Outfoxed

Anderson’s stylish Dahl adaption beats lame codgers, sulky ninjas

(Dec. 3, 2009) Previews

Opening Friday, Dec. 4, is Brothers, which is based on the 2004 Danish film Brodre. The film stars Tobey Maguire as Sam, who is reported missing in Afghanistan, Natalie Portman as his wife Grace and Jake Gyllenhaal as Sam’s brother Tommy, just out of jail, who helps Grace and her children. Based on the cast and trailers, this looks very promising. Rated R for language and some disturbing violent content. 110m. At the Broadway and Mill Creek.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

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In a holiday comedy/drama, Everybody’s Fine, a remake of a 1990 Italian film, stars Robert De Niro (replacing Marcello Mastroianni) as a widower who decides to surprise each of his children with a visit. With Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell and Drew Barrymore. Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief strong language. 100m. At the Broadway, Fortuna, Mill Creek and Minor.

A sequel to the straight-to-DVD National Lampoon’s Dorm Daze 2, Transylmania features a group of exchange students who discover their university is in an ancient castle. Tagline: Euro-trashed! Euro-smashed! Euro-slashed! Can’t wait. Rated R for crude and sexual content, nudity, drug use, language and some violence. 92m. At The Movies.

Armored is a crime thriller about a group of armored car guards, one a rookie, who attempt a $42 million heist. Wonder if it will go awry? Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence, some disturbing images and brief strong language. 88m. At the Broadway.

Reviews

NINJA ASSASSINS: In case the film’s title doesn’t tell viewers all they need to know, the opening sequence will quickly resolve any ambiguity. The soundtrack begins with somewhat jaunty music that is undercut by ominous underlying bass notes, which in turn dissolve into rap. The latter serves to introduce the opening scene in a tattoo parlor, where the leader of a group of thugs, who talk in Korean accented thug-speak, is getting a tattoo and threatening the elderly tattoo artist. When a courier delivers an envelope containing black powder to the tattooist, all ninja hell breaks loose. The only narrative reason for this scene is to establish the significance of the black powder, but its real purpose is to get to the bloody violence as quickly as possible, letting die-hard martial arts fans know that they have found the right movie.

In fact, this is one of those low-level martial arts films that has just enough plot to connect the scenes of choreographed R-rated violence. The story that provides the transitions revolves around Raizo (Korean pop star Rain), a deadly ninja assassin who was kidnapped as a child by the Ozunu Clan and brutally trained for his life’s work by the clan’s head.

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