300: Rise of an Empire

Posted on March 5, 2014 at 10:52 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for strong sustained sequences of stylized bloody violence throughout, a sex scene, nudity and some language
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Wine
Violence/ Scariness:	Constant very graphic peril and war-time violence with many graphic and disturbing images and sad deaths
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	March 7, 2014
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00BEJL6Q8

eva-green-as-artemