Movie/TV Reviews

Are We Done Yet?

Susan Granger’s review of “Are We Done Yet?” (Sony/Revolution release)

Not many people realize that the original “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” was about a city couple (Cary Grant, Myrna Loy) building a country home in New Milford, Connecticut, particularly since this wretched current reinvention of the concept is so far removed.
Elaborating on the “Are We There Yet?” (2005) characters who were trapped in an SUV traveling from Portland to Vancouver, there’s recently married Nick Persons (Ice Cube) with his good-natured bride Suzanne (Nia Long), her two growingly obnoxious children, Lindsey and Kevin (Aleisha Allen, Philip Daniel Bolden) and dog, Coco. Having settled into his former bachelor condo, the newly formed family descends into crisis when Suzanne announces she’s pregnant.with twins. There seems no choice but to move.
The sprawling, suburban Victorian house they choose is palatial – with vast grounds and lakeside views. It’s impressive but the pipes are rotted, the wiring is disastrous and dry rot is everywhere. It’s a “fixer-upper” money pit. Ah ha! No coincidence that their real-estate agent, Chuck Mitchell Jr. (John C. McGinley) is also the local contractor, building inspector, yoga instructor and – believe it or not – a Polynesian fire-dancer. (No, that was not in the original Eric Hodgins’ novel.) Nor was his Airstream trailer moving into the Persons’ yard.
The truism, “It’s gonna get ugly before it gets pretty” is repeated far too often.
Having paired with Ice Cube on “Next Friday,” director Steve Carr knows how to make the comedian a hapless Everyman, utilizing Hank Nelken’s script adaptation and a good owl gag. Cinematographer Jack Green captures the scenic scope, while production designer Nina Ruscio creates chaos. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Are We Done Yet?” is a dull, forgettable 4, relentlessly extending this family comedy franchise.

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Perfect Stranger

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Perfect Stranger” (Columbia Pi ctures)

Is it some sort of Oscar curse? Hilary Swank sleepwalked through “The Reaping” and now Halle Berry is traumatized in this techno-thriller.
Berry plays Rowena Price, an abrasive investigative reporter who suspects that the murder of her childhood friend, a party-girl named Grace (Nicky Aycox), under mysterious circumstances might be connected to a prominent, womanizing ad exec Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis). So – with the help of a tech-savvy nerd, Miles Haley (Giovanni Ribisi) – she goes undercover with not one but two separate identities. She’s Veronica, who initiates a cyber-flirtation with Hill. She’s also Katherine Pogue, a temp at Hill’s agency. But she’s not the only one with a dual identity.
Director James Foley has always had a predilection for visually stylish film noir, as evidenced by “Fear,” “The Chamber” and “After Dark, My Sweet,” noting in the press notes, “Everybody lies. It just depends on how big the lie is, and what the consequences of the lie are.” But, this time, his helming simply gets overwrought.
Todd Komarnicki’s formulaic plot, based on a story by Jon Bokenkamp, is one you’ve seen before. Besides being derivative, it also makes little narrative sense, stretching vague connections to an extreme.
Beautiful Halle Berry, whose character is tortured by a childhood trauma, seems to be re-visiting “Gothicka,” albeit via Manhattan, appropriately clad for each of her identities by inventive costume designer Renee Kalfus, a patron of Victoria’s Secret. Propelled by ambition and careless about his adultery, Bruce Willis recalls remnants of his considerable seductive charm, while Giovanni Ribisi exudes manipulative emotional intensity. But they’re both Berry’s foils. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Perfect Stranger” is a voyeuristic, pointless 5. As for the “surprise” conclusion, convoluted moral ambiguity can be very unsatisfying.

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Fracture

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Fracture” (New Line Cinema)

Recalling his chilling performance in “The Silence of the Lambs,” Anthony Hopkins creates a conflicted but cunning criminal in this tantalizing psychological thriller.
When mechanical engineering industrialist Ted Crawford (Hopkins) realizes that his beautiful, much-younger wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) is committing adultery, he cleverly plans the perfect murder and meticulously executes it. But there’s a strategic twist. The LAPD detective (Billy Burke) who arrests him is stunned to discover that Jennifer is the mysterious woman with whom he’s been having a clandestine affair, a sordid detail he fails to disclose to ambitious assistant district attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling), who has a 97% conviction rate.
So when Crawford’s case comes to court, Willy suddenly discovers he lacks hard evidence for what should be a clear-cut conviction, much to the chagrin of his boss (David Strathairn). Willy’s frustration is heightened because he’s been offered a lucrative position with a prestigious law firm and opportunistically seduced by his mentor (Rosamund Pike). It seems that a weak spot, or “fracture,” can be found in any facade.
Superbly crafted by screenwriters Daniel Pyne and Glenn Gers and directed with fluid grace by Gregory Hoblit (“Primal Fear,” “Frequency”), it’s a puzzling, character-driven how’d-he-do-it, as opposed to whodunnit. Cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau and production designer Paul Eads achieve exquisite visual elegance utilizing Frank Gehry-designed Disney Hall, L.A.’s new performing arts center.
With the naturalism of a young James Stewart, Ryan Gosling focuses the emotions of someone caught in an ethical and moral dilemma. As the witty, emotionally manipulative killer, Anthony Hopkins strikes not a single false note in a precise, tightly controlled, fiendishly combustible character. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Fracture” is an intense, intriguing 8. Challenging and provocative, it’s hard to stop thinking about.

