Movie/TV Reviews

Breakfast on Pluto

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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The Chronicles of Narnia

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Chronicles of Narnia” (Buena Vista Pictures/Walt Disney)

This C.S. Lewis’ children’s classic, subtitled “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” joins “The Lord of the Rings” and the “Harry Potter” series as yet another fantasy adapted to film.
During W.W.II in London, the four Pevensie children – Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) – are sent to live in the countryside with an old professor (Jim Broadbent). One day, while playing hide-and-seek, Lucy stumbles into a huge wardrobe that leads to the alternate universe of Narnia, where she’s befriended by a kindly faun, Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy), and learns of the terrible curse by the malevolent White Witch (Tilda Swinton): 100 years of winter – with no Christmas. Despite their initial cynicism, Lucy’s siblings soon join her there, along with an elusive lion king, Aslan (Liam Neeson’s voice), and two bickering beavers (voiced by Ray Winstone and Dawn French).
Much has been written about C.S. Lewis’ spiritual roots, specifically how Aslan symbolizes Jesus, particularly in the sacrifice of his life. That simplistic Christian element is heavy-handedly emphasized by writers Christopher Markus, Ann Peacock and Stephen McFeely, working with director Andrew Adamson on the good-versus-evil theme, encompassing loyalty, betrayal and redemption. The CGI, animation, and prosthetics are incredible – the astounding variety of fairy-tale creatures: mythic centaurs (half-man, half-horse), minotaurs (half-man, half-bull), satyrs, goblins, gryphons, harpies, etc. And the climactic battle with 20,000 characters is far more lavish than C.S. Lewis ever dreamed! On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Chronicles of Narnia” is an imaginative, allegorical 7, although literary subtlety is lost to the patently obvious.

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Yours, Mine & Ours

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Yours, Mine & Ours” (Paramount Pictures)

With the success of “Cheaper By the Dozen” with its sequel coming out soon, the time was ripe for a remake of a 1968 comedy, starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda, based on a true story about a couple who brought 18 children into their marriage and then had a baby together.
This time, free- spirited Helen North (Rene Russo) is a widow with 10 kids while highly-disciplined Frank Beardsley (Dennis Quaid), a widower, has eight. She’s a handbag designer and he’s a Coast Guard admiral, recently returned to his hometown of New London, Connecticut, where he re-discovered Helen, his high-school sweetheart. Impulsively, they marry and move into a seaside home, complete with its own lighthouse, pet dog and pet pig, plus a housekeeper (Linda Hunt). But, despite “The Brady Bunch” and organizational charts allotting bathroom-time, this disparate, blended brood can’t seem to get along. In fact, all they have in common, along with unhappiness, hyperactivity and attention deficit disorders, is an ardent desire for their newlywed parents to get a divorce so they can return to their previous existences.
Director Raja Gosnell (“Scooby-Doo”) has assembled a strong cast. Problem is: he just doesn’t know what to do with them. The blandly wholesome yet perfunctory script by Ron Burch and David Kidd doesn’t help, even though it’s been updated to have six of Helen’s kids adopted, a veritable rainbow coalition with Asians, Indians and African-Americans represented. There’s an inordinate amount of chaotic, silly slapstick, often based on regurgitated food. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Yours, Mine & Ours” is a frantic, familiar 5. It’s an 88-minute, family-friendly diversion that should have a longer life on the video shelf than in local theaters.

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Aeon Flux

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Aeon Flux” (Paramount Pictures)

This futuristic sci-fi thriller wasn’t screened for critics before it opened, a ploy that usually indicates the picture’s a stinker. So the question is: are you willing to pay full fare to see Charlize Theron do back-flips in skintight S&M outfits? Because that’s this folly’s primary attraction.
As the story begins, it’s 2415. Most of humanity on Earth was obliterated back in 2011 by a viral plague. Most of those who survived remain dwell in the walled, sanitized city of Bregna, a plush, protected metropolis with no contact with the outside world. When Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron), an energetic, athletic freedom-fighter allied with the rebellious Monicans, is assigned to murder Bregna’s dictator, Trevor Goodchild (Hungarian-born actor Marton Csokas), after his government agents kill her sister (Amelia Warner), she discovers subliminal secrets that were never meant to be revealed. At least, I think that’s what all the confusing commotion is about.
Based on Peter Chung’s cult series of animated shorts created for MTV’s “Liquid Television” series, it’s written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi and clumsily directed by Karyn Kusama (“Girlfight”). So who’s to blame for the fact that it’s truly outlandish and incoherent? Why would Charlize Theron tackle this robotic role after her Oscar-winning performance in “Monster,” particularly when her stunt double gets to make all the memorable moves? Was she trying to copy Halle Berry’s “Catwoman”? And who drugged Frances McDormand to participate as a rebel leader? For that matter, why haven’t Peter Postlethwaite, Jonny Lee Miller and Sophie Okonedo (memorable in “Hotel Rwanda”) fired their agents? On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Aeon Flux” is an inane, inept 4 – but Charlize Theron is certainly one beautiful, sexy woman!

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Transamerica

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Transamerica” (The Weinstein Company)

Sexually ambiguous roles often spell Oscar for actors but Emmy-winner Felicity Huffman breaks new ground here, playing a male transsexual about to have surgery to become a woman.
Stanley (that’s Huffman) has been waiting all his/her life for the operation that will allow him/her to feel fully feminine. She/he is already comfortable cross-dressing, taken the necessary hormones and assumed the name Bree (short for Sabrina). With only a week before the gender-reassignment operation, Bree learns that, as Stanley, he fathered a son, Toby (Kevin Zegers), who is in jail in New York. Bree’s therapist (Elizabeth Pena) insists that she fly East from LA immediately to cope somehow with this troubled teen and explain the awkward situation. Unable to tell the truth, Bree bails sullen Toby out, poses as a Christian missionary and, discovering that he’s a drug-addicted male prostitute, offers to drive him to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of a “film career” in pornographic movies. Thus begins a meandering, plaintive cross-country trip that’s filled with deceptions and revelations en route to family dysfunction. Made on a shoestring budget, it’s like “Priscilla: Queen of the Desert” meets “Broken Flowers” via “Soldier’s Girl.”
Completed before the debut of “Desperate Housewives,” this complicated, challenging part reveals just how versatile Felicity Huffman is. She astonishes with her skill, her dignity, her bravura style and her knockout performance. Although writer/director Duncan Tucker isn’t able to rise above the inherent melodrama, he’s assembled a strong supporting cast that also includes Finnula Flanagan and Graham Greene. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Transamerica” is an astute, gender-bending 7, a lively twist on an old Hollywood road movie formula.

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King Kong

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

Peter Jackson follows his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy with this terrific remake of the gorilla thriller, placing real characters, with real dilemmas, in the context of a truly fantastical world.
Respecting the iconography of the original concept, Jackson sets the story in the Depression-era 1930s as movie-maker Carl Denham (Jack Black) launches an expedition to Skull Island. He signs a egotistical leading man, Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler), and a winsome heroine, Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts). He even kidnaps a sensitive writer Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), but he doesn’t have much of a story until he discovers his simian star, Kong (Andy Serkis), hidden deep in the jungle. A credible, poignant relationship soon develops between Ann and Kong, who protects her in a savage, prehistoric world that’s filled with ferocious dinosaurs, predatory insects and spiders. After Kong is transported to New York, their gentle, playful scene on an icy Central Park pond tugs at your heartstrings and Kong’s doom atop the Empire State Building is tragic.
More than three hours long, the narrative languishes indulgently for the first 70 minutes, a long build-up until the great ape appears. After that, it’s awesome – and exciting! With its stop-motion special effects, the mighty 1933 “Kong” set the standard for years to come and the 1976 remake was ill-conceived and pallid. But Peter Jackson and his team are master craftsmen, particularly Andy Serkis (the Gollum in the “Rings” trilogy), who gave Kong his eyes and facial expressions and emotion. Grant Major’s production design, Andrew Lesnie’s photography and the CGI are arresting in their detail and perspective. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “King Kong” is a scary, sensational 10, simply the most spectacular creature feature ever made!

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The Family Stone

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Family Stone” (20th Century-Fox)

Aside from last year’s “Bad Santa” and Jodie Foster’s “Home For the Holidays,” rarely have I seen such a maudlin, manipulative, mean-spirited mess masquerading as a holiday comedy.
Revolving around the annual Christmas celebration of a New England family, the Stones, it begins as the oldest son Everett (Dermot Mulroney) brings his girlfriend Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) home to meet his parents (Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson) and siblings (Luke Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Elizabeth Reaser, Ty Giordano). An uptight, nervous New Yorker, Meredith’s inflexible and intractable and the free-thinking, eccentric Stones take an immediate dislike to her. Hostility replaces hospitality, so Meredith moves to a nearby hotel and gets her saucy sister Julie (Claire Danes) to join her. Inevitably, secrets are revealed and new allegiances are formed.
Writer/director Thomas Bezucha was obviously influenced by Frank Capra’s “You Can’t Take It With You,” based on George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s hit play. But Capra’s characters were zany, not deliberately cruel. Everett and Meredith’s relationship is doomed from the getgo, so a break-up is predictable. Tackling this annoying, un-likable prude, “Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker shows that, like David Caruso and Debra Messing, she’s smaller-than-life; that is, far better on TV than the big screen, and Mulroney’s performance is stultified. On the plus side, Diane Keaton is lethally funny and terminally sad, blending humor with heartbreak. But showing clips of the classic “Meet Me in St. Louis” sharply illustrates how disappointing this contemporary story is. On the Granger Movie Gauge, “The Family Stone” is a schmaltzy 5, ostensibly about not judging people’s shortcomings and being charitable. Bah, humbug!

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