Movie/TV Reviews

Miss Potter

Susan Granger’s review of “Miss Potter” (Weinstein/MGM)

Beatrix Potter was a phenomenon. Back in 1902 London, it was unheard-of for a proper Victorian lady to write and illustrate children’s books yet, for more than 100 years, her fanciful stories have never been out of print.
Leading a somewhat solitary existence, artistically inclined 32 year-old Beatrix Potter (Renee Zellweger) mystifies her conventional, social-climbing parents (Barbara Flynn, Bill Patterson) by rejecting all “suitable” suitors in favor of the company of her imaginary animal creations – like Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck and Mrs. Tiggle-Winkle.
When a novice publisher, Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor), with unquenchable curiosity takes her on as a client, accepting her assertive, yet introverted behavior, she is immediately attracted to him, and his headstrong sister Millie (Emily Watson) becomes her closest confidante. But because he is “in trade,” her parents insist their engagement remain ‘secret’ – until tragedy strikes – and Beatrix moves to England’s picturesque Lake District, becoming one of the original benefactors of the then-fledgling British Conservation Trust.
Directing his first film since “Babe,” Australian Chris Noonan gently melds this independent woman and her delightfully animated characters; Richard Maltby’s script never dips into cloying sentimentality despite the melodrama inherent in Beatrix’s life.
Exuding honesty and naivetŽ, Renee Zellweger is radiant and compelling, re-teaming with her “Down With Love” co-star Ewan McGregor. Having honed her British accent as Bridget Jones, Zellweger is totally convincing, as is Ewan McGregor, particularly when he teaches Beatrix to dance. Emily Watson makes the most out of saucy lines comparing marriage to “domestic enslavement.”
Filmed by Andrew Dunn on the Isle of Man, the entire production is deliciously detailed, radiating period authenticity. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Miss Potter” is a whimsical 7, offering a charming glimpse into the life of a literary icon.

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Venus

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Venus” (Miramax)

In “Venus,” Peter O’Toole reigns supreme as an aging actor who forms a liaison, of sorts, with the cheeky 19 year-old grand-niece of his closest chum.
While Maurice (O’Toole) and Ian (Leslie Phillips) are coping with the cruel indignities of old age, a young woman comes into their lives. Coarse, crass and uneducated, Jessie (Jodie Whittaker) has come to London to look for work as a fashion model. While her surly behavior tries grumpy Ian’s patience, Maurice is enchanted with her, taking her to theater and introducing her to the cultural sights, including Diego Velazquez’s portrait of Venus in the National Gallery. Invigorated and clearly infatuated, he calls her “Venus” and gets her a job modeling for an art class, only to discover that – to his great chagrin – he’s not allowed to witness her disrobing. Observing from the sidelines is Valerie (Vanessa Redgrave), Maurice’s long-estranged, empathetic wife and mother of their three children.
Now a frail 75, O’Toole has lost none of the charismatic finesse that won him seven Oscar nominations and an Honorary Academy Award in 2003. He delivers a superbly nuanced tragicomedic portrayal, complete with outrageous impudence and acerbic wit. As a cantankerous curmudgeon, Phillips matches him all the way with Richard Griffiths (“The History Boys”) completing the bickering trio in a particularly amusing cafŽ scene.
Screenwriter Hanif Kureishi and director Roger Mitchell, who previously collaborated on “The Mother” about a widow who has an affair with her daughter’s lover, are on familiar territory with this May-December relationship, skirting sentiment while gleefully mining the inherent comedy. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Venus” is a wryly clever 8 – and it wouldn’t surprise me if it augured Oscar nomination #8 for Peter O’Toole and, perhaps, a win.

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Breaking and Entering

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Breaking and Entering” (Weinstein/Miramax/UA)

