A Peek at ‘Prom’
Posted on April 23, 2011 at 6:39 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7Wa_qpoAS8&feature=relmfu
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Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare!
Posted on April 23, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Don’t start with me about who wrote Shakespeare. Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare and today is his birthday. Celebrate with some of the many, many movie versions of, about, or inspired by his plays. Here are some of my favorites:
1. The Taming of the Shrew Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton bring their legendary combustible chemistry to this rambunctious version of Shakespeare’s most famous battle of the sexes. For an extra treat, pair it with the Cole Porter musical it inspired, Kiss Me Kate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9Cm6CU5Kc42. Romeo + Juliet Baz Lurhmann’s dazzling version of one of the world’s great tragic love stories is a treat for the eyes, ears, and soul. For an extra treat, pair it with the more traditional version directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
3. Shakespeare In Love This best-picture and best-actress Oscar winner is a highly fictionalized account of the writing of “Romeo and Juliet,” with the magnificent Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth and a brilliantly witty script by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. For an extra treat, try to catch a performance of A Cry of Players, a play about the young Shakespeare by the author of “The Miracle Worker.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUIemfeB_uI4. Henry V There is the thrill of the St. Crispian’s Day speech. There is the heart-wrenching parting with the old friends who cannot be a part of the young king’s new life. But for me, the greatness of this play is that in the midst of all of the drama, Shakespeare inserts a scene of a young French princess trying to learn English so she can understand the man who is walloping her countrymen — and makes it work. For an extra treat, compare it to the Laurence Olivier version, very much the product of its WWII era.
5. The Tempest My own favorite of Shakespeare’s plays is thrilling with Helen Mirren as Prospera, a wizard who calls on all her powers of enchantment to provide a happy ending for her daughter and justice for herself. For an extra treat, try the space-age adaptation, Forbidden Planet.
Summer Preview 2011
Posted on April 23, 2011 at 8:00 am
The summer of 2011 looks positively movie-rific, with big blockbusters, the last of the Harry Potter films and the first what could be some great new series — Green Lantern? Cowboys and Aliens? Smurfs? We’ve got sequels, prestige projects, chases and explosions, romance, comedy, and some intriguing indies. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the movies I’m most excited about:
Sequels and Series
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 This is it, the last of the Harry Potter films. The biggest movie franchise in Hollywood history comes to a resounding end with Harry Potter at last taking on He Who Must Not Be Named in an all-out battle for the future of the wizard and muggle worlds. And a couple who realize, seven movies later, that they are deeply in love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWal6NIikp0Lightning McQueen competes in the World Grand Prix and gets caught up in a spy mission with sophisticated British cars (voices of Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer).
The very future of Kung Fu is at stake when an evil peacock (voice of Gary Oldman) develops a new weapon. And Po finds how how he was adopted. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Michelle Yeoh join the cast.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
I loved the first one. Did not love the second. High hopes for the third, with a new love interest (Rosie Huntington-Whitely) to replace Megan Fox. And it’s in 3D.
They got in trouble in Las Vegas. They’ll get into more trouble in Thailand, with another bride’s brother, another unexplained animal, and another encounter with Mr. Chow.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Penelope Cruz joins the cast, with Rob Marshall (“Chicago”) as director. But Captain Jack Sparrow is still played by Johnny Depp and Keith Richards returns as his father in this story of the quest for the fountain of youth.
Based on a Book
The Help
This book club favorite about relationships between African-American domestic employees and their white employers in Jackson Mississippi in the early 1960’s has been lovingly filmed by the author’s closest childhood friend, with Octavia Spencer playing the role she inspired and and Emma Stone likely to break out as a op-ranked star. I’m predicting Oscar nominations for this one.
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Jim Carrey stars as the human hero of this classic story about the man whose live is turned upside down by a pack of penguins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBVTtaJbMUI
Comic Heroes and Villains
A mystical green ring gives superpowers to a test pilot (Ryan Reynolds), linking him to an inerplanetary force for good.
When the Norse god of war is banished from Valhalla, the darkest forces of his world follow him to earth.
Captain America: The First Avenger
Chris Evans stars as a volunteer in an Army experiment that turns scrawny weaklings into super-soldiers.
