In a World….

Posted on August 15, 2013 at 3:19 pm

Writer/director/star Lake Bell has produced a smart, fresh, and funny film that sends up Hollywood, sexism, and the conventions of the romantic comedy and yet somehow has us rooting for the characters to find a happy ending. And she has given juicy roles to a great collection of performers who are too often overlooked — starting with herself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpFNTvA93iY

Bell plays Carol, a voice coach and would-be voiceover announcer, the daughter of Sam (Fred Melamed), a very successful voiceover artist well known for his work narrating movie trailers. The death of Don LaFontaine, the acknowledged leader of this small and very competitive field, has left a perceived opening. According to this film, LaFontaine’s signature opening, “In a world….” is about to be revived for a new “Hunger Games”-like “quadrilogy,” and the job of narrating the trailers is considered the ultimate achievement. Sam has just told Carol she cannot live with him any more because his young girlfriend is moving in. So, Carol has gone to sleep on the couch in the small apartment her sister Dani (Micheala Watkins) shares with her work-at-home husband, Moe (Rob Corddry).

Sam is advising up-and-coming voice artist Gustav (Ken Marino), positioning him to take over the big “In a world…” job. But a temp track recorded by Carol has captured the attention of the studio, and she finds herself in the running for an unprecedented opportunity to be a female voice on a movie trailer. This makes sense as the quadrilogy is about mutant Amazons, but the established tradition is for a deep, rumbling, male “voice of God” narrator.

Bell makes first-timer mistakes in trying to pack too many ideas into the film, but she does a masterful job of keeping it all in balance. She serves the other actors as a director better than she does herself. Carol is sometimes just too much of a clueless, klutz. But when she shows a young professional woman that taking like a teenager with a question inflection at the end of every sentence how important it is to own your voice, it is clear to us that this movie shows how well she owns hers.

Parents should know that this film has very strong language including crude sexual references and some non-explicit sexual situations with some poor choices.

Family discussion: Why don’t trailers use women narrators? What do we learn from Carol’s conversation in the ladies’ room?

If you like this, try: the documentary about voiceover artists, “I Know That Voice”

Related Tags:

Comedy Family Issues

Blue Jasmine

Posted on August 1, 2013 at 6:00 pm

Two sisters. One imagines herself living a life of ease, comfort, graciousness, and elegance that does not really exist. The other is more accepting of her lower middle class life, her carnality, her limited expectations. The first sister loses everything and comes to live with the second. Woody Allen may have been inspired by Tennessee Williams’ “Streetcar Named Desire” in this modern San Francisco story of two sisters, one desperately trying to hold herself together for one more shot at a wealthy husband and the other more realistic but still holding on to some notion of romance.

Cate Blanchett plays the self-named Jasmine, who lived in blissful — if willful — ignorance as a one-percenter, married to Hal, a wealthy businessman (Alec Baldwin). She floated from Pilates to shopping to gala to spa as he shifted funds from one shady offshore corporation to another. She would shake her impeccably coiffed head and murmur that she had no head for business and he would chuckle indulgently and pull another diamond bracelet out of his pocket. She and her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) were both adopted and were never close. But family is family, and when Hal goes to jail for Bernie Madoff-style fraud, Jasmine has no money and nowhere else to go. We first see her on the plane from New York to San Francisco, telling the woman sitting next to her what is clearly a story she has told many times before, about her first meeting with Hal, when “Blue Moon” was playing, and about their fairy tale ending of luxury and parties. She ignores the ugly “ever after” the way she glosses over the evident boredom of her listener, turning from annoyance to pity and then discomfort.

Blanchett, who has played Williams’ fragile Blanche on stage, is magnificent as Jasmine, a narcissistic woman who has been coddled and in denial for so long that she does not have the strength of mind or spirit to engage in an honest appraisal of her situation. Ginger is only slightly better. She can ask Jasmine how (and, by implication, why) someone without any money would travel first class and seems to have few illusions about the economic or emotional prospects with her rough-hewn fiancé, Chili (Bobby Cannavale). She does not hold a grudge over the money she lost by investing with Hal or the destructive impact it had on her first marriage to Augie (Andrew Dice Clay in a nicely textured performance). But she, too, has some illusions, and is easily taken in when she meets Al (Louis C.K.) a man who seems to have the stability and finesse that Chili does not.

Longtime Allen collaborator Santo Loquasto evokes the contrasting worlds of the two sisters with impeccably evocative production design and Sonia Grandes costumes are quite literally right on the money, with Jasmine’s gorgeous Chanels and Hermes and Ginger’s shapeless, cheap glamor. Even the expensive bag she selects as a gift from Jasmine is superficially glittery. The cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe is so gorgeous it might even make Alvy Singer leave his heart in San Francisco.

But this movie is easier to admire than to like. It has some points to make about superficiality and corruption, but there is no one to root for or care about. The last act twist is telegraphed a third of the way in and the issues it raises are quickly abandoned. Allen as a director is still getting better, but as a screenwriter he needs to do a few more drafts.

Parents should know that this film includes sexual references and non-explicit situations, adultery, fraud, drinking, drug use, smoking, and strong language.

Family discussion: Why is it important that the sisters were adopted? Which one made poorer choices about men? What will happen to them next?

If you like this, try: “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” another Woody Allen film about contrasting siblings confronting life choices

Related Tags:

Drama Family Issues

Still Mine

Posted on July 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and brief sensuality/partial nudity
Profanity:	Mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Sad themes of aging and loss
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	July 19, 2013

Why do we spend so much time in movies watching young people fall in love? Why is the wedding so often the happy ending? “Still Mine” is a beautifully performed true-life tale of a couple who have been deeply in love for 70 years. That is a love story.

