A Birthday List for Charles Dickens

Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:00 am

Happy 200th birthday, Charles Dickens!

In honor of the birthday of one of the greatest novelists of all time, Masterpiece on PBS has announced two new series based on Dickens novels: A new “Great Expectations” miniseries starring Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham begins April 1 and “The Mysteries of Edwin Drood,” based on Dickens unfinished last book begins on April 15.

Now is a great time to catch up on the books and watch some of the dozens of movies they inspired. Dickens books are gloriously cinematic, filled with rich detail, fascinating characters, and brilliant dialogue. I’ve already written about my favorite versions of A Christmas Carol. Some of the best adaptations of other Dickens books include:

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Roger Rees stars in this stunning Royal Shakespeare Company version of Dickens’ story of a poor brother and sister making their way despite the cruelty of their rich and powerful uncle. This is a nine-hour version of the live performance that mesmerized audiences in London and New York. There is also a 2003 movie version with Charlie Hunnam, Jamie Bell, Anne Hathaway and Nathan Lane.

Great Expectations An orphan with a mysterious benefactor loves a girl who has been trained never to love. The David Lean-directed version with John Mills and Jean Simmons is hauntingly beautiful. Simmons later starred as the elderly Miss Havisham in a 1991 miniseries. And there is a new version coming out later this year with Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham-Carter.

Great Expectations A stylish modern-day version stars Gwenyth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke.

Bleak House The BBC miniseries about a decades-long lawsuit that destroys a family stars Gillian Anderson as the chilly but mysterious Lady Deadlock.

A Tale of Two Cities “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” It was the time of the French revolution and in this version Ronald Coleman unforgettably explains, “It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done. It is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known.”

David Copperfield W.C. Fields plays the ever-in-debt, ever-optimistic Mr. Micawber in this sumptuous and exquisitely cast MGM version of Dickens’ autobiographical novel.

Oliver! A best picture Oscar winner, “Oliver!” is a glorious musical adaptation of Dickens’ story about an orphan taken in by a thief. Disney also did an animated version with animals called Oliver and Company.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw_ETnxuBys

Big Miracle

Posted on February 2, 2012 at 6:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for language
Profanity:	Brief strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol, character gets tipsy
Violence/ Scariness:	Human and animal characters in peril, references to hunting and eating whales, sad animal death
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	February 3, 2012
Date Released to DVD:	June 18, 2012
Amazon.com ASIN:	B005LAIGQ4

“You’re not as easy to hate as I thought,” an oil man tells an environmental activist in “Big Miracle,” the heartwarming true story of a 1987 effort to rescue three Alaskan whales. It could just as well have been said by any of the more than a dozen lead characters who find themselves part of a “cockeyed coalition.” People who viewed each other with suspicion, if not downright animosity, are brought together to save a family of whales affectionately named after Flintstones characters.

The obstacle for the whales was five miles of ice that had to be cut away in sub-zero temperatures so the whales could get to the ocean. The bigger obstacle was the struggle for the humans to try to find a way to work together.

“Big Miracle” is the story of a rescue operation put together by people who each wanted something different. Native Inupiat whale hunters wanted to “harvest” (kill and eat) the whales. Environmentalists wanted to protect them. The US military did not want to ask for help from a Soviet ice cutting ship. An oil developer wanted to improve his reputation. Two Minnesota entrepreneurs wanted to show off their ice melting machine. Politicians wanted to look good or look innocent. And journalists wanted a story.

Director Ken Kwapis and screenwriters Jack Amiel and Michael Begler deftly keep the multi-character story from getting too cluttered with the help of appealing performances that give us an instant connection to the humans who are literally trying to save the whales. Standouts in the cast include John Krasinski as a television reporter who is tired of being stuck in a backwater where nothing exciting happens, Kathy Baker as an unexpected supporter with inside information, Dermot Mulroney as a frustrated military officer, and John Pingayeck on his first movie role as a grandfather trying to teach his grandson to listen to the world outside his earphones.

