Movie/TV Reviews

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Susan Granger’s review of “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” (New Line Cinema)

Those pot-loving Jersey dudes from “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” are back – and this time they’re mistaken for terrorists!
For the uninitiated, straitlaced math-major Harold Lee (John Cho) is a Korean-American investment banker and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) is an impulsive Indian-American wannabe medical student. Having satisfied their marijuana-fueled “munchies,” they head off for a smokers’ holiday in Amsterdam. Problem is: when the half-baked slackers sneak a homemade “smokeless bong” onboard the plane, turbulence strikes, the bathroom door swings open, the bong is mistaken for a bomb and they’re suspected of being part of a North Korean al-Qaeda terror conspiracy. As the plane detours to Guantanamo Bay, what else can they do but run from the law and try to find a way to prove their innocence?
Hot on their heels when they escape from Cuba with the boat people is Deputy Chief of Homeland Security Ron Fox (Rob Corddry). And complicating their angst is the realization that Kumar’s ex-girlfriend, Vanessa (Danneel Harris) is about to get married in Texas and her fiancé has White House connections that could clear their names.
Writers/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg continue and amplify the vulgarly stereotypical and overtly political shenanigans that made their first film a hit, including graphic nudity, drug use, pervasive language and crude sexuality. While Neil Patrick Harris is back again, playing a gross-out version of himself, and there’s a visit to a bordello run by Beverly D’Angelo, the snickering filmmakers miss their chance to take on racial profiling in the war on terror.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” is a raunchy 3, not a high point for stoner comedies. Bongs away!

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay Read More »

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (Paramount Pictures)

Indy’s back! After nearly two decades, he dons his famous fedora, snaps his bullwhip and delivers punches that still pack enough of a wallop to clinch this summer’s biggest blockbuster.
The fantasy-adventure begins in 1957 in the New Mexico desert, where Indy and his pal Mac (Ray Winstone) are pursued by villainous Soviet agents led by contemptuous parapsychologist Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett). After surviving an atomic bomb, Indy discovers he’s lost his teaching position at Marshall College (filmed on the Yale campus in New Haven) because he’s ‘under government suspicion.’ That’s when he meets motorcycle-riding, switchblade-toting Mutt Williams (Shia LeBeouf, channeling Marlon Brando/James Dean), who carries a message imploring the adventurous archeologist to search for the legendary Crystal Skull of Akator, which the Russians also covet. In the Peruvian jungle, along with the mysterious Mayan Skull, Indy finds his “Raiders of the Lost Ark” flame, irrepressible Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), whom he’d jilted at the altar. Plot-wise, that’s all you need to know. Let the surprises unfold.
Conceived by George Lucas, written by David Koepp, directed by Steven Spielberg, and punctuated by John Williams’ music, it’s far-fetched, fast-paced fun. Middle-aged Harrison Ford is a bit mellower but he’s still an intrepid, quick-with-a-quip leading man. All the stylistic Indy touches are there: the map with a moving red line indicating his travels and his inevitable encounter with a snake (a giant Olive Python), plus spectacular swordfights, ravenous red ants, subterranean caverns filled with gold, perilous plunges over waterfalls and lots of monkeys.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is a terrific 10, an awesome, thrill-filled roller-coaster ride that you don’t ever want to stop.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Read More »

video/dvd update

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s video/dvd update for week of Friday, May 16:

On the 10th anniversary of his death, celebrate Frank Sinatra’s remarkable career with “Sinatra: The Miniseries.” Produced by his daughter Tina, it recalls Sinatra’s music and life with some astonishing personal revelations. There’s also “Frank Sinatra: The Early Years” (his first five movies), “Frank Sinatra: The Golden Years” (five more movies) and the “Frank Sinatra/Gene Kelly Collection” (three M.G.M. musicals).
From the sublime to the ridiculous, in the implausible, improbable comedy caper “Mad Money,” Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes form an unlikely sisterhood when they decide to rob American’s Federal Reserve Bank.
If you’re into thrillers, Diane Lane stars in “Untraceable” as an FBI agent tracking a tech-savvy internet predator who displays graphic murders on his website, leaving the grisly fate of each of his captives in the hands of the public; the more hits the site gets, the faster his victims die.
Because Li Yu’s sex drama “Lost in Beijing” shows a modern, if melodramatic, slice of 21st century city life, it was banned in China; basically a morality tale, it involves innocence and corruption along with poverty and wealth. A far better choice is the powerful documentary “Nanking” which chronicles the infamous 1937 Rape of Nanking, when 200,000 residents of what was then China’s capital were massacred by invading Japanese troops; Woody Harrelson and Mariel Hemingway, among others, read from journals and letters from a handful of Westerners who risked their lives to help.
For toddlers: “Bob the Builder: The Three Muskettrucks” and favorite friends in “Summertime Fun!”
PICK OF THE WEEK: Inspired by the remarkable story of Wiley College’s winning team, “The Great Debaters” stars Denzel Washington as the volatile, controversial coach who uses the power of words to influence a group of African-American students.

