A Valentine’s Day Bella Notte
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 8:00 am
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Beautiful Creatures
Posted on February 13, 2013 at 6:00 pm
B| Lowest Recommended Age: | High School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG-13 for violence, scary images, and some sexual material |
| Profanity: | Some strong language, crude insult |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Drinking |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Supernatural images, violence, peril, characters injured and killed, references to loss of parents |
| Diversity Issues: | Diverse characters |
| Date Released to Theaters: | February 14, 2013 |
| Date Released to DVD: | May 20, 2013 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B009AMAGXK |
In a small Southern town that feels far from everything, where everyone is “too stupid to leave or too stuck to move,” a teenage boy named Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich) dreams every night of a girl he has never seen. Ethan has recently lost his mother. His father is never there. He is about to start his junior year in high school “so insanity’s inevitable.” But his mother’s best friend Amma (Viola Davis), the local librarian, looks out for him. There are books that he loves. And the dream feels very real and somehow comforting.
Suddenly it is real as Lena Duchannes (Alice Englart) comes to town to live with her uncle, Macon Ravenswood (Jeremy Irons) in a creepy old mansion. Ethan feels an immediate connection, but Lena seems reluctant to talk to him or to make any friends in her new school. Some of the other kids in the class feel the same way. There are rumors that the Ravenswoods have strange powers.
The rumors are true. “You know how some families are musical and some have money. We have powers,” Lena explains. She is a witch or, to use the term her people prefer, she is a “caster.” She is 15 and on her 16th birthday she will be chosen for the light side or the dark.
No one wants Ethan and Lena to be together. But the love they share is stronger than any caster powers from the dark or the light.
The storyline is fairly basic but touches of self-aware humor help to hold our interest. And it is fun to watch Irons swan around in ascots and smoking jackets, striding past the swooping banister-less staircase in his mansion. Thompson and Emmy Rossum clearly relish the chance to chew scenery with Spanish moss hanging all over it. They revel in the Southern gothic setting, tossing off Dixie-isms like “Slap my ass and call me Sally!” and “She looks like death eating a cracker.” Viola Davis does what she can stuck with an exposition role that includes a completely random Nancy Reagan reference. It is also buoyed by the lushy imaginative settings from production designer Richard Sherman and goth-glam costumes from Jeffrey Kurland and an entertaining assortment of literary and popular culture references, from Slaughterhouse Five and poet Charles Bukowski to the “Final Destination” series, Bob Dylan, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Jane Austen. Most important, writer/director Richard LaGravenes creates a world where strange things seem both wonderful and normal. The various transformations, expanding powers, and sense of alienation seem like a tangible reflection (and only mild exaggeration) of the experience of adolescence.
Parents should know that this film includes themes of good and bad magic, some disturbing images, characters in peril, and sad deaths.
Family discussion: Who makes the choice for the casters? What makes Lena different? What do you learn from the sacrifice in the movie?
If you like this, try: the series of books by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the books read by Ethan and Lena in the movie, and the “Twilight” films
A Good Day to Die Hard
Posted on February 13, 2013 at 6:00 pm
Chases. Explosions. Guns. Crashes. Wisecracks. Punches. Repeat. Repeat again. Yes, it’s the fifth “Die Hard” movie.
Bruce Willis returns as cop John McClane and this time the setting is Moscow. Though he repeatedly says throughout the film’s zippy 90 minutes that he is on vacation, McClane is in Russia to help his estranged son Jack (Australian actor Jai Courtney of “Spartacus”), who has been arrested for attempted murder. It turns out that Jack, who uses his mother’s last name and has not spoken to John in years, is actually under cover for the CIA. Both the Russians and the Americans want a “file” that has been hidden away by a man named Komorov (Sebastian Koch), who is about to go on trial. It contains incriminating information about a high-ranking Russian official. He wants it destroyed. The Americans want to use it to discredit him. The stakes are very high. The chases are very fast. The explosions are very big. The repartee is….not great, but thankfully minimal.
Unlike his “Expendables” colleagues Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, whose 2013 action film releases managed to be both lackluster and overheated, with so much work done on their faces they looked like bad copies of Madame Tussaud’s replicas of themselves, Willis is every bit as good and better than he was in the first “Die Hard” film a quarter century ago. Regrettably, we get only a glimpse of the fabulous Mary Elizabeth Winstead, briefly returning as John’s daughter, Lucy, to drop him at the airport and admonish him to behave (as if!). But Courtney is well-matched to Willis, with their bullet heads, truculent glares, and cocky pleasure in their own outrageous badassery. John may pause for a brief “Cat’s in the Cradle” reverie with Komorov in between dodging bullets, as they ruefully reflect on their failures as fathers, but shortly afterward, as John and Jack awkwardly observe a tender parent-child reunion, they agree that nothing like that would work for them. “We’re not a hugging family,” Jack says. “Damn straight,” agrees his father.