X-Men First Class
Matthew Vaughn (“Stardust,” “Layer Cake,” “Kick-Ass”) directs this prequel showing us the origins of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (“Jane Eyre’s” Michael Fassbender).
Cowboys and Aliens
Harrison Ford. Daniel Craig. Cowboys. Aliens.
Romance
Something Borrowed
Ginifer Goodwin plays a lawyer whose frenemy (Kate Hudson) is engaged to the guy she’s had a crush on for years (Colin Egglesfield). With “The Office’s” John Krasinski co-starring, I’m guessing Kate will get her comeuppance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qlMqqc7YdEThe Reverend T.D. Jakes produced this heart-warming film about the wedding of an upper-class woman (Paula Patten) and a working class man (Laz Alonso) in a story that shows that even happily ever after can’t eliminate all the bumps from the road, especially when families are involved.
Tom Hanks wrote (with “My Big Fat Greek Wedding’s” Nia Vardalos), directed, and stars in this story about a man who goes back to school when he loses his job because he doesn’t have a college degree. His teacher at the community college is played by Julie Roberts and his neighbor is played by Cedric the Entertainer. Was he consulting my dreams when he put this together? Sure seems like it.
Comedy
Bad Teacher
Real-life exes Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake star in this very R-rated story about — well, the title says it all.
Crazy, Stupid Love
Steve Carrell’s heart is broken when his wife cheats on him. Ryan Gosling is the man who teaches him how to be cool with ladies — and then needs some lessons about relationships after he falls for Emma Stone.
The Irresistible Indies
I love chases and explosions and big movies with big stars but one thing I look forward to every summer is the little independent film that becomes a big hit. What will be this year’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” or “Blair Witch Project” or “District 9?” It could be “Another Earth” (a parallel planet provides a second chance to a drunk driver who kills a family), an Erroll Morris documentary called “Tabloid,” or maybe “Our Idiot Brother” with Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks (she was his girlfriend in “Role Models,” but here she is his sister). Most likely, it will be something not even on this list.
Water For Elephants
Posted on April 22, 2011 at 10:02 am
B| Lowest Recommended Age: | High School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG-13 for moments of intense violence and sexual content |
| Profanity: | Some strong language |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Drinking, smoking |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Some peril and violence, sad deaths |
| Diversity Issues: | Diverse characters |
| Date Released to Theaters: | April 22, 2011 |
| Date Released to DVD: | 2011 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B0041KKYHE |
According to the ringmaster of the Benzini Brothers Traveling Circus, “a circus survives on blood, sweat, pain and .” In “Water for Elephants” we experience all of these, along with romance, danger, laughter and even a little bit of poetry. This ambitious, colorful story of the travels of a second rate depression era circus is filled with metaphors about life and love—some more successful than others—but it is consistently engaging and a treat for the eyes.
Jacob Jankowski (“Twilight” idol Robert Pattinson) is a young veterinary student on the verge of graduating from Cornell when his world is suddenly turned upside down. Jacob was never wildly enthusiastic about his plans to join his father’s small town veterinary practice but when his parents are killed in a car crash and all of their material possessions are seized by the bank, Jacob ends up with no money, no job, no food, and no place to live, so he sets off on foot down the road.
Tired of walking one night, he abandons his suitcase containing his last few possessions from his old life and jumps a passing freight train. What seems like an anonymous gray train in the dark turns out to be a tumble through the looking glass. As Jacob makes his way through the length of the train, we encounter the different surrealistic worlds of the circus. There is the noisy clown car with its jostling, slap-happy world, the car carrying all the coochie dancers reaches out to him like the sirens reached out to Odysseus (As he makes his way through their car, one of them envelops him in her arms, cooing “I saw you during my act. Want a ride?”). The roustabouts live a grim, desperate life in sparse cars with none of the glamor and glitter of the other cars. Before Jacob joins the roustabouts, one grizzled old timer warns him, “If you have any kind of life to go back to, that’s what you should do.” At the end of the journey is the jewel in the crown, the luxurious train car reserved for ringmaster August Rosenblum (Christoph Waltz of “Inglourious Basterds“) and his beautiful wife (and star attraction) Marlena (Reese Witherspoon).
