The threat of identity theft is a relatable concern. Being chased by hillbilly bounty hunters and violent criminal organizations is considerably less likely.

That’s the kind of antics Jason Bateman must face in “Identity Thief,” a broad and overfamiliar comedy that follows the outline of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

Bateman does what he does best here – playing the suffering straight man against the manic comedic force of Melissa McCarthy. Bateman plays financial analyst Sandy Patterson, and within the film’s opening seconds, he’s relinquished his social security number over the phone to McCarthy’s con artist Diana. She goes on a lavish spending spree that eventually leaves Sandy with thousands of dollars in credit card debt and even a warrant out for his arrest. (more…)

At times pulse-pounding and exhausting in detail, “Zero Dark Thirty” is an essential piece of filmmaking and a punctuation mark on a grim decade in American history. Whether it’s an exclamation point or question mark is open for interpretation.

The movie follows Maya (Jessica Chastain), a CIA agent who commits 10 years to gathering information on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. We first meet her standing in the shadows at a CIA black site as a colleague (Jason Clarke) employs “advanced interrogation techniques” on a prisoner who may have information on a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows bin Laden. (more…)

Both Quentin Tarantino and Judd Apatow serve as important voices in the modern cinema landscape. Nobody makes movies quite like they do, so any new release, however flawed or overlong, is worthy of attention.

“Django Unchained” may be Tarantino’s most structurally conventional movie of his career. Aside from a few flashbacks and abrupt shifts in tone, the film tells the linear story of a freed slave (Jaime Foxx) who, alongside a skilled bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz), sets out to rescue his wife from a sadistic Mississippi plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio).

The movie has the rapid-fire, ultra-clever dialogue you would expect from Tarantino, as well as a rather controversial dose of brutal violence and social commentary. (more…)

J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” doesn’t need to be split into three movies. Even with extra material from various appendices in the mix, I worry another nine hours of hobbits, dwarves, wizards and orcs won’t be able to match the excitement of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

That said, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” is a good step in proving me wrong.

Minus the occasional meandering, the first segment in Peter Jackson’s new trilogy provides enough thrills and meaningful character moments to justify its existence, even if the heroes of the film are nowhere close to completing their quest across Middle Earth. (more…)

Of the big questions raised in “Life of Pi,” there is at least one definitive answer: You can’t be friends with a Bengal tiger.

Director Ang Lee (“Brokeback Mountain”) has done what many thought impossible. He’s crafted a thrilling and visually spectacular adventure film out of Yann Martel’s unconventional bestseller.

Lee and screenwriter David Magee frame the flashback-heavy opening act with a reporter (Rafe Spall) interviewing an adult Pi Patel (Irffan Khan), who as a boy was the sole survivor of a shipwreck and 227 grueling days in a lifeboat at sea. (more…)

Of all the wonderful things about Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” one thing obviously stands apart: Daniel Day-Lewis.

The two-time Oscar winner is magnetic as the plain-spoken politician who battled to end slavery behind closed doors while the nation tore itself apart on the battlefields. Day-Lewis’ Lincoln often settles arguments with anecdotes—stories and speeches that comprise the bulk of the film’s two-and-a-half-hour running length. All this talking makes for thoroughly compelling entertainment.

“Politician” is the best way to describe the man at the center of “Lincoln.” Unmoved in his desire to pass a Constitutional amendment to ban slavery in the United States, Lincoln resorts to bribing, trickery and intimidation to get the job done (or rather, assigns a trio of spinsters to do the dirty work). This is the still the kind-hearted hero of the textbooks. He’s simply doing what must be done for the better of the country. (more…)

Daniel Craig’s first outing as James Bond in “Casino Royale” was designed to take the venerable spy franchise to more serious, real-world places. The 21^st century demanded its 007 be more like Jason Bourne – a guy who throws punches without the catchphrases and womanizing.

The rebranding worked well enough for “Casino Royale,” but its sequel, “Quantum of Solace,” pushed too far away from what made James Bond so great in the first place. It felt squarely like a “Bourne” ripoff.

“Skyfall” finds a happy balance, maintaining Craig’s brute masculinity while injecting the larger-than-life set pieces and integral supporting characters that define the franchise.

It’s the best James Bond movie in years. Maybe one of the best ever. (more…)

Though they don’t seem that similar, both “Flight” and “Wreck-It Ralph” focus on what distinguishes heroes and villains.

In the Disney computer-animated tale, Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) is the destructive bad guy of the Donkey Kong-inspired arcade game, “Fix-It Felix Jr.” When the arcade closes each night, however, Ralph is a nice guy (albeit with Hulk-size anger issues) who is shunned by the game’s other residents.

Set out to prove he can be a hero, Ralph leaves his own game in search of redemption, which eventually leads him to a candy-inspired racing game and a motor-mouth computer glitch named Vanellope (Sarah Silverman). While she’s got her own in-game problems, Ralph is pursued by his sincere colleague Felix (Jack McBrayer) and a relentless soldier (Jane Lynch) straight out of a modern first-person shooter game.

“Wreck-It Ralph” opens with some amusing cameos from a variety of classic video game characters, notably those in attendance at a “bad-anon” meeting. These gags help the movie through the necessary exposition, and just when the novelty wears off, “Wreck-It Ralph” redirects its focus to the main characters. (more…)

Most movies play it safe. They focus on just a few characters, stay within a single genre and tell a straightforward story from beginning to end. As much as we all might complain about the lack of originality in theaters, we as the audience are comforted by the familiarity. We know what we like and we know what kinds of films will entertain us.

“Cloud Atlas” can’t really be categorized or measured by the same standards we see other movies. It tells six different stories across six unique time periods simultaneously, using the same actors in each storyline… but not always in obvious ways. Sure, you can recognize Tom Hanks in every segment, but he’s only the protagonist in one of them, and you probably won’t spot the likes of Hugh Grant, Halle Berry and Jim Sturgess in every segment until they’re revealed in the end credits.

The film offers few story connections between the timelines. These aren’t reincarnated souls progressing towards a larger truth. The connections are more thematic – that of revolution, cultural progression (sometimes regression), corruption and love. It’s an epic mood piece, and one that will leave the unwilling shaking their heads in frustrated disbelief. (more…)

The story of Ben Affleck’s Hollywood comeback has reached its apex with “Argo,” his third and most assured movie as a director. It’s a perfectly constructed Hollywood thriller that effortlessly blends sparks of humor with tense plotting that doesn’t rely on gunfire and explosions.

And Affleck makes it all look easy. Anyone still want to make “Gigli” jokes?

Based on a true story, Affleck stars as CIA agent Tony Mendez, an expert at getting people safely out of hairy situations. The setting: 1979, Iran. The American embassy has been invaded with several Americans taken hostage, but six of them escape the building and take shelter at the home of the Canadian Ambassador. With tensions rising, Mendez concocts a plan to sneak the Americans out as the Canadian crew of a fake science fiction film. (more…)