Movie/TV Reviews

Tears of the Sun

Susan Granger’s review of “Tears of the Sun” (Columbia Pictures)

Given the current geo-political tensions, the timing’s right for this heroic military action thriller in which Bruce Willis, as Lieut. A.K. Waters, leads a team of Navy SEALS on a compassionate mission-of-mercy through the Nigerian jungle when the democratic government collapses and the country is taken over by rebel forces of a ruthless military dictator. His orders are to evacuate Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Belluci) of Doctors Without Borders, along with a priest and two nuns, who are trapped at a remote Catholic mission. She refuses to go unless Waters will agree to escort their sick, stranded villagers on a perilous trek to political asylum in Cameroon, away from the graphic suffering and atrocities of ethnic cleansing. But Waters’ captain (Tom Skerritt) has ordered him to stay disengaged from the conflict and, unbeknownst to him, one of the refugees is the sole survivor of the previous President’s family. That’s why a determined band of guerillas is in murderous pursuit. Written by Patrick Cirillo and Alex Lasker, the story struggles with the moral question of America’s role as the world’s police force, a dilemma made abundantly clear when a black SEAL (Eamonn Walker) declares, “those Africans are my people, too.” Despite an abundance of platitudes, director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”) keeps the tension taut although he devotes a disconcerting number of shots to Ms. Belluci’s unbuttoned cleavage. And the propaganda concept is eerily reminiscent of John Wayne’s “The Green Berets,” released at the time of the unpopular Vietnam conflict. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Tears of the Sun” is a soggy, brutal 5, ending with Edmund Burke’s quote: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

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City of God

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

Buckle up for a remarkable cinema verite journey through the murderous violence and hopelessness of the favelas, or slums, of Rio. Seen by a record 3.2 million Brazilians, this slick Portuguese-language film serves as a portal into a bleak, impoverished world ruled by ruthless adolescents. Based on a novel by Paulo Lins, who grew up amidst the City of God squalor, it’s a contemporary “Lord of the Flies,” ruled by young warlords, called runts, who are armed with automatic weapons and make a living selling drugs. The corrupt police force plays a cat-and-mouse game with the thugs, as many of the residents prove loyal to the gangs who serve as conduits to necessities like food and medicine. “I smoke and I snort,” one small hoodlum brags. “I’ve killed and robbed. I’m a man.” The epic structure follows various characters and their crimes over three decades. Beginning in the late ’60s, the story starts with two kids heading in opposite directions. Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), the narrator, wants to be a photographer but can’t afford a camera, while vicious Little Ze (Leandro Firmino da Hora) is eager to embark on a life of crime. As the years pass, Rocket acquires a camera and his photojournalism bears witness to the cold carnage wreaked by Little Ze as the cycle of violence continues. Credit director Fernando Meirelles and screenwriter Braulio Mantovani for the humor and fast pace which enliven the authentic content, evoking memories of Hector Babenco’s “Pixote” (1981). And kudos to documentarian Katia Lund, a 36 year-old Brown University graduate, who was instrumental in finding and casting the children. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “City of God” is a brutal, blistering 9, proving why the Latin American film industry is thriving.

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Agent Cody Banks

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Agent Cody Banks” (MGM)

With a touch of “Spy Kids,” a dollop of “Mission Impossible” and a dash of James Bond, Freddie Muniz (“Malcolm in the Middle”) plays a smart, resourceful Seattle 15 year-old, Cody Banks, who’s an undercover government operative. Unbeknownst to his parents, he was part of an elite CIA Agent Development Program which covertly trained youngsters in the guise of summer camp, preparing them to be sent on secret missions. The story opens with Cody’s spontaneous, heroic skateboard rescue of a toddler in a runaway car. Hop to Hong Kong, where an unsuspecting scientist (Martin Donovan) has devised microscopic robots that villains (Ian McShane, Arnold Vosloo) plan to use to undermine the defense of the United States. Cody is recruited to befriend the reclusive scientist’s adolescent daughter Natalie (Hilary Duff of “Lizzie McGuire”) to gain access to the laboratory where the ferocious nanobots are encased in ice cubes. “This isn’t secret agent Little League anymore,” Cody’s told, and sexy Angie Harmon is assigned as his handler. “It’s my job to make sure you do your job,” she purrs. He’s also given gadgets like a special cellphone, watch, skateboard, glasses and $5,000 – for expenses. Plus a team of CIA experts is assigned to do his household chores and homework so his unsuspecting family won’t get suspicious. Problem is: Cody’s tongue-tied around girls. But when Natalie’s kidnapped and held prisoner in a Cascade Mountain fortress, Cody jumps on a jet-powered snowboard to save her – along with the world. Director Harald Zwart and his team of writers score with fast-paced fun, if scant originality. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Agent Cody Banks” is a cool, engaging 8, designed to entertain and delight its young audience.

