Movie/TV Reviews

Confidence

Susan Granger’s review of “Confidence” (Lions Gate Films)

If you’re in the mood for a dandy, double-crossing, duplicitous little crime caper, this is your ticket. Edward Burns stars as a cocky, well-dressed grifter named Jake Vig who’s almost as clever as he thinks he is. “Playing the big con is like putting on a play where everyone knows their parts except for the mark,” Jake explains. Problem is: when Jake and his cohorts (Paul Giamatti, Brian Van Holt, Louis Lombardi) do a quick hustle for $150,000 when they arrive in Los Angeles, they accidentally arouse the ire of the King (Dustin Hoffman) a sleazy local mobster. For payback, Jake agrees to pull a $5 million embezzlement scam on a banker (Robert Forster), using an unsuspecting loan-officer as their mark. To this end, he recruits a sexy pickpocket (Rachel Weisz) but, to complicate matters, the undercover cops (Donal Logue, Luiz Guzman) on Jake’s payroll are now being trailed by a suspicious federal agent (Andy Garcia). And everyone’s working an angle! While screenwriter Doug Jung, cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchia and director James Foley (“Fear,” “Glengarry Glen Ross”) are heavily indebted to Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” they pull off enough twists and turns to keep the timeline narrative tantalizing. Edward Burns assumes a bland Ben Affleck-persona, which isn’t all bad, while Rachel Weisz oozes oomph and grizzled Andy Garcia is almost unrecognizable. But the big surprise is Dustin Hoffman’s creepy, idiosyncratic pervert. Grinning maniacally as he cracks gum with his green-tinged teeth, he defines repugnant. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Confidence” is a slick, stylized, snazzy 7. Why is it that a well-crafted con can be so satisfying?

Confidence Read More »

It Runs in the Family

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “It Runs in the Family” (MGM)

What distinguishes this dysfunctional family drama is neither the story nor the acting. It’s the Hollywood casting – which involves three generations of the talented Douglas family. There’s volatile, venerable 86 year-old Kirk Douglas, who is still hitting the mark after the effects of a stroke; his Oscar-winning son Michael Douglas; his first wife and Michael’s mother, Diana Douglas; and Michael’s 24 year-old son, Cameron Douglas, making his screen debut. They play the affluent Gromberg family of New York City. Judgmental patriarch Mitchell Gromberg (Kirk) is grappling with mortality. His nurturing wife (Diana) is undergoing dialysis while trying to maintain a viable relationship with their defensive lawyer son Alex (Michael) who is struggling with a mid-life crisis, fighting off the advances of a predatory woman (Sarita Choudhury) in a soup kitchen, as his frustrated wife (Bernadette Peters), a psychologist, is coping at home with their sons: rebellious Asher (Cameron) and precocious Eli (Rory Culkin). Director Fred Schepisi and screenwriter Jesse Wigutow toss in a drug bust and a couple of funerals to open the clogged lines of inter-generational communication but they never resolve the pertinent family values issues. The Douglases are appealing and obviously relaxed working with each other but it’s too bad they didn’t go for the lighter, more adroit comedic touch that is touted in the theatrical trailer. Douglas family trivia: this is the first time Kirk and Michael have acted together, while Kirk and Diana last appeared together in “The Indian Fighter” (1955). On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “It Runs in the Family” is a sadly sentimental and frustrating 5. “Growing up isn’t easy at any age” but this never approaches “On Golden Pond” (1981).

It Runs in the Family Read More »

X2

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “X2” (20th Century-Fox)

Since director Bryan Singer introduced the sci-fi fantasy “X-Men” (1999), created by comic book artist Stan Lee, this sequel ignites immediately with a complex plot and a new villain. X-Men are mutants, the next link on the evolutionary chain. But amidst suspicion and prejudice, they’re considered misfits and outcasts because each was born with a unique power. Savage Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is searching for his past, seeking retribution while finding romance with telekinetic Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). At the same time, Rogue (Anna Paquin) chills out with Iceman (Shawn Ashmore). There’s also the seductive shape-shifter Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), Storm (Halle Berry) and Cyclops (James Marsden). They live at a School for Gifted Children in upstate New York run by telepathic Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), who guides them to utilize their respective gifts for the good of mankind, protecting a world that fears them. Xavier’s nemesis is the evil Magneto (Ian McKellen) who advocates mutant supremacy, telling irresponsibly inflammatory Pyro (Aaron Stanford), a rebellious new recruit: “You are a god among insects. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.” So, after an attempted assault on the President of the United States by a mutant, a Presidential advisor, Col. William Stryker (Brian Cox), sets out to wreak genocidal revenge on Xavier and all mutants. And there are two newcomers: teleporter Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) and menacing Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu) who must, inevitably, fight with Wolverine. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “X2” is an exciting 8. With a nod to “The Empire Strikes Back,” it’s an action-packed superhero saga with a timely message about tolerance and sacrifice.

