Dann Michalski

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Generic tripe, Extraction is a standard, by-the-numbers spy thriller. The story follows CIA agent Harry Turner, who must go rogue in order to save his father after he’s captured during an operation gone wrong. Starring Kellan Lutz, Gina Carano, D.B. Sweeney, and Bruce Willis, the cast isn’t that bad; their performances however, are terrible. And the writing is incredibly poor; full of stereotypical characters and lame tropes. Yet the fast pacing brings some energy to the film, and the score does a good job at creating tension and suspense. Still, Extraction is painfully formulaic and their no fun to any of the action.

Atmospheric and suspenseful, Haunter is an impressive supernatural thriller. A 15-year-old girl named Lisa starts to realize that she and her family are dead, trapped in a purgatory, but when she attempts to reach out to the living a mysterious stranger stops her. Abigail Breslin and Stephen McHattie give exceptional performances that have emotional resonance. However, the pacing is a little slow and takes a while to setup the plot. Still, Haunter manages to deliver an intense and frightening horror film.

Batman & Robin, god-awful doesn’t even begin to describe this abomination. Director Joel Schumacher has turned the Batman series into a farce, and not even a funny one at that...just a sad, pathetic embarrassment. When Poison Ivy uses her feminine wiles to take over Gotham a rift forms between Batman and Robin and begins to tear them apart; meanwhile Mr. Freeze plans to plunge the city into an ice age. Arnold Schwarzenegger is spectacular bad as Mr. Freeze, delivering some of the worst one-liners of his career, and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl isn’t any better. And let’s not even talk about Bane. Batman & Robin is a black scar on the franchise that will never be lived down.

From Fox News anchor/investigative journalist Bret Baier comes Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire, a fascinating analysis of how the Cold War was won. Baier chronicles Reagan’s raise from a star of the silver screen to President of the United States and his bold strategy to win the Cold War by building up the US military and developing a missile defense system while also forming a relationship with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and partnering with him on nuclear arms reduction treaties. Opinions on when the Cold War ended vary, however Baier pinpoints Reagan’s first visit to Moscow as the opening thaw to the Cold War’s end, and uses it as the focal point to tell this story. The writing is really engaging and is full of interesting information. And Baier does a pretty good job at being “fair and balanced,” presenting Reagan as more complex and nuanced than the Republican icon that he’s often portrayed as. Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire is an incredibly compelling look at one of the most significant moments of the 20th century.