Movie/TV Reviews

Robots

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

Once upon a time in Rivet Town, the Copperbottoms (voiced by Stanley Tucci and Dianne Wiest) assembled a bright young son named Rodney (voiced by Ewan McGregor). Rodney grew up idolizing Big Weld (voiced by Mel Brooks), a brilliant inventor who never shuts the gate on new ideas, encourages those around him to believe “You can shine, no matter what you’re made of” and advises them to “Look around for a need and then fill it.” But Rodney’s dream to work with Big Weld is thwarted by the evil Ratchet (voiced by Greg Kinnear) and his greedy mother (voiced by Jim Broadbent) who want everyone to buy a shiny new upgrade, condemning Rusties (old, obsolete robots) to the chop shop. Can Rodney and his metalhead friends (voiced by Halle Berry, Robin Williams, Drew Carey, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge) prevail? Director Chris Wedge (“Ice Age”), co-founder of the White Plains-based Blue Sky Studios, the award-winning digital animation company, has collaborated with children’s book illustrator-author William Joyce (TV’s “Rolie Polie Olie”). Their inventive characters are fun to watch and, for a juvenile audience, there are moral/ethical lessons to be learned, culminating in a musical finale that’s a fusion of jazz and funk, appropriately called “junk.” Despite his co-star billing as a scrounger, Robin Williams steals the show with his rendition of “I’m Singin’ in the Oil.” Sad to say, however, the biggest laughs are elicited by ro-bodily function jokes, along with a few off-color comments that are oddly inappropriate in a family-friendly context. Also, at times, the mechanical pace could definitely use a lube job. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Robots” cranks out with a colorful, clanky 7. Nuts and dolts – yes – but wonderbot, it’s not.

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Bride and Prejudice

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Bride and Prejudice” (Miramax Films)

British director Gurinder Chadha transposes Jane Austen’s astutely observed portrait of English society at the turn of the 19th century to modern-day India, giving her timeless dissection of social mores a playful, distinctly Bollywood twist. So Austen’s middle-class Bennets becomes the Bakshis of Amritsar in Punjab. They’re a prosperous farm family with four marriageable daughters. Former “Miss World” Aishwarya Rai makes her English-language debut as the tartly spirited Lalita, the second oldest, who is drawn into an adversarial relationship with arrogant Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), a wealthy American hotel chain heir, while being courted by an Indian-born entrepreneur (Nitin Ganatra) in Los Angeles. Caught between romantic love and social duty, her dilemma spans three continents and is set to gaudy, bawdy Bollywood-style song and dance with a mixed Indian, British and American cast, including an Ashanti show-stopper and Marsha Mason as Darcy’s snooty mother. Perhaps Gurinder Chadha is best known for her cross-cultural soccer comedy “Bend It Like Beckham,” but several of her previous films, like “Bhaji on the Beach,” have also been satires of South Asians living in Britain. Here, collaborating with her screenwriter husband, Paul Meyeda Berges, she pokes lighthearted fun at the class differences that underlie Austen’s comedy of manners. Yet only a superbly talented actress/singer/dancer like Aishwarya Rai could get away with lyrics like, “I just wanna man who’ll give me some back/ Who’ll talk to me and not to my rack!” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bride and Prejudice” is an impudent, exuberant 8, recommended particularly for Austen aficionados and fans of bright, bouncy Indian films.

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Ice Princess

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Ice Princess” (Disney)

