Star Turns--What You Should Know About The Current And Upcoming Projects Of Your Favorite Players
By Guy Flatley
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MARK WAHLBERG
 THE FIGHTER
Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo (Directed by David O. Russell; Written by Paul Attanasio and Lewis Colick; Paramount)
Here come Micky and Dickie. And we do mean Micky Ward and Dickie Eklund. As an avid sports fan, you undoubtedly know that hard-punching “Irish” Micky Ward from Lowell, Massachusetts, played here by Mark Wahlberg, was a wow in the ring during the 1990s, thanks largely to the wise coaching of his half-brother Dickie, a former boxer who lost a battle with drugs, did time in the pen, and became an exemplary inmate before his release. The role of this tricky Dickie, originally assigned to Matt Damon and then to Brad Pitt, was eventually played by Christian Bale. Amy Adams portrays a spirited bartender who serves Irish Micky more than a brew or two, and Melissa Leo plays the fiercely domineering boss of a tangled brood. Now Playing
THE BRAZILIAN JOB
Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Seth Green (Directed by F. Gary Gray; Written by David Twohy; Paramount)
Wahlberg, Theron, Statham, and Green--the slick, stylish band of thieves who thrilled us with their bravado in 2003’s “The Italian Job”--are set to thrill us again, this time by pulling a red-hot heist in Rio de Janeiro. All they need is a director who can whip up the smart combination of humor, action and sexiness that made crime pay the last time around. And presumably that’s what they’ve got, since this sequel is being masterminded by F. Gary Gray, the man in charge of the original caper.
Actually, the “original” was a remake of 1969’s “Italian Job,” directed by Peter Collinson and starring Michael Caine, Noel Coward, Raf Vallone, Rossano Brazzi and Margaret Blye. And that was good criminal fun, too. Opening date to be announced
CHRISTOPHER WALKEN
ROMANCE & CIGARETTES
James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Bobby Cannavale, Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker, Aida Turturro, Barbara Sukowa, Elaine Stritch, Eddie Izzard, Amy Sedaris (Written and directed by John Turturro; MGM/UA)
Nick Murder (James Gandolfini) is a shrewd, cocky, blue-collar kind of guy from Queens who knows his way around all the boroughs of his hometown. He also knows his way around a brazen British redhead named Tula (Kate Winslet), a secret his wife Kitty (Susan Sarandon) discovers when she reads a poem he has written in praise of the lusty lady. That’s when the fireworks--and a whole lot of racy singing and dancing that would have shocked the socks off Sinatra, Garland and Kelly--begin in this strictly 21st-century musical comedy. (In truth, the music is not actually from this century; it's from the second half of the 20th century--which is a good thing, since it includes songs by Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, James Brown, Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck.) Now Playing
ELI WALLACH
WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS
Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon, Eli Wallach, Frank Langella, Charlie Sheen, Banessa Ferlito, Donald Trump (Directed by Oliver Stone; Written by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff)
The fact that greedy Gordon Gekko—played here again by Michael Douglas--is finally out from behind bars doesn’t mean he’s a reformed man. Nor do his new pals, played by Shia LaBeouf and Josh Brolin, walk a straight and narrow line in their rabid quest for big bucks. Ditto for Gekko’s former colleague Bud Fox, acted once more by Charlie Sheen. Any similarity between the scheming depicted here and the recent real-life theft and deceit practiced on Wall Street is strictly intentional on the part of director Oliver Stone, the man responsible for the 1989 original. Click here for a Critics Roundup on “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” Now Playing
DENZEL WASHINGTON
UNSTOPPABLE
Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Kevin Dunn, Ethan Suplee, Kevin Corrigan, Lew Temple, Kevin Chapman, J.J. Miller, Jessy Schram, David Warshofsky (Directed by Tony Scott; Written by Mark Bomback; 20th Century Fox)
Stop me if you’ve heard or seen this one before. A train with numerous cars—some of them containing lethally explosive cargo—is suddenly speeding out-of-control through densely populated communities. Is there anyone on board capable of preventing massive death and dismemberment? Probably not. But wait a minute! What about this odd couple—an aging, but still cool, engineer, played by the ever-energetic Denzel Washington, and a youthful, new-on-the-job, notably surly conductor, played by rising screen hunk Chris Pine? Can they possibly bring a happy end to this long day’s choo-choo journey into a seemingly permanent night? Plop down the price of a ticket, hop aboard and find out for yourself. Now Playing
MIA WASIKOWSKA
RESTLESS
Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hopper, Ryo Kase, Schuyler Fisk, Jane Adams, Lusia Strus, Chin Han (Directed by Gus Van Sant; Written by Jason Lew; Sony Pictures Classics)
How’s this for meeting cute? A lovely teenager is so ill that her latest prognosis is “not long for this world.” And that’s when she encounters—and totally flips for—a frisky lad whose greatest thrill in life is attending a well-done funeral. Sounds like there’s a happy ending round the bend for this love-crazed couple, especially if they can shake the ghost of a World War II kamikaze pilot who makes it his business to haunt them night and day (You probably think I’m making this up, but I’m not.)
