Movie/TV Reviews

dvd update

Susan Grangers dvd update for week of Friday, Oct. 31st

Gather round for three spooky, new, family-friendly Halloween tales: Monster Blood, A Night in Terror Tower and One Day in Horrorland, spawned by R.L. Stines best-selling Goosebumps series.
And what could be more appropriate for this weekend than The Rocky Horror Tribute Show with original cast members Richard OBrien, Anthony Head, Michael Ball, Patricia Quinn and Little Nell, among others?
A number of documentaries during the past few years have taken aim at the bad behavior of American business but Bill Haneys The Price of Sugar is different. Set in the Dominican Republic, it exposes the slave labor on which the countrys sugar industry is built. But what distinguishes it is its hero: Father Christopher Hartley, a Catholic priest who becomes a crusader in behalf of sugar cane workers.
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is a chick flick for the pre-teen set, as a Depression-era 10 year-old is determined to solve a string of sinister robberies in her family home. Leaving the vanity of Barbie and the vacuousness of Bratz behind, this tackles gritty, relevant social issues like poverty and prejudice, while Abigail Breslin charms.
For the first time, Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) is available in a Collectors Edition, featuring a never-before-seen making-of documentary. Set in an unnamed but oppressive Latin American country, Kiss was the first independent feature ever to garner the four top Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Youll be amazed at Journey to the Center of the Earth: 3-D, packaged with four pairs of 3-D glasses. This awesome sci-fi fantasy update of Jules Vernes classic novel follows a scientist (Brendan Fraser) and his 13 year-old nephew (Josh Hutcherson) to Iceland on a quest to find his missing brother.

dvd update Read More »

RockNRolla

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

Writer/director Guy Ritchie (“Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch”) specializes in exaggerated “Pulp Fiction”-like crime capers set in contemporary London. This time, a Russian billionaire, Uri Obomavich (Karel Roden), who does business out of a posh box in recently renovated Wembley Arena, concocts a crooked land deal attracting many denizens of London’s criminal underworld, particularly a manipulative, old-time crime boss Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson) but also ambitious small-time crooks like Mumbles (Idris Elba), Handsome Bob (Tom Hardy) and brash One Two (Gerard Butler), whose love interest is a sexy, duplicitous accountant (Thandie Newton) strutting in red-soled Christian Louboutin stilettos. There’s a stolen “lucky” painting and cash is passed in a Louis Vuitton Murakami bag. But the wild card is Lenny’s estranged stepson, Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell), a junkie punk rock star who was presumed dead but is very much alive. Narrated like a graphic comic, this is a very British film %u2013 which, to Americans, means that many mobsters spurt occasionally undecipherable Cockney (subtitles would have been helpful) and the often idiotic street thugs indulge in over-the-top brutal, even surreal villainy. As always, Ritchie’s sharply into style over substance, working with cinematographer David Higgs and editor James Herbert to present his contrivances with unusual visuality, if not economy. That often happens when the director is also the writer %u2013 and there’s no one to tell him he’s spinning too many labyrinthine plotlines. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “RockNRolla” is a darkly frenetic, smug 7. After the debacle of “Swept Away” (with his now-estranged wife Madonna) and the pretentious self-indulgence of “Revolver,” it’s encouraging to see Guy Ritchie back on track again as he begins work on a new interpretation of “Sherlock Holmes” along with a remake of “The Dirty Dozen.”

RockNRolla Read More »

Slumdog Millionaire

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight/Warner Bros.)

When 18 year-old Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) from the streets of Mumbai comes up with an unlikely stream of correct answers, winning millions of rupees on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” he’s suspected of cheating by the game show’s host (Anil Kapoor). Grilled by a police investigator (Irrfan Khan), Jamal reluctantly reveals how his intricate, Dickensian life experiences have informed his knowledge. As a child, sensitive Jamal and his older brother, Salim, were left to fend for themselves in the squalid slums when their mother was killed in a mob attack on Muslims. At Jamal’s insistence, they take in a third urchin, a girl named Latika, envisioning themselves as the Three Musketeers. After they’re captured by a vicious, Fagin-like operator who trains street beggars, crafty Salim saves Jamal from mutilation. But as they escape by jumping on a moving train, they’re separated from Latika, whom Jamal loves. In a hilarious sequence, the boys find themselves at the Taj Mahal, where they pose as guides, dispensing misinformation and scamming gullible tourists. Eventually, Salim (Madhur Mittal) falls in with gangsters, while Jamal toils as a lowly tea-server at XL5 Communications and is determined to ‘rescue’ Latika (Freida Pinto). Working with screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (“The Full Monty”), adapting Vikas Swarup’s novel “Q&A,” Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “Millions,” “28 Days Later”) skillfully concocts %u2013 in flashback %u2013 an ironic, vividly irresistible saga of courage and determination, introducing an exotic socio-economic-cultural angle which makes this premise fresh and filled with unexpected moments of revelation. Add the vibrant cinematography and kinetic energy of the throbbing soundtrack and on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Slumdog Millionaire” is an intoxicating, triumphant 10. Brutal and beautiful, tragic and joyful, it’s one of the year’s best movies, a must-see!

