Trailer: The Fault In Our Stars
Posted on January 29, 2014 at 1:24 pm
Get out your handkerchiefs for one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year, based on John Green’s book
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Posted on December 24, 2013 at 6:00 pm
B+| Lowest Recommended Age: | Middle School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG for some crude comments, language and action violence |
| Profanity: | Some mild language |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Drinking and drunkenness |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Action-style peril, no one seriously hurt, references to sad parental death |
| Diversity Issues: | None |
| Date Released to Theaters: | December 25, 2013 |
| Date Released to DVD: | April 15, 2014 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B00H7KJTCG |
We all know what it feels like to be Walter Mitty, imagining ourselves as achievers and darers far beyond our normal lives. The original short story by James Thurber is about a middle-aged, hen-pecked man who daydreams about dashing adventures as he is out running errands with his wife. In this version, directed and starring Ben Stiller, Walter runs the photo library for LIFE Magazine. (For you young people out there–this is not a metaphor. There actually was a photojournalism magazine called LIFE. From 1936-1972 it was kind of like a proto-version of Buzzfeed that came in the mail every week. Before television and the internet, it was our first chance to see what the rest of the world looked like, with gorgeous, indelible, iconic images of movie stars and ordinary people, world leaders, athletes, and military battles.)
Every day, Walter walks to work past enormous, blown-up images of LIFE covers and the magazine’s motto: “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer,to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life.”
Like George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Walter once planned to see the world but family obligations kept him at home. Now, he spends his days as a “negative asset manager” cataloguing images taken by the dashing photojournalist Sean O’Connell (a rugged gem of a small performance from Sean Penn). While one is risking his life, the other takes no risks at all. He can barely bring himself to touch the computer key to “wink” at a woman on a dating website. When asked to fill in the “been there, done that” space on his profile, he realizes he has not been anywhere or done anything.
She isn’t a stranger. Cheryl (Kristin Wiig) has just come to work for LIFE. If he cannot work up the nerve to cyber-wink at her, you can bet he does not know how to begin to talk to her in real life. Walter might have stayed in his quiet, safe, lonely little world forever, living through his daydreams and half-living in reality. But there comes a time when real life intrudes on dreams.
Things are coming apart at LIFE and in life. The magazine has a new boss (nicely smarmy Tony Scott) who uses a lot of smug corporate-speak like “Some of you are non-vital.” Walter’s mother (Shirley MacLaine!) is moving into assisted living. And Sean sends in a roll of film with what he says is his best image ever, with a special note for Walter. But that image is missing. And to find it, Walter will have to discover how close he can get to being the daring, adventurous hero of his dreams.
As a director, Stiller is developing a more assured visual style and there are some bracingly robust images, befitting a story about LIFE photographs, the man who takes them and the man who sorts them, the man who goes places and the man who looks at the pictures of places. The only way to find Sean’s photo is to find Sean. He takes pictures in places so remote and exotic they are not reachable by text messages or Skype. That means a journey, physical and spiritual, through rocky, icy terrain and using every kind of transportation, including helicopter and boat.
The film is filled with lovely and surprising touches. The story unfolds organically. Like a video game hero, the items Walter gathers along the way turn out to be vital in keeping him on his journey. Along the way, Walter keeps checking in by phone with the tech support guy who was supposed to fix his online dating “wink” function, as though he does not realize how his life is transforming around him. I won’t give away the surprise by naming the actor on the other end of the phone; I’ll just say that he is ideal for the part. I liked seeing Walter drew Cheryl into his search very naturally, and how Walter was able to be shy but still very capable around her and around her young son. There are moments of true exhilaration and the end has an unexpected sweetness. If you’ve been daydreaming about a great film for the family to enjoy together over the holidays, take them on a journey to see this one at your local theater.
Parents should know that this film has some sexual humor, mild language, and action-style peril, reference to sad death of parent
Family discussion: Why was it hard for Walter to take risks? Which of his real-life adventures was the scariest?
If you like this, try: “Stranger than Fiction”
Her
Posted on December 24, 2013 at 6:00 pm
B+| Lowest Recommended Age: | Mature High Schooler |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated R for language, sexual content, and brief graphic nudity |
| Profanity: | Very strong language |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Drinking |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Tense emotional confrontations and loss |
| Diversity Issues: | None |
| Date Released to Theaters: | December 25, 2013 |
| Date Released to DVD: | May 12, 2014 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B00HEKSZVK |
“Transition objects” are usually thought of as the stuffed toys toddlers hold onto so as a way of feeling more secure as they begin to separate from their parents and navigate the bigger world. But we all have them. We all carry real or virtual talismans to keep us from feeling adrift or abandoned.
And we all understand the bliss and torment of the Rorschach test stage of love, as what we project onto the objects of our physical and emotional desire has to give way to the reality of who they are. If we’re lucky, it’s even better than we imagined and they feel that way about us, too.