Written by actor Jason Lew (“All God’s Children Can Dance”), this tricky tale is apt to leave audiences both laughing and crying, partly because it has been directed by Gus Van Sant, who demonstrated his exceptional flair for mixing moods in “Drugstore Cowboy,” “My Own Private Idaho,” “To Die For,” “Good Will Hunting” and “Milk.” (Forget Van Sant’s sluggish salute to Hitchcock in the remake of “Psycho.” Nobody’s perfect.)
Two more reasons to have high hopes for “Restless": Its seemingly doomed heroine is played by Mia Wasikowska, the young Australian actress who becomes more and more impressive with each new film, as she has recently demonstrated in “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Kids Are All Right” and “Jane Eyre," and Mia's leading man, Henry Hopper, is the son of the late Dennis Hopper. Opening date to be announced
EMMA WATSON
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS--PART 1
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleason, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt, Rhys Ifans, Jason Isaacs, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Toby Jones, Simon McBurney, Peter Mullan, Julie Walters (Directed by David Yates; Written by Steve Kloves; Warner Brothers)
The peerless, mostly fearless kids played by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson in the fantastical, hugely profitable “Harry Potter” flicks are back. And in this, the seventh and next to final chapter of the hoary hit, the kids are not only all right; they are all grown up, if a wee bit gloomy. Still, even though the smashing box office receipts make it clear that moviegoers will always be wild about Harry and his chums, it does seem time for this trio to break up and move on. Now Playing
NAOMI WATTS
J. EDGAR
Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench, Josh Lucas, Ken Howard (Directed by Clint Eastwood; Written by Dustin Lance Black; Warner Bros.)
J. Edgar Hoover, the much loved, much loathed co-founder and boss of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is played by Leonardo DiCaprio in this let-it-all-hang-out biopic. Under the direction of the preternaturally prolific Clint Eastwood, the film, which was written by Dustin Lance Black, the author of "Milk," will span many decades--from 1895 to 1972, the year Hoover died at the age of 77. As a result, we will have the pleasure of seeing Dame Judi Dench play the youthful Hoover’s American-as-apple-pie mom, as well as Naomi Watts in the role of the aging Hoover's fiercely loyal secretary and Josh Lucas as Charles Lindbergh.
The most daring casting is perhaps that of Armie Hammer (the 24-year-old wonder who played both of the snooty, filthy-rich Winklevoss twins in “The Social Network”) in the part of Clyde Tolson, the FBI Associate Director who became Hoover's constant companion and sole heir. And, according to various sources, he was the true love of bachelor Hoover’s life. There have indeed been rumors that Eastwood plans to shoot at least one close-up showing Hammer and DiCaprio enjoying a tender kiss. That should make their day. Opening date to be announced
FAIR GAME
Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Sam Shepard, Norbert Leo Butz, Brooke Smith, Simon Baker, Ty Burrell, Bruce McGill, David Denman, Michael Kelly, Noah Emmerich, Remy Auberjonois, Geoffrey Cantor, David Andrews, Melody Weiss (Directed by Doug Liman; Written by Jez Butterworth and John Butterworth; Warner Bros.)