Combine the fact that ice-skating is America’s second most popular sport, following pro football, and Disney’s reputation for inspirational family movies, appealing to young and old, and you have an engaging story about two young women who are determined to follow their dreams, even if their visions conflict with the unrealized ambitions of their strong-willed mothers. Urged by her hard-working single mom (Joan Cusack), brainy, awkward Casey Carlyle (Michelle Trachtenberg) is on the fast-track to Harvard, while popular Gen Harwood (Hayden Panettiere) is headed for the national figure skating competitions, coached by her mom (Kim Cattrall), who once had Olympics hopes. Problem is: neither teenager is happy with her life. When Casey’s computerized “physics of figure-skating” project turns her into a prodigy at the local suburban Connecticut rink owned by the Harwoods, she dreams of becoming a champion – while Gen just yearns for normalcy: dating, eating carbs, living an unscheduled life. Faced with taking their fates into their own hands, both girls rebel. Their conflict leaves Casey needing a coach and Gen’s mom needing a talented, dedicated skater. Voila! Need I say more? Both Michelle Trachtenberg and Hayden Panettiere acquit themselves so convincingly on ice that it’s difficult to discern exactly where their body-doubles take over. Of course, having experts like Michelle Kwan and Brian Boitano in cameos lends credence. Kim Cattrall plays against her “Sex and the City” image, as British director Tim Fywell inventively visualizes Hadley Davis’ and Meg Cabot’s formulaic, Cinderella-like fairy tale. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Ice Princess” glides in with a graceful, teen-empowering 6, proving dreams can come true.

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Millions

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Millions” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Told from a child’s point of view, this charming, timeless fable explores how the imagination meshes with reality, particularly when dealing with the great mysteries of life. After their mother dies, seven year-old Damian (Alex Etel) and his nine year-old brother Anthony (Lewis McGibbon) move with their father (James Nesbitt) to a new housing development in the suburbs, located near railroad tracks. Suddenly, one day, when Damian is in the playhouse he built from the empty cartons, a sack of money from a passing train falls on top of him. Since Damian is obsessed with religion, particularly, the lives of the various saints, who are as real to him as neighbors, he is convinced that God dropped it from the sky. Why? He wonders. Surely to help the poor. On the other hand, Anthony, a math-whiz, is all for spending this windfall on great gadgets and other cool stuff. Certainly they can’t tell their dad because the government will take 40% away for taxes. To complicate matters, England is just days away from converting from the pound to the euro, which will render the bank notes worthless. Director Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “28 Days Later”) proves that he is one of Britain’s most versatile filmmakers. Collaborating with writer Frank Cottrell Boyce (“Hilary and Jackie,” “24 Hour Party People”), he concocts a surprisingly engrossing tale, reminiscent of “Brewster’s Millions,” complete with a scary stranger straight out of Dickens’ “Great Expectations.” What makes it work is soulful, serious Damian’s childish conviction of wisdom and truth, as reflected in Boyle’s fanciful, fresh episodes of magical realism. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Millions” is an enchanting, existential 8, excelling on a many levels, including spirituality.

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Hostage

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Hostage” (Miramax Films)

It’s often quite revealing when a star produces his own vanity vehicle – the way Kevin Spacey did with “Beyond the Sea” and Tim Robbins’ did with “Dead Man Walking.” But with this hostage negotiator thriller, Willis seems to have simply rehashed several “Die Hard” elements. Jeff Talley (that’s Willis) was a top hostage negotiator in Los Angeles until he botched an assignment, resulting in the death of two innocent people. Guilt-ridden, he quits and becomes top cop in the sleepy suburban community of Bristo Camino. But he soon becomes embroiled in chaos when drugged-out carjackers steal a shiny SUV, kidnap the driver, Walter Smith (Kevin Pollak), a crooked corporate accountant, and take his children hostage in their fortress-like mountain mansion. Meanwhile, Jeff’s wife (Serena Scott Thomas) and daughter (Willis’ real-life daughter Rumer) are also held hostage by the accountant’s shady associates until Jeff can retrieve a DVD with off-shore banking data from the accountant’s besieged home. That’s the basic plot that gets botched, igniting a barrage of bullets, the din of explosives and a mounting body count. French director Florent Siri and “Die Hard” writer Doug Richardson, adapting Robert Crias’ book, offer Willis little character range as he recites the all-too-familiar, generic dialogue and flashes his signature smirk. Just how often can he play the reluctant hero, the renegade cop who’s forced to come to the rescue – alone? And one aspect of this blood-soaked melodrama that I found completely reprehensible was when a family pet was eliminated as part of a killing rampage. C’mon! On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Hostage” holds the audience prisoner with an implausible, frenzied 3. Buff Bruce really bungles this time ’round.

