English actor Henry Cavill has been cast as Superman in the new movie to be directed by Zack Snyder (“300,” “Watchmen”). This is fourth-time lucky for Cavill, as he reportedly was an almost-choice for Edward in “Twilight,” James Bond, Batman and even the most recent Superman movie. Viewers may know him as Charles Brandon in television’s “The Tudors.”
Superman was the creation of then-teenagers Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. He first appeared in Action Comics #1. Look in your attic and see if you can find a copy — in excellent condition, it’s worth at least one million dollars.
He is probably the most popular comic book character of all time and one of the most recognizable characters in the world. Superman has appeared on radio, television, and movies. Cavill’s predecessors in that role include George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, and Brandon Routh.
Any suggestions for Lois, Jimmy, Perry White, Lex Luthor, and Ma and Pa Kent? Which is your favorite version of Superman?
Writer-director Tanya Hamilton and two of today’s most gifted actors have produced a sensitive drama with a powerful conclusion. Night Catches Us takes on some of the most complicated and painful issues of the era that saw the struggle for civil rights shift from “We shall overcome” to “Burn, baby, burn.” It is rare that we see those issues portrayed, rarer still that we see them explored with any recognition of complexity and nuance, and just about unheard of that we see how much more complicated and nuanced the issues were for the women.
It is 1976, and the United States is celebrating its 200th birthday. Some Americans are still feeling marginalized, neglected, or locked out.
Marcus (Anthony Mackie) who returns to his home in Philadelphia following the death of his preacher father. He seems rootless and restless. But it is immediately clear when he sees Patricia (another exquisite performance by Kerry Washington), a lawyer and single mother, that they have some history and that he wants to know whether they might have a future.
No one else seems happy to see Marcus, even his brother. It is apparent that the people he left behind feel abandoned and betrayed by him. Everyone seems to think he is the one who gave the police information that led to the death of one of the leaders of the Black Power movement. But it is also clear that he is a good man. Could he be protecting someone?
This is a sincere, thoughtful exploration of complex issues and complicated people. Washington and Mackie, who appeared together in “She Hate Me” give performances of great depth and dignity, spare but endlessly compelling and evocative. The story’s ambitions at times outstrip the ability of first-timer Hamilton, but it is those very ambitions that give the film its exceptional power. At its conclusion, we have to confront our own assumptions to recognize that it is really not Marcus’ story after all, and the whole movie opens up to deepen our appreciation and insight.
When you grow up as I did in a very socially progressive, Episcopalian household, there’s a great deal of importance placed on the teachings, the parables and the notions of Christianity, teaching a certain generosity and kindness and understanding and empathy for others.
I think that colors all of my work. It would be impossible for me to separate that out from what I write, what I think, and how I hear things. Everything I hear is filtered through that moral framework I grew up with.
Sam Rockwell gives one of the best performances of the year as Kenny Waters, a man wrongly convicted of murder for eighteen years until his sister was able to prove that he was innocent and get him released. Betty Ann (Hillary Swank) and Kenny were two of nine children from seven fathers raised in a succession of foster homes. She was a high school dropout and new mother when he went to prison. She went back to school, graduated from college and law school, passed the bar, and with the help of Cardozo Law School’s Innocence Project, was able to prove through DNA evidence that the blood found at the crime scene was not his.
Rockwell is mesmerizing as a man whose kind heart and family loyalty sometimes suffer from his impulsively confrontational behavior. He conveys at every stage the weight of his experience in prison as we see him over the 18-year period. His frustration, longing, despair, his fear of hoping too much mingled with his unquenchable pride in his sister are all heartbreakingly evident. He shows us why he was one of the local police department’s favorite “usual suspects” but he also shows us why someone would spend her life working on his behalf, even after everyone tells her to move on.
Director Tony Goldwyn and screenwriter Pamela Gray do a fine job of shaping the material, giving us a sense of the characters’ past experiences, the strength of their connection, and the press of time. The cast includes the reliable support of Minnie Driver as Betty Ann’s law school classmate and loyal friend and Juliette Lewis, outstanding as a recanting witness.
Swank, who co-produced, is sincere and dedicated if not ideal casting for this role. She has gravitated lately to a series of heroic characters, though her best work has been in more damaged or fragile roles. A high school dropout in real life, she is drawn to characters who exemplify education and achievement. But she gives us no sense of school as anything but an obstacle course. Her learning is not tied in any way to expanded understanding; she seems to have no curiosity about the law and no passion for anything but freeing her brother. We see the impact of her single-mindedness on her husband and sons but not how their reactions affect her. The story is one of triumph that cannot help but move us, but as a real-life character who gives everything, Swank does not give us enough.
During the psychedelic 1960s, the scene with the caterpiller puffing on a hookah was popularly considered to be a reference to opium or hashish, possibly because the movie, like the book, has such a surreal and dream-like quality, but there is nothing in
Violence/ Scariness:
None
Diversity Issues:
None
Date Released to Theaters:
1951
Almost 150 years ago Oxford mathematician Charles Dodgson published his wildly imaginative story about Alice’s adventures down a rabbit hole. And now the wildly imaginative director Tim Burton has brought Wonderland to the 3D movie screen. It is less faithful to the original story than many of the previous dozen or so movie versions, but I think Dodgson, better known by his pseudonym, Lewis Carroll, would approve of Burton’s bringing his own take to the classic characters.
He brings his own story as well. Carroll’s Alice is a little girl bored by her sister’s dull book, and her journey is episodic and filled with wordplay and references to Victorian society that fill the annotated edition of the book with witty footnotes.
To make the story more cinematic, Burton tells us that all of that has already happened in what young Alice thought was a dream. This is her return visit. Alice is 18 years old and has just been proposed to by a dull but wealthy lord with no chin and bad digestion. As she meets up with the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter, she is not the only one who is confused. Characters seem puzzled and unsure about whether she is the real Alice. The Mad Hatter peers at her perplexedly. She may be Alice, and yet not quite completely the Alice they are looking for. “You were once muchier,” he tells her. “You’ve lost your muchiness.” In Burton’s version, Alice’s adventures are about her finding her “muchiness.” Her visit to Wonderland is a chance for her to understand what she is capable of and how much she will lose if she makes her decisions based on what people expect from her. As in the Carroll story, she is constantly changing size, and Burton shows us that she is really finding her place. She believes she is once again in a dream but increasingly learns that it is one she can control. By the time she faces the Jabberwock, she knows that she is in control — and that her courage and determination can create the opportunity she needs to follow her heart.
Johnny Depp brings a depth, even a poignance to the Mad Hatter, and Helena Bonham Carter is utterly delicious as the peppery red queen, hilariously furious over her stolen tarts. There’s a thrilling battle, the visuals are dazzling, with references to classic book illustrations by Maxfield Parrish, and the 3D effects will have you feeling as though you are falling down the rabbit hole yourself. The frame story bookending the Wonderland/Underland adventure is tedious and, oddly, less believable than the disappearing cat and frog footmen. But Burton’s re-interpretation of the classic story is filled with muchiness and the result is pretty darn frabjuous.