Love relationships take unexpected twists in Anthony Minghella’s contemporary drama about regeneration set in North London’s squalid King’s Cross neighborhood.
Architect Will Francis (Jude Law) and his icy, depressive Swedish girlfriend Liv (Robin Wright Penn) have lived together for many years but now they’re drifting apart, primarily because of her obsession with caring for her emotionally troubled 13 year-old daughter, Bea (Poppy Rogers). Meanwhile, Will and his partner (Martin Freeman) are revitalizing the decaying urban landscape when their newly renovated high-tech office is burglarized not once but twice by a local gang of Serbian refugees. The primary thief is a remarkably agile 15 year-old, Miro (Rafi Gavron), who keeps Will’s laptop. One night, Will spots Miro and trails him to the flat he shares with his feisty mother, Amira (Juliette Binoche), who fled with him from war-torn Sarajevo and now works as a seamstress. Curious about this acrobatic youth who races across rooftops, Will starts bringing clothes for Amira to mend. Soon a clandestine affair develops.
Best known for directing “The English Patient,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Cold Mountain,” Anthony Minghella has also written the contrived screenplay, which is filled with social relevance and ethical metaphors, theft being is the primary one. Which is worse: the theft of material possessions or the theft of someone’s heart?
Problem is: all the characters are seriously underwritten, often implausible, as is a gratuitous subplot involving a Romanian prostitute (Vera Farmiga). The talented actors do the best they can but never seem to get a firm grasp on their characters – with the exception of Juliette Binoche, who delivers a luminous performance. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Breaking and Entering” is an intellectually engaging 7 but never delivers on an emotional level.

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Children of Men

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Children of Men” (Universal)

A whopper of a heart-kicker, “Children of Men” is a full-throttle futuristic thriller with a flat-out fabulous performance by Clive Owen as a British civil servant in a bleak, despairing, depressing world that’s been thrown into chaos and anarchy.
It’s an Orwellian 2027 – and female infertility plagues the globe. No babies have been born, anywhere, for 18 years.
Former political activist-turned-bureaucrat, Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is reluctantly drawn in to a resistance movement when he’s kidnapped by a rogue terrorist group called the Fish that’s headed by his militant ex (Julianne Moore) who convinces him to obtain transit papers for a young refugee, Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), who must flee the country.
When plans go awry in London, Theo drives the girl to the secret country hideaway of his eccentric, drug-addled friend Jasper (Michael Caine), a former political cartoonist – but their pursuers are close behind. It’s all about the desperate chase to save humanity – because, inexplicably, Kee is pregnant!
Based on a 1993 novel by British mystery writer P.D. James and adapted by writer/director Alfonso Cuaron with Timothy J. Sexton, it’s rife with thought-provoking social and political themes, revolving around immigration and terrorism – and far more believable than “28 Days” or “V for Vendetta.” Also credit photographer Emmanuel Lubezski and production designers Jim Clay and Geoffrey Kirkland – who create indelible images of wailing prisoners held in Guantanamo-like cages in an oppressive, rubble-littered landscape. And Cuaron’s seamless editing is truly remarkable.
But it’s also rather confusing, filled with heavy-handed religious allusions and allegorical symbolism – and too little is explained about Theo and Kee’s ultimate goal, known only as The Human Project. Nevertheless, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Children of Men” is a gritty, gripping 8. It’s apocalyptic sci-fi.

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Perfume: The Story of Murderer

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Perfume: The Story of Murderer” (Paramount)

Based on Peter Susskind’s best-seller, Tom Tykwer’s bizarre, macabre fantasy about a deadly olfactory obsession is set in the 18th century.
Born into the stench of Paris, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) was abandoned at birth by his mother. After spending his childhood in a grungy orphanage and adolescence working at a filthy tannery, he encounters a renowned perfumer, Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman), to whom he demonstrates his extraordinary sense of smell.
Taken on as an apprentice because of his gifted nose, he indulges his quest for the perfect fragrance by becoming a serial killer. His first ‘scent’ victim is a redhead selling plums (Karoline Herfurth). Many others follow when he moves to the town of Grasse, which specializes in ‘enfleurage,’ extracting the essence of flowers. There, he relentlessly pursues the virginal essence of the beautiful daughter (Rachel Hurd-Wood) of a widower merchant (Alan Rickman).
Utilizing a script by Andrew Birkin and Bernd Eichinger, Tom Tykwer (“Run Lola Run”) relies primarily on a plumy narrator (John Hurt) and lush visualization to translate Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s fiendish compulsion which, eventually, overwhelms all other manifestations of his humanity.
In the sinister, almost non-verbal leading role, Ben Whishaw must rely on sniffing to propel the story and Alan Rickman exudes the desperation of a protective father, but Dustin Hoffman is totally unconvincing as the aging mentor.
Frank Griebe’s cinematography and Uli Hanisch’s production design are lavish and authentic – but editor Frank Griebe should have eliminated at least a half hour from the yawn-inducing 145-minute length. And the weird Breughelian conclusion, venturing into the metaphysical realm of magical realism, is simply ludicrous. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” is a twisted, tortuous 6 – intoxicating but repellent.

