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While it’s not as preposterous as its predecessor, THE DA VINCI CODE, ANGELS & DEMONS waits until the end to loose its credibility instead of doing it at the end of the first act. Like DA VINCI, it’s not the absurd premise that necessarily ruins the film. It’s in how the plot is executed and how it leaves its one-dimensional characters flailing in a fountain of exposition.

This is another treasure hunt plot where Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks, APOLLO 13) is called upon to help Vatican investigators stop the ancient secret science-based organization called the Illuminati from wiping out Vatican City with stolen antimatter. Landon, this time teamed with the beautiful physicist Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer, MUNICH), races from clue to clue to find where four kidnapped priests will be murdered. As the plot thickens like a good gravy, we learn that the pope might have been murdered, which puts many insiders into suspicion.
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Check Out the Trailer

Rian Johnson’s BRICK is one of the most creative films of the new century. So my anticipation for Johnson’s follow-up film, THE BROTHERS BLOOM, was quite high. While it isn’t as fresh as his previous genre-bending high-school-set noir, this con man tale is just as entertaining and even more charming. This is mainly due to a sweet double love story at its core. One between a man and a woman and the other between brothers.

Stephen (Mark Ruffalo, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME) and Bloom (Adrien Brody, THE DARJEELING LIMITED) moved from foster home to foster home throughout their childhood. Bloom was a shy kid who wished he could interact with the other children better. So Stephen writes a con for Bloom to act out and Bloom blooms. However, after years of living a lie, Bloom wants something real. Yet he has a hard time refusing his brother who lures him back into one last job — conning the rich, eccentric heiress Penelope Stamp (Rachel Weisz, THE CONSTANT GARDENER).
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