James Cromwell (“Babe”) plays Craig Morrison, a flinty, taciturn, stubbornly independent man in his 90’s who is committed to caring for his wife, Irene (the exquisitely lovely Geneviève Bujold), as she is struggling with becoming forgetful. Their seven grown children are concerned, but Irene wants to stay at home and Craig is resolute. He has land and he knows how to build. When she falls down the stairs in their home, he decides he will build a new house for them on their land, something small, simple, and one-story, where he can keep her safe.

The local building authorities tell him that he is in violation of their rules. They have no reason to believe that the structure is unsafe. But they have regulations about the certification of lumber and various other check-list requirements that his home does not meet. As the movie opens, he is in court, with the judge to decide whether he will go to jail for contempt, or go home to his wife.

We then go back two years to see what has led to this court appearance, in a series of sensitively understated scenes brimming with privileged moments. It is clear that the depth tenderness between Craig and Irene is earned over a period of decades. And it is so sweetly portrayed it will make you eager to get old.

Parents should know that this movie’s themes include aging and loss. There is a sad death.

Family discussion: How should families talk about end of life issues? Do you agree with the way the Morrison’s children and grandson respond to them? What is the best way for government authorities like the building inspectors to ensure the safety of the community but give people like Craig the freedom they need?

If you like this, try: “The Straight Story” and some of the earlier films with the immensely talented Cromwell and Bujold like “Babe,” “W,” “King of Hearts,” and “Anne of the Thousand Days”

An American Girl: Saige Paints the Sky

Posted on July 1, 2013 at 8:00 am

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	NR
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Scary accident
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	2013
Date Released to DVD:	July 1, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00C9VZ73S

The latest in the terrific series of American Girls movies is the story of Saige (Sidney Fullmer), a talented artist and a horse-lover. She is devastated to learn that due to budget cuts, there will be no more art class in her school. Just as painful, her lifetime best friend seems to like a new friend better. Everything she thought she understood and everyone she thought understood her seem to be changing.

Then it gets worse. Her adored grandmother (Jane Seymour), an accomplished artist and Saige’s role model, is hurt in an accident.

Saige has to learn some new skills and develop her understanding and courage in this heartwarming story of friendship, problem-solving, and making change work for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFK76G2bsws

Interview: “American Idol’s” Brooke White on Hallmark Channel’s “Banner 4th of July”

Posted on June 27, 2013 at 5:00 pm

American Idol star Brooke White talked to me about her role in “Banner 4th of July,” premiering on the Hallmark Channel this Saturday at 9/8c. White plays Desiree Banner, who once was in a successful band called The Banner Project with her brothers Mitchell (Christian Campbell) and Johnny (Michael Barbuto). She left the group, and had not seen them for ten years when she comes home to help care for her Rosalind (Mercedes Ruehl), who has had a heart attack. Shortly after Desiree arrives in her hometown of Pinewood Hills, she learns that the town will face bankruptcy if it can’t make a bond repayment by the July 4th Holiday. As the Fourth of July approaches, it is up to Desiree and her siblings to put into action a plan that will save Pinewood Hills. If you think that will involve a performance by The Banner Project, you have the right idea.

I talked to Ms. White about the movie and what Mercedes Ruehl has taught her about acting. “I’m the rookie of the bunch. This is basically my second and both were lead character roles and I was fortunate to work with patient and kind and talented people who really helped me and were so generous with me. They were really encouraging and made the whole experience really fun.

I would ask her things and she was just so kind and so open in sharing with me. Vocal exercises, more even than acting. Making sure that I enunciate things. If you don’t enunciate things, then you have to record it again later. When it comes to emotional scenes, getting to a place of crying. That makes me nervous. I’m a really emotional gal and my emotions are really close to the surface. But when you have to do it — on demand — and movies are not shot in chronological order — you could have just done a funny scene and now you’re having a big fight with your brother and mourning the last ten years of your life — and the camera is on you — that is difficult. She really helped me by being honest about how difficult it is. And I have a really loud voice naturally, due to the anatomy of my vocal chords. I have to really push to get the sound. Long story long, this is sometimes a struggle when you’re making a movie because a little goes a long way on screen. I had to find a tone that was not too loud or forceful. The director was really helpful as well. She has such a high level of energy, you want to come back at her with the same level of energy. She really elevated my performance and helped me to be more creative, to have fun with it, be free with it, try different things. It’s helpful to have more experienced actors tell you — yes, this is fine, you can do this.”

She wrote songs for the movie, which are now available on iTunes, including “XYZ,” “Sun Up, Sun Down,” and “Fly Fly Fly.” One is the hit the band had when they were all still together, ten years ago. It’s got a country, Americana feel. I was really inspired. I rarely sit down to write a song about a specific subject. I let the song-writing process dictate itself. It was a positive experience, so I’m going to start songwriting with more intentional ideas and concepts. The other song is for a poignant moment in the movie, called “Fly Fly Fly.” It was by far the most rewarding thing for me, to see the songs come to life in the story. We had this whole audience of people singing along, the pinnacle of the movie, a really awesome thing for me.”

She said she is inspired by real life. “I can’t say that every song is about me or comes from my life, but if it isn’t about it it comes from someone close to me. Songs revolve around relationships, humanity and people and their imperfections. There are conflicts but I like to have some kind of redemption or hope, or life. You can’t experience joy without sorrow and music is one way to play with that notion of opposition and how it plays into our life. And mu daughter, who is one, she really inspires me. The whole time I was pregnant I was recording and on the road. So I always had a guitar up against my belly and this kid came out with so much natural musicality! She loves music.”

And she is very proud of the themes of the film. “The music brings everyone back together and heals everyone and it’s a Hallmark movie so of course there is a little bit of romance happening, but overall it’s about the family mending their fences and coming back together.”

Related Tags:

Family Issues Music Musical Television