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The Dead Girl

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Dead Girl” (First Look Pictures)

January is often considered a grim month so this psychological drama about the investigation of a sordid, mysterious murder fits right in.
Composed of five seemingly disparate, titled vignettes set in Los Angeles, it begins with lonesome Arden (Toni Collette), the sole caretaker for her ailing, verbally abusive mother (Piper Laurie), discovering in a vacant field the rotting corpse of a young woman with 12:13 tattooed on her arm. Seeking solace, Arden turns to a heavily tattooed grocery clerk (Giovanni Ribisi) who is obsessed with serial killers. Then there’s the depressed forensics grad student (Rose Byrne) who preps the mutilated body for an autopsy, suspecting it might be that of her younger sister who has been missing for years, much to the chagrin of her parents (Mary Steenburgen, Bruce Davison) who are still in denial.
An aging couple (Mary Beth Hurt, Nick Searcy) who run a rental storage facility quarrel constantly, particularly about his mysterious nocturnal disappearances – until she discovers he’s been stashing remnants of personal effects belonging to young women. And a prim yet desperate mother (Marcia Gay Harden) comes to town searching for answers about the dead girl, who was her runaway daughter, from a drug-addicted prostitute (Kerry Washington), Finally, there’s a flashback to the last day in the life of the murder victim (Brittany Murphy).
Led by the female performances, the ensemble cast is credible but writer/director Karen Moncrieff’s (“Blue Car”) morose, fragmented concept is totally depressing, a mood augmented by Michael Grady’s cinematography and Kristan Andrews’ production design. And the structure is so convoluted that cohesiveness is not attained until the conclusion. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Dead Girl” is a bleak, baleful 6, recommended only if you’re into sinister desolation.

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Freedom Writers

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

Based on actual journals of disadvantaged African-American, Latino and Asian students, “Freedom Writers” focuses on these chronicles of ghetto reality, including random shootings and losing friends/family to gunfire.
In 1994, two years after the L.A. riots, when crusading teacher Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank), wearing a string of criticism-provoking pearls, reports to work at forcibly integrated Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, she’s quite ill-equipped to handle the “unteachables.”
Faced with the gang culture, racial prejudice and a sense of hopelessness, she decides to expose these incorrigible underachievers to “The Diary of Anne Frank,” hoping that they will identify with the challenges that Anne faces growing up in a war zone and learn to apply that to their own lives, adding Homer’s “Odyssey,” Elie Weisel’s “Night” and Tupac Shakur’s rap lyrics. Convinced that her urban pupils have something to say, she distributes blank journals, instructing them to express their feelings on paper. Her unorthodox experiment is not only successful but results in turning diversity into cohesiveness.
Screenwriter Richard LaGravenese (“The Bridges of Madison County,” “The Horse Whisperer”) excels at adapting narratives and, as director, he wisely chooses not to concentrate on perpetually-smiling two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank (“Million Dollar Baby,” “Boys Don’t Cry”), her sulking husband (Patrick Dempsey on “Grey’s Anatomy”) or ex-activist father (Scott Glenn). That was the prime pitfall of a similarly themed, idealistic story, “Dangerous Minds,” with Michelle Pfeiffer.
Instead, it’s the kids’ drama that’s front-and-center, particularly when voiced by a scowling Latina, Eva (April Lee Hernandez), who witnessed her boyfriend committing a crime but is conflicted by guilt and the ramifications of testifying against him. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Freedom Writers” is a contrived yet inspirational 7, transforming apathy and anger into creativity.

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Alpha Dog

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Alpha Dog” (Universal Pictures)