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The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” (IFC First Take)

In this historical drama, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year, Ken Loach explores the enmity between the Irish and the British – and its aftermath.
Set in 1920s in the Irish countryside, the occupying troops, known as the Black and Tans, often resort to savage measures to quash local efforts to form an independent republic.
As Teddy (Padraic Delaney) leads a group of IRA insurgents, his brother Damien (Cillian Murphy) abandons plans to practice medicine in London to fight beside him. Together, they survive torture, imprisonment and the threat of a firing squad.
But when Irish politician Michael Collins forges a treaty with the United Kingdom (cleverly depicted via a newsreel at the local movie theater) granting Ireland only partial economic independence, a wedge is driven between the siblings. Teddy thinks the agreement, ratified by the Irish Parliament, is a reasonable starting point and joins the Irish Free State’s army, while Damien denounces him as a collaborator, demanding complete separation.
As another rebel puts it, “All we’re changing if we ratify this treaty are the accents of the powerful and the color of the flag.” And therein lies the human tragedy.
Ken Loach utilizes the emotionally wrought, doomed relationship between Teddy and Damien for dramatic structure while attempting to inject some fairness into the fight. It’s a markedly different approach than the ideological social outrage that he and writer Paul Laverty evidenced in “Riff-Raff,” “Land and Freedom” and “Carla’s Story.” Credit goes to Padraic Delaney and versatile Cillian Murphy (“Breakfast on Pluto,” “Red Eye”). On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” is a bloody, brutal 8, evoking obvious, relevant comparisons with the ongoing civil war in Iraq.

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Disturbia

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Disturbia” (Paramount Pictures)

A bored adolescent finds horror lurking in his suburban neighborhood in this updated, youth-oriented adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.”
After he was involved in an automobile accident that took the life of his father, Kale (Shia LaBoeuf) becomes understandably unhinged, slugging a Spanish teacher who provokes him, causing him to spend the summer under court-ordered house arrest with an electronic-monitoring device clamped to his ankle. When his exasperated mom (Carrie-Anne Moss) limits his video-game access and deprives him of television, he picks up a pair of binoculars to amuse himself. First, there’s the foxy, brazen blonde (Sarah Roemer of “Grudge 2”) who moves in next door, then there’s the creepy, menacing neighbor (David Morse) who may be luring women into his house who are never seen again. Could he be the elusive serial killer, the subject of nightly newscasts?
High-tech voyeurism reigns over building a Twinkie tower as the already-traumatized teen and his geeky buddy Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) devise more snooping equipment for what starts out as a surveillance game – until it becomes deadly serious.
Written by Christopher B. Landon and Carl Ellsworth, it’s chilly and contrived, geared to our gnarly Internet paranoia, as director D.J. Caruso (“Two for the Money,” “Taking Lives,” “The Salton Sea”) amps the suspense, albeit with soundtrack thunder for shock value.
But it’s likable, low-key 20 year-old Shia LeBoeuf (“Bobby”) who propels the picture; he also stars in the upcoming “Transformers” and “Surf’s Up” and has recently been signed to be Harrison Ford’s sidekick in the fourth “Indiana Jones” movie. According to LeBoeuf, Hitchcock’s ghosts were everywhere on Paramount’s Stage 18 as cameras inexplicably moved on their own.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Disturbia” is a tense, terrifying 7, becoming a violent psycho-slasher-thriller.

