Movie/TV Reviews

Zathura: A Space Adventure

Susan Granger’s review of “Zathura: A Space Adventure” (Columbia Pictures)

From the enchanted world of “Jumanji” comes this wondrous outer-space fantasy-fable.
When the harried father (Tim Robbins) of six year-old Danny (Jonah Bobo) and ten year-old Walter (Josh Hutcherson) leaves them in the care of their teenage sister (Kristen Stewart), Danny discovers a mysterious ’50s-style tin board game, Zathura. Immediately, the bickering brothers realize something extraordinary is happening: their house has been blasted into outer space and is being bombarded by meteors. But they’re not alone. There’s a loud, dangerous, malfunctioning robot and a stranded astronaut (Dax Shepard), along with reptilian carnivores called Zorgons. Worst of all, they’re being sucked into the dark void of Zathura – and they must keep playing!
Acclaimed children’s author Chris Van Allsburg wrote “Jumanji” and “The Polar Express,” which, on-screen, were filled with high-tech, computer-generated imagery. Instead, screenwriters David Koepp and John Kamps, led by actor-turned-director Jon Favreau (“Elf”), favor a wind-up, low-tech, episodic, “Buck Rogers” and “Hardy Boys” approach, leaving far more to the imagination. And it works, teaching a gentle lesson in cooperation and brotherly love that strikes an emotional chord – without any of the menacing “Jumanji” mean-spiritedness.
Both child actors are impressive, as is wry “Punk’d” comedian Dax Shepard. J. Michael Riva’s retro ‘spacecraft’ production design and John Debney’s score cleverly emphasize the creaky, clunky, claustrophobic, yet magical and unpredictable feeling that Favreau has deliberately created. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Zathura” zings with an action-packed, adventurous 8. It’s a PG, family-friendly film that everyone can enjoy.

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Chicken Little

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Chicken Little” (Walt Disney)

In a new twist on the cautionary tale of the plucky chicken, this time, the sky really is falling!
Back in Oakey Oaks, nerdy, nervous Chicken Little (Zach Braff) is still humiliated from having claimed “the sky is falling” when he was clobbered by a falling acorn. It’s a year later and, after trying win approval from his jock’ish widower father, Buck Cluck (Garry Marshall), who urges him, to act “normal,” he has finally redeemed himself by becoming a local softball hero. Problem is: he’s conked again – this time by debris from an alien spaceship. Fearful of being doubted, he recruits his best “misfit” friends: Abby Mallard, the ugly duckling (Joan Cusack); Runt of the Litter, a huge but cowardly pig (Steve Zahn); and Fish Out Of Water, a walking fish in a diver’s helmet (Dan Molina). Together, they must warn the town of extraterrestrial danger.
Co-writer/director Mark Dindal stresses the lessons to be learned: love of family, loyalty to friends and, above all, tolerance. Emphasizing the family theme, there’s a pivotal fowl father/son confrontation when bespectacled Chicken Little says, “Dad, you never supported me.”
This is the first film made in-house at Disney, using all computer animation; previously, the studio relied on hand-drawn cartoons while distributing sophisticated Pixar creations like “Toy Story,” “The Incredibles” and “Finding Nemo.” Which explains Disney’s current commercial tie-ins with McDonald’s and Sears. Plus there are the razzle-dazzle 3-D “Chicken Little” versions in 84 theaters with digital projection. Disney’s partnership with Pixar expires in 2006, and Pixar wants to pay its new distributor a flat fee instead of sharing profits. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Chicken Little” is a splashy, spunky 7, geared to amuse its pint-sized audience.

