While I can respect Ms. Taymor’s attempt, her staging and direction are clearly more at home on, well, a stage.  Although that may not even be the case anymore as she has just been fired from overseeing the cursed Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark.  However, she does have a Tony for direction the Broadway version of The Lion King.  Even looking at the picture above, something just doesn’t feel right, as it’s obvioius she had issues translating the story to a big screen production.  Were it not for her exceptional actors, the whole farce would have been a complete mess.  Fortunately, the thespians mastered Shakespeare’s words so well, it was quickly forgotten the text is four hundred, or four hundred and one years old.  Ms. Mirren’s performance is particularly awe-inspiring.

Perhaps Ms. Taymor’s greatest insight was changing the great wizard Prospero from an exiled man with a daughter, to an exiled woman with a daughter.  It changes the dynamic of nearly every relationship in the story, adding a less harsh, and more matriarchal tone.  This is especially notable, for those that are familiar with the play, in the interaction between Prospero, and her daughter Miranda (Felicity Jones) as Miranda falls in love with the son of one the enemies.  I, for one, thought it was brilliant, and have no desire to see anyone other than Mirren as Prospero again.

There some pleasing moments, some flashes of brilliance, but these are few and far between.  The slogging through the rest of the film just doesn’t feel worth it, as The Tempest comes off mostly boring, and a bit awkward.

1.5 out of 4 stars

As with lots of movies, all the troubles start with the Nazis during World War II.  The discovery of citizens empowered by psychic talents causes the Nazis to use these special people as lab rats–means to a end that results in an unstoppable super-army.  Well, we know what happened to the Nazis, but what you didn’t know, is the US government secretly continues these experiments today through an organization called ‘Division.’  Division is led by Pusher Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou), who’s following another escaped Pusher Kira (Camilla Belle), who has a mysterious case that could bring down Division all together.  All the other Watchers in Hong Kong (where the film takes place) know about the mysterious case, because, well, they’re Watchers.  Mover Nick (Chris Evans) and Watcher Cassie (Dakota Fanning) team up with some Sniffers, Shifters and Shadows to try once and for all to win civil rights for their kind, and end the hiding, running, and fear.

So, if that doesn’t make sense, don’t worry, it’s not going to be much clearer in the theater.  But you won’t care, I promise.  McGuigan’s camerawork is terrific, playing on the plethora of lights and colors in Hong Kong, to create a mesmerizing experience.  It’s not clear what genre this falls in, as the script by David Bourla plays out sometimes like a con film, sometimes like sci-fi, sometimes like a spaghetti western (why Hong Kong McGuigan?).  The acting is a little unsatisfactory on most counts, except for a pleasing performance by Fanning who seemed extra pleased she finally had a role where she doesn’t get raped and could say ‘shit.’  Evans is bland as the pseudo-superhero that the story is based around, and there are some extremely short and baffling appearances by actors like Cliff Curtis and Ming-Na, as characters with absolutely no development behind them.  Okay.  Push isn’t going to win any awards.  But this is quality escapism that’s rare to find in theaters during the month of February.

2.5 out of 4 stars