Movie/TV Reviews

Susan Granger’s review of “Bright Star” (Apparition)

    In sumptuous, exquisite detail, New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion (“The Piano,” “Portrait of a Lady”) revels in the captivating-yet-chaste Victorian romance between early-19^th-century poet John Keats and radiant Fanny Brawne.

    The gentle narrative begins in 1818, when Keats (Ben Whishaw) meets Fanny (Abbie Cornish). He’s living with his crass friend/benefactor, Charles Armitage Brown (Paul Schneider), in Hampstead Village, North London. They’re struggling writers while she’s a fashionable seamstress, the eligible elder daughter of a proper widow (Kerry Fox).

    “My stitchings have made me more admirers than your two scribblings put together – and I can make money from it,” Fanny tartly retorts when Brown rudely chides her.

    But Fanny and Keats contrive to meet again and again over the next three years. She proudly shows off her stylish, triple-pleated mushroom collar and confesses that his verses “are a strain to work out.” He takes her to visit his beloved brother who is dying of consumption and patiently tutors her in how to understand poetry.

    While flirtatious, tart-tongued Fanny falls for frail Keats’ innate sensitivity (“A thing of beauty is a joy forever”), he’s acutely aware that since he’s not only penniless but also in debt, their tumultuous courtship is doomed. Nevertheless, they remain passionately in love – sensual, intense, first love with its inherent innocence and proper purity – until his death from tuberculosis at age 25.

    An ardent feminist, Jane Campion’s films tend to revolve around a woman’s desire for love and a disdain for sexual hypocrisy. Made for $8.5 million, this is a visually resplendent, lyrically seductive, superbly acted, intimate drama – with kudos to Grieg Fraser’s cinematography and Janet Patterson’s impeccable production/costume design. Perhaps the pace is slow and measured, perhaps Whislaw’s Keats is too passive, perhaps Campion’s metaphorical flourishes are heavy-handed, perhaps the melodrama is a bit overwrought, particularly dealing with the creative process, but on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bright Star” is an elegant, incandescent 8, reveling in its innate intelligence. And Whishaw’ recitation of Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” is the perfect closure for lovers of literature.

Susan Granger’s DVD/Video Update for week of Friday, Oct. 2:

    Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody are “The Bloom Brothers,” the best con men in the world, swindling millionaires with complex scenarios and intrigue; their final job involves pursuing priceless artifacts with a lonely, eccentric heiress (Rachel Weitz).

    Between mega-hits like “Erin Brockovich” and “Ocean’s Eleven,” Steven Soderberg occasionally does a tiresome low-budget indie like “The Girlfriend Experience,” casting a real porn star (Sasha Grey) as Chelsea, a Manhattan call girl whose sexual expertise is preceded by conversation and concluded by cuddling; hence, the title.

    Kevin Spacey stars in “Shrink” as a bleary-eyed, dope-smoking L.A. psychologist who is so depressed that it takes a village of patients (Saffron Burrows, Dallas Roberts, Keke Parker and uncredited Robin Williams) to halt his downward spiral into a pity party. And in “Management,’ Jennifer Aniston plays an uptight traveling saleswoman who checks into the seedy roadside motel in Kingman, Arizona, and dazzles the owners’ emotionally immature son (Steve Zahn) who proceeds to stalk her with the best of intentions. Flimsy and incoherent, this trivial pursuit heaps contrivance upon contrivance, never achieving a shred of believability.

    Gary Hustwit’s sleek documentary “Objectified” is about industrial design and our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them, covering the creativity behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. On a lighter note, “Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie” follows two men’s determined search for America’s most elusive and enduring phenomena – Bigfoot.

    PICKS OF THE WEEK: For kids, “Monsters vs. Aliens” in which the wedding of Susan (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) and Derek (voiced by Paul Rudd) is interrupted by the crash of a stray meteorite. As a result of irradiation, Susan grows and grows and grows to just one inch short of the amazing 50-foot woman. Joining other MonSquad outcasts, she’s determined to defeat the galactic invaders. For adults, “Away We Go” is a sweet, satirical, if uneven dramedy about an affectionate, unmarried, thirty-something couple (Maya Rudolph, John Kraskinski) on a road trip, searching for the best place to settle down and raise their baby.

