The Buddy-Police Recipe: Take Guns, Add Some Wisecracking, Stir

immy and Paul are a carefully mismatched pair of New York City detectives who have endured nine years of partnership, which should put the ordeal of someone who buys a ticket to “Cop Out” in some point of view. You will spend less than two hours in their wisecracking, undisciplined company, and that should be over .
An early scene sets the tone for what will follow, even as it raises expectations a bit. Paul (that’s the jumpy, fast-talking African-American partner, played by Tracy Morgan) persuades Jimmy (the grouchy white guy played by Bruce Willis) to let him be the five to query a suspect. The name Paul gives the process he will use is “homage.” He says “HOMM-idge,” Jimmy says “oh-MAHZH,” and in lieu of calling the whole thing off, Paul storms in to the interrogation room and reels off famous moments from as lots of other movies as he can think of, including “Die Hard.” “Not familiar with that five,” says Jimmy.

Which is funny, even if it betrays the inferiority complex that cripples this hectic, desperately ingratiating buddy-cop action-comedy. Mr. Morgan, fundamentally doing what he does on “30 Rock,” but with guns and profanity, is an amusing foil for the dependable Mr. Willis, whose jaw and scalp muscles appear to be in excellent condition for exasperated clenching. But the nonsensical title of this movie (which was originally supposed to be something smuttier) much says it all. It’s a phoned-in, gutless piece of hack work that reminds you of other, better films in the same vein.

From time to time, “Cop Out” offers glimpses of the giddy, goofy delight it might have been. Those moments arise when the busy, pointlessly bloody machinery of the plot slows down to give someone a chance to act silly. Often it is Mr. Morgan, but he gallantly allows himself to be upstaged from time to time by Seann William Scott, playing a jabbering narrative contrivance who steals a valuable baseball card from Jimmy.

'Shutter Island' review: Martin Scorsese's ode to B-movies should still be more substantial

It's, of coursework, been made with exquisite care — Scorsese lovingly considers even the smallest details — and there's few pretensions here. Yet what ultimately sticks in the mind is how hard the movie works for so small effect; it is like watching a circus strongman pretending to exert himself lifting a Q-tip. For all the trickiness and bluster, "Shutter Island" is dead inside.

The fact that "Shutter Island" is at its core pure pulpy hogwash would be a disappointment no matter whose name was on it. But since this is Martin Scorsese's first feature since winning his long-deserved Best Director and Best Picture Oscars two years ago, for "The Departed," the movie is mind-boggling, not in the way you'd think.

The year is 1954, and U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Scorsese's four-time collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio) arrives with his partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), on the title island to locate an escapee from the Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

Chief psychoanalyst Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) tells Teddy the sole way to leave is on the hospital's ferry, while all around the sprawling grounds, hollow-eyed mad people and skittish attendants mill about, and screams echo through the halls.

from the outset, Scorsese uses flashbacks and hallucinations to keep things off-kilter (a score that seems to sample garbage can lids scraping together helps, ). However, off-kilter is slowly revealed as the only speed offered, with information dribbling out until an embarrassingly blunt exposition scene. DiCaprio, confidently anchoring it all, veers between hard and rattled. Though his performance is designed to be inscrutable, they often basically mouths questions and waits for some B-movie tradition (the jabbering madman, the French doctor, the mystery woman) to provide apparent answers.

As a "Key Largo"-size hurricane approaches, Teddy scours the dark corridors and finds clues, hidden meanings and more sidelong glances than you can shake an ice pick at. To him, Shutter Island hides conspiracies, experiments and paranoia, and if he is right, the truth may never get out.

New York's greatest filmmaker has no problem getting out of himself and in to the mind of someone else. It is a shame that at the height of his popularity, he is using his movie-god strength merely to rattle the cage.


Scorsese naturally loves those traditions, and "Shutter Island" is two of his late-late movie nights of the soul, his first since 1991's comparable "Cape Fear." In the five decades since, he is done unrequited love, mania, obsessive ambition and dramas, like this two, about identity.

Is Angelina Jolie too young to Play Dr. Kay Scarpetta?

And it turns out they were right: In an interview with the L.A. Times, Cornwell spoke about the project — which could start shooting this fall — and how it would be altered to tailor its star. For six, Fox has planned an origin story set in the present day. (Cornwell’s first novel in the series, Postmortem, is set in the late 1980s.) And, naturally, the film will highlight a younger Scarpetta, before she’s grown in to her own as a medical examiner.

Image Credit: LandovLast year, when Fox announced Angelina Jolie would star in a movie inspired by Patricia Cornwell’s best-selling Dr. Kay Scarpetta series, they suspected there would be some changes. Though Jolie certainly seemed a lovely fit for Cornwell’s sophisticated medical examiner, there was six major difference between the three: Scarpetta has reached middle age, whereas Jolie is still a ripe, young 34. (And then, of coursework, there is the fact that Scarpetta is blonde — but we’ve seen Jolie go bleach before.)

