Johnny Depp loves all things Hunter S. Thompson, and I love all things when the two of them are mixed. In The Rum Diary, Depp plays a New Yorker who moves to Puerto Rico to work as a journalist. As per Hunter standards, he quickly discovers there’s a comically darker side to paradise.

Behind Depp, there’s a killer cast that promise to make Diary unmissable, including Richard Jenkins, Aaron Eckhart, Amber Heard, and Giovanni Ribisi. The film is directed by Bruce Robinson who hasn’t directed anything in twenty years.  Watch the newly released trailer below.

The premise is as archetypal as any alien invasion movie.   There are hostile beings, invading Earth.  Colonizing, if you want to steal a word from the overly simplistic script by Christopher Bertolini.  These aliens are an overpowering force, invading several of the world’s intensely populated cities across the globe.  The range of the invasion is too much for a single film, so Battle settles on the struggle to resist occupation in Los Angeles.  More specifically, it focuses on a troupe of Marines in the area, fighting for their country and families.

The troupe is lead by Staff Sargent Micheal Nantz, an aging man, played by Aaron Eckhart, who has difficulty keeping up with the younger Marines.  It’s made clear that he’s struggling emotionally with some things that went down on his last mission to Iraq, or Afghanistan where he lost some of his men.  It’s as painful as it sounds, and it’s absolutely nothing new, or interesting.  The film takes a very short amount of time dedicating an equal amount of emotional duress each soldier is suffering for one reason or another.  One of the men Nantz is commanding is the brother of one of the soldiers that died under Nantz’ command.  One of the men seems boardline mentally retarded.  Another is about to marry the woman of his dreams a few days after the invasion starts.  None of this is new, or done particularly well.

As with invasion movies of the past, Independence Day, The Invasion, etc., etc., you can figure how the rest of the story plays out: a rag tag team of patriots fight an unlikely resistance battle that ultimately results in a ridiculously satisfying  ending.  Since there’s not much to say of the story, other aspects of the film demand close inspection.  The problem is, there’s nothing really to break down here.  The effects in the film are fantastic.  There are some genuinely thrilling moments, albeit far and few between.  Eckhart’s performance is as complex as he is allowed to see.  And I must admit, it’s refreshing to see him outside of the confines of a film tied down by too much gravitas, like Rabbit Hole.  Though there must be some middle ground between pretentious, and sci-fi suck fest.

There is a real glimmer of hope in the filmmaking.  The gonzo-style of the camera makes you feel as if you are really there (warning to those sensitive to constant and violent camera movement).  The camera shakes with every explosion, it zooms in and out as if it were being held by a talented war photographer.  But ultimately, the cliched script, the appearance of a stiff and boring Michelle Rodriguez, never let you forget that this is a soulless, moneymaking machine, carelessly thrown to the audience at the beginning of summer when everyone has their expectations set at the lowest level possible.  Liebesman may have hit the mark with the tone of the film, but it doesn’t matter, since Battle Los Angeles never wanted to be anything than mediocre.

2 out of 4 stars

It’s something that’s been seen and done hundreds of times.  And it’s clear that neither Mitchell as the director, nor David Lindsay-Abaire (who wrote the play, and the film’s screenplay) aren’t attempting to say anything new about the process of death or grieving.  Fortunately, they avoid the blame game as well.  In a particularly well-written scene, the husband and wife make it clear that they are only blaming themselves for what they could have done to avoid what happened.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, there is a close focus on relationships among the survivors, a focus that provides a pleasing backdrop to the close-up, and more obvious sadness.  Becca is made to deal with her light-hearted sister who has just discovered she’s pregnant.  Becca also deals with a well-intentioned, but sometimes clueless mother (Diane Wiest) who also dealt with the death of son, albeit under drastically different circumstances.

The most moving among the connections we see in this movie is between Becca, and the teenage boy, Jason (Miles Teller), that killed her son in an unfortunate car accident.  The two form a fragile, codependent relationship.  He tentatively shares his future plans with her, and shows her a comic book he’s making, while intermittently finding ways to tell her he blames himself for what happens.  She in the same subtle manner, assures him he needn’t accept or place any blame, that she’s more interested in finding an equally damaged friend to sit quietly with on a park bench.  These are disarmingly sweet and tenuous scenes, with dialog and acting that do more for the film, than when the characters express their emotions in more obvious and severe ways.