Susan Granger’s review of “Capitalism: A Love Story” (Overture Films)

    Why do we go to the movies? To be entertained and informed. Movies can capture America’s ethical or moral values of the moment, revealing who we are as individuals and as a society. With “Roger & Me” about the collapse of our auto industry, “Bowling for Columbine” about gun control, “Fahrenheit 9/11” about the military-industrial complex, and “Sicko” about how the insurance industry and pharmaceutical companies are dictating governmental decisions about healthcare, docu-dramatist Michael Moore has shown an uncanny ability to be ‘way ahead of the curve of public awareness.

    Now Moore delivers an incontrovertible indictment of our country’s financial system – from the influence of Wall Street’s greed and Washington’s corruption to the tidal wave of foreclosures. He begins his denunciation by juxtaposing the fall of the Roman Empire with contemporary America, cutting to the human cost of our current economic crisis: a hard-working family evicted from their middle-class home. Courting controversy, he tries to make a citizen’s arrest of AIG executives and puts yellow Crime Scene tape around the New York Stock Exchange building.

    Did you know that Citibank refers to our “plutonomy” with one-percent of the population controlling 95% of the wealth? That there are “Dead Peasant” insurance policies so companies profit from their employees’ untimely deaths? That many airline pilots earn poverty-level pay? And that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called for a Second Bill of Rights to guarantee all Americans a good education, a useful job, a decent home and adequate healthcare? Is that socialism? You decide.

    Do I agree with all of Moore’s conclusions? No. I don’t believe capitalism is evil. Our current economic crisis is capitalism-gone-wrong because our free market lacks a moral foundation, which is why we’ve bailed out some failing companies and not others. But that’s only my opinion.

    On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Capitalism: A Love Story” is a 10, because it will make YOU think and form your own conclusions. Dissent. Argue. Protest. Write President Obama. Just don’t descend into apathy. That’s Michael Moore’s ‘must see’ message.

Susan Granger’s review of “Fame” (MGM/UA)

    Back in the 1980s, Alan Parker’s “Fame” electrified teens with a glimpse into the classrooms of New York’s High School for Performing Arts, a.k.a. Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts. But lightning doesn’t strike twice.

    It’s not the fault of the new generation of ambitious kids, certainly not Naturi Naughton as Denise, a classical pianist who defies her conservative parents by switching to pop singing, delivering a new rendition of the ballad “Out There on My Own,” and Malik (Collins Pennie), who channels anger/frustration into acting/ rapping. Laid-back singer Marco (Asher Book) has conflicts with his shy, insecure actress girl-friend, Jenny (Kay Panabaker). Joy (Anna Maria Perez de Tagle) is another actress; Alice (Kherington Payne) is a dazzling dancer; Victor (Walter Perez) is a composer; and Neil (Paul Iacono), a filmmaker. When we meet them, they’re exuberantly auditioning for admission; for the next four years, they’re working through to graduation. Some find their true talent; some don’t. Faculty members include Kelsey Grammer (music), Charles S. Dutton (drama), Bebe Neuwirth (dance) and Megan Mullally (voice) with Debbie Allen, who was a student in the previous version, returning as the principal.

    Screenwriter Alison Burnett hops onto the splashy, blandly sanitized “High School Musical”/”American Idol” bandwagon, rather than revisiting the nitty-gritty reality of Christopher Gore’s edgy subplots, which included students struggling with social  issues like racism, poverty, illiteracy, teenage pregnancy and homosexuality. Instead, the greatest peril this generation of competitive kids face is the casting-couch. There’s little authenticity and the individual stories are only loosely woven together.

    First-time feature-film helmer Kevin Tancharoen, previously a choreographer/music video director, obviously gave up trying to re-stage the famous dancing-on-taxi-cabs finale in Times Square, although he does try to replicate the attempted subway suicide and replaces the cafeteria jam with a rap-off. There’s nothing memorable about Mark Isham’s music and the catchy, Oscar-winning title song is only played over the end credits. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Fame” is an enthusiastic yet familiarly recycled 5, which is kind of a shame.

