Movie/TV Reviews

The Powerpuff Girls

Susan Granger’s review of “The Powerpuff Girls” (Warner Bros.)

If it seems like there are more family films right now, that’s true. There are 40 G and PG-rated movies set for this summer – and it’s already paying off at the box-office. Most of these have moderate budgets and a built-in small-fry audience who bring along their parents. The heroines of this animated adventure are the squeaky-voiced, saucer-eyed five year-old triplets who have captivated the Cartoon Network. Created by director Craig McCracken with a collaborative screenplay by Charlie Bean, Lauren Faust, Paul Rudish and Don Shank, the story tells how they were accidentally created in the laboratory of Professor Utonium (voiced by Tom Kane). Each energy-propelled girl has a distinctive signature color. Redheaded Blossom (voiced by Catherine Cavadini) is the leader. Adorable, blond Bubbles (voiced by Tara Strong) is the artist, and green-tinted, brunette Buttercup (voiced by E.G. Daily) is the feisty fighter. Narrated by the Mayor (Tom Kenny) of Townsville, the good vs. evil plot shows how the sly kindergarten girls must earn their superhero status after making two disastrous mistakes which nearly destroy the city which they’re supposed to protect. Eventually, they marshal their forces to battle the nefarious outcast monkey, Mojo Jojo (voiced by Roger L. Jackson), and his ape army of warlords who have been instructed: “Wake up and seize the town!” While there are some raucous, scary scenes of destruction and death, they should not adversely affect the rambunctious rugrats who routinely view this kind of cartoon mayhem on the tube. Think of the violence in “Pokemon.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Powerpuff Girls” is a fast, frenetic, funny, even punny 6 – aimed specifically at a grade-school audience. More power to the teensy, candy-colored trio!

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Stuart Little 2

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Stuart Little 2” (Columbia Pictures)

Eureka! A sequel that’s even better than the original. As his second action-packed adventure begins, the mouse-boy Stuart Little (voice of Michael J. Fox) has settled in with his adoptive parents (Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie), older brother (Jonathan Lipnicki) and baby sister Martha (Anna & Ashley Hoelck). Even Snowbell (voice of Nathan Lane), the caustic white Chinchilla Persian cat, seems to have accepted him. While there are disagreements about how much independence Stuart should have, more than anything, Stuart longs for a friend his own size. So when Margalo (voice of Melanie Griffith), an injured bird, drops out of the sky into the passenger seat of his car, Stuart is bedazzled by her beguiling charm. Margalo tells him that she’s terrified of the fierce and evil Falcon (voice of James Woods) but she doesn’t reveal the total truth, the dodgy part about her being a feathered thief sent to steal Stuart’s mother’s diamond ring. Then when Margalo – and the ring – suddenly disappear, Stuart sets off through Manhattan’s disgusting underbelly to find her. “When you’re friends with Stuart Little, you’re friends for life,” he explains. “I hope I live to regret this,” mutters Snowbell, his reluctant companion. Written by Bruce Joel Rubin, based on E.B. White’s characters, and directed by Rob Minkoff, the story not only delves into facets of Stuart’s character but also the perennial conflicts of adolescence and the importance of optimism and empowerment. (“You’re only as big as you feel.”) While the original got a 2000 Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects, this surpasses the first, particularly the lifelike birds and the action in Stuart’s car and model plane. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Stuart Little 2” is magical, family-friendly 10. Stuart is a mighty mouse indeed!

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K-19: The Widowmaker

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “K-19: The Widowmaker” (Paramount Pictures)