Director Spike Jonze (“Being John Malcovich,” “Where the Wild Things Are”), working from his own screenplay, combines these two ideas in a wistful love story set slightly in the future simply called, in a reflection of its longing, “Her.” Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore and his job as a ghost writer of analog letters makes a kind of sense as the logical next step in a world where communication by text and Skype might make the idea of an old-school correspondence more valuable just as the ability to create them is barely vestigial.
Theodore spends his days writing letters of great tenderness and affection but there is none in his own life. Recently divorced from Catherine (Rooney Mara) for reasons we never learn, he is withdrawn, isolated, alone. When he is not working, he stays in his spare, generic apartment and plays a video game. And then a new operating system comes on the market that is so responsive it virtually (in both senses of the word) achieves consciousness. (Apparently, no one there has seen “Terminator,” because this sounds a lot like Skynet to me, but perhaps that is the weaponized version.) Theodore decides to give it a try.
The new operating system calls herself “Samantha” and she has two enormously appealing qualities. First, she has the throaty, intimate voice and delicious laugh of Scarlett Johansson (a performance of magnificent warmth and wit). Second, she is utterly devoted to Theodore and utterly formed by him. It is that most gratifying of relationships because he is everything to her and she is content for him to be so. Plus, she is wonderfully competent, sorting through thousands of emails in a fraction of a second to organize them and, along the way, learn everything about him.
Theodore is not ready for a real relationship with a woman who might want something from him or be different from what he visualizes or idealizes. But Samantha seems perfect, both in her innocence and in her progress. He has the pleasure of explaining the world to her and his spirit opens up as he sees her curiosity, appreciation, and engagement. He is reassured that the people around him (his boss, played by Chris Pratt, his neighbor and college friend, played by Amy Adams) seem to think it is perfectly normal to have a virtual girlfriend. Samantha seems happy about it, too.
But as we have seen in “Lars and the Real Girl,” “Ruby Sparks,” George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” (which became the musical “My Fair Lady’), there’s no happily ever after in a relationship with a creation. Samantha’s growth trajectory is astronomical. No single human can really have her. And the human qualities she lacks turn out to be important for a relationship, too.
Jonze’s story may be set in the future but it is an ancient one, going back to the original Greek myth about the sculptor who fell in love with the statue he made and whose name became the title of Shaw’s play. It is an eternal story because it is a more extreme version and thus a powerful metaphor about the risks and pleasures of intimacy. Jonze tells that story here with great sensitivity and lyricism, the kind of artistry that machinery can never replace.
Parents should know that this movie includes strong language, sexual references and situations and nudity, and tense and sad experiences.
Family discussion: Would you like to have an e-friend like Samantha? What makes those relationships easier than interacting in real life? What makes them harder?
If you like this, try: “Lars and the Real Girl,” “Ruby Sparks,” “Pygmalion,” “Catfish,” and “You’ve Got Mail”
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Posted on November 20, 2013 at 11:35 am
In the second chapter of the three-book, four-movie series, Katniss Everdeen has gone from being a shy unknown with extraordinary skills to being an acclaimed superstar. The same could be said for the actress who plays the part. When Jennifer Lawrence was selected to play the heroine of the blockbuster novels by Suzanne Collins
In this deeper, smarter, politically sharper, and more emotionally resonant follow-up, she returns to the dystopian world of Panem as Katniss prepares for her victory tour, following an unprecedented triumph at the titular competition. Once a year, two teenagers are selected from each of the twelve districts to compete to the death in televised combat that the totalitarian government imposes in a gruesome simulacrum of an athletic contest that promotes dedication, talent, and integrity. As the previous film ended, Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) defied the authorities to come up with a way that they could both come out alive — by pretending to be in love and be willing to sacrifice themselves to be together. This has made them very popular, and the dictator, “President” Snow (a nicely corrupt Donald Sutherland) wants to make sure that this popularity is extended on behalf of his regime and will not inspire any rebellious uprisings. When his own granddaughter begins to braid her hair to be like Katniss, he knows that if he cannot control the young archer, he will have to destroy her. However, as the new Head Gamemaker, Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) reminds him, he must be careful to get rid of her in a way that will discredit her, to make sure she does not become a martyr and inspire the rebels even more in memory than she already does.
Snow tells Katniss she has to persuade not just the fans but him that she is truly in love with Peeta or he will destroy her and her family. She does her best, and cares for Peeta deeply, but her heart is still with Gale (Liam Hemsworth), who is hurt and jealous.
Plutarch decides to mount an all-star game, pitting previous champions of the Hunger Games against each other in a ramped-up competition. And no skirting the rules with a romance this time. Katniss and Peeta go back to the Capital for another dress-up extravaganza (costume designer Trish Summerville ramps things up with costumes that are a mash-up between “Project Runway’s” unconventional materials and fashion forward challenges and an acid trip. Elizabeth Banks carries off the wildest of the attire better than anyone else could (with the exception of Barbie
And then, the games begin, as before, with the same race to get supplies and weapons while avoiding attack and assessing possible alliances that by definition will be short-term. Plutarch has some challenges of his own to keep the contestants off-balance and on the run. With each “tribute” a previous winner, the odds are not in anyone’s favor.
