Reel News: Week of 7/30 — Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Total Recall, Ruby Sparks

Theatrical Releases This Week

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Director: David Bowers
PG; 94 mins
Trailer

During his summer vacation, “Wimpy Kid” Greg Heffley, the hero of the phenomenally successful book series, hatches a plan to pretend he has a job at a ritzy country club – which fails to keep him away from the season’s dog days, including embarrassing mishaps at a public pool and a camping trip that goes horribly wrong. (Synopsis by 20th Century Fox)

Looks like more of the same from the first two films. How many times can you get away with the same morality tale? Big on heart, but lacking the flair of other family-oriented films.

Total Recall
Director: Len Wiseman
PG-13; 121 mins
Trailer

Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he’s got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life – real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police – controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world – Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. (Synopsis by Sony)

Check out my review on The Dagger later this week.

Ruby Sparks
Director: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
R; 104 mins
Trailer

Calvin (Dano) is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing – as well as his romantic life. Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him. When Calvin finds Ruby (Kazan), in the flesh, sitting on his couch about a week later, he is completely flabbergasted that his words have turned into a living, breathing person. (Synopsis by Fox Searchlight)

An art house film takes a shot at romantic comedy. Sure, it is better than the typical rom-com fair, but still leaves much to be desired–namely a script which works anywhere but inside the vacuum of the film. It is hard to get a center on the characters; one is a narcissist and another who is resistant. Kazan shows flashes of better ideas throughout the script, but they never materialize into something more than a muddled “(500) Days of Summer.”

DVD Releases This Week

None of note