Action thrillers don’t get more powerful and intense than this! Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson deliver formidable performances yet what’s truly riveting here is director/producer Kathryn Bigelow’s exploration of the sensuality of suspense in all its harrowing permutations. Inspired by actual events, the story chronicles Captain Alexi Vostrikov’s assignment to take over the nuclear missile submarine K-19, the top-secret flagship of the Soviet Navy, in 1961 at the height of the Cold War. Of critical and strategic importance, his orders are to counter America’s weapons expansion by launching a missile from the Arctic Circle, then to proceed down the North Atlantic coast to an off-shore patrol position between Washington, D.C. and New York City. But there’s a malfunction that may lead to a core meltdown and explosion that could trigger a global nuclear war. Under unprecedented pressure, Vostrikov must choose between Kremlin directives and the lives of his crew. Written by Christopher Kyle (with uncredited assist from Tom Stoppard), themes of duty, patriotism and heroism pervade as the senior officers (Ford and Neeson) struggle with one another, the crew and their Communist leaders. While their characters lack complexity – Ford stoically assuming the dignified, no-nonsense, serious stand with Neeson shouldering the paternal pathos – their challenges are daunting – and it’s fascinating to view the precarious balance of power from a Russian perspective. Joss Ackland, Christian Camargo and Peter Sarsgaard score as stressed-out submariners. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “K-19: The Widowmaker” is a claustrophobic, chilling, compelling 8. You really feel their grim, gut-wrenching anxiety, fear and terror within the tight, confined quarters of a submarine.

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Reign of Fire

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Reign of Fire” (Touchstone Pictures)

Combine a pinch of “Highlander” with a generous dollop of videomania and you come up with this “Road Warrior”-type of apocalyptic adventure. The story begins in present-day London where, after school one day, a British schoolboy, 12 year-old Quinn, joins his project engineer-mother (Alice Krige) who is working in an underground subway construction site. Suddenly, the deep drilling disturbs a cave where a massive, fire-breathing dragon has been hibernating for centuries. While escaping to the surface, Quinn’s mother is killed. Skip ahead several decades, and dragons have conquered the world, devouring everyone except militant groups of survivors who have barricaded themselves in fortresses. There’s one in Northumberland that’s led by the now-grown and muscular Quinn (Christian Bale). (In the evenings, he and a cohort amuse their orphan charges with a play based on George Lucas’s “Star Wars” mythology.) Into their midst comes an American search-and-destroy dragon-hunting squad led by a bald, buff, tattooed brute (Matthew McConaughey) and his blond-babe helicopter pilot (Izabella Scorupco). They drop paratroopers, called archangels, from a helicopter to net flying dragons and slay them with crossbows. They’ve deduced that, while there are many females, only one male dragon exists – and killing him would mean the survival of the human species. While the giant, computer-generated, fire-breathing dragons are awesome and scary, the writing trio (Gregg Chabot, Kevin Peterka, Matt Greenberg) and director Rob Bowman rely too much on montages and shadowy insinuations. Plus, the supporting actors’ thick Cockney accents are often indecipherable. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Reign of Fire” is a scorched 4, giving a new meaning to global warming.

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Lovely & Amazing

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Lovely & Amazing” (Lions Gate Films)

Talk about dysfunctional families! When writer/director Nicole Holofcenter (“Walking and Talking”) decided to tackle a two-generational drama about women trying to establish and maintain emotional connections, she drew from her own life’s experiences, including mixed-race adoption. As the story begins, matronly Jane Marks (Brenda Blethlyn) is preparing for elective liposuction surgery, and it becomes rapidly obvious that her perennial struggle for a positive self-image has been passed onto her three neurotic daughters. There’s Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer), an aspiring actress, who cajoles a callous, egomaniacal actor/lover into delineating the imperfections of her nude body in, without doubt, the most memorable scene in the film; Michelle (Catherine Keener), an embittered artist, who shields her self-doubt behind a surly disposition as her husband fails to appreciate her talent and no art gallery wants to display her handmade, miniature, decorative chairs; and, most poignantly, Annie (Raven Goodwin), a chubby, precocious, adopted African-American eight year-old who wants to “tear off” her dark skin. The men who inhabit their insecure sphere include Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Nouri, James LeGros, Clark Gregg, and Dermot Mulroney. Nicole Holofcenter is perceptive, witty and analytical about the quirky, conflicted characters she’s created, forcing them – briefly – to look beyond themselves to help one another in a period of crisis. If you enjoy angst-ridden dramas about flawed, floundering females, you may deem this charming; if not, you may find it a bit self-indulgent. Either way: the acting, the tone and the production values are commendable. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Lovely & Amazing” is a lively, engaging 6, but there’s a lot of obsessive self-loathing to overcome.

