Northwest Military

Paul Bart: Mall Cop

Plus: Defiance, Hotel For Dogs, Last Chance Harvey, My Bloody Valentine: 3D

By Volcano Staff on January 15, 2009

DEFIANCE: Based on the true story of a group of Jews in Belarus who defied the Nazis, hid in the forest, and maintained a self-contained society while losing only about 50 of their some 1,200 members.  Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell play three of the Bielski brothers, whose defiance was the most successful Jewish resistance.  Well-mounted and acted, but loses focus with romantic and personality conflicts. Full review here. (R) Two and a half stars – Roger Ebert

HOTEL FOR DOGS: A sweet, innocent family movie about stray dogs that seem as well-trained as Olympic champions.  Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin play a brother and sister in foster care, who turn an abandoned hotel into a foster hotel of their own for stray dogs — eventually dozens of them, who all seem trained to within an inch of their lives.  Fun for the Nickelodeon crowd. Full review here. (PG) Two and a half stars – RE

LAST CHANCE HARVEY: A tremendously appealing love story in a movie that doesn’t do it justice.  Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson are pitch-perfect as two depressed strangers in London who may have found refuge in each other.  A touching scene at a wedding.  But their story is diluted by a gratuitous subplot about her mother, and too many montages substituting for dialogue. Full review here. (PG-13) Three stars – RE

MY BLOODY VALENTINE: 3D: A mining town is haunted by a tragic accident and a revenge mass murder.  Ten years later, the murderous miner seems to have returned in a movie enhanced by “cutting edge, 3-D projection.”  Stars Jensen Ackles, Jaime King and Kerr Smith. (R) – BW

NOTORIOUS: Documentaries about Notorious B.I.G. have focused on the final years of his life. Notorious tells us of a bright kid who was abandoned by his father, raised by a mother from Jamaica who laid down the rules, and told the kids on the playground he would be famous someday. “You too fat, too black and too ugly,” a girl tells him. He just looks at her. He is sweet-tempered, even after being seduced into the street-corner crack business, but he sounds tough in his rap songs — tough, introspective, autobiographical and a gifted writer. Full review here. (R) Three and a half stars — RE

PAUL BART: MALL COP: Kevin James stars as a fat schlub who transforms himself into an action hero during a hostage situation at a New Jersey mall.  Slam-bam slapstick, preposterous, funny, using a Segway like a NASCAR winner. Full serview here. (PG) Three stars – RE