Slumdog Millionaire Read More »

High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” (Disney)

Already an integral part of the Disney Channel repertoire, this cheery pop culture phenomenon began as a television franchise. Indeed, that’s where its two predecessors can be found. Making the leap to the big screen was an act of faith and tweens have been eagerly lining up at the multiplex. The action at East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico, revolves around Wildcats basketball captain Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and his squeeze, Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens). There’s Troy’s best friend, Chad (Corbin Bleu), and scheming, spoiled Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) with her twin brother, Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), plus an ambitious transfer student, Tiara (Jemma McKenzie-Brown). They’re all weighing their options for the future, coping with parental expectations, while planning for the prom, the spring musical and graduation. Since Zac Efron’s now 21, it stretches credulity to believe he’s still cavorting around the high school campus. But that doesn’t bother screenwriter Peter Barsocchini and director/choreographer Kenny Ortega, who not only introduce younger talent to carry on into the future but rely on the pre-release of the songs, which makes them already familiar to the tweens with their MP3s. After all, it’s not about the flimsy story – remember those Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland “Let’s put on a show” musicals – it’s about the colorful numbers, blending rock, rap and Broadway-type ballads. While Troy and Chad’s most inventive, energetic routine is “The Boys Are Back” in an auto junkyard, Sharpay’s “I Want It All” is the most memorable. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” passes with a bouncy, wholesome 6 %u2013 unless you’re a 10 or 11 year-old. In that case, it’s the coolest movie of the year. And, inevitably, plans for the “College Musical” are underway.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year Read More »

Pride and Glory

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Pride and Glory” (Warner Bros.)

Director/screenwriter Gavin O’Connor and his twin brother, producer Gregory O’Connor, are sons of an Irish NYPD officer and fully understand the conflicts cops struggle with when they go to work every day. Chief of Manhattan Detectives Francis Tierney Sr. (Jon Voight) takes great pride in his family. His older son, Francis Jr. (Noah Emmerich), is a police inspector, bravely dealing with his wife’s terminal cancer. His son-in-law, Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell), is on the force. And his younger son, Ray (Edward Norton), is a detective. So when four officers are murdered in a failed drug bust in Washington Heights during the Christmas season, it’s not surprising that Francis Sr. asks Ray to head a task force to track down the killers. What he discovers is that someone tipped off the dealers, namely, renegade cops in the 31st precinct selling their shields to become murderers-for-hire. Working from a pulpy script co-written with Joe Carnahan (“Narc”), Gavin O’Connor’s (“Miracle,” “Tumbleweeds”) direction and Declan Quinn’s photography reek with bleak, gritty realism. Edward Norton, Jon Voight and Colin Farrell deliver top-notch performances. While female characters are peripheral, Jennifer Ehle and Lake Bell make their scenes memorable. Yet the melodrama is all too familiar and the dialogue is clogged with clichés, like “We protect our own” and “I was a good man once.” Plus, the bruising, visceral violence goes over-the-top when Jimmy viciously threatens to burn a Hispanic infant with a hot iron and becomes laughably absurd in a climactic bare-knuckles bar brawl. Suffering when compared with dramas like “The Departed,” “American Gangster,” and “We Own the Night” (about father/son loyalty/career clashes), on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Pride and Glory” is a brutal, scummy 6. It’s a misery-laden, all-too-conventional corrupt cop story.