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The Ring Two

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Ring Two” (DreamWorks)

Remember that cursed videotape, followed by a warning phone call, that doomed anyone who watched it to a terrible death in exactly seven days? It’s ba-a-a-ck! This sequel has taken a rather circuitous route to the big-screen. Based on a series of novels by Japanese horror writer Koji Suzuki, “Ringu” was released in Japan in 1998. It quickly became the highest grossing film in Japanese cinema history and spawned two sequels. Gore Verbinski directed the American version, but when he couldn’t do this sequel, he suggested the original “Ringu” director Hideo Nakata. Great choice! Familiar with the mythology, Nakata brings a sensibility that achieves horror through story and character, not grisly gore and special effects. So it’s six months later. Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), a newspaper reporter, and her young son Aiden (David Dorfman) have left Seattle and relocated to Astoria, Oregon, where she finds yet another copy of that bizarre, deadly videotape which she promptly burns. Somehow, this releases Samara (Davleigh Chase), the malevolent, dark-haired girl whose step-parents threw her down a well to die. She promptly takes possession of young Aiden, along with – one assumes – a surreal herd of rampaging deer who attack Rachel’s car on a country road. And we learn a lot more about vengeful Samara after meeting her deranged biological mother (Sissy Spacek). As reflected by his anticipatory and suspenseful pacing of Ehren Kruger’s maternal-angst script, Nakata is a superb storyteller, eliciting remarkably solid, quite creepy performances, particularly from David Dorfman. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Rings Two” is a scary 7. If you liked being tormented by the first, don’t miss the second.

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Melinda and Melinda

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Melinda and Melinda” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

This is Woody Allen’s 34th film and his imagination is still fertile as he, once again, tackles the concept of alternate realities, touching on love, betrayal and other forms of emotional angst. At a Manhattan restaurant, two playwrights debate whether life is essentially comic or tragic. Max (Larry Pine) believes drama should confront, while Sy (Wallace Shawn) views comedies as a form of escapism. To illustrate their respective points-of-view, they both take the same anecdotal idea and expound on it. Namely, a troubled woman named Melinda (Radha Mitchell) arrives at a dinner party, uninvited, as her life spins out of control. In one story, Melinda is a boozy, distraught divorcee who lost custody of her children. She arrives to visit her college chum (Chloe Sevigny) and her edgy actor husband (Jonny Lee Miller). In the other version, Melinda is a neighbor who has swallowed 28 sleeping pills. She begs help from a dorky, out-of-work actor (Will Ferrell) and his filmmaker wife (Amanda Peet). In both versions, the tension-filled marriages are unhappy, leading to duplicity, adultery and heartbreak. Neurotic as ever, Woody Allen clings to his trendy, upper-middle class values but introduces, for the first time, not one but two pivotal African-American characters into his urban scene. The entire cast sparkles, particularly Rhada Mitchell, who embodies the fragility inherent in the complex double role of an admittedly passionate woman, and Will Ferrell, who functions as Allen’s sweetly insecure alter-ego. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Melinda and Melinda” is an occasionally confusing but inherently appealing 8, concluding that comedy is funniest when based on tragedy and that tragedy generally has a comedic edge.

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Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous” (Warner Bros.)

You can’t blame spunky Sandra Bullock for wanting to make a female buddy movie. After all, the guys have been doing it for years. But this crime caper collapses under the weight of fluff. When last seen, klutzy FBI agent Gracie Hart was not only crowned Miss Congeniality but she saved the Miss United States Pageant from sabotage. Now it’s ten months later. Her romance with a fellow agent has fizzled and she can no longer go undercover in the field because everyone recognizes her. And she’s still a social misfit. With the help of a personal stylist (Diedrich Bader), she has no choice but to become the new PR “face of the FBI.” While suffering from an all-too-familiar, selfish toxic fame syndrome, she’s jolted back to reality when her pal Cheryl Frazier (Heather Burns), a.k.a. Miss United States, and pageant host Stan Fields (William Shatner) are kidnapped by thugs in Las Vegas. That’s when Gracie realizes she really needs to befriend her ferocious body-guard Sam Fuller (Regina King), but their bantering, antagonistic relationship is forced and whatever bond of kindred spirits they forge is painfully contrived. Writer/producer Marc Lawrence and director John Pasquin seem starved for inventive ideas. Everything seems old, hackneyed and artificial, particularly Sam’s outrageous and inexplicable “anger management issues” and a chase involving Dolly Parton. Only the comedic charm and vivacity of Sandra Bullock keep the entertainment quotient from sinking like the pirate ship that wages war in a lagoon outside the glitzy Venetian Hotel. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous” is a labored 5, delivering a muddled girl-power message about maintaining one’s individuality. It’s far from fabulous.