Susan Granger’s review of “Surrogates” (Touchstone Pictures/Disney)

    Sci-fi is one of my favorite genres and this thriller has an intriguing premise. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, robot technology has enabled mankind to live ‘vitually’ through remote-controlled surrogates who go through the trials and tribulations of daily life (commuting, work, etc.) for them while they stay home, clad in bathrobes, cocooned in ‘stim chairs,’ hooked up to gizmos that allow them to control their ‘surreys.’ With 99% of the population using cyborgs, crime, racism and other societal ills have been eradicated. Wars still erupt but they’re fought in distant deserts by surrogate soldiers. Since you can design your own surrogate, it’s not surprising that the world seems to be populated by preternaturally young, attractive, athletic ‘people.’

    Imagine walking down the street surrounded by dozens of perky Jennifer Anistons! No, she’s not in this movie. It’s just that many of the female avatars look just like her.

    Problem is: two humans suddenly die when their surrogates are murdered. That means someone’s obviously out to destroy the surrogate/controller equipment invented by Dr. Lionel Canter (James Cromwell). Baffled FBI agents Thomas Greer (Bruce Willis) and Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell) are determined to track down the culprit, a chase that leads them to a ‘reservation’ of outcasts, led by the Prophet (Ving Rhames). Like Luddites, these people stubbornly refuse to adopt surrogate technology.

    Based on a graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, it’s been adapted by John Brancato and Michael Ferris, who previously worked with director Jonathan Mostow on “Terminator 3.” What’s good is the concept: how humans have been seduced into a sedentary lifestyle. And Bruce Willis’ surrey looks like a youthful replicant of himself – with an awful blond hairpiece. What’s disappointing is the execution. Rather than making an emotional investment in Greer’s deteriorating relationship with his wife (Rosamund Pike) or any other social commentary, the lame, illogical plot churns into frenetic action sequences revolving around a cat-and-mouse conspiracy. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Surrogates” is a synthetic, superficial 6, reminiscent of “I, Robot,” “Blade Runner,” “Minority Report,” even “WALL-E.”

Susan Granger’s review of “The Horse Boy” (Zeitgeist Films Release)

    “It’s not the destination; it’s the journey” – that’s what propels a young couple to take their autistic five year-old son to Mongolia to trek on horseback through the high mountains and down into a valley where, according to mystical tradition, reindeer-herding shamans practice healing rituals.

    Rupert Isaacson is a journalist/human rights activist and his wife, Kristin Neff, is a psychology professor. After many years of globe-trotting, they settle in Austin, Texas, where they enjoy a ‘perfect’ life until their son, Rowan, is diagnosed with autism. After two years of countless traditional and alternative treatments and consultations, five year-old Rowan is still unable to communicate coherently, interact with others, control his toilet functions and curb his unpredictable, hours-long outbursts of screaming. But Rowan seems to have a natural affinity for animals, particularly a kinship with horses. Aware that in Mongolia, shamanism is the preferred method of healthcare, Rupert, a former horse trainer, convinces skeptical Kristin that, perhaps, spiritual intervention there can help Rowan – and themselves. And so, in the summer of 2007, their challenging, inspiring, adventurous quest into the remote, rugged wilderness of high tundra begins.

    Produced and narrated by Rupert Isaacson, directed and photographed by Michel Orion Scott and edited by Rita K. Sanders. this documentary integrates perceptive commentary from autism experts like Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen (scholarly cousin of comedian Sasha Baron-Cohen) of Cambridge University, anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker of George Washington University, and Dr. Temple Grandin, professor of animal behavior at Colorado State University who herself has autism. While theories on autism’s origins abound, there is no consensus in the medical community on either causes or treatment.

    On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Horse Boy” is an inspiring, affirmative 8. Since autism is diagnosed in more children each year than cancer, diabetes, Down syndrome and AIDS combined and it’s estimated that in the U.S. alone, autism cases could reach four million in the next decade, this documentary has extraordinary relevance.

