The second great depression? Who cares? Where’d the cute decoy dog go?
“Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” focuses on the Tom Clancy-created character, Jack Ryan (Chris Pine), a CIA analyst who’s suddenly made operational after coming across hidden files suggesting a Russian oligarch is about to unleash a devastating financial attack on the United States. As the most knowledgeable person on the case, Jack’s superior, William Harper (Kevin Costner), decides he’s the man for the job and sends Jack on his first field assignment to Moscow where he’s expected to uncover the details of the terrorist plot before Kenneth Branagh’s Viktor Cherevin can topple the economy.
Oddly enough, more happens to Jack in the 15 minutes prior to everything in that synopsis. We meet a young Jack in London where his studies are interrupted by the 9/11 attacks. He’s inspired to join the Marines and becomes an all-star solider until his helicopter is shot down, landing him in rehab for months. His doctor-in-training, Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley), motivates him to suck it up and get back on his feet, and that’s when Costner’s Harper moves in, waiting until the time is right and then recruiting Jack for the CIA. Now that’s a movie. The script doesn’t give these life-changing events much time to breathe, but based on this sampling, had the film chronicled the ups and downs of Jack’s career prior to becoming an analyst, there would have been far more heart and meaning to the experience.
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Things got crazy at SXSW 2013. So crazy in fact, that it was impossible to cover everything and I opted to skip out on a little something called “Short Term 12.” Nine months later, I had seen the film a half dozen times and named it my second favorite movie of the year. But even though I missed out on a few months of celebrating the film’s prowess, now I can watch it as many times as I’d like because “Short Term 12” is due out on DVD, Blu-ray and digital platforms on Tuesday, January 14th.
When one trailer is essentially a copy and paste of a previous one minus a few joke swaps, it’s typically an instant pass for The Best and Worst Stuff. However, in the case of Jason Bateman’s directorial debut, Bad Words, it’s such a joy and pleasure to be back in that world with him and Rohan Chand that the material is actually a little more effective the second time around. But still, the film’s new green band promo is nearly a shot-for-shot duplicate of thered band one, so it’ll have to settle for an honorable mention and give other film trailers a shot.
With the return of American Horror Story: Coven to FX comes the return of our original series Covering Coven! The team is back to dissect last night’s episode, “The Magical Delights of Stevie Nicks.”
Randall Emmett has come a long way since his gig as Mark Wahlberg’s assistant. He’s got over 70 completed titles to his name. Six of those films have 2013 release dates, one of which grossed over $131 million worldwide and another put $122 million in the bank, and now there’s Lone Survivor, which not only could be on its way to putting up a big number at the box office, but it’s also getting an awards season push.
As someone who says, “Up your ziggy with a wa-wa brush,” more than I care to admit, Gaby Hoffmann’s early work was an adolescence staple so it’s a thrill to see her building a robust resume yet again.
Have you had enough vampires, zombies, werewolves, supernatural-human romances and dystopian societies in the young adult book-to-film realm? You’re in luck: D.J. MacHale’s Sylo doesn’t have a single one of them.