Movie/TV Reviews

Disturbia

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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Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

Taking his turn at an early summer popcorn picture, Nicholas Cage plays a ‘pre-cog,’ a man with the uncanny power to see two minutes into the future.
Clad in a velvet tux with a ruffled seafoam-green shirt, Cris Johnson (Cage) is a run-of-the-mill Las Vegas lounge magician. Tormented by his extraordinary ability and sick of the examinations he underwent as a child, he’s chosen anonymity, using the name Frank Cadillac and living off his minimal blackjack “winnings.” (He sees the cards that are coming and bets accordingly.) That is – until an Eastern European terrorist group threatens to detonate a dirty nuclear device in Los Angeles and FBI agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) tries to convince him to use his extraordinary talent for precognition to stop the inevitable catastrophe. He’s dubious about the advantage of a 120-second warning, but when he uses his visions to avert a shooting during a casino robbery, he becomes a fugitive, picking up Liz Cooper (Jessica Biel) who teaches underprivileged kids at a school at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. They careen through the Arizona desert, evading both the FBI and a band of assassins who are determined to kill him before he can help the feds.
While ostensibly adapted from the 1954 Philip K. Dick sci-fi story, “The Golden Man,” the updated screenplay, credited to Gary Goldman, Jonathan Hensleigh and Paul Bernbaum, veers in a totally different direction. Director Lee Tamahori (XXX: State of the Union”) relies on formulaic crashing cars and a landslide for fast-paced action – and Liz gets strapped with explosives. Oh, yeah, and that’s Peter Falk popping in as Cris’ mentor. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Next” is a predictable, implausible 3, a silly seer-tale. Consider this your two-minute warning.

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Snow Cake

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Snow Cake” (IFC First Take)

Sigourney Weaver’s piercing portrayal propels this distinctive, often comedic picture about a high-functioning autistic.
Set in the isolated, snow-covered town of Wawa in Northern Ontario, Canada, the story begins with Alex Hughes (Alan Rickman), an urbane, introspective, misanthropic Brit en route to Winnipeg, who reluctantly picks up a vivacious teenage hitchhiker, Vivienne (Emily Hampshire), who is subsequently killed when an 18-wheeler crashes into his car.
Guilt-ridden, he seeks out her mother Linda (Sigourney Weaver), who shrugs off her daughter’s death and invites Alex to play on her trampoline. Though blameless, Alex feels some sense of obligation, having to do with the death of his own son and his recent parole from prison, so he agrees to stay until after the funeral. Then, too, there’s the lonely neighbor (Carrie-Anne Moss), who welcomes Alex into her bed.
Written by Angela Pell, whose plot revolves on contrivance and coincidence, and directed by Marc Evans, it radiates sensitive authenticity. Eschewing the “Rain Man” concept of the autistic savant, Weaver’s vividly intriguing performance varies from anguished (when the exact order of her house is changed by unwitting visitors) to exuberant (when playing with a sparkly toy). But at no time does she emotionally acknowledge the death of her daughter – and Rickman counters with subtle intelligence.
From “Oprah” to “The View” to “Larry King Live” to “Boston Legal,” on which one of the leading characters has Asperger’s syndrome which curbs social interaction, autism has come into focus recently. No wonder – since the disorder now affects one in every 150 children, 10 times the rate of the 1980s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Snow Cake” is a multi-layered, resonant 7. It’s poignant and powerful.

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Georgia Rule

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Georgia Rule” (Universal Pictures)

If this dysfunctional three-generational drama/comedy is Hollywood’s Mother’s Day gift, the motion picture business is in worse shape than I thought.
Rachel Wilcox (Lindsay Lohan) is a sassy, seductive, rebellious teen who is exiled to spend the summer with her no-nonsense grandmother Georgia (Jane Fonda) in Hull, Idaho, when Lilly (Felicity Huffman), her alcoholic mother, can no longer cope with her.
Rhyming with dull, Hull is a rural Mormon town where everyone says “Good Morning,” children are well mannered and teens don’t drink, smoke, blaspheme, take drugs or have sex until they’re married. Furthermore, Georgia’s household runs by strict rules. While she wasn’t a good mother to Lilly, Georgia gets a second chance with Rachel, who reveals a secret that can make or break the family.
Lindsay Lohan made headlines when she failed to show up for work and was publicly reprimanded, but she’s pitch-perfect. The problem lies in Mark Andrus’ character-driven script, an unsettling mixture of insight and uncertainty, and while the cynical dialogue can be wryly amusing, it’s rarely realistic. Garry Marshall’s direction is unevenly paced and surprisingly derivative. The scene where people are fighting on Georgia’s front lawn and she tries to break it up by wetting them down with a garden hose is straight out of Jodie Foster’s “Home for the Holidays.”
Felicity Huffman accesses fragile Lilly’s confusion, and Jane Fonda shows true grit after her “Monster-in-Law” debacle. Cary Elwes, Dermot Mulroney and Garrett Hedlund lend oddball male support but, dramatically, the movie is only a step up from a flop. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Georgia Rule” is a convoluted, contrived, clichŽ-ridden 5, evoking Robert Frost’s “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”

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The Year of the Dog

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Year of the Dog” (Paramount Vantage)

One of life’s tragedies that we all face is surviving a pet. That’s the subject of this quirky, tender puppy-love comedy by writer Mike White, making his directorial debut.
While shy executive assistant Peggy (Molly Shannon) dutifully puts up with her heartless, spineless boss (Joseph Pais), her sex-obsessed co-worker (Regina King), her obsessive brother (Tom McCarthy) and his fashion-conscious, uptight wife (Laura Dern), she finds herself totally isolated when her precious beagle Pencil strays away and eats something toxic.
Grief-stricken and love-starved, she has dinner with a boorish macho neighbor (John C. Reilly), only to discover that he shot his own dog while they were hunting moose. Then one day she gets a call from Newt (Peter Sarsgaard), an androgynous, vegan animal-rights activist who works at the vet, and he inquires if she’s be interested in adopting a rescued dog before the city of Los Angeles puts him down. She is – and does – but that’s only the beginning. Before long, she’s inundated with abused, abandoned death-row pooches, only to discover, at long last, what truly makes her happy.
Mike White – who wrote and acted in “School of Rock,” “The Good Girl,” “Chuck and Buck” – hasn’t quite decided whether this is a character study of wild-eyed zealotry, a farce or a humorous sitcom, so the pacing is uneven. But Molly Shannon’s minimalist performance as a distraught woman pushed over the edge is wonderful. After six seasons on “Saturday Night Live,” she deftly taps into Peggy’s anguish, desperation and neediness – never giving a hint that, off-screen, she’s actually allergic to dogs. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Year of the Dog” is a semi-satirical, sentimental 7. For dog lovers, it could be a best-in-show.

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