Concussion

Posted on December 24, 2015 at 7:54 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for thematic material including some disturbing images, and language
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol and drug abuse
Violence/ Scariness:	Themes of severe brain trauma, dementia, substance abuse, domestic abuse, suicide
Diversity Issues:	Some bigotry and xenophobia
Date Released to Theaters:	December 25, 2015

It is a true story that seemed to have all the elements for a heartwarming, uplifting story about speaking truth to power, told with big stars and lots of Hollywood gloss. And yet, it does not work. In football terms, it’s a fumble.

Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) is a pathologist, an immigrant from Nigeria, with an assortment of degrees and certifications. He lives very quietly and is devoted to his work. When he is asked to perform an autopsy on former Pittsburgh Steelers four-ring center Mike Webster (David Morse), something does not seem right to him. His office will not authorize additional tests, so he pays for them himself: $20,000 to prepare very thin slices of Webster’s brain so that Omalu can figure out why a man who was just 50 had amnesia, depression, and dementia, with indications of brain damage normally not found until extreme old age or severe injury. The tests revealed a syndrome Omalu called CTE: chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Omalu wanted to find out how pervasive this problem was among former professional football players. But there was a lot of money and a lot of power with no interest in finding out whether a game — no an industry — that “owns a day of the week” and employs tens of thousands of people might be so unsafe for its players that it put the future of professional football at risk.

He gets an ally in former NFL doctor Julian Bailes (Alec Baldwin). And while some of his colleagues consider him a troublemaker or even a traitor, his boss (Albert Brooks) is on his side.

Art didn’t imitate life, but it was most likely shaped by it. The 2014 Sony hack revealed memos that raised concerns from studio executives about the sensitivity of the subject matter and the response of the NFL. That may be why a film about integrity and courage pulls its punches. It ramps up the implications of pressure, unpersuasively attempting to tie unrelated professional and personal setbacks to the NFL. A climactic job offer does not have the meaning that the film attempts to assign to it. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is sadly underused as the loyal spouse. And Smith himself is underused with a one-note performance that makes Omalu a cardboard figure. A movie about courage shows very little of its own.

NOTE: Slate’s Daniel Engbar contradicts some of the allegations in the film. The week of the film’s release, the NFL pulled its funding from an independent research project about the link between professional football and brain injuries.

Parents should know that this story concerns severe traumatic brain injury from professional sports with catastrophic consequences including dementia, substance abuse, domestic abuse, and suicide, as well as the obstructionist efforts by the authorities to deny the injuries, some strong language.

Family discussion: Why did Bennet Omalu pay for the additional tests? Why didn’t the NFL do more to protect its players? Who is most like Dr. Omalu in your life?

If you like this, try: “The Pursuit of Happyness”

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Christmas Eve

Posted on December 4, 2015 at 12:00 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for some peril, thematic elements and language
Profanity:	Some strong and crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Sad terminal diagnosis, gun, some tense confrontations
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	December 4, 2015

It may be the most wonderful time of the year, but the Christmas season is also the most hectic and the most fraught. Our to-do lists are overwhelming. Our expectations are even more so. And then there are the expectations of others. Everyone who celebrates Christmas expects at least a little magic around December 25th. Everyone, even the most cynical among us, wants to believe. Like Scrooge, we want to wake up as merry as a schoolboy and like the Grinch, we want our heart to grow.

In the gentle dramedy “Christmas Eve,” six very different groups of people get that chance. They deal in the most literal terms with life and death. There is love and loss and reconciliation. And it all happens because a guy runs his repair truck (labeled “Deus ex Machina”) into a power station and knocked out the electricity, so that six elevators get stuck and the people in them are trapped.

Patrick Stewart plays a wealthy man used to barking orders at cowering underlings. He is trapped by himself in a precarious construction elevator. The others are in groups. One is in a hospital elevator with orderlies, a nurse (played by Shawn King, the wife of producer Larry King — yes, that Larry King), a doctor (Gary Cole),a and an unconscious post-surgery patient.

In an apartment building, an outgoing photographer and a shy young woman are stuck together. A classical music ensemble is trapped together on the way to a performance. There is a lot of artistic temperament in a crowded space and one of them (Cheryl Hines) has a gun.

In another elevator, an IT guy who has just been laid off (Jon Heder) is trapped in an elevator with the boss who just gave him the bad news — on Christmas Eve. And in a shopping mall, two silly girls are trapped between brains and brawn. Their elevator includes a guy with a lot of muscles and tattoos who does not say much, a guy with some OCD issues and a lot of hand sanitizer, and a guy who could do very well on Jeopardy.

Before the power station can go back on line, the repair truck guy has to be rescued in a very complicated maneuver. So that gives us time to go back and forth as the temporary (but not as temporary as they intended to be) inhabitants of the elevators worry about everything from bodily functions to existential issues (I suppose bodily functions are a kind of existential issue).