Susan Granger’s review of “The Damned United” (Sony Pictures Classics)

    You don’t need to know who Brian Clough was nor follow professional soccer to realize what a rich and complex, powerhouse performance Michael Sheen (“The Queen,” “Frost/Nixon”) delivers as the arrogant, abrasive soccer genius who inherits the championship team of Leeds United in 1974, when its long-time manager, Don Revie (Colm Meaney), departs to lead England’s national team. Within 44 days, Clough self-destructively abuses his power, alienating not only his veteran players but also management and fans, winning only one game out of six before he’s deservedly sacked.

    To put his insensitive, egomaniacal behavior into context, there are continual flashbacks to Clough’s earlier years when he, along with his perceptive assistant Peter Taylor (pitch-perfect Timothy Spall), propel the low-ranked Derby County team into the First Division, often antagonizing the franchise owner, Sam Longson (Jim Broadbent). But during this tenure, Clough develops a pathological antipathy toward intimidating rival, Don Revie, and the overly-aggressive Leeds United team, based on sportsmanship slights which are either real or imagined.

    “Your mad ambition takes over and destroys everything that’s good in our lives,” Taylor astutely observes. But his warnings about leadership and loyalty go unheeded until – finally – Clough gets his comeuppance and realizes what an idiot he’s become and that he cannot succeed alone.

    This marks the fourth collaboration between Michael Sheen and writer Peter Morgan, who based this screenplay on a 2006 fact-based novel written by David Peace. While Peace dwelled more on Clough’s alcoholism, Tim Hooper (HBO’s “John Adams”) tips his direction towards Clough’s smug charm and innate desire for recognition, while faithfully chronicling his foul-mouthed, borderline psychotic blunders and emphasizing his integral partnership with tactician Taylor. Ben Smithard’s imaginative cinematography captures the dismal Midlands weather and Eve Stewart’s production design reeks with authenticity, matching the historical newsreel footage.

    On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Damned United” is a sporting 7. Problem is: on this side of the Atlantic, it’s hard to sell a biopic when movie-goers have little awareness of either the subject or British soccer history.

Susan Granger’s review of “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” (Columbia Pictures)

    Although it’s inspired by the popular 1978 children’s novel, written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett, the 3-D animated screen version is a tantalizing delight unto itself – and a cautionary tale about gluttony, obesity and genetically-altered edibles.

    With the collapse of the world canned-sardine market, the tiny island fishing town of Swallow Falls has fallen on hard times. Even its Welcome sign is missing the crucial ‘F,’ reading ‘Swallow alls.’ But Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader of “Saturday Night Live”), a nerdy teenage inventor, is determined to make his mark, coming up with a clever contraption that turns water vapor into food: the Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator.

    While his first attempts subject him to ridicule and disdain, soon everything imaginable comes drizzling down in savory smorgasbord. As Flint’s fame grows, so do the appetites of the townspeople, led by their opportunistic Mayor (voiced by Bruce Campbell) whose waistline is continually expanding. Chew and Swallow (the town’s new name) becomes an Atlantic cruise ship destination, as tourists flock in for the ice-cream sledding and Jello-O mold jumping. Inevitably, Flint’s machine goes awry and he’s called on, once again, to cope with impending catastrophe. In the meantime, he’s able to repair his relationship with his disapproving, technophobe father (voiced by James Caan), befriend the frenzied cop (voiced by Mr. T), confront a local bully (voiced by Andy Samberg) and ignite a romance with Sam Sparks (voiced by Anna Faris), a savvy TV forecaster for the Weather News Network reporting on the meteorological phenomena.

    First-time directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller stretch the thin, uneven narrative with visual puns and weather-disaster gags, while the high-spirited Sony Pictures animation remains amusing. Since they previously collaborated on the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” they inveigled its star, Neil Patrick Harris, to supply the voice for Steve, Flint’s pet monkey. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” is a funny, eye-popping 8, emerging as an entertaining kidflick while serving up enlightening food-for-thought.

