Movie/TV Reviews

Susan Granger’s review of “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” (Warner Bros.)

Having just completed their first year of college, the four lifelong friends of Ann Brashares’ “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” are back for another summer of drama and discovery, sharing the magical pair of thrift-shop jeans as a way of staying connected to their past and each other.
When Lena (Alexis Bledel) goes back to Greece for her grandfather’s funeral, she discovers her beloved Kostas (Michael Rady) is married. Heartbroken, she throws herself into her art studies at the Rhode Island School of Design and becomes romantically involved with the male model (Jesse Williams) who poses for her class.
While working in a video store and trying to write a romantic comedy for her NYU film project, rebellious Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) takes her relationship with Brian (Leonardo Nam) too far and fears she may be pregnant.
Still struggling with her mother’s death, Bridget (Blake Lively) travels to Turkey, where she works on an archeological dig until her mentor (Shohreh Aghdashloo) makes her aware that that the memories she needs to unearth are in Alabama with her estranged maternal grandmother (Blythe Danner).
And since Carmen’s (America Ferrera) recently re-married mother (Racel Ticotin) is expecting a baby, she impulsively goes to Vermont to work backstage at a theater festival where she discovers talent – and courage – she never dreamed she had.
Although the screenplay’s kaleidoscopic structure is distracting, interweaving the four coming-of-age adventures, writer Elizabeth Chandler and director Sanaa Hamri should intrigue their target audience of teenage girls with lessons about love, disappointment and forgiveness.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” is a familiar 5. And Fairfield County audiences will recognize scenes filmed at Yale and the Westport Country Playhouse.

Susan Granger’s review of “Pineapple Express” (Columbia Pictures/Sony)

Those “Superbad” dudes, Seth Rogen and James Franco, are back in another buddy comedy. This time, they’re potheads on the run with heavy helpings of graphic, gratuitous violence.
At first, their relationship is simple: process-server Dale Denton (Rogen) buys weed from Saul Silver (James Franco). Then Saul sells him some Pineapple Express, a high-grade of marijuana that’s so rare that, as Saul says, “It’s almost a shame to smoke it.”
Shortly after, when Dale witnesses a murder by a crooked cop (Rosie Perez) and a notorious drug lord, Ted Jones (Gary Cole), he flees, dropping his smoldering roach. Because it’s Pineapple Express, Ted traces it back to Saul. Soon Dale and Saul are running for their lives, pursued by Ted’s goons (Kevin Corrigan, Craig Robinson) and betrayed by Saul’s distributor, Red (Danny McBride).
With the success of “The 40 Year-old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” etc., Judd Apatow is Hollywood’s reigning comedy czar and he’s anointed director David Gordon Green (“All the Real Girls,” “Snow Angels”), teaming him with scripters Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (“Superbad”), and Apatow credits inspiration for this stoners-on-the-run parody to Brad Pitt’s character in Quentin Tarantino’s “True Romance” (1993).
Much of the weird, half-baked humor is based on the smug idea that watching clumsy stoners being high is amusing but, unless you’re joining them, it isn’t. And, except for Katherine Heigel’s pivotal role in “Knocked Up,” women are barely noticeable in Apatow productions. While it will inevitably rate higher with its core audience of men, ages 16-30, particularly those who are stoned while viewing, for the rest of us, particularly adults, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Pineapple Express” is a silly, reefer-raunchy 5. What’s most hypocritical is the cautionary warning against pot; that’s self-serving hypocrisy.

Susan Granger’s dvd update for week of Friday, August 1:

Ever feel like you just don’t fit in? Glenn Gers’ “disFigured” humanly and humorously tackles the topic of women’s weight, exploring the unlikely friendship between a fat woman (Deidra Edwards) and a recovering anorexic (Staci Lawrence). Gers explores issues of isolation, appearance and control.
Those raunchy, pot-loving Jersey dudes are back in “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.” Harold Lee (John Cho), a Korean-American investment banker, and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), an impulsive Indian-American wannabe medical student, are mistaken for terrorists when they sneak a homemade “smokeless bong” onboard a plane.
Peter Watkins’ “Privilege” revolves around a rock music phenomenon (Manfred Mann lead singer Paul Jones) whose life changes when an artist (supermodel Jean Shrimpton) is paints his portrait. After the controversy surrounding his “The War Game,” Watkins tackles corporate culture, church and state.
Filmed in 2005 & 2006, “Love Story” is a feature-length documentary about the legendary Los Angeles band Love and the late Arthur Lee. Love was one of the first inter-racial bands and the first rock band to be signed by Elektra Records.
Children ages 2-5 will have a g-r-r-r-eat time at “64 Zoo Lane,” following the adventures of Lucy, who lives next-door to a zoo. Every night, she climbs out of her window, slides down the long neck of Georgina the giraffe and listens to the animals’ stories.
PICK OF THE WEEK: If you like taut British crime capers, “The Bank Job” stars Jason Statham as a small-time crook duped into lifting compromising photos of Princess Margaret from a Lloyds vault. Extras include an awesome documentary on the real-life robbery that inspired the film and how the robbers spent a weekend digging a tunnel from a leather shop, under a chicken restaurant, into a bank.