As one might expect from the unwieldy construct, the movie is very uneven, careening back and forth between “Love Boat” level corny situations to a few moments of surprising insight. We are not surprised when the photographer gives the shy young woman a makeover and takes her picture. But we are at what happens next. The doctor was hoping he would be far from the hospital by the time his patient woke up and had to hear some bad news. But they are in the elevator so long that he ends up having to tell her himself, and the moment is sensitively handled. The weakest elements are the slapstick-ish rescue of the man who hit the power station and the interaction between the laid-off employee and his now-former boss, which requires a suspension of disbelief even Christmas cannot excuse. At its worst, it feels like a late-season “Love Boat” episode crossed with a late-night Hallmark Christmas movie, but at its best it reminds us that even in this busy season, we need to stop to smell the pine needles.

Parents should know that this film includes crude bathroom humor, some strong language, peril, gunshots, a sad terminal diagnosis, and tense confrontations.

Family discussion: Which of these people would you most like to be stuck with? What was the most important lesson learned by the characters? Which one surprised you the most?

If you like this, try: “New Year’s Eve” and “Valentine’s Day”

Miss You Already

Posted on November 5, 2015 at 5:22 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
Profanity:	Very strong and crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, drug references
Violence/ Scariness:	Serious illness, sad death, some graphic and disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	November 6, 2015

Friendship has the best aspects of romantic love and the best of family love, and the worst of both as well. Your friends as are close to you as anyone in the world, which means you can rely on them and they can rely on you, whether it’s telling you if your butt looks too fat in those jeans or you need someone to come pick you up because a date has gone horribly wrong. And it means that they can hurt you terribly, because they mean so much to you and because you trust them and because they know you so well.

And yet, while there are hundreds of thousands of movies about love and family, there are not very many great movies about friendship. “Miss You Already,” from director Catherine Hardwicke, is a worthy attempt, the story of two women who were friends since childhood, and whose friendship is nearly destroyed by the complications of grown-up life. Though it appears only once in the film, the title refers to a catchphrase the two women use to say goodbye, making fun of themselves for being so deeply in one another’s lives, but really meaning it, too.

Drew Barrymore plays Jess, an American living in England and the more serious and responsible of the pair. Toni Collette is Milly, the wild party girl who improbably is living happily ever after with Kit (Dominic Cooper), the roadie who got her pregnant and then married her, started a successful business, and turned out to be a wonderful husband and father. They have darling children, a beautiful home, and satisfying careers and they are still mad for each other. Jess is happily married to Jago (Paddy Considine), though they do not have any money and are struggling with fertility problems. But they live on an adorable houseboat. It is one of the movie’s wisest choices that the husbands are not complaining (most of the time) or complained about. They are full partners to their wives and full partners in supporting the friendship.

Milly has always lived lightly, skimming along the top of life, still a party girl at heart. She loves her husband, children, and Jess, but she is admittedly superficial and vain. And then she gets a cancer diagnosis. Jess is happy to live up to the assigned tasks of “bringing treats and not being annoying” to help Milly through chemotherapy. And wig shopping (with the wonderful Frances de la Tour). And changing dressings. But she believes that Milly’s illness is so all-consuming that she cannot share what is going on in her life. And then Milly does something that creates the first serious breach in their relationship.

Yes, we’re in “Beaches” territory, so get out your handkerchiefs. Drew and Collette make a touching screen team, and Jacqueline Bisset, almost unrecognizable with platinum blonde hair, is a welcome antidote to over-sentimentality as Milly’s self-absorbed mother, a moderately successful actress. Hardwicke, who began her career as a production designer, has a superb eye and a great gift for using the settings to tell the story. If she cannot avoid the usual touchstones of women’s friendship movies (singing along to a favorite pop song), at least she changes it up a little — REM in a taxi instead of the usual Motown into a hairbrush. “Miss You Already” will make you want to call a friend you miss, and then bring her along to see it again.

Parents should know that this film includes very strong language, sexual references and situations, serious illness with some graphic images, a very sad death, a childbirth scene, alcohol and drug references.

Family discussion: What makes a great friendship? Ask family members about their most important friendships, how they met and their favorite moments.

If you like this, try: “50/50” and “Beaches”

The Last Witch Hunter

Posted on October 22, 2015 at 5:47 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images
Profanity:	A few bad words
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, fantasy drugs
Violence/ Scariness:	Extensive fantasy-style violence with many disturbing and grisly images
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	October 23, 2015

A witch would have to cast a spell over me to make me sit through this big, dumb, dull, dud again.

And that’s too bad, because I like Vin Diesel and I can easily be put in the mood for a good-stupid sword and sorcery epic. But not this one, which has a storyline we’ve seen before and dialog that sounds like it was written by people for whom English was not a first language, and probably not a second. It’s like a videogame, and not in a good way.

