Posted on February 28, 2013 at 8:00 am
Family-friendly comic Michael Jr. has a delightful new DVD called “Laughing on Purpose,” filled with gentle but insightful humor and I am lucky enough to have one to give away!
Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “Laughing” in the subject line and tell me a joke! Don’t forget your address (US addresses only). I’ll pick a winner at random on March 4. Good luck!
Posted on February 25, 2013 at 8:00 am
A+| Lowest Recommended Age: | All Ages |
| MPAA Rating: | Varied |
| Profanity: | Varied |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Varied |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Varied |
| Diversity Issues: | Varied |
| Date Released to DVD: | February 25, 2013 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B009Z59782 |
Warner Brothers has issued a spectacular collection of musical films, from the ground-breaking “The Jazz Singer” to classics like “Cabaret,” “Signin’ in the Rain,” “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” and “The Music Man.” This is a treasure that should be in every family DVD library, and every school and community library as well. It includes:
The Jazz Singer ( 1927) Al Jolson plays the son of a cantor who wants to sing popular music in this groundbreaking film that was the first live-action film with a synchronized soundtrack. (Remade twice, with Danny Thomas and Neil Diamond)
Broadway Melody of 1929 Winner of the second Best Picture Oscar, this early talkie includes “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “You Were Meant for Me.”
42nd Street (1933) “You’re going out there a chorus girl, but you’re coming back a STAR!” This classic pre-code backstage musical features the title tune and “Shuffle Off to Buffalo.”
The Great Ziegfeld (1936) Another Best Picture winner (and Best Actress for Luise Rainer), this story of impressario Florenz Zeigfeld has rare filmed performances by Fanny Brice (the singer Barbra Streisand played in “Funny Girl”).
The Wizard Of Oz (1939) One of the most beloved films of all time, this enduring classic has Judy Garland singing “Over the Rainbow” and following the yellow brick road to see the wizard.
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) James Cagney plays the bantam-like singer/dancer/performer George M. Cohan in this biopic of the superstar who wrote classics like “For it was Mary” and “Give My Regards to Broadway.”
An American in Paris ( 1951) Gene Kelly. George Gershwin. Vincente Minnelli. Glorious.
Show Boat (1951) This second version of the Jerome Kern musical based on the Edna Ferber story stars Ava Gardner, Marge and Gower Champion, Howard Keel, and Kathryn Grayson, with classic songs like “Old Man River” (sung by Wiliam Warfield in the part played by Paul Robeson in the original), “Life Upon the Wicked Stage,” and “Only Make Believe.”
Singin’ In The Rain (1952) This may just be the perfect movie as comedy, romance, satire, and musical. Gene Kelly is the silent movie star who has to adjust to the talkie era. In addition to the rapturous title number, the movie features Donald O’Connor’s classic “Make ‘Em Laugh.”
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) Seven rambunctious red-headed backwoods brothers named in alphabetical order (Adam, Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephram, Frank, and Gideon) are tamed by love in this rollicking musical with wildly athletic dance numbers choreographed by Michael Kidd.
A Star Is Born (1954) Judy Garland and James Mason star in the second (of three–so far) versions of the story of the fading star who marries a rising star. Garland sings “The Man That Got Away” and “Born in a Trunk” and introduces herself as “Mrs. Norman Maine!”
The Music Man (1962) Robert Preston re-creates his legendary stage performance as “Professor Harold Hill,” a con man who sells a small Iowa town on the idea of a boys’ band. He plans to skip town before they discover that he has no idea of how to teach kids to play instruments, but then he meets “Marian the Librarian” (an almost impossibly pretty Shirley Jones) and things get complicated. Songs include “Trouble,” “76 Trombones,” “Goodnight My Someone,” and “Til There Was You.” And a barbershop quartet singing “Lida Rose.”
Viva Las Vegas (1964) Elvis and Ann-Margret sing and dance. What else do you need to know?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFw5a5Bp_PwCamelot (1967) The grand Lerner and Lowe musical about King Arthur, Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot stars Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero. Songs include “The Lusty Month of May,” “If Ever I Should Leave You,” and the poignant title number.
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971) This is the first and best version of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book about the poor boy who finds a golden ticket to visit the world’s most magnificently magical candy factory. Too bad for the naughty kids who are greedy and spoiled!
Cabaret (1972) The film, director Bob Fosse, and stars Joel Gray and Liza Minnelli won Oscars for this searing musical about pre-WWII Germany, brilliantly presented in an adult musical that deals with issues like the rise of the Nazi party, anti-Semitism, and “divine” decadence.
That’s Entertainment (1974) This delicious compilation includes highlights of dozens of classic and underrated musicals and led to two sequels.