Pride and Glory Read More »

W

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “W” (Lionsgate)

The Presidency of George W. Bush is the worst since Reconstruction %u2013 with the current financial fiasco, the crumbling infrastructure of the health-care system, 150,000 troops in Iraq and 33,000 in Afghanistan – so he’s an easy target for provocateur Oliver Stone. Written by Stanley Weiser and directed by Stone, there is, unfortunately, no insight into the causes of our current crises because – unlike “Nixon” and “JFK” – Stone does not have the benefit of historical perspective – with Dubya still in the White House. The docudrama is episodic in structure and surprisingly tentative in tone, beginning with George W’s privileged background, frat-boy days at Yale, career-choice screw-ups, struggles with sobriety and overriding psychological problems, spurred by his father’s obvious preference for his younger son, Jeb. Yet Jeff Brolin’s embodiment of Dubya is uncannily convincing, as is James Cromwell’s elegant, reserved impersonation of his patrician father, George Sr., the 41st President of the United States. Elizabeth Banks is sweetly sensitive as Laura Bush, particularly contrasted with Ellen Burstyn’s brashness as Barbara Bush. One must credit Stone for impeccable caricatures, continuing with Richard Dreyfuss as manipulative Dick Cheney, Toby Jones as insidious Karl Rove, Jeffrey Wright as cautious Colin Powell, Scott Glenn as double-talking Donald Rumsfeld, Thandie Newton as ever-cooperative Condoleezza Rice and Stacy Keach as evangelical preacher Earle Hudd. Dramatically, the strongest part is the father/son conflict and the weakest link is George W’s midlife religious conversion with a messianic zeal that baffles his old-school Episcopalian father. The judiciously placed “Robin Hood” theme, “Yellow Rose of Texas” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic” are evocative touches. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “W” is an empathetic, if oversimplified 7, having been rushed to completion to hit theaters before the November election.

W Read More »

Rachel Getting Married

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)

There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that Anne Hathaway delivers a haunting performance, designed to revise her image as Hollywood’s “good-girl,” based on her success in “The Princess Diaries.” The bad news is Jonathan Demme (“The Silence of the Lambs,” “Philadelphia,” “Something Wild,” “The Manchurian Candidate”) strikes a discordant note with this sociopolitical drama disguised as a dysfunctional family comedy. When Rachel (Rosemary DeWitt), a Ph.D. candidate in psychology, planned her weekend wedding to a handsome African-American musician (Tunde Adebimpe) at her father’s rambling Stamford, Connecticut, home, she had no idea that her younger sister, Kym (Hathaway), would be able to leave rehab for the politically-correct celebration. But fragile, foul-mouthed Kym is there – babbling incessantly about festering hurts and trying to upstage the bride, pleading for recognition from her divorced parents. Her father (Bill Irwin) and stepmother (Anna Devere Smith) are seemingly oblivious but her mother (Debra Winger) is as self-involved as ever, even when Kym has sex with the best man (another recovering addict) and trashes a car in the woods. Written by Jenny Lumet (director Sidney’s daughter) and indulgently directed by Demme, it’s all about learning to forgive %u2013 and move on. Stylistically, Demme pays tribute to Robert Altman’s legacy of overlapping dialogue, erratic framing and hand-held camerawork. But cinematographer Declan Quinn’s restless, naturalistic approach in high-definition video doesn’t work. Instead of involving the audience emotionally, it becomes turbulent, edgy and irritating, particularly when the groom chants Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend” at the altar and during the festive, seemingly endless reception with dancing, sari-clad bridesmaids et al. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Rachel Getting Married” is an annoying, dreary 6. It’s an invitation you might consider declining %u2013 until the dvd.

Rachel Getting Married Read More »

Changeling

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

This profoundly disturbing story is based on events that actually took place in the late 1920s/early ’30s in Los Angeles. Single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie), the first female supervisor at the Pacific Telephone and Telegraphic Company, is plunged into a sinister nightmare when her nine year-old son Walter disappears without a trace. Several months later, when authorities locate a boy (Devon Conti) in DeKalb, Illinois, claiming to be Walter and send him back, she realizes there’s been a mistake. This child is three inches shorter than Walter %u2013 and circumcised. But Police Capt. J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) doesn’t believe Collins’ quiet insistence, “This is not my son.” Collins’ only ally is Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), a Presbyterian community activist battling the notoriously corrupt city bureaucracy. Under pressure from LAPD Chief (Colm Feore) when courageously indefatigable Ms. Collins refuses to abandon the search for her real son, Capt. Jones orders her committed to a psychiatric ward, where she’s befriended by another inmate (Amy Ryan). Meanwhile, Det. Lester Ybarra (Michael Kelly) arrests an illegal Canadian immigrant, teenage Sanford Clark (Eddie Anderson), who leads him to a grisly graveyard at a remote farm belonging to his psychotic uncle, twitchy Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner). J. Michael Straczynski’s episodic screenplay pivots around the vulnerability of women, embodied by Angelina Jolie’s subdued yet heartbreakingly powerful performance. Director/producer Clint Eastwood’s disciplined, straightforward approach, deeply affecting in its dignity, is evidenced as the construction and pace of every scene pulsates with truth. Eastwood re-creates that socio-cultural context in the fabled City of Angels, even having Collins efficiently maneuver around the immense switchboard on roller-skates. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to10, “Changeling” is an elusive 8. Exploring oppression and corruption, Eastwood is a cinematic storyteller of extraordinary eloquence.

