"Jack Reacher" Teaser Trailer

Tom Cruise has had a tough run of the past week or so. After "Rock of Ages" landed to a sadly tepid response with both critics and audiences, Katie Holmes' divorce is just a further beating on a guy who just can't seem to please people enough. Fact of the matter is that he tries, and it comes through in nearly every single one of his performances. I don't recall a single time when he hasn't been convincing and devoted in his role. His next film and performance, "Jack Reacher", pitches to earn him back some favor with thrill seeking audiences. He's the main showcase in the film's first trailer, and though I'm hesitant to trailers that merely build the announcement of a character ("Red Lights" forever be damned), it's Tom Cruise. After all these years, he deserves the buildup.

TOP 10 SHOTS from "Let Me In"

Welcome to TOP 10 SHOTS, our regular convening space in receiving visually strong films of the recent past, and I must make that emphasis on "films". As much as this column often provides distinctive shots of massive value in and of themselves, it is also a way of dissecting the films more accurately than a straightforward review. It's a measured way of conveying what I feel throughout a film without having you right here beside me watching it. That's what keeps me returning to this stream, and hopefully you as well. Just a month ago I had the positive reaction to my piece on "Atonement" that inspired them to revisit the film. If I'm doing this for any reason, it's that.

But on to this week's film, which I had to do a bit of digging to arrive at, since "Snow White and the Huntsman" director Rupert Sanders is making his debut. No disrespect, but I do not consider it a good sign when a director makes his debut with a blockbuster. So I went straight to cinematographer Greig Fraser, whose work on the film may not turn out so fantastic, as is often the case with blockbusters, but Fraser does have some rather interesting credits on him. He worked with Jan Campion on "Bright Star", which I regret to say I still must get around to, but what stuck out to me rather immediately was his work on "Let Me In".

Film Review: "Friends with Benefits" (***)

I guess you could factor this film as checking off another item on the list of this year, although not quite as pessimistically as other films over the past couple of months. I realize that many of the films this year have been moderately okay by different standards, but I they mostly left me unmoved and unimpressed. I guess Friends with Benefits earns itself some brownie points for being slightly better than most films I've seen this summer. It's clearly nowhere close to Will Gluck's previous film, Easy A, a cliche masterwork in my own opinion. I guess this film lacks because of why most films lack this summer, and that's the lack of time spent on them.

You can't go through the first few minutes of the film without saying that it feels rushed. You have to catch up with it, and it's only a minute in. The film's plot is a little more difficult to explain than one might think. Dylan is an art director who is sought out by Jaime, a headhunter, for a job at GQ in New York. Dylan uproots his LA lifestyle for the job, and starts out an interesting friendship with Jaime. Eventually they get the drunken idea that if they could set emotions aside, they could start having casual sex with each other. In any lesser film, like its counterpart No Strings Attached, that'd probably be just it.

Film Review: Let Me In

If anybody still has intentions of seeing Matt Reeves' Let Me In, a word of caution. If you're expecting something close to the original Let the Right One In, you may leave this film disappointed. If you're going in expecting a typical vampire film, you're even more mistaken. Let Me In is simply a different interpretation of the original story, and the best example of that is in the final scene at the pool. The original film took a low-key and artful approach to the scene, with one shot that remains classic. The new film delivers the true horror of the situation, even if the cinematography isn't quite as spectacular.

The film is about a 12 year old boy named Owen who is violently bullied at school. He doesn't have a lot of friends, if any, and he spends a lot of his time spying on the neighbors. Honestly, who wouldn't? So when a young girl named Abby moves in next door, he forms something of a bond with her. However, nothing is really as it seems, and her guardian leaves at odd hours of the night to kill people. As the relationship between Owen and Abby grows, the relationship between Abby and her "father" disintegrates. As the murders pile up, it becomes clear pretty quickly that there's a more violent force at play.

Let Me In is actually really close to following two parallel time-lines. The "father", played brilliantly by Richard Jenkins, is something of an omen weighing down upon the film. The way he ends up is grim to say the least. Out of fear of spoiling parts of the story, I won't go any further. Needless to say, this is still a brilliant story, no matter how it's told. Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) does a nice job directing this film, and some of the cinematography here is spectacular. As said before, the original film's greatest shot comes at the end, but the 2010 version's comes about midway through the film, and you'll know it when you see it.

The two leads actors in this film may be the best thing about it, and that's high praise for child actors. Kodi Smit-McPhee carries most of the film as Owen, and he really brings across the emotional anguish of his predicament. Chloe Moretz continues to be the best new thing in violent cinema, giving a performance that comes close to rivaling her turn as Hit Girl in Kick-Ass. Michael Giacchino has a constant presence in the film through his score, though I must achingly admit that it's not up to the same standard as some of his other films. Given another month, he could've given us something a little more spectacular, but I still have few complaints about his work, as it wasn't bad. Let Me In isn't nearly as groundbreaking as Let the Right One In, if were going to compare the two, but we shouldn't. It's an individual effort that succeeds pretty well on its own terms, and occasionally does even better.

B