Zoolander 2

Posted on February 11, 2016 at 5:22 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, a scene of exaggerated violence, and brief strong language
Profanity:	Brief strong language, crude references
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Mostly comic peril and violence, characters injured and killed, some disturbing images, assault weapons, knives, explosions, building collapse
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	February 12, 2016
Date Released to DVD:	May 23, 2106
Amazon.com ASIN:	B018IDVB6W

Kind of like fashion itself, we don’t really care whether “Zoolander 2” is any good. We go because it is silly fun.

The original Zoolander, released in 2001 just after the attacks on 9/11, was based on shorts Ben Stiller created for the VH1 fashion awards. It was moderately successful on release but has become a big hit on DVD/Blu-ray and an enduring cultural touchstone. It’s the kind of movie that is best watched at home, with friends who know exactly where the punchlines and star cameos come in, or while sick in bed recovering from the flu when you’re not quite up for binge-watching something that requires more than half your attention.

I suspect the same will happen with this 15-years-later sequel, again directed by Stiller, who stars as the dimwitted supermodel of the title and co-wrote with Justin Theroux, Nicholas Stoller, and John Hamburg. The script relies heavily on the audience’s affection for and knowledge of the first, with more winking references to the original than attempts to be funny about the current state of fashion and the industry.

In the first film, Derek Zoolander plans to build a book-shaped center called The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can’t Read Good and Who Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too. After that film ended, we are told through clips from television news shows (Katie Couric, Jane Pauley, and Jim Lehrer are among the first of an avalanche of what-is he/she-doing-in-this-movie celebrity cameos) that after it was built the building immediately collapsed, killing Zoolander’s wife (Stiller’s real-life spouse, Christine Taylor) and injuring Derek’s rival-turned BFF, Hansel (Owen Wilson).

Partly because he was so distraught, but mostly because he is an idiot, Derek was unable to take care of his son, Derek Jr., and he was taken away by Child Protective Services. Derek announced at a press conference that he was retiring from modeling to become “a hermit crab.” Hansel, his face scarred from his injury, also retreated from the world, to live in the desert (well, Malibu) with an 11-person assortment of consorts he refers to affectionately as his orgy.

But then a nefarious villain is killing pop stars, who die with what appears to be Derek’s famous Blue Steel look on their faces. When Justin Bieber is killed (with time for an Instagram filters joke), Interpol’s fashion division, led by a former swimsuit model (eternal beauty Penelope Cruz) decides that they need Derek’s help to solve the crime.

There’s a lot of fan service here, which can seem stale to those who know the first movie well. But as a lukewarm fan of the earlier film, I found myself being a lukewarm fan of this one, too. The dumb jokes (both those about being dumb and those that actually are dumb) and grotesqueries are no funnier but no less funny. The storyline (Will Derek be reunited with his son? Will Hansel be a father to his various upcoming babies? Will Will Ferrell’s Mugatu destroy whatever it is he is planning to destroy?) is weak, but it is a hoot to see the fashion dream team (even Anna Wintour!) playing themselves with such good humor. In fashion terms, it’s a cheap knock-off, but sometimes that’s all you need.

Parents should know that this film includes very strong content for a PG-13 including very crude sexual references and brief graphic sexual humor, mostly comic violence with characters injured and killed and some disturbing images, and brief strong language.

Family discussion: What are the most important messages we receive from the fashion industry? If they make a “Zoolander 3,” what celebrities would you like to see included?

If you like this, try: the first “Zoolander”

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Touched With Fire

Posted on February 11, 2016 at 5:12 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Not rated
Profanity:	Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking and drugs
Violence/ Scariness:	Mental illness, suicide attempt, risky behavior
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	February 12, 2016

Movies are fascinated with mentally ill people but they usually do not do a very good job of portraying them accurately or compassionately. Too often they are serial killers (“Silence of the Lambs”). Even worse, many times they are adorable wise fools (“Benny & Joon,” “King of Hearts”), somehow tuned in to a finer way of thinking. We very seldom get to see them as people. But “Touched With Fire,” named for the book on bi-polar disorder by a doctor who herself is bi-polar and written and directed by Paul Dalio, who is bi-polar, has a sense of deep understanding of the characters that makes it very compelling.