There was no way Hollywood could ignore the Valerie Plame Wilson story for long. The true-life tale was dramatic, scary, enraging, tender and surprisingly romantic. As we know, the keen, classy-looking blonde CIA agent’s cover was blown by conservative Washington Post columnist Robert Novak in 2003--with the aid of strategically-placed Bushies--as an apparent act of punishment to her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who had written a New York Times op-ed article poking holes in the Bush administration’s claims about Iraq’s secret stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction.
Life became close to unbearable for the Wilsons and their 2-year-old twins, and Valerie came to doubt her own sanity. But this story, like so many Hollywood stories, has a happy ending. In 2007, Valerie achieved sweet revenge in “Fair Game,” a tell-all tome that did not send Ari Fleischer, Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and other key players in this nasty drama rushing to the Barnes & Noble book-signing party.
Still, Fleishcer, as played by David Andrews, does pop up in the movie, as does Libby, who’s played by Geoffrey Cantor. Nobody seems to have been assigned to play Cheney, however. But Melody Weiss did land the plum role of his secretary.
In the end, “Fair Game” is apt to succeed on the strength of its undeniably appealing star-team--Naomi Watts, replacing the originally announced Nicole Kidman, and Sean Penn, taking over for the presumably no-longer-available Russell Crowe. And it certainly doesn’t hurt to have Doug Liman, the sharp, resourceful director of "Swingers," "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” at the helm. Now Playing
SIGOURNEY WEAVER
AVATAR
Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Laz Alonso, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi, Stephen Lang (Written and directed by James Cameron; Twentieth Century-Fox)
Flocks, if not armies, of sci-fi freaks and geeks are being driven into a must-see frenzy by the iceberg-sized chunks of hype that keep whizzing their way about this 3-D epic from James Cameron, creator of “Titanic” and “Terminator.” Although the premiere is not until late December, some of us are already daydreaming about donning those moronic-looking but depth-providing glasses that will transport us to a far-off planet.
Sam Worthington, for whom"Avatar" may do what "Titanic" did for Leo and "Terminator" did for Arnie, is the vulnerable but sexy human hero in Cameron's latest special-effects pig-out. The picture-perfect Aussie plays a severely wounded soldier who flees to another universe, a haven where he hopes to find--and inhabit--an alien whose body is in better shape than his own.
But he may need a helping medical hand to pull off that particular miracle, which, of couse, is where Dr. Grace Augustine--played by Sigourney Weaver, a cool actress we all applauded when she kicked butt in James Cameron's "Aliens"--comes in. And, in case you didn't know it, "Aliens" was directed by James Cameron. Now Playing
RACHEL WEISZ
THE LOVELY BONES
Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Michael Imperioli, Saoirse Ronan (Directed by Peter Jackson; Written by Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh; DreamWorks)
In a welcome change of pace, Peter Jackson is taking a vacation from the tricky, sometimes tedious special-effects world of the “Rings” trilogy and “King Kong.” His new film will be an audacious attempt to mix reality and fantasy. As readers of Alice Sebold's imaginative, deeply disturbing 2002 novel know, the heroine of “The Lovely Bones” (played here by newcomer Saoirse Ronan) is raped, murdered and dismembered by a neighbor at the age of 14. But that is not the end of the story; in her afterlife, the girl focuses intently on the torment of her grieving family, including her parents, played by Mark Wahlberg (who replaced Ryan Gosling the day before shooting began) and Rachel Weisz, and her grandmother, played by Susan Sarandon. And, on occasion, the murdered girl pays very close attention to the fiendish scheming of her unrepentant killer (Stanley Tucci).
Peter Jackson, whose finest achievement is “Heavenly Creatures”--the haunting 1994 film in which two emotionally entwined adolescents (Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey) commit an especially horrific murder--seems the perfect person to bring “The Lovely Bones” to flesh-and-blood life. Now Playing
FOREST WHITAKER
REPO MEN
Jude Law, Liev Schreiber, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga (Directed by Miguel Sapochnik; Written by Eric Garcia and Garret Lerner; Universal)
Would you buy an artificial organ on an installment plan from a company that reserved the right to terminate you if you default on payment? That’s the decision facing somebody--perhaps Jude Law and/or Forest Whitaker--in this sci-fi thriller set in the near future. If things go as planned, “Repo Men" will make us forget “Repo! The Genetic Opera,” a similarly themed 2008 musical directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, whose previous assaults on our sanity include "Saw II," "Saw III" and "Saw IV." Now Playing
DIANNE WIEST
RABBIT HOLE
Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, Sandra Oh, Jon Tenney, Giancarlo Esposito, Tammy Blanchard (Directed by John Cameron Mitchell; Written by David Lindsay-Abaire; Fox Searchlight Pictures)
The serenity of a suburban family is shattered when a four-year-old boy is killed by the driver of a speeding car. Will a visit from the teenager who was behind the wheel bring solace to the boy’s mother, or will it fill her with rage?
David Lindsay-Abaire's play won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and Cynthia Nixon was awarded a Tony for her performance as the grief-ravaged woman. Does that mean Nicole Kidman, who received an Oscar for "The Hours," will be nabbing another statuette? Now Playing
MICHELLE WILLIAMS
BLUE VALENTINE
Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Faith Wladyka, John Doman, Mike Vogel, Ben Shenkman, Jen Jones, Maryann Plunkett (Directed by Derek Cianfrance; Written by Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis, Cami Delavigne; The Weinstein Co.)
The long, twisting journey from rapturous infatuation to marital rage is documented here with microscopic intensity. Directed and co-authored by Derek Cianfrance, this unfunny valentine opens with the desperate attempt by Dean and Cindy, a weary, combative couple, to rekindle their love at a romantic hotel, far from the strain of their suburban home and their young daughter. They truly want to make love but, as usual, they make war. Then, with a sudden flashback, we are shown Dean and Cindy as a carefree young man and woman meeting and quickly falling in love. How did they go from that time and place to this unbearable present? Presumably, that is precisely what writer-director Cianfrance intends to reveal in his uncompromising drama. This is certainly no picnic in the park. Yet the audience at this year’s Sundance Festival applauded the film, and there was major Oscar buzz for the performances of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as the long-suffering Dean and Cindy. Now Playing
BRUCE WILLIS
LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD
Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Long, Maggie Q, Kevin Smith, Zeljko Ivanek (Directed by Len Wiseman; Written by Mark Bomback; Twentieth Century-Fox)
For the fourth--but probably not last--time, Bruce Willis plays rugged, profanity-spewing New York detective John McClane. It all began, of course, with “Die Hard” in 1988, when Willis was a 33-year-old rising star. But he--or, at least, the McClane character--is certainly not living in the past. He is in fact right up to the minute, taking on a perilous assignment with the Department of Homeland Security. His mission? To prevent rabid but clever terrorists from destroying the intricate technology that makes the United States the most powerful nation in the world. Or something like that. Now Playing
OWEN WILSON
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Michael Sheen, Carla Bruni (Written and directed by Woody Allen)
In the oddball 1996 musical comedy “Everyone Says I Love You,” Woody Allen was a notably uncomfortable American in Paris. Indeed, none of his American fellow-travelers—including Goldie Hawn, Edward Norton, Drew Barrymore and Natalie Portman—seemed to be having much fun in the City of Light. Now, in “Midnight in Paris,” Woody won’t have to worry about looking out of place. That’s because, as usual these days, the writer-director will not be performing in his own film.
And even though his latest comedy-drama already has a title—a rarity for an Allen project yet to go before the camera—we still know very little about the plot, except that it deals with various members of a family who discover some surprising truths about themselves while traveling abroad together.
Just imagine the epiphanies that chronically depressed clan in “Interiors” might have experienced on a trip to Gay Paree! Opening date to be announced
PATRICK WILSON
MORNING GLORY
Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, 50 Cent (Directed by Roger Michell; Written by Aline Brosh McKenna; Paramount)
Imagine this: Still half asleep, you click your remote to “Daybreak” one morning, expecting the predictably bland patter of the news show’s co-anchors to usher you calmly into the stress and turbulence of another day in urban America. Instead you are subjected to the shattering sight and sound of the normally polite Mike Pomeroy and Colleen Peck (Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton) as the veteran tube stars engage in a shockingly venomous, intensely personal war of words.
Riveting as the total loss of cool might be for thrill-starved viewers, it is not a scene destined to warm the hearts of the “Daybreak” people who gambled on the possibility that macho, hard-news Mike and girly-soft former beauty queen Colleen could combine forces and help raise the show’s sagging ratings. Who knew that they’d turn out to hate one another? Certainly not Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams), the panic-prone wannabe producer who pitched the idea of this dream team in the first place. Oh, well, if Becky is fired, it won't be the first time. Maybe she's lucky in love? Nope. Her dashing beau, played by Patrick Wilson, seems ready to dash off in a whole new direction. Now Playing
THE SWITCH
Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Juliette Lewis, Thomas Robinson (Directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon; Written by Allan Loeb; Miramax Films/Mandate Pictures)
At a madcap New York insemination party for a girl named Kassie, a drunken guy named Wally staggers into a bathroom and immediately overturns a crucial cup of sperm that’s been left there for Kassie’s use by a sober guy named Roland. What to do? Simple. To prevent Kassie from crying over Roland’s spilled sperm, Wally, impassioned by a magazine cover of Diane Sawyer, manages to fill the cup with his own seed before making a hasty, if unsteady, exit from the john. As you might imagine, complications ensue, some of them taking place in Minnesota and involving Kassie’s eccentric son Sebastian, and all of them aiming for the funny bone.
As you also might imagine, this mating-cute comedy is simply labeled “The Switch,” and Kassie, Wally and Roland are played by Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman and Patrick Wilson, each of whom would surely benefit from a switch to heavy drama as soon as possible. Click here to read Stephen Holden’s review in The New York Times. Now Playing
KATE WINSLET
THE READER
Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, (Directed by Stephen Daldry; Written by David Hare; The Weinstein Company)
Shortly after the end of World War II, Michael Berg, a German teenager played by David Kross, suffers a bout of scarlet fever in a public place and is taken home and tended by an older stranger. Her name is Hanna Schmitz and though she is older than Michael, she certainly does not qualify as a senior citizen. In fact, the 36-year-old Hanna is played by Kate Winslet--and before long, she and 15-year-old Michael are passionate lovers. Not only is Hanna passionate about Michael’s prowess in bed, but she is equally impressed with his skill as a fiery reader of tales by Homer, Twain and Chekhov.
But, faster than you can say Hemingway, Hanna vanishes in the night, never to return to the devastated Michael. At least, not until years later, when Michael, now a law student obsessed with the Nazi war crime trials, spots his own special Florence Nightingale and learns that she may end up behind bars as punishment for her gig as a guard in a concentration camp. Can the mature Michael, acted by Ralph Fiennes, recover from his shock and perhaps save--or at least comfort--the aging Hanna (still played by Kate Winslet). We don’t know the answer, but we do feel confident that Hanna has not heard the last of Michael’s masterful reading. Stephen Daldry, director of “The Hours” and “Billy Elliot,” was the man in charge of bringing David Hare’s adaptation of Bernhard Schlink’s hugely popular 1995 novel about the meaning of the holocaust to cinematic life. Now Playing
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, Zoe Kazan, Michael Shannon, Ty Simpkins (Directed by Sam Mendes; Written by Justin Haythe; DreamWorks)
The last time this young and beautiful couple set sail together, they were so blinded by love that they failed to notice they were headed straight for an iceberg. This time, the still beautiful but not-so-young “Titanic” couple knows enough not to go near the water. Which doesn’t necessarily mean they are on course for a happy ending.
