Movie/TV Reviews

Resurrecting the Champ

Susan Granger’s review of “Resurrecting the Champ” (Yari Film Group)

Film critic-turned-writer/director Rod Lurie (“The Contender,” TV’s “Commander-in-Chief”) scores again with this crowd-pleasing sports drama
Ambitious Erik Kernan (Josh Hartnett) is a struggling rookie sports reporter at the Denver Times who labors under the cloud of his late newspaperman father’s stellar reputation, trying – in vain – to please Metz (Alan Alda), his demanding editor.
One day, Erik, literally, stumbles onto an elderly homeless man, nicknamed Champ (Samuel L. Jackson), who was beaten up by a gang of juvenile delinquents while rummaging for booze in garbage cans in a downtown alley. The vagrant refers to himself as boxing legend Battling Bob Satterfield, who was believed to have passed away long ago. Satterfield was once a heavyweight ‘contender’ in every sense of the word, ranked #3 in the world and sparring with Rocky Marciano.
Encouraged by the editor (David Paymer) of the newspaper’s magazine section, Erik is determined to tell Champ’s story, and the co-dependent relationship that develops between writer-and-subject takes some wild jabs and makes unexpected bobs and weaves. Meanwhile, in the background, there’s Erik’s estranged wife/co-worker (Kathryn Morris) and young son (Dakota Goyo).
Wearing a gray wig of wild dreadlocks, Samuel L. Jackson is terrific as the battered-but-unbowed Champ. Josh Hartnett scores and – in supporting roles – so do Teri Hatcher and Peter Coyote.
Based on a true Los Angeles Times magazine story by J.R. Moehringer and adapted for the screen by Michael Bortman and Allison Burnett, it’s not only a boxing saga but also a contemplation of journalistic ethics – kind of like “Rocky” meets “All the President’s Men.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Resurrecting the Champ” is an uplifting, redemptive 7. As Erik observes: “It’s you that’s out there – and there’s no place to hide.”

Resurrecting the Champ Read More »

3:10 to Yuma

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “3:10 to Yuma” (Lionsgate)

No one knows how many thousands of Westerns have been made, but the first notable one was “The Great Train Robbery” in 1903. Since then, we’ve watched Westerns for more years than there was a Wild West, since they’re usually set in the years between the conclusion of the Civil War and the end of the 19th century.
James Mangold’s re-make of Delmer Daves’ 1957 anti-hero redemption saga revolves around the psychological conflict between a crippled, courageous rancher, Dan Evans (Christian Bale), and a notorious killer, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). After suffering a period of draught and subsequent debt, Evans’ family is awakened one night to discover their barn burning and small herd of cattle rustled, subsequently serving as a stampede diversion for a stagecoach robbery. That sets up his first encounter with Ben Wade – but far from his last.
Writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas have added to Elmore Leonard’s story and Halsted Welles’ original script, making it more violent, cynical and brutal – with the clock-ticking convention of “High Noon” and “Rio Bravo” and an enigmatic conclusion. James Mangold (“Walk the Line”) keeps the tension taut as Evans is grimly determined to deposit Wade on the 3:10 train to Yuma prison.
Russell Crowe’s sophisticated, multi-dimensional sociopath anchors the story, while scowling Christian Bale’s seems weighted down with stoic, stubborn, idealistic virtue. Or perhaps it’s just his choice to underplay. As Wade’s dastardly accomplice, Ben Foster scores, and Peter Fonda is memorable as a corrupt bounty hunter. On the other hand, the ‘frontier women’ (Gretchen Mol, Vinessa Shaw) are too creamed and coiffed to be even remotely believable. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “3:10 to Yuma” is a gritty, galloping 8, an authentic Western with cynical, contemporary touches.

3:10 to Yuma Read More »

The Nanny Diaries

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Nanny Diaries” (MGM/The Weinstein Company)

