Movie/TV Reviews

Susan Granger’s review of “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” (20th Century-Fox)

In this crazed sports spoof, slobby nice-guy Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn) has a dilapidated, ramshackle gym called Average Joes, which is, unfortunately, right across the street from the sleek, successful, high-tech Globo Gym run by egomaniacal fitness guru White Goodman (Ben Stiller). In order to save his failing business from foreclosure, LaFleur has to secure $50,000 and, to that end, he enters his inexperienced team of misfits (Alan Tudyk, Justin Long, Joel David Moore, Chris Williams) in a dodge-ball championship in Las Vegas, where – predictably – they’ll face Goodman’s Purple Cobras, a team of super-buff players including a Russian Amazon. Written and directed as a first feature by Rawson Marshall Thurber, it’s simply an adolescent rehash of the lovable-losers-triumph-over-adversity story. While he’s sometimes hilarious, like in “Starsky and Hutch” and “Zoolander,” Ben Stiller’s frantic, caricatured schtick too often gets tedious here. Instead, it’s Jason Bateman of TV’s “Arrested Development” who gets the most laughs as a sportscaster whose patter is filled with non-sequiturs during the tournament finale. Hank Azaria plays the young Patches O’Houlihan, a legendary dodge ball champion, whose instructional video touts “the sport of violence, exclusion and degradation,” while Rip Torn is the older, demented Patches, arriving in a motorized wheelchair to coach the Average Joes. There are cameos by Chuck Norris and cyclist Lance Armstrong – and for trivia buffs, Stiller’s real-life wife, Christine Taylor, is the bank lawyer who joins the Average Joe’s team after fending off Goodman. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10,, “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” scores a silly, stupid, intermittently funny 6. It’s only 96 minutes long but I’d wait for the video.

Susan Granger’s review of “The Clearing” (Fox Searchlight)

Because of galvanizing performances by seasoned pros Robert Redford and Helen Mirren, this dynamite kidnapping drama is as much of a character study as it is a psychological thriller. Wayne Hayes (Redford) is a wealthy, successful entrepreneur whose car rental company has emerged as a rival to Hertz and Avis. Semi-retired, he shares a gracious McMansion in suburban Pittsburgh with his wife Eileen (Mirren). It’s obvious that, over the past 30 years, their once-loving relationship has become perfunctory. But when, one morning, Wayne is abducted at gunpoint by Arnold Mack (Willem Dafoe) a disillusioned former employee, their tranquil world is shattered. As an FBI agent (Matt Craven), literally, takes up residence in her home, Eileen is forced to re-examine her repressed suspicions and marital secrets, particularly when her grown children (Alessandro Nivola and Melissa Sagemiller) gather at her side. Written by novelist Justin Haythe and producer Pieter Jan Brugge (“The Insider”), who makes his directorial debut, it’s structured, within a varying timescape, as a parallel emotional struggle between the kidnap victim and his captor, juxtaposed against the agony of the helpless wife who is left behind. Inspired by an actual kidnapping in the Netherlands, Brugge conceived the complex plotline, centered in deception, and set it against the relevant background of the American dream, delving into the emotional price paid by those who achieve it as well as those who do not. Production designer Chris Gorak and French cinematographer Denis Lenoir heighten the palpable suspense. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Clearing” is an engrossing 8, unflinching in its tension and unconventional in its mystery.

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

Evoking memories of “The English Patient,” filmmaker Anthony Minghella once again explores love amidst the perils of war, this time adapting Charles Frazier’s 1997 best-seller.

Set in 1864 in the South, a wounded Confederate soldier named Inman (Jude Law) decides he’s had his fill of the Civil War. Memories of his brief encounters with beautiful Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman), the pampered preacher’s (Donald Sutherland) daughter, propel him to desert his beleaguered unit and embark on a perilous trek back to Cold Mountain, North Carolina. Like Homer’s “Odyssey,” Inman encounters eccentric, colorful characters and finds himself in bizarre situations en route. Meanwhile, on the home front, the cultured-but-now-impoverished Ada is struggling, incapable of living off the land until Ruby (Renee Zellweger), a tough, outspoken working girl, comes to her aid. Together, they manage to survive, as treacherous Teague (Ray Winstone) and his zealous enforcers are hunting down Rebel deserters and those who aid them.

