COOP COOPER is an independently syndicated film critic with a split personality. His “Southern Side” prints mainstream reviews that appear in various print publications across the mid-south. His “Dark Side” from Los Angeles befouls the site with reviews of horror and grindhouse flicks. Welcome to the site where COOP’s two halves (and his contributors) review and debate the latest film/DVD releases…

by Coop Cooper
All of the following films are on the short list for Academy Awards nominations, and while they all have Oscar-caliber qualities (particularly acting), I felt they fell short as “Best Motion Picture” contenders… except for one.

1. “War Horse” – Based on a book and a stage play (????), “War Horse” chronicles the story of a boy searching for his remarkable horse that is lost in the chaos of the battlefields of World War I. Possibly the best film ever in which a non-talking animal is the main character of the story, “War Horse” didn’t unfold as maudlin as I expected. Director Steven Spielberg tends to serve his weepy dramas with an overdose of sugar, but this film has just enough action and skillful execution, it rises above the typical “Lassie” story. While the plot is episodic and awkwardly paced, it’s just too…

Ancient Greek/Roman films have a spotty record critically and commercially since they are difficult to pull off. Fortunately, “Immortals” is exciting and innovative enough to work as long as you can get over its glaring mistakes.

Theseus (Henry Cavill), a peasant warrior, is favored by the god Zeus (Luke Evans) to save mankind from the brutal King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke). Hyperion seeks the Epirus Bow, a magical weapon forged by the gods, so he can use it to unleash the Titans (evil former gods) who are imprisoned deep within Mount Tartaros. Hyperion wishes to enslave the world and start a war in the heavens, but killing Theseus’ mother in a raid sets the hero against him. Aided by a virgin oracle (Freida Pinto), a former slave (Steven Dorff), and the gods themselves, Theseus pursues revenge and his destiny…

In honor of Veteran’s Day weekend, I felt it prudent to point out two of the best depictions of World War II ever set to film and to encourage anyone who missed them to put them both on your “must-see” list. “Band of Brothers” (2001) and “The Pacific” (2010) were produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks and are arguably the best projects either of these two powerhouse names have ever been involved with.

Based on the Stephen E. Ambrose non-fiction book of the same title, “Band of Brothers” chronicles the story of Easy Company, the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne division. All ten episodes cover their time in Europe from Operation Overlord through V-J Day. Each segment focuses on a different member of the company and their own personal struggles while encountering…

The concept of “In Time” would grab most sci-fi fans immediately. A reworking of the old “Logan’s Run” story, it takes place in a world where overpopulation has pushed society to the breaking point. As a measure of control, people are genetically engineered to live only to the age of 25. After that, they must earn more time in order to increase their (literal) biological clock to continue living. Time is subtracted when you need to pay for things like rent or a cup of coffee. The rich can live forever, frozen at 25 years old. The poor must fight for survival every single day. To make matters worse, time can be taken away by force.

Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) is a working-class guy with a matter of days left on his clock and his mother (the ironically young and beautiful Olivia Wilde) hides the fact that she has even less. One night he saves the life of a…

“Terra Nova” (Monday 7pm on FOX) – In the future where Earth has become ravaged and polluted, adventurous citizens get the chance to go back in time to the dinosaur age (85 million B.C.) to begin a new civilization. Ex-cop Jim Shannon (Jason O’Mara) breaks out of prison to join his family on a one-way trip to the past. On the other side they encounter two warring factions of humans fighting over a well-protected secret while trying to survive amongst predatory monsters. Plagued by clichés, the first episode rose above the poor writing with big-budgeted special effects and an intriguing mystery reminiscent of “Lost.” Trying to duplicate some of the qualities of “Avatar,” the show employs “Avatar” veteran Stephen Lang to play the gruff militaristic leader of the main colony. The pilot showed a lot of promise. Hopefully it becomes more like “Lost” and less like “Land of the Lost.”(…)

Ryan Gosling plays a tough-guy-with-no-name who works as a stunt driver/mechanic in Hollywood while moonlighting as a getaway driver for high-risk robberies. With no friends or family, he lives a solitary existence until he forms an unlikely bond with his struggling neighbor Irene (Carrie Mulligan) and her cute son (Kaden Leos). His shifty, but good-hearted handler (Bryan Cranston) sets the driver up with a possible stock car racing gig bankrolled by a deceptively genial mob boss (Albert Brooks). When Irene’s ex-con husband returns home, a cascading chain of events pits the Driver up against the mob, threatening the life of Irene and her son.

