Most Hollywood blockbusters don’t require A-list celebrities to succeed anymore. Sequels, superheroes and teenage book franchises seem to dominate the market these days, leaving folks like Tom Cruise to ponder whether “Jersey Shore” could have a better box office performance.

Yet when it comes to opening action movies, Angelina Jolie is one of the few exceptions. The “Wanted” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” star is the only focus of the marketing materials for “Salt,” a ridiculous espionage thriller in the same-vein as the “Bourne” franchise.

At one point, Cruise was poised to star in the title role. I don’t think anyone believes he could have propelled the film to a $35 million opening weekend.

Box office, of course, doesn’t matter to the quality or entertainment value of a particular film. But in the case of “Salt,” the star power of Jolie is the only major draw. Her sexy, hardboiled persona makes a silly plot about Russian spies infiltrating all levels of U.S. government tolerable.

(more…)

Cityscapes fold onto themselves. Hotel hallways tumble upside down. A son tries to make amends with his father by breaking into a snowbound fortress straight out of a James Bond movie.

Behold the spectacle of “Inception,” a brainy puzzle-box of an adventure from writer/director Christopher Nolan. Underneath its blockbuster visuals, “Inception” is a surprisingly personal story of one man’s grief, told within dreams within dreams within dreams. Explosions and gunplay are added free of charge.

(more…)

It isn’t often that Hollywood offers two movies on the same weekend where audiences are encouraged to root for the bad guys.

Both the animated comedy “Despicable Me” and the sci-fi sequel/reboot “Predators” focus on dastardly villains, but only one enlists a trio of adorable children to break the cold-blooded exterior of our technologically-savvy antagonist.

Try to guess which one is which.

(more…)

Good movies about strong women still exist outside the spineless brain-suck of “The Twilight Saga.” While Bella takes three movies to decide between a wolfman and a dead guy, audiences itching for quality storytelling can look no further than the “Millennium Trilogy” from the late Swedish author Stieg Larrson.

All three books are available now, and the Swedish movie version of the first book, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is now available on DVD, as well as Instant Viewing for Netflix subscribers. It’s a taut procedural anchored by the standout performance of Noomi Rapace as thick-skinned computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.

Lisbeth waits around for no guy with chiseled abs.

(more…)