Posted on March 13, 2015 at 9:00 am
This is our first real glimpse at “Tomorrowland” from Brad Bird (“The Incredibles” and “The Iron Giant”). I love the way it incorporates the 1950’s aesthetics of what the future would look like. This looks like it’s going to be amazing.
Posted on March 12, 2015 at 5:58 pm
B+| Lowest Recommended Age: | All Ages |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG for mild thematic elements |
| Profanity: | None |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | None |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Fantasy violence, tense confrontations |
| Diversity Issues: | Class issues |
| Date Released to Theaters: | March 13, 2015 |
| Date Released to DVD: | September 14, 2015 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B00UI5CTE2 |
Here’s what’s magical — a fairy tale told in 2015 that is true to the spirit of the classic story by Charles Perrault but is still fresh and real despite the dozens of re-imaginings and the seismic shifts in culture in more than a century since it was first published.
Director Sir Kenneth Branagh and screenwriter Chris Weitz have done just that, and the result is enchanting. Recent post-modern versions like Drew Barrymore’s “Ever After” and Anne Hathaway’s “Ella Enchanted,” deftly took on the question of why Cinderella stayed in a home that had become abusive and added a bit of “Shrek”-style post-modern air quotes. But as its title suggests, this version of “Cinderella” is fundamentally traditional, neither po- nor mo-, and entirely comfortable as a fairy tale.
They get a lot of help from the design team including triple-Oscar winners Sandy Powell on costumes and Dante Ferretti on the sets and overall look of the film. This is Disney at its Disney-rific best, a magical setting so arrestingly imaginative and comprehensively envisioned that it is easy to imagine that it is a peek into a gloriously gorgeous world that really exists, if we could just find out way to it. And Ella herself is a winning heroine, kind and wise.
For a fairy tale, though, the actual magic is pretty limited. In the early scenes, magic would be superfluous, as Ella lives a real-life happier and more filled with love than any wish could grant. Her doting parents (Hayley Atwell and Ben Chaplin) make her feel cherished and understood. Her natural sweetness is enchantment enough, and the world around her seems safe and understandable.
But her mother becomes ill, and has just time to give Ella one piece of advice before she is gone: kindness and courage will bring her anything she needs. It is her natural generosity and her wish to obey her mother as well as her longing for family that lead her to stay with her wicked stepmother, Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett), and simpering, mean girl stepsisters (Sophie McShera and Holliday Grainger), after her father’s death.
We get a brief glimpse of what is behind Lady Tremaine’s misery and why she takes it out on Ella, but this is no revisionist “Maleficent.” Lady Tremaine may be more angry and desperate than evil but she is all villain here as she insults and humiliates Ella and forces her to wait on her spoiled, arrogant stepsisters.
When her kindness is met with cruelty, Ella does not know what to do. And then, just when she is utterly devastated at being left behind on the night of the prince’s ball, her mother’s dress torn to shreds. Her fairy godmother (Helena Bonham-Carter) appears just in time to transform the servant girl into a radiant princess. The special effects for the transformation are dazzling, especially the pumpkin coach and the lizards and mice who become her human attendants. No more magic is needed after that. She’s on the way to happily ever after.
Be sure to arrive on time as before the film there is a seven-minute mini-sequel to “Frozen,” complete with new song, and it is pure joy. I won’t spoil it; I’ll just say that when Elsa gets a cold, she has very funny frozen sneezes.
Parents should know that this film includes sad parental deaths and an abusive stepmother.
Family discussion: Why did Ella allow her stepmother to treat her so badly? Why didn’t Ella’s fairy godmother come back to help her again? How can you show courage and kindness?
If you like this, try: other versions of the story including Disney’s animated “Cinderella,” “Ella Enchanted,” and “Ever After”
Posted on March 9, 2015 at 3:27 pm
David Milchard stars in “Russell Madness” as the father of a family who inherits a wrestling arena. But I think he would agree that the real stars of the film are the talking monkey and dog.
He took the time to talk to me about making the film, which is a lot of fun . I have copies to give away! Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with Russell in the subject line and tell me your favorite movie dog. Don’t forget your address! (US addresses only). I’ll pick a winner at random on March 16, 2015. Good luck!
They always say that actors don’t like to work with animals or children. You managed to do both in this film so tell me a little bit about what that was like.
A dog and a monkey! A monkey is an animal but some people will say it is also a human. And I work with CGI which means there’s nothing there at the time. So I feel like I can do anything. I have been through the hurricane class of acting. Crystal is the name of the monkey. I like Crystal. She was fantastic to work with. It was a great experience; it was actually funny; the very first day on the set, I hadn’t met the monkey yet. And we were kind of in an important scene in terms of like how to get it done so it was a crash course on how to handle a monkey. Getting the monkey up on my shoulder and then acting as though I always had the monkey upon my shoulder, like it is totally normal. And then every now and then a monkey does what a monkey does which is like really screech loudly in your ear. But for the most part Crystal was a professional. Very well behaved and it was super fun to work with Crystal. And then I learned that if you ignore the monkey just a little bit they adore you more. So that is what I did.
What was it like to work with CGI, or, rather, to pretend that what would be inserted via CGI was there?
We were moving very quickly so sometimes they would film the dog and then they would remove the dog. The dog would do some crazy flip. And then you had to react to a dog flipping but there was no dog. So it was challenging but it was fun and working with the Director, Robert Vince, was great because he was very honest. If it was working, he would be like “Perfect, great!” If not, he would say, “No, we are going to do that one again,” and then he would explain if I was looking in the wrong spot or whatever but it was really great. After that, I’m definitely capable of handling anything right now. Give me any sort of situation actingwise, I am ready.
Your co-star is John Ratzenberger (“Cheers”), and I know he loves to improvise.
Yes and I love to do improv, too. I actually performed in a place called the Vancouver TheaterSports League and that’s where I get my chops for improv over the last, I guess 10 or so years and it was great. Yes, John and I would mess around a little bit. He kept me on my toes for sure.
You were very believable as a dad. What did you do to help the kids in the film get comfortable with you?
It was lots of fun. Working in the “Conversations With” Web Series was very helpful because it is not shot like a traditional TV set or anything like that. And being an improviser I have worked with lots of kids on stage in front of a live audience, which is very exciting and dangerous if you will. And so I felt quite prepared when I got on set and the kids were great. I mean everyone was super fun and Mason Vale Cotton was a consummate professional. He was very prepared. And he was also very adaptable. I mean it is hard acting with the dogs and animals and stuff but he was patient and he was fantastic.
I’m glad you mentioned the very funny “Conversations With” on YouTube, where you played the role of a 2, then 3, now 4-year-old, saying exactly what she said to her father. Tell me how you psych yourself into that role.
I think there is more kid in me than I realize. I always want to try and get what I want when I want it. And so I definitely tapped into that. But basically, being an improviser you just sort of say yes to situations and also you observe a lot. So I spent a lot of time watching my brother raise his two kids and like I said I taught improv as well so I have worked with kids in that way. And then just watching Coco, I studied her sometimes and see what she does. And then I take some creative license.
I like the way you capture the temperament of a child without having to use an exaggerated baby voice.
Yes, Matt Clark, my friend and my partner in crime in the series, we talked about that at length actually when we were starting. We were like “Well, how much like a kid do I play it?” We try to find a fine line about what makes the most sense. Sometimes I do act like a kid because it feels right and then other times I feel like no, this is an adult moment, this is when maybe Coco’s exploring the world of what it is like to be older.
One of the things that I particularly enjoyed in the “Russell Madness” movie was the set. It was just gorgeous.
When I walked on to that set, I was like, “Oh my goodness! I’m in a real movie!” The set was amazing. And we were all really sad when we had to go to the modern version, but that was amazing too. Everyone loved it. And then we were all kind of like joking that we could just leave it up and start a wrestling league here. We were all sad when we had to leave that set.
What do you think families will talk about after they see the film?
I think people are going to love this movie because it has got a great little story. The parents will be happy with the family message: family first, family is the best tag team. And I think that is a great element of it. The monkey talks and we hear the monkey and that is super fun. And then of course we have got the dogs so if you like dogs, you are in. If you like monkeys, you are in. You kind of got it all and the kids were both talented obviously and super cute. So it is fun.
Posted on February 24, 2015 at 12:16 pm
Win a copy of this week’s release of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Adventures Of The Cutie Mark Crusaders
Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com and tell me your favorite real-life or fictional horse. Don’t forget your address! (US addresses only). I’ll pick a winner at random on March 2, 2015. Good luck!
Posted on February 5, 2015 at 5:55 pm
“Jupiter Ascending” was released in early 2015 but it was originally scheduled for release in the summer of 2014. It does feel like a summer movie. Somehow warm weather makes us more in the mood for explosions and less in need of superfluities like plot, character, and dialogue that never feels snicker-worthy. It is not quite up to snuff for this time of year. The story feels like a mash-up of sci-fi/fantasy movies past (especially “Terminator” and “Star Wars”), with a little “Cinderella” and “Princess Bride” added in for romance and some rage against the one percent to add some political heft. It is often downright silly, even snicker-worthy. It is well over the quota for just-in-time saves, both in the falling and about-to-make-an-irrevocable-decision categories.
And yet, it is fun, especially on a big, big screen. And there are even a few moments that are shrewdly conceived and hit the mark. The Wachowskis (“The Matrix” trilogy, “Cloud Atlas,” “Speed Racer”) specialize in vast, colorful, grandly conceived new worlds and in this film they mean that literally. We visit several planets, and each is visually complex, sumptuous, and wildly imaginative, often dazzling. If you’re in the mood for eye candy, head for the box office. Don’t wait to see this one at home.
Mila Kunis plays Jupiter, an illegal alien (get it?) from Russia, working in Chicago as a maid and living with her extended family. “I hate my life,” she says when she has to get up at 4:45 am for another day of scrubbing toilets. But like Neo and Speed Racer, she is special. Not for a particular talent or quality of character but because of her very essence. Like infinite monkeys banging away on infinite typewriters until one of them randomly produces “Hamlet,” it seems that throughout the universe there are so many humans that every so often the random accumulation of cells produces a genetic mix identical to someone who has already lived. Jupiter, whose father was a British astronomer killed in a robbery, turns out to be identical to an intergalactic royal, which makes her a threat to three battling siblings in a dispute over their inheritance. Yes, this is a story about inheritance and real estate. We might as well be back at Downton Abbey or in “King Lear.” The particular piece of real estate they are so concerned about: Earth.
One of the noble siblings wants her captured. Another wants her killed. Just as assassins are about to take her out, Caine (Channing Tatum), a pointy-eared hunk arrives to carry her off like Richard Gere at the end of “An Officer and a Gentleman.” Except that this is the beginning, and he will have many more opportunities to lift her in his manly arms as things develop. He has some cool toys, too, especially some wonderful shoes that operate like a hoverboard crossed with ice skates, so that he glides through the air.
There are some clangers ahead, like the fact that Jupiter’s special genetic makeup is recognized by bees. But there is some fun stuff, too, especially an extended sequence through a delightfully steampunk series of bureaucratic offices that show that even the most highly evolved civilizations we can imagine still have not found a way around petty rules and red tape. In the rare category of both clangish and fun is Eddie Redmayne as Balem (the names are all faintly Latinate, “Hunger Games”-style). If Mount Everest were built on top of wherever over the top lives, he’d be on top of that. But I got a kick out of his full-on commitment to petulant decadence turned up to 11. And Gugu Mbatha-Raw shows that a spectacularly beautiful and talented woman can take a costume reminicient of John Candy in “Spaceballs” and make it work.
It’s long and messy and unforgivably silly in place, but somewhere under all the eye candy and under-written dialogue there are some interesting ideas about the true meaning of consumption and what, if we had all the time in the world, we would do with it. I wasn’t sorry to spend some of my limited time seeing Channing Tatum treat the air like a 3D ice rink.
Parents should know that this film has extended sci-fi/fantasy peril and violence, some graphic images including brief torture, characters injured and killed, rear nudity, some strong language, and drinking and sexual references.
Family discussion: If life requires consumption, how do we make responsible choices? How were the siblings different?
If you like this, try: “The Princess Bride,” “Looper,” “The Matrix,” and the “Star Wars” series