X2 Read More »

The Real Cancun

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Real Cancun” (New Line Cinema)

So where did you spend your Spring Break? Was it as wild and raunchy as this Mexican resort where 16 young people frolicked for eight days, partying almost 24 hours a day? I doubt it. Producers Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray (TV’s “The Real World”) and director Rick De Oliviera selected eight women and eight men from supposedly 10,000 exhibitionistic candidates, auditioned on college campuses across the United States, to live in a resort hotel under the scrutiny of cameras and microphones for 24 hours a day. Uninhibited and uncensored, they cavort in their rooms and at beachfront clubs and concerts, indulging every whim to dine, drink and debauch themselves. There’s no real storyline because there was no script. It’s reality film-making, or as Pirandello put once it: characters in search of an author. There’s Jeremy, the blond macho stud from Arizona, who brags, “Girls go on spring break to meet guys like me,” and, at the opposite end of the spectrum, shy, virginal Alan from Texas Tech, who learns how to drink tequila and whines, “I just wanna see some boobies.” That kind of crass excitement is amply provided by Roxanne and Nicole, identical twins from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who put on quite a naughty show with and without wet T-shirts. Plus, there’s fresh-faced and innocent Heidi and David, 18 year-old best-friends from Massachusetts who have often flirted with each other but never hooked up. And Casey’s the oldest; at 25, he’s an aspiring model from Miami who’s never held a steady job. For him, life is one long Spring Break. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Real Cancun” is a stripped-down, sleazy 4. Rated R, it’s every horny adolescent’s rite-of-passage fantasy and every parent’s nightmare.

The Real Cancun Read More »

Identity

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

Here’s the set-up for this psychological thriller: ten strangers are trapped in the midst of a torrential rainstorm in a remote desert motel only to be murdered one-by-one. Whodunit? There’s a righteous, enterprising limo driver (John Cusack) who claims to have once been with the LAPD. He’s chauffeuring a self-absorbed, temperamental aging actress (Rebecca DeMornay) when they run into a stranded family (Leila Kenzle, Bret Loehr, John C. McGinley). There’s a nervous, incompetent corrections officer (Ray Liotta) who’s transporting a convicted killer (Jake Busey), who’s intent on escape. There’s the seedy, skittish motel manager (John Hawkes) who’s keeping secrets. There are the bickering newlyweds (Clea DuVall, William Lee Scott). There’s a tough call-girl (Amanda Peet), heading from Las Vegas to an orange grove in Florida. And the motel itself is situated on a sacred Indian burial ground. Screenwriter Michael Cooney (“Jack Frost”) and director James Mangold (“Kate & Leopold”) make it clear that each clichŽ character is not exactly who he or she seems nor, in fact, is the set-up. But that’s about all I can tell you because, like “Memento” and “The Sixth Sense,” the unusual concept is an integral part of the intense puzzle in which the rain pelts the windows, the wind blows, the doors creak and a gruesome menace lurks behind every shadow, particularly in the laundromat. Of course there’s the final – “Ah, ha!” moment – when you realize what’s going on, but it takes a long time to get there and frustration can be an unwelcome passenger on this particular journey. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Identity” is a cleverly creepy, enigmatic 6 – but only if you’re not squeamish and into mind-teasing avant-garde film-making.

