodily functions and crude sexual humor, might get laughs, but it is the most low brow form of humor out there.  Too many writers and directors use these things to get easy laughs.  I prefer writing and storytelling that is just a bit more intelligent than what I found in this film. 

Klown just wasn't very funny and only gets 2 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Mikkel Nørgaard
Writer: Casper Christensen
Starring: Frank Hvam, Casper Christensen and Marcuz Jess Petersen
Rotten Tomatoes: 79%
Metacritic:  62 out of 100

Rock of Ages (2012)

Just a small town girl...

Sherry leaves Tulsa to seek out fame and fortune in LA.  She meets Drew and they fall in love.  The rest is rock n' roll legend.  If you love rock music, movies about music and/ or musicals, you will probably like this film.  I usually don't like musicals, but since the songs are mostly from my youth, I was way into this movie (I was singing along from the opening credits).  Rock of Ages doesn't take itself super seriously and is downright cheesy at points, but it was entertaining and made me laugh out loud.  It doesn’t just perpetuate stereotypes, it embraces them and pokes fun at them.  It might not win any awards, but it is definitely funny, and fun too. 

Rock of Ages gets 3 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Adam Shankman
Writer: Justin Theroux, Chris D'Arienzo
Starring: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta and Tom Cruise
Rotten Tomatoes: 41%
Metacritic: 47 out of 100

Sound of Noise (2010)

An assault on the senses

Amadeus is a police detective who is tone deaf and also detests music.  When a group of renegade musicians begins staging very avant-garde percussion performances around the city, Amadeus begins investigating.  This film is quite funny, a bit ludicrous (by intent), and very poignant.  The Swedes sure can make some great movies.  Another great Magnolia release!

Sound of Noise gets 4 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Ola Simonsson, Johannes Stjärne Nilsson
Writer: Ola Simonsson, Johannes Stjärne Nilsson
Starring: Bengt Nilsson, Sanna Persson and Magnus Börjeson
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Metacritic: 72 out of 100

Extraterrestre (2011)

So what happened last night?

Julio wakes up in a strange apartment with a strange woman.  Neither of them remember much about the previous night's exploits.  And to make things even more confusing, apparently aliens invaded earth while they slept.  From the director of Los cronocrimenes (Timecrimes) comes a lighthearted approach to the alien invasion genre.  The bigger sci-fi concepts sreve as the backdrop for what it really, a romantic comedy.  This film is funny and endearing.  Great writing, great acting and great cinematography make this film more than just a sci-fi flick or just a romantic comedy.  Most definitely one of my new favorite movies. 

Extraterrestre gets 4 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Nacho Vigalondo
Writer: Nacho Vigalondo
Starring: Michelle Jenner, Carlos Areces, Raúl Cimas and Julián Villagrán
Rotten Tomatoes: 68%

Metacritic: N/A

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

A new Spider-Man?

I was sad that Sam Raimi's trilogy fell apart at the end.  But even Spider-Man 3 is better than this film.  The first half of this film is unbearably slow.  Andrew Garfield makes Peter Parker look like a total douche.  Sally Field and Martin Sheen are too recognizable from other work to be believable in their respective roles.  Once the action starts (about an hour into it) the film gets good.  But the first half fails to make an impression.  The stunts and effects are good, but overall, this film is a big waste of time.  It could have easily been 30 minutes shorter, and thus much better.

The Amazing Spider-Man just barely manages to get 2 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer)
Writer: James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent,Steve Kloves
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans
Rotten Tomatoes: 73%
Metacritic: 66 out of 100

Hodejegerne (Headhunters) (2011)

My baby's got a secret

Roger Brown has secrets.  He uses his position as a corporate headhunter to gain intel on prospective hires.  And the intel he seeks is about art - do they have precious artwork?  If he finds out that they do, he steals and fences to fuel his luxurious lifestyle.  Then Clas Greve enters the picture.  And the next two hours is one big Norwegian thrill ride.  Scandinavians (Danes, Swedes, Norwegians) can make some really great films.  Such as Let the Right One In, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, The Trollhunter, and others I've seen in the past couple of years.  Hodejegerne is very intelligent, yet not too cerebral to be inaccessible to the average movie goer.  But, sadly, a Hollywod remake is in the works which as most remakes do, will pale by comparison to the original.

With more plot twists that a pretzel, Hodejegerne thrilled me and gets 4 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Morten Tyldum
Writer: Lars Gudmestad, Ulf Ryberg
Starring: Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody Lund and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones)
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metacritic: 72 out of 100