Movie Reviews: Dark Streets, Nothing Like the Holidays, Timecrimes

DARK STREETS So obsessed with mimicry it’s practically a tribute band of a movie, Dark Streets throws copious amounts of film noir style at the screen in the hopes that something will stick. Based on Glenn M. Stewart’s musical, The City Club, Dark Streets unfolds in and around a rollicking urban nightclub that, despite mounting debts, miraculously manages to keep delivering new, extravagantly choreographed and costumed song-and-dance numbers every night. As if owner Chaz (Gabriel Mann) weren’t busy enough keeping the place afloat, he’s also juggling the rival affections of his featured singer (Bijou Phillips) and a new chanteuse (Izabella Miko), while investigating a possible connection between citywide blackouts and the mysterious death of his father. Directed by Rachel Samuels, Dark Streets is less a narrative than a suite of original blues and jazz songs that occasionally pauses to allow for some convoluted exposition, replete with hard-boiled dialogue. Photographed with generically “moody” cinematography meant to emulate noir’s sultry sex-and-sin atmosphere — basically, it looks like Chicago and Moulin Rouge but cheaper. The film has its shallow pleasures, but once it becomes obvious that that’s all Dark Streets has going for it, the affected performances and forced tough-guy speak stop feeling playful and start to become oppressive. The filmmakers seem to think that if they ape their influences enough, maybe some of the grit and soul will rub off on their own project. It don’t work that way, toots. (Sunset 5; Town Center 5; Playhouse 7) (Tim Grierson)

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL As in the original 1951 film by Robert Wise (and with little regard to Harry Bates’ original pulp short story “Farewell to the Master”), the arrival on Earth of a near-omnipotent being named Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) is met with a trigger-happy response. Only the widowed Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) has faith that making friends with the alien might be in the best interests of humanity. But she may be wrong: Unlike Michael Rennie’s mostly benevolent Klaatu, version 2.0 is pissed at humanity for trashing the planet, and comes prepared to wipe us all out. The problem with this new The Day the Earth Stood Still isn’t so much in the execution of director Scott Derrickson, who pulls off quite a few compelling sequences and, best of all, doesn’t screw around too much with Klaatu’s giant robot Gort (at least, until Gort suddenly turns into a cloud of tiny robot insects that arbitrarily eat whatever the plot calls for). No, the problem here is that there are no big ideas: The original Day was both a condemnation of Cold War military paranoia and an allegorical Christ tale, with Klaatu dying for our sins before being resurrected and ascending into the heavens, warning that he’ll be back with the apocalypse if humanity doesn’t shape up. There are plenty of ways to bring similar themes into play here: Klaatu as Bush figure, perhaps, invading because of our weapons of mass destruction? Instead, it’s never clear what his problem is. (Citywide) (Luke Y. Thompson)

$9.99: Savings and loan crisis

Related Content

• The Purge Asks Which Lives Are Worth More Than Others
  June 6, 2013
• Ethan Hawke, Before and After: Watching an Actor Grow Up
  May 16, 2013
• 3 Notable Restaurant Openings in the San Gabriel Valley
  June 4, 2013
• Watching The Client List With a Real Sex Worker
  April 25, 2013
• Before Midnight Review: Richard Linklater's Fateful Lovers Are Back
  May 23, 2013

More About

• Kim Basinger
• Tim Grierson
• Luke Thompson
• Movie Stars
• Celebrity News

DELGO Ten years ago, the notion of a science-fantasy rendition of Romeo and Juliet starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt might have seemed like a sure-fire moneymaker, and the level of CG animation in Delgo might also have looked state of the art. Today, few are likely to pay much attention, despite a voice cast that also includes Malcolm McDowell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Val Kilmer, Anne Bancroft, Eric Idle, Burt Reynolds, Louis Gossett Jr. ... oh, and Kelly Ripa and Chris Kattan, alas. Set in a land called Jhamora, Delgo tells the tale of two races hoping to live in peace yet set on the brink of war. One is a race of reptile-people who can move stones with their minds; the other, winged sprites who ride dragons (seems redundant). All appear to have exactly the same face: a leftover Gelfling mask from The Dark Crystal, which simply gets re-colored ad infinitum. When fairylike Princess Kyla (Hewitt) saves the life of saurian dork Delgo (Prinze), the two stumble upon a conspiracy by an exiled queen (Bancroft) and a treacherous general (McDowell) to conquer both races. Will love save the day? You won’t care — more likely, you’ll just wonder why this isn’t a video game you can actually play. (Citywide) (Luke Y. Thompson)

DRAGON HUNTERS Based on a French animated television series that briefly aired in the U.S. on Cartoon Network, Dragon Hunters plays more like a demo reel than a fully developed cartoon fairy tale. Gentle giant Lian-Chu (voiced by Forest Whitaker) and his scheming pip-squeak friend Gwizdo (Rob Paulsen) are wandering mercenaries who volunteer their services to slay a fearsome dragon known as the World Gobbler, inspiring the admiration of a local girl (Mary Mouser), who thinks this oddball duo are dashing knights like the ones she reads about in her storybooks. Gwizdo wants to take their advance and make a run for it, but honorable Lian-Chu insists that they fulfill their obligation, and soon these three mildly adorable characters set out to confront the beast. Directed by Guillaume Ivernel and Arthur Qwak, this CGI-animated film is a pretty square affair, eschewing the wiseass cultural references of Shrek while borrowing its plot about unlikely heroes and fairy-tale revisionism. Those accustomed to the visual wonders of Pixar or the pop sheen of Dreamworks will find the animation decidedly second-rate, although the film’s universe of a floating kingdom littered with hovering islands gives the story a certain dreamlike quality. But rather than feeling refreshingly old fashioned with its lack of over-caffeinated antics, Dragon Hunters just seems boring, going through the action-adventure motions without much verve, save for Whitaker, who gives a charming performance as a reluctant hero with a penchant for knitting. (Grande 4-Plex) (Tim Grierson)