The Benzini Brothers circus is always on the verge of bankruptcy and as they make their way from town to town they encounter the remains of other small circuses who have died by the side of the road, and whose carcasses are being scavenged for props and talents by the survivors. From one of these failed circuses August purchases a beautiful speckled elephant named Rosie. He acknowledges he won’t be able to pay the men for two weeks but he hopes that Rosie will bring in enough “rubes” so that the circus will be able to survive a while longer.
The care, feeding and training of Rosie becomes a battle of wills between the cruel, pragmatic August and the idealistic, empathetic Jacob. The battle expands to include a struggle for the affections of the beautiful Marlena and the treatment of the roustabouts, climaxing in “The Great Circus Disaster of 1931.”
This film has some visually gorgeous moments, such as the scene with Jacob and August sitting on top of the moving train under the starlit sky talking about life as the beautiful countryside winds by, or the scene with the beautiful and petite Marlena tending to the immense Rosie by lantern light. Like the circus itself, these moments illuminate the poetic grace around us.
Dumbstruck
Posted on April 21, 2011 at 6:00 pm
B+| Lowest Recommended Age: | 4th - 6th Grades |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG for brief suggestive humor |
| Profanity: | None |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | References to substance abuse |
Once a year, there is a gathering in Kentucky for people who “talk to themselves and play with dolls for a living” — ventriloquists. “Dumbstruck” is a documentary from Lindsay and Mark Goffman that follows five of them for the year between two of these Vent Haven ConVENTions in what turned out to be the biggest year in history for the tiny little community. One of its members unexpectedly hit the biggest of the big time when Terry Fator went from performing at county fairs to a $100 million headliner contract in Las Vegas after he won “America’s Got Talent.”
For an enduringly popular style of performance, there’s a lot of hating on ventriloquists. Many people think of them as corny or annoying, just above mimes or strange, like the murderous ventriloquist characters played by Anthony Hopkins in “Magic” or Michael Redgrave in “Dead of Night.” When Fator walked on stage for the first time in “America’s Got Talent,” judge David Hasselhoff said, “Oh, no, a ventriloquist.”
But it is impossible not to fall in love with the characters in this film — the human ones, anyway — because it is more than an act from someone who might have just as easily chosen juggling. It is clear that these people become ventriloquists because they have things to say that they just do not feel comfortable saying any other way. I used to think that the reason ventriloquists argued with their characters was to enhance the audience’s perception that the puppet was a real character. But this movie makes it clear that the relationship — and that is truly the word that applies — between the person and the puppet is far deeper and more complex and intriguing, and the passion it requires is profoundly moving. All of us adopt personas for different situations; they just make it more explicit. The art is less about whether the lips move or the voice sounds different than it is about the ability to take a portion of what is inside them and create a complete character from it. After all, the most successful American ventriloquist of the 20th century, Edgar Bergen, performed on the radio.
This film has a former beauty queen, Kim Yeager, whose mother wistfully dreams that her daughter will give up ventriloquism and live a normal life. But Yeager is wholeheartedly committed, performing more than 400 shows in a year, many of them safety demonstrations for schoolchildren. In one of the movie’s most intriguing scenes, she gets some advice from a consultant on her act and ends up completely re-thinking her main character. Then there’s Dan Horn, who was at what used to be considered the height of success for a ventriloquist. He spends most of his time on the lucrative cruise ship bookings. But the long separations are very hard on him and his family. We learn about Wilma Swartz from her nephew, who tells us that the rest of the family has abandoned her but that he is loyal to her because of her kindness to him when he had no one else. She is 6 feet 5 inches tall and one of her puppets is a life-size ostrich. And when she needs help, she finds that the ventriloquist community stands by her. Dylan Burdette is a white middle-schooler from rural Kentucky whose mystified parents are trying to understand why he wants to be a ventriloquist and why he insists on a dummy who is a black “pimp.” And there is Terry Fator, who as this movie was being filmed, became a superstar. He returns to Vent Haven as a homecoming hero, and the Goffmans show great sensitivity and understanding in portraying the mingled emotions of his fellow puppeteers as they share his triumph and wish some of it would rub off on them.
The Goffmans have a lot of affection for their characters, and by the end of the film, you will, too.