Dalio takes us inside, literally shifting the color scheme and the walls of the sets so that we not only see the characters experiencing a manic high but get a sense of how thrilling, liberating, and exhilarating it feels. He is also deeply compassionate to the family members. Christine Lahti and Griffin Dunne show us the endless and sometimes exhausting love, fear, and pain for their children.

Dalio and his characters, Marco (Luke Kirby) and Carla (Katie Holmes) feel kinship to the many artists who were bi-polar, from Van Gogh to Hemingway (we see a list in the film’s closing credits). The manic cycles of bi-polar disorder can spark a kaleidoscopic geyser of artistic energy. Marco and Carla are both poets with wild, vivid word choices. They meet in a mental hospital and are immediately drawn to one another, triggering a manic episode that catapults them into ecstatic happiness. But the down cycle and the consequences of their behavior create complications.

Dalio is very good at conveying the subjective experience of mania and the family dynamics and the poetry and speech of the two main characters limns the uncertain line between art and madness. Holmes and Kirby both give performances of enormous sensitivity and insight. But Dalio’s very diligence about fairness to everyone and some didactic discursiveness are better for therapeutic purposes than narrative purposes. In its best moments, it is a thoughtful, compassionate film that shows how art can help to both heal and express thoughts that are otherwise dangerously uncontainable.

Parents should know that this movie includes themes of mental illness and medication, with attempted suicide and risky behavior, strong language, sexual references, and abortion.

Family discussion: What was the best way for Marco’s and Carla’s parents to respond to their news? Why did Carla and Marco make different choices?

If you like this, try: the book by Kay Redfield Jamison and Mark Ruffalo’s performance in “Infinitely Polar Bear”

Trailer: The Whole Truth with Keanu Reeves and Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Posted on February 11, 2016 at 8:52 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgt-d2qBKM

Keanu Reeves, Renee Zellweger, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw star in the courtroom drama “The Whole Truth,” directed by “Frozen River’s” Courtney Hunt.

Deadpool

Posted on February 8, 2016 at 3:58 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity
Profanity:	Constant very strong and crude language and sexual references
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, scenes in bar, medical torture
Violence/ Scariness:	Intense comic book action violence with many characters injured and killed, some disturbing and graphic images
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	February 12, 2016
Date Released to DVD:	May 9, 2016
Amazon.com ASIN:	B01BLS9E2Y

Frankly, exuberantly nasty — in the nicest possible way, Deadpool is not your father’s superhero. That is, unless your father is more like “Who’s your daddy?” all snarky wisecracks, 90’s pop culture references, and joyous mayhem.

Deadpool is the po-mo superhero, so self-aware he knows he’s in a comic book, or now, a movie. A riotously funny opening shot takes us in exquisite slow-motion through an in medias res freeze frame that teases and reveals where we are — not just geographically and narratively but the world we are in. Suspended in air are elements of violence and chaos and also a copy of the Sexiest Man Alive People Magazine with Deadpool portrayer Ryan Reynolds on the cover. Oh, and the song on the soundtrack is not the kind superhero fanfare we might expect. It’s the syrupy “Angel in the Morning.”

And then we see the opening credits. Instead of the actual names of the people on and off screen we get their descriptions, telling us that the filmmakers will both meet and subvert our expectations for a comic book movie. We will see: God’s fool, a moody teen, a wisecracking sidekick, a British villain, a CGI character, and a gratuitous cameo. And the movie is produced by “asshats,” directed by “a stupid tool,” and written by — the real heroes of the film (there are some benefits to having final say on the script).

A big, crazy battle on a bridge is underway but Deadpool pauses to tell us his story, starting with a very crude reference to another comic book hero to explain how he got his own movie, and then taking us back to his pre-superhero days, when he was just Wade after his days in Special Forces, when he was an Equalizer-style hired gun with a very bad attitude.