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Walk the Line

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Walk the Line” (20th Century-Fox)

If there’s any justice, both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon should receive Oscar nominations for their portrayals of Johnny Cash and June Carter. Yet it’s hard not to compare this extraordinary biopic with “Ray,” for which Jamie Foxx deservedly won an Oscar. But I think Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is even more impressive and Reese Witherspoon is a revelation.
Like “Ray,” the story begins with Cash’s rural childhood and the tragic death of his beloved brother. It follows him through an Air Force stint in Germany, an ill-fated marriage to Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin) and on to Sun Studios in Memphis, where he cut his first record and acquired that Man in Black look. Then there are his touring encounters with Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Malloy Payne), Elvis Presley (Tyler Hilton) and, of course, tough ‘n’ sassy June Carter. Cash’s booze/pill-popping addiction eventually fells him but, by then, June’s at his side. Above all, this is a love story – not only about the attraction between a country/rock/blues legend and his songbird partner but also about a solid friendship based on their mutual love of making music.
Both stars do their own singing. Phoenix’s impression of Cash is uncanny, beginning with his shy, signature: “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” – and his Folsom Prison concert is thrilling. Reese Witherspoon embodies Carter’s grit and grace, along with her chirpy humor, and her vocal work dazzles. Working from Cash’s autobiographies and extensive interviews, writer Gill Dennis and director James Mangold capture the distinctive tone and pace of the period, while T-Bone Burnett expertly handles the vibrant music. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Walk the Line” is a terrific, toe-tappin’ 10. It’s an extraordinary life and love story, a must-see!

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review: “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (Warner Bros.)

What’s amazing about the Harry Potter franchise is that the films get better and better! Now at 14, Harry’s in his fourth year at Hogwarts School, where he faces not only the life-threatening Triwizard Tournament and the malevolent return of Lord Voldemort but also adolescent angst.
Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are still close friends but their loyalties are tested when Harry’s name is mysteriously spewed from the Goblet of Fire as an unexpected, underage competitor for the prestigious Triwizard Cup with two visiting schools. In the midst of this, he’s tormented by evil Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and, most terrifying of all, he must find a date for the “well-mannered frivolity” of the Yule Ball.
While familiar characters – Michael Gambon, Robbie Coltrane, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Jason Isaacs, Timothy Spall, Matthew Lewis, and Tom Felton – return, there are curious new faces like Brendan Gleeson as the Dark Arts teacher known as Mad-Eye Moody, Robert Pattinson as hunky Cedric Diggory and Miranda Richardson as gossipy Rita Skeeter.
As director, Mike Newell (“Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Mona Lisa Smile”) was a brilliant choice to capture the rebelliousness, insecurity and awkwardness of teenagers, exploring their competitiveness and rivalries. And screenwriter Steve Kloves cleverly condenses J.K. Rowling’s sprawling fourth book. Harry’s lesson here is apt: he must choose between what is right and what is easy. Because new audiences are added each year, Potter-mania will continue although its original core audience may have outgrown it. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” is an awesome 10. Or, as Harry puts it, “I love magic!”

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Derailed

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Derailed” (Weinstein Co./Miramax Films)

While Jennifer Aniston is understandably eager to shed her Rachel-on-“Friends” image, this preposterously plodding and tepid psychological thriller is unlikely to win her any new fans.
As the story begins, Chicago advertising executive Charles Schine (Clive Owen) finds himself on the commuter train to work minus cash to pay for his ticket. Graciously coming to his rescue is fellow suburbanite, Lucinda Harris (that’s Aniston) who works for a financial firm. Like Schine, she’s unhappily married with a child. Their “Strangers on a Train” conversation turns to flirtation and soon they’re set for an adulterous liaison at a seedy hotel where they’re surprised by LaRoche (Vincent Cassel), a vicious, gun-toting, Gallic sociopath, who bursts in, pistol-whips Charles, rapes Lucinda and steals their valuables. Charles wants to call the police but Lucinda refuses, fearful that her wealthy husband will divorce her and take their child. Then LaRoche begins to blackmail Charles, who’s worried about his daughter’s expensive diabetes treatments.
Adroitly adapted by Stuart Beattie (“Collateral”) from James Siegel’s novel, the screenplay is formulaic and structured, beginning and ending in prison, but Swedish director Mikael Hafstrom (“Evil”) fails to elicit the necessary tension to overcome the murky chain of coincidences and telegraphed plot twists. In addition, there’s no believable chemistry between the traumatized Aniston (unflatteringly photographed by Peter Biziou) and hapless Clive Owen (“Closer”) as the ill-fated lovers. Not surprisingly, Vincent Cassel (“Ocean’s Twelve) comes across as the most charismatic of the miscast, mismatched trio. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Derailed” grinds in with a tawdry, sordid 3. It’s way off-track and will soon be on its way to video oblivion.

