Movie/TV Reviews

T3: Rise of the Machines

Susan Granger’s review of “T3: Rise of the Machines” (Warner Bros.)

As this super summer popcorn picture begins, future revolutionary John Connor (Nick Stahl) has been in hiding in the dark shadows of his own paranoid nightmares for more than a decade. Then his unsuspecting girl-friend (Claire Danes) is suddenly tracked down by a technologically superior killing machine, the relentless T-X, that has morphed into female form (Kristanna Loken). Following close behind is a bare, buff replicant of the now-obsolete Terminator (Arnold Schwarzeneggar), Connor’s vigilant protector, intoning: “John Connor, it is time.” Within three hours, Skynet’s sophisticated digital defense network will become self-aware and wage war on mankind. The previously postponed Judgment Day is now inevitable, but can it be survived? Writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris play off the contemporary fear that computers will dominate civilization, as in “The Matrix.” And director Jonathan Mostow (“Breakdown,” “U-571”) deftly rises to the challenge of following James Cameron, cleverly casting serious Nick Stahl and sympathetic Claire Danes, whose opening line is “I hate machines!” But aside from her evoking subtle aspects of Sarah (Linda Hamilton) from the original film, there’s not much character development. Arnold’s acting? He’s a robot. But Kristanna Loken (TV’s “Philly”) is sensational as his nemesis: the Cybernetic Queen of Mean. The imaginative stunts are awesome – from Arnold’s swinging off a monster crane driven by T-X to the climactic showdown – with special-effects kudos to Oscar-winning make-up and animatronics wizard Stan Winston. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “T3: Rise of the Machines” is a spectacular 7, packing more fireworks than the Fourth of July. Adrenaline addicts are gonna love the fast-paced action.

Susan Granger's review of "T3: Rise of the Machines" (Warner Bros.)
As this super summer popcorn picture begins, future revolutionary John Connor (Nick Stahl) has been in hiding in the dark shadows of his own paranoid nightmares for more than a decade. Then his unsuspecting girl-friend (Claire Danes) is suddenly tracked down by a technologically superior killing machine, the relentless T-X, that has morphed into female form (Kristanna Loken). Following close behind is a bare, buff replicant of the now-obsolete Terminator (Arnold Schwarzeneggar), Connor's vigilant protector, intoning: "John Connor, it is time." Within three hours, Skynet's sophisticated digital defense network will become self-aware and wage war on mankind. The previously postponed Judgment Day is now inevitable, but can it be survived?
Writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris play off the contemporary fear that computers will dominate civilization, as in "The Matrix." And director Jonathan Mostow ("Breakdown," "U-571") deftly rises to the challenge of following James Cameron, cleverly casting serious Nick Stahl and sympathetic Claire Danes, whose opening line is "I hate machines!" But aside from her evoking subtle aspects of Sarah (Linda Hamilton) from the original film, there's not much character development. Arnold's acting? He's a robot. But Kristanna Loken (TV's "Philly") is sensational as his nemesis: the Cybernetic Queen of Mean. The imaginative stunts are awesome - from Arnold's swinging off a monster crane driven by T-X to the climactic showdown - with special-effects kudos to Oscar-winning make-up and animatronics wizard Stan Winston. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "T3: Rise of the Machines" is a spectacular 7, packing more fireworks than the Fourth of July. Adrenaline addicts are gonna love the fast-paced action.

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Whale Rider

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Whale Rider” (Newmarket Films)

If you enjoyed how John Sayles evoked the Irish essence in “The Secret of Roan Inish,” don’t miss Niki Caro’s contemporary fable set in New Zealand’s traditionally patrilineal Maori culture. Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes), called Pai, is the 12 year-old granddaughter of Koro (Rawiri Paratene), leader of the Whangara tribe, who resents her very existence. Her stillborn fraternal twin was to have continued Koro’s bloodline which can be traced back to the first aboriginal inhabitants – and legend has it that these ancestors were borne to their island home on the back of a whale. Not only did Pai survive the difficult birth that killed her mother and brother but her father (Cliff Curtis) then deserted the family for a career as an artist in Germany, returning to visit only occasionally. So the only nurturing that Pai has received during her short lifetime is from her grandmother Nanny Flowers (Vicky Haughton). Nevertheless, she is resourceful and skilled in handling weapons, diving and singing tribal chants. Above all, she is determined to take her rightful place within the tribe – a phenomenon that occurs only after the sacred whales beach themselves on the shore near their village until Pai comes to their rescue. Adapting Witi Ihimaera’s 1987 novel, screenwriter/director Niki Caro and cinematographer Leon Narbey have created a haunting, dreamlike, artistic gem, particularly when Pai sings an ancient tribal song to a dark ocean. And beautiful Keisha Castle-Hughes is a spunky young charmer with a gravity reminiscent of Anna Paquin in “The Piano.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Whale Rider” is a mysterious, mythic 9. But – be warned – that, while the film is in English, some of the thick accents are difficult to decipher.

