Oz: The Great and Powerful (2013)

Note: I saw this while ill and on medicine, missing sections, so grain of salt... 

Sam Raimi’s prequel has an impossible task: Stand not after, but before the perfect “Wizard of Oz,” one of the greatest films produced by Hollywood. Dolled up in 3D and the best CGI computers can buy, borrow, and steal, “Oz: the Great and Powerful” has no chance. But it’s not a bad film. There’s a childlike playfulness to it, and stacked beside his very unchildlike “Spring Breakers,” oddly fascinating. James Franco again plays against three women as a con artist who’s been bullshitting himself so long, he believes his own schtick. His Oscar is swept away by a tornado to the land that bears his nickname, and there he meets three sisters and witches (Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis, and Rachel Weisz) who believe him to be some kind of prophet. You know from “Wizard” how it all shakes out, and this echoes the same beats -– traveling companions, munchkins, and witch battle. Franco gives a weird, sly take as with “Breakers.” Maybe too sly. Kunis is great and terrible. But wasn’t Judy Garland? Great and powerful? No. The heart of “Oz” beats far too cynical, whereas the 1939 film roared beautifully and proud. But it entertains. B

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

“The Bourne Legacy” is an apology of a movie. After three films as the Robert Ludlum-created 007 agent on steroids Jason Bourne, unlikely bad-ass Matt Damon passed on a fourth film after his director of Parts 2 and 3, Paul Greengrass, sneered at another go-round. That did not stop the studio. The film’s tagline shouts “There Was Never Just One” in a faux shocker as, duh, we all knew that already. So, enter Jeremy Renner (“Hurt Locker”) as Aaron Cross, another super super-agent who finds himself, very Bourne like, hunted by the dastardly CIA suits out to cover their own asses for reasons to complex to explain. That’s the problem right there: It’s the same story, down to the terrified female pal (Rachel Weisz). Director/writer Tony Gilroy (he wrote the previous films) tosses in countless references to Damon/Bourne in CNN shots, photos, shouted oaths, and –- in a ridiculous scene -– a carved signature under a bunk bed, not much as a tissue connector, but regret. “We miss Matt, too!” Forget the tired chase plot and the blank ending, if the movie wants to hook back up with the ex, why care about the new guy? C-

Dream House (2011)

I saw an early trailer of “Dream House” that gave nearly the entire film away. What the ad didn’t spoil: This supernatural, “Oh, shit, we moved into a massacre house” film crashes at the one hour mark, leaving even the great Rachel Weisz acting shrill and lost. Pushing ahead spoiler-free: Daniel Craig plays Will Atenton, a book editor ditching NYC for the rural dream house with his wife (Weisz) and daughters. Pfft. Seems “family murdered” was left out of the realty ad. Directed by Jim Sheridan, with a solid cast of names, this not-horrifying “American Horror Story” story should rock and shock. It fails. “Dream” goes dead flat after that one-hour-mark reveal resets the plot, and then drops an endless series of awful gotch’yas. Worst offense, other than the writing and editing: The great Naomi Watts is wasted in a “helpless woman” role beneath her station. PSA hint: If your train-mate on the way to your new house is Elias Koteas, go the hell back to work. Stay there. C

The Fountain (2006)

Darren Aronfsky does “Love Story”? The guy who made “Requiem for a Dream” and later “Black Swan”? Yes, please. “Fountain” was met with indifference upon release, after years of production woes. A pity. This is a cracked genius ode about obsessive, passionate love, in all its glory and pain. Hugh Jackman is a researcher seeking to cure brain tumors in apes. His artist wife (Rachel Weisz) is dying of just that, a brain tumor. Tom’s reasoning: If I can save them, I can save her. He only needs time. Time: It’s smashed and splintered, jumping from 1500s Spain to modern day America to a distant future in outer space. Jackman is Tom in all three, and Weisz is there as well. The question lingers: Are we seeing three Toms, and three women? No. It’s one man who defies time, space and God for his one love. Also defiant: Aronofsky. The film has faults, but it is an amazing testament to love. Passion. It jumps off the screen like a golden light blasting all logic, and goes straight for the heart. A

The Lovely Bones (2009)

I’ve not read the wildly popular book “The Lovely Bones.” So I entered this Peter Jackson adaptation aware only of the plot: 14-year-old Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is murdered in 1973 by a neighbor (Stanley Tucci) and watches from her own fantastical mini-heaven as her family (parented by Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz) grieves. Oscar winner? Not. The problems come quick: Jackson references “The Lord of the Rings” in a bookstore ad, and it’s just one hint of a director obsessed with his own past. To wit: In Susie’s heaven, we are served a “Heavenly Creatures” redux, but cloying and over-stuffed with CGI dancing penguins. The fantasy puff overwhelms the drama. In heavy makeup, Tucci is the most generic child murderer I’ve ever seen on screen: Bad blond comb over. Giant "I kill" eye glasses. Loner. Openly glares as teenage girls pass by. He builds doll houses. Doll houses! The guy would flag crazy in 1973, 2003 or 1773. Worse, his denouncement is bizarrely supernatural, tasked by Susie’s spirit? God? Only the performances gel, with Ronan proving “Atonement” was no fluke. Weisz shines, always. Tucci menaces, but all in one key. Only Wahlberg falls short. Surely the book must be better than this. C+

Fred Claus (2007)

"Fred Claus" has an original concept for a Christmas movie, a rare commodity indeed. In this comedy, ol' Saint Nick (Paul Giamatti) has an older ne'er do well brother, Fred (Vince Vaughn), who feels, let's say, slighted, by his brother's good work.

Whilst Nick rules the North Pole, Fred is barely scraping by in Chicago as he struggles to keep his girlfriend (Rachel Weisz) and raise enough cash to open a gambling joint in Chicago's finance district. Santa, meanwhile, has problems of his own as he tries to please a fascist efficiency expert (Kevin Spacey) from a never-explained holiday supervising committee. When a freshly jailed Fred comes to the North Pole, Nick's world is in trouble.

It's a funny film, and a sly take on Santa Claus being saddled with the same familial problems that almost everyone has. A climatic blow-up fight between Nick and Fred is particularly amusing, as is a Siblings Anonymous meeting with Frank Stallone, Steven Baldwin and Roger Clinton. But, as different as this Christmas movie is in its own genre, it's still just another viewing of Vaughn's endless take on the overgrown frat boy with a scam in his head but a sack of gold in his heart from director David Dobkin ("Wedding Crashers"). Fred is a bore to watch quite frankly.

There still are plenty of treats in this stocking, though. Giamatti is a magical actor even behind a fat suit and a ton of makeup. Spacey provides a ruler-straight spoof on his boss from "Swimming with Sharks" and Lex Luther from "Superman Returns." (Superman figures in several scenes throughout.) But the hypnotic Weisz is the shining star here as she elevates a ho-hum role to steal the film, and reminds us why the recent "Mummy" film proved disastrous with her absence. B-