Movie/TV Reviews

Susan Granger’s review of “Child Star” (Hulu)

Internationally famous as children and, perhaps, has-beens as young adults, talented youngsters can earn enormous salaries that shrivel their parents’ egos with much of their money spent as quickly as it was made. That’s all part of Demi Lovato’s new documentary “Child Star.”

In the opening sequence, Lovato reveals that – as a kid – she decided to be “the next child star,” thinking if Shirley Temple could do it, so could she. Encouraged by her mother, Dianna De la Garza, she began as a performer in beauty pageants.

Despite extreme bullying from her peers at school, she had a determined drive, working on “Barney & Friends” at age six and then landing a plum part on the Disney Channel Original Movie “Camp Rock,” starring the Jonas Brothers.

“We called it Disney High,” she recalls. “We were all about the same age, dating each other. None of us were in high school, so that was our experience of it.”

That’s also when/where she developed a serious eating disorder and suffered extreme exhaustion, juggling personal appearances, a music career, TV show and other projects – which led to a stint in rehab. She shares that stress with Disney co-stars Raven-Symone and Alyson Stoner.

“I looked at my success as my self-worth,” Lovato admits. “I had a really hard time differentiating the two, and I dealt with a lot of need for external validation.”

Asking, “Is the price of fame worth your childhood?” Demi Lovato interviews Drew Barrymore, who starred in “E.T.: The Extraterrestrial” when she was seven, and Christina Ricci, who found being in “Casper” & “The Addams Family” a welcome escape from her dysfunctional home life, referring to her physically violent father as “a failed cult leader.”

Plus there’s former Nickelodeon star Kenan Thompson – who went “from rags to riches and back to rags” – and JoJo Siwa, a tween phenom on “Dance Moms,” who posts roughly 250-300 times a day on social media.

Lovato has made other documentaries, detailing her experience with addiction, body image, self-harm, and other mental health issues, including “Stay Strong” (2012), “Simply Complicated” (2017) and “Dancing With the Devil” (2021).

If this topic intrigues you, find the book  “Twinkle, Twinkle , Little Star (but don’t have sex or take the car)” (1984) ,written by former child star Dickie Moore, in which he interviews Jackie Coogan, Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney, Natalie Wood, Jane Powell, among others.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Child Star” is a cautionary, cathartic 6, streaming on Hulu.

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

Ghoulish nostalgia dominates “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” as director Tim Burton riffs on his 1988 high-camp comedic ghost story.
In picturesque Winter River, Connecticut, widowed Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) – easily identifiable with the same jagged black bangs she wore as Goth Girl – is now a psychic mediator, communicating with the spirit world, hosting an exploitative paranormal TV reality show called “Ghost House” produced by her sleazy, opportunistic boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux).
Lydia’s husband Richard was killed on an Amazon trek. Their skeptical teenage daughter Astrid (Jenny Ortega) loathes her mother’s morbid preoccupation with the occult.
Lydia’s narcissistic artist stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) is still around but her father/Delia’s husband, Charles Deetz (originally played by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Jones), is eliminated in a blood-soaked Claymation sequence.
It’s Charles’ wake/funeral that brings the dysfunctional family back home, as Delia wraps their hillside farmhouse in Christo-style black gauze. That’s when Rory proposes to Lydia, who accepts – infuriating Astrid, who takes off into town where she meets Jeremy (Arthur Conti) and they plan a date for Halloween night when her mother’s upcoming “Witching Hour” wedding is scheduled.
Which brings us to the manic, malevolent, centuries-old demon Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) who can be summoned from the Afterlife by saying his name three times in quick succession.
In his Netherworld lurks the corpse of Delores (Monica Bellucci), who is determined to reclaim trickster Betelgeuse as her husband. Plus there’s ghost detective Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe), who was once and still is – a hammy actor.
Unfortunately, Barbara and Adam Maitland (Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin), the farmhouse’s former occupants who originally hired Betelgeuse to scare off the Deetzes, have moved on.
Scripted by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar – sharing story credit with Seth Grahame-Smith – it’s familiar, belabored and even more weirdly bizarre than the original horror fantasy.
FYI: Tim Burton’s real-life partner Monica Bellucci told Elle France: “I love this dream world where monsters are kind, like we can turn our darker aspects into something bright, forgiving. Tim Burton’s films talk about that a lot.”
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10 “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” is a sentimentally macabre 6, playing in theaters.

