Arts & Entertainment

Movie Reviews: Safe Haven, A Good Day to Die Hard and More

Find movie reviews and movie times for theaters in Maryland Heights and St. Louis, MO.

Editor's Note: Some reviews and information aggregated from Moviefone.

Save Haven

Mark Glass, Patch blogger: **½ The quiet drama, based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks, plods along as its inevitable romance blossoms, with some helpful advice from her other new friend—an attractive neighbor (Cobie Smulders), who seems nearly as secretive about her own backstory as our leading lady on the lam. We like Hough’s character, and hope she’s not really the perp of the pursuit, but don’t discover the truth of why she landed there for longer than the plot requires. Expect more focus on finding love than solving crimes as the tale unfolds. The action eventually picks up for a rather farfetched climax, with a welcome little perk at the end. If you find the actors engaging and have the patience for director Lasse Hallstrom’s idea of pace, the rewards are there. Full Review

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A Good Day to Die Hard

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Mark Glass, Patch blogger: ** Or, more accurately, a good day to watch one of Bruce Willis’ earlier Die Hard flicks rather than this one. John McClane - the Energizer Bunny of action heroes - learns his son (charisma-impaired Jai Courtney) is facing serious criminal charges in Russia. Even though the two have been estranged for years, John flies over to see what he can do. He stumbles into yet another episode of epic mayhem, as his son and another high-profile defendant are fleeing from the courtroom that’s just been bombed and overrun by thugs toting big guns.

Tossing another generation of McClanes into the franchise is no path to longevity. Perhaps the Die Hard series should just be mercifully allowed to expire on this loud, ludicrous death rattle of a film. Full Review

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Identity Thief

Mark Glass, Patch blogger: * This lame-brained comedy might actually be funnier that this rating indicates, though wasting gifted actors like Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy calls for consequences. Identity theft is a serious problem. That doesn’t preclude milking laughs from a hyperbolized example, but the script has to serve the cast and concept far better than this one does.

Bateman plays a corporate financial drone with a lovely family and nice little life in Denver. McCarthy not only runs up huge bills and a DUI under his name in Florida, but does so just when he’s starting a great new job that will vanish within a week if he can’t clear the record first.

Jason heads to the Sunshine State, desperately hoping she’ll ‘fess up to his boss and save his career. He discovers he’s been victimized by a woman who is part criminal and part kook. 

Despite his record of helming episodes of many worthy sitcoms, director Seth Gordon appears overmatched by the scale of a film production with multiple locations (including, alas, our own fair city). The movie is too long and too silly to work. McCarthy’s character is so ill-defined that when the action shifts to the script’s inevitable warm fuzzy bits, nothing resonates. Big disappointment. Full Review

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Side Effects

From the Arizona Republic: "Ultimately, think of the movie as a puzzle box in which all the pieces fit together wonderfully well. Once you step back and take a look at how it’s all put together, you have to marvel at how cleverly constructed the whole thing is." Full Review

 

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