Victor, Victoria (1983) James Garner, Robert Preston, and Julie Andrews star in a wildly funny musical about an impoverished singer whose career takes off when she pretends to be a man pretending to be a woman.
Little Shop Of Horrors (1986) Possibly the most improbable source for a musical was a cheap horror film about a carnivorous plant, shot over a weekend. But the cheeky score made it a theatrical hit and this movie version is a lot of fun.
Hairspray (1988) John Waters’ non-musical film about the controversy over integration on a teen dance show in 1960’s Baltimore inspired this musical remake with John Travolta as the mother of the adorable Tracy (Nikki Blonsky). Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, and Zac Efron co-star in this tuneful treat that includes “Good Morning Baltimore,” “Run and Tell That,” and “You Can’t Stop the Beat.”
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 2:07 pm
B+| Lowest Recommended Age: | Middle School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG-13 for some language including sexual references |
| Profanity: | Some strong language |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Drinking |
| Violence/ Scariness: | None |
| Diversity Issues: | A theme of the movie |
| Date Released to Theaters: | February 20, 2013 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B00BESHGAE |
“Shanghai Calling” is a fish out of water story filled with charm.
Korean-American actor Daniel Henney plays Sam, a Chinese-American lawyer who is sent to China to work on a big project. He does not speak Chinese and he knows very little about his heritage. He has never been further out of New York City than 79th Street. But he is ambitious and confident and is sure that he can make turn the project around quickly and make a triumphant return home.
Of course, he is wrong about, well, everything.
“Happy Endings'” Eliza Coupe plays Amanda, Sam’s “relocation specialist,” an American single mother who is fluent in Chinese. Bill Paxton (“Big Love”) plays the head of the “Americaville” expatriate community, mostly made up of business people who have come to China to take advantage of the enormous economic opportunities. And Alan Ruck (Cameron from “Ferris Buehler”) is the client, a cell phone manufacturer who wants to lock in an exclusive deal with a quirky inventor. Sam also has an assistant named Fang Fang (Zhu Zhu of “Cloud Atlas”).
The skills that made Sam successful in New York just get him into deeper trouble in China. He unwisely ignores the advice from Amanda and Fang Fang, and ultimate discovers that his biggest failings come from his own unrecognized prejudices.
The laughter comes more from character than displacement mishaps. Coupe is lovely in a more natural, understated character than her hilarious Jane in “Happy Endings,” and Henney’s lanky appeal as he tries to cope with an avalanche of language and cultural challenges is a pleasure to watch. You will root for him to learn his lessons, save the day, and get the girl — and you will recognize and question your own assumptions and prejudices as well.
“Shanghai Calling” is in limited theatrical release, now available on Amazon instant video, 
Posted on February 15, 2013 at 11:15 pm
A new animation studio called Rainmaker has produced its first film, “Escape from Planet Earth,” a story of sibling rivalry and aliens. It almost works as an amiable, if derivative time-waster for kids with a few jokes for the grown-ups, but too much is unsettlingly off-base.
On the planet Baab, where the inhabitants are blue and nearly bald, Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser) is a big, brash, brave, impulsive hero. His Buzz-Lightyear knock-off spacesuit is festooned with NASCAR-style sponsor patches. In between missions, he promotes his cereal brand, Scorchies.
His brother Gary Supernova (Rob Corddry) is the brilliant but careful, brilliant mission control specialist who makes sure Scorch knows what he has to do, where he has to be, and how to get back home. His coffee mug says, “I (HEART) Safety.” Gary tells Scorch to proceed with extreme caution and Scorch responds that he will proceed with style.
Scorch always calls Gary his “little brother” and Gary irritably reminds Scorch that he may be smaller but he is actually older. Each feels unappreciated by the other. And each secretly thinks his contribution is the more important one.
They complete a successful mission rescuing kidnapped Baab-ian babies from a planet inhabited by creatures with big teeth who thought of the babies as a delicacy. But it put such a strain on their working relationship that they split up, just as Scorch is about to undertake his most dangerous mission of all — a trip to “the dark planet” of earth, “the only world in which evolution goes in reverse.” More than 100 aliens have landed there and none has made it home. Scorch, insisting he can do it on his own, arrives on earth and is immediately captured. Gary goes after him, and he gets captured, too. And of course they are taken to Area 51.
They are held there by General Shanker (William Shatner), where they are forced to give up their inventions — like social networking, cell phones, computer animation, and search engines — so that the general can finance some big contraption he says is to help preserve peace. The brothers will have to learn to work together and to appreciate each other if they are to get back home. And they will need the help of Gary’s wife Kira (Sarah Jessica Parker) and son.
There are a couple of good jokes and some of the characters are well-designed and voiced, especially Jane Lynch as a one-eyed alien who appears to be made out of lobster shells. The prison-like setting where Scorch, Gary, and the other aliens are kept and much of the humor is reminiscent of films like “Paul,” “Monsters, Inc.” and “Monsters vs. Aliens.” But the movie slides from the unimaginative to the weirdly creepy when the aliens are told that if they work they will be set free in a chillingly insensitive echo of the infamous Auschwitz gate. When Gary’s boss (Jessica Alba) repeatedly insults Kira for being a stay-at-home mother, it falls flat. So do the jokes about Gary’s being a nerd, making fun of him for being smart. It’s one thing to have all the aliens breathe air and speak English, but having them travel back and forth between planets in less time than it takes to fly from New York to Chicago and have characters show up on Baab when they were left behind on earth three days earlier feels less like sci-fi than laziness.
Parents should know that this movie includes extended peril and action and some scary-looking aliens, some potty humor, and a parent getting crushed by a UFO. There are some oddly insensitive jokes about nerds not having any friends and stay-at-home mothers not being capable.
Family discussion: Why was it so hard for Gary And Scorch to be nice to each other?
If you like this, try: “Monsters vs. Aliens” and “Monsters, Inc.”
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 6:00 pm
How did so many great performers get stuck in this awful movie? And why, why?
There’s one scene in this ugly and poorly paced road trip comedy that has the straight-laced Sandy (co-producer and star Jason Bateman) hiding in the bathroom because he is so agonized by what is going on in his hotel room. The scammer who stole his identity (Melissa McCarthy) is drunkenly seducing an even tipsier guy named “Big Chuck” (“Modern Family’s” Eric Stonestreet) and two heavy people wanting to have sex must be funny, right? Sandy runs the water in the bathroom and wraps his head in a towel to block out the sounds and thoughts. As we went back and forth between the not-funny gyrations in the bedroom and the not-funny disgust in the bathroom, I was wishing I had a towel to wrap around my ears. And my eyes.
Sandy Bigelow Patterson is a loving husband and father with a pregnant wife (Amanda Peet) holding onto a $50,000-a-year job at a financial institution where the big bosses are getting million-dollar bonuses, not for performance but for “retention.” Director Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”) has a small role as the obnoxious partner who explains why he is worth all that money and a monkey could do Sandy’s job. “I’m going to get you a copy of The Fountainhead,” he says, an overused signifier of soul-less arrogance.
Then, out of the blue, a group from Sandy’s office splits off and hires him at five times his old salary. But his happily ever after is ruined when an identify thief takes advantage of his gender-neutral name (many not-funny jokes are made about Sandy’s overall unmanliness and how girly the name “Sandy” is). She has not just blown out his credit card accounts; she has outstanding arrest warrants. Sandy’s new boss gives him one week to straighten it out and the mild-mannered Sandy decides that what makes sense is for him to leave his family in Colorado and go to Winter Park, Florida to find the other Sandy and somehow bring her back to Colorado and get her to confess her crimes.
But she does not want to go, so she puts up a fight. Worse, she loudly sings along to the car radio. Even worse, through all kinds of trauma and misery she still manages to sport pale blue eye shadow left over from the 1960’s. To further complicate things, she is being chased by a skip tracer because she owes a lot of money (Robert Patrick) and by a couple of elegant-looking hoods under orders from an imprisoned crime kingpin who wants her killed.
A sloppy script from Craig Mazin (some of the mid-“Scary Movie” franchise and the lackluster “Hangover II”) shows no sense of character, and dragged-out direction from Seth Gordon (the wonderful “King of Kong” and the hideously awful “Four Christmases”) shows no understanding of comic momentum. And the film criminally mis-uses not just the exceptional talents of its two leads but also Stonestreet (we are subjected not just to disconcerting, almost random personality shifts and casual racism but also his bare butt), rapper/actor T.I., Genesis Rodriguez (she needs a new agent after this and Schwarzenegger’s “Last Stand”), and Robert Patrick (ditto after this and “Gangster Squad”). McCarthy is as good as it gets in full-on, fearless, “yes, and” commitment to the moment that should be ideal for a character whose skill is constant re-invention and on-the-fly assessment — is this a time for aggression? a play for sympathy? But it is all surface, and an unpleasant surface at that. Sandy #2 is both selfish and needy, the relentless morphing leaving us with nothing — no one — to connect to. And when the classic-turned cliché mismatched road trip formula requires the pair to develop growing sympathy and respect from each other and from us, including, ugh, a makeover, it just collapses.
Parents should know that this movie includes extended sexual humor with very explicit and crude references and explicit situations, brief nudity, drinking and drunkenness, some drug references, very strong language, violence including shooting, punching, collisions, theft and fraud.
Family discussion: What made the characters change their minds about each other? How did Sandy and Diana see the rights and feelings of other people differently? What do you learn about Diana from her encounter with Big Chuck?
If you like this, try: “Midnight Run”