When the reporter’s story is picked up for a national broadcast, the first to arrive is Rachel (an earnest and believably bedraggled Drew Barrymore). She is an environmental activist with no resources but a good story. One by one, those who resist getting involved revise their positions when they are in the spotlight. No one wants to risk bad publicity–or pass up the chance to look heroic.

Even as the people come together, the logistical challenge becomes overwhelming and — parent alert — the ultimate rescue is bittersweet, not entirely triumphant.

The people stories, especially a trumped-up romantic triangle, are not as intriguing as the portrayal of pre-Internet news media. With only three network news broadcasts just half an hour each evening, everyone from school children to White House staffers watched the same stories. The archival footage is like the hub that holds all the parts of the story together, and there are some pointed jabs at media focus on the sensational over the significant.

A turning point comes when White House aide Kelly Meyers (based on Bonnie Carroll) persuades President Ronald Reagan, at the end of his term, to call on his counterpart in the USSR for help from a Soviet ice cutting ship. (Be sure to watch for photos of Carroll’s real life wedding to the military officer she met at the rescue over the closing credits.).

Meyers sets up a “Hello Gorby, this is Ronnie” phone call that serves as a literal ice breaker for the whales and a metaphorical one for two nations in the very earliest stages of post-Evil Empire relations. The people saved the whales, but the real miracle was that they learned their differences were small compared to what they had in common with each other and with the giant mammals who needed their help.

Parents should know that this movie includes animal and human peril and references to hunting and eating whales. One of the whales dies (off-screen).

Family discussion: How many different reasons did the characters have for helping the whales? How did the risk of bad publicity or the benefits of good publicity change their behavior? What is different now from the era when this took place?

If you like this, try: “Free Willy” and “Whale Rider” and the book about the real-life rescue by Tom Rose

Man on a Ledge

Posted on January 27, 2012 at 9:10 am

It wants to be a twisty-turny thriller but it is as straightforward as its title. A man we will later know as Nick (Sam Worthington) checks into a New York hotel, orders room service (we see he has a scraped knuckle), and then he opens the window and goes out onto the ledge. Nick is indeed a man on a ledge for just about all of the rest of the movie.

Police negotiator Jack Dougherty (Edward Burns) comes in, ready to go by the book to talk Nick back inside, to make him feel that Nick can trust him. But Nick insists he will only talk to Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) and Jack does not have much to bargain with. So, against his better judgment, he tracks down Lydia, who is in disgrace with the department following a negotiation gone wrong that left her torturing herself. She has had no previous contact with Nick and has no idea why he called her, but she knows that establishing a connection with a suicide risk is critical so she is hopeful that whatever reason was behind his request will give her a place to start.

The story splits in three. We get a flashback that tells us a little bit about why Nick is so desperate. And we see that on the same block he overlooks on the ledge, a young couple (“Billy Elliot’s” Jamie Bell and the luscious Genesis Rodriguez) seem to be undertaking an exceptionally well-planned hi-tech heist. And we also meet Ed Harris as an arrogant Mr. 1%-er-style bully, chewing on an enormous cigar and barking orders: “Get me the mayor!”

We’re pretty sure how it’s all going to come together and none of it holds up to any sort of logic or reality check, but there are some entertaining moments along the way. I admit to being a sucker for heist films. I love to see the way they plan to overcome all of the security measures and I love to see what happens when things go wrong. Bell and Rodriguez have a fine rapport and their progress through the many layers of protections provides some momentum to balance the static setting on the ledge. Eventually, Lydia discovers Nick’s true identity (preposterous plot element #1 is that given his situation it is impossible to believe that no one recognizes him), a police helicopter and (of course) an obnoxious TV news reporter (Kyra Sedgewick, clearly enjoying herself very much) almost throw him off (literally, in the case of the chopper), but Nick stays focused. Worthington’s performance is bland, Harris barely qualifies as one-dimensional, and the plot falls apart in the last half hour, but Banks and Rodriguez lend warmth and humor, doing a welcome bit of heisting of their own in stealing the movie from their male co-stars.

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Crime Drama

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Posted on January 19, 2012 at 5:59 pm

Jonathan Safran Foer’s acclaimed novel about a boy whose father was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11 has been brought to the screen with great sensitivity and heart. Newcomer Thomas Horn plays Oskar, whose ferocious intellect overwhelms his social skills and may be on the autism spectrum. His father (Tom Hanks) understands him best and it is in their time together that Oskar feels most alive and most at home. Oskar’s happiest moments are solving the puzzles set by his father, whether oxymoron contests or treasure hunts. After his father’s death, Oskar searches for the final challenge he is sure his father must have left behind for him, some way to make sense his loss. He finds a blue vase in his father’s closet and when he breaks it, he finds a key in an envelope that says “Black.” He decides to visit everyone in the phone book named Black to see if he can solve at least one mystery in the midst of the senseless tragedy that has devastated his family, his city, and the world.

Oskar’s mother (Sandra Bullock) is withdrawn, scared, and angry. She never had her husband’s gift for reaching Oskar and making him feel safe. As Oskar goes off in search of his father, in a way he seems to be searching for his mother, too. The different people named Black that he tracks down feel like pieces of a puzzle, each unidentifiable and indistinct but somehow, put together, a picture of a piece of something whole begins to emerge. One of the people who opens the door to Oskar is played by Viola Davis in a performance of exquisite beauty. In her brief moments on screen she creates a character of such depth and complexity and humanity that she illuminates the entire film.

Oskar’s grandmother lives across the street and he can see her apartment from his window and communicate with her by walkie-talkie. She takes in a new, mysterious tenant known only as “the renter” (Max von Sydow) and Oskar goes to investigate. The renter is mute. He has “yes” and “no” tattooed on his palms and writes what he wants to say in a notebook. He agrees to accompany Oskar on his visits to Blacks.

Oskar finds an answer that is not what he was looking for or hoping for. But looking for something so far from home makes it possible for him to see what was in front of him all along that he could not face. He is able to tell his own story, finally. He is able to hear the stories of the renter and his mother. And it is only then that he can find the real message his father left behind.

Without speaking a word, Sydow conveys a sense of gravity and compassion, more eloquent than all of Oskar’s words. “The renter” balances Oskar — old and young, silence and constant talking, hiding and seeking. Both are damaged by the trauma of world events with the most personal impact and each expands the other’s spirit with a sense of possibility. The final revelation from Oskar’s mother proves the old saying that only a broken heart can hold the world.

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Based on a book Drama Family Issues

A Mile in His Shoes

Posted on January 17, 2012 at 9:39 am

“Do not just a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes,” we are told, and that is the message of this understated film about a gifted pitcher who is on the autism spectrum and the minor league team coach who learns as much from him as he teaches. Dean Cain plays Murph, badly in need of a new pitcher when he gets into an accident near a farm in a remote area with no cell coverage so has to ask for help to call for a tow. He sees the farmer’s son Mickey (Luke Schroder), a sheltered young man who likes to throw apples for his pig and can throw them very fast and very hard. Mickey is on the autism spectrum and his parents have kept him on the farm all his life.

Murph wants to take Mickey to the team. Mickey’s mother supports the idea but his father does not think Mickey can function away from home. Murph promises he will take care of Mickey, and his parents allow him to try to join the team. There are a number of adjustment problems but most of the teammates are supportive. The other pitcher, though, is jealous, and as Mickey continues to do well, he is determined to stop him.

Director William Dear likes to use baseball as a backdrop for family-friendly stories with a spiritual foundation (“Angels in the Outfield,” “The Perfect Game”). There are no surprises in this one but its humility, sincerity, and decency make it watchable.

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Drama Inspired by a true story Sports