This film adaptation of the popular, satirical chick-lit novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Krause misses so many chances to be funny.
The concept is that a working-class girl is hired to take care of a spoiled Upper East Side tot. Annie Braddock (Scarlett Johansson) is a bright college grad from a New Jersey suburb. Although her mom (Donna Murphy), a hard-working nurse, tries to steer her into finance, Annie’s more into anthropology, examining mothers from various cultures, depicted in dioramas at the Museum of Natural History.
Annie’s hired by a high-strung, complaining control-freak, Mrs. X (Laura Linney), who demands that her precocious five year-old, Grayer (Nicholas Reese Art) be read to from the Wall Street Journal and, on his birthday, be amused by two French mimes. Her crude, philandering husband (Paul Giamatti) prefers a lower class type of entertainment, precipitating predictable marital squabbles.
If Annie’s not generic enough, her best friend’s (Alicia Keys) downright boring. And Annie’s lying to her mother about working as a Wall Street business trainee, rather than baby-sitting a brat, is a transgression with no consequences.
Part of the appeal of the snarky novel was that its authors, presumably, had nannied for Park Avenue society matrons and snobbish celebrities, voyeuristically gobbling up gossip along the way. The shallow, formulaic script, written and directed by Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Burton (“American Splendor” collaborators), has none of that pretense.
Bless her, Laura Linney does a valiant job within the trivial caricature, but Scarlett Johansson’s appeal only seems to surface only for Woody Allen. Here, she’s sullen, soft and sultry, attributes that undermine her role. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Nanny Diaries” is a banal, disappointing 3, making ‘perfection’ look pretty bleak.

The Nanny Diaries Read More »

Death Sentence

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Death Sentence” (20th Century Fox)

September must be ‘payback’ month. In this overwrought revenge thriller, a mild-mannered, hard-working insurance adjuster, Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) with a loving wife (Kelly Preston) and two sons, Brendan (Stuart Lafferty) and Lucas (Jordan Garrett), seeks vengeance for a heartbreaking crime.
It all begins as Nick and teenage Brendan make a late-night stop after a hockey game at a gas station/mini-market, where some tattooed thugs blast the store clerk with a shotgun and – in a gang initiation ritual – one punk, Joe (Matthew O’Leary), attacks and kills Brendan with a machete.
Although Joe is arrested, the prosecutor offers a plea deal of only three to five years in prison. Furious that Joe won’t do hard time, Nick refuses to testify and takes justice into his own hands, stalking Joe and stabbing him to death. Problem is: Joe’s older brother, the gang leader Billy (Garrett Hedlund) declares that Nick has just “bought.a death sentence” for his all-too-vulnerable family.
In supporting roles, Aisha Taylor is the lone ‘voice-of-conscience’ detective, while John Goodman chews the scenery as a weapons dealer with paternal gangland ties.
Screenwriter Ian Mackenzie Jeffers loosely adapts Brian Garfield’s sequel to “Death Wish” which is directed by torture-master James Wan (the “Saw” trio). Despite one impressively photographed chase sequence atop a parking garage – credit the shaky cinematography of John R. Leonetti – it’s exploitive and overwrought with extreme violence, bound to turn off all but the most excessively blood-thirsty movie-goers. And its conclusion is an unabashed rip-off of Travis Bickle’s shaved head and blown-off fingers in “Taxi Driver,” punctuated by the hardcore, heavy-handed soundtrack and score. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Death Sentence” is a gritty, dismal 1 – as in one of the worst movies of the year.

Death Sentence Read More »

Balls of Fury

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Balls of Fury” (Rogue)

Fortunately, stupidity is not a sin – or this misguided comedy would be convicted.
A former child prodigy who has never forgotten his disgraceful defeat at age 12 and a deadly debacle at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler, Tony-winner of Broadway’s “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”) is recruited by an FBI agent (George Lopez) ostensibly to compete in an illegal, underground table-tennis tournament but actually to help capture the notorious international arms dealer, Master Feng (Christopher Walken), the triad kingpin who is responsible for the death of Randy’s father.
Slovenly, chubby and ‘way out of competitive shape, Randy, wielding an ’88 “Def Leppard Rules” paddle, goes into training with an elderly, blind grandmaster (James Hong of “Big Trouble in Little China”), who happens to have a gorgeously nimble niece, Maggie (Hong Kong superstar Maggie Q of “Mission Impossible III”), who plays ping-pong like a demon. As the match “somewhere in Central America” proceeds, losers are fiendishly dispatched with poison darts and a sex slave (Diedrich Bader) rues not reading the fine print in his contract.
Obviously devoted to crude slapstick, writer/director Robert Ben Garant (“Reno 911”), along with writing collaborator Thomas Lennon (who also plays a small part), pile on the stale, rancid ham. Indiscriminate yet ever-game Christopher Walken (“Hairspray”) seems to relish his wardrobe (a garish variety of satin robes – courtesy of costumer Mary Ann Bozek – along with a mile-high hairdo) and delivering inane lines like, “Okey-dokey, artichokey.” And Dan Fogler comes across as a curiously unappealing blend of Jack Black and Seth Rogen. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Balls of Fury” is a cheesy, chop-socky, sophomoric 3. It’s like a “Saturday Night Live” skit stretched out to a mind-numbing 90 minutes.

