HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN Review (1 out of 5 stars)

Brought to you with love by the National Rifle Association.

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN pays homage to the scratched, damaged visuals and audio of 70’s exploitation films (which its modern inspiration GRINDHOUSE replicated brilliantly) with vigilante themes, in the vein of Charles Bronson's DEATH WISH series or even Mel Gibson's MAD MAX. In all of them, ordinary men take matters into their own hands to seek justice in a world gone utterly mad.

In HOBO, a homeless drifter (Rutger Hauer, known only as “Hobo”) jumps from a freight car into a lawless, urban hell where criminals rule the streets, the cops are dirty and crime boss Drake rules with his murderous sons. Amidst this chaos, the Hobo glimpses a lawn mower in a pawnshop and daydreams of happier days to come - yet he realizes that the only way he’s going to get there is if he uses a shotgun that soon falls into his hands.

HOBO began as a "fake" trailer created by Canadian filmmakers Jason Eisener, John Davies and Rob Cotterill. It starred Dave Brunt and won a contest as part of Austin’s 2007 South by Southwest film festival to promote Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s new horror/exploitation double feature at the time, GRINDHOUSE. The team behind the fake trailer also helmed the feature film, with Eisener as its director. (GRINDHOUSE also has a spin-off in September 2010’s MACHETE starring Danny Trejo.) The fake trailer for HOBO screened with GRINDHOUSE in a number of Canadian theatres.

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HALL PASS Review (1 out of 5 stars)

You'd be miserable too if you were stuck in this groaner.

This is a bland sex comedy trafficking in crude humor and the usual gross-out moments the Farrellys are known for. Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) have such roving eyes that their exasperated wives (Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate) grant them "hall passes," or seven days of extramarital sex.

We’ve seen every element of HALL PASS before, from middle-aged suburban dorks using bad one-liners on boobalicious girls (“Do these bar napkins smell like chloroform? I’m kidding!”) to white folk dancing badly under neon lights. Throw in the requisite bar fights, a car chase and, yes, a shootout… Yawn. And ultimately these dorks’ hotter wives realize at the same time their husbands do HOW MUCH THEY LOVE THEIR SPOUSES! It would have been more interesting if each of the four had just cheated instead of merely waffling about it, but that would have required actual thought put into a storyline some executive took half an hour to conjure as Owen Wilson’s star vehicle du jour.

Wilson is 42 and looking it, so his once cute man-boy schtick seems out of whack with his aging visage. His days playing these roles, and probably headlining movies, are numbered. Besides the Wes Anderson collaborations, his choice of movies is abysmal – he clearly doesn’t care what he stars in, doing it purely for the dough.

Jason Sudeikis does perfectly fine here, the latest in a long line of individuals churned out by the SNL-to-Hollywood film star machine. But as a comedian he unfortunately doesn’t hold a candle to so many of his esteemed predecessors, from Will Ferrell to Mike Myers and Bill Murray to Eddie Murphy.

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UNKNOWN Review (3 out of 5 stars)

Would this qualify as one of Rumsfeld's known unknowns?

UNKNOWN is a lively and competent thriller despite its well-trafficked mistaken identity mini-genre. That sub-category of films includes everything from Hitchcock classics THE 39 STEPS, THE WRONG MAN and NORTH BY NORTHWEST to more modern offerings such as the 90s cult classic THE BIG LEBOWSKI and last year’s (not so classic) DATE NIGHT. Yet an unexpected twist in the film's second half steers an already suspenseful storyline in a fresh new direction, and even the twist itself avoids cliche despite its use as an essential plot element in a trio of popular spy films. Simply put, the mystery of whether it's Harris' addled brain or those he's surrounded by that are playing tricks on him stays alive and well throughout the bulk of the film. At least until director Jaume Collet-Serra lets you in on the secret...

Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) and his striking wife (January Jones) are on a trip to Berlin when Harris becomes involved in a bad accident, waking up in a hospital bed four days later. His memory is spotty, so he's not sure what to think when his wife doesn’t recognize him and another man (Aiden Quinn) claims to be the real Dr. Martin. He enlists the help of his cab driver from the accident (Diane Kruger), as in the mean time attempts are being made on his life.

There are awesome car chases and fight scenes, and a number of characters perish, contributing to a consistently high level of suspense. Any concerns I also had beforehand that UNKNOWN would too closely resemble Neeson's smash 2008 action flick TAKEN faded away as the mystery of Harris's identity deepened, unlike TAKEN's protagonist's craze to find his daughter and blood lust felt for her captors. So while both films zoom along in a frenzy of danger and desperation, UNKNOWN's focus is on intrigue rather than revenge. And while there aren’t as many action scenes here, nor are they as explosive, it's fun to follow Harris, stumbling from one enigma to the next.

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GNOMEO & JULIET Review (3 out of 5 stars)

What is that crazy bird from UP doing in our movie?

GNOMEO & JULIET is an animated children's film loosely based upon the Shakespearean tale… But with animated garden gnomes lieu of dramatic Italians. Needless to say, no murders or suicides this time! Despite a sprinkling of jokes and references only adults will get, my advice is only to head with little ones in tow, and not for yourself.

This is a fascinating cast. Michael Caine and Dame Maggie Smith declare and harumph beautifully as gnome patriarch Lord Redbrick and matriarch Lady Bluebery - their voices seem tailor-made for animation. Their feuding clans of lawn ornaments are the Reds and the Blues, each decorating the back yards of feuding, human neighbors Miss Montague and Mr. Capulet. Leads James McAvoy and Emily Blunt play the young title characters well, although McAvoy's colorful Scottish accent comes across as far more playful and accessible than Blunt's more formally spoken British. The rest of the cast features everyone from Jason Statham and Patrick Stewart to Ozzy Ozbourne (whose unlikely voice alone as the deer ornament "Fawn" made me giggle). Ashley Jensen (Maggie from HBO's "Extras") stands out for her hilarious (ceramic, not organic) frog Nanette. Featherstone the pink flamingo (Jim Cummings) is amusing, but one has to wonder whether the idea of a tall goofy bird badly in need of companionship wasn't lifted directly from UP. Some of the absolute funniest characters however were G & J's smallest physically and had few, if any, lines: the little mushroom that thinks it's a dog; the fish repeatedly set free by well-wishers, only to hit the fake pond's bottom with a disappointed "Oh"; the lineup of high-pitched mini-bunnies and bumbling mini-gnomes dwarfed by their hats… Any time any combination of these clumps of wee ones popped up on screen I grinned.

The first two thirds of GNOMEO feel a little too cutesy at times. Also too simplistic, hemmed in scope by the two itty-bitty back yards where everything takes place. The kid-friendly cloak-and-dagger themes and bravado-filled drag races (with lawnmowers) don't seem fresh. But more than anything I wish the film exhibited more self-awareness - for the adults, if anything, since it's clear the filmmakers wish to draw them in too. When I first heard of this movie, my reaction was: Garden gnomes? Really? I think the writers would have been clever to acknowledge the randomness of their subject, then riff on and thus own that randomness. They could also have utilized more context, such as when the gnomes freeze into silly, grinning positions whenever humans enter the scene. Those moments not only always get a laugh, they also help show the gnomes' own self-awareness as (apparently) living, breathing pieces of plaster in a world run by humans.

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