Contraband

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Caleb Landry Jones
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Out: January 13, 2012

After his brother-in-law botches a drug deal for a ruthless gangster (Ribisi), Chris (Wahlberg) is forced back into running contraband to settle the debt. A legendary New Orleans smuggler, he quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend (Foster), and heads to Panama to return with millions in counterfeit bills. Soon he must navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men to avoid his wife (Beckinsale) and sons becoming their targets.

Our Trailer Rating: 6/10
Bland story but good sense of urgency. Same plot as Gone In 60 Seconds, without the cars, only this time the screwed up brother is playing the mob boss – Odd.

Goon

Starring: Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel, Liev Schreiber
Director: Michael Dowse
Out: March 30, 2012

“Goon” is the story of Doug (Scott), a dumb but loveable bar bouncer plucked from obscurity to be the enforcer for a minor league hockey team. In the tradition of great sports comedies like “Slapshot,” “Goon” delivers bone crunching action and laughs in equal measure.

Our Trailer Rating: 6/10
Good cast and writing team. Looks a bit cheap though. Is blood funny?

Wanderlust

Starring: Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Theroux, Malin Akerman
Director: David Wain
Out: February 10, 2012

Wanderlust reunites Rudd with director David Wain (Role Models) for their fourth movie together. Produced by Judd Apatow, Rudd and Aniston star as a New York couple who leave the pressures of the big city after he is laid off and join the freewheeling community of Elysium where the only rule is to be yourself.

Our Trailer Rating: 5/10
Mildly amusing. Concept just seems a bit ‘meh’. Paul Rudd has been this character a dozen times before.

Safe House

Starring: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Vera Farmiga
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Out: February 10, 2012

Oscar winner Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds star in the action-thriller “Safe House.” Washington plays the most dangerous renegade from the CIA, who comes back onto the grid after a decade on the run. When the South African safe house he’s remanded to is attacked by mercenaries, a rookie operative (Reynolds) escapes with him. Now, the unlikely allies must stay alive long enough to uncover who wants them dead.

Our Trailer Rating: 7/10
They want it to look like Training Day, it does. P.S. The name Tobin Frost is ridiculous.

Underworld Awakening

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy
Directors: Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein
Out: January 20, 2012

Kate Beckinsale returns in her lead role as the vampire warrioress Selene, who escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans, and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species. In 3D.

Our Trailer Rating: 3/10
A tired franchise kept on life-support by hardcore fan base.

21 Jump Street

Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Brie Larson
Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Out: March 16, 2012

In this action-comedy, Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) are more than ready to leave their adolescent problems behind. Joining the police force and the secret Jump Street unit, they use their youthful appearances to go undercover in a local high school. As they trade in their guns and badges for backpacks, Schmidt and Jenko risk their lives to investigate a violent and dangerous drug ring. But they find that high school is nothing like they left it just a few years earlier ­and neither expects that they will have to confront the terror and anxiety of being a teenager again and all the issues they thought they had left behind.

Our Trailer Rating: 9/10
Very funny. Took an idea that I had no interest in seeing and turned it into a must-watch.

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