Susan Granger’s review of “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” (Universal)

“Here we go again,” sighs intrepid adventurer Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser), turning his sights on China.
Two thousand years ago, the power-hungry Dragon Emperor Han (Jet Li), builder of the Great Wall, sought immortality. But he made the mistake of betraying a beautiful sorceress, Zi Juan (Michelle Yeoh), who imprisoned him in stone, along with his 10,000 warriors.
Now it’s 1946 and Rick’s ambitious son Alex (Luke Ford) is excavating Han’s tomb, bragging, “It’s the greatest find since King Tut!” Coincidentally, the mysterious diamond that Rick and his wife, Evelyn (Maria Bello, replacing Rachel Weisz), have been asked to deliver to China holds the key to awakening the ferocious despot, who summons his long-dormant terra-cotta army.
Rick, Evelyn and Alex are joined by Evelyn’s brother Jonathan (John Hannah) who owns a nightclub, plus immortal Zi Juan and her daughter Lin (Isabella Leong), who not only serves as Alex’s love interest but possesses the only dagger that can kill Han. So the spectacular CGI battles begin in exotic Shangri-La with its irrepressible Yetis (a.k.a. Abominable Snowmen).
Director Rob Cohen (“The Fast and the Furious,” “Stealth”) makes a major mistake by casting Luke Ford as Brendan Fraser’s son. While it was credible that 39 year-old Fraser had a 13 year-old nephew in “Journey to the Center of the Earth: 3D,”  he couldn’t be the father of the 27 year-old Aussie. Do the math. Plus, screenwriter Stephen Sommers has been replaced by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the creators of “Smallville,” who rip off the “Indiana Jones: Crystal Skull” father/son concept.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” is a noisy, frenetic, futile 4. It’s time to wrap this tale “Mummy” franchise.

Susan Granger’s review of “Swing Vote” (Touchstone/Disney)

The primaries are over and the Presidential election looms ahead. So how important is your vote?
“Voting is your civic responsibility,” 12 year-old Molly (Madeline Carroll) solemnly reminds her boozing, foul-mouthed, irresponsible, single father, Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner) on Election Day in Texico, New Mexico, citing the historical cycle of abundance leading to apathy. So when Bud fails to appear at the polls, idealistic Molly sneaks in and votes for him. But there’s an electronic glitch and that vote isn’t counted. Then,
when there’s a tie in determining the electoral votes, Bud is informed that he alone – must determine whether Republican incumbent Andrew Boone (Kelsey Grammer) or Democratic challenger Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper) will be the next Commander-in-Chief. And the candidates have 10 days to woo this one undecided voter.
At first, Bud is stunned by the press corps camped outside his trailer. Then he’s pleased at being ?courted’ by both contenders and their advisors (Stanley Tucci and Nathan Lane, respectively). But Molly becomes increasingly disillusioned with all the adults around her, including an ambitious local reporter (Paula Patton), until Bud finally develops a social conscience.
This disturbingly inconsistent, Frank Capra-esque riff on the political process was, undoubtedly, propelled by vote-counting in the 2000, when hanging chads in Dade County, Florida, tipped the election in favor of George W. Bush. And it seems obvious that writer/director Joshua Michael Stern and co-writer Jason Richman drew on Garson Kanin’s “The Great Man Votes” (1939), in which John Barrymore played an alcoholic widower with two small children who is courted by mayoral rivals who discover he’s the only registered voter in a key precinct.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Swing Vote” is a gently satirical 6. It’s a melodramatic civics lesson.