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Get Rich or Die Tryin

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” (Paramount Pictures)

Rapper 50 Cent says he learned everything he needed to know to make it in the music business selling crack on the streets of Queens but that doesn’t necessarily make a good movie.
Billed under his birth name, Curtis Jackson, 50 Cent plays Marcus, a character much like himself, or at least his thug-life mythology. The story begins as he and his loyal buddy Bama (Terrence Howard) are pulling off a chaotic robbery. Then there’s a flashback to the 1970s when, as a young boy (Marc John Jeffries), he’s raised by his grandmother (Viola Davis) and her Caribbean-immigrant husband (Sullivan Walker). Fascinated by hip-hop, Marcus starts making music but, when he plays it for Charlene (Joy Bryant), her parents are horrified by sexuality of the words. Then his drug-dealing mother (Serena Reeder) is murdered. Time passes and when he sees Charlene again, he’s driving a new Mercedes, having become a rapper called Little Caesar. But soon he’s busted and sent to prison, where Bama saves his life. So much for plot. Who cares?
Directed by Jim Sheridan (“My Left Foot,” “In the Name of the Father,” “In America”), the quasi-authentic, simplistic screenplay, written by Terence Winter, evokes no coherent empathy for street-hardened Marcus. Unlike Eminem’s authentic “8 Mile” or Terrence Howard’s fictional “Hustle and Flow,” this gritty crime-and-rap saga is just romanticized, graphic gangsta violence. And, as an actor with a severely limited range, 50 Cent seems to struggle to convey even the most basic emotions in this vanity project. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” is a muddled, trite 2. Even 50 Cent fans may be disappointed with his screen debut because there’s only a minute or two of actual concert footage accompanying the end credits.

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Breakfast on Pluto

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Breakfast on Pluto” (Sony Pictures Classics)

Irish director Neil Jordan confounded Hollywood with his 1992 Oscar-winning “The Crying Game.” He’s gender-bending again in this story of a small-town lad who becomes a transvestite.
Set in Treelin, Ireland in the 1970s, it’s the tender, episodic tale of Patrick Braden (Cillian Murphy), who was abandoned as a baby, the scandalously illicit, out-of-wedlock child of the parish priest (Liam Neeson) and his pretty, blonde housekeeper. Acutely aware that he’s different, Patrick assumes the eccentric identity of a free-spirited woman called “Kitten” and travels to London, determined to find his mother, the “Phantom Lady.” All he knows is that resembles actress Mitzi Gaynor. Although he’s beaten by the IRA and the victim of a nightclub bombing, he never loses his light-hearted, coquettish yet defiantly indefatigable spirit.
Based on Patrick McCabe’s novel, this meandering, visually intoxicating comic fable, photographed by Declan Quinn, evokes memories of the naive, wistful innocence of both “Forrest Gump” and “Big Fish.” But what’s most amazing is 29 year-old Cillian Murphy’s incredible versatility! He’s the same actor who played the villain in “Red Eye” and Crane/The Scarecrow in “Batman Begins.” Murphy astonishes with his chameleon skill, his bravura style and his knockout performance. He has strong support from Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson as an angry amusement park employee, Stephen Rea as a kindly magician and Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry as a treacherous john whom Kitten repulses by spraying him with Chanel No. 5. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Breakfast on Pluto” is a picaresque 7. The pop soundtrack is sensational and the whimsical title comes from a 1969 hit song in Britain.

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Rent

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Rent” (Columbia Pictures)