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Women vs. Men

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Women vs. Men” (SHOWTIME TV)

This pointless battle-of-the-sexes comedy explores the unlikely withering and rebirth of romance that takes place over a 24-hour period. The emotional roller-coaster begins as Bruce (Paul Reiser) attempts to console his bewildered buddy Michael (Joe Mantegna), whose wife of 20 years, Dana (Christine Lahti), has not only spurned the new white Cadillac he bought her but stormed out of the house in fury, saying he reminds her too much of her father. To cheer him up, Bruce suggests they take a quick trip to their favorite strip join. Michael agrees, thinking it might relax him. However, unbeknownst to them, Dana, who was on her way home, follows them and watches as they buy intimate lap dances from topless women. She quickly reports this boys-night-out diversion to Bruce’s wife Brita (Glenne Headley), who shares her fury. Then a lonely, tipsy divorcee neighbor (Jennifer Coolidge) arrives on the scene. Outnumbered and booted out of the house, the guys flee to visit Nick (Robert Pastorelli), who is separated from his wife and pursuing a new mission in life: seducing every woman in sight. Over the past 10 months, he boasts, he’s been to bed with 128 women. What he doesn’t reveal about his sexual escapades is that he’s also tried to seduce their wives. After more than an hour of verbal jousting, the couples finally begin to talk to each other. No more accusations. No more anger. Just an honest expression of their feelings about how the passing of time has affected their marriages. Not surprisingly, the men and women have different emotional needs when it comes to revving up their sex lives. On the Granger Made-for-TV Movie Gauge, “Women vs. Men” is a tiresome 3. It airs Sunday night (Aug. 4) at 8 PM on SHOWTIME TV, plus Aug. 21 at 8 PM and Aug. 27 at 11 PM.

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Read My Lips

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Read My Lips” (Magnolia Pictures)

Don’t miss French writer/director Jacques Audiard’s risky, neo-noir thriller about the unexpected relationship between a lonely, mousy secretary and a street-savvy ex-con. Carla Behm (Emmanuelle Devos) is the shy, overworked, underappreciated receptionist/secretary at a Parisian property development firm. She’d like to be a deal-maker but her serious hearing problem has made her socially inexperienced and timid. When she’s told to hire a secretarial assistant, she chooses an unlikely candidate, a handsome but coarse former thief named Paul Angeli (Vincent Cassel) who has no office experience. To compensate for her partial deafness, Carla’s learned to read lips – a skill which intrigues the criminally inclined Paul – and the tortuous, twisting plot revolves around how they complement and exploit one another. Passive/aggressive Carla manipulates Paul to elicit revenge against a sneaky co-worker who has harassed her, while Paul cleverly involves her as a rooftop spy and cohort in a nefarious caper involving the theft of a stash of cash. Too bad there’s a time-consuming subplot about Paul’s parole officer (Olivier Perrier) and his missing wife which seems totally superfluous. Pivotal to this compelling character struggle, Emmanuelle Devos (“Esther Kahn”) delivers an amazing performance which won France’s prestigious 2002 Cesar Award – and she’s matched scene-by-scene by Vincent Cassel (“Brotherhood of the Wolf”). Jacques Audiard’s intelligent, intricate, unpredictable screenplay, written with Tonino Benacquista, also received a Cesar Award. In French with English subtitles, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Read My Lips” is a subtle, sinister, suspenseful 9. Carla and Paul emerge as outlaw heroes, a Gallic Bonnie and Clyde.

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Tadpole

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

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

If you’re looking for a tart, sexy, sophisticated comedy this summer, this is it. Reminiscent of “The Graduate,” it’s the Oedipal story of a precocious Manhattan prep schooler, Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford), who is obsessed with risquŽ fantasies about his scientist stepmother Eve (Sigourney Weaver). Not only is she unaware of his fixation but so is his workaholic father (John Ritter), an erudite antiquities professor at Columbia. The film chronicles a fateful Thanksgiving weekend that turns into a French farce, which is quite appropriate since 15 year-old Oscar is a devoted Francophile who incessantly quotes Voltaire. While the Thanksgiving feast begins innocently enough with his clueless father apologizing to Native Americans, it culminates with Oscar succumbing to his raging hormones in the apartment of Eve’s best friend, Diane (Bebe Neuwirth), an affection-starved chiropractor. The next morning, however, Oscar is terrified that Diane will relate details of the boozy dalliance to Eve. And as the weekend unfolds, his worst fears are realized. Writers Heather McGowan and Niels Mueller tastefully reveal just enough about each character to keep you interested without drowning in superfluous details, and director Gary Winick keeps the pace brisk and bubbly. Cinematographer Hubert Taczanowski does wonders with a digital video camera on the film’s tight $150,000 budget. Despite the fact that he’s actually in his 20s, Adam Stanford is convincing as the “smart, sweet, passionate” adolescent stuck with a childhood nickname, and Sigourney Weaver exudes a perplexed yet sensual sensitivity. But it’s mischievous Bebe Neuwirth who’s a comic revelation. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Tadpole” scores a spicy, sassy 8. It’s a frothy, wistful, whimsical delight.