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Northfork

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Northfork” (Paramount Classics)

Strictly for an art-house audience, this is a quirky American Gothic history/fantasy about a Montana town that was “dammed” by local government as part of a new hydroelectric project in 1955. A rambling, ambiguous rumination on dreams and death, loss and resurrection, it’s the final segment of the Heartland trilogy, which includes “Twin Falls, Idaho” and “Jackpot,” created by independent film-making brothers Mark and Michael Polish. The mystical story revolves around a group of six Evacuators, men in trench coats and fedoras, driving black Fords, who have been promised 1.5 acres of new waterfront property if they can each get 65 of the most stubborn residents to abandon their homes before the town of Northfork is, literally, flooded. And only 48 hours remains before the coming tidal wave. Led by a father/son team (James Woods, Mark Polish), their mission takes them to visit eccentrics including a devout polygamous family who have built an Ark. Meanwhile, a priest (Nick Nolte) tends a dying orphan (Duel Farnes), abandoned by his foster parents (Kyle MacLachlan, Michele Hicks), who hallucinates about a band of earthbound Angels, comprised of cynical Cup of Tea (Robin Sachs), mute Cod (Ben Foster), androgynous Flower Hercules (Daryl Hannah) and Happy (Anthony Edwards), an amputee with wooden hands and multi-lensed spectacles. What’s most remarkable about the imaginative eccentricity of “Northfork” is its sepia-toned photography and haunting, evocative imagery – like a submerged coffin that floats to the flood water’s surface and a wooden giraffe/dog creature on the flatlands. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Northfork” is a subtle, surreal, absurdist 6. It takes magical realism to a new level.

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28 Days Later

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “28 Days Later” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Horror pictures are far from my favorite genre but director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland make this into a doozy! Set in contemporary London, the story begins in the Cambridge Primate Research Center, as animal sympathizers inadvertently release rage-infected primates. Cut to 28 days later, when Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up naked in a hospital after a bicycle accident and discovers that the entire city is ominously deserted. Wandering aimlessly, he’s rescued from “infected” attackers by two fellow survivors (Naomie Harris, Noah Huntley) who explain how a deadly virus has devastated the British population. Spread by saliva or blood, it immediately incites its victim into a rabid, rage-filled zombie. “What’s the government doing about it?” he asks. “There is no government,” he’s told. Indeed, anarchy reigns. One night, they encounter a teenager (Megan Burns) and her resourceful father (Brendan Gleeson), who hears on the radio that there’s a safe haven just north of Manchester and loads the nomads into his big, black taxi to make the harrowing cross-country trek. When they arrive at the military outpost, they discover a heavily armed bunker where a megalomaniac (Christopher Eccleston) commands a few crazed soldiers who vow to protect them, if only to propagate the human species. Utilizing Anthony Dod Mantle’s eerie-yet-dingy digital video camerawork and editor Chris Gill’s image manipulation, Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting”) creates a bizarre atmosphere of grim, grotesque, apocalyptic violence, and credit John Murphy’s music for heightening the suspenseful tension. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “28 Days Later” is a brutal, gruesome, scary 7. Warning: this is not for the cowardly, the squeamish or those prone to nightmares.

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Spellbound

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Spellbound” (THINKFilm/HBO/Cinemax Films)