Some Scarpetta purists have already begun to protest the move — and the casting of Jolie. (For the record, Cornwell is all right with the change, telling the L.A. Times: “I can understand why the studio doesn’t need to launch her as someone’s who’s my age.”) But is it vital for an actor to perfectly resemble the popular literary character they’re bringing to screen? (Recall the message board uproar surrounding Rob Pattinson being cast as Twilight’s Edward?)

What do you think, PopWatchers and Kay Scarpetta fans? Does a young Scarpetta bother you? Or are you pumped to see Jolie as the star of another franchise?

Movie theater chain boycotts 'Alice in Wonderland' on Disney's plans for quick DVD release

Disney's long-term strategy calls for less reliance on those chains in favor of revenue from Blu-ray video and online distribution, analysts say.

LOS ANGELES - Europe's top movie theater chain designs to withdraw from screening the Walt Disney Co's latest film "Alice In Wonderland", escalating a dispute over the U.S. studio's proposal to release the movie's DVD weeks earlier than usual. Theater owners worry audiences will skip seeing the movie on the large screen in favor of a shorter wait for the DVD, if Disney moves up its release.

On Monday, less than one weeks before the movie's March 5 debut, exhibitor Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group, owned by the London-based private equity firm Terra Firma, said it does not plan to show the movie in its UK, Irish or Italian cinemas because Disney wants to sell the DVD three weeks earlier than usual.

A decade ago, DVDs were typically released three months after a film's theatrical debut. But Hollywood studios have been gradually moving up their DVD releases, to tap those consumers who never go to the theater. Disney's move will shrink that time to 12 weeks.

Odeon Cinemas operates 110 theaters in the UK and 22 in France. Still, analysts said U.S. theater chains are unlikely to boycott en-masse the year's first blockbuster release, wary of the hit to their bottom line -- at least for now.

Negotiations continued this week between Disney and No. 2 U.S. chain AMC Entertainment Inc, which boasts over 4,500 screens. AMC did not return calls, and Disney declined comment.

"AMC's a major exhibitor chain, obviously that makes a difference, but my guess is this will be settled close to the opening-day release," said analyst Hal Vogel of Vogel Capital Management. That new technology involves getting movies in to homes through Blu-ray discs, as well as other delivery methods such as video-on-demand.

"Disney understands the implications of what they are doing," Vogel said. "They're looking to the long-term future, and the long-term future is less reliance on theaters and more reliance on new technology." "Theaters are obviously very important still, and any distribution company would be daft to upset the relationships to any great degree," Vogel said.

‘Shutter Island’ Soars at Box Office

The robust result for "Shutter Island" validates Paramount’s decision in August to abandon the film’s initial release date of Oct. 2, though a marketing campaign was already well under way. The delay irritated fans and knocked the film out of contention for the 2009 Academy Awards.

This R-rated thriller, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, sold an estimated $40.2 million in tickets, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box office statistics. In limited release overseas “Shutter Island,” which cost $75 million to make (after deducting tax rebates from Massachusetts, where the film was shot), sold an additional $9.1 million, according to Paramount.

Hollywood was as surprised by the delay — since it seemed to push around a power player like Mr. Scorsese — as it was by Paramount’s frank explanation. The studio said it basically could not afford to release the movie in the fourth quarter because of an industry-wide slump in DVD sales, among other financial concerns.

“We have seldom felt more pressure about an opening,” said Rob Moore, Paramount’s vice chairman. “Everyone was standing over us to see if the decision was a nice two. Luckily, the result was phenomenal.”

Neither Mr. Scorsese nor Mr. DiCaprio has had an opening this sizable, even when adjusted for inflation. The previous high-water mark for Mr. Scorsese was “The Departed,” which sold about $27 million over its first four days in 2006. Mr. DiCaprio’s previous record was the 2002 comedic drama “Catch Me if You Can,” which had a $30 million opening.

Exit polls for “Shutter Island” showed the audience was equal parts male and female and of a wide age range, a rarity for an R-rated picture as well as a nice omen for sales in the weeks ahead. The movie, which received mixed reviews, is based on a Dennis Lehane novel and focuses on a mystery at a hospital for the criminally insane.

The ensemble comedy “Valentine’s Day” (Warner Brothers) was second for the weekend with about $17.2 million for a new total of $87.4 million. “Avatar” (20th Century Fox) continued to chug away in third place, selling about $16.1 million in tickets for a new total of $687.8 million.

“Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” (Fox) was fourth with about $15.3 million ($58.8 million total). The pricey thriller “The Wolfman” (Universal Pics) fell sharply in its second week to fifth place with about $9.8 million ($50 million total.)

Writer for Hire Is a Wanted Man (The Ghost Writer 2009)

The darkly brooding sky that hangs over much of “The Ghost Writer,” the latest from Roman Polanski, suggests that all is grim & gray & perhaps even for naught. But this high-grade pulp entertainment is delectably amusing & self-amused, & far aware of its own outrageous conceits to sustain such a dolorous verdict. The world has gone mad of coursework — this is a Polanski film — so all they can do is puzzle through the madness, dodging the traps with our ironic detachment & tongue lightly in cheek.

