Movie/TV Reviews

Susan Granger’s review of “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage)

Lady Diana Spencer was the direct descendant of glamorous, trend-setting Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire, who was famously painted by Gainsborough.  Fittingly, Georgiana’s story begins in 1774 at Althorp, the family estate on which the late Princess of Wales is buried.
As a teenage socialite, Georgiana is betrothed to the much older William Cavendish, the fifth Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes), whom she barely knows. Assured by her manipulative mother (Charlotte Rampling) that the union is most advantageous, Georgiana subsequently has daughters but is unable to produce the son/heir her husband covets. As a result, she becomes trapped in a public ménage a trios, since her world-weary husband takes her opportunistic best friend, Lady Elizabeth Foster (Hayley Atwell), as his mistress at Devonshire House. Georgiana then seeks distraction in drink, drugs, gambling and an illicit affair with Lord Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper), the future Prime Minister.
Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher, Anders Thomas Jensen and director Saul Dibb from Amanda Foreman’s best-selling biography, the film focuses far more on the visuals – the costumes and frippery of the period – than the inherent drama of Georgiana’s compelling dilemma, not unlike Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” (coincidentally, Georgiana was Marie Antoinette’s close friend.), barely grazing over the Duchess’s public support of Grey’s anti-slavery, pro-American, conservative Whig party.
Vivacious Keira Knightley is seductive but, as scripted, she is hardly the eloquent woman of letters described by Foreman as “a potent mix of charisma and vulnerability that made her irresistible to men and women alike.” Instead, she seems like a spoiled simpleton. While Ralph Fiennes is appropriately dour, plump Dominic Cooper is less than dashing as her ardent suitor. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Duchess” is a frivolous 4, diminishing its impact.

Susan Granger’s review of “Lakeview Terrace” (Sony/Screen Gems)

Obviously inspired by a notorious real-life case in which an African-American Los Angeles police officer was accused of harassing his bi-racial neighbors, this is an extension of Neil LaBute’s penchant for male cruelty and intractable dominance, as previously evidenced in his re-make of “The Wicker Man” and “In the Company of Men.”
A 28-year veteran of the LAPD, Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) is a widower father and stern disciplinarian of his teenage daughter (Regine Nahy) and younger son (Jaishon Fisher). They live on a cul de sac in Lakeview Terrace, a privileged enclave that he patrols at night in his big, black SUV as an off-duty officer. But because he’s a bigoted bully at heart, when mixed-marriage newlyweds, Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa (Kerry Washington), move in next-door, he’s enraged. So he devises ways to intimidate and psychologically torture the couple: focusing high-intensity outdoor strobe lights into their bedroom, blasting music at night, slashing the tires on Chris’ white Prius. And to whom can they complain? The police department seems solidly behind the deranged Turner. But then his heavy-handed, villainous tactics start to backfire on his job in South Central, just as seasonal wildfires are threatening their exclusive slice of suburbia.
Written by David Loughery and Howard Korder, directed by LaBute and produced by Will Smith and James Lassiter, it starts off with a promising jolt of menace but soon deteriorates into predictable, formulaic mayhem that’s rooted in prejudice. What rescues it from being totally repellent are convincing performances from both Samuel L. Jackson and Kerry Washington, while Patrick Wilson seems buried in blandness. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Lakeview Terrace” is a foul 4, representing yet another strike against the floundering Southern California real estate market.

Susan Granger’s review of “Ghost Town” (DreamWorks/Paramount)

The success of this sophisticated, supernatural frivolity is all about the breezy comedic appeal of sardonic, misanthropic Ricky Gervais, whose refusal to suffer fools has turned “The Office” into one of TV’s top programs.
British-born dentist Bertram Pincus (Gervais), now settled in Manhattan, is a nasty fellow, the kind of neighbor who deliberately closes the elevator door just as you’re running towards it and steals the taxi you’ve just flagged down. By his own admission, he doesn’t hate crowds, “just the individuals within them.”
During a routine colonoscopy, Pincus ‘dies’ for seven minutes in a “biochemical anomaly,” according to his ditsy doctor (Kristen Wiig). When he awakens, he discovers to his chagrin that not only can he ‘see’ dead people but that many of these lost souls want to communicate their mournful ‘unfinished businesses’ with him – and do.
Foremost among these meddlesome folk is Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), a philandering husband who wants Pincus to ‘save’ his widow Gwen (Tea Leoni), an Egyptologist at the Metropolitan Museum, from marrying a humorless human-rights lawyer (Billy Campbell). Reluctantly, Pincus agrees to befriend Gwen and, not surprisingly, he falls in love with her himself.
Think of it as “The Sixth Sense,” tinged with a humorous ghost gimmick that traces its antecedents back to “Topper” and “Blithe Spirit.” It’s not easy turning a grumpy, pudgy, wise-cracking ‘loser’ like Gervais into a romantic leading man but director David Koepp, who wrote the screenplay with John Kamps, does an admirable job. And Tea Leoni exudes charm – as do the many supporting actors, including SNL’s Kristen Wiig, Asif Mandvi and Dana Ivey.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Ghost Town” is a wryly engaging 8. It’s a funny crowd-pleaser that turns sentimental in all the right places.

