Alfred Molina | pinartarhan.com

The Sorcerer's Apprentice movie poster, starring Nicholas Cage — The Sorcerer's Apprentice starring Nicholas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, Monica Belluci and Teresa Palmer. Directed by Jon Turteltaub. Image via disnology.com

Balthazar Blake (Nicholas Cage), Veronica (Monica Belluci) and Horvath (Alfred Molina) are sorcerer apprentices to Merlin. They are all very powerful and are supposed to use magic for humanity. When Horvath makes a deal with the evil sorcerer Morgana (Alice Krige), steals a powerful magic and attacks them, Veronica imprisons Morgana in herself ;and herself in a “grimhold” to save Balthazar and the world. Before Merlin dies, he tells Balthazar that he needs to find ther “premerlinian” (I have no idea how to spell that!!)- a sorcerer so powerful that he will be able to destroy Morgana. So Baltahazar searches for this special person for over a thousand years, with no avail.

Come 2000 and by coincidence, the child he is looking for walks into Balthazar’s shop. His name is David Strutter, he is 10 and he is in love with his classmate Becky. Just when Balthazar gives him his special ring and tries to explain his purpose, David accidentally sets Horvath free. This ends in Balthazar imprisoning himself and Horvath in a grimhold and David running away.

Come 2010,David (Jay Baruchel) is a total physics nerd, working on a Tesla related thesis. When he runs into Becky (Teresa Palmer) at the university, he can’t believe his luck. But just when he believes he has a shot with her, Balthazar and Horvath reappear. Balthazar starts training David and involuntarily lets him date as well. In the meantime, Horvath is trying to find himself other sorcerers who can help him with his mission.

Of course Horvath can’t be trusted, Balthazar has a hard time convincing David he is the one and we find about the real reason why Horvath betrayed them.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is an absolute summer fun. This summer gave us totally entertaining action/adventure films with romantic subplots on the side and really good jokes. After Iron Man 2, Prince of Persia The Sands of Time and Knight and Day, we get another fun movie that totally entertains. I couldn’t have cared less if Inception topped this one at the box office. The script is really well-balanced, Nicholas Cage is totally lovely and funny as Balthazar, Alfred Molina makes a fine villain (Chocolat, Spider Man 2) and Monica Belluci is gorgeous as always.

I really liked Jay Baruchel and Teresa Palmer’s performances as well. The comic timing, action sequences with magic , special affects and chemistry between the cast complement each other perfectly. I laughed a lot and had a great time. This movie is directed by Jon Turteltaub, and I have always loved his directing, regardless of the genre. He has also directed the National Treasure films starring Nicholas Cage, While You Were Sleeping and Phenomenon.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a Jerry Bruckheimer production. It was written by Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, Matt Lopez, Doug Miro and Carlo Bernhard.

But of course keep in mind I love the combination of action/comedy/romance and I am not that into magic.I don’t likethe Harry Potter series. But I am a fan of Cage and Molina and they deliver, big time.

Trailer 1

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VZllR44gdA[/pro-player]

Trailer 2

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ZL3XjwL0E[/pro-player]

8/10. Perfect escapism!

The Lodger, starring Alfred Molina, Hope Davis, Shane West and Simon Baker

Detective Chandler Manning (Molina) and his rookie partner Street Wilkenson (Shane West) have stumbled upon a disturbing case: brutal murders of hookers, which resemble the crimes of the infamous Jack the Ripper and also a serial killer who Manning caught behind bars and was executed years ago.

Married couple Ellen (Hope Davis) and Bunting (Donal Logue) are having financial troubles. Their marriage doesn’t also seem that solid either: Their relationship is strained and the husband constantly refers to the medication Ellen should be taking. We are tipped- at the very beginning of the movie- that Ellen may not be mentally very stable and that she doesn’t like her husband spending so much time away from home, especially at night.

Manning’s private life isn’t that great either. He has a wife staying at a mental hospital, after an attempted suicide and his daughter holds him responsible. She believes that his compulsiveness and possessive actions have caused this.

Ellen’s life, on the other hand, seems to get interesting. Their guest house finally gets rented, by a mysterious stranger (Simon Baker). Now this guy is dark, he keeps to himself and is obsessed with his privacy. He refuses to meet her husband and keeps disappearing at night…

The movie has a lot of suspicious characters so we are never sure to trust Manning, Ellen, her husband and especially not the lodger. Now the movie is a remake and is not boring. It has its moments and Manning’s obsession with Jack The Ripper gives the movie edge. However the twists and turns and the camera work don’t amount too much when some things are too obvious. It is an OK movie with some wasted potential. After all, the movie has wonderful actors. Hope Davis is wonderful as the edgy Ellen who is very attracted to her new lodger. I have always enjoyed watching Alfred Molina since he portrayed the uptight mayor in Lasse Hallstrom’s Chocolat in 2000. Simon Baker has always pleasantly surprised me with the wide arrange of roles he has taken and this is by far the darkest. Shane West makes a good rookie. But as I said, it has wasted potential. It doesn’t add anything new to the guess-who-is-the-killer game. It is worth a watch if you like the actors. Frankly, the poster looks good and it is cooler than the movie. I actually half-expected a story with vampires when I first saw it.

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