The A-Team (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. Joe Carnahan. Starring Liam Neeson, Quinton Jackson, Sharlto Copley.
Hannibal, Baracus, Murdock, and the other guys chase a MacGuffin through a magical world where shooting vehicles causes them to flip end-over-end, a bazooka can blow up a cargo ship the size of the Titanic, and the US military withdraws from Iraq.
Clever action sequences and good pacing roughly balance out the movie'.
UFC fighter Quinton Jackson is okay as BA Baracus, but it's a mystery why they didn't just bring back Mr. T. He hasn't changed in 25 years, and he's the only reason anyone cares about the A-Team anymore.
Sharlto Copley, who was brilliant in his first real acting gig in District 9, is mostly just annoying as Murdock. I don't blame him. Murdock as written here buzzes around the other characters like a mosquito.
Characterizations are weakl, but the film has a lot on its mind. It deftly crams multiple backstories and a complete main plot into two hours, all without feeling rushed or pausing more than five minutes between explosions.
Its '80s nostalgia value is dubious, but The A-Team should satisfy the popcorn crowd.Rated PG-13 for the terrifying power of the mohawk.
3 out of 5 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. Zack Snyder. Starring Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Barclay.
Worn-out but aesthetically pleasing animated film about good owls fighting Nazi owls.
Within the first 30 seconds of dialogue, Legend of the Guardians gives the impression that we've seen it before, and that feeling only increases as it goes on. The film sticks rigidly to the story structure set out in conventional mythology defined by pre-'90s Disney movies. In the tradition of weak knockoffs like Fern Gully, the movie knows the roles its characters must fill and the motions they must go through, but lacks any of the charm or humor.
One character - the one who would have been played by Robin Williams if this were made in the early '90s - tells knock-knock jokes about owls, which is a lot like humans telling "human" jokes. (Q: How many humans does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: One, because light bulbs were designed to be installed by humans of average dexterity. Ha, ha, we humans sure have a good sense of humor about ourselves).
At least with this project, director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) proves that he can make a visually striking film without the luxury of tracing frames from a graphic novel. It even has 300-style slow-motion fight sequences between owls, which is something I can't say I've seen before. The state-of-the-art visuals are the only thing about the movie that doesn't feel like it's from an era before cell phones.
The good news is that clichés aren't clichés for kids who are new to them, and Legend of the Guardians is as good an introduction as any. Just be aware that some of the imagery is too frightening for young children or people who have been clawed in the face by owls.Rated PG for excessive use of apostrophes.3 out of 5
