The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

YA-targeted “The Fault in Out Stars” opens with Shailene Woodley’s Hazel Grace Lancaster warning us that although she will tell us a story of romance, it will end in misery. No punches pulled. Someone will die. Hazel is 16 and has terminal thyroid cancer. She is loved by her parents (Laura Dern and Sam Tramwell), but too well-protected. Then Hazel meets cancer survivor Augustus (Ansel Elgort), and he cracks that shell with his charm. He knows Hazel is dying, but loves her too much to walk. Based on John Greene’s book, Josh Boone’s film tells a heart-wrenching story of romance and helpless parents. Dern stuns. Woodley (“Divergent” series) is perfect. But movie clichés crash. Twinkly lights. Magic hour glare. Curmudgeon thaws for our couple, not believably. And, damn it, the white privilege left me stunned. Every character lives in luxury, with every amenity. Emotion hits home, yes, but ever scene vibes Better Homes & Gardens slash Wired. No. B

After Earth (2013)

“After Earth” must be mocked. How else to react to a sci-fi survivalist tale from once-great director/writer M. Night Shyamalan that is set on a desolated/abandoned future Earth, but one that looks like a commercial for a tropical adventure? (Cities? There are none.) This is absolute unintended comedy, a wonder of miscalculation. Despite MNS’s name, Will Smith is the man in charge as producer and story creator, and it isn’t even his vehicle. The star is Smith’s teenage son Jaden, who had better luck and better support in pop’s “Pursuit of Happyness” and the recent “Karate Kid” remake. The syrupy story has a “Great Santini” father (Will) and his green horn son (Jaden) all angry dinner scowls and then later crashing their space shuttle on said Earth. Naturally, the duo must bond as son serves as the “avatar” hero of his father, whose legs are shattered. Also in the shuttle and now loose on Earth because no space cliché can go untouched: A slimy monster that eats people. I can take hodge-podge films that wink at their theft, but “Earth” is blindly, awkwardly convinced of its own “inspirational” Hallmark gruel. It's just gruel. Younger Smith looks miserable. C-

Elysium (2013)

After South African filmmaker Neil Blomkamp made instant classic “District 9,” he had to go big. So, it’s inevitable that his studio summer flick “Elysium” would disappoint. The hero here is Max (Matt Damon), an do-gooder ex-con in 2154 who suffers an accidental death-sentence radiation dose at work, where he builds the RoboCops that abuse the populace. Max won’t die quiet. He wants to get his ass to Elysium, a glistening, guarded spaceship hovering over Earth like a second moon. Ninety-nine percenters alert: Elysium is home only to the rich, and features medical machines that cure any injury or illness. Earth? It’s crowded, dying. Now oddly armored with an exoskeleton from “Aliens,” Max is out for Elyisum, but has to pass through a bounty hunter (Sharlto Copley of “9”) and a military honcho (Jodie Foster, dishing a whack accent). Bound to Hollywood cliché now, Blomkamp tosses in an angelic childhood sweetheart (Alice Braga) with an adorable Dickens preschooler with end-stage leukemia, who also needs curing. What will Max do? Blomkamp’s visuals thrill, but as the climax grinds too easy and “9” echoed too deeply, his leftist sci-fi throwdown feels a weak second effort. B

The Numbers Station (2013)

What happened to John Cusack? This is a guy who I have long admired, from “Say Anything,” with the boom box serenade, to “Grosse Point Blank,” a CIA assassin satire. But with “The Numbers Station,” on the heels of the regrettable “The Raven,” it seems Cusack has hit a deep, unfortunate slump. This has Cusack as one of the most tired of clichés, the deadly CIA killer (see, again) with a crisis of conscious after a job goes south and an innocent is killed. So his sad sack agent is sent to timeout, or more precisely, a remote U.S. Army outpost in England to babysit a code sender (Malin Akerman, because no government worker forced to live in isolation for two years at a time would look like Ma Barker) with orders to pop her if the station is ever compromised. Low and behold, the station falls under attack, and Kent must fight the good fight and talk about his wounded psyche with Ackerman’s coder, as people tend to do while being shot at. Will Cusack’s agent kill the lady? Right, the moment after Lloyd Dobler buys an iPad with ear buds. D+

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-

Safe House (2012)

“Safe House” is another corrupt CIA thriller that plays with the Hollywood rule that if a hotshot star (Ryan Reynolds) is the young hero and a middle-aged actor (Brendan Gleeson) of Oscar-winning fare plays the mentor/father figure, then the former must pop a lot of James Bond stunt work as the latter plays cool and adds another villain to his resume. Seen “Recruit”? This is it, again. Spoiler? No. “Safe” takes no chances and delivers just as many thrills, its script also Xeroxing “Training Day.” How so? Denzel Washington is back in bad-ass mode as Tobin Frost, a rogue CIA agent who lands under the care of Reynold’s Boy Scout as they lock horns while fleeing across South Africa from countless assassins. Along the way Frost schools Reynolds’ agent about the grim life working for Langley. Washington brings grace Frost barely deserves, while Reynolds gets his grit on as a guy who can take car crashes, beatings, stabbings, and a broken heart all in stride and still outsmart all his bosses. The character is so magical he could send Gleeson’s Mad-Eye Moody’s fake eye rollin’. C-