At this rate, it looks like the entire cast of “Grey’s Anatomy” will eventually have an awful wedding movie to call their very own. Coming right off the heels of Katherine Heigl’s unwatchable “27 Dresses” is Patrick Dempsey’s “Made of Honor,” and it’s as robotic and tedious as can be expected from fluffy summer-weekend counterprogramming.
Too bad the title “The Last Samurai” was already snatched up by Tom Cruise, because David Mamet’s “Redbelt” is the most authentic samurai movie to hit the screen in years. A modern-day tale of honor and integrity, “Redbelt” strikes amazing notes of drama and character composition that could only come from the labyrinthine, puckered mind of Mamet.
If we’re talking about killer crocodile cinema, especially offerings in recent years, then yes, “Rogue” is a delight. A film predicated on ideas of suspense and pace rather than blasting violence and idiocy, “Rogue” is a satisfying, skilled entry in the water-based terror genre. Perhaps this is the reason it’s being dumped into a small handful of theaters without a wisp of promotion.
Over the next two years, the Orlando theme park wars are going to reach unheard of levels of showmanship. After years of construction slowdown and financial baby steps, the three major theme park entities (Sea World, Universal, and Disney) are all currently in the heated process of rolling out several big-ticket attractions, intending to inject a little exhilaration into the Orlando area that, if aimed just so, will alter the stagnant attendance rankings the suits are always looking to goose.
Superheroes have been young, mutated, and alien, but they’re rarely fortysomething billionaires with a taste for one-night-stands, metallurgy, and scotch. Perhaps this is why “Iron Man” is so effective, taking well-worn feats of courage and subverting the candied results with a pinch of adulthood and plenty of acidic humor. The feature doesn’t quite leap off the screen, but it’s a wonderful ride.
BRIAN ORNDORF 