Changeling Read More »

DVD Update

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Friday, October 17:

Director Terrence Malick’s acclaimed, Oscar-nominated epic “The New World,” starring Colin Farrell, Christian Bale and Christopher Plummer, is now available in an extended version, adding 30 minutes of never-before-seen footage with more battles and more visual splendor as the Powhatan tribal people encounter the Jamestown settlement.
The seven-disc “The Ultimate Matrix Collection” debuts on Blu-ray Hi-Def with a bonus, “The Animatrix,” a nine-part anime film, for the first time in Hi-Def, and three additional discs with more than 35 hours of the Wachowski brothers’ Matrix experience.
From Argentina, in Spanish with English subtitles, “XXY” is an award-winning drama about sexuality, identity and coming of age, revolving around 15 year-old Alex (Ines Efron), who was born an intersex child with both male and female genitalia.
For sports fans, “The Greatest Stories of Michigan Football” includes defining moments with Heisman winners Charles Woodson and Desmond Howard, a look at NFL MVP Tom Brady and rare footage of Coach Bo Schembechler on the sidelines.
And there’s lots of fun for children with “Sing a Song of Wiggles,” “Care Bears Flurries of Fun,” “Strawberry Shortcake Holiday Dreams Collection,” “Barney’s I Love You Gift Set,” “Bob the Builder: BIG Build Collection,” and “Thomas & Friends Whistle Express Collection,” packaged with a train whistle.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Harrison Ford stars in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” reuniting with Karen Allen in Peru and teaming up with hotshot Shia LaBeouf to race villainous Cate Blanchett as they search for the mysterious Crystal Skull. It’s available on a single-disc DVD (just the film) or a two-disc DVD and Blue-ray with segments on how this latest installment evolved, glimpses of the location shoots and segments on makeup, visual effects and the mythical crystal skulls.

DVD Update Read More »

What Just Happened

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “What Just Happened” (Magnolia Pictures)

I was born in Hollywood and raised in the motion picture industry. My father was a producer/director at M.G.M.; when he died, he was in charge of production at Columbia Pictures. My step-father was a producer at M.G.M. %u2013 and my brother and son both work in movie production. Since I’ve often been asked about the social hierarchy of TinselTown, here’s an insider’s glimpse into that treacherous industry. As he jockeys for a prominent place at a Vanity Fair photo shoot, Ben (Robert DeNiro) realizes the precariousness of his position in the Hollywood firmament. He’s battling a whiny, contentious, pill-popping British director (Michael Wincott) during post-production of “Fiercely,” an arty Sean Penn thriller scheduled to debut at Cannes within a week, and preparing to shoot a new Bruce Willis project as the volatile star goes temperamental. Fielding persistent phone calls, Ben’s trying to reconcile with his estranged second wife (Robin Wright Penn) and tend his two youngsters and a nubile teenage daughter from a previous marriage. Under the direction of cynical Barry Levinson (“Wag the Dog,” “Jimmy Hollywood”), DeNiro wryly exudes perturbation and frustration, coping with the savvy, shrewd studio chief (Catherine Keener), Willis’ neurotic agent (John Turturro) and a duplicitous screenwriter acquaintance (Stanley Tucci), as Penn and Wills gamely mock themselves. Based on his bestselling 2002 memoir, recalling his travails with director Lee Tamahori while making “The Edge” with Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins, Art Linson’s screenplay is caustic, incisive – and a bit unfocused. Particularly when compared with previous behind-the-scenes classics like “The Bad and the Beautiful,” “Sullivan’s Travels,” “SOB” and “The Player.” Yet on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “What Just Happened” is a snappy, satirical 7, a wryly amusing tale that rings all too true.

What Just Happened Read More »