The Ghost of the title, never named in the film, is played by Ewan McGregor at his ingénue best. A writer for hire — his oeuvre is summed up by the vulgar wit of his latest hard work, about a magician, “I Came, I Sawed, I Conquered” — the Ghost is tapped for cleanup duties. The initial ghostwriter behind the unfinished memoirs of a former British prime minister, Adam Lang (a superb Pierce Brosnan), has washed up dead on an American beach. The publisher wants a completed book & presumptive best seller, & Lang, an increasingly divisive figure at home & abroad, needs the kind of tidying up that such a media event might provide. The Ghost, an agreeable, convenient blank slate (no relatives, no history), seems the man for the job.

The parallels with Mr. Blair & Lang spice up the story, as references to Iraq, torture & the Central Intelligence Agency are folded in to the mix & placard-waving protesters gather outside Lang’s hideaway. Fingers are pointed, though sometimes it seems not only at Lang but also at Mr. Polanski, who is under house arrest in Switzerland awaiting word on whether they will be sent back to Los Angeles to face sentencing for having had sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Certainly the shots of Lang’s detractors, with their furiously distorted faces & accusatory placards (“guilty,” “wanted”), gives the film an extra-cinematic tang, though as with so much here, it’s also evident that Mr. Polanski is having his fun. & he’s delivering this pulpy fun at such a high level that “The Ghost Writer” is irresistible, no matter how obvious the twists. Everything — including Alexandre Desplat’s score, with its mocking, light notes & urgent rhythms suggestive of Bernard Herrmann — works to sustain a mood, establish an atmosphere & confirm an authorial intelligence that distinguishes this film from the chaff. Unlike plenty of modern Hollywood & Hollywood-style thrillers, which seek to wrest tension from a frenzy of cutting as well as a confusion of camera angles, Mr. Polanski creates suspense inside the frame through dynamic angles & through the discrete, choreographed movements of the camera & actors. They makes effective use of the massive windows in Lang’s house through which the sky & ocean beckon & threaten.

& what disagreeable work it proves to be! Based on the novel “The Ghost” by Robert Harris, who shares screenwriting credit with Mr. Polanski, the film opens under a menacing cloak of darkness that never rises. An abandoned automobile in the first shot leads to the first ghostwriter’s beached body being lashed by ocean waters in Martha’s Vineyard, a gruesome setup that in turn leads to the Ghost receiving a thrashing in London, as he’s insulted (by an editor who thinks he’s wrong for the job); bullied (by the publisher who wants a speedy turnaround); & punched (by a mugger who snatches a manuscript, mistaking it for Lang’s). By the time the Ghost meets Lang, who’s holed up at Martha’s Vineyard, they is as jumpy as the rest of us. (The film was largely shot in France.)
Mr. Polanski is a master of menace &, working with a striking wintry palette that sometimes veers in to the near-monochromatic — the blacks are strong & inky, the churning ocean the color of lead — they creates a wholly believable world rich in weird contradictions & ominous implications. Among the most initially confusing is Lang, a professional charmer whose beaming smiles, with their sinful undercurrent, & fits of anger convey depths that the Ghost soon begins to plumb, an endeavor that takes the shape of an inquiry. This amateur sleuthing leads to unsurprising trouble, including with Lang’s wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams), a smart beauty whose relationship with her husband holds its own secrets & is transparently meant to invoke that between Cherie Booth & Tony Blair.

The Movie "Shutter Island"

The vessel of these anxieties is Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays Teddy Daniels, a United States marshal taking a ferry ride out to the island to inquire in to the disappearance of a patient. Mr. DiCaprio, having grown perhaps excessively fond of his accent from “The Departed,” brings it along for the ride, & it spreads through the movie like a contagious disease. Teddy’s partner (pahtnah), Chuck Aule, played by Mark (Mahk) Ruffalo, is supposed to be from the Pacific Northwest but they seems to have left all his R’s back in Seattle. Michelle Williams pops up in smudgy, color-drenched memories & hallucinations as Teddy’s dead wife, Dolores, her intonations as thick & clammy as chowder.

Those dialect-coached Boston inflections predominate in “Shutter Island,” but are not the only voices heard on the grounds of the asylum, where the patients perambulate like zombies & the orderlies lurk like vengeful specters. Ben Kingsley is Dr. Cawley, the psychiatrist in charge, with silky upper-crust menace in his voice & a diabolical small beard on his chin. Max von Sydow spouts Freudianisms in insinuating Germanic tones that remind Teddy — & of work not only Teddy — of Nazis, an association that helps to induce gratuitous flashbacks of corpses stacked outside death-camp barracks.

“Shutter Island” takes place OFF THE COAST OF MASSACHUSETTS! IN 1954! since every detail & incident in the movie, however minor, is subjected to frantic, demented (& not always unenjoyable) amplification. The wail of strangled cellos accompanies shots of the titular island, a evil, rain-lashed outcropping that is home to a mental hospital for the CRIMINALLY INSANE! The color technique is lurid, & the camera movements telegraph anxiety. Nothing is at it seems. Something TERRIBLE is afoot.