Summer Movie Catch-Up: Lists for Kids, Couples, and Hipsters

Posted on July 2, 2014 at 12:00 pm

Summer is a great time to catch up on some classic and even not-so-classic films, the movie version of beach books. The nice folks at Entertainment Weekly have come up with a terrific list of films all children should see before they get to high school. This is a good chance for parents to share some of their own childhood favorites with their children, like “The Princess Bride” and “Babe” and perhaps discover some they missed like “The Red Balloon” and “Duck Soup.” These are the movies that should inspire the scheduling of a monthly family movie night where we re-invent the idea that everyone sits down with a bowl of popcorn and enjoys the same movie at the same time in the same room.

And for couples, Esquire has helpfully put together a list of romantic comedies that men will enjoy. No Katherine Heigl, Jennifer Aniston, or Adam Sandler in the bunch, and some very well-chosen black and white classics like “Trouble in Paradise” and “Miracle of Morgan’s Creek.”

In case you’ve been waiting for some suggestions from perennial polymath James Franco, Vibe has published his list of some favorites. I was especially glad to see “Dogtown and Z-Boys,” one of my favorite documentaries, about a group of kids who transformed skateboarding and helped invent the idea of extreme sports.

Interview: “Earth to Echo” star Astro

Posted on July 2, 2014 at 8:00 am

Brian “Astro” Bradley plays Tuck in this week’s “Earth to Echo,” the story of three friends who discover a stranded alien and help to rescue him. Astro talked to me about being in the film and the books and music that mean the most to him.

How would you describe Tuck?

He’s ambitious, a go-getter and a guy who doesn’t settle for anything less than what he wants. Like if he wants to do something or find something out he will eventually do it or find it out. I think he is like the driving force in a group of friends in the movie.

The friends don’t have a tremendous amount in common. They are very different people. What keeps them being friends with each other?

I think they are all considered outcasts almost, not really outcast but they are not the coolest kids. They are all they have. When you’re hanging out with your friends and only you guys really understand each other the rest of the world looks at you different but we all see each other as cool. I think that’s why we were all best friends in the movie.

Did you guys hang out together when you weren’t shooting?

Well we really didn’t have time because we shot everything to fast. We only had a week of rehearsal before we actually started filming and I think we shot the whole film in 28 days. It was everybody’s first time being a part of a major film so I think just being on set everyday was enough for us. It was just a blessing.

Your character Tuck had a conflict with his friend Alex. What was that about?

I think that he was just scared and so he couldn’t really help Alex like he wanted to at that point in the movie. I think he was just scared because at the end of the day they are big kids but they’re still kids. They are still young. Unfortunately he was unable to help his friend Alex at one point in the movie. He knew he was wrong but he tried to act like he didn’t know what’s going on. Of course they dealt with it like friends would.

One of the things that make this movie so interesting and so different is that it’s got all that footage as though it’s being shot by the kids themselves, mostly by your character. Can you use a movie camera?

I shot one scene I don’t know if they kept it in the movie but they let me hold the camera for one scene. We were in a van driving away from construction workers and the camera was very really heavy. You have to give respect to guys like Dave Green. our director and the Director of Photography, Maxime Alexandre. They really have to hold the camera it’s like a million pounds and I don’t know if I could do that all day.

So tell me how you first found out about this movie.

My agent at Williams Morris Entertainment sent it to me. They sent me a bunch of scripts, the first role I ever had was on “Person of Interest” and this is my second role ever. This was playful, it was cool, it didn’t seem too serious. It seemed very natural and organic and I liked it and I recorded my audition take in my living room, sent it out to the “Earth to Echo” staff. They flew me out to California to audition in front of the director, Dave Green, and I got it.

I don’t remember exactly which lines we did but we filmed it in my living room. I actually got all my roles so far that way. I have this wall in my living room that I’m going to call the Movie Wall or something because I auditioned for all these roles in front of the same exact wall. It’s this white wall in my living room, it’s weird, it’s crazy but I got three roles because of this wall so…

That’s a pretty lucky wall.

