Contraband is a typical January release. Which is to say, it’s a movie – and that’s about it. It meets all the qualifications necessary to be a movie, and does absolutely nothing interesting along the way.

In fact, the most interesting thing about this movie is who is behind the camera. Baltasar Kormakur was the star of an Icelandic action film called Reykjavik-Rotterdam back in 2008, and now he’s directing Contraband, which is a remake of that film. And…that’s about the extent of anything fascinating you’ll find in this movie. The film itself is a by-the-numbers thriller about a former smuggler (Wahlberg) and his best friend (Foster) who get called back for “one last job” to save Wahlberg’s screw-up brother-in-law from a local drug dealer (Ribisi). Wahlberg’s wife (Kate Beckinsale) is threated for leverage, blah blah blah. You’ve seen this movie before. It’s basically Gone in 60 Seconds without the cars.

Wahlberg hooks up with a team of guys to smuggle millions of dollars in counterfeit money from Panama on a freight ship, and for a while, the movie desperately wants to be like The Italian Job or Ocean’s 11. But the main characters’ situation is so robbed of significance that it fails on every level. We know Wahlberg is going to make it back to protect his threatened wife, so every tumultuous scenario that happens in Panama is mind-numbingly boring because we already know the outcome. And the secondary guys on his team – including Lukas Haas, whose talent is totally wasted here – are given a piss poor introduction (in one of the most mundane montages I’ve seen in a while) and aren’t fleshed out as real characters, so I didn’t care if they lived or died. I barely knew who they were. There’s no emotional connection in this film, and even the stuff with the wife back home feels contrived just so we’ll root for the hero.

The setting was another missed opportunity to do something to make the film stand out. Set in a post-Katrina New Orleans, Kormakur occasionally provides us with a few shots of the city, but never turns it into a character the way, for example, Ben Affleck does with Boston in Gone Baby Gone or The Town. Same thing with Panama when the story eventually gets there: it seems as if the filmmakers are trying to evoke Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (or similar big budget blockbusters) in the way they depict the skyline here – brief helicopter shots that paint the city from the side – but, like the rest of this movie, it’s a half-assed effort that ends up meaning nothing.

There was one point in the film where I thought it had a chance to elevate beyond it’s mediocrity. A main character nearly dies – something that was shocking, ballsy, and an actual twist that I didn’t see coming – but it’s immediately revealed that this character is still alive, deflating all the excitement I felt as the film returned to its boring conclusion. If you watch two or three movies a year, you might think Contraband is good. Otherwise, you’ll see everything coming as it plays out in the most banal way possible.

For those of you who hated the ending to The Town, this is way worse. Contraband apparently can’t be bothered to deal with things like “consequences.” It ends exactly the way you think it will, and doesn’t care to explain how the main characters get around some pretty major problems that would arise if this movie cared about plot holes. (I’m dancing around the ending to avoid spoilers). Put it this way – “Breaking Bad” devotes a multi-episode story arc to something that isn’t even addressed in this film. It’s not mentioned here because these people are the most basic of action movie characters, given such minimal characterization that it ultimately doesn’t matter what happens to any of them. Contraband? More like Contra-bored. (Sorry. That had to be done.) Until next time…

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Many A-list actors adopt a “one for them, one for me” mentality: they make one big movie for a studio so they can make a smaller passion project for themselves. Considering Depp’s relationship with Hunter S. Thompson (the infamous novelist/journalist whose novel provides the basis for this film), it’s clear The Rum Diary falls into the latter category. It’s just too bad that the “one for him” wasn’t a better movie.

Written for the screen and directed by Bruce Robinson, The Rum Diary follows the story of Paul Kemp (Depp), a washed out novelist who goes to Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper. Soon, he’s intoxicated not only by the alcohol he’s constantly swilling, but also by a beautiful girl named Chenault (Amber Heard). She’s with Sanderson (Eckhart), a wealthy playboy with a ton influence working on an illegal land development scheme. Sanderson invites Kemp to be a part of the project and, after a ton of stumbling and drunken debauchery, Kemp and the rest of the guys at the paper take it upon themselves to bring down “the bastards” by blowing the whistle on their operation.

There are a lot of elements that I liked about this movie. It’s hard to knock gorgeous locales, solid acting, and an intriguing plot – especially when you consider I have a bias in favor of stories involving journalism. But at a certain point, the movie itself begins to take on characteristics of its main character: it seems to drag for an interminable amount of time, bouncing from point to point with a “hey, look over there!” attitude and waiting far too late to attempt to wrap things up in a neat little package in the third act. It’s not as “out there” as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - the other Hunter S. Thompson project in which Depp has starred – but it kind of tries to have it both ways with trippy drugged-out sequences tossed into the middle of a narrative that is, admittedly, a lot more cohesive than Fear and Loathing‘s. The main problem with The Rum Diary is the structure: by having the first two thirds of the film as this breezy, stumbling, quasi-romantic discovery piece, it feels forced and unnatural when the final act arrives and story elements have to be quickly wrapped up.