In Justin Haythe’s adaptation of the powerful 1961 novel by Richard Yates, DiCaprio and Winslet play Frank and April Wheeler, brilliant, sexually-charged newlyweds who believe their arsenal of sophistication, talent and magnetism will transport them to a charmed life among scintillating European intellectuals. Following a couple of unplanned pregnancies and career setbacks, however, they find themselves stranded in the stifling suburbs of 1950s Connecticut. Inevitably, Frank has a demoralizing affair with a colleague in his Manhattan office, and April beds down with the husband of a close friend. And don’t for a minute imagine that their kids are happy troopers.
In her rave review of “Revolutionary Road,” The New York Times’ Michiko Kakutani said that Richard Yates’ “portrait of these thwarted, needlessly doomed lives is at once brutal and compassionate.” Another reason to look forward to this re-teaming of Leo and Kate: It’s being directed by Kate’s husband, Sam Mendes--the man responsible for the memorably lacerating “American Beauty.” Now Playing
REESE WITHERSPOON
DOWNSIZING
Paul Giamatti, Reese Witherspoon, Sacha Baron Cohen (Directed by Alexander Payne; Written by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor; Fox Searchlight)
“The movies didn’t get smaller—I did,” is what Paul Giamatti may be saying in this comedy-drama-fantasy directed and co-written by Alexander Payne, the man who made him a star to reckon with in 2004’s “Sideways.”
Here Giamatti plays a serial loser who, in an effort to become a winner, submits to an experimental procedure that will turn him into a teensy but deliriously happy, enormously successful person. And as he shrinks and then shrinks some more, he hooks up with some other tiny folk, including Reese Witherspoon (an actress who first made it big in 1999, playing a predatory teenager in director Payne’s “Election”) and Sacha Baron Cohen, who proved in “Borat” (2006) and then again in “Bruno” (2009) that he will stoop as low or jump as high as necessary to get the camera's close-up attention.
This could be the start of something small! Opening date to be announced
SAM WORTHINGTON
 CLASH OF THE TITANS
Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Pete Postlethwaite, Danny Huston, Gemma Arterton, Alexa Davalos, Jason Flemyng, Polly Walker, Nicholas Hoult, Mads Mikkelsen, Izabella Miko (Directed by Louis Leterrier; Written by Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay; Warner Bros. Pictures)
Since the beginning of time, there have been good guys and bad guys, and good girls and bad girls, in this universe of ours. The same could be said of kings and perhaps even gods. At least, that seems to be the point of this remake of the embarrassing 1981 myth-take made by Laurence Olivier, Claire Bloom and Maggie Smith (even venerated British thespians have to make a buck).
Perseus, a role played by America’s own Harry Hamlin in the first flick, is played here by “Avatar’s” own Sam Worthington. As you may already know, Perseus leads a kind of double life. The son of Zeus, the Olympian god, poor Perseus is downgraded to mere mortal status and suffers a multitude of natural and supernatural indignities before demonstrating that he is indeed a god for all seasons. Zeus, acted by Olivier in the original, is portrayed on this occasion by Liam Neeson. Undoubtedly having more fun than either Neeson or Worthington is Ralph Fiennes, cast as Hades, the hottest hellraiser in the whole world!
Peter Bart, writing in Variety, calls this 3-D epic a low-end conversion from 2-D, and a wannabe box-office threat to “Alice in Wonderland” and “How To Train Your Dragon.” Bart also reports that Hollywood wiseguys have taken to calling the film “Trash of the Titans.” Now Playing |
