Movie/TV Reviews

First Shot

Susan Granger’s review of “First Shot” (TBS Superstation TV movie – Aug. 11th premiere)

Mariel Hemingway is back with another story about intrepid Secret Service agent Alex McGregor, a role she created in “First Daughter,” a show that garnered the largest original movie audience in cable history. In “First Shot,” an extremist American rebel group resurfaces to assassinate the President (Gregory Harrison) as vengeance for the death of their brothers. While this story is a continuation, it’s all explained so you know what happened previously. The stakes grow higher when the rebels take Alex’s husband (Doug Savant) hostage, and Alex realizes that she too has become a target. What elevates the cat-and-mouse game tension is Chad and Carey Hayes’s writing and fast-paced directing by Armand Mastroianni. Each character has a solid backstory; the little nuances and subplots are carefully developed. It’s intriguing to go behind the scenes into the daily private lives of the Secret Service agents assigned to protect the President. Plus there’s the quirky, original role-reversal in Alex’s relationship with her husband. She’s the driven action hero, putting her life on the line each day, while he’s an expert tracker yet far more passive, playing the kind of supportive part that’s usually written for a woman. A member of the famed Hemingway clan (grandfather Ernest died just before she was born), Mariel Hemingway is strong and athletic enough to be convincing as the head of the President’s protection detail and she conveys the aura of a woman who’s interesting and powerful yet emotionally conflicted. On the Granger Made-for-TV Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “First Shot” is an intense, suspenseful 7. It premieres on Sunday, Aug. 11, at 8 PM with encores on Aug. 18 at 6 PM, Aug. 20 at 8 PM, Aug. 22 at 11 PM and Aug. 24 at 4:30 PM.

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Signs

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Signs” (Touchstone/Disney

Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable”) specializes in weird supernatural thrillers and, this time, he explores the meaning of faith and the myth of coincidence. The perplexing story revolves around what happens when a widower farmer (Mel Gibson) – a former minister who has left the Church but whom everyone still calls “Father” – his children (Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin), his ex-baseball-player brother (Joaquin Phoenix) and local police officer (Cherry Jones) find huge hieroglyphs in his bucolic Bucks County, Pennsylvania, cornfield and discover a mysterious, malevolent alien presence. But the curious, foreboding, highly publicized crop-circles which, seemingly, appear around the world aren’t the theme here. Actually, they’re red herrings or allegorical devices. Among contemporary filmmakers, M. Night Shyamalan has been compared with Steven Spielberg but, even more, he’s a cinematic descendant of Alfred Hitchcock, using several popular Hitchcockian devices to shock and create suspense. Showing less and igniting the imagination is always far scarier than what we can actually perceive. There are several scenes reminiscent of “The Birds,” while Tak Fujimoto’s shadowy photography heightens the tension as does James Newton Howard’s music. Like Hitchcock, Shyamalan delights in doing bits in his own films; you can spot him as the driver who accidentally killed Gibson’s wife. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Signs” is a shamelessly manipulative, unabashedly spiritual 7. If you can forgive the flawed, derivative ending, it’s a real chiller thriller.

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Blood Work

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

In this suspense thriller, 72 year-old Clint Eastwood once again incorporates the indignities of aging into his action-hero character. He’s Terrence “Terry” McCaleb, a veteran Southern California FBI agent, who collapses in the opening sequence with a massive coronary after chasing down a homicide suspect. Two years and a new heart transplant later, he’s living a quiet life of retirement on his boat moored in San Pedro Harbor, where a beautiful Latina, Graciela Rivers (Wanda De Jesus), confronts him with the fact that he’s alive only because her sister was murdered and he was given her heart, adding that her 10 year-old nephew (Mason Lucero) lost his mother to a violent crime – and that the culprit, an elusive serial killer, has never been caught. Despite his physical vulnerability, Terry is still an expert investigator, specializing in profiling, yet no one seems to want him to go back to work on this case – not the local cops (Paul Rodriguez, Dylan Walsh) nor his cardiologist (Anjelica Huston) who repeatedly reminds him about the risk of infection and rejection inherent in his recent transplant which, in itself, was a miracle because of his rare blood type. McCaleb’s only supporters seem to be an old FBI friend (Tina Lifford) and a laid-back boat bum buddy (Jeff Daniels) who’s delighted to drive him around, claiming they’re “Starsky and Putz.” Based on Michael Connelly’s 1998 novel and adapted by Brian Helgeland, the cop-crime melodrama is directed by Eastwood, using his usual economy which meshes well with the efficient cinematography of Tom Stern, who was Eastwood’s chief lighting technician for many years, and Joel Cox’s understated editing. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Blood Work” is an edgy if predictable 6, but there’s certainly nothing defective about this detective.