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Pathfinder

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

If you liked “300,” there’s more violence and bloodshed to be had in this brutal revenge thriller.
Apparently, at least 600 years before Columbus discovered America, the Vikings did.
These rampaging Norsemen raped, pillaged and slaughtered Native Americans in the idyllic New World. Somehow in the savage melee, a young boy was separated from his clan and adopted by sympathetic Wampanoags. Given the name Ghost because of his pale face, this hunter/warrior (Karl Urban) grows up loyal to his tribe, “People of the Dawn,” vowing revenge on the Viking invaders who stage massacre after massacre. Armed only with spears and arrows, the Indians put up a courageous fight. “You must face the destiny of your past to know who you really are,” Ghost is told.
Despite the fact that he not only has a sword but knows how to use it, Ghost is taken prisoner by the lumbering Vikings; he’s not killed because they want him as their guide as they trudge from village to villages, fatally ignorant of the vagaries of spring weather. Why they’d trust him remains a mystery, particularly since he’s lost none of his blood thirst, particularly when his native girl-friend (Moon Bloodgood) is in peril. The Vikings may richly deserve Ghost’s treachery but audiences certainly deserve better these chaotic clichŽs.
Screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis and director Marcus Nispel (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”) revel in grisly gore: macabre whippings, throats cut, limbs severed, spears plunging, reminiscent of Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto.” While veteran Native American actors like Russell Means, as a tribal chief, aim for authenticity, leather loincloth-clad Karl Urban evokes memories of “Xena: Warrior Princess.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Pathfinder” is testosterone-propelled 3. Whatever significance the legend had gets lost amid the repellent butchery.

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Black Book

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Black Book” (Sony Pictures Classics)

Filmmaker Paul Verhoeven returns to W.W.II in this gripping drama about the Dutch underground in German-occupied Holland in the fall of 1944.
Based on a true wartime incident, it revolves around the plight of a young Jewish woman, Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten), as she attempts to flee the Nazis with her own and other Jewish families. After being hidden by a Christian farm family whose home was bombed, she winds up joining a group of resistance fighters run by Gerben Kuipers (Derek de Lint), who operates a soup kitchen as cover for his sabotage operations. Soon she’s recruited by Dr. Hans Akkermans (Thom Hoffman), demonstrating her bravery and resourcefulness in an encounter on a train with SS officer Ludwig Muntze (Sebastian Koch), who soon becomes her lover.
Taking the Aryan name Ellis and utilizing her sexuality, she infiltrates Gestapo headquarters at The Hague, working with Ronnie (Halina Reijn), in the office of Capt. Gunther Franken (Waldemar Kopus), discovering that there’s been a dastardly plot involving both Nazis and Dutch in faking escape plans for Jewish families who are then robbed and slaughtered.
After a pulpy Hollywood interim, during which he helmed “Basic Instinct,” “Starship Troopers” and “Showgirls,” Paul Verhoeven returns to his native Netherlands, collaborating with writer Gerard Soeteman on this occasionally flawed, coincidence-filled tale of treachery, betrayal, and revenge – with a beginning and end set in Israel.
Because of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” the Dutch acquired a sympathetic reputation but, in fact, they had the worst statistical record of occupied nations for saving their Jewish population. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Black Book” is a vulgar, erotic 7. In Dutch, German, Hebrew and English – with English subtitles, it evokes memories of the Holocaust.

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Vacancy

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Vacancy” (Screen Gems)

This week’s violent thriller is a taut cat-and-mouse game set in a rundown motel.
When bickering David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox’s (Kate Beckinsale) car breaks down on a dark country road, miles from the California Interstate, they hike back to the seedy, isolated Pinewood Motel run by a creepy night manager (Frank Whaley) who insists that they take the honeymoon suite, free of charge. Amy just wants to go to sleep, but David insists that they put on one of a stack of unlabeled videotapes, only to discover that it’s a graphic, low-budget “snuff” movie which seems to have been filmed in their room. Yikes! With hidden video cameras now aimed at them, masked faces peering into the window and doorknobs rattling ominously, David and Amy must struggle to get out alive before they become the victims in next week’s schlocky slasher thriller.
Writer Mark L. Smith and German director Nimrod Antal (“Kontroll”) contrive an effective, unpretentious chiller, set where the room phone connects only with the front desk and there’s simply no cell phone service. To their credit, the filmmakers spends almost as much time delving into David and Amy’s disintegrating marital relationship (there’s a dead child) as developing the maniac’s murderous intent. But it’s no banal slice-and-dicer, relying, instead, on flashy sound effects and claustrophobia-inducing dirt tunnels that run under the motel for the insinuated horror.
Amid the apprehension, Luke Wilson emerges as quite likeable but Kate Beckinsale comes across as intensely irritating. The best performance comes from Frank Whaley, who channels crazed Norman Bates from the motel hell of “Psycho.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Vacancy” is a short, scary, suspense-filled 5 that, unfortunately, sputters to an inconsequential conclusion. Dare I call it doom service?

