Admit One 12/5

Another week, another group of new movies out in theaters.  The only really big release is Punisher: War Zone, which looks pretty terrible.  Let’s see what the critics had to say.

Punisher: War Zone

Starring: Ray Stevenson, Dominic West

Director: Lexi Alexander

Plot: Frank Castle’s family is murdered by the mob so he becomes a vigalante known as The Punisher to avenge them.  He faces off against the horribly scarred villain known as Jigsaw.

Rotten Tomatoes Freshness: 12%

Washington Post: “Anyone with a modicum of good sense — or a weak stomach — will take it as a warning to stay the heck away from this literally and figuratively deadly War Zone.”

Noble Son

Starring: Alan Rickman, Mary Steenbergen, Bryan Greenberg

Director: Randall Miller

Plot: Eli Michaelson is a brilliant chemist who wins the Noble Prize.  The night before he is to accept the award is son is kidnapped but Eli refuse to pay the ransom.

RT Freshness: 20%

Entertainment Weekly: “The director, Randall Miller, appears to be trying to cross a bad Elmore Leonard thriller with a bad indie-festival family-angst comedy.”

Cadillac Records

Starring: Adrian Brody, Beyonce, Jeffrey Wright

Director: Darnell Martin

Plot: A biographical look at the rise of record company Chess Records and the artists it represented.

RT Freshness: 67%

Critic Consensus: “What Cadillac Records may lack in originality, it more than makes up for in strong performances and soul-stirring music.”