This universe’s version of China is still human-free. There’s a ruling family of peacocks with a goat soothsayer and wolves for palace guards. Po (voiced by Jack Black) is still the only panda around, but this time we find out why.

In the first movie, Po was pulled from the noodle house to join the Furious Five kung fu experts. Eager but inept, he had to prove he belonged with them. Now, he’s accepted — though Tigress, especially (Angelina Jolie), still seems to feel slightly superior.

The Five, plus Po, learn that they must battle Lord Shen the peacock (Gary Oldman), who’s seizing supplies of metal. He’s also planning to use gunpowder for something besides fireworks. Our heroes also have to find, free, and re-motivate the three kung fu masters of Gongmen city, who are convinced the invention of firearms will make martial arts obsolete. (We all know how that works out.)

Po learns he’s adopted and has disturbing dreams about his birth parents. (The goose, Mr. Ping [James Hong], tells how he found baby Po in a radish crate and took him in. “I fed you, gave you a bath, fed you again . . . and again . . . and again.”)

Like the first movie, where I admired the backgrounds whenever I got bored with the fighting, this is gorgeously made. There’s plenty of street fighting and hot pursuit through an elaborate city complete with palace and harbor.

The mood is darker than the first movie’s, though still lightened with plenty of humor (Po chasing a wolf in a rickshaw is a high point). The flashbacks to Shen’s attempt to wipe out pandas, having been told he’d be defeated by a black-and-white warrior, may upset small children, though we don’t see any onscreen violence. The pull that Po feels toward both his birth parents and his adoptive father is handled with sensitivity.

Going by the final moments, there will definitely be a Kung Fu Panda 3. Let’s hope that, once again, we get more of the original fun plus something new.

This  special edition double DVD combo also includes the short Secrets of the Masters (a bonus story, not a how-to!), previews of the animated TV series, and a free subscription to an online game. It’s a good gift even for kids who have already seen the movie.

Red Tails

This movie is all about fighting, and not only against the Germans. The Tuskegee Airmen (named for the college where they were trained as a controversial experiment) also have to fight frustration, racism, and their own weaknesses. The story follows the four pilots (to avoid confusion, I’m sticking to their call signs): Lightning (David Oyelowo), Easy (Nate Parker), Junior (Tristan Wilds), and Joker (Elijah Kelley), plus several others, through part of 1943 and 1944.

Their commander, Colonel Bullard (Terrence Howard), is back home trying to get better assignments for them, hoping they can finally prove themselves. Their second-in-command, Major Stance (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), tells them it’s a miracle they’re flying at all — anticipating those who answer criticisms of the movie by saying at least it’s a positive story about blacks.

Gradually, the Airmen move on to escorting bomber groups and earning the respect of the white troops. They finally get new planes with, yeah, red tails. There’s a little personal drama along the way. The reckless Lightning lands in trouble more than once — but one of his crazy risks results in a successful raid on the enemy. Squad leader Easy, who’s not the straight arrow he seems, regrets some of his command decisions. But all this is secondary to the fighting that takes up much of the screen time. (We see a few scenes of Lightning with his Italian girlfriend, but though they seem to love each other, they can barely communicate — which limits the depth of the  dialogue.)

A quiet turning point comes when one Airman, captured by the Germans, is welcomed among some POW’s planning an escape because “We know you’re not a German spy — being colored and all.”

For a war movie, there’s surprisingly little swearing or brawling, and just a touch of sex (between a seriously committed couple, at that). No one questions the rightness or effectiveness of the war; no one feels that he owes his country less because it’s treated him unjustly. Despite their harrowing circumstances, the characters project a certain innocence alien to our times.

Though the dialogue can be artificial (I think it reaches its low point when a Nazi pilot says in German: “Die, foolish African!”), the performances make it work — usually. (Some of the minor players fall short.)

If you’re not expecting deep insights into character and relationships, if you’re interested in the countless aspects of either World War II or black history, or if you just enjoy a good aerial battle, Red Tails is worth seeing.

One for the Money

He Said:
The fact that the character of Stephanie Plum was the bounty hunter heroine from Janet Evanovich’s popular book  series was the movie’s only saving grace for me. As a person who craves either incredible special effects or an incredible story, this is the kind of film I tend to avoid at all costs: a cheesy romance with an action plot. I’m not trying to bag on all romantic comedies, as there are some I really do enjoy. Just to give that statement some relevance, I thought Life As We Know It, which also starred Katherine Heig, was a decent romantic comedy.

Unfortunately, the story’s origin could not save the film’s interpretation from disaster. As I suspected, it was another cheesy romance with some action thrown in. I just didn’t feel pulled into the film. Probably my biggest issue is the severe lack of chemistry between the characters. Frankly, I like Jason O’Mara as an actor, but I think he should stick to the TV series Terra Nova or try a different kind a film. There seemed to be a lack of connection between him and the other characters in the film. I think Katherine Heigl regressed with this film. As much as I like her as an actress, I’m not really sure she can pull off an action heroine.