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Austin Powers in Goldmember

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Austin Powers in Goldmember” (New Line Cinema)

Mike Myers’ third installment in this man of mystery franchise has one highly original, very amusing gimmick: Hollywood is making “Austinpussy” about Austin Powers’ life. Guess who’s directing? Guess who stars as Powers? Guess who’s his co-star? Guess who’s playing Dr. Evil and his accomplice Mini Me? Tinseltown’s biggest names, including some A-list Oscar and Grammy winners, pop up unexpectedly, and I’m not going to ruin the fun by tipping you off in advance. But, other than this opening sequence cameo surprise, there’s little new and different here. Mike Myers tackles multiple roles, playing Austin Powers, the villainous Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard, along with the nefarious Goldmember. This dexterous Dutch metallurgist is obsessed with gold after losing his genitalia in a smelting accident and has the unpleasant habit of eating his peeling, sun-damaged skin. Goldmember has kidnapped Austin’s father (Michael Caine) and is plotting to make a meteor crash into Earth causing a global flood. To save his father and the world, Austin teams up with Dr. Evil and time-travels back to the hedonistic roller disco days of 1975. Singer Beyonce Knowles of the group Destiny’s Child is terrific as Foxxy Cleopatra, while Fred Savage (TVs “The Wonder Years”) struggles for laughs as The Mole. Yeah, baby, Seth Green, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling and Verne J. Troyer appear again too. Mike Myers and Michael McCullers fill the script with familiar potty humor and sexual innuendoes, and there’s no weird sight gag director Jay Roach won’t milk. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Austin Powers in Goldmember” is a gross, crude, shagadelic 6 – but that shouldn’t stop the Midas touch of this groovy pop-culture super-sleuth.

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MONSTER’S BALL

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “MONSTER’S BALL” (Lions Gate Films)

Memorable performance are what distinguishes this dark, dismal drama about racism, brutality and family violence. Peter Boyle, Billy Bob Thornton and Heath Ledger play three generations of Georgia Penitentiary officers. The ailing, aging patriarch, Boyle, is a blunt, cruel bigot, while the sensitive, young Ledger despises his job. Macho Thornton is in charge of Death Row, specifically the execution of a condemned cop killer (Sean Combs) who leaves behind a waitress wife – that’s Halle Berry – and obese young son (Coronji Calhoun) who is terrified he’ll grow up ‘bad’ like his father. The colloquial title refers to the electrocution ritual, minus a lawyer or minister. Billy Bob and Halle eventually meet at a local diner, but she has no idea what part he played in her husband’s demise. Despite the outspoken racial prejudice that he demonstrates early in the film, an unlikely romantic attraction quickly develops between them. She’s lost her husband, job, home and car – and he becomes her protector/lover. Both Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry exude vulnerability, delivering restrained yet raw, bravura performances. Writers Will Rokos & Milo Addica and Swiss-born director Marc Forster, concentrate on the pithy, simplistic dialogue that counterpoints the gritty, complicated situations, involving anger and redemption, that evoke emotion, rather than action. This is evident by cinematographer Roberto Schaefer’s deliberate close-ups of each character’s stark, angst-ridden face. Yet the audience is keenly aware that a bleak, devastating twist of discovery dangles there until the story’s conclusion, a situation reminiscent of “Message in a Bottle.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Monster’s Ball” is a serious, slow-moving, subtle 7, aimed specifically at arthouse audiences.

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