Susan Granger’s dvd update for week of Friday, Sept. 19th

One of the most intriguing documentaries of recent years, “The Rape of Europa,” based on Lynn H. Nicholas’s book and narrated by Joan Allen, relates the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during the Third Reich and World War II, beginning and ending with the tale of artist Gustav Klimt’s famed Gold Portrait, stolen from Viennese Jews in 1938 and now the most expensive painting ever sold.
John Leguizamo and Cynthia Nixon star in “The Babysitters,” as a typical small town honor student (Katherine Waterston) embarks on a dangerous affair that unravels into a world of sex, money and greed. Getting into college becomes the least of her problems.
For those who are into high-octane cars, trippy Japanese anime and awesome visuals, “Speed Racer” has it all. Speed (Emile Hirsch) and his family (John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Paulie Litt) are obsessed with the World Racing League, an acrobatic, full-contact sport, described as ‘Car-Fu,’ automotive martial arts.
If you enjoy MGM musicals, you’ll relish two, new meticulously restored and remastered classics: “Gigi 50th Anniversary Two-Disc Special Edition,” starring Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan and Maurice Chevalier, and “An American in Paris Two-Disc Special Edition,” starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron and Cyd Charisse. The many bonus features include shorts, cartoons, interviews and documentaries.
Barely worth mentioning, “The Love Guru” is Mike Myers’ atrocious and inanely tedious spoof of self-help spiritualism.
PICK OF THE WEEKS: Stephen Walker’s life-affirming “Young at Heart” chronicles the adventures and achievements of a chorus of ebullient New England senior citizens who cover songs by everyone from The Clash to Coldplay. And the frothy “Made of Honor,” starring cleverly roguish Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan, is an exuberant, audience-pleasing romantic fairytale of laughter and love.

Susan Granger’s review of “The Women” (Picturehouse)

While this was supposed to be a re-make, it seems like cinematic sacrilege to compare Diane English’s disappointing contemporary drivel with director George Cukor’s hilarious “The Women” (1939), adapted by Anita Loos from Clare Boothe’s play and starring Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell and Norma Shearer.
Beginning with a Manhattan montage of women’s shoes, evocative of “Sex and the City,” this update revolves around privileged Connecticut socialite, Mary Haines (Meg Ryan), whose Wall Street whiz husband of 13 years is cheating on her with a sexy strumpet, Crystal (Eva Mendes), the ‘spritzer girl’ behind the perfume counter at Saks Fifth Avenue: “There’s a word for a woman like that – and it’s rarely used outside of a kennel.” (But that’s a clever line borrowed from the original when the word ‘bitch’ was forbidden.)
Mary’s best friend, magazine editor Sylvie (Annette Bening), is the first to discover his infidelity from a gossipy Saks manicurist. Backstabbing Sylvie tells pregnant Edie (Debra Messing), who blurts to lesbian Alex (Jada Pinkett Smith). Eventually Mary finds out and consults her worldly-wise mother (Candice Bergen).
Diane English (“Murphy Brown”) maintains the clever conceit of all-female cast, including background ‘extras,’ but she’s way out of her element here – even with cameos from Bette Midler and Carrie Fisher – and watching Meg Ryan chow down on a stick of butter dipped in cocoa powder and milk during a pivotal revelatory scene is disgusting. Plus there’s something creepily bizarre when these obviously Botox’d actresses quip about plastic surgery. Even the feminist context of empowerment seems muddled, asserting that – in order to maintain individuality – a woman must juggle career, marriage and family, a daunting task for anyone. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Women” is a thudding 3. Female friendship deserves better.

