Combustible Celluloid


New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

movies

50% Off DVD Sale at BarnesandNoble.com! Shop Now.

 
Home | Archive | About | Blog | Lists | Links | E-mail me | Sign up for my weekly newsletter! |  
 



The Innkeepers ***1/2
The Woman in Black ***
The Grey ***
Man on a Ledge ***
Underworld Awakening **
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos ***
Haywire ***
Beauty and the Beast ****
Contraband ***
The Divide *
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ****
The Devil Inside **
The Iron Lady **
A Separation ***
Pariah ***1/2
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ***
The Darkest Hour **
War Horse **1/2
In the Land of Blood and Honey **
The Adventures of Tintin ***1/2
More
 



Adaptation
Dream House
Drive
Frida
The Magnificent Ambersons
Malcolm X
The Mill and the Cross
The Moment of Truth
Outrage
The Piano
The Thing
To Kill a Mockingbird
2011: The Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
More
 

Film Features

2011: The Year's Best Films
Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
Interview: Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender
Interview: Simon Curtis
Interview: Werner Herzog
Interview: John Cho
Interview: Roland Emmerich
Interview: Stephen Bishop on Moneyball
Interview: Nick Swardson
Interview: Lynn Hershman Leeson
Interview: Lone Scherfig
Interview: Jesse Eisenberg & Aziz Ansari
Interview: Wayne Wang
Interview: Andre Ovredal on 'Trollhunter'
Interview: Ewan McGregor & Mike Mills
Interview: Kelly Reichardt (Examiner link)
The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival - 2011 Coverage
Interview: Emma Roberts
Rainn Wilson & James Gunn (Examiner link)
Interview: Tom McCarthy
Interview: Abigail Breslin (Examiner link)
2010: The Year's Best Films
2010: The Year's Best DVDs & Blu-Rays
Interview: Sofia Coppola
Interview: George A. Romero
The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
My Top 100 Films [Updated]
My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
Christmas Movies
Essential Halloween & Horror Movies
Cult Movies
Actress Interview Gallery
More Features and Interviews
 

Film Books

Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, by Alonso Duralde
Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
More Books
 



Home
Reviews A-C
Reviews D-F
Reviews G-J
Reviews K-M
Reviews N-Q
Reviews R-T
Reviews U-Z
 

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

 
SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

Advanced Search

 
 
© 1997-2012 Combustible Celluloid



Outlander (2009)

Rating: 2 Stars (out of 4)

Norse Nonsense

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

I wish they could have just called this what it really is: The Alien and the Vikings Versus the Giant, Nearly-Invisible Monster. But in choosing a boring title like Outlander, they have showed their hand: this movie is no fun at all. Each and every scene comes straight out of the movie handbook, assembled accordingly, with little variation.

We get the arranged, unwanted marriage between the girl and the king's son, the girl's attraction to the mysterious newcomer and the hero asking the girl to stay behind so she doesn't get hurt. There's even a minor character who is introduced with a little speech about drinking mead, just so he can repeat the same speech 90 minutes later when he lies dying in the hero's arms (they're friends now, you see).

At any rate, James Caviezel (humorless, as usual) plays Kainan the alien; he learns the local dialect through the use of a machine, but there's no explanation as to why he looks exactly like an earthly human being. Sophia Myles plays the fiery girl, tough enough to join the battle (women's lib in the 8th century?).

Jack Huston plays Wulfric, the king's son, who at first hates the outlander, but comes to befriend him. Ron Perlman almost provides some humor as the leader of a rival Viking clan, and John Hurt is tragically subdued as the king. Occasionally, but not often enough, the movie veers into unintentional humor, but mostly it just snoozes along.


Buy DVD | Buy Blu-Ray | iTunes Download
Trailer | Poster | Soundtrack
Bookmark and Share
With: James Caviezel, Sophia Myles, Jack Huston, Ron Perlman, John Hurt, John Beale, Katie Bergin, Matt Cooke, Aidan Devine, Ricardo Hoyos, Amy Kerr, Ted Ludzik, Bailey Maughan, Liam McNamara, John Nelles, Simon Northwood, Mark A. Owen, Scott Owen, Owen Pattison, Petra Prazak, James Preston Rogers, Todd Sandomirsky, Cliff Saunders, Patrick Stevenson
Written by: Dirk Blackman, Howard McCain
Directed by: Howard McCain
MPAA Rating: R for violence
Running Time: 115 minutes
Date: January 23, 2009
Home
New Movies
New DVDs & Blu-Ray
Features
News
Search Reviews
Classic Movies
Film Books
Gallery
Links
About
Contact
All scribblings © 1997-2012 Combustible Celluloid