Identity Read More »

Daddy Day Care

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Daddy Day Care” (Columbia Pictures/Sony)

Chock full of his “Dr. Doolittle” charm, Eddie Murphy’s back in this hilarious comedy as a father who loses his high-paying advertising job and opens a daycare center. It all begins when he and his buddy (Jeff Garlin) can’t push Veggie-Os, a vegetable-flavored breakfast cereal, down kids’ throats in a “taste test.” Not only does that endeavor collapse but their entire natural foods division is shut down, forcing him to pull his son (Khamani Griffin) out of Chapman Academy, the Princeton of play-schools, run by villainous Anjelica Huston. Feeling like failures, the fathers realize there’s a real need for affordable daycare. “This is not rocket science,” Eddie tells his lawyer wife (Regina King). “We’re not gonna get rich but it will keep us out of bankruptcy.” After assembling a group of three and four year-olds, he passes out a “mission statement,” not realizing his charges can’t read. In fact, chaos reigns as the sugar-frenzied moppets run riot through the house. “It’s either planned activities or Ritalin and leashes,” he concludes. So the guys hold a “focus group” to determine the curriculum and then work hard to make their students happy, teaching them to interact, play games, even read. They’re so successful that Chapman’s enrollment plummets as more neighborhood youngsters transfer to the free-spirited facility. Soon they’re forced to hire an affable helper (Steve Zahn) who’s zoned into Star Trek and other super-hero fantasies. Writer Geoff Rodkay and director Steve Carr create a delightfully paternal atmosphere of wit and warmth, despite the inevitable poop and potty jokes – and the cute, quirky kids are irresistible. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Daddy Day Care” is an uproarious 7. It’s fun-filled family entertainment and don’t miss the amusing out-takes in the final credits.

Daddy Day Care Read More »

The Lizzie McGuire Movie

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Lizzie McGuire Movie” (Walt Disney Pictures)

While I must confess to never having seen “The Lizzie Maguire Show” on the Disney Channel, I vividly remember graduating from middle school and, like Lizzie, desperately wanting to press the “reset” button on my life. 15 year-old Lizzie (Hilary Duff) is not only insecure but a ditsy klutz whose ineptitude turns her eighth-grade graduation ceremony into a humiliating debacle. Then she’s off on a madcap school-sponsored trip to Rome, where she’s mistaken for Isabella, a temperamental Italian pop star. The resemblance is so uncanny that suave, Armani-clad Paolo (Yani Gellman), Isabella’s ex-partner, sets off in hot pursuit on his Vespa, much to the distress of Lizzie’s longtime pal Gordo (Adam Lamberg). Paolo finds Lizzie cute and charming so, of course, she agrees to impersonate Isabella and live out her ultra-cool diva fantasies, complete with fabulous, far-out clothes (credit costumer David Robinson). Playing the dual roles of Lizzie and Isabella, bubbly, blonde Hilary Duff is adorable, if not completely believable, bopping around in a brunette wig and talking with an awkward accent. Except for scene-stealing Alex Borstein (MAD TV”) as Mrs. Ungermeyer, the tenacious chaperone, all of the other actors merely skim the surface of their superficial characters. Nevertheless, I fondly remember the benign, formulaic “Gidget” films of my youth and this refreshingly wholesome drivel, directed by Jim Fall, fills much the same societal niche – with travelogue nods to “Three Coins in the Fountain” and “Roman Holiday.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Lizzie McGuire Movie” is a silly, sudsy, sweet 6 – but if you’re nine to 14 years old (i.e.: really into Lizzie and her animated alter-ego), you’re gonna love it.

The Lizzie McGuire Movie Read More »

The Dancer Upstairs

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

John Malkovich makes his directorial debut with this political melodrama/love story adapted by Nicholas Shakespeare from his own novel which fictionalized the 12-year chase and eventual capture of Abimael Guzman, the charismatic leader of Peru’s violent Shining Path terrorists. Set in the recent past in an unnamed South American country, the film stars Spanish actor Javier Bardem (Oscar-nominated for “Before Night Falls”) as Augustin Rejas, a highly principled lawyer-turned-police detective who – with his sidekick Sucre (Juan Diego Botto) – is after a mysterious revolutionary responsible for political assassinations, car bombings, gruesome massacres and hanging dogs from light poles. Calling himself Ezequiel (Abel Folk), this criminal believes he’s the next Communist prophet after Marx, Lenin and Mao. Like his predecessors, Ezequiel’s heavily into bizarre political slogans, like “When I hear the word ‘culture,’ I reach for my pistol” and “Guns make us powerful. Butter will only make us fat.” And as the guerrilla warfare escalates, the president is ready to declare martial law in the next two weeks. In the midst of this revolution and perhaps because of his own shaky marriage (his wife is into “The Bridges of Madison County” with her book group), Rejas finds temporary distraction in his 10 year-old daughter’s sensual ballet teacher, Yolanda (Italian actress Laura Morante). Malkovich obviously has been influenced by Costa-Gavras’ “State of Siege,” but he is unable to grasp that director’s use of tension. Instead, the plot is elusive and the slow pace plods despite Jose Luis Alcaine’s photography and the music of Alberto Iglesias and Pedro Malgheas. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Dancer Upstairs” is a glum, grim 6. It’s a murky manhunt.