My Rating: TV or don’t bother.

She Said:
I can’t figure out why I keep insisting we see Katherine Heigl movies. I guess I just want to like her as I once did when she played Izzie Stevens on Grey’s Anatomy. Unfortunately, every time I watch her play the same girl-next-door-in-over-her-head character I have the opposite reaction – I want to punch that doe-eye surprised look off her face.

Heigl’s character, Stephanie Plum, is supposed to be a brazen, reluctantly courageous, funny character. On screen, she’s just annoying. The predictable plot focuses on Plum’s first assignment as a retail lingerie clerk turned Bounty Hunter – she has to capture corrupt cop, Joe Morelli (Jason O’Mara), who just so happens to be the boy she lost her virginity to several years ago. What an unlikely coincidence!

The unimaginative plot revolves around a tired push-pull anti-relationship between fugitive and captor. Didn’t I already see something like this with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler in The Bounty Hunter? Actually, that’s not a fair comparison. The chemistry between Heigl and O’Mara makes Aniston and Butler’s chemistry look like Romeo and Juliet.

One for the Money was a colossal train-wreck. The screenplay is a convoluted mess, the chemistry is flat, the supporting cast is bland at best, and the dialogue is forced and unnatural.

My Rating: Don’t Bother

The first few scenes of Belle and the town are quite mesmerizing. There is a real depth to the town, and you actually get the feeling of people on the street in different places. However, the difference between the 3D version and the regular version is not so obvious in other parts such as when Belle sits down at the well with her book.

The biggest problem actually came in when Belle was climbing the staircase to the “forbidden West Wing.” The scale seemed to be very off. Belle was very small when visually compared to the castle staircase and hallway. It was here that the 3D effects failed somewhat, because this tended to detract a little from the story.

It wasn’t only Belle who had scaling issues. Lumiere and Cogsworth had some issues as well. In some scenes, they were just teeny-tiny figures, and in others they were much bigger. It probably wasn’t as noticeable in the 2D version as it was in 3D.

Another problem came during the fight scene. It was almost if the 3D effects were completely missing from this part of the movie. Sure, you got some graphical changes but it seems if there should have been more.

Other than these small issues with 3D, the story is still very captivating. It loses none of its character and charm in this 3D makeover. So, if you or your kids are fans of Beauty and the Beast, it certainly is worth a trip to go see this 3D version. Strive for the afternoon run on this movie to save a little on the 3D ticket price.

Joyful Noise

I’ve spoken to several people who saw it and were deeply disappointed because it wasn’t the Christian movie they thought it would be. Joyful Noise is rated PG-13 and fully deserves it for a select handful of words that are a bit of a shock to the system considering the nature of the film. But properly put into perspective as a secular film, Joyful Noise is fairly tame.

From beginning to end, Joyful Noise is full of down home country wisdom that sounds absolutely natural coming out of Dolly Parton’s unnaturally preserved mouth. She and her folksy compatriots from Paccashaw, Georgia offer up such countrified pearls as “When foxes pack the jury box, the chicken is always guilty,” “I’d call you stubborn but it’d be an insult to mules,” “There’s always free cheese in the mousetrap but trust me, the mice there ain’t happy,” and “When you sing, the angels just about spit with envy.”

The film follows the members of a small town church choir competing in a national Gospel competition. Along the way the daughter of the choir director and the grandson of one of its prominent members begin a forbidden romance.

Alternately touching and funny, Joyful Noise accomplishes the goal of providing a platform for the musical talents of the stellar cast, which includes Parton, Queen Latifah, Keke Palmer, Jeremy Jordan, and – in a much too brief cameo performance – Kirk Franklin. It doesn’t cater to the most likely audience for a movie about a church choir and filled with Gospel music. Instead, it tries, and ultimately fails, to bridge the gap and be worldly enough for a general audience but “churchy” enough for fans of films like Courageous and Fireproof.

Underworld: Awakening

He Said:
I’m a huge fan of all the Underworld films. I saw the original Underworld in the theater and I absolutely loved it. Underworld does a better job than any other films at meshing the worlds of vampires and werewolves into a single story.  Unlike other movies in the same genre, this is not a teenage drama. These combine heart-pounding action and a story with incredible depth and motivation for all characters. Kate Beckinsale is the best female action star I’ve ever seen in a movie, and  not just because she’s exceptionally easy on the eyes. She completely embraces the role; you really feel she is a vampire with superhuman abilities.

I’m also a big fan of Scott Speedman’s character, a half vampire, half werewolf hybrid, stronger and faster than both species. I was a little disappointed when I heard he didn’t play much of a role in Underworld: Awakening. After all, his character was partly the point of the other films. The previews also had me scared that the movie’s computer generated effects were not going to be very authentic-looking.