video/dvd update Read More »

Gomorrah

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Gomorrah” (IFC Films)

Forget about the Sicilian glamorization of “The Godfather.” This brutal Italian saga about corruption and violence reveals the ugly, soft underbelly of the Mafia-type organization that rules Naples and its infiltrates its environs through five intersecting stories about people who believe they can ‘work’ the system which generates over $233 billion worldwide each year.
Wearing a bullet-proof vest, Don Ciro (Gianfelice Imparato) is the local bag man who makes weekly treks delivering cash payoffs to the families of dead or imprisoned gangsters in the dingy housing project called Vele di Sampi. He’s carefully watched by 13 year-old Toto (Salvatore Abruzze), who’s eager to get into the ‘family’ business. Older teenagers Marco (Marco Macor) and Ciro (Ciro Petrone) are delusional rebels-without-a-cause, and it’s their image, firing automatic weapons in their underwear, that’s been publicized in posters and in the theatrical trailer.
Then there’s the cocky businessman, Franco (Toni Servillo), who hires college-educated Roberto (Carmine Paternoster) to help fulfill a toxic waste disposal contract by dumping poisonous refuse in the district around Campania. And a master tailor, Pasquale (Salvatore Cantalupo), who agrees to make clandestine midnight treks to teach Chinese competitors the intricacies of haute couture.
Based on Roberto Saviano’s 2006 bestseller, the title is not only a reference to the despicable biblical city, it’s also a play on the word ‘Camorra,’ the name of the Neopolitan criminal conspiracy. Director/cinematographer Matteo Garrone, working with several screenwriters, including Saviano, has crafted a gritty, convoluted tale of the lethal results of a power struggle within the different factions. If only he’d differentiated the characters more clearly, it would not have been so confusing.
In Italian with English subtitles, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Gomorrah” is a gritty, intense 8, culminating in a declaration that the Camorra crime syndicate has caused 4,000 deaths in the last 30 years (more than any criminal or terrorist group), funneling money into both legal and illegal enterprises, including the rebuilding of Manhattan’s World Trade Center towers, while infiltrating transport, tourism, textiles and banking.

Gomorrah Read More »

Redbelt

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet exercises his passion for the world of martial arts in this somewhat compelling drama.
Financially-strapped Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) runs a jujitsu studio in a seedy section of downtown Los Angeles. His prize pupil is a compassionate Los Angeles police officer (Max Martini) who earns off-duty money as a bouncer.
“Competition is weakening,” Terry insists in his self-defense instruction. It’s all about honor. “I train people to prevail.”
Which is why he doesn’t hesitate to come to the rescue of a hapless movie star, Chet Frank (Tim Allen), who gets caught in a bar brawl. For this Good Samaritan act, Terry receives a $20,000 gold watch as a gift and an invitation to dinner, where he becomes involved in an insidious showbiz scam involving his disgruntled Brazilian wife (Alice Braga, Sonia’s niece), Frank’s dress-designing wife (Rebecca Pidgeon, Mamet’s real-life wife), Frank’s unscrupulous agent (Joe Mantegna) and a corrupt promoter (magician Ricky Jay), who ‘fixes’ fights using three marbles to determine which contestant must compete in the ring with a handicap (blindfolded, one arm tied down, etc.).
As writer/director, Mamet keeps the fragmentary dialogue terse and the tension high, as seen through the camera of Oscar-winner Robert Elswit. With his muscled physique, soft-spoken manner and soulful eyes, Chiwetal Ejofor is sympathetic and convincing as the naïve samurai.
Problem is: the coincidental plot twists are implausible, as are some of the performances, particularly Emily Mortimer as an emotionally distraught lawyer who shows up on Terry’s doorstep one rainy night, igniting an unstoppable chain of events. And the title designates the ultimate fighting warrior. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Redbelt” is a sleazy, pulpy 6. Sometimes being enigmatic just isn’t as interesting as it should be.