The locations are exotic, and the chase scene through the streets of Moscow is wilder than any since the last “Die Hard.” The titles may be getting increasingly labored but Willis and the stunts make it work.
Parents should know that this film has constant peril and violence. Many characters are injured and killed, and there is a lot of shooting, punching, chases and explosions, some graphic and disturbing images, and strong language.
Family discussion: How are John and Jack alike? Why was Jack so angry with John? What changed his mind?
If you like this, try: the other “Die Hard” movies, especially the first and third
Safe Haven
Posted on February 13, 2013 at 6:00 pm
Now that best-selling author Nicholas Sparks has rung every possible variation out of his core formula: damaged hearts, pretty people, syrupy pop-song montages, buttery, sunlit cinematography, the healing powers of a body of water (and rain), the healing powers of a small town community, a sad death, and a letter of great import, he has officially run out of new ideas and even thoughts about how to keep re-arranging the old ideas. An unnecessary twist at the end feels desperate and it feels like a cheat.
Damaged heart number one: Julianne Hough plays Katie, who is on the run from the Boston police for what looks like a violent assault. She has cut and dyed her hair (so efficiently that it never grows out or needs to be retouched), stops in small town on the North Carolina Coast (body of water is the Atlantic Ocean), takes a job as a waitress in a local cafe and somehow has the money to move into a dilapidated but picturesque little cabin out in a remote area of the woods.
Damaged heart number two: Josh Duhamel, as usual far better than his script, plays Alex, the extremely handsome widower with two children (one adorable and affectionate, one mini-me damaged heart who misses his mom) who owns the local store. At first, Katie just wants to keep to herself and resists making friends with Alex and with Jo (“How I Met Your Mother’s” Cobie Smulders), another single woman living alone in the woods. But soon Katie and Alex are out on the healing water and then, when it rains, getting drenched by the powerful healing effects of even more water. A not-very-surprising mystery about Katie’s past is revealed and pretty soon there will be a very significant letter.
Hough is not an actress of great range, but she looks very pretty and wears a bikini well. Duhamel has a natural ease on screen that makes it easy to overlook what a committed and subtle performer he is. Even when he is called upon to make Alex to have some improbable reactions, he manages to find a smidgen of honesty that elevates the material. Director Lasse Hallstrom (“Chocolat,” “The Cider House Rules,” “My Life as a Dog”) puts so much gloss on the images that it feels like a perfume commercial but never elevates the story above the Lifetime movie level.
Parents should know that this movie includes themes of domestic abuse with some graphic and disturbing images, fire with child and adults in peril, references to sad death of parent, sexual situation, some strong language, and alcohol abuse
Family discussion: What does Katie learn from Jo that she cannot learn any other way? What changed Alex’s mind?
If you like this, try: the book by Nicholas Sparks and some of his other movies like “The Notebook,” “The Lucky One,” and “Dear John”
The Red Hen..And More Cooking Stories: Scholastic Storybook Treasures
Posted on February 13, 2013 at 3:59 pm
| MPAA Rating: | Not rated |
| Profanity: | None |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | None |
| Violence/ Scariness: | None |
| Diversity Issues: | None |
| Date Released to Theaters: | 2013 |
| Date Released to DVD: | February 13, 2013 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B009O07NHK |
The latest from my very favorite series for families is Scholastic Storybook Treasures’ The Red Hen and more cooking stories
These adorable stories with lessons about food, friendship, and manners include:
HE RED HEN (Written and illustrated by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley, narrated by Walter Mayes) Filled with humor and sparkling illustration, this is the classic story of Red Hen and her adventures in baking (and cooperation).
BREAD COMES TO LIFE (Written and illustrated by George Levenson, narrated by Lily Tomlin) Watch each step of how to bring bread to life, from the sowing of the seeds to the shaping and baking of the bread dough.
HOW DO DINOSAURS EAT THEIR FOOD? (Written and narrated by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mark Teague) These mischievous dinosaurs show that burping, spilling and playing with one s food are not the best ways to enjoy a meal.
ARNIE THE DOUGHNUT (Written and illustrated by Gerald McDermott, narrated by Michael McKean) When Mr. Bing buys Arnie in a doughnut shop, Arnie realizes he must persuade Mr. Bing that a doughnut can be more than just a sweet snack.
In case your children are inspired to make their own food, it also includes an easy-to-Follow Recipe for Simply Splendid Cake.