The Dancer Upstairs Read More »

Nowhere in Africa

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Nowhere in Africa” (Zeitgeist Films)

Winner of this year’s Academy Award as Best Foreign Film, writer-director Caroline Link’s “Nowhere in Africa,” based on Stefanie Zweig’s autobiographical novel, chronicles the trials and tribulations of an upper-class Jewish family that escapes Nazi Germany in 1938 to live in Kenya. Working as caretakers on an absent owner’s farm, the Redlich family must cope with sudden and unexpected poverty along with the alien culture of East Africa. Jettel (Juliane Kohler), the mother, initially cannot adapt, refusing to unpack her belongings or to learn Swahili. “We’re alive, but what are we alive for?” she whines. Meanwhile, her husband Walter (Merab Ninidze), once a successful attorney, is haunted by the past. And their marriage is in jeopardy as Jettel refuses her husband’s amorous advances, spurring him to note that she’s only interested in making love when he’s a lawyer. Ironically, Jettel’s attitude improves when the British herd the persecuted German refugees into separate prison camps, since the women are sent to live at a posh hotel, complete with high tea and sumptuous lobster buffets. Jettel even has a brief sexual encounter with a British officer but that interlude is never fully explored. The tale is told through the eyes of their resourceful daughter Regina (played by Lea Kurka as a child and later by Karoline Eckertz) who thrives on the dry, dusty African plains. And the most intriguing, appealing character is dignified Owuor (Sidede Onyulo), the charismatic cook. Gernot Roll’s photography, particularly of the locust plague, is superb, as is Niki Reiser’s score. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Nowhere in Africa” is a culturally conflicted, episodic 8. In German and Swahili with English subtitles, it’s about strangers in a strange land.

Nowhere in Africa Read More »

The Matrix Reloaded

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s “The Matrix Reloaded” review (Warner Bros.)

Back in 1999, writer-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski delivered the first cyberepic in their phenomenal, philosophic, comic book-like action-thriller trilogy that explores the nature of reality and the search for truth. In “The Matrix,” Neo (Keanu Reeves) a web hacker, realizes that the world is a computer-generated illusion designed to keep humanity unaware that it’s simply the bioelectric energy source for a race of sentient machines. Armed with this knowledge, he’s transformed into The One, mankind’s prophesied savior, ready to wage war against the machines. He has become ultra-powerful because he believes he is. His cohorts are the Resistance leader Morpheus (Laurence Fisburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss), the tough yet vulnerable warrior whom Neo loves. Along with Morpheus’ love Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith), they’re off to defend Zion, the last human city buried deep near the Earth’s core, against 200,000 menacing Sentinels. Advised by the Oracle (Gloria Foster) to find the Key Maker (Randall Duk Kim) to gain access to the Matrix’s mainframe, they encounter sultry Persephone (Monica Belluci) and battle villainous, mechanized Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) as well as new foes like the evil albino twins (Neil and Adrian Rayment). It’s all quite convoluted so don’t look for easy explanations. The Wachowskis trigger contemporary paranoia, confuse with plot complexity, then dazzle with stylized, gravity-defying stunts CGI sequences, many involving their signature “bullet-time” effect. Best are an adrenaline-pumping multi-vehicle freeway chase and a fight between Neo and 100 Agent Smith digital replicants. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Matrix Reloaded” is a visually slick, action-packed 9, concluding with “Matrix Revolutions” coming in November.

The Matrix Reloaded Read More »