Redbelt Read More »

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” (Disney)

One year has passed since four British schoolchildren, the Pevensies, encountered “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” but, when they return to Narnia, they discover that it’s 1300 years later in that magical realm – and a great deal has changed.
Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgia Henley) are summoned back by Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), the rightful heir to the throne who has been ousted from his castle by his evil uncle, Lord Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) of the warlike Telmarines. Since the lion leader Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) has been gone for 1,000 years, Caspian and the last remaining Narnian creatures (centaurs, minotaurs, satyrs) have taken refuge deep in the forest.
Stunned to find their beloved Cair Paravel ruined, their animal friends long gone and Narnia a darker, more savage place, the now-legendary Pevensies must prove themselves once again, even against the ice-trapped White Witch (Tilda Swinton). They team up with two Narnian dwarves – Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage) and Nikabrik (Warwick Davis), along with Reepicheep (voiced by Eddie Izzard), a chivalrous, courageous mouse – to restore peace and glory once again.
Adapting the second of C.S. Lewis’s seven Narnia fantasies, writer/director Andrew Adamson, along with writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, focus primarily on swashbuckling battle scenes with awesome production values, since their previously established primary characters have matured. Caspian initially arouses rivalry in Peter and romantic interest in Susan, marking the end of Narnia’s road for those two, leaving Edmund and Lucy to forge ahead on further adventures.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” is an imaginative, visually enchanting 8 – but, remember, as Aslan says, “Things never happen the same way twice.”

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Read More »

The Visitor

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Visitor” (Overture Films)

Writer/director Tom McCarthy follows up his debut feature, “The Station Agent,” with this sophisticated, compelling drama.
Widower Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) is a disillusioned 62 year-old Connecticut College economics professor suffering from ennui; he’s been teaching the same course for years and no longer has any interest in his students or his writing. Yet when he’s sent to New York to deliver a paper at a conference, Walter’s stunned to discover that a young couple has moved into his seldom-used apartment in Manhattan. Victims of a real estate scam, Terek (Haaz Sleiman), an illegal immigrant from Syria, and Zaibab (Danai Gurira), his Senagalese girlfriend, have no where else to go. In an uncharacteristic act of compassion, Walter allows them to stay in the extra bedroom.
Aware of his host’s love of music and touched by his generosity, Tarek begins teaching Walter how to play the African drum. Gradually, through the vitality of percussive rhythm, a friendship forms – one than transcends differences in age, culture and temperament. But then Tarek is stopped by police in the subway, arrested as an undocumented alien and held in Queens for deportation. Suddenly, Walter’s listless life takes on new meaning as he becomes a lifeline for Tarek, hiring a lawyer and offering comfort to Tarek’s mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass), who arrives from Detroit.
The title refers not only to imprisoned Tarek but also to detached Walter, whose consciousness is changed by a chance encounter. Devoted to understated dialogue and restrained gestures, Tom McCarthy’s story unfolds with subtle grace, as Richard Jenkins (the ghostly patriarch in “Six Feet Under”) captures the every nuance of a man rediscovering his humanity. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Visitor” is a timely, eloquent 9, a quintessential post-9/11 story.

The Visitor Read More »

video/dvd update

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s video/dvd update for week of May 9:

Hilariously satirical and shallow, Tom DiCillo’s “Delirious,” starring Steve Buscemi, reveals the soft, subversive underbelly of the sycophantic entertainment press – from battling rival publicist to eccentric bottom-feeders.
On the topic of vulgar vanity, Paris Hilton embarrasses herself once again, panting “A life without orgasms is like a world without flowers” in “The Hottie and the Nottie,” as Joel David Moore’s object of desire and best friend to an ugly duckling, played by Christine Lakin.
Continuing with sappy, disappointing romantic comedies, “Over Her Dead Body” stars Eva Longoria, Paul Rudd and Lake Bell; it’s about the battle between two women (one of them a ghost) for the love of one guy. There’s another apparition in “P.S. I Love You,” as Hilary Swank flounders as a grieving young widow whose late husband (Gerard Butler), an impetuous Irishman, keeps instructing her on how to rebuild her life; it wants to be “Ghost,” but Swank’s no Demi Moore and Butler’s no Patrick Swayze.
In “First Sunday,” Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan are bumbling petty criminals who concoct a desperate scheme to rob their neighborhood church and end up spending the night in the presence of the Lord, being forced to deal with more than they bargained for.
For youngsters, this week’s best bets are “Treasure Island Kids 2: The Monster of Treasure Island” and “Barney: Hi! I’m Riff,” introducing a new, six year-old Hadrosaur.
PICK OF THE WEEK: If you’re into existential cinema, Todd Haynes’ “I’m Not There” explores the tumultuous life and music of Bob Dylan. What this kaleidoscopic, non-linear meditation lacks in coherence, it makes up for in eccentricity with six actors, including Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett and Richard Gere, each representing a phase in Dylan’s chaotic life.

video/dvd update Read More »

Bloodline

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Bloodline” (Cinema Libre Studio)

Anything that questions the tenets of faith is immediately provocative and controversial and the hypothesis in Bruce Burgess’s “Bloodline” inflames the imagination and pushes the envelope.
This new documentary takes up where Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” left off, presenting evidence that may prove that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene not only married but their bloodline continued in the Languedoc region of southwestern France.
Traveling to the famed church at Rennes-le-Chateau, Burgess and Rene Barnett show the connections between the Church of Mary Magdalene, the Knights Templar and the threat from Opus Dei, utilizing clues in coded artworks with riddles and puzzles left by the priest Berenger Sauniere, who said he’d “found a tomb that could shake the Vatican to the core.”
Demonstrating initial skepticism, the filmmakers analyze artifacts and documents; reveal the discovery of a mummified female body draped in a white shroud with a distinctive red cross, along with relics and coins that were identified by the British Museum and biblical archeologists as dating from first-century Jerusalem; and interview two spokesmen from the secret society known as The Priory of Sion.
So what’s credible and what may be an elaborate hoax? You decide.
While the filmmakers acknowledge, “People sometimes prefer a lie to the truth,” what’s most intriguing, however, is the conjecture that this discovery could, in fact, presage the Second Coming by a further understanding and renewal of Christianity. As the filmmakers note: if Jesus did marry and have a family, that fact might humanize and amplify the significance of His teachings.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bloodline” is an enthralling 7. If you’re at all intrigued, go to www.thetombman.com – and there’s more to be revealed since further archeological excavation lies ahead.

Bloodline Read More »

What Happens in Vegas

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “What Happens in Vegas” (20th Century Fox)

As tepid romantic comedies go, this one should have stayed in Vegas.
Joy McNally (Cameron Diaz) is an insecure Manhattan commodities trader who was just publicly dumped by her fiancé (Jason Sudeikis). New Yorker slacker Jack Fuller (Ashton Kutcher) was recently fired by his father (Treat Williams) from a furniture-manufacturing job. Along with their respective pals (Lake Bell, Rob Corddry), they meet in Sin City and party hearty one night. The next morning, they wake up hung over – and married. Bickering immediately, they have no intention of staying together but Jack takes a quarter from Joy to put in slot machine and wins three million dollars – which they both claim. Seeking an annulment back in the Big Apple, a cranky judge (Dennis Miller) refuses to resolve the jackpot dispute. Instead, he insists that they try for six months to make their mismatched union work, meeting regularly with a therapist (Queen Latifah). So neatnik Joy moves into sloppy Jack’s apartment and open warfare is declared. In the meantime, Jack charms Joy’s boss (Dennis Farina) while Joy endears herself to Jack’s family.
While any sane couple would simply split the windfall and be thankful for $1.5 million, screenwriter Dana Fox and British director Tom Vaughan struggle with the implausible concept that both Joy and Jack are so selfish and mean-spirited that they’re ready to endure any number of indignities to battle it out. To the victor belong the spoils, etc.
Cameron Diaz is many things – but believable as a stockbroker isn’t one of them. And snarky Ashton Kutcher pushes the charm button too hard. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “What Happens in Vegas” is a flimsy, forgettable 4. Too bad they forgot to pack the fun.

What Happens in Vegas Read More »