Despite its pretentious, episodic structure and emotional restraint, “Cold Mountain” retains its tension through multi-layered character development. Jude Law and Nicole Kidman are doggedly stalwart, but they’re often eclipsed by surprising supporting turns from scene-stealing Renee Zellweger, Kathy Baker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brendan Gleeson, Natalie Portman and Eileen Atkins. Production designer Dante Ferretti, editor Walter Murch and cinematographer John Seale are top-notch with special credit to Gabriel Yared who utilizes traditional mountain tunes in the melodic score. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Cold Mountain” is a chilly, cerebral 9, celebrating the triumph of hope during the grim brutality of war.

Susan Granger’s review of “What Alice Found” (Factory Films)

When 18 year-old Alice (Emily Grace) escapes from the bleakness of her home and job in New Hampshire, ostensibly to visit a high-school friend in Florida, she embarks on a totally unexpected coming-of-age trek. It’s a timely twist on that other Alice with the Looking Glass. Driving along, Alice is accosted by rednecks and forced to flee down the highway. When her beat-up car seemingly dies at a rest-stop and the wad of cash she had stashed under the seat disappears, she’s stranded. Suddenly, two cheerful Samaritans appear. Sandra and Bill (Judith Ivey and Bill Raymond) are a middle-aged couple, apparently seeking perpetual pleasure in their roomy RV that’s equipped with all the amenities – and plenty of space for a passenger. Sandra immediately senses Alice’s turmoil and offers her a ride to Florida, along with warm, nurturing friendship, make-up advice and a shopping spree to spice up the pretty teen’s frumpy wardrobe. Outspoken, funny and earthy, Sandra becomes Alice’s surrogate mother – and Bill’s paternal protectiveness makes her feel comfortable, even at home, in the confining space. Then, suddenly, penniless Alice realizes just how Sandra and Bill make their money. What was once mysterious now becomes crystal clear, along with the role her benefactors envision for her in their plans. Writer/director A. Dean Bell not only has a solid sense of story but also a keen eye for casting, pairing two veterans – Judith Ivey and Bill Raymond – with Emily Grace, a talented newcomer. And producer/cinematographer Richard Connors deftly captures their improvised intimacy on digital video. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “What Alice Found” is an intricate, ambiguous 7. It’s a modest, independent drama that turns out to be a gem!

Susan Granger’s review of “Something’s Gotta Give” (Columbia Pictures)

In this sophisticated romantic comedy, Jack Nicholson plays 63 year-old Harry Sanborn, a hip-hop/rap record producer who is incapable of relating to a woman his own age. He’s spending the weekend at the Hamptons beach house belonging to Erica Barry (Diane Keaton), the mother of one (Amanda Peet) of his twentysomething flings, when he suffers a heart attack. He’s rushed to a nearby hospital where a young ER doctor (Keanu Reeves) immediately recognizes Erica and showers her with avid attention. But she’s been divorced for years and is in no mood to suffer the indignities of having chauvinistic Harry recover in her care. Yet what choice does she have when he’s ordered to spend several days in the area under medical observation? That’s the playfully amusing battle-of-the-sexes set-up that writer/director Nancy Meyers (“What Women Want”) cultivates into a droll, touching observation on the contemporary dating scene and the universality of love and heartbreak – at any age. Despite the obvious plot contrivances, the meticulously-developed characters are compelling and perfectly cast, including supporting turns from Frances McDormand, Paul Michael Glaser and Jon Favreau. Lustrous, irresistible Diane Keaton performs with razor-sharp humor and a dazzling, delicious delicacy, radiant in a glow created by master cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. Self-assured Jack Nicholson so cleverly plays off his own brash off-screen image that their chemistry is not only splendid but downright combustible. It’s too bad that Oscar voters don’t recognize classy comedy with its own category. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Something’s Gotta Give” is a laugh-out-loud 9. For adult audiences, it’s a hilarious holiday delight.