Susan Granger’s review of “Righteous Kill” (Overture Films)

What propels is crime thriller is the anticipation of seeing two of our finest actors – Robert De Niro and Al Pacino – paired as co-stars for the first time. If you remember, they appeared in separate storylines in “The Godfather, Part II” and were on-screen together in only two scenes in “Heat.”
Here, they’re veteran NYPD detectives, partners for 30 years and growing increasingly cynical about the injustices of the so-called judicial system – which is why they plant evidence to frame a child killer for a crime he didn’t commit. That then becomes connected with a string of 14 vigilante murders targeting those who slipped through the judicial system, including a pedophile priest. And many of the ‘revenge’ crimes revolve around Club 404 in Harlem, run by Spider (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson), a drug kingpin /rapper who sells product to a corporate lawyer who turns ‘stoolie’ with disastrous results.
When scowling Turk (De Niro) isn’t coaching young girls in PAL baseball, he’s having a torrid affair with a rough-sex-loving Detective Karen Corelli (Carla Gugino), while Rooster (Pacino) chews gum in his shadow, muttering, “You’re my partner; you’re my role model.” They’re trailed around by a younger pair of detectives (John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg). Hovering in the background is the chief (Brian Dennehy).
Written by Russell Gewirtz, directed by Jon Avnet and photographed by Dennis Lenoir, this cliché-filled churner adds up to little more than a slow-paced episode of “Law & Order” with the real culprit ‘twist’ telegraphed so far in advance that there’s little suspense. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Righteous Kill” is a forgettable 5. Reportedly, the state of Connecticut contributed a 40% production subsidy (including the stars’ salaries) because much of it was shot in Bridgeport.

Susan Granger’s dvd update for week of Sept. 12:

For decades, hecklers railing at politicians, entertainers and athletes have been relegated to the sidelines. Yet even back in Shakespeare’s day, audiences hurled insults, if not rotting fruit, at actors onstage. In Colonial America, Crispus Attucks and others at the Boston Massacre helped spark the American Revolution. But Michael Addis’ fascinating documentary “Heckler” shows how these people now feel more entitled.
With high school football underway, ESPN’s “Hellfighters” is an inspirational true story about former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Doug Ferguson and the Harlem Hellfighters, a gritty, relentless team that found itself a long way from Friday night lights.
“Cool Hand Luke Deluxe Edition” shows Paul Newman in one of his most powerful performances as Lucas “Luke” Jackson, a gutsy prisoner in a Southern chain gang, who refuses to buckle under to authority; this uncompromising film is considered one of the most important in the ’60s, a decade marked by protest against the establishment.
“The Big Bang Theory: The Complete First Season” contains 17 original episodes about two geeky physicists (Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons) and their hot female neighbor (Kaley Cuoco), along with bonus featurettes.
Could 2008 be the year when the Great Pumpkin arrives? Join Linus’s vigil on All Hallows Eve with the re-mastered “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” Bonuses focus on the myth and tradition of this Halloween TV staple. Plus, there’s “Halloween Spooktacular” containing fright-free adventures with Barney, Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina, Fireman Sam and Thomas & Friends.
PICK OF THE WEEK: “Saturday Night Live” comediennes Tina Fey and Amy Poehler star in the wry satire “Baby Mama” about the outrageous consequences of putting your eggs in someone else’s basket. DVD bonuses include deleted scenes, an alternate ending and a making-of feature: “From Conception to Delivery.”

Susan Granger’s review of “Transsiberian” (First Look Studios)

The Trans-Siberian Railroad is no luxurious Orient Express. Instead, it’s a shoddy train with a surly crew that chugs across the vast, snowy wasteland between Beijing and Moscow, making various stops en route, and within its passenger cars, mystery abounds.
The Hitchcock-like story begins in Vladivostok, where a wily narcotics detective, Ilya Grinko (Ben Kingsley), is summoned aboard a ship to investigate a drug-related murder. Then the scene changes to Beijing, where an American church-sponsored group has just completed a charity mission. Genial, gregarious Roy (Woody Harrelson) and his conflicted, chain-smoking photographer wife Jessie (Emily Mortimer) are participants but, instead of flying home directly, they’ve opted take a trip on the legendary – if rickety – rail line that links East to West. They have marital problems and are trying to work them out. But complications arise when another couple appears to share their cramped sleeping compartment with its narrow, double-decker bunk-beds. Carlos (Eduardo Noriega) is a reckless, seductive Spaniard, while Abby (Kate Mara) is a 20 year-old runaway from Seattle. Over drinks and dinner, their stories unfold. But Jessie’s wary, particularly when Carlos secretly shows her some suspicious Russian ‘nesting dolls’ that he’s smuggling out of the country. Then, at a Siberian stopover in Irkutsk, Roy, a locomotive buff, accidentally misses the train – impelling Jessie, Carlos and Abby, to get off at the next station, Ilinskaya, so he can catch up with them. Choices made during this diversion prove disastrously dangerous.
Writer/director Brad Anderson (“The Machinist,” “Session 9”) makes the most of the ominous suspense as the hapless Americans struggle with the nightmare of perilous post-Soviet bureaucracy. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Transsiberian” is a chilling, compelling 8. Paranoia is right on track in this sinister trapped-on-a-train thriller.