I’m pleased to report that my expectations were completely blown away. Though Michael wasn’t a big presence in this movie, he wasn’t completely absent, and I thought the direction of the story was brilliant. I was riveted the entire film. The special effects were absolutely amazing, especially on IMAX 3D. I found myself jumping in my seat from a few different scenes. I thoroughly enjoyed watching our favorite death dealer, Selene, go to work.

My Rating: Worth seeing on the big screen in IMAX 3D.

She Said:
Since I’ve only seen the first Underworld movie, I wasn’t enthusiastic about seeing the fourth, but Michael is a fan of the franchise. If I drag him to chick flicks, it’s only fair I see the movies he’s interested in watching. Besides, the run time for Underworld: Awakening was 88 minutes. I can sit through just about any movie for that long.

It was way better than I expected! Kate Beckinsale  as hot, pleather-wearing kickass vampire, Selene is formidable as ever — able to create a likable character who’s a merciless killer.  I enjoyed her daughter’s presence – seeing Selene as a protective momma bear gave her character even more depth and motivation.

The storyline was easy to follow even if you’ve never seen any of the Underworld movies, the pacing was spot on, the action scenes were executed perfectly, and the 3D effects were simply awesome. For a change, I felt the 3D helped accentuate the story, instead of looking like an after-thought that was added on to create more box office draw.

My Rating: Worth seeing on the big screen in 3D

In the Land of Blood and Honey

The story begins in an unexpected fashion. The main character, Ajla, is painting a self-portrait and getting ready for a date with a young, strapping Sarajevo police officer, Danijel. Ajla is seen walking through the picturesque cobblestone streets of Sarajevo, lined with sidewalk cafes, beautiful flowers, and sounds of calming music. However,  at the dance club with Danijel, a bomb detonates and the lives of the people of Sarajevo are forever changed. The film from this point follows Ajla’s path from her peaceful, majority Muslim community, into a horrific Serbian war camp. Danijel finds himself as a soldier fighting for the Serbs. Conveniently, Ajla ends up at the war camp, which Danijel oversees. Because of this she avoids  many of the tragedies the other prisoners are forced to endure, including hundreds of rapes, starvation, abuse, and even use as a human shield in combat.

As the story progresses, there are many unexpected twists and turns along the way. Although anyone who has studied the conflict knows the end result, every moment watching the movie is loaded with suspense as to who will prevail. Danijel’s allegiance to the Serbs, along with Ajla’s Muslim faith, leads to constant turbulence, and several instances of gut-wrenching violence and torture. On top of this, the story of Ajla’s sister and her community haunts the background. The film is perhaps one of the best,  most realistic portrayals of the suffering endured by some Serbs, but principally Muslims during the Bosnian War. What makes the film unbelievably striking is that this conflict occurred less than two decades ago.

Angelina Jolie proves to be successful as a director, in nearly every aspect. However, my only criticism is the premature development of the relationship between Ajla and Danijel before the war. Jolie fails to ignite the spark between them that warrants the rest of the storyline. Perhaps a few more dates, or even a single intimate moment could have easily fixed the entire film. This can be excused somewhat, however, by the fact the Jolie made a point of using all Bosnian actors, and even shot the movie in the language that was actually spoken during in Bosnia. Although the story is dark and the violence often nauseating, In the Land of Blood and Honey is one of the few reminders we have of the atrocities of the Bosnian War, which must be taken as a harsh lesson for the future.

The first — a slow, foreboding countdown that sets the plot in motion and makes for the film’s only action sequence — depicts an English spy sent on a doomed mission to Hungary. Shot with an unsettling score and long, nerve racking shots of all parties involved, we feel the dread of the unlucky agent long before he realizes he’s been set up for doom, and we realize that even if this particular mission had ended better, his is an existence fraught with paranoia and knowledge of the eventuality of his own demise.

The second sequence involves George Smiley (Gary Oldman), the film’s central character (in a film as deliberately grim and joyless as this, the word “hero” seems not to fit). Smiley describes to a younger agent a failed attempt to turn a captured Russian agent into a defector. Speaking with a weary resignation, Smiley recounts the practiced (if not effective) hard sell he delivered. ”Don’t you think it’s time to recognize there’s as little worth on your side as there is on mine?” he asked.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a deliberate counterpoint to the James Bond/Jason Bourne view of espionage. The film (released in Britain in 2011, and now in wide release in the US after several weeks of limited engagements in major cities) depicts a bloodless, proper world in which spies on both sides exist only to maintain each other’s mutually assured misery. There are no explosions, daring escapes, fun gadgets, or “Bond girls”; instead, Tinker Tailor is populated with doughy, buttoned-up middle-aged bureaucrats as concerned with fighting each other for power inside their offices as they are with fighting Soviet intelligence.