Susan Granger’s review of “The Haunted Mansion” (Walt Disney Pictures)

Compared with “Pirates of the Caribbean,” this Disney amusement park ride-inspired effort is pathetic. It’s not as bad as “The Country Bears” (2002) but that’s not saying much. “Welcome Foolish Mortals.” Eddie Murphy plays Jim Evers, an ambitious real-estate agent who works with his wife Sara (Marshal Thomason). She fervently wishes he’d spend more time with their children (13 year-old Aree Davis, 10 year-old Marc John Jefferies) and is chagrined when her workaholic husband jumps at the chance to sell a decrepit Louisiana mansion even if it means delaying their eagerly-anticipated family weekend trip. After Jim assures everyone that their detour into the bayou will be “20 minutes tops,” they reluctantly arrive at the property and get stuck there overnight when a storm washes out the bridge. Their creepy companions include Ramsley (Terence Stamp), a ghastly butler who’s seen too many vintage Vincent Price/Boris Karloff movies, and Master Gracey (Nathaniel Parker), the ghostly, cursed owner who is convinced that Sara is his long-lost love – along with relentlessly fading apparitions like Ezra (Wallace Shawn), Emma (Dina Waters) and wisecracking Madame Leota (Jennifer Tilly). Written by David Berenbaum and directed by Rob Minkoff, “Mansion” creaks and crumbles with allusions to old movies (“I see dead people.” “There’s no place like home.” “The butler did it.”), except for John Myhre’s remarkable production design with its sliding doors and hidden panels. When the Evers’ family is being pursued by musical instruments, it’s a singularly memorable sequence. Otherwise, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Haunted Mansion” is a bleak, boring 4. Neither scary nor funny, it’s just a moldering Thanksgiving turkey.

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

If you blend “Flashdance” and “Fame” with a dash of “Saturday Night Fever” and a sprinkle of “Glitter,” you’d whip up something on celluloid resembling this saccharine dance piece. The good-natured story revolves around Honey Daniels (Jessica Alba) who dreams of dancing in a music video. During the day, she teaches hip-hop classes to underprivileged kids at a neighborhood recreation center. Later on, after she works the evening shift as a bartender, Honey oozes onto the dance floor with her street-wise girl-friend Gina (Joy Bryant), where all eyes are focused on the fluid undulations of her bare midriff. But the stare that matters belongs to video director Michael Ellis (David Moscow), whose leers express both his personal and professional interest in her moves, choreographic and otherwise. And that’s just the beginning of Honey’s meteoric rise to fame and fortune. Unfortunately, however, success means less time in the ‘hood, hanging out with her fella Chaz (Mekhi Phifer) and the kids who adore her. And then she discovers that her old dance studio has been closed down for being unsafe. Good grief! How will she cope with this daunting dilemma? Could it be the old “let’s put on a show” gambit? Known best as TV’s “Dark Angel,” Jessica Alba is unconvincing as a Harlem ‘hood hoochie whose mother (Lonette Mckee) has high aspirations for her. Leaving no simpleminded clichŽ unspoken, screenwriters Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson and Marc Platt show zero imagination as they pitch predictable dialogue to the MTV crowd. And music video director Bille Woodruff has no concept of feature-film pacing. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Honey” is a forgettable fairy-tale 3. The only highlight is Missy Elliott doing a cameo, as herself.

Susan Granger’s review of “Mona Lisa Smile” (Columbia)