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Spider-Man 3

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Spider-Man 3” (Columbia Pictures)

Launching the summer popcorn picture season, this third installment finds the web-slinger battling not only his inner demons but three formidable villains.
Just as Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) manages to strike a balance between his devotion to Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and his crime-stopper duties, he discovers a sinister black suit that enhances his power but evokes deep within him feelings of bitterness and anger. Then there are the bad guys: Venom (Topher Grace), Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church) and Harry Osborn (James Franco), vengeful son of Willem Dafoe’s original Green Goblin, who takes up Daddy’s mantle.
Fiendishly fangy Venom is like an evil mirror-image of Spidey, a symbiote who wants to fuse with him. When he’s rejected, he slithers off and bonds with Peter Parker’s newspaper rival Eddie Brock.
Sandman, a.k.a. Flint Marko, is an escaped convict with an ailing daughter who becomes a crumbling shape-shifter after stumbling into a molecular fusion experiment.
Plus there’s flirtatious Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) to make M.J. jealous.
Based on Marvel Comics characters, the first “Spider-Man” introduced Tobey Maguire as the dual-identity super-hero with Kirsten Dunst as his aspiring actress sweetheart, establishing their individuality and relationship. Writer/director Sam Raimi, along with his brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent, weave lots of gigantic action into this lengthy, complex concept. If you thought the runaway-elevated-train sequence in “Spider-Man 2” was exciting, this time there’s an underground subway fight, an airborne battle and showdown finale at a skyscraper construction site. Intense!
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Spider-Man 3” is a soul-searching, nimble 9, setting the stage for Spidey #4 – and it’s just been announced that U2’s Bono and The Edge with “Lion King” director Julie Taymor will create “Spider-Man: The Musical” for Broadway.

Susan Granger's review of "Spider-Man 3" (Columbia Pictures)

Launching the summer popcorn picture season, this third installment finds the web-slinger battling not only his inner demons but three formidable villains.
Just as Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) manages to strike a balance between his devotion to Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and his crime-stopper duties, he discovers a sinister black suit that enhances his power but evokes deep within him feelings of bitterness and anger. Then there are the bad guys: Venom (Topher Grace), Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church) and Harry Osborn (James Franco), vengeful son of Willem Dafoe's original Green Goblin, who takes up Daddy's mantle.
Fiendishly fangy Venom is like an evil mirror-image of Spidey, a symbiote who wants to fuse with him. When he's rejected, he slithers off and bonds with Peter Parker's newspaper rival Eddie Brock.
Sandman, a.k.a. Flint Marko, is an escaped convict with an ailing daughter who becomes a crumbling shape-shifter after stumbling into a molecular fusion experiment.
Plus there's flirtatious Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) to make M.J. jealous.
Based on Marvel Comics characters, the first "Spider-Man" introduced Tobey Maguire as the dual-identity super-hero with Kirsten Dunst as his aspiring actress sweetheart, establishing their individuality and relationship. Writer/director Sam Raimi, along with his brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent, weave lots of gigantic action into this lengthy, complex concept. If you thought the runaway-elevated-train sequence in "Spider-Man 2" was exciting, this time there's an underground subway fight, an airborne battle and showdown finale at a skyscraper construction site. Intense!
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Spider-Man 3" is a soul-searching, nimble 9, setting the stage for Spidey #4 - and it's just been announced that U2's Bono and The Edge with "Lion King" director Julie Taymor will create "Spider-Man: The Musical" for Broadway.

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The Invisible

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Invisible” (Hollywood Pictures)

In this supernatural thriller, a teenager finds himself trapped between the worlds of the living and the deceased.
Nick Powell (Justin Chatwin) is a sensitive, poetry-writing high school senior with plans to study in London until, in a tragic case of mistaken identity, he is brutally attacked by a cruel, tough-talking classmate, Annie Newton (Margarita Levieva), and left for dead in the remote woods. Hovering in limbo, his battered spirit can only watch as his icily controlling, perfectionist widowed mother (Marcia Gay Harden) and the cops search frantically for him. No matter how desperately he tries to communicate with the living, they cannot see him or hear him. Somehow he must figure out why this terrible thing happened to him.
Based on a 2002 Swedish film, “Den Osynlige,” which was based on a novel by Mats Wahl, Mick Davis’s script reveals everything from the getgo so the audience simply waits for the culprit to be found. That leaves David S. Groyer (“Blade: Trinity”) directing a cast of moody characters who are wallowing in teary emotionality.
Justin Chatwin (“War of the Worlds”) plays angst-ridden and dour again, while Margarita Levieva struggles to summon the necessary inner anger. The audience knows it’s only a matter of time until she doffs that dirty black wool beanie, sheathes her 12-inch blade and seeks some kind of ironic redemption.
Of course, on a deeper level, particularly for teens, it’s all about alienation – trying to be seen, literally and figuratively, when those around you don’t perceive who you really are. All this ruminating on mortality is emphasized by Marco Beltrami’s loud rock music and Gabriel Beristain’s cinematography. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Invisible” is a dreary, forgettable 4. Watch it disappear soon.

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