Posted on March 18, 2008 at 8:00 am
Will Smith plays the last man on earth in this third movie based on Richard Matheson’s novella
Okay, they can do one other thing. They can learn. In their feral, furious way they can cooperate and plan. Neville can trap them for his experiments or throw them off his trail, but they keep getting smarter. He is not just their prey — he is their teacher, and he is teaching them how to get him.
Posted on March 17, 2008 at 8:00 am
B| Date Released to DVD: | March 11, 2008 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B00116VG3M |
This quiet little independent film is the story of the friendship between two New York City schoolteachers, an Orthodox Jew and a Muslim, who transcend the assumptions of those around them. They quickly realize that they have more in common with each other than they do with the very secular teachers at the school, who see them as relics from a past best forgotten.
The two young women recognize the historic and modern-day conflicts between their groups. One of the sweetest moments in the film is when they use their students’ assumption that they must hate each other for a learning opportunity about tolerance. The two women are respectful of each other’s traditions and supportive of each other’s devotion to faith and family. But they share their fears and frustrations with one element of tradition that makes both of them uncomfortable — the highly parent-directed courtship system that most contemporary young women would consider hopelessly anachronistic.
What makes this movie especially endearing is its own respect for the choices made by the women to honor but find their own way within the traditions and observances of their religious faiths. Lovely performances by Zoe Lister Jones and Francis Benhamou and the quiet intimacy of low-budget film-making bring us inside the story so deeply that the beautiful final image fills our hearts with a resonance that lasts for days.
Posted on March 16, 2008 at 8:00 am
In honor of this week’s release of “Horton Hears a Who,” the best movie for the family in a long time, Entertainment Weekly has put together a list of the 20 all-time best movies for kids. These are not movies to toss in the DVD in the back of the minivan or to give to the babysitter on the parents’ night out. These are movies that need to be shared, movies that create and strengthen connections, as all truly great movies do.
The obvious classics are there, of course, The Wizard of Oz
With only 20 choices Entertainment Weekly had to bypass some of my favorites like Finding Nemo
Posted on March 12, 2008 at 7:49 am
They finally got Dr. Seuss right in this warm-hearted and heart-warming story of the elephant who is “faithful 100 percent” and the world on a little speck of dust that he rescues.
Jim Carrey provides the voice of Horton, an elephant with a gentle soul who teaches the jungle animal children. When a frail plant is carelessly trampled underfoot, he stops to pat it carefully back into the ground. And when he hears a tiny voice coming from a dust mote, he races after it to tenderly place it on a clover. He finds a way to communicate with the voice, which belongs to the Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell). Each is surprised to find out that there is a world beyond the one he thought of as everything there was.
Posted on March 11, 2008 at 8:00 am
Part of the appeal of Nancy Drew through the decades has been the way she has continually been updated while remaining essentially the same. The problem with this movie is that the updates are poorly chosen, awkwardly inserted, and inappropriate for its intended audience.
In the original books, Nancy’s mysteries were usually about lost lockets, secret codes, maybe a kidnapping or some attempted harm that Nancy was able to prevent just in time. In this film, the central puzzle is the murder of a film star, and the plot centers on an out-of-wedlock pregnancy kept secret even from the father. This is an incomprehensibly poor choice in a movie intended for children. It also a poor dramatic choice, undercutting the movie’s plot, tone, and style and throwing its story off-balance.
In the opening scene, Nancy (Emma Roberts) crisply captures a couple of bad guys (watch for “Saturday Night Live” alum Chris Kattan). They may think they have captured her, but she soon turns them over to the grateful local cops, who have come to rely on her for their toughest cases. But all of that is coming to an end. Nancy’s father (Tate Donovan) has to go to Los Angeles for several months on business and she is going with him. And after solving that last mystery had her dangling off a rooftop, Mr. Drew makes Nancy promise that she will take a break from crime and just be a normal high school girl in their new city.
She does not tell him she selected their new home because it had a mystery for her to solve. Many years ago, a beautiful and successful actress was murdered there and left some clues behind. And there is a caretaker who may know something as well.
All of this is much more important to Nancy than lesser mysteries like how to make friends in her new school. But that retro attire she whipped up from her mother’s old patterns pretty much acts as a classmate-repellent, so she has to find a way to make some friends who like her the way she is.
Roberts (daughter of Eric and niece of Julia) has a natural elegance, poise, and focus. She fits well in the role and she looks sweetly chic in her classic wardrobe. As in the books, Nancy is a clever, determined, and spunky detective who can be fascinated by crime and still have an air of innocence. When it comes to boyfriend Ned Nickerson (Max Thieriot), she is barely aware that he might feel anything more than friendship or expect her to make him a priority. This makes her focus on the illicit romance of a long-dead movie star all the more awkward. So is a possible jealousy subplot involving Ned and an annoyingly precocious 12-year-old named Corky (Josh Flitter). A surprise cameo from a big star is just a distraction, adding nothing to the sleuthing or new kid in school storylines.
Young detectives serve as inspiration and metaphor for children trying to puzzle out the mysteries of the adult world. Seeing someone their own age understand and explain what is going on to grown-ups is highly satisfying for children. But here the uncertain shifts in tone from sincerity to almost-camp and the inappropriate subject matter make the unsolvable mystery just who this movie’s audience was intended to be.
Parents should know that although handled in a low-key way, the themes of this film include murder and out of wedlock pregnancy. There are some scary moments, including what appears to be a ghost. Nancy also takes some risks and breaks some rules.
Families who see this movie should talk about why some of the other girls thought Nancy was strange and how that affected the way they treated her. How should we treat people who are different? What made them change their minds? Who in the film was jealous, and why? They might like to think about the changes Nancy has had to make over the years. Even in the constantly-reissued books, Nancy does not drive a blue roadster anymore. She uses the internet in her sleuthing. Vestiges of racial and gender stereotypes have been eliminated. What other changes do you think they have made or should make?
Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy reading the books
For more background on the history of Nancy Drew, try Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