Balls of Fury Read More »

Shoot ‘Em Up

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Shoot ‘Em Up” (New Line Cinema)

There’s something to be said for truth in advertising. Never have so many bullets been fired by so many men – for the sheer fun of it.
As enigmatic Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) sits on a bench, waiting for a bus and munching a big, crispy carrot, a pregnant woman, obviously in labor, runs past him, chased by a gunman with a car full of black-clad cohorts. Dashing to her defense, he polishes off her pursuers while delivering the baby, blasting the umbilical cord with a gunshot. Carrying the woman’s corpse – and the newborn – he escapes. While intending to find the infant a proper home, he’s perpetually followed by a really, really nasty bad guy (Paul Giamatti) – and an army of thugs. Along the way, glowering Mr. Smith recruits a lactating prostitute (beautiful Monica Belluci) whose kinky specialty is wet-nursing clients. As for a semi-coherent plot, it seems the powerful gun lobby is involved in a shadowy scheme to harvest bone marrow for an influential U.S. Senator running for President.
Satirically written and directed by Michael Davis (“Eight Days a Week”), it’s outrageously violent and intentionally trashy – at warp speed. With tongue firmly planted in cheek and a deadpan demeanor, Clive Owens (“Children of Men”) embodies “the angriest man in the world.” As the heinous villain/henpecked husband, Paul Giamatti (“The Nanny Diaries”) is reprehensible. “Do you know why a gun is better than a wife?” he asks one of his thugs. “You can put a silencer on a gun.”
For some, this perversity may be entertaining; for others (like me), it’s just inane. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Shoot ‘Em Up” is a silly, smarmy, shell-shocked 6, offering frenetic, absurdist, over-the-top violence – like a live-action cartoon.

Shoot ‘Em Up Read More »

The Kingdom

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan GrangerÕs review of ‘The Kingdom” (Universal Pictures)

If you like compelling, politically provocative, action-packed entertainment, donÕt miss Peter BergÕs ÒThe KingdomÓ Ð with a timely plot plucked from current events.
The title sequence deftly summarizes AmericaÕs involvement with Saudi Arabia, delineating how oil has not only made us dependent on the friendship of the Royal Family but has also incited the wrath of Wahabi militants within the Kingdom.
When thereÕs a massive suicide bomber attack on an American compound, aimed at oil company workers and their families, two Saudi officers are also shot. While the FBI usually investigates when Americans are murdered on foreign soil, the Attorney General (Danny Huston) refuses to authorize any official action, preferring to leave it to the diplomats. But Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) prevails Ð one of his colleagues was killed Ð and assembles a top-notch team (Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman). Given only five days, they must circumvent an abrasive American diplomat (Jeremy Piven), sort through the debris and find the culprit, accompanied by Saudi Colonel Al Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom) and Police Sergeant Haytham (Ali Suliman).
.Loosely based on the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, and directed by Peter Berg, the procedural – yet gung-ho – screenplay attempts to delineate the culture clash. While Foxx is revenge-driven, heÕs also a devoted father; GarnerÕs a lollipop-loving combatant, etc. Ð and this complexity extends to the Arab characters too. But, rather than exuding gritty authenticity, Mauro FioreÕs jerky, handheld camerawork is confusing Ð and annoying.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, ÒThe KingdomÓ is an exciting 8. But thereÕs an inherent problem: the concept that only Americans can solve the worldÕs problems could be what got us into our on-going conflict in the first place.

The Kingdom Read More »

Mr. Woodcock

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Mr. Woodcock” (New Line Cinema)