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Susan Granger’s review of “The Perfect Couple” (Netflix)

A murder mystery really works when you have no idea whodunit until the final episode…and that’s how Netflix’s “The Perfect Couple” remains compelling.

Opening with the entire cast dancing to Meghan Trainor’s “Criminals,” the surreal story quickly focuses on extravagant preparations for the wedding of Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson) and Benji Winbury (Billy Howle) at the magnificent $40 million Winbury oceanfront estate on picturesque Nantucket Island.

Benji is one of three sons of wealthy Tag Winbury (Liev Schreiber) and icy Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman), a famous author, who’s about to launch her 20^th novel featuring her beloved Dolly and Dash characters – with idealized Dash obviously inspired by Tag.

Unaccustomed to the sense of entitlement that comes with massive WASPy wealth, Amelia’s a naïve outsider, accompanied by her beautiful, flirtatious bestie Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy) and middle-class parents, cancer-stricken Karen (Dendrie Taylor) & Bruce (Michael McGrady).

Problem is: the morning after the rehearsal dinner, a body washes up on the white sandy beach.

Upon the arrival of Police Chief Dan Carter (Michael Beach) and Detective Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin), everyone in this affluent, dysfunctional family becomes a suspect. That includes smarmy eldest son Thomas Winbury (Jack Reynor), his pregnant wife Abby (Dakota Fanning), and youngest Winbury son Will (Sam Nivola).

Plus there’s best man Shooter Dival (Ishaan Khattar), family friend Isabel Nallet (Isabelle Adjani) and observant housekeeper Gosia (Irina Dubova).

Based on Elin Hilderbrand’s 2018 novel, the escapist wedding-weekend-gone-wrong plot that propels this complicated, fast-paced thriller is deftly guided by showrunner Jenna Lamia and director Susanne Bier.

Once again, Nicole Kidman embodies a brittle, bitter matriarch – not dissimilar to her pained roles in HBO’s “Big Little Lies” and Amazon’s “Expats” – as Liev Schreiber plays her philandering, pothead husband to the hilt. While Eve Hewson (U2’s Bono’s real-life daughter) scored in “Behind Her Eyes” & “Bad Sisters,” her smirking quickly becomes quite tiresome.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Perfect Couple” is a snarky, scandalous 7 – with all six binge-ready episodes streaming on Netflix.

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Susan Granger’s review of “Those About to Die” (Peacock)

Director Roland Emmerich recruited Anthony Hopkins to head the cast and created a cutting-edge virtual production to replicate ancient Rome for his first television series “Those About to Die,” streaming on the Peacock network.

This brutal, bloody sword-and-sandal epic explores despicable trickery and feverish gambling in the world of Circus Maximus chariot racing and, although it’s derivative, disjointed, repetitive and somewhat incoherent, it should whet your appetite for Ridley Scott’s upcoming “Gladiator 2,” scheduled for release later this year.

Ailing, elderly Vespasian (Hopkins) is the last Roman emperor to reign in the Year of Four Emperors, ruling from 69 to 79 AD.  His rival sons are politically naive Titus (Tom Hughes), a celebrated soldier with a Judean consort (Lara Wolf), and sadistic, scheming Domitian (Jojo Macari). Both are waiting to inherit his crown.

Yet the antihero/protagonist is manipulative Tenex (Iwan Rheon), a ruthless entrepreneur who runs Rome’s most lucrative gambling tavern. His ambition is to form his own chariot-racing faction, placing him in direct conflict with various patrician families; the champion chariot driver, arrogant Scorpus (Dimitri Leoniadas), helps Tenex ‘rig’ races.

Travelling from North Africa, there’s Cala (Sara Martins), a determined Numidian mother working to free her enslaved daughters, Aura and Jula (Kyshan Wilson, Alicia Edogamhe), and brave, lion-tracking son Kwame (Moe Hashim), who is forced to fight as a gladiator with his Northman friend Viggo (Johannes Haukur Johannesson)..

Barely differentiated are the Spanish horse trainers (Eneko Sagardoy, Pepe Barroso, Goncalo Almeida), eager for acceptance at the Circus Maximus.

Based on Daniel P. Mannix’s 1958 novel, it’s adapted by Robert Rodat (“Saving Private Ryan”) and directed by Roland Emmerich (“Independence Day,” “The Day After Tomorrow”) with Marco Kreuzpaintner (“Bodies”).