Susan Granger’s dvd/video update for week of Friday, Sept. 25:

    Joining the hoopla surrounding Dan Brown’s latest novel, “The Lost Symbol,” “Mysteries of the Freemasons” is an A&E documentary revealing the untold story of the world’s oldest secret society with influential members like Mozart, George Washington, Paul Revere, Ben Franklin and Duke Ellington.

    The frothy “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” imagines Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” as a romantic comedy with Matthew McConaughey in the Scrooge/womanizer role, Jennifer Garner as his love interest and Michael Douglas as his playboy Uncle.

    Seth Rogen stars in “Observe and Report” as the lonely, self-delusional, misanthropic chief of security at Forest Ridge Mall who is determined to protect patrons from an elusive flasher despite the efforts of a real law-enforcement officer (Ray Liotta).

    Based on the childhood experiences of director Derick Martini, the engagingly irreverent “Lymelife,” starring Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Rory Culkin, Emma Roberts and Cynthia Nixon, centers on a 15 year-old on suburban Long Island.

    Reversing the sci-fi concept of H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds,” “Battle for Terra” revolves around two rebellious, tadpole-shaped alien teens (voiced by Justin Long and Evan Rachel Wood) whose world is brutally invaded by Earthmen whose habitat has been destroyed by civil war and environmental catastrophe.

    And “Trumbo” is the stirring story of one of Hollywood’s greatest screenwriters, Dalton Trumbo, who was hauled before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 as a suspected subversive and subsequently blacklisted; Kirk Douglas claims that breaking the blacklist by insisting Trumbo get “Spartacus” screenplay credit was the proudest moment of his career.

    PICK OF THE WEEK: Ben Niles’ documentary “Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037” profiles the progress of a single 9-foot grand piano from its first step as a laminated strip of mahogany through its production at Steinway & Sons, the 154-year-old piano factory in Astoria, Queens, to its delivery 12 months later. While virtually every other piano maker has mechanized, Steinway continues to do it the old-fashioned way, an approach that Harry Connick Jr and other featured musicians say gives each instrument its unique feel and sound.

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

    Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? It’s hard to tell with Jennifer Aniston’s wretched new romantic drama which is almost as disastrous as the tabloids’ chronicles of her off-screen, unlucky-in-love life. Why draw the obvious similarity? Because of her friend’s (Judy Greer) wry observation: “You tend to fall for these guys with expiration dates right on their foreheads.”

    This time, it’s self-help author/psychologist Dr. Burke Ryan (Aaron Eckhart), who arrives in Seattle to teach an “A-OK! A Path Through Grief” seminar and, literally, bumps into expressionless Eloise Chandler (Aniston), a floral designer, in the hallway of the hotel where he’s speaking. Burke’s conflicted back story is that he lost his wife in a car accident three years earlier and has since become a self-proclaimed ‘expert’ on sorrow. Except that he hasn’t healed himself. Nevertheless, in a grotesquely maudlin manner, he deals with an assortment of mourners, including a widow who baked her husband’s ashes into cookies and a skeptical father/contractor (John Carroll Lynch) whose 12 year-old son snapped his spine working on his construction site, urging them and other attendees to walk barefoot over hot coals. Plus, there’s a subplot in which Burke’s best friend/agent Lane (Dan Fogler) tries to get him a network deal. Eventually, Burke makes peace with his tough-guy father-in-law (Martin Sheen), a retired Marine.

    Formerly titled “Traveling” and “Brand New Day,” it’s chock full of clichés co-written by Mike Thompson and debut director Brandon Camp, whose father, Joe Camp, created the “Benji” dog movies in the 1970s. Yet in a bizarre twist, screenwriters Greg Crowder and Tony Freitas are also claiming credit for this turkey, even trying to block the film’s release. Wearing an assortment of kooky hats, Aniston trades on her quirky, “Friends”-honed likeability, while Eckhart (“Thank You for Smoking,” “In the Company of Men”) vainly strives for veracity. Yet, between them, there is zero romantic chemistry. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Love Happens” is a tiresome 2. Face it, when you use that title, you’re just asking for trouble.