Exactly.

I have never taken acting class or anything like that but that’s pretty much as far as we went with it. Like I said it was a very natural script so there wasn’t much preparing that had to be done. I think even when you watch the film now it seems very natural, like it’s just very normal because we didn’t have to try hard. We were just having fun. The only hard scenes were like when Munch had to cry, that was probably hard for him bring those tears out but other than that it was very easy to do because we were just being everyday kids.

I would think that the hard part would probably be interacting with Echo.

No that wasn’t hard for us because we had Echo like when we actually talking to him and he’s in our hands. He was actually being controlled by a wire.

What do you think about how it came out?

I’ve seen it many times and it’s amazing! It’s amazing! I’m glad to be a part of it. I think it’s an exciting movie; it’s a family-friendly movie. You can take your kids out to see it. And anybody could see it whether you’re older or you’re younger.

You’re also a rapper, right?

Acting is still something I’m still trying out. I’m still learning about it and seeing how it works. My main focus is my music but the acting is fun as well. My favorite rapper is Jay-Z. Right now I am working on the EP. I’m just taking my time with it. I have the first single and everything ready but I’m not rushing anything I just want to put it out when the times is right. But as far as my influences, I listen to Biggie, Jay-Z, Nas, Wu-Tang, Snoop Dogg, only legends because I want to be better than those guys so that’s all I listen to right now. I’m a 90s baby so that’s all I really listen to.

I don’t express myself through acting because you have to play like somebody else. I think eventually you do express yourself in acting but you’ve got to get a certain type of role. But I haven’t gotten that deep into acting yet where I’m really like “let me really get into this character.” For now it’s just fun. For now it’s just fun with acting. But music is life. I’ve been doing that since I was a baby I can’t explain my love for music especially like hip hop music. Music is just the greatest thing in the world.

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Trailer: A New Documentary About George Takei

Posted on July 2, 2014 at 7:34 am

I’m looking forward to this upcoming documentary about original “Star Trek” cast member George Takei, who is also a leader in LGBT rights and a pioneer in social media.

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Trailers, Previews, and Clips

Snowpiercer

Posted on July 1, 2014 at 6:00 pm

A French graphic novel by Jacques Lob about a post-apocalyptic train containing all that is left of humanity is now the first English-language film from Korean director Joon-ho Bong (“Mother,” “The Host”), with an international cast that includes Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris, and Tilda Swinton. It is a visually stunning and intellectually ambitious allegory with all of its action and sci-fi imagination in service of provocative commentary.

In an effort to mitigate the damage from climate change, people all over the world shot a chemical into the air that precipitated an overcorrection so extreme that the entire world is covered with snow and ice and is not longer habitable for humans. Seventeen years earlier, the few remaining people were allowed to board a train designed by Mr. Wilford, who still lives in the train’s first car and keeps its engine running. He is considered something like a king or even a god by the train’s passengers, some of whom are 17 or younger and have never known any life off the train.

The train circles the globe once a year, and measures the passage of time by the landmarks it passes. After a brief prologue with snippets of news reports informing us of the environmental catastrophe, we meet the poor, filthy, brutally abused inhabitants of the train’s last car, including Curtis (Chris Evans, almost unrecognizable in a black knit cap and with a haunted expression) and his best friend Edgar (Jamie Bell). They are kept barely alive through doling out of icky looking “protein bars.” And they are kept in control by masked, brutal guards armed with assault weapons. There have been brief attempts at rebellion or escape but all have failed.

Occasionally they are visited by someone from one of the forward cars. Mason (Tilda Swinton, brilliant as a demented apparatchik) has the most terrifying smile of chipper malice since Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge. And there is another woman who appears from time to time to measure the children in the last car and take some of them away with no explanation. They are never seen again. Curtis reveres Gilliam (John Hurt), a disabled old man who encourages Curtis and Edgar to start a real revolution. But one lesson they have learned from the failed attempts is that it cannot work unless they get all the way to the front car and gain control of the engine. That means they will need to break out of the train’s prison the only man who can unlock the doors between the train cars.

