1. Taken (Fox, 3,183 Theaters, 94 Minutes. Rated PG-13): “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”
Isn’t that quote full of awesome? It is spoken by Liam Neeson’s character in the trailer for this film, and it pretty much sums up the character. I don’t know if the rest of the movie holds up to the promise the quote makes. Neeson plays a former spy whose daughter is kidnapped while visiting Paris. He goes on a one man search and rescue mission to save her from being sold into a life of prostitution.
This kind of movie can be hit or miss. But if the rest of the script is as good as that quote, then it just might work.
2. The Uninvited (Paramount/Dreamworks, 2,344 Theaters, 87 Minutes, Rated PG-13): The previews for this movie makes it look like a “Stepmother from Hell” kind of movie, with Elizabeth Banks in the role of the hellish stepmother. But the trailer makes it seem like the horror is only psychological.
However, this film is an adaptation of a Korean horror film. Yes, another Asian horror movie adaptation. Don’t worry, they’ll run out of these remakes eventually. They have too. So, expect a creepy ghost to pop up somewhere unexpectedly.
Unfortunately, the original, A Tale of Two Sisters, wasn’t one of the best horror movies to come out of the East. And since remakes are usually worse than the originals, well…
3. New In Town (Lionsgate, 1,941 Theaters, 96 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Ah, the fish out of water romantic comedy. Every few years one of these comes around, like clockwork. Not much changes over time, however.
The plot for this one doesn’t differ from the formula. A business executive (Renee Zellweger) must relocate from balmy Miami to the frozen Tundra of Minnesota. After some cultural misconceptions, she learns to accept her new surroundings, at least long enough to find romance with a local hunk (Harry Connick, Jr.)
I like the way they are promoting this film as being in the tradition of Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama. Do you think they desperately wanted Reese Witherspoon and she passed?