“Chicago” and “Moulin Rouge” revived the movie musical and now there’s “Rent,” adapted from Jonathan Larson’s funky, Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway rock opera.
Inspired by Puccini’s “La Boheme,” it’s the story of a pivotal year in the life of eight bohemian artists living in New York’s East Village and struggling to express themselves, set against a backdrop of illness, homelessness and poverty. There’s Mark (Anthony Rapp), the narrator and aspiring documentary filmmaker who is besotted by Maureen (Idina Menzel), a hip, charismatic performance artist who loves Joanne (Tracie Thoms), a lawyer; Mark’s HIV-positive songwriter roommate Roger (Adam Pascal), who is attracted to smack-addicted, AIDS-stricken S&M dancer Mimi (Rosario Dawson); and Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin) who is besotted by Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia), a drag queen. Meanwhile, Benny (Taye Diggs), threatens to evict them all to convert their dank, dilapidated tenement into a new sound recording studio.
Credit director Chris Columbus (“Home Alone”) for retaining six members from the original cast but what was once defiant and daring now seems a bit dated. The jarring blackouts between scenes break the suspension of disbelief, the “snow” is so fake that an entire outdoor sequence becomes contrived, and “Seasons of Love,” the most familiar tune, is repeated far too often. On the other hand, the theatrical contrivance of singing-rather-than-speaking works, particularly as handled by Jesse L. Martin, Adam Pascal, Idina Menzel and Anthony Rapp. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Rent” is a vibrant, energetic, exuberantly powerful 8. While this is certainly not the subject matter for a typical Hollywood musical, it’s all about tolerance and love.

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Syriana

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

Writer/director Stephen Gaghan, an Oscar-winner for “Traffic,” believes that oil is the world’s crack addition and his political thriller – with its intrigues and corruption – delves into the price we, as a society, pay to sustain that habit. What’s best is that this movie really makes you think!
Bearded, bloated Bob Barnes (George Clooney) is a veteran CIA agent who’s estranged from his wife, alienated from his son and now scapegoated by the bureau to which he’s devoted his life. Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) is an ambitious lawyer investigating the questionable merger of two oil companies. Bryan Woodsman (Matt Damon) is an energy analyst who becomes an advisor to idealistic Prince Nasir (Alexander Siddig) whose oil-producing Persian Gulf nation has just made a lucrative deal with the Chinese. And teenage Wasim (Mazhar Munir) is a desperate Pakistani oil field worker who has been laid off due to the Chinese takeover. Each has his own perspective on terrorism and what’s happening in the global oil industry.
Inspired by “See No Evil,” the memoirs of ex-CIA agent Robert Bear, the story interweaves and interlocks so many diverse characters and complicated, yet parallel storylines that it’s challenging to keep them straight, but “Syriana” is a geographical term for the “hot spots” in the Middle East that are crucial to U.S. security. While Chris Cooper, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer and Max Minghella make their mark in pivotal supporting roles, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Alexander Siddig are most memorable. And you’ll squirm through a gratuitously grisly fingernail-extracting torture scene. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Syriana” is a powerful 10, striking a resonating chord with the oil-connected news that unfolds every day.

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Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont” (Cineville/Picture Ent.)

This humorous, bittersweet drama chronicles the unexpected and life-changing relationship between a woman in her twilight years and a sensitive, aspiring artist on the brink of discovery.
When elegant, recently widowed Mrs. Palfrey (Joan Plowright) arrives at London’s Claremont Hotel, she discovers that the atmosphere is dreary, the retired residents are gossipy and the service is depressingly dismal. Nevertheless, she strikes up an acquaintance with the other boarders (Anna Massey, Millicent Martin, Robert Lang) who are appropriately described as refugees from a Terence Rattigan play. But Mrs. Palfrey’s life changes when she trips on the sidewalk and a courteous young writer/musician, Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend), dashes to her side. In gratitude, she invites him to dinner at the Claremont, where everyone assumes he’s her grandson, an amusing charade she not only encourages but depends on since she’s seemingly alienated from her daughter and real grandson. A nurturing, poignant friendship blossoms.
Based on a story by the late British novelist Elizabeth Taylor (no relation to the American movie star) and lushly adapted by Ruth Sacks, it’s deftly directed by Dan Ireland (“The Whole Wide World”) who understands the loneliness of aging. A subtle touch is having Mrs. Palfrey appear in the same hat that Celia Johnson wore in her first scene in “Brief Encounter” (1945), one of the pivotal points of reference. Yet it’s glorious, 75 year-old Joan Plowright a.k.a. Lady Olivier (“Enchanted April”) who propels the picture, and she’s matched by Rupert Friend (“Pride and Prejudice”). On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont” is a compassionate, charming 8, proving that family can be found when you least expect it.

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