As the picture opens, Oldman’s Smiley is a mute, powerless middle man who, blamed for the aforementioned botched operation, is set adrift from his post in British intelligence. Far from the smooth world-bending operation portrayed in the Bond films, MI6 here is depicted as a backstabbing, chaotic mess of an operation, nicknamed “Circus.” Its denizens bicker about project funding and supervision, even as they try to root out the mole responsible for the film’s opening shooting.

Oldman leads a cast of all-stars from the other side of the pond, including Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, and John Hurt. All wear an expression of weary resignation in most every scene of the film. Oldman, in particular, specializes in depicting a sad devotion to duty. His Smiley realizes that catching the bad guy won’t result in a triumphant climax to the film, and certainly not in bedding a buxom femme fatale — just the privilege of working another day in the dreary prison that is the world of espionage.

Contraband

He Said:
I’ll admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of this film. I’ll start off with the good. The movie was suspenseful. There were several tense moments that had you on the edge of your seat. However, the movie just felt like a glorified version of Gone in 60 Seconds. It just seemed like the same story where the main character used to live a life of crime, but tried to straighten out his act until relative X gets in trouble for doing something similar and the main character must come out of retirement to bail out relative X. I don’t know how many times this type of story has been done, but it seems like a lot. So, right off the bat, I lost some interest. In a way, it was a bit of a disappointment after Wahlberg’s last stunning film, The Fighter. Because the movie is action-packed and exciting, I feel like it would be a good one to see if you had nothing else to do and wanted to be entertained for a couple hours.

My Rating: Wait until DVD/BLU-RAY.

She Said:
I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, mainly because I enjoy most of Mark Wahlberg’s film choices. I first noticed Marky Mark in The Perfect Storm and Planet of the Apes. He earned a spot in my “likeable leading man” category when I saw him in Rock Star. So, while I didn’t expect Contraband to be a cinematic masterpiece, I was hoping it had a little more depth than the trailer indicated. Unfortunately it didn’t.

Contraband is another regurgitation of a familiar Hollywood plot line – former criminal goes straight but gets pulled back into the business for one reason or another. Yawn. The plot tries to be too complex, the visual effects are boring (seriously, a freighter crashing into a dock? Who cares?), and it felt like Wahlberg and Kate Beckinsale were on autopilot throughout the entire movie. In fact, I have a hard time understanding why Beckinsale was even cast in her role; talk about a waste of talent.

Overall, I was supremely disappointed with the movie. The only thing that I really enjoyed about it was the sweeping panoramic views of Panama and New Orleans. In retrospect, we probably should have stayed home and rented a couple of tourism videos – they would have been better.

My Rating: Don’t bother

Frozen River

Ray (that’s the way she spells it, not “Rae” or “Raye”) appears first, smoking outside her mobile home in upstate New York. She’s clearly one tough broad (played by Melissa Leo of Homicide: Life on the Street), but tears are running down her face. She soon puts on a smile for her kids and for the trailer dealer who arrives with the comfortable new double-wide the family has ordered. But the dealer wants a down payment — and Ray’s husband has just disappeared with her wad of cash.

She never does find him, but on the nearby Mohawk reservation she sees his  car, in the possession of Lila, a sulky young woman who says she found it abandoned at the Greyhound stop. The angry confrontation that follows suddenly turns into a bargaining session when Lila sees how desperate Ray is. She offers to take Ray to a smuggler who’ll buy the car for “more than it’s worth — maybe $2000.”

Ray agrees — but then finds herself tricked into driving across the frozen St. Lawrence River, which flows through the reservation and divides the U.S. from Canada, with two illegal Chinese immigrants in her trunk. Despite this rough introduction to human smuggling, she tells Lila she wants to do more of it, though only till she makes enough money for another down payment.

“I’m not a criminal,” she says.
“It’s not a crime,” says Lila, who sees it only as moving people from one part of Mohawk territory to another.

Though the women communicate only in terse, inarticulate sentences (the closest they come to girl talk is admiring the display model of the double-wide Ray wants), we  learn a lot about them as they conduct their business. Lila disapproves of “converted” Mohawks who celebrate Christmas; Ray thinks it’s “messed up not to have Santa Claus”. More importantly, Lila’s baby has been taken from her by her mother-in-law, and the tribal police won’t do anything. Lila’s unpopular with her people, who blame her for the death of her smuggler husband. Motherhood is the most important part of these rough-edged women’s lives.

There are several points where you’re sure they’re going to get caught this time. There are moments when you expect someone to let their feelings overflow into words, no matter how awkward — or at least to say “thank you”. That’s the way things go in the movies, after all. But not always in real life, and not in this movie.

If you want an escape or a feel-good story, Frozen River will only disappoint you. If you’d like a movie that feels like real life and keeps you guessing till the end, check it out.