Director Francis Lawrence (“I am Legend,” no relation to his star), taking over from Gary Ross, manages the large cast and complicated action well and screenwriters Simon Beaufoy (“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”) and Michael Arndt (“Toy Story III,” “Little Miss Sunshine”) adapted the book deftly. They balance the small, intimate moments, brief humor, and intense emotion with the grand sweep of the games, acknowledging the over-arching themes of honor, freedom, and courage but keeping the focus on the relationships. It tells us everything that in the short training/assessment/sponsorship-seeking period before the Games begin, Katniss reaches out to the weakest and most vulnerable of the other contestants, helping them with no agenda for her own protection.
The other additions to the series are exceptionally well-chosen, too, especially Hoffman, as a man who knows more about “counter-moves” than we may suspect at first, Sam Claflin as the high-spirited, faun-like Finnick Odair, Jeffrey Wright and Amanda Plummer as the wonkiest participants, and Jena Malone, a fiery delight as the furious Johanna Mason. But it is Lawrence who steals the show again as Katniss. Be sure to keep your eyes on her face in that last scene; it’s a lulu that will have you counting the moments until the next episode (now in production).
Parents should know that the theme of these books concerns a totalitarian dictatorship that forces teenagers to battle to the death in a very intense and disturbing “game.” Many characters are injured and killed and there are scary surprises, graphic images, and disturbing threats. Many teenage and adult characters are beaten, injured, and killed, with knives, guns, whips, arrows, spears, poison fog, animal attacks, psychological abuse, and more. Characters abuse alcohol, there are drug references, and characters use some strong language. There is kissing and some implied nudity in public — nothing shown.
Family discussion: What did Plutarch mean by “moves and countermoves?” Why did the tributes hold hands? Why wouldn’t Gale leave?
If you like this, try: the first movie and the books by Suzanne Collins
Last Vegas
Posted on November 2, 2013 at 11:57 am
Oscar-winning actors are a precious commodity, usually doled out no more than one or two per movie. But in this AARP-version of “The Hangover” crossed with “Ferris Bueller,” there are five, and the greatest pleasure of this film is in watching the evident pleasure they take in each other. They appreciate each other, they trust each other, and they challenge each other. Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, and Kevin Kline play the “Flatbush Four,” lifelong friends who grew up together in Brooklyn, the kind who cheerfully call each other unprintable insults but who are always there for each other. Remember the end of “Stand By Me.” when Richard Dreyfuss says, ” I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?” These are those guys, 58 years, a few spouses, some medical issues and a grudge later.
Billy (Douglas), with a fake tan, a hair color that does not occur in nature, and a girlfriend a third of his age, impulsively proposes in the middle of a eulogy. So, it is time to get the gang back together for a blow-out of a bachelor party in Las Vegas. There’s Sam (Kline), marooned in retireeland, Florida, and horrified by water aerobics and dinner at 4:30, and, generally, being old. Archie (Freeman) is living with his worried son (Michael Ealy), who smothers him with care and caution because he is recovering from a stroke. And Paddy (De Niro) sits in his robe all day, surrounded by photographs of his late wife. Sam and Archie are immediately on board with the idea of a wild weekend, especially after Sam’s wife presents him with a condom, a tablet of Viagra, and a reminder that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” They persuade Paddy to come by not telling him the purpose of the trip. Paddy is still hurt and angry at Billy for a betrayal that of course will be revealed, though by that time it hardly matters.
The Flatbush Four hear a nightclub singer named Diana (Oscar-winner number five, Mary Steenburgen, bringing warmth and wit to the movie) and they immediately like her very much, especially Paddy and Billy. As the big night approaches, they are determined to party like it’s 1945. And each one will learn something or decide something that will change his life when he gets home.
Listen, the plot developments are older than the stars. Fun to see old guys live it up in nasty, racy Vegas! Time to settle old scores! The jokes are even older than that. But these old pros get such an evident kick out of each other that they are able to find some honesty in what could otherwise feel synthetic. And the chemistry between them cannot be faked. We know these guys. We know their faces and have watched them get older for many years. Seeing them enjoy each other’s company is great company for us to be in.
Parents should know that this movie was originally rated R and then changed to PG-13 on appeal. There is some strong and crude language (one f-word), a lot of drinking, sexual references and non-explicit situations, and girls in very skimpy clothes and bathing suits.
Family discussion: Who changes the most? How did the four men end up so unsatisfied with their lives?
If you like this, try: the other comedy films by these actors including “Analyze This,” “A Fish Named Wanda,” “Bruce Almighty,” “Melvin and Howard,” and “Wonder Boys”