The title of the picture is about as funny as this gets. There’s not much class here.
Billy Bob Thornton has played nasty roles before in “Bad News Bears,” “School for Scoundrels” and “Bad Santa,” so it’s not much of a stretch for him to tackle Mr. Woodcock, an abusive physical-education teacher who falls in love with a woman whose son he gleefully tormented all through middle-school.
It all begins as John Farley (Seann William Scott of “American Pie”) returns to his Nebraska hometown on a promotional tour for his best-selling self-help book, “Letting Go: Getting Past Your Past.” To his horror, he discovers that his widowed mother Beverly (Susan Sarandon) is sexually involved with the tyrannical jock who humiliated him as a kid. Memories of the suffering he endured during his chubby, geeky adolescence overwhelm reason as Farley sets out to sabotage their wedding plans.
Written by Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert and originally scheduled for release last year, “Mr. Woodcock” was temporarily shelved and several of director Craig Gillespie’s original scenes were re-shot by producer David Dobkin, who directed “Wedding Crashers.”
To his credit, Billy Bob Thornton resists the temptation to ham-it-up, delivering vulgar contemptuousness with a stone-face, leaving the hysteria to Seann William Scott. Susan Sarandon is given little to do but react. In supporting roles, Amy Poehler nails Farley’s nasty publicist, Ethan Supplee scores as Farley’s old friend and (uncredited) Bill Macy demonstrates the genetic derivation of Woodcock’s obnoxiousness.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Mr. Woodcock” is a flabby, unfocused 5. The only redeeming aspect of this ridiculous comedy is that it skewers those sweat-suited phys-ed sadists we all remember from gym class, but is that satisfaction really worth the price of admission?

Mr. Woodcock Read More »

The Hunting Party

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Hunting Party” (The Weinstein Company)

In this a political thriller about reckless TV journalists-turned-bounty hunters, the first words on the screen are: “Only the most ridiculous parts of this story are true.”
When disgraced veteran journalist Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) discovers that his trusty camera operator, Duck (Terrence Howard), is back in Sarajevo – a decade after the war – holding a cushy job working with the network anchorman (James Brolin), he tracks Duck down and presents a bizarre proposal: an ‘exclusive’ with the elusive (and fictional) Fox (Ljubomir Kerekes), a Balkan war criminal who killed thousands of Bosnian Muslims and tops the world’s ‘most wanted’ list.
Never mind that the CIA, NATO, the UN and The Hague are hunting for him – and there’s a $5 million bounty on his head. To complicate matters, a network exec’s eager son, Benjamin (Jesse Eisenberg), a Harvard grad, insists on accompanying them. Thus begins a horrific road trip.
Based on a true story by Scott Anderson that was published in Esquire magazine back in 2005, this dark comedy, cleverly adapted and directed by Richard Shepherd (“The Matador”), exudes irony and irreverence – if not plausibility.
It’s obvious that Richard Gere (“The Hoax”) relishes the role of the hard-drinking Simon – whose on-air meltdown cost him his career – and his perilous, high-stakes gamble has a revenge motive, since Simon’s pregnant Bosnian girl-friend was killed by the Serbs under the Fox’s orders. As his reluctant accomplice, Terrence Howard is as convincing then he was opposite Jodie Foster in “The Brave One,” while Jesse Eisenberg (“The Squid and the Whale”) does the best he can with what is, essentially, an underwritten role.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Hunting Party” is a cynical 7, highlighting the absurdity of war.

The Hunting Party Read More »

The Brave One

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Brave One” (Warner Bros.)

Victim to vigilante: that’s the emotional journey Jodie Foster takes in this action drama that switches gender with Charles Bronson’s “Death Wish.”
Erica Bain (Foster) is the Manhattan-enthusing host of an FM-radio show, “Street Walk,” sharing her sentiments and recorded sounds from around the Big Apple. One night, as she and her fiancŽ David (“Lost’s” Naveen Andrews) walk their dog along a deserted path in Central Park, they’re brutally mugged. David dies – and Erica is left so emotionally devastated that she buys a 9mm handgun, ostensibly for protection in the city that she loves yet now fears.
But when she witnesses a subway attack, her pent-up rage erupts and she impulsively shoots the punks responsible. Empowered, she then wipes out a shooter in a convenience-store, a high-profile crook and a junkie who abducted a prostitute. In the meantime, she’s befriended by an NYPD detective (Terrence Howard) grappling with his own moral conflict as they hunt down David’s killers.
Written by Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort and smartly directed by Neil Jordan (“The Crying Game,” “Breakfast on Pluto”), despite some inherent implausibility, it’s a multi-layered psychological revenge thriller about the survivor of a violent crime who is determined to regain control of her own life, even if that means prowling the streets at night, deliberately setting herself up as bait.
Admittedly and unabashedly subversive, it’s bound to incite controversy, along with accolades for Jodie Foster’s astonishing performance, one of the best of her career. And Terrence Howard delivers on the promise he displayed in “Hustle & Flow” and “Crash.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Brave One” is an almost tortuously high-tension, exciting 8. “Someone is playing God out there – in the name of justice.”

The Brave One Read More »