As a teacher who plants the seeds of rebellion, Julia Roberts evokes the spirit if not the soul of “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” (1969) with a nod to the “Dead Poets Society” (1989) too. It’s 1953 when free-spirited Katherine Watson (Julia) arrives from Berkeley, California, to teach art history at Wellesley College. She’s eager to encourage her affluent, intelligent students to pursue careers not husbands – a subversively bohemian concept that falls on deaf ears, particularly when bitchy influential blueblood Betty Warren (Kirsten Dunst) marries mid-semester and even brainy Joan Brandwyn (Julia Stiles) can’t wrap her mind around balancing Yale Law School and WASPy matrimony. “I thought I was headed to a place that would turn out tomorrow’s leaders, not their wives,” wails Katherine, who wants to make a difference but, at first, only the unabashedly sensual Giselle Levy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) seems to get the message. Written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal and directed by Mike Newell (“Four Weddings and a Funeral”), this dated coming-of-age-drama grapples with female empowerment, but the oppressively provincial era that’s depicted seems more ’40s than ’50s – and, over the years, Wellesley College has nurtured admirably independent feminists, including Hillary Clinton. While incandescent Julia Roberts radiates polish and passion, Kirsten Dunst, Ginnifer Goodwin and Maggie Gyllenhaal deliver richly detailed, affecting performances as Marcia Gay Harden deftly steals scenes as a dowdy etiquette teacher. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Mona Lisa Smile” is a poignant if stodgy 7. It’s a potent chick-flick that strives to prove the career vs. family issue is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.

Susan Granger’s review of “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” (New Line Cinema)

New Zealand director Peter Jackson’s final chapter is the best of his Middle Earth trilogy, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic sci-fi/fantasy – and the film to beat at this year’s Oscars! The 3 1/2-hour epic begins where “The Two Towers” ended. While the naive, innocent hobbits, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and his loyal pal Sam Gamgee (Sean Astin), are trudging with The Ring toward Mount Doom in Mordor, led by the treacherous Gollum (a CGI-creation, voiced by Andy Serkis), their cohorts are preparing for a great battle against the fearsome, evil legions of Sauron, led by the Orcs with their colossal Oliphaunts and reptilian Fell Beasts. Valiant Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the Elf archer Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and the Dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) join with the Wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) to defend Gondor’s city of Minis Tirith. Arwen (Liv Tyler) and Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) exert their ethereal influence, yet Frodo must face the peril of the giant spider Shelob, as Aragon enlists the aid of the ephemeral Army of the Dead, and Eowyn of Rohan (Miranda Otto) becomes a mighty warrior. Cleverly, Jackson and his co-writers (Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens) build up an intimate, emotional attachment to these characters, vividly developing their rivalries and relationships, even revealing the Gollum’s backstory, amid the tumultuous action. Grant Major’s ingenious production design and Andrew Lesnie’s cinematography are spectacular. Despite the fact that it’s at least 1/2 hour too long, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” is a towering, transcendental 10. It’s an enormously exciting, exquisite, even exhausting, cinematic experience. Definitely one of the 10 BEST MOVIES of 2003.

Susan Granger’s review of “Calendar Girls” (Touchstone Pictures – opens wide 1/1/04)

Inspired by the true story of a group of enterprising middle-aged women who bared their bods for charity and became international celebrities, “Calendar Girls” is a rambunctious romp. In Knapely, a small, fictional Yorkshire town in northeast England, lifelong friends Chris Harper (Helen Mirren) and Annie Clark (Julie Walters) faithfully attend the deadly dull weekly meetings of the WI (Women’s Institute), a venerable institution that encourages skills like jam-making, baking, knitting and flower pressing. Then when Annie’s husband dies of cancer, Chris comes up with a novel idea for the WI to raise money to buy a comfortable sofa for the hospital that cared for him: a nude calendar. While risquŽ concept shocks the proudly prim and proper ladies, Annie reminds them of her late husband’s words, “The flowers of Yorkshire are like the women of Yorkshire – the last phase is the most glorious.” Soon they’re disarmingly disrobing for an embarrassed yet inventive photographer. And the calendar’s success is so resounding that their loyalties are tested by the glare of the spotlight and a glitzy all-expenses-paid trip to Hollywood. Reminiscent of “The Full Monty,” the script by Juliette Towhidi and Tim Firth is even better, since – beyond the humor of the situation – the modest women’s lives are forever changed by their cheeky choices. And director Nigel Cole (“Saving Grace”) has assembled top-notch British actresses, casting against type, with Helen Mirren (“Gosford Park”) in the comic, fun-loving role, juxtaposed to the more serious reticence of Julie Walters (“Billy Eliot”). On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Calendar Girls” is an outrageous, uplifting 8. It’s fresh, funny and moving – so warm and good-natured that you’d have to be a Scrooge to resist it.