Depp has made himself a superstar by playing these types of roles, so it’s not much of a departure from his past work. Even if you removed Fear and Loathing from the equation, simply mix his lead character in Rango with Captain Jack Sparrow and you’ve got Paul Kemp. I was much more interested in Bob Salas, the sidekick character more inhabited than played by former “Sopranos” actor Michael Rispoli. He was gruff but lovable, and seemed like the kind of guy you’d want to hang out with in an unpredictable island environment. Aaron Eckhart was great as the guy you love to hate, but this also wasn’t that big of a change (or challenge) for him. Giovanni Ribisi really went for it with his portrayal of Moberg, a guy who drinks 400 proof alcohol and listens to Adolph Hitler speeches on vinyl. Richard Jenkins was really entertaining as the editor of the San Juan Star, playing “the man” as it were, forcing Kemp to curtail his writing to fit in with an idealized version of the American Dream.

Though the novel was written back in the 1960s, much of this film is especially relevant today with the Occupy Wall Street movement going on and this movie essentially railing against corporate greed. Our buddy Vince Mancini at FilmDrunk liked it far more than I did, and even with all of the meandering in the middle of the movie, it’s easy to see how The Rum Diary would have a special charm to fans of Thompson’s work. That said, I don’t think I’d ever watch this movie again – and if you’ve read this far, that probably tells you all you need to know. Until next time…

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Universal Pictures has released the official trailer for the neo-noir/heist thriller Contraband. The film catapults Mark Wahlberg into tough guy hero mode (a role that’s recently become his signature), with this going back to his Italian Job roots. The film also stars Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi, Caleb Landry Jones, J.K. Simmons and Ben Foster.

Watch the trailer below:

Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy (Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best—running contraband—to settle Andy’s debt. Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian (Foster), to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills. Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate (Beckinsale), and sons become their target.

Contraband seems to be going for a potent cocktail of a dark and gritty crime thriller mixed with multiple surges of heist action that puts all players involved at high risk. As mentioned above, Wahlberg is paying his usual self, so don’t expect big life changing character acting to occur, especially when the action and bloody conflicts seem to be the main attraction here.

The movie is actually a remake of the 2008 Icelandic thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam, and it looks like it’s getting an American makeover (similar to the contemporary makeover that the Italian job spawned in 2003). Regardless, there hasn’t been many decent heist thrillers recently,so hopefully Contraband will satisfy in that department.

Contraband hits theaters on January 13, 2012.

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FilmDistrict has released the first trailer for The Rum Diary, which comes from writer/director Bruce Robinson. Based on the debut novel by Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary tells the unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp played by Johnny Depp and also stars Aaron Eckhart, Amber Heard, Michael Rispoli, Richard Jenkins, Giovanni Ribisi and Marshall Bell.

Watch below:

Based on the debut novel by Hunter S. Thompson, “The Rum Diary” tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp). Tiring of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper, The San Juan Star, run by downtrodden editor Lotterman (Richard Jenkins).

Adopting the rum-soaked life of the island, Paul soon becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard), the wildly attractive Connecticut-born fiancée of Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart). Sanderson, a businessman involved in shady property development deals, is one of a growing number of American entrepreneurs who are determined to convert Puerto Rico into a capitalist paradise in service of the wealthy. When Kemp is recruited by Sanderson to write favorably about his latest unsavory scheme, the journalist is presented with a choice: to use his words for the corrupt businessmen’s financial benefit, or use them to take the bastards down.

The Rum Diary has a release date set for October 28th, 2011.

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According to Deadline Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar) will be joining Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Anthony Mackie in The Gangster Squad, a 1940s crime drama that will be directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland).

Penn will play Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen, with Gosling and Brolin set to play two cops assigned to bring him down when the gangster starts targeting innocent people. Ribisi will play Conway Keeler, a cop in the group who is a master of electronics and wires. The film is based on a series of articles written by Paul Lieberman which chronicle the LAPD’s fight to keep East Coast Mafia types out of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s.

Ruben Fleischer has mainly been a director of comedies with his latest, 30 Minutes or Less, set for release in August. This will be his first attempt at a serious drama, and it’s looking promising thanks to the impressive cast he’s managed to pull together.

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Got anything planned for the next 30 minutes? No? Good, because you’ll probably end up watching this new trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar on repeat for the foreseeable future. The only word to describe it would be ‘epic’. Watch below:

Here are the download links if you want to see it in HD!

480p

720p

1080p

What are your thought on the new trailer?

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In a matter of hours the countdown on Apple Trailers will reach zero and we will be rewarded with a brand new trailer for Avatar. To get everyone warmed up 20th Century Fox have released 6 new images featuring Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Lang and Michelle Rodriguez in character. We also have the image above which shows a swarm of war aircraft.

Click here to see the rest, and come back in a few hours to see the trailer!

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