The rebels move forward, at devastating cost, surging through a series of train cars, each with stunning revelations about what has become of human society. But nothing can prepare them for the shocks of the final confrontation in the engine car.

If Jonathan Swift was a filmmaker, this would be the movie he’d make — sharp, compelling, challenging. As Curtis crosses doorway after doorway, each opens into another remarkable tableau, a beauty salon, a fish farm, a classroom, a disco. This is a story that is richly imagined and powerfully presented.

Parents should know that this film has apocalyptic themes and images, constant peril and violence with a variety of weapons, disturbing images, many characters injured and killed, constant very strong language, smoking, and drugs and drug addiction.

Family discussion: What elements of the society on the train are similar to cultures in the world today? Does Wilford make good points about what it takes to sustain a community? How does this story explore the way that myths and traditions are developed? What do you think will happen next?

If you like this, try: “Brazil” and “In Time”

Begin Again

Posted on July 1, 2014 at 5:59 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, smoking
Violence/ Scariness:	Some tense confrontations, slap
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	July 2, 2014
Date Released to DVD:	October 27, 2014
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00M7D81FO

“It’s delicate,” a songwriter tells a performer who has (literally) amped up her gentle ballad into a power anthem. The songwriter is Greta (Keira Knightly) and the performer (Maroon 5’s Adam Levine) is her ex. They were together for five years when he was struggling, but he has become successful and it went to his head.

The more important question for us is whether success has gone to the head of writer/director John Carney. Has he overly tricked out the sweet story he told so well in the bittersweet “Once,” now that he has a bigger budget and top-tier actors? Not quite. Has he repeated too much of the original? Almost. But it is still a lovely little dream of a film, an endearing date-night treat.

No one rumples better than Mark Ruffalo, and here he plays the very rumpled Dan, a once-successful record producer and co-founder of a label with the very pressed and present Saul (Yasiin Bey, aka Mos Def). We know he has had some setbacks because he wakes up in a dingy apartment (and then goes right back to bed), but he drives an elegant Jaguar. He’s unreliable. He’s a slob. He has let down everyone in his life, including his ex-wife, Miriam (Catherine Keener), his daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld), and his company. Worst of all, he just does not care about any of it any more, partly because he likes to feel that he is a victim and partly because he just does not want to feel anything at all.

Saul fires him (obligatory “Jerry Maguire” joke). Dan has hit bottom. And that is when he sees Greta, who has been reluctantly dragged on stage at an open mic night, and is quietly singing before an indifferent audience. In a moment of piercing beauty, Dan looks over at her and does not just hear but actually sees an arrangement come together around her, as ghostly instruments begin to, yes, delicately, fill in to support her song. She reminds him of what made him excited about music, and he tells her he wants to record her.

Like “Once,” there are scenes of people sharing music, of extemporaneous singing and composing, that light up the characters with so much shimmer it gives us goosebumps. There’s a fairy tale quality to the story. Of course they decide to forego a recording studio and made the album with hit and run session outdoors all over New York City where they run into adorable urchins who provide back-up vocals (and apparently don’t require contracts or royalties or any other pesky little legal details) and finish the tracks before they have to grab the gear and run from the cops.

I wish they had kept the original title for the film, “Can a Song Save Your Life?” It is more apt, more vivid, less safe. Carney is wonderful at evoking the joy of music, its healing powers, and the way it connects us to each other and the universe. This is a love story, not between Dan and Greta or between them and their exes but between humans and music.

Parents should know that this film has constant very strong language, drinking, smoking, and sexual references.

Family discussion: Share your “guilty pleasure” songs with your family. Why did Greta decide to release her music herself?

If you like this, try: “Once,” from the same writer/director