No, this is not a remake of Hitchcock’s Ingrid Bergman/Gregory Peck thriller. Far from it. Set in Washington, D.C., it’s Jeffrey Blitz’s Oscar-nominated documentary that profiles the 14 year-old honor students who compete in the annual National Spelling Bee. Now, before you yawn and stop reading, let me tell you the contest is far more interesting than you’d expect – or ESPN wouldn’t regularly televise the finals. How many of us can spell “cephalalgia” or “apocope”? The story begins as Harry, an anguished teen, is trying to spell a simple word that sounds like “bands” but turns out to be “banns,” a term familiar only to regular churchgoers. After that, we’re introduced to eight local champions. From New Haven, Connecticut, there’s upscale, energetic Emily; at the opposite end of the socio/economic spectrum, there’s Angela, the Texas-bred daughter of illegal Mexican immigrants who speak no English. Ashley’s from Washington D.C’.s inner city projects, while Ted’s rural Missouri family lives in a trailer and Ashley’s a vegan from Ambler, Pennsylvania. Neil’s father from San Clemente has analyzed all previous Spelling Bees and not only works through the dictionary with his son but also hires foreign-language tutors for word derivations. Young Nupur’s hometown of Tampa is so proud of her that the local Hooters put up a sign: “Congradulations.” That several competitors are immigrants from India is explained by the fact that students cannot correct their mistakes in India, so there is strong societal pressure to be perfect. And in the Spelling Bee, there’s also no second chance. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Spellbound” is an uplifting, oddball 6, using spelling skill as a metaphor for life. And if you miss it in theaters, watch for it on cable TV later this year.

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Prince Charming

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Prince Charming” (Sunday evening, July 13, on TNT)

Are you in the mood for a funny midsummer night’s fantasy? This classic fairy tale begins in the 15th century in the European country of Lothian as Prince John (Sean Maguire), who has an eye for the ladies, is caught in a compromising situation with a damsel on his wedding day. As punishment, he and his loyal squire Rodney (Martin Short) are sentenced to “frogging,” which transforms them into lowly frogs for all eternity – or until the prince can convince a maiden not only to kiss him but also to marry him. 500 years later later, John and Rodney find themselves wet ‘n’ wild in 21st century New York in Central Park. Miraculously, they’re returned to human form by a kiss from Margo (Bernadette Peters), a Broadway diva who’s in love with Hamish (Billy Connolly), her director, and has no intention of marrying Prince John, who, meanwhile, has fallen for Kate, a street-wise horse-drawn buggy driver (Christina Applegate). So it falls to Rodney and his lady-love Serena (Andrea Martin) to conjure a bit of magical manipulation. Written by Doug Palau and directed by Allan Arkush, this charming story pivots on the medieval chivalry of the heroic Prince, who has sown his wild oats and discovers true love for the first time. Jamie Anderson’s cinematography conveys the romantic aura, while the interaction of the CGI frogs with live-action actors is amusing and production designer John Dondertman makes clever use of Central Park’s Belvedere Castle. On the Granger Made-for-TV Movie Gauge, “Prince Charming” is an endearing 7. The two-hour TNT World Premiere is at 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 13, with encores at 10 p.m. and 12 am, plus additional encores on July 17 at 9 p.m., July 18 at 10:30 p.m., July 19 at 12 a.m., July 23 at 11 p.m. and July 26 at 9:30 a.m..

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Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” (Miramax Films)

The third installment in Robert Rodriguez’ successful “Spy Kids” franchise has three strikes against it: a) the once-adorable “kids” are growing up, b) the ’50s style blue-and-red style cardboard 3-D glasses are a pain, and c) there’s too much blatant computer-game merchandising. As the story begins, the no-longer-cherubic, 11 year-old secret agent Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) is recruited from ‘retirement’ by OSS leaders (Salma Heyek, Mike Judge) and the President of the United States (George Clooney). Juni’s assignment is penetrate the highest level of a mysteriously menacing video game, created by The Toymaker (Sylvester Stallone), who battles his own split-personalities as he holds Juni’s sister Carmen (Alexa Vega) hostage in cyberspace. When Juni’s allowed one companion on this perilous quest, he wisely chooses his grandpa (Ricardo Montalban) who soon becomes a superhero. While there are some clever allusions – Juni’s known as “The Guy,” a play on “The One” from “The Matrix,” and Montalban’s wheelchair is “fine Corinthian leather,” etc. – the video-game characters are inexplicably and unpredictably hostile, then friendly, but most often duplicitous, noting: “Time flies when you’re playing games!” Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Cheech Marin, and Holland Taylor appear briefly in cameos, along with Steve Buscemi, Alan Cummings, Bill Paxton, Emily Osment, reprising their previous “Spy Kids” characters. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” is a mindlessly chaotic, family-friendly 5, but parents should be prepared to fork out for the video-game, in addition to the video games for “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Finding Nemo,” “Enter the Matrix,” “Hulk,” and “X-Men 2: Wolverine’s Revenge.”

