LIGHTS OUT

Be afraid of the thing that goes bump in the night.  This is the pretty simple concept behind Lights Out, a pretty mediocre and very routine horror movie.

This movie opens with Paul (Billy Burke) working in a factory late at night, when he's attacked and killed by a figure who only appears in the dark.

We then jump past the opening credits to get further into the story.  Martin (Gabriel Bateman) is a kid who's been falling asleep a lot in school.  His mother Sophie (Maria Bello) -- who's Paul's widow -- has been having mental problems and may have stopped taking her medication.  She also talks to someone named Diana when no one else is in the house.  And Martin's been seeing a shadowy figure in the dark parts of the house.

Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) is a young woman who's estranged from her mother (Sophie) and is Martin's half-sister.  Rebecca is dealing with her commitment-focused boyfriend Bret (Alexander DiPersia) but gets involved with helping Martin.  Rebecca starts investigating her mother's relationship with Diana, and what Martin describes sounds a lot like what Rebecca experienced as a young girl.  And pretty soon that shadowy figure starts popping up in almost every shadow and closet in the movie.

Lights Out is almost absolutely routine.  The characters (none of whom stand out) hear mysterious noises and see doors slamming shut.  Once they figure out that Diana can't stand the light there's a scramble to provide continual illumination -- but that's doesn't create tension.  Most of the movie is the creature popping out of the dark or appearing when the lights inevitably flicker and go out, and while the monster is obscured by the dark it's sudden appearances and charging at characters gets repetitive quickly.  For a movie mostly revolving around darkness, Lights Out gives the horror fan what they've seen many times before.

Overall grade: C-
Reviewed by James Lynch

PRISONERS

Hollywood thrives on the action movie where someone takes the law into their own hands to do what the authorities can't -- especially if the vigilante is protecting their family.  But what if that happened in the real world?  What if doing what you thought was necessary turned the would-be hero into a monster?  This is the dilemma of Prisoners, a drama where the lines between right and wrong are very blurry.

Kelly Dover (Hugh Jackman) is a family man, religious person, and survivalist who believes the best lesson from his father is "be ready."  Unfortunately, he can't be prepared what happens on Thanksgiving: During a dinner with their friends the Birches, the families' young daughters Anna and Hope walk back to the Dover house -- and vanish.  Suspicion falls on Alex Jones (Paul Dano), a weird man whose RV had been parked outside and which the kids had been playing on earlier.  But Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhall) thinks Alex is innocent, since he has the I.Q. of a ten year old, and since his RV has no evidence the girls were in there.

That's not good enough for Kelly.  When he confronts Alex as the police are releasing him, Kelly thinks Alex says something incriminating.  So while his wife Grace (Maria Bello) convinced herself Anna will come back any minute and Franklin and Nancy Birch (Terrence Howard and Viola Davis) put their faith in the police, Kelly kidnaps Alex, torturing him until he gives up Anna's location.  Meanwhile Detective Loki follows a bizarre string of clues, from a mysterious maze symbol to a priest with an adult's dead body in his basement.

Prisoners is a relentless, grim combination of mystery, thriller, and examination of whether the ends justify the means.  Instead of a hero, Hugh Jackman turns Kelly into a desperate man, someone so desperate to get his daughter back he may be deceiving himself just to believe he knowing who's responsible.  He rationalizes his brutality by telling Alex "You did this to yourself" while turning him into a  bloody horror of a human.  Jackman is terrific, transforming what would normally be a one-note hero into a determined, desperate man willing to abandon his humanity (and ignore his family) to do what he thinks is right.  Howard and Davis are excellent as the parents torn between wanting to support Kelly in finding out what happened to their daughter, and still being able to ask "What if you're wrong?"  Gyllenhall is good as the relentless detective, and Dano is effectively creepy as Alex, someone who seems pathetic and small, but with enough flashes of cruelty and violence to make it seem plausible he is involved in the kids' disappearance.

Prisoners manages to elevate the discussion about torture by melding it with a police procedural and some very strong performances.  This isn't an easy movie to sit through (especially when we see the results of torture) but it is very powerful and very well done.

Overall grade: A
Reviewed by James Lynch

The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

If ever there was a film that could be designated as a "chick flick" it has gotta be The Jane Austen Book Club. I've never read a Jane Austen novel, but what the heck?

Kathy Baker plays Bernadette, the senior woman of the group. She decides to start a book club devoted to the six novels of Jane Austen. The plan is to meet once a month, and each member will lead a discussion of the next Jane Austen book, whose novels focus on "the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security."

Anyway, the other members are all female, save one. Before the first meeting, a chance encounter with Jocelyn (Maria Bello) ends up with Grigg (Hugh Dancy) being the lone member possessing a Y chromosome. While at first he is like a fifth wheel on a four wheel drive car, he integrates in before too long. It's interesting to see how the group becomes a surrogate family as the film progresses, and their relationships deepen. There are also plenty of references to the Jane Austen novels, and I would had an even deeper understanding for the film had I read this author's works.

Still, I shouldn't have to read six novels just to watch a film. Even for the Jane Austen naivetè, there was much to enjoy. This was hardly a simple and zany romantic comedy, and could also fit into the drama comedy at many points. While The Jane Austen Book Club is stuck in the "chick flick" mode for much of the film, it is still a flick worth watching.

Overall Grade: B+

Reviewed by Jonas