While the story doesn’t seem all that original and the action is fairly sparse, the style is exhilarating…

With sloppy films like “Columbiana” and “Conan The Barbarian” wasting our time at the multiplexes, I feel relieved when I catch something special on DVD that I missed in the theater. Such is the case with “Hanna,” a quirky and fun action/fantasy which borrows heavily from other films but impresses with a fresh and interesting style.

Saoirse Ronan plays Hanna, a spooky girl who knows every fact about the world and every language in it, but doesn’t have a shred of worldly experience. Since her infancy, her ex-superspy father (Eric Bana) has educated her in the Scandinavian wilderness, particularly in advanced survival and combat. Eager to experience the world, Hanna flips the switch on a transmitter her father warned her not to activate until she felt ready. She is quickly thrust into a hostile world where she must separate from her father to flee an insidious intelligence agent (Cate Blanchett) hell-bent on killing her…

This film utilizes every genre cliché and then some. Back in the Blockbuster Video days you might find this video under what they called the “Super Action” section, usually reserved for direct-to-video films which is exactly where this one belongs. It is designed for absurdity to the point where the only redeeming value is to see a 10 year-old girl dressed in a school uniform leaping Bogata rooftops and base-sliding into open drains.

Despite my intense dislike of this movie, I can deduce an interesting way in which it might have come about. Writer Luc Besson has long talked about trying to woo Natalie Portman into reprising her role as hit man protege from Besson’s 1994 hit “Leon” (a.k.a. “The Professional”). He had planned to call the film “Matilda” and have Portman as a grown-up assassin working for the New York mob, then eventually turning against them. Here’s what I’m guessing happened…

Instead of coming up with a slick retread of the original 1982 “Conan the Barbarian,” Hollywood did something much worse. It took the plot from the original film, merged it together with the plot of the lesser 1984 sequel “Conan the Destroyer” and dumped out all the good stuff to create this obnoxious and brainless remake of a film…

by Coop Cooper

The setup is nothing new. Set in 1873, A man with no name (Daniel Craig) wakes up in a wild west desert with amnesia and a strange bracelet. He runs afoul of an honorable lawman (Keith Carradine) and a ruthless cattle baron (Harrison Ford) who wants his head. Then the aliens attack. Cowboys get blasted and abducted and the Man-With-No-Name suddenly discovers the bracelet on his arm is an alien ray gun. The man teams up with his former enemies and a strange woman (Olivia Wilde) to save the abducted town folk.

Since this seemed like a goofy, high-concept gimmick, I was curious as to why it had attracted A-list heavy hitters like Craig, Ford and “Iron Man” director Jon Favreau…

by Coop Cooper

After 67 years, we finally have a “Captain America” film that not only does justice to the Marvel franchise that created it, but also a worthy bridge film that leads directly into the “Avengers” feature film which will premiere next year.
Taking place in 1942, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) wants nothing more than to volunteer for the U.S. Army to serve his country on the front lines in Europe. His 4 ft, 90 lb frame and a long list of ailments result in rejection after rejection until Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) witnesses Steve’s pure hearted determination. After a long battery of tests, he offers Steve a chance to become America’s first “Super Soldier.” Steve accepts and is transformed into the superhero Captain America. Cap must face off against Hitler’s own renegade super soldier, the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) who plans to take over the world using a mystical energy source called the Cosmic Cube…

The simplest plot description I can manage from this whole mess: NASA actually went to the moon in 1969 to investigate a crashed ship only to discover Soviet cosmonauts had beaten them to it. The artifact the Soviets bring back eventually causes the nuclear meltdown in Chernobyl and has the power to bring all enemy robots (Decepticons) to Earth. The technology falls into the wrong hands and the heroic Autobots must team up with the humans once again to thwart a massive invasion of evil alien robots.

This is the most mindless and loosely-plotted story in the franchise so far…

An intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps chooses a brash test pilot named Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) to become its first human officer. Unfortunately for Hal, his Lantern predecessor was killed by a planet-devouring entity dubbed Parallax who sets its sights on devouring the Corps-protected planets starting with Earth. Hal must overcome his crippling fear in order to save the Earth and prove himself a worthy keeper of the peace. Green Lanterns have a very appealing and powerful weapon. A ring that harnesses the energy of pure willpower, then projects it into whatever form the wearer imagines. It’s like a portable hologram projector, except the holograms have a physical form. This weapon with unlimited possibilities is the reason we haven’t seen a “Green Lantern” movie until now. Portraying the power itself requires the most modern computer generated effects and a $100 million-plus budget. The power also provides the potential for unlimited silliness…