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Bad Boys II

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Bad Boys II” (Columbia Pictures)

This action-packed sequel to the 1995 movie starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence resonates with deafening gun battles, careening car chases, and graphic carnage for 2 1/2 hours. Smith and Lawrence play squabbling buddy cops Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett. It’s eight years after their first escapade in Miami and, unbeknownst to Burnett, Lowry is dating his kid sister, Syd (Gabrielle Union), who works undercover for the DEA in New York. All three are on the tail of a ruthless trafficker in Ecstasy pills named Johnny Tapia (Jordi Molla), who smuggles drugs and money from Cuba to Miami and back in coffins. While the quest is to capture Tapia, the focus on the fireballs, explosions and banter – in that order. And since four writers (Ron Shelton, Jerry Stahl, Marianne Wibberly, Cormac Wibberly) are given screen credit, you’d think they wouldn’t have to repeat jokes twice. Perhaps director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer just didn’t listen since they seem to have paid far more attention to the systematic wrecking of vehicles: 22 cars and a boat are demolished in the movie’s first half-hour alone. To add to the gruesome gore, slow-motion photography follows bullets as they penetrate necks and shatter skulls, severed limbs drip blood on a dining-room table, and a decapitated head off an embalmed corpse bounces down the highway. That’s visceral. That’s nasty. On the other hand, one amusing moment does occur when Mike and Marcus team up to terrify a young man who has come to take Marcus’s daughter on a first date. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bad Boys II” is an interminably bloated, brutal 2. A contemptible example of vile, relentless overkill, it’s rated R for strong violence, offensive language, sexuality and drug content.

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The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” (20th Century-Fox)

When a major studio, big-budget action-adventure is as dreary and dismal as this, it’s often interesting to dissect its various elements and discover what went wrong. Based on the graphic novel (i.e.: comic book) by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill, the story assembles adventurer Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery), Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah), “Invisible Man” Rodney Skinner (Tony Curran), Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend), Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde (Jason Flemyng), Tom Sawyer (Shane West), and Mina Harker (Peta Wilson), a Dracula-inspired vampire. It’s 1899 when they’re summoned by Britain’s Secret Agent M (Richard Roxburgh) to sail to Venice, Italy, to battle a powerful enemy known only as The Fantom. While these living legends have colorful reputations, they’re uniformly dull – with the notable exception of Quatermain, who struggles valiantly to turn the American lad into a surrogate son. Working from a clumsy, confusing, convoluted script by James Dale Robinson, director Stephen Norrington (“Blade”) seems totally at a loss with how to connect with the actors at his disposal. As a result, emotional relationships between the misfit characters are non-existent. And it’s impossible to suspect disbelief when the special effects are this silly. “The Invisible Man” is just an actor in white-face makeup and – even with a comic book mentality – one cannot conceive how the gigantic “Nautilus” submarine could skim undetected through the narrow Venetian canals, nor how everyone is able to drive cars. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” is a ponderous, inconsequential 3. Is it possible that the vision of producer Don Murphy (“From Hell”) was actually to dumb-down a comic book?

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The Holy Land

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Holy Land” (CAVU Pictures)

Set in Israel, this strange, disquieting coming-of-age story begins as Mendy (Oren Rehany), a sexually distracted rabbinical student, is advised by his Orthodox rabbi to abandon his Torah studies and visit a prostitute to “get it out of his system.” Following that dubiously believable suggestion, he goes to a Tel Aviv brothel where he becomes obsessed with Sasha (Tchelet Semel), a Christian girl from Russia. A rugged American war photographer named Mike (Saul Stein) befriends him, revealing that Sasha hangs out at his bar in Jerusalem. Soon, Mendy’s working at “Mike’s Place,” a dive where Jews and Arabs drink side-by-side. That’s where he finds Razi (Albert Illuz), an Arab smuggler/collaborator, and The Exterminator (Arie Moskuna), an American-born Jewish settler with an M-16. As the plot unfolds, shy, lovelorn Mendy and feisty, hot-tempered Sarah inadvertently become pawns in the never-ending ‘intifadah’ or holy war. What distinguishes writer/director Eitan Gorlin’s ambitious, if muddled, prodigal son concept are the rich, local details and exotic, intoxicating locations, which perhaps lend unwarranted authenticity to the somewhat confusing story. Raised as an American Orthodox Jew, Gorlin first visited Israel at age 17, attending a Zionist yeshiva where religious studies and military service were combined. He came back to the United States for college before returning to Israel, where he worked as a bartender and spent a year in the Israel Defense Forces. His diverse experiences were chronicled in “Mike’s Place, A Jerusalem Diary,” which served as the basis for this film. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Holy Land” is a contrived, ambiguous 5, perhaps best conveying what life in Jerusalem is really like beneath the tourist facade.

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