Susan Granger’s review of “Brideshead Revisited” (Miramax Films)

It’s revisiting “Brideshead Revisited,” since many vividly remember that lavish, 11-episode British mini-series first shown on PBS in 1982 and released on DVD in 2006.
Set in the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s, it’s a story of lost innocence as an unsophisticated, middle-class Oxford student/painter, Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode), strikes up a friendship with aristocratic Lord Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whitshaw). To Ryder, their ambiguous relationship opens whole new world that revolves around class, money, religion and privilege; it’s an experience that – for him – encompasses great happiness and deep despair. An estate in Yorkshire, Castle Howard, stands in for Brideshead as a symbol of an archaic, ancestral domain ruled over by Lord and Lady Marchmain (Michael Gambon, Emma Thompson).
Based on Evelyn Waugh’s 351-page novel, written in 1945, it’s been intelligently adapted for the screen by Andrew Davis (“Bridget Jones’s Diary”) and Jeremy Brock (“The Last King of Scotland”) and tastefully, impeccably directed by Julian Jarrold (“Becoming Jane,” “Kinky Boots”) with occasional touches of sardonic humor.
By necessity, they’ve condensed the sprawling saga to less than two hours, emphasizing the poignant love triangle of Charles, Sebastian and Sebastian’s spirited sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell), adding ‘new’ Venetian segments with the approval of the Waugh estate. The homoerotic relationship between Charles and the overtly swishy Sebastian is more explicit than in the mini-series, since they share a quick kiss, a gesture that then leads to an uneasy awkwardness between them.
The performances – particularly Emma Thompson’s – while superb are overly mannered, in accordance with the stunning production values. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Brideshead Revisited” is a pensive, melancholy 8. Yet what’s been sacrificed for brevity is the decline of the British aristocracy, which was a major theme of the novel.

Susan Granger’s review of “Space Chimps” (20th Century-Fox)

In the middle of summer, which should be family film paradise, comes this decidedly disappointing, if occasionally diverting digitally animated feature.
Back in 1961, NASA blasted off a chimpanzee named Ham (an acronym for Holloman Aerospace Medical Center) on a brief mission as an initial test run for future manned space exploration. That’s the historical fact that screenwriter/director Kirk DeMicco and his co-writer, Robert Moreland, have fictionalized into a psycho-babbling story about three brainy primates that are dispatched after an Infinity probe crash-lands on an alien planet.
Ham III (Andy Samberg of “SNL”) is the irresponsible grandson of the original space explorer. Until he’s summoned by NASA, his only aeronautical experience is as a  cannonball in the circus that is routinely launched into the night sky. He’s joined by a lovely co-pilot, Lt. Luna (Cheryl Hines of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), and John Wayne-like Commander Titan (Patrick Warburton). Following the Infinity probe through a worm-hole, they land on the planet Malgor, where they battle power-mad Lord Zartog (Jeff Daniels) and – with the help of a tiny, chirpy critter called Kilowatt (Kristin Chenoweth) – they help liberate the enslaved Malgoreans. Meanwhile, back at Mission Control, there’s Ham’s mentor (Carlos Alazraqui), a nasty Senator (Stanley Tucci), and a trio of racially stereotypical scientists including a Hindi nerd (Omid Abtahi).
Chuckles are hard to come by, even when the simians spin pathetic parodies of the training scenes from “The Right Stuff” and give nods to “Planet of the Apes,” “Star Wars” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Space Chimps” is a strangely surrealistic, candy-colored 3. Don’t monkey around with this generic CGI stupidity. Instead, take the kids to see “WALL-E.” If they’ve already seen it, take them again.

Susan Granger’s review of “Step Brothers” (Columbia Pictures/Sony)

