Sneak Peek: 14 Seconds from ‘New Moon’
Posted on August 11, 2009 at 10:44 pm
The full trailer premieres before “Bandslam” this Friday!
Meryl’s accents
Posted on August 11, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Slate has put together a magnificent compilation of some of Meryl Streep’s best accents but what I think of when I watch this is the astonishing range of the performances behind them. It is almost impossible to imagine that it is the same person playing the steely nun, the Holocaust survivor, the Australian mother accused of killing her child, the Danish writer, the barfly. Look at the difference between her portrayals of two women with Irish accents, one Irish, one Irish American. The stunning achievement of her performance as Julia Child is not the accent, or even her ability to appear to add six inches of height, but the way she creates a complete and true character within the larger-than-life and very caricature-able personal characteristics so familiar to so many people. It is a clever trick of writer/director Nora Ephron to include in “Julie & Julia” a clip of Dan Ackroyd’s “Saturday Night Live” parody of Child’s television persona as a compelling contrast to the subtle and endearing character Streep is able to create from the same raw material. Charlie Rose had a marvelous interview with Ephron and Streep about the film, where Ephron said that two of the movie’s best moments, so immediate and effective that both appear in the trailer, were both improvised by Streep. I was also very interested that Streep said she found it liberating when she decided her job was not to re-create the actual historical figure of Julia Child but to portray Child the way she was seen by blogger Julie Powell half a century later. This enabled her to bring in to the portrayal not just Child’s mannerisms but Streep’s own mother’s expansive and generous sense of joy.
17 Again
Posted on August 11, 2009 at 8:00 am
There’s nothing new in the storyline, which mixes a little “Freaky Friday” with a bit of “Back to the Future,” but it is a lot of fun to watch Zac Efron take center stage with plenty of star power in his first real leading role.
Efron plays Mike, a high school basketball star whose future plans are derailed when his girlfriend becomes pregnant. When he gets to middle age (played by Matthew Perry) he is losing his job, separated from his wife, and estranged from his teenage children. He is also losing his sense of who he was and estranged from his sense of who he wants to be. And he is living with his only friend, the nerdy, inappropriate, but devoted, wealthy, and very funny Ned (Thomas Lennon of “Reno 911”).
A bit of hocus-pocus from a kindly old janitor (Brian Doyle-Murray) and suddenly Mike is, well, the title says it all. It is a bit disconcerting to find himself dealing with hormones but he relishes the extra energy and the ability to eat endless amounts of junk food. At first he thinks the transformation is going to give him a chance to have a different outcome for himself, maybe get that basketball scholarship this time, but then he realizes the purpose of the transformation is to give him a second chance with his family. Mike is soon re-enrolled in high school (as “Mark”), where he gets a very different perspective on his son (Sterling Knight) and daughter (Michelle Trachtenberg). He begins to see his wife (Leslie Mann) differently, too. Only she thinks he is her son’s high school friend and is a little freaked out by the way he seems so familiar — in both senses of the term.
Various complications and mix-ups ensue, especially when Ned falls for the high school principal (“The Office’s” Melora Hardin). But other than overdoing some Oedipal situations and a few crude jokes, the movie veers away from the most obvious avenues for humor. There’s very little about changes in culture and it’s fairly light on slapstick and humiliation. Instead, it relies primarily on charm and unabashed sweetness that perfectly suits Efron’s easy grace. In an early scene, he jumps from the basketball game into a cheerleader routine, filled with the pleasure of joining in, and having so much fun it is impossible not to smile.
‘Harvey’ Remake Coming from Steven Spielberg
Posted on August 10, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Steven Spielberg has announced the remake of one of Jimmy Stewart’s most beloved films, “Harvey.” It is the story of a gentle soul named Elwood P. Dowd and his invisible friend, a six-foot rabbit-ish character called a pooka. The screenplay was adapted by Mary Chase from her Pulitzer Prize-winning play. It is a lot of fun to think about who to cast in the remake — maybe Tom Hanks as Dowd and Sally Fields and Sandra Bullock as his snobbish sister and her daughter.
Here is my favorite quote from the movie. I hope it will be in Spielberg’s version:
Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, “In this world, Elwood, you must be” – she always called me Elwood – “In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.” Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.
Alien Trespass
Posted on August 10, 2009 at 7:00 am
B| Lowest Recommended Age: | Middle School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG for sci-fi action and brief historical smoking |
| Profanity: | None |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Social drinking, characters get drunk |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Sci-fi violence, characters in peril, injured and killed |
| Diversity Issues: | Mild joshing of 1950's stereotypes |
| Date Released to Theaters: | April 3, 2009 |
| Date Released to DVD: | August 11, 2009 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B0029W2V9U |
Was there ever a time when cheesy 1950’s sci-fi movies were actually scary? Is it because they are so low tech in comparison to the intense realism of CGI? Or is it just the balsa wood sets and cardboard dialog that seems so endearingly innocent now? This affectionate tribute to the low budget movies that played in drive-ins and were shown on Saturday morning television comes from R.W. Goodwin, whose love for the movies he saw as a kid helped inspire him to co-produce “The X-Files.” And this is a loving appreciation, not a parody. There’s no winking at the camera. And there’s no exaggeration, but then, none is necessary.
The shrewd script gives us the perfect assortment of 1950’s archetypal characters, with special emphasis on two of the 1950’s primary fixations — the suburban married couple who exemplify “togetherness” and the teenagers who may look like Archie and Betty but could be juvenile delinquents. Like all of this category of movies, the space invaders plot is just a way of addressing that other fixation of the 1950’s, the cold war.
There’s Ted Lewis, a pipe-smoking professor (“Will and Grace’s” Eric McCormack) and his luscious wife Lana (Jody Thomson), who always seems to be pouring cocktails or lighting candles suggestively. There are the high school sweethearts, Penny (Sarah Smyth) in flared skirts and saddle shoes and Dick (Andrew Dunbar), the guy with the letter sweater. Their pal with the “Wild Ones” hair, t-shirt, and jacket is Cody (a terrific Aaron Brooks). There’s the about-to-retire sheriff (“Wonder Years'” Dan Lauria) and his get-em officer Vernon (Robert Patrick). And there’s Tammy, the waitress with artistic aspirations and a heart of gold (Jenni Baird).
Penny and Dick are out necking in the mountains when something strange happens and they race back to town. Professor Lewis sees it through his telescope and goes to investigate. He is sucked into a spaceship and when he emerges, he is…different. The professor’s body has been borrowed by a law enforcement alien who has come to earth to kill off an evil, destructive alien with tentacles.
Like the films it salutes, this was made quickly and on a minuscule budget. But there is a lot more talent behind and in front of the camera than there was in the originals. Goodwin said he made the movie because he loved those old films and wished there had been more of them. McCormack’s nimble timing, Baird’s sweet sincerity and the innocence of its message about intergalactic understanding make this one a worthy addition.