Despite pretentions of prestige filmmaking, the predictable, superficial characterizations and pulpy, violent plot are peppered with gratuitous sex and rampant nudity, although there may be a correlation with today’s sports fandom and online gambling.

Filmed at Rome’s legendary Cinecitta Studios, it’s a virtual production (VP), a relatively new technology that replicates the spectacular outdoor racing venue. “The artifice is what makes it entertaining – and profitable,” notes Domitian.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Those About to Die” is a gruesome, gory 5 – with all 10 episodes now streaming on Peacock.

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Susan Granger’s review of “The Serpent Queen” (Starz Original Series)

The two seasons of Starz’ soapy historical drama “The Serpent Queen” focus on Catherine de Medici (Samantha Morton), who breaks through the fourth wall, explaining how and why she ruthlessly exerts her enormous power to rule France for 15 years.

Set in the 16^th century, the first season begins as Catherine (Samantha Morton) strategically recounts her youth in flashbacks to her young protégé Rahima (Sennia Nanua), cautioning her repeatedly to “trust no one.” By the second season, Rahima (Emma McDonald) has become an adult.

Orphaned as an infant in Florence, Italy, young Catherine (Liv Hill) was raised in convents until she was rescued by her uncle, Pope Clement VII (Charles Dance), and dispatched to marry Prince Henri of France (Alex Heath), who was infatuated with Catherine’s older cousin, Diane de Poitiers (Ludivine Sagnier), his maternal mistress.

After years of frustrating sterility, Catherine bears 10 children before King Henry II, dies, along with her eldest son, Francis, leaving her as Regent for her second son, 10 year-old Charles IX. Problem is: Francis’ widow, pious Mary Queen of Scots (Antonia Clarke), has become her formidable adversary.

Traditionally Catholic France is undergoing a strong Protestant uprising, protected by Catherine’s longtime advisor Montmarcy (Alexandre Willaume), forcing conspiratorial Catherine to tread a thin line to preserve peace, particularly when England’s conniving Elizabeth I (Minnie Driver) uses sex to ensnare Protestant Louis de Bourbon (Danny Kirrane), leading to a climactic confrontation.

Adding to the intrigue, superstitious Catherine consults her infamous astrological advisor Ruggieri (Enzo Cilenti), who may be based on Nostradamus, claiming to predict the future, plus the unexpected appearance of her Black half-brother, Alessandro de Medici (Ashley Thomas).

Refusing to judge his aristocratic heroine harshly, showrunner Justin Haythe, working from Lennie Freida’s biography “Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France,” has created a provocative tagline, as Catherine repeatedly asks viewers: “What would you have done differently?”

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Serpent Queen” is a scheming, spicy, satirical 7 – a guilty pleasure – streaming on Starz, accessible on Hulu.

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Susan Granger’s review of “I.S.S.” (Bleecker Street)

Although it was released earlier this year, “I.S.S” seems remarkably timely now that two American astronauts – Sunita Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, who took off for the International Space Station for an eight-day trip – may be stuck there until 2025 as the war between U.S.-backed Ukraine and Russia rages on.

Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s taut thriller envisions a halcyon time marked by American and Russia collaboration – when three astronauts and three cosmonauts are routinely performing various scientific tasks in their orbiting laboratory.

The mood is jovial as the newest NASA arrival, Dr. Kira Foster (Ariana DeBose), learns from Christian (John Gallagher Jr.), her veteran colleague, that – in these close-quarters – everything is shared – yet no one talks politics – ever!

She’s the relatable newcomer trying to decipher the dynamics of her weightless workplace – 250 miles above Earth.

Then U.S. Commander Gordon Barrett (Chris Messina) gets an urgent message from Houston cryptically instructing him to abort all experiments and take control of the space station “by any means necessary.”

At the same time, his Russian counterpart, Commander Nicolai Pulov (Costa Ronin), receives the same instructions from the Kremlin which he quickly imparts to his conflicted cohorts: Alexey (Pilou Asback) and Weronika (Masha Mashkova).

Evidenced by the increasingly worrisome red/orange flashes they view from the cupola, “down below” the United States and Russia are engaged in a nuclear war!

After her Oscar-win as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” Ariana DeBose anchors the plot as communication gets garbled and emotional engagement goes from bad to worse in their cramped quarters.

Credit Gabriela Cowperthwaite and production designer Geoff Wallace for injecting tension into this miniature microcosm, a feat comparable to the way various directors depicted confined W.W.II submarine insurrections.