Diesel plays Kaulder, and we meet him 800 years ago, with long hair and a beard, he is part of a group determined to wipe out the witches who are responsible for the plague that has killed off many of their families, including Kaulder’s wife and daughter. “In her death lies our salvation.” “Let fear perish.” “You must go. You have to fight.” Not very memorable. Oh, let’s be real — it does not even qualify as dialog. It’s just talking.

With torches for light and swords, arrows, and axes for protection, they enter the witch’s cave. Things do not go very well and most of them are killed. Kaulder battles the witch, and as she dies, she curses him to live forever. We catch up with him in the present day, back to being the bald Vin Diesel we all know and love. He’s on an airplane being tossed around the sky by a fierce storm. He realizes that it is not only caused by magic but caused by someone who does not know she is causing it. A young witch with a backpack has carelessly tossed together ancient runes that should never be allowed to touch. (Kids!) “At least you didn’t get them wet,” he says, and we know that (1) the screenwriters have seen “Gremlins,” and (2) they’ll be wet before the end of the movie and the CGI folks will have a heck of a storm to kick up then.

The “Gremlin’s” idea is followed by a few borrowed from “Harry Potter,” “CSI,” and various other vastly superior sources, with some highly predictable twists and a sprinkling of semi-contemporary references. Well, the iPad reference is semi-contemporary. The use of the term “stewardess” and the assumption that they are all super-hot and excellent one-night-stand prospects is rather outmoded.

There are some pretty good special effects and some moderately good stunts, but Michael Caine is wasted as Kaulder’s human aide (about to retire, with Elijah Wood, also wasted, as his replacement). Rose Leslie has some nice moments as a young witch trying to make her way in New York, like she wandered off the set of “Girls.” Ultimately, the remixing of better (and just as bad) films becomes grating and by the time they set it up for a sequel, it is the audience is beginning to cursed for living long enough to sit through this film.

Translation: Sword and sorcery-style fantasy violence with some grisly and disturbing images including dead bodies, a few bad words and brief sexual references.

Family discussion: What would be the best and worst parts about living for 800 years? Why was it so hard for Kaulder to trust anyone?

If you like this, try: “Hansel and Gretel” and “Dragonslayer”

Tales of Halloween

Posted on October 16, 2015 at 5:25 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for strong bloody horror violence throughout, language and brief drug use
Profanity:	Very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, brief drug use
Violence/ Scariness:	Extensive and grisly violence, characters injured and killed, many disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	October 16, 2015

True to its name, “Tales of Halloween” is a collection of ten short horror stories of the type that Boy Scouts might tell around a campfire late at night. That’s both its strength and weakness.

The movie begins on Halloween night in a small town, where a radio announcer (Adrienne Barbeau, legendary horror star making a meta point) introduces us to a series of spooky goings-on about town. What follows are ten short films by ten different directors about monsters, murderers, devils and demons. Most of the directors are veterans of the horror genre with a genuine affection for the medium. Neil Marshall (writer and director of the 2005 horror film, “The Descent”), Paul Solet (writer and director of the 2009 horror film “Grace”) and Lucky McKee (writer and director of the 2002 horror film “May”) all do their best with limited budgets. Director Darren Lynn Bousman creates an enjoyable story of a trick-or-treater who inadvertently plays a trick on the devil.

These stories are short on depth, plot and dialogue. They are long on the kind of revenge fantasies that appeal to adolescent boys. Parents who steal their kids’ Halloween candy late at night, mean baby sitters and neighborhood bullies all meet terrible fates (usually involving buckets of blood). Many of the tales are more “icky” or “gross” than serious horror stories. Some moments turn out to be more laughable than frightening. But there is a kind of cheerful innocence and simplicity to these stories that will endear them to their target audience. It will not help the film’s marketers that most of that audience will be to young to see a film that is rated R for “strong bloody horror violence throughout, language and brief drug use.”

In a 92 minute movie, there is not much time to develop each individual story. This film is not destined to become a Halloween classic but the eclectic combination of directors, actors and costume designers manages to produce some interesting moments. Some segments stand out for their low budget creativity or for unusual twists and turns. The attitude of the film is displayed in the closing credit, “No animals were harmed in the making of this film, but we sure did kill a lot of pumpkins.”

Parents should know that this is a very scary film with many disturbing images and a lot of violence, as well as drinking, drugs, and very strong language.

Family discussion: Which episode do you think was the scariest? Which villain was the most convincing? Is it important in horror to believe the victims deserved their fates?

If you like this, try: “Dead of Night”

NOTE: I am proud to disclose my conflict of interest — my daughter, Rachel Apatoff, designed the costumes for one of the segments, “The Weak and the Wicked,” clearly the highlight of the film!

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