Don’t be fooled by expectations emanating from the family-friendly trailers revolving around a collapsing bunk-bed. This is NOT a movie for kids! It’s an R-rated, crude, comedic rumination on contemporary parenting and sibling rivalry.
Among the entitled “boomerang generation,” it’s become accepted practice for grown offspring to return to their homes (a.k.a. womb) and become unemployed couch-potatoes after life deals them a few sobering blows. At least that’s the case with Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) and Dale Doback (John C. Reilly). But when Brennan’s mother Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) meets and marries Dale’s dad Robert (Richard Jenkins), the two paunchy, immature, middle-aged oafs are forced to share a bedroom as slapstick, sadistic chaos reigns.
“Today I saw my own son use a bicycle as a weapon,” marvels ever-patient Nancy.
Then there’s Brennan’s insufferably successful younger brother, Derek (Adam Scott), who brags that he knows “Survivor” host Jeff Probst and does a wicked Tom Cruise imitation, and his repressed wife, Alice (Kathryn Hahn), who adroitly uses a bathroom urinal.
Written by Ferrell, Reilly and director Adam McKay, it’s reminiscent of the dim-witted male camaraderie in “Anchorman” and “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” only this time, tiresome, annoying slackers are behaving like naughty boys – for no apparent reason – and each joke is routinely beaten into the ground. And with Judd Apatow co-producing, you know you can count on male nudity; this time, it’s Brennan’s testicles (hopefully, prosthetic ones) rubbed on a drum.
As a brief whiff of praise, it is fascinating to marvel at the versatility of Richard Jenkins who was so impressive in an entirely different type of role in “The Visitor.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Step Brothers” is a grossly vulgar, frustrating 4. No kin do.

Susan Granger’s review of “Felon” (Stage 6 Films)

This cautionary thriller should be a wake-up call about America’s outrageously archaic laws insofar as defending the sanctity of home and family.
Wade Porter (Stephen Dorff) has a small construction business and a promising future until, one night, a burglar changes everything. When Wade, his fiancée (Marisol Nichols) and their three year-old son are awakened by sounds from a prowler, he grabs a baseball bat and pursues the robber, who runs out of the house holding his wallet. Wade swings the bat, sending a fatal blow to the thief’s head. After Laura dutifully calls 911, Wade is arrested and charged with murder. Since he can’t afford a lawyer or post $1 million bail, the public defender advises him to make a deal: plead guilty to ‘involuntary manslaughter’ in return for a shorter sentence. That’s how Wade is forcibly thrust into a penal system where the rules of society no longer apply.
Sadistic Lt. William Jackson (Harold Perrineau of “Lost”) runs the SHU (Security Housing Unit) at Corcoran State Prison according to his own rules and enjoys goading prisoners into fighting one another in brutal ‘yard games.’
“It’s all about race,” Wade’s cellmate (Val Kilmer), a ‘lifer,’ explains. “Prison de-sensitizes you and the guards are the most vicious.”
Writer/director Ric Roman Waugh’s astute casting elevates the low-budget production which was funded through New Mexico’s Film Investment Program; that’s how he was able to nab Val Kilmer, who lives on a nearby New Mexico ranch. Stephen Dorff projects a searing image of pain under pressure and Sam Shepard humanizes the Warden, whose sense of decency has not been eroded. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Felon” is a tough, uncompromising 7, proving that even in man’s inhumanity to man, there’s hope.

Susan Granger’s dvd update for week of Friday, July 25th:

For pure escapist entertainment, try “21” about a brilliant MIT senior (Jim Sturgess) who’s recruited by a manipulative math teacher (Kevin Spacey) and sexy classmate (Kate Bosworth) to join a top-secret, high-stakes gambling team that ‘counts cards’ and spends weekends making millions in Las Vegas.
If you’re into the music of the Rolling Stones, Martin Scorsese’s “Shine a Light” chronicles their 2006 Manhattan concert with more than 20 numbers, dominated by brash Mick Jagger; humor is injected through vintage clips and archival interview footage. And the screen version of the satirical,off-Broadway play “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding” marches down the aisle with Adrian Grenier, Mila Kunis and Joey McIntyre.
Think of “Never Back Down” as “Teen Fight Club,” as Iowan Sean Faris stuggles to prove his courage at a new Florida high school where a local bully (Cam Gigandet) goads him into an X-treme form of hand-to-hand combat called “mixed martial arts.”
“Doomsday” is yet another gore-filled, post-apocalyptic sci-fi fantasy. This time, a virulent pandemic called the Reaper, which once threatened to annihilate the human race, is back; a Scottish scientist (Malcolm McDowell) has found a cure but he’s not in a mood to share.
The French film “Heartbeat Detector” is intellectually provocative as Mathieu Amalric serves the psychiatrist for the faltering executives of a German petrochemical company, discovering that sometimes big business comes with a Nazi past.
PICK OF THE WEEK: A droll take on cross-cultural miscommunication, Eran Kolirin’s “The Band’s Visit” is a fresh, funny Israeli export. Dressed in crisp, powder-blue uniforms and observing full protocol, the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra is headed for a gig at the Arab Cultural Center when they get lost after landing in Tel Aviv. Inevitably, there’s confusion, chaos and compassion – on both sides.