FYI: Nick Shafir’s low-budget sci-fi script landed on the 2020 Black List of excellent yet-to-be-produced films several years before the war in Ukraine began.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “I.S.S.” is a remarkably relevant, suspenseful 6, streaming on Apple and Amazon Prime.

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Susan Granger’s review of “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes” (HBO/Max)

On March 23, 2011, Elizabeth Taylor died. Shortly afterwards, critic colleague Jeffrey Lyons and I were discussing Elizabeth’s life/loves. An obviously naïve, twentysomething film publicist overheard us and inquired: “Who’s Elizabeth Taylor?”

If you remember the screen icon, you may be fascinated by the new documentary “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes.” If not, you might learn something about one of Hollywood’s fabled stars during the Golden Era of filmmaking.

Combining recently discovered audio interviews, along with rare access to film clips in Elizabeth’s personal archives, director Nanette Burstein’s biopic offers candid insights into the challenges she faced and her decision-making process.

Elizabeth Taylor was born in 1932 and made her film debut in “Lassie Come Home” when she was 10.  Framed by a double set of eyelashes, her dark blue eyes had an unusual amount of melanin, making them appear violet. Two years later, she starred in “National Velvet,” establishing her place on the M.G.M. roster.

Elizabeth was married eight times to seven men: Richard Burton twice. But the great love-of-her-life was flamboyant “Around the World in 80 Days” producer Mike Todd, who died in a plane crash.

Along with stardom came scandal when she ‘stole’ Debbie Reynolds’ husband Eddie Fisher, who ‘consoled’ her after Mike Todd’s death. She quickly dumped Eddie for Richard Burton, her co-star in “Cleopatra,” for which she became the first star to be paid $1 million.

Apparently, their romance gave birth to ‘paparazzi,’ freelance photographers who relentlessly pursued movie stars to sell their images around the world.

Elizabeth was deeply devoted to Montgomery Clift. Openly homosexual, he became her close confidante, along with other gay men like Roddy McDowall and Rock Hudson, prompting Elizabeth to use her celebrity status to advocate for AIDS research.

“People have a set image they want to believe – either the good or the bad,” she concludes. “If you try to explains, then you lose yourself along the way.”

Additional trivia: in 1987, Elizabeth was the first celebrity to market a fragrance ‘Passion,’ followed by ‘White Diamonds,’ still a popular perfume.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes” is an enlightening 6, streaming on HBO/Max.

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Susan Granger’s review of “Wicked Little Letters” (Sony Pictures Classics)

If profanity doesn’t bother you, Netflix’s “Wicked Little Letters” is tawdry period comedy at its most delightful.

“There’s more true than you think…” informs viewers at the outset.

Based on actual events that occurred in the 1920s in the quaint English seaside town of Littlehampton in Sussex, the story revolves around two Western Road neighbors: prim, prudish spinster Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and outspoken Irish emigre Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley).

When genteel Edith and other unwitting residents start receiving what could only be described as raunchy, anonymous ‘hate mail,’ suspicions immediately fall on foul-mouthed Rose, an impertinent single mother who lives with her guitar-playing daughter (Alisha Weir) and Black boyfriend (Malachi Kirby)..

As these obscenely graphic, libelous notes flood the working-class community, uptight, dutiful Edith and her strictly religious parents (Timothy Spall, Gemma Jones) file a police complaint, even as Edith murmurs: “We worship a Messiah who suffered, so by my suffering, do I not move closer to heaven?”

Although there’s no evidence that exuberant Rose is the culprit, the boorishly inept officers-in-charge (Hugh Skinner, Paul Chahidi) charge her with the crime, sentencing her to spend two-and-a-half months in Portsmouth jail with her daughter remanded to social services.

Only ‘Woman Police Officer Gladys Moss’ (Anjana Vasan) – as she introduces herself – tries to ignite a real investigation; predictably, her entreaties are ignored. Britain first recognized female police constables in 1915 during the First World War, but they weren’t taken seriously by their patriarchal cohorts.

But then the local ladies’ whist group arranges to pay Rose’s bail, raising additional questions and attracting the attention of the British government.

Scripted by Jonny Sweet and directed by Thea Sharrock, it’s a facile, farcical mystery, playing on misconceptions and misogyny. And note in the epilogue what actually happened to those involved in this real-life societal commentary.

FYI: Jessie Buckley played a younger version of Olivia Colman in Maggie Gyllenhall’s “The Lost Daughter” (2021).