The most positive thing I can say about “Super 8” is how well it captures the style of those films from 30 years ago. Foul-mouthed kids? Check. Supernatural forces? Check. Sweeping music designed to fill the audience with wonder? Check. Grandiose action scenes? Check. Upbeat resolution? Check and mate. It takes elements from “E.T.,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Jaws” and so many others, you’ll feel waves of nostalgia during many of the key moments, especially in the first half. For this reason alone, I can almost recommend the film…

I had almost given up on the “X-Men” franchise after the misfire that was “X-Men 3: Last Stand” and the abysmal “Wolverine” spinoff. “Black Swan” director Darren Aronofsky recently teased comic book fans with a promise to make a higher-quality “Wolverine” film set in Japan (one of the most famous story lines in the character’s history) only to kill the project without adequate explanation. That news sunk my hopes even lower. At this point, a classic “X-Men” story taking place in the 1960’s didn’t make much sense to me. They had already modernized the original team members for the 2000’s and made them all youngsters. Thankfully with a bit of creative canon-bending, the gamble worked and audiences finally have another decent “X-Men” movie to enjoy…

I had many favorite superheroes as a kid but Thor ranked among the highest. He had the power of flight and strength of Superman, he commanded the elements, he wielded a magic weapon and he ruled an entire kingdom. I held out little hope anyone would adapt him into feature film without making him look as silly as Batman in the 1960s TV show. Finally, “Thor” has arrived and although some of the silliness persists, it holds up well enough to usher the God of Thunder into the “Avengers” superhero team movie next year…

by Coop Cooper

As educational institutions gear down for their summer sabbatical, Hollywood gears up to release their highest-budgeted films. This tradition seems to arrive earlier each year, but the first of these mega-budget projects usually arrive in May. The May blockbusters are strategically placed in this month, often under the assumption the studio heads feel the films are weak, risky or may not compete against the reliable mid-summer releases. Sometimes the reason is simply beating other films to the punch and audiences occasionally find some some pleasant May surprises. Here’s what’s coming next month: CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE AT THE CLARKSDALE PRESS REGISTER WEBSITE

By Coop Cooper

One highly anticipated sequel (“Tron Legacy”) and one Oscar-winning film (“Black Swan”): Both are now available on DVD for you to buy or rent.

“Black Swan” tells the harrowing story of a talented, yet emotionally repressed ballerina named Nina (Natalie Portman) who suddenly receives the role of her career playing the Broadway lead in “Swan Lake.” When the sleazy and demanding director (Vincent Cassel) challenges Nina to tap into the dark side of her personality in order to play the sinister Black Swan role, she begins a slow spiral into madness. The conniving upstart Lily (Mila Kunis) both seduces Nina and threatens her career, propelling Nina’s insanity into disturbing realms of paranoia and hallucination.

“Black Swan” emulates the unsettling art-house horror films of Roman Polanski and David Cronenberg, but manages to remain explainable enough for general audiences to digest. It punctuates the more disturbing scenes of… CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW AT THE CLARKSDALE PRESS REGISTER WEBSITE

A favorite film of my childhood, “Red Dawn” (1985) told a bloody fantasy about American teens forced into guerilla warfare against an invading Soviet/Cuban coalition. It starred the late Patrick Swayze, Hollywood’s most popular current meltdown Charlie Sheen and an ensemble of up-and-coming young stars. A new 2009 remake intended to update the concept, making China the primary invading force, but the film was mysteriously shelved and unspoken of until now.

The venerable Hollywood studio MGM revealed this month that it spent an extra $1 million dollars to change the film so as not to offend a country that is far from being a U.S. ally. “Red Dawn” remake producer Tripp Vinson spoke to the press to try to explain why the studio paid an exorbitant amount of money to digitally change the Chinese invaders of the film into the North Korean military: “We were initially very reluctant to make any changes, but… READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE AT THE CLARKSDALE PRESS REGISTER WEBSITE

The military battles swarms of merciless aliens in Los Angeles while a group of civilians caught in the middle try to survive the onslaught. So goes the basic plot line for two separate movies, one of which arrived on DVD this week (“Skyline”) while the other has played in theaters since March 11 (“Battle Los Angeles”).

“Skyline” offers no major Hollywood stars but it does give us an old-fashioned monster movie with new-fashioned effects. It follows a group of vapid, spoiled tinseltown 20-somethings who party a bit too hard and sleep through the opening moments of the alien invasion. When they eventually come to, they witness a flying hoard of techno-organic machines/vacuum cleaners sucking humans up into the air. The military responds and their morning hangover becomes a fight for survival as… READ THE REST OF THE STORY ON THE CLARKSDALE PRESS REGISTER WEBSITE