The acting as a whole are what immediately saves the film from falling into the tired pattern of films surrounding the loss of a loved one.  Kidman and Eckhart are a match made in heaven.  The chemistry in Becca and Howie’s marriage is damaged, and although we never get to see it in its former glory, somehow we know what it once was, and we miss it.  While occasionally, as would realistically be expected, emotions and tempers run high.  But the actors do much more with the quiet, understated moments between these outbursts.  The film is sad.  But there’s humor.  And there’s a sense of hope as the characters shoulder through one of life’s toughest challenges.  It’s a pleasing, and award-worthy film that deserves to be seen sooner rather than later.

3.5 out of 4 stars

Towelhead is based on the novel of the same name by Alicia Erian (an interesting name for the author of such a racially charged work).  The book, as well as the film, explores the blooming sexuality of a 13-year-old Arab girl, Jasira (Summer Bishil) during the time of the gulf war.  She’s the child of divorce, sent to live with her father in Houston (who has no idea how to deal with her), and must deal with his racism (her father forbids her to see her boyfriend since he is black).  In addition to a difficult home life, she must deal with the racism of the surrounding community and the disturbing sexual interest of gulf war veteran, and married neighbor, Vuoso (played so terrifically well by Aaron Eckhart).

The more intimate scenes between Bishil and Eckhart will make you more than a little uncomfortable and you’ll often be squirming in your seat.  Even though Bishil was nineteen at the time of filming, she could pass for thirteen any day.  The cast gives one terrific performance after another.

The first time I saw Towelhead was at Sundance earlier this year.  At that time, the MPAA hadn’t reared its ugly head yet, so the film enjoyed the glory of not being rated.  I’m guessing, however, that in order to keep an R rating, Ball was forced to cut a few things before it’s this week on the 26th.

Despite the obvious effort to shock, no one can deny that Ball has the skills to back up these provocations, and despite being a little shook up upon leaving the theater, you’ll also be quite pleased with this thought provoking piece.

3 out of 4 stars

Rottentomatoes: 49% – Cream of the Crop: 50% (These numbers will most certainly change after the wide-release)

I enjoyed the film, a lot.  I’ll probably go see it again.  Heath Ledger was haunting and brilliant in his performance, the action was endlessly entertaining (the more elaborate scenes were filmed in IMAX).  But I left the theater feeling slightly underwhelmed.  This isn’t Christopher Nolan’s fault, who deserves such high praise for reminding us that high-budgeted, big studio movies can be more than just mindless drivel.  It wasn’t the actors’ fault (the cast was stellar; let’s thanks the folks with Scientology who mind-controlled Tom Cruise into forbidding Katie Holmes from reprising her roll as Rachel, Maggie Gyllenhaal is a better actor than Holmes will ever be.).   But I daresay it was the fault of the studio who previewed this film so much to critics, so far in advance, that I’ve been expecting a damn near perfect film since mid-June.

The studio really couldn’t care about this side effects of building such rapport.  They already have their great reviews, they already have (according to early estimations) the highest grossing opening weekend of all time.  So no one was really hurt I suppose.

I’ve had a few such experiences, when a movie is built up so much that I feel a little let down (I know someone who is definitely not me who was underwhelmed upon his first viewing of ‘The Godfather’ due to this very reason).

Of course, all this media fanfare about the movie doesn’t make the movie itself any less well made.  The two and a half hours literally flies by as you’re mesmerized by Aaron Eckhart as Two Face, Michael Caine as Alfred, the twisted love triangle between Harvey Dent, Bruce and Rachel, and all the other goodies that Nolan used to weave this masterful web.  My one  other qualm with TDK is this: Where’s Christian Bale?  It’s granted that this was Heath Ledger’s moment to shine (even more so with this being his last performance) but Bale is wicked talented, and definitely needed more screen time.  He’s the reason ‘Batman Begins’ was so revitalizing for the franchise, he should have been given more opportunity to show his acting chops.

3.5 out of 4 stars

Rottentomatoes: 94% – Cream of the Crop: 90%