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Wicked Little Letters” is an absurdly scandalous 7, streaming on Netflix.

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Susan Granger’s review of “The Instigators” (Apple TV+)

 

To plug their new heist movie – “The Instigators” – Matt Damon and Casey Affleck made a You Tube video pretending to rob a Dunkin Donuts; settling for a Boston Kreme and strawberry-frosted pastry, it’s almost as lame as the film.

Friends since their Cambridge, Massachusetts, childhood, Damon and Affleck (younger brother of Ben – with whom Damon wrote “Good Will Hunting”) went back to their native Boston to film this wannabe action-comedy caper.

Desperate Rory (Damon) is a divorced, debt-ridden ex-Marine who’s so depressed because he can’t come up with the $32,480 he owes in legal fees and child support for his teenage son that his VA psychiatrist, Dr. Donna Rivera (Hong Chau), fears he might be a suicide risk.

To get that money, Rory partners with Cobby (Affleck), a wisecracking, alcoholic ex-con – also from blue-collar Quincy – in a crackpot plan to rob corrupt Beantown Mayor Miccelli (Ron Perlman) on election night.

Apparently Miccelli stores his usual 11^th-hour cash bribes in a huge office safe which is emptied regularly, so the holdup ought to go like clockwork. But – right from the getgo – they screw up. Meaning: not only are the police after them but also the Mayor’s Special Opps enforcer (Ving Rhames).

Problem is: precise Rory and impulsive Cobby are inept idiots. Riffing on “The Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” they bicker, fumble and bumble – yet nothing about them is even remotely endearing.

Eager to get the script he co-wrote with Chuck MacLean onto the screen, Casey Affleck gave it to Damon’s wife Luciana who obviously liked it. So Damon signed on, along with director Doug Limon (“The Bourne Identity,” “Edge of Tomorrow”) who intercuts dreary male-bonding/ buddy banter with far too many generic VFX car chases, involving an appalling amount of wreckage.

Deprived of substantive characterizations, stalwart supporting actors Alfred Molina, Michael Stuhlbarg, Paul Walter Hauser, Toby Jones, Jack Harlow and Andre De Shields drift in and quickly disappear.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Instigators” is a flawed, unfocused, feeble 4 – streaming on Apple TV+… don’t waste your time.

Susan Granger’s review of “Deadpool & Wolverine” (Marvel/Disney)

 

The cinematic summer of 2024 was saved by two cartoons (“Inside Out 2” & “Despicable Me 4”) and the irreverent live-action comic book adventure “Deadpool & Wolverine,” marking the return of wisecracking Ryan Reynolds’ fun-loving,  red spandex-clad pansexual antihero.

Reduced to selling used cars after being denied by the Avengers, despondent Wade Wilson still shares an apartment with Blind Al (Leslie Uggams). While celebrating his birthday with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and other friends, he’s abruptly summoned by Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen from “Succession”), the smarmy supervisor of the Time Variance Authority.

It seems that the death of Hugh Jackman’s ex X-Man “Logan” (2017)  tilted the world the wrong way, so it’s up to Wade to time-travel to find the real snarling, steel-clawed Wolverine – from among many variants (including Henry Cavill) – and lure him into the multi-Marvel Cinematic Universe.  So much for a coherent plotline.

But the nostalgic superhero splatter doesn’t stop with those two. There’s Jennifer Garner’s assassin Elektra, Wesley Snopes’ vampire hunter Blade, Channing Tatum’s card-tossing mutant Gambit and Chris Evans – not as Captain America – but as Johnny Storm, the Human Torch from “Fantastic Four” (2005).

And when Paradox banishes them into the desolate landscape known as The Void, they must take a few minutes off their bickering bromance to battle a bald British villainess called Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin from “The Crown”).

The screenwriters – including Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells and director Shawn Levy – toss out one raunchy jokes after another, along with sight gags and snide inside-industry digs at now-defunct 20^th Century Fox…and wait for the post-credits montage of Fox’s Marvel movies, including an unexpected cameo.

FYI: Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively’s children – James, Inez and Olin Reynolds – play Screaming Mutant, Kidpool and Babypool, respectively…Matthew McConaughey is Cowboypool…and, apparently, this is the first R-rated film released by Marvel/Disney. (Walt must be spinning in his grave!)

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is a sassy. crowd-pleasing, subversively satirical 7, playing in theaters.