Susan Granger’s review of “Burn After Reading” (Focus Features)

After “No Country for Old Men,” Ethan and Joel Coen are back in comedy mode, so this farcical thriller about dumb, middle-aged misfits caught in capricious CIA paranoia is more reminiscent of “The Big Lebowski” and “Raising Arizona.”
It all begins in CIA headquarters, where an alcoholic analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) is demoted to a low-level State Department position, which surprises his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton), who immediately plans to divorce him – to the chagrin of her lover, Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), a feckless federal marshal whose author wife is off on a book tour. Across town, two Hardbodies Fitness Center employees (Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt) – whose emotional IQ barely exceeds their bodily temperature – get their greedy little hands on a computer disc containing a draft of Osborne Cox’s memoirs and attempt to blackmail him.
“Why in God’s name would they think that’s worth anything?” muses Swinton.
It’s not the contrived plot that matters here, it’s the lunatic execution – and the Coens are masters of broadly drawn characters and stylized visuals. Apparently, they asked their actors to “embrace their inner knucklehead” to embody their moronic characters. So John Malkovich spews acerbic indignation; Tilda Swinton’s glacial ice queen escaped from Narnia; George Clooney’s unabashedly sex-obsessed; Brad Pitt’s an endearing idiot, prancing in tight Spandex shorts; and Frances McDormand (who is married to Joel Coen) is pathetically relentless in her determination to “reinvent” herself through expensive plastic surgery. In supporting roles, Richard Jenkins, Elizabeth Marvel, David Rasche, JK Simmons and Jeffrey DeMunn are exemplary.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Burn After Reading” is a silly, satirical 7. Or, as a bewildered CIA supervisor so aptly puts it, “Report back to me – when it makes sense.”

Susan Granger’s review of “Bangkok Dangerous” (Lionsgate)

Hong Kong’s Pang brothers – Danny and Oxide – have reworked their similarly titled 1999 Thai-language feature to star Nicolas Cage as the brooding, introspective hit man- for-hire.
His thinly conceived story begins in Prague where he leads a solitary existence: sleeping alone, eating alone and living out of a suitcase. There are four rules he lives by: 1) Don’t ask questions. 2) Don’t take an interest in anyone or trust anyone. 3) Erase every trace. 4) Know when to get out – before you become a target.
“The money’s good and I do what I’m told,” he explains.
Then he gets a plum assignment – four separate assassinations in Bangkok – which, he decides, will be his last foray. Perhaps that’s why he lets down his guard, befriending Kong (Shahkrit Yamnarm), a petty thief whom he hires as an assistant, and falling in love with a deaf-mute pharmacist’s assistant (Hong Kong pop singer Charlie Young).
Accompanying the underdeveloped story and Cage’s unrelenting angst, cinematographer Decha Srimantrea’s dark, dank cityscapes radiate unrelenting grimy gloom, except for a bizarre drowning in a Sheraton hotel pool, an exotic chase sequence through a floating market and a tender interlude in a shrine.
As to why an actor of Cage’s Oscar-winning caliber (“Leaving Las Vegas”) is involved as a producer of this laconic, B-level thriller, Cage’s taste has always been eclectic, considering that his last outing was in “Ghost Rider.” Then there’s the money. After all, Cage has corralled at least 13 homes all over the world, including Neidstein Castle in Germany, an allegedly haunted house in New Orleans’ French Quarter, and a private island in the Bahamas. And real estate’s expensive.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bangkok Dangerous” is a toxic, tedious 3. It’s “Bangkok Boring.”