This gritty, violent gangsta film – which brought Justin Timberlake to Sundance last year – is aimed directly at the rebellious youth market, as a fictionalized account of a 1999 true story from Claremont, California.
Drug dealer Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) heads a well-heeled San Gabriel Valley gang that includes heavily tattooed Frankie (Timberlake), Elvis (Shawn Hatosy) and Tiko (Fernando Vargas). It seems this hot-headed kid, Jake Marzursky (Ben Foster), is not only unable to pay his $1,200 drug debt but is also disrespectful to Johnny, trashing his ultramodern pad. Egomaniacal Johnny impulsively retaliates by grabbing Jake’s 15 year-old half-brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) as a marker and heading for Palm Springs.
Partying out in the desert, the reckless stoners get used to having Zack around and he’s having a decadent, boozy blast, even losing his virginity. But the fact remains that he’s been kidnapped, and Johnny becomes the youngest man on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list.
Demonstrating “auteur” tendencies he inherited from his parents (John Cassavetes, Gene Rowlands), writer/director Nick Cassavetes structures part of the story like a mock documentary, utilizing hand-held camera, split screens and revelatory interviews. Eventually, the gang and their hostage are spotted by no fewer than 38 witnesses within 72 hours – yet only one (Dominique Swain) seems even vaguely aware of the inevitably tragic consequences. Adult supervision is minimal and – in the case of Johnny’s father (Bruce Willis) and Zack’s mother (Sharon Stone) – totally ineffectual.
Cassavetes is a far better director than writer, although his ‘youth alienation’ roots go back to Larry Clark’s “Bully,” Penelope Spheeris’ “Suburbia” and Nicholas Ray’s “Rebel Without a Cause.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Alpha Dog is an abusive, shallow, sleazy 4 – at best, a cautionary morality tale.

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Pan’s Labyrinth

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Pan’s Labyrinth” (Picturehouse)

In “Pan’s Labyrinth,” writer/director Guillermo del Toro has created one of the most fascinating, imaginative yet darkly disturbing political fables of our time.
In 1944 during Spanish Civil War, a 10 year-old girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), travels with her delicate, pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to meet her arrogant, terrifying new stepfather, Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez), in a old mill in the mountains of northern Spain, where Franco’s fascist troops, under his sadistic command, are killing what’s left of the Republican resistance. Ofelia’s only comfort comes from the captain’s housekeeper, Mercedes (Maribel Verdu), who is secretly helping the partisan guerrillas.
Lonely and faced with unspeakable brutality, Ofelia retreats into a fairy story in which the legendary pagan faun Pan (mime Doug Jones) greets her in a hidden underground world beneath a crumbling stone labyrinth in the garden. He tells her she’s a lost princess and assigns her three tasks – challenges that include facing a giant toad to deceiving a pale, faceless ogre with eyes in his hands while ignoring a banquet at which she must not eat or drink anything. Then there’s the mysterious mandrake root she must place in a bowl of milk beneath her sickly mother’s bed and feed with drops of blood. But Ofelia is torn by a need to rebel against authority.
Evoking “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Chronicles of Narnia,” yet stunningly original, this sinister, surreal, strangely grotesque, R-rated fable is filled with magical, sometimes scary special effects and visuals, not unlike tales from the Brothers Grimm. And the acting is captivating. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Pan’s Labyrinth” is an enchanting, wondrous, fantastical 10. Don’t be put off because it’s in Spanish with English subtitles. Like “Il Postino” (“The Postman”), it transcends language.

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Stomp the Yard

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Stomp the Yard” (Screen Gems)

Movie musicals about rival gangs aren’t unusual – remember the Jets and the Sharks in “West Side Story” – but this new one adds a hip-hop collegiate twist.
When DJ (Columbus Short), a sullen scholarship student from Los Angeles whose street-dancing brother was killed by thugs, enters Atlanta’s prestigious, all-black Truth University – with a heritage that includes Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Esther Rolle – he discovers step competition: a vigorous combination of marching, precision dancing and chanting.
With his smooth Southern California steps, he’s a prize pledge, so it’s not surprising that two fraternities rival for his favor in the upcoming national competition. But he has some lessons to learn about discipline and teamwork, curbing his tendency toward self-centered showboating on his own. Plus, he has to juggle his academic studies and his campus job of cutting lawns for his stern groundskeeper uncle (Harry J. Lennix). Of course, there’s the enticing co-ed (Meagan Good), daughter of the provost and girlfriend of the egomaniac villain (pop music choreographer Darrin Hensen).
Screenwriters Gregory Anderson and Robert Adetuyi (“Code Name: The Cleaner”) toss the trash-talking clichŽs, while director Sylvian White utilizes his quick-cut music video/commercial background. But they do reveal some of the complexities of black college life, a topic that has not been cinematically explored since “Drumline” and “School Daze,” although editor David Checel should have begged for brevity.
Actor/dancer Columbus Short, who performed in Savion Glover’s “Stomp,” gets an once-in-a-lifetime chance to show his stuff in this musical melodrama that’s enthusiastically choreographed by Dave Scott. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Stomp the Yard” is a raucous, rhythmic 6. It’s a frenetic, exhilarating fable about finding your place in a group.

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