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Dark Blue

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Dark Blue” (United Artists)

Do you remember the racially-biased Rodney King assault back in 1991? Footage from that controversial incident opens this police drama, starring Kurt Russell as Elden Perry, a boozing racist veteran of the Special Investigations Squad of the L.A.P.D.. The four white police officers who allegedly assaulted King are on trial and are going to be acquitted, a decision will ignite the 1992 South-Central urban street riots. Meanwhile, Perry is under fire from ambitious Asst. Chief Arthur Holland (Ving Rhames) who suspects him of using deadly force in an incident with his rookie undercover partner, Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman of TV’s “Felicity”), whose corrupt uncle Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson), who heads their squad, has ordered them to take charge of a politically sensitive investigation, steering it away from the actual culprits and, instead, framing two innocent ex-convicts. To complicate matters further, Bobby is having a deliberately anonymous affair with a female officer (Michael Michele), while Perry’s wife (Lolita Davidovich), a Dept. of Corrections officer, is fed up with the despicable person that her husband has become. Adapted by David Eyer from a short story by James Ellroy (“L.A. Confidential”) and directed by Ron Shelton (“Bull Durham,” “Cobb”), it bears an unmistakable resemblance in its cynical amorality to “Training Day,” which was also written by David Eyer. In fact, the most memorable aspect of this film is shaggy-haired Kurt Russell’s cold, cocky, contemptible performance which ranks among the best of his career, including his indelible Snake Plissken in “Escape from New York.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Dark Blue” is an edgy but over-plotted 6, playing fast and loose in the name of justice.

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The Hunted

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

As Johnny Cash’s intones the lyrics from Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” this formulaic catch-the-killer story begins in 1999 in Kosovo, where Aaron Hallam (Benicio Del Toro), a U.S. Special Forces agent, has been dispatched to neutralize a Serbian officer. While accomplishing his assassination mission, he glimpses a solemn child who has just witnessed the slaughter of her Albanian mother and that stricken girl’s face subsequently haunts his dreams. Skip ahead in time to the present – in the snowy wilds of the Pacific Northwest, where intrepid L.T. Bonham (Tommy Lee Jones), the cranky professional tracker who trained Hallam, is recruited to bring in his former student who’s now gone insane. “He can kill anyone without regret,” Bonham reports to the local F.B.I.-team leader (Connie Nielsen), who predictably retorts, “You’re not going out there alone.” Which, of course, he does – unarmed – as the relentless grizzled-loner-versus-the-tormented-wacko hide-and-seek hunt begins. What’s most curious about this superficial, by-the-numbers wannabe thriller is how many cinematic opportunities are wasted. Oscar-winning actors Benicio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones wrestle with a wretched, guilt-themed script by David Griffiths, Peter Griffiths and Art Monterastelli, and there’s little that director William Friedkin (“Rules of Engagement”) or cinematographer Caleb Deschanel can do to save it. Predictably, the underdeveloped concept culminates in a final showdown that has the dubious distinction of being the bloodiest knife-fight I can remember. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Hunted” is a brutal, testosterone-drenched 3. “Killing will become instinctive. Turning it off will be the problem.” Oh, really?

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Dreamcatcher

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Dreamcatcher” (Warner Bros.)

