Quick Takes: The A-Team, Shutter Island, It's Complicated

Martin Scorsese is my favorite filmmaker of all-time. From "Taxi Driver" to "Raging Bull" to "GoodFellas" to "Casino" to "The Departed", Scorsese has crafted some of the greatest movies ever made. But I am sad to say that "Shutter Island" is the worst film that he has ever constructed. Scorsese's first foray into the thriller realm, 1991's "Cape Fear", was a masterful exercise in brooding mood and atmosphere, a frighteningly scary gem that leaves a lasting impact long after the final credits have rolled. "Shutter Island", on the other hand, is a plodding and, frankly, quite boring misfire that plays more like a tedious melodrama than an actual thriller. Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, and Michelle Williams are all outstanding actors, but astonishingly, they all give bad performances, emoting at every turn. And the shock ending feels ripped from a bad M. Night Shymalan movie. "Shutter Island" is proof that even the great ones make bad films once in a while.

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The A-Team? More like the D-Team. "The A-Team" is a loud, interminable, and mostly incoherent mess that is nothing more than a series of lazy CGI action sequences. This bomb is not the fault of the cast---Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Sharlto Copley, and newcomer Quinton "Rampage" Jackson all seem at ease onscreen---but rather the fault of a confusing screenplay and the insufferably chaotic direction of Joe Carnahan. Carnahan throws a ridiculous amount of flying objects at the viewer, and the result is a Hollywood blockbuster that you should avoid at all cost.

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I have saved the best for last. "It's Complicated", the latest romantic comedy from the superb writer-director Nancy Meyers, is a wonderful, richly satisfying slice of life that mines some excellent humor from truly authentic moments. The characters in this movie behave like mature adults, and---how refreshing is that! As she showed in the great 2003 film "Something's Gotta Give", Nancy Meyers is an extraordinary writer who has a keen sense of how relationships really work. The masterminds behind such trainwrecks as "What Happens in Vegas", "When in Rome", "Leap Year", "A Lot Like Love", etc. would be wise to study the intelligent manner in which Meyers treats her characters. Meyers is also aided by the strength of her amazing actors. It is a joy to watch Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin---three amazing performers---share the screen. I love this movie.