A bunch of bad attitude types congregate at a bar run by Weasel (T.J. Miller), the closest thing to a friend Wade has, which doesn’t keep him from betting on Wade in the “dead pool,” a running tally of odds on which of the colorful, trigger-happy local denizens will die first. Wade meets Vanessa (Morena Baccarin of “Gotham”), who speaks his language — tough, twisted, and funny. Their one-upsmanship on who had the worst childhood is topped by a hilarious montage of holiday and season-related sexual situations. As Wade tells Vanessa, they are two jigsaw puzzle pieces who don’t fit in anywhere else but fit together just right.

But then Wade gets Stage 4 cancer. It seems hopeless until a man approaches him with the possibility of a cure that will make him better than before. Ajax (Ed Skrein) has a mad-scientist lab/hospital that tortures people until they either die or mutate into superheroes. Wade comes out of the process invulnerable, strong, covered with burn-like scars, and very, very angry.

First time director Tim Miller has a background in animation and special effects, and it pays off in his handling of the action sequences, which would be enough to sustain a lesser comic-book film on their own. But what he really captures here is the charm of the anti-hero who spouts off a kaleidoscope of 90’s pop culture references fit for a crit lit symposium panel as he skewers the bad guys (often literally), mashes on his elderly blind roommate (Leslie Uggams! Thank you!), and is genuinely sweet with Vanessa. This is a great fit for Ryan Reynolds, who, People Magazine notwithstanding, is best when he is not trying to be conventionally heroic (no more mention of Green Lantern, please, ever, and the same goes for romantic comedies like “Just Friends”). He is better when he’s bitter. And certainly much more fun for us.

Parents should know that this movie has extensive comic-book style violence, including torture, with graphic and disturbing images. Characters use very strong and crude language and there are vulgar sexual references and explicit situations, along with references to drug use.

Family discussion: What makes Deadpool an anti-hero? When is he willing to accept help from others?

If you like this, try: the X-Men and Avengers movies and “Guardians of the Galaxy”

Interview: Marilyn Meberg from “Women of Faith”

Posted on February 8, 2016 at 3:55 pm

Marilyn Meberg knows how to make everyone feel like an old friend. Counselor, author, and part of the Women of Faith tour of inspirational events, her kindness and warmth are illuminated with a wonderful humor, all grounded in a deep and abiding connection to the divine. It was a great pleasure to speak to her about this final tour of the group that has spoken to hundreds and thousands of women for the last twenty years.

By Experience and Fathom Events will present the farewell Women of Faith event on Thursday, February 18, 2016, at 7 p.m. local time nationwide, with an encore presentation Saturday, February 20 at 12:55 p.m. local time also nationwide and on Thursday, March 3rd at 7 p.m. local time nationwide. The film takes audiences on the historic journey of the Women of Faith movement and showcases how this extraordinary group has influenced the lives of more than five million women. It’s called the Amazing Joyful Journey. And it was a great pleasure to speak to Marilyn Meberg about what that journey has meant to her.

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

“I’ve been with Women Of Faith for 20 years as we all have. They just decided to call some of us out of retirement in order to have a farewell tour.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0HBrw4nt9w

She got started speaking when she was still a teenager. “I was a motivational debater in high school and did some speaking in college, too. Then I got married at 22 and started speaking with Christian women’s clubs and then various churches and retreats, so it’s been a very rich life. For some reason God thinks that I have a message that he’s put on my heart and mind and it’s been a pleasure to do that which I’ve been doing with Women of Faith.”

Meberg is known for bringing a sense of humor to her speeches, and she does it for a reason. “Humor is a door into peoples’ consciousness. They’ll listen to you if you can make them laugh. Once they laugh and you say something meaningful they say, ‘Oh, that’s another way of looking at it.’ My first book is called Choosing the Amusing. It’s how we look at life. We can look through a lens of despair — we all have despairing things in our lives. Or we can change our attitude and we can change how we see things. Of course the best lens is to say, ‘God is in control and God is love.’ Yes, you will have trouble on this earth but find something funny, find something lighthearted, something that can give you a giggle and that can get you through the hard times.”