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Guess Who

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Guess Who” (Columbia Pictures)

You can read a classic novel or the comic book version, right? In 1967, Stanley Kramer’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” challenged racism in America with a stellar cast that included Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier. The twist is that this new, dumbed-down version stars Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher – and it looks more like “Meet the Parents.” Percy Jones (Bernie Mac), a bank loan officer, is very protective of his beloved daughter (Zoe Saldana), so when she falls in love with Simon Green (Ashton Kutcher), he immediately runs a credit check on the young stockbroker. When Simon passes, Percy is delighted – until this Manhattan yuppie arrives on his Cranford, New Jersey, doorstep as he and his wife celebrate their 25th anniversary. Appalled, Percy questions Simon about his education, family and favorite sports and goads him into telling racist jokes during a family dinner. Using every ploy, Percy tries to prevent his daughter from making what he considers to be a disastrous commitment. Since bi-racial marriages are no longer as shocking and controversial as they were 37 years ago, writers David Ronn, Jay Scherick and Peter Tolan, along with director Kevin Rodney Sullivan (“Barbershop 2”), jettison all subtlety, relying on broad adversarial comedy. Problem is: Ashton Kutcher’s charmless, delivering a forced performance, and Bernie Mac’s recycled shtick turns churlish. Yet it’s easy to see why 27 year-old Kutcher (TV’s “Punk’d”) was intrigued since, off-screen, he’s challenged the younger man/older woman stigma, living with 42 year-old Demi Moore. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Guess Who” is a bland, awkward, occasionally amusing 6, but shame on Columbia Pictures for showing the best laughs in the theatrical trailer.

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Beauty Shop

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Beauty Shop” (MGM)

Think of it as the third installment in the popular “Barbershop” films: a female spin-off. Leaving the Chicago guys behind, good-hearted Gina Norris (Queen Latifah), a scissors whiz and single mother, moves to Atlanta so that her gifted daughter (Paige Hurd) can study piano at a prestigious arts school. But when her sleazy, egotistical boss Jorge (Kevin Bacon) pushes her around once too often, she opens a shop of her own – a place where gossip, cappuccino and fried catfish reign over the gels and mousses. The sassy stylists include Gina’s rebellious niece (Keshia Knight Pulliam), a wannabe soul sister (Alicia Silverstone), an Afro-centric sage (Alfre Woodard), outspoken assistant (Sheryl Underwood) and the token male (Bryce Wilson). Plus there’s Gina’s love interest (Djimon Hounsou), the hunky piano-playing electrician who lives upstairs. And the chirpy customers range from locals (Della Reese, Kimora Lee Simmons) to wealthy white women (Andie MacDowell, Mena Suvari) who appreciate Gina’s savvy style. It’s charismatic, indefatigable, zaftig Queen Latifah’s show, yet Kevin Bacon’s impeccable timing makes him a hilariously haughty, flamboyant villain, complete with Euro-trash accent and suspiciously Schwarzenegger inflections. Even Oprah makes a fleeting, inspirational appearance. While Bille Woodruff’s predictable direction and the shamelessly stereotypical script by Kate Lanier and Norman Vance Jr. frizzes in places, often substituting poufy caricature for character, the infectious high spirits and amusing, opinionated banter make it an amiable romantic comedy. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Beauty Shop” is a raucous, funny 7, giving bawdy texture to the humor and a feel-good lift to the heart.

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