Combine Stephen King’s sci-fi horror with writer/director/producer Lawrence Kasdan’s flair for humor-filled personal drama (“The Big Chill,” “Mumford”) and you have a doozy of a scare story, filled with metaphors that embody our deepest fears. There are four friends (Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant) who grew up together in Maine and meet for deer-hunting. Flashbacks reveal their poignant relationship with a Down’s Syndrome youngster called “Duddits” because that’s how he says Douglas. Duddits (Donnie Wahlberg) is a strange, simple soul yet, through him, they acquire extra-sensory perception, including precognition and telepathy, which affects their separate lives in different ways. However, this particular hunting trip is doomed when a blood-stained stranger staggers in, unknowingly carrying within him an incubating alien that’s dubbed “Ripley” after the “Alien” movie. Hot on its trail are Col. Curtis (Morgan Freeman) and his protŽgŽ (Tom Sizemore) who command a top-secret military unit dedicated to eradicating aliens and containment of their repugnant infection which has made all the critters of the forest seek refuge elsewhere. Be warned that there are gross elements since the hideous, eel-like creatures grow inside human intestines, causing their victims to emit noxious bowel fumes. But that gory, offensive element is part of what makes it so intense and so macabre – along with the imaginative visual effects – leaving a haunting sense of creepy terror that lingers in your ‘memory warehouse’ long after the screen has gone dark. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Dreamcatcher” is a stylish, sinister, suspenseful 8. In reality, a dreamcatcher is a Native American charm and serves as an apt title for this bizarre, supernatural nightmare.

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Willard

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Willard” (New Line Cinema)

Rats! They’ve done it again. Writer/director Glen Morgan has made a remake of Daniel Mann’s Gothic horror flick. Back in 1971, this perverse, low-budget, rodents-on-the-rampage story was a hit, particularly at drive-in movies. (As an homage here, the portrait in the parlor of Willard’s father is actually of Bruce Davidson, the actor who played Willard in the original.) So now Crispin Glover is 30 year-old Willard Stiles, a shy office clerk who lives in a decaying turn-of-the-century mansion with his ailing mother (Jackie Burroughs). They have a bizarre psychological relationship that evokes memories of Norman Bates and his demanding mother in “Psycho.” “There are rats in the basement,” she complains. So Willard obediently descends to the furnace room and gently vanquishes the vermin – except for one smart white rat whom he dubs Socrates and befriends. Soon Willard commands legions of rats – led by the aggressive alpha-male Ben – who will wreak bloody vengeance on his cruel, villainous former boss (R. Lee Ermey) who stole the family business from Willard’s father. Obviously, the rats are a physical manifestation of Willard’s repressed rage, so the real stars of this scare story are the live and animatronic rat-wranglers, including animal stunt coordinator Boone Narr, who coax human-like responses from the seemingly ravenous critters. Socrates is an Albino Norwegian rat, while Ben is an immense African Gambian Pouch rat, the largest of the species in the world. Actor Crispin Glover (“Charlie’s Angels”) caricatures the infantalized Willard’s silent suffering with Laura Elena Harring (“Mulholland Drive”) as his sympathetic co-worker. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Willard” is a creepy, cheesy 4. I recommend renting the original.

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A View From the Top

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “A View From the Top” (Miramax Films)

Stranded Gwyneth Paltrow serves as a cotton-candy parachute as this flimsy, ailing airline comedy plummets into oblivion. Filmed several years ago, it’s been gathering dust on the Miramax shelf and it becomes quickly obvious why. Paltrow plays Donna Jensen, an idealistic small-town girl whose fervent wish – since childhood – is to get as far away from Silver Springs, Nevada, as possible. When she glimpses Sally Weston (Candice Bergen), a glamorous, successful former flight attendant hawking “My Life in the Sky” on TV, she sees her route out. Beginning with Sierra Airlines, a regional carrier of gamblers and drunks whose motto is “big hair, short skirts and service with a smile,” she aims ever higher and higher. “It’s your destiny,” encourages Weston, now her mentor, as Donna joins the more prestigious Royalty Airlines, where she’s groomed for duty by a self-conscious, cross-eyed trainer (Mike Myers). Despite sneaky double-dealing and a ludicrous cat-fight with a trashy training-school roommate (Christina Applegate), she finally makes it: Paris, First-Class, International! But then – in the City of Light on a lonely Christmas Eve – Donna realizes the reality of what she left behind: namely, a cuddly lawyer (Mark Ruffalo), who adores her. Writer Eric Wald dredges up every hackneyed stereotype of the bubbleheaded stewardess, while Brazilian director Bruno Barreto wheedles cameos from Rob Lowe and Kelly Preston. And, curiously, the ’60s spandex micro-mini’s and gaudy, skintight tops may presage outfits for the upcoming Hooters Airlines. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “A View From the Top” is a dim-witted 3. Only Gwyneth Paltrow’s beguiling charm saves it from crashing.

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The Girl from Paris

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Girl from Paris” (Film Philos)

Nominated for two Cesar awards, including Best First Feature Film, Christian Carion’s whimsical tale revolves around Sandrine (Mathilde Seigner), an almost-30 Internet instructor who yearns to escape from Paris to the fresh air of the Rhone-Alps. To make her dream a reality, she goes to Agricultural School and buys a picturesque but remote goat farm from Adrien (Michel Serrault), a grumpy, elderly widower who – while he has plans to retire to Grenoble – refuses to leave for 18 months. Secretly, Adrien doubts that this “kid from Paris” can make it by herself, although her clever renovations soon turn a desolate, old barn into “Balcony in the Sky,” a small hotel to which eager, ecology-minded tourists flock. To Adrien’s chagrin, Sandrine even begins to sell her goat cheese to Germans on the Internet. However, the harsh cruelty and utter isolation of winter is another matter, particularly when Adrien sabotages Sandrine’s electricity and she’s forced to seek refuge with him. During that time, she learns how “mad cow disease” devastated his herd and a bond between the two “loners” grows. Perhaps she could be the daughter he never had, or he could be the father she never knew. Problem is: the script by Christian Carion and co-writer Eric Assous glosses over too many crucial points. Like how does Sandrine manage to have so much free time to frolic in the sun if she’s really running a farm single-handedly and making cheese? Why doesn’t her estranged mother visit her? And who is the mysterious hang-glider who haunts her dreams? Instead, it dwells on repugnant shots of animals being slaughtered and goats born dead. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Girl From Paris” is a scenic but unsatisfying 6. In French with English subtitles, it’s a charming trifle.

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Head of State

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Head of State” (DreamWorks)

Writer/comedian Chris Rock makes his directorial debut with this political satire in which a previously unknown Washington, D.C. alderman is suddenly picked to run for President of the United States. Narrated by rapper Nate Dogg, the concept is clever but the execution falters. Rock stars as Mays Gilliam, a hard-working, streetwise politician whose duplicitous girl-friend (Robin Givens) ditches him and whose bad neighborhood is about to get worse when, impulsively, he rescues an elderly lady from a burning building. As a local hero, his photograph appears in the newspaper just as both Presidential candidates die when their planes collide. Knowing his party’s destined to lose the election, sleazy Sen. Arnot (James Rebhorn), who has his own eye on the White House in 2008, cynically chooses this naive African-American to head the doomed ticket. Stunned, Mays accepts the challenge and his life is taken over by a campaign manager (Dylan Baker), political consultant (Lynn Whitfield) and carnal-diversion staffer (Stephanie Mansfield). He delivers their staid, ambiguous speeches until, inevitably, he rebels, coining a slogan, “That Ain’t Right,” and adding his pugilistic older brother (Bernie Mac) as a running-mate. Mays’ opponent is the incumbent Vice-President (Nick Searcy) who keeps repeating that he’s Sharon Stone’s cousin, a gag that’s futile without at least a cameo from the sexy actress. But that’s not the only missed opportunity. The silly script is weighted down with clichŽs, including the hackneyed conversion of uptight, white people into hip-hop dancers. Even Mays’ new romantic interest (Tamala Jones) is tepid. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Head of State” is a faltering, forgettable 5. Chris Rock deserves better than this bland banality.

Head of State

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