She told me about a memory that still makes her laugh. “When our little boy he was on a pacifier and I felt like it was time for him to get off the pacifier but he didn’t seem to agree with me. He wanted his old pacifier which was rubbery and he rejected his new pacifier, so I decided to break it in. So one day I’m busy working on it, the doorbell rings, I go to the door, and there is a man who wants to sell me something and he stares at me and then he said, ‘Lady, I don’t know what you’re doing but I think your kid is going to be okay.’ And he went on out the door, and I thought, ‘That was nervy, what right did he have to do that?’ I was engaged into a private thing here! I could have been embarrassed and I wasn’t. I could have been the mad because he had no right at my door. But I thought it was funny and I have had a lot of giggles with that in the years since then. You don’t laugh your way to a funeral, because that would be denial and in many cases it would be inappropriate but you’re able to have room in your insides to know that you can lighten your spirit. Why? because God cares. Why? Because He cares. What goes on may not always be the best but it can be made much better when we see through a lens of humor. That is the very thought at my bottom line.”

She spoke about how she and her husband were able to find something to laugh about even as he was dying. “My husband was extremely funny. One of the things that drew us together was in fact was our wacky humor. I’ve been coloring my hair since I was 16 and when I turned 45 I asked Kenneth, ‘What would you think if I let my hair go?’ He said no. So shortly before he died, I said, ‘Babe, you know you’re going to leave me,’ and he said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Well, don’t you think maybe I have to let my hair go after you’ve gone?’ He said, ‘Yes, but I think you should wait until after. I think you also you could get mileage out of letting your hair go after I’m gone.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Well, how long does it take to grow out?’ ‘No idea. Don’t know what’s under there.’ He said, ‘Okay, here’s the deal. After my service don’t go out until the hair is grown out. People will look at you and say, “Have you seen Marilyn? Bless her heart, her hair turned white after her husband died because they were so close.” So I was like, ‘You rascal!’ and that’s exactly what I did, I let it go and when a friend that we had not seen in a year came to see me for lunch, she was like, ‘Oh no Marilyn,’ and so I said, ‘Oh Ken, you were so right thank you so much.’ I could play that for a while; humor does help.”

She had some concerns about how the immediate personal connection of the live tour could translate to film. “We thought: How are you going to make a movie that commemorates 20 years of ministry with Women Of Faith. We were afraid to be corny. But oh my word! They previewed it for us last week and I was so proud and so moved. Women of Faith has been about stories. Tell the story and it resonates to people. You know Jesus talked in parables, he told stories, why? Because you don’t get bored out of your mind hearing someone’s story. When you tell your story and God became a reality to you in the middle of your story that’s moving to people. So what this movie is about is the six of us, with Women Of Faith. We thought, ‘Oh no don’t let it be embarrassing,’ and it wasn’t. It was moving it was uplifting, and very tender. And I won’t tell you the ending of it, but for those who are acquainted with a Women Of Faith, Mary Graham who has been unable to be with us this past year shares the reason. She narrated the whole thing from the comfort of her living room so they put the movie together based on her narration which was flawless, so sweet and kind and then we concluded the movie with her story. I didn’t expect that to be so we were all pretty undone emotionally but it is just upbeat, it’s sweet, it’s kind, is encouraging. And for 20 years having done this, to go out on that note, we feel very very honored and pleased.”

The most meaningful responses she has seen to their tour is from those who “have found the realization in their heart that the God who created them has not lost sight of who they are, where they are, and what’s going on in their lives. And they have had a reminder that it is possible to notice God in a very personal way. The personal way is Jesus, the son of God and what he did to make it possible for us to have access to God in a personal way.”

She is comforted by favorite Bible verses: “God said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you,’ that’s in Isaiah and when he says in Psalm 63 “Oh my God, you are my God I thirst for you, my soul thirsts for you my, whole body longs for you in a parched and weary land where there is no water.’ There is water with Jesus, there’s water in worshiping him, there is water anointing him and He is never ever going to leave you starving and parched and alone.”

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