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Possession

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Possession” (USA Films release)

The most romantic film of the summer, “Possession” tells a tale of two couples, separated by time yet bound together by a literary mystery. Roland Mitchell (Aaron Eckhart) is an American scholar in England on a fellowship to study the life and work of Victorian poet laureate Randolph Henry Ash. When he discovers unfinished love letters, he makes a theoretical connection between Ash (Jeremy Northam), who was married, and poetess Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle). His bold assertion piques the curiosity of an icy British scholar, Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow), who has been researching LaMotte and her lesbian companion (Lena Headley). Flashbacks of the secretive Ash/LaMotte liaison are intercut with the growing attraction between Mitchell and Bailey as they doggedly pursue their determined detective work, unearthing a surprising cache of impassioned missives and exploring their chaotic emotional archeology. Seemingly effortlessly, Aaron Eckhart wraps around his character and few actresses do repression better than Gwyneth Paltrow, while Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle are convincing. Adapted by David Henry Hwang, Laura Jones and director Neil LaBute from A.S. Byatt’s 1990 Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, it’s a deliberate diversion from the darkly comic cynicism of LaBute’s previous work (“Nurse Betty,” “In the Company of Men,” “Your Friends and Neighbors”) – and curiously reminiscent of the lyrical “Somewhere In Time.” The dialogue, in particular, is seductive, evoking a true appreciation for the language of love. (For the curious: both Ash and LaMotte are fictional characters who never really wrote poetry.) On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Possession” is a sensitive, sincere 7, an opulent courtship saga that spans the centuries.

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XXX

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “XXX” (Sony Pictures Entertainment/Columbia )

If you like your movies loud and fast, this is the ultimate blast. Vin Diesel headlines the testosterone-drenched thrill ride which is deliberately calculated to capitalize on the brawny “Fast and Furious” image that made him Hollywood’s first multi-racial action hero. The story is simple: a spy for the National Security Agency, Samuel L. Jackson, recruits a buff, tattooed, fearless extreme-sports athlete named Xander “XXX” Cage to become a secret agent and avert the global catastrophe, dubbed “Silent Night,” that’s been planned in Prague by a brutal ex-Russian Army anarchist named Yorgi (New Zealand actor Marton Csokas) and his nihilist mistress, Yelena (Asia Argento), a sexy Russian spy. Xander gains Yorgi’s confidence by feigning interest in a fleet of hot muscle cars for American clients and infiltrates his organization. So where’s the CIA amidst all this international skullduggery? But the plot’s not important – it’s the bone-crunching, daredevil stunts, superbly photographed by Dean Semler, that are awesome: hurtling a Corvette over a bridge and parachuting to safety, snowboarding down a mountain ahead of an avalanche, jumping a motorcycle through barbed wire, punctuated by blaring Euro/Pop/Goth music. Plus the 007-inspired gadgetry! Director Rob Cohen (“The Fast and the Furious”) is familiar with Vin Diesel’s rugged, rebellious appeal and emphasizes it throughout Rich Wilkes’ monosyllabic, gung-ho screenplay that was written for the gruff actor who calls his biceps the Kryptonics, naming them after the biggest top-of-the-line skateboard wheels. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “XXX” is an adrenaline-propelled, x-plosive 7. Don’t underestimate the cool charisma of this dude Diesel, who’s reinvented a grungy, dumbed-down James Bond for a new generation.

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Blue Crush

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

Sometimes it’s difficult to be totally objective, so I’ll confess that growing up in Southern California, I always wanted to be a surfer babe. I’d get up early to catch the waves before school and return again in the afternoon. Which is why I enjoyed this water world sports drama far more than formulaic material warranted. Set in Hawaii, the story revolves around a blonde jock (Kate Bosworth) who lives with her rebellious younger sister (Mike Boorem) and two surfing pals (Michelle Rodriguez, Sanoe Lake) in a ramshackle beach house. She’s qualified for the Pipe Masters competition on the treacherous North Shore of Oahu but she’s psych’d herself out because of a previous near-fatal wipeout. Just a week before the competition, she meets a visiting NFL quarterback (Matthew Davis) who wants surfing lessons – before they tumble between the sheets. But this tepid romantic distraction is secondary to the adrenaline rush of the spectacularly exciting but dangerous water action. Cinematographer David Hennings and his intrepid crew capture the awesome enormity of the 30′ high waves, using a gyrocam, or underwater camera, for a surfer’s-eye-view inside the ferociously frightening funnels. Writer/director John Stockwell and writer Lizzy Weiss, inspired by Susan Orlean’s “Surf Girls of Maui,” explore the curious surfing subculture and create a rockin’ momentum with Bob Marley’s “And Be Loved,” Blestenation’s hip-hop remix of Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer,” etc. While Bosworth and Rodriguez are superb athletes, A-list surfers Rochelle Ballard, Megan Abubo, Keala Kennelly, Layne Beachley and Kate Skarratt did the difficult stunts. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Blue Crush” is an empowering, exhilarating, end-of-summer 7. This is surfing like you’ve never seen before!

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Simone

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Simone” (New Line Cinema)

It was a great ruse, and he almost pulled it off! New Zealand-born writer/producer/director Andrew Niccol, who did the challenging sci-fi saga “Gattaca,” creates a synthetic movie star for this scathing satire on the concept of celebrity. In “Simone,” Al Pacino is Viktor Taransky, a self-obsessed director, whose temperamental star (Winona Ryder) walks off his latest movie. In desperation, after being fired by his ex-wife and studio head (Catherine Keener), he becomes a contemporary Dr. Frankenstein to a lusty, blond ingenue who becomes a world-wide sensation. Unlike her neurotic counterparts, Simulation One, or S1mOne, has no ego and eschews the limelight. She’s kind, gracious and appreciative, yet she eludes even an intrepid tabloid reporter (Pruitt Taylor Vince). Absolutely no one but Viktor, her creator, knows she’s not real, a fraud.. According to the film’s publicity, a team of 10-15 special effects technicians spent about six months in a tedious post-production process assembling her. But what neither the screen credits nor the production notes reveal is that the virtual Simone is primarily Rachel Roberts, a Canadian model who’s graced the cover of Vogue and Elle and appeared in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. As a marketing gimmick, Niccol and New Line Cinema kept Roberts’ existence secret for almost two years. Under a gag order, Ms. Roberts used the pseudonym “Anna Green,” taken from “anamorphic green screen,” a technical term derived from digitally enhanced scenes. Despite that devious, synthetic ploy, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Simone” is an enigmatic, enhanced 8, the most capricious anti-Hollywood parody since “The Player.” But when you see the smug end credit, “Simone as Herself,” you’ll know it’s 98.6% the real Rachel Roberts.

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One Hour Photo

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “One Hour Photo” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

It’s Robin Williams’ devastating performance that distinguishes this chilling psychological character study. With blond hair, thick glasses, compressed lips and soft voice, Williams is almost unrecognizable as Sy Parrish, the nebbishy manager of a one-hour photo in a suburban Sav-Mart who muses ominously: “You never take a photograph of something you want to forget.” Because his real life is so totally emotionally barren, Parrish fantasizes about the photographs he develops, particularly the Kodak moments he glimpses of an attractive young wife and mother (Connie Nielsen) and her young son (Dylan Smith). But “there’s more to it than meets the eye.” Soon he becomes so obsessed with snapshots of the seemingly perfect, upper-middle-class Yorkin family that he evolves into an invasive, knife-wielding stalker, catching the neglectful husband (Michael Vartan) in the act of adultery. “Snapshot,” he explains, “was originally a hunting term.” You’ve got to credit actor Robin Williams with courage, transforming himself into the demented kiddy-TV host in “Death to Smoochy,” then the homicidal novelist in “Insomnia,” now this eerie, alienated, eccentric character. Hopefully, Oscar voters will remember to nominate this skillful performance when the ballots are sent out next year. Kudos also to writer/director Mark Romanek’s meticulous visual style (he was Madonna’s music video director for “Bedtime Story”), plus Jeff Cronenweth’s cinematography and Tom Foden’s stark production design. And notice that the Yorkin family name cleverly breaks into what Sy envisions as “your kin.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “One Hour Photo” is a scary, unsettling, adult 8. It’s such a dark, disturbing psychodrama that it could push me into buying a digital camera.

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The Good Girl

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Good Girl” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Jennifer Aniston transforms herself from “Friends” Rachel Green into an unhappy adulteress in this working-class drama. She’s 30 year-old Justine, a frustrated, small-town Texas woman who longs to have a child with her house-painter husband (John C. Reilly) who spends his evenings, stoned, in front of TV with his buddy Bubba (Tim Buddy Nelson). “I used to lie in bed and imagine other lives,” she muses. “Now I don’t even know what to imagine anymore.” Justine finds a soul-mate in 22 year-old “Holden” (Jake Gyllenhaal), a co-worker at the Retail Rodeo – even though she totally misses the point when he tells her he was named after the protagonist in J. D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.” But when their storage room/motel dalliance moves from liberation to obsession, she finds herself ensnared in a chaotic web of blackmail and larceny. As Justine observes, “Sometimes you have to make a few pit-stops on the road to redemption.” Screenwriter Mike White and director Miguel Arleta, who did “Chuck and Buck,” overcome the complete predictability of the plot with their sardonic insight and compassion for the multi-dimensional characters, along with the ensemble strong performances. Successfully making the stretch from her hip, glam TV image, Ms. Aniston embodies the emotionally exhausted cosmetics clerk who is weighted down by dullness, drudgery and desperation, while Jake Gyllenhaal is convincing as the sensitive but seriously disturbed wannabe writer. Zooey Deschanel scores as the store’s bad-girl with John Carroll Lynch as the officious discount-mart manager. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Good Girl” is a darkly comic, down-to-earth 7, proving that sometimes people just feel the need to escape.

Susan Granger's review of "The Good Girl" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Jennifer Aniston transforms herself from "Friends" Rachel Green into an unhappy adulteress in this working-class drama. She's 30 year-old Justine, a frustrated, small-town Texas woman who longs to have a child with her house-painter husband (John C. Reilly) who spends his evenings, stoned, in front of TV with his buddy Bubba (Tim Buddy Nelson). "I used to lie in bed and imagine other lives," she muses. "Now I don't even know what to imagine anymore." Justine finds a soul-mate in 22 year-old "Holden" (Jake Gyllenhaal), a co-worker at the Retail Rodeo - even though she totally misses the point when he tells her he was named after the protagonist in J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye." But when their storage room/motel dalliance moves from liberation to obsession, she finds herself ensnared in a chaotic web of blackmail and larceny. As Justine observes, "Sometimes you have to make a few pit-stops on the road to redemption."
Screenwriter Mike White and director Miguel Arleta, who did "Chuck and Buck," overcome the complete predictability of the plot with their sardonic insight and compassion for the multi-dimensional characters, along with the ensemble strong performances. Successfully making the stretch from her hip, glam TV image, Ms. Aniston embodies the emotionally exhausted cosmetics clerk who is weighted down by dullness, drudgery and desperation, while Jake Gyllenhaal is convincing as the sensitive but seriously disturbed wannabe writer. Zooey Deschanel scores as the store's bad-girl with John Carroll Lynch as the officious discount-mart manager. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Good Girl" is a darkly comic, down-to-earth 7, proving that sometimes people just feel the need to escape.

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Serving Sara

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Serving Sara” (Paramount Pictures)

Warning: There are many definitions of “time waster” but this movie must surely be one of them. The inane plot revolves around Joe Tyler (Matthew Perry), a cynical process server, being assigned to serve divorce papers to Sara Moore (Elizabeth Hurley), the unsuspecting wife/partner of Gordon (Bruce Campbell), a Texas cattle rancher. Sara initially eludes him but when Joe finally finds her, she makes a counter-offer. She’ll give him $1 million to serve Gordon instead, a sneaky legal maneuver which will give her 50% of his fortune. What ensues is so stupefyingly awful that there must be an explanation. Perhaps it’s because Matthew Perry (Chandler on TV’s “Friends”) took time off filming for rehab for alcohol and pain-killer addiction or because Elizabeth Hurley (“Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”) was trolling for the father of her then-unborn child. Who knows? But there’s zero chemistry between them, which poses an insurmountable problem since this is intended to be a screwball romantic comedy. And that still doesn’t excuse the lame, stereotypical characters and formulaic script by Jay Scherick and David Ronin (TV’s “Spin City” writers) nor the ineptitude of director Reginald Hudlin (“Boomerang”). And who got to the MPAA ratings committee on this one? Not only is it sexually crude in a veterinarian scene but the beauteous Ms. Hurley flashes her bare breasts to a motel clerk in order to get a free room. That’s PG-13? Supporting actors Vincent Pastore (late of TV’s “Sopranos”), as a rival process server, and Cedric the Entertainer, as Joe’s boss, try valiantly but to no avail. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Serving Sara” is an atrocious 1, destined to disappear into the post-Labor Day dumping ground until it’s designated as one of the 10 Worst Pictures of the Year.

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