Now You See Me (2013)

As a comic book geek, I love the crop of summer superhero flicks. This year alone, “Iron Man 3” and “Man of Steel” roar loud, and more Avengers and Spider-Man are on the way. But it’s a genre that is now well-worn, so all the more welcome to “Now You See Me,” what I call a One-Upper Film. That is, a group of great actors play out action -– here’s it’s magicians bent on Robin Hood thievery and the FBI agent on the hunt –- as they try to outsmart, out-trick, and show off to one another. Not just as characters they play, but as actors, too. Yes, CGI and big explosions abound, but “Now” is about the cast: Sharp curious eyes and bows of pleasurable worship as Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine, among others, show off for us and themselves on camera. Director/ writer Louis Leterrier’s complicated, can you top me?, magic trick plot pitches illusion, flashbacks, and double- and triple-takes, and it all may not stand up to deep scrutiny, but damn, I dug this. A wild card summer hit that’s as popcorn bright fun as “Prestige” –- another magic tale with Caine -– was dark. A-

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Martin McDonagh hit orbit with feature film debut “In Bruges,” a crazy good and crushing mob film about two killers dealing with a hit gone bad. In “Seven Psychopaths,” the writer/director spins further out onto the edge, tearing apart Hollywood clichés of serial killer thrillers, revenge flicks, and mob tales. He cheekily revels in those same tricks. 

Colin Farrell is (get it?) Martin, a bloke dead set on writing a screenplay titled “Seven Psychopaths,” because the title sounds cool. He has not gotten past the title. His useless best pal Billy (Sam Rockwell) steals dogs and then claims rewards from the distraught owners. 

When Billy foolishly swipes the puppy of a ruthless mobster (Woody Harrelson),  barking and scratching ensue. Mob style. We get car chases, shoot-outs, and demigod Tom Waits playing a lunatic, which is what Waits does best. Christopher Walken goes sublimely off-the-charts. 

Hooked yet?

McDonagh toys with film-goers' expectations from the first scene, burning plot rules and the long-held traditions of downing women and upping violence. Even if the climax stalls, “Seven” is a needed kick to the film-goosed brain. The cast is aces, especially Rockwell. A-

Zombieland and Dead Snow (2009)

The living dead ran amok inside my movie-soaked brain with a recent double feature. Grrr! Argh!

Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson play an unlikely zombie-hunting pair in “Zombieland,” the American cousin to the infinitely funnier rom-com-zom satire “Shaun of the Dead.” Eisenberg again siphons from previous innocent-geek roles in such films as “Adventureland,” matching only Michael Cerra in redundancy. Harrelson riffs heroically and quite knowingly on his “Natural Born Killers” psychopath. It’s a short, funny film that cracks on American culture targets from Twinkies to Hanna Montana, and features a stellar cameo from a beloved movie icon. B+

In “Dead Snow,” any wit is trounced by scatological outhouse sex, sick comedy and grisly gut-bursting violence. The plot: Student doctors head to the mountains of Norway for snow sports, drinking, light drugs and hard sex. Not planned for: An army of undead Nazi killers out for blood. Director Tommy Wirkola loves the visual of blood on snow -- eyeballs get squished, skulls are cracked open and entrails wrap around trees. It’s all so over-the-top gleefully, knowingly and illogically bloody bad – paying homage to “Evil Dead” and “Friday the 13th” – that Wirkola scores a guilty pleasure. B

The Messenger (2009)

"The Messenger" sets out to tell us about the difficult task faced by U.S. Army personnel assigned to the job of informing parents and spouses that their loved one has died. Sets out, but fails. Ben Foster (“3:10 to Yuma”) is Will Montgomery, a wounded veteran with three months remaining on his contract. He’s tasked, with as much training as I received writing press releases, into this notification duty under all-rules, no-hugs Capt. Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson). When the two set out to inform families, this is a heartbreaking piece of cinema. Yet, miscalculated dramatics bring ruin. Will near stalks a new war widow because he … feels sorry for her? Is in love? Either way, it's bogus. Long stretches of scenes ring false. "Hurt Locker" had several scenes anti-logical to (what little I know of) military practice, but it excelled in its human truths. This doesn't. The acting is superb -- Foster owns the film, and Harrelson provides fine support -- yet there must be a better depiction out there that treats this vital task with the absolute seriousness in which it must be carried out. B-

Transiberian (2008)

"Transiberian" follows an American couple (Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer) in mortal trouble while traveling the famed Russian railroad path in bleak-as-hell winter. The Christian missionary husband and wife are sightseeing after volunteering in China for several weeks. Those plans go to shit after the couple encounters a Spaniard named Carlos (Eduardo Noriega) and his girlfriend (Kate Mara). The screws start turning about a half-hour in. Directed and co-written by Brad Anderson, this thriller is carried by its odes to Alfred Hitchcock and Agatha Christie, and a couple fleshed-out characters, especially Mortimer's recovering addict/nymphomaniac who's still finding her way as the wife of a devout religious man. But, all is put asunder by Harrelson's take on not just a dumb, out-of-his-league American tourist, but the dumb, out-of-his-league American tourist. Using a sarcastic clueless tone of voice, Harrelson's Roy sparks too many memories of the dope he played on "Cheers." An F.U. to Christians. Add in a Hollywood ending, and the film derails. C+