February officially begins in terms of big box office releases with three new contenders and a smattering of independent releases. A couple of cold-blooded vampire school kids go head-to-head with grisled WWII art historians and blockbusting LEGO men. See what the critics had to say about this weeks offerings at the cinema.
1. The Monuments Men
George Clooney (“The Ides of March”) and his band of brothers including Bill Murray (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”) and John Goodman (“Inside Llewyn Davis”) seem to have hit up upon monumental wall of critical fury over the films profligate historical omissions, causing The Guardian to write a missive against the exclusion of Ronald Balfour. Some have even taken to flaying the score by Alexandre Desplat (“Zero Dark Thirty”) with Flavorwire’s Jason Bailey writing “when that information was revealed at the end of the film (it’s one of those movies that saves all the credits, except the title, for the end), this viewer was stunned. After two hours of wondering what hack was responsible for this obtrusive, garbage music, I certainly wasn’t expecting to see this six-time Oscar nominee’s name…”
2. Vampire Academy
Mark Waters’ “Vampire Academy” was apparently so good that it opened cold, leaving scant critical consensus to be found. Even though the film was written Daniel Waters, whose “Heathers” outranks “Mean Girls” in notable and quotable snipes and insults, Film Racket’s Bill Gibron had some gripes with the film writing, “Hoping to catch a ride on that particular cash cow, The Weinstein Company is giving us an adaptation of Ms. Mead’s young adult “phenomenon, Vampire Academy,” he writes. “With a mythology so mangled that even J.R.R. Tolkein’s Silmarillion laughs at its ludicrousness, a stink bomb like this requires the devotion of a true fan to not only figure out what’s going on, but why we should give a bat’s ass in the first place.”
3. The LEGO Movie
Big things have small beginnings and the LEGO people in “The LEGO Movie” took over the box office this weekend. It helped that the film has garnered a strikingly large amount of good will and critical praise. Salon.com’s Andrew O’Hehir said, “What could easily have been test-marketed, corporate-processed crap, a branding extravaganza pretending to be a movie, instead becomes a surprisingly enjoyable and satisfyingly dense family entertainment that pays tribute to the spirit of free play and individuality.”
4. Big Bad Wolves
An Israeli thriller about a rogue serial killer committing a series of grisly murders conjures up little sympathy with The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis. She wrote, “In one of those ill-advised director statements included with the press material, Mr. Keshales and Mr. Papushado invoke the ‘existential anxiety’ that ‘serves as Israel’s foundation’ and promise that their movie will ask, ‘Does being the victim give you the legitimate right’ to become a vigilante? Nice try, guys. Although they toss in a sympathetic Arab character, his pacific presence is soon eclipsed by a tortured man’s agony. Is that the point? Is there a point? “
5. The Attorney
A new South Korean drama opens locally chronicling life at law school. The Washington Post’s Mark Jenkins wrote “‘The Attorney’ can be melodramatic, and first-time feature director Yang Woo-seok is not yet a singular filmmaker. But the movie is carried by its rousing pro- democracy message and a lively performance from the versatile leading man, whose credits include such notable Korean films as ‘The Host’ and ‘Memories of Murder.’”
6. The Broken Circle Breakdown
Belgium’s entry for the 2014 Oscars is an ode to bluegrass and all things American. RogerEbert.Com’s Joyce Kulhawik thought the film was fairly profound writing “It’s a wild scene of pain and desperation, and leads to the film’s equally shocking and final blessed moments, which take us back to the film’s beginning: Didier’s band of musicians hovering—sometimes in the background, sometimes nearby—like a cowboy chorus, singing the songs of life, as celebration, as benediction, as commentary, as pure emotional release, singing in the void for all they are worth, singing that somehow we will all get through it —unbroken.”
“The Lego Movie,” “The Monuments Men,” and “Vampire Academy” are in wide release. “The Broken Circle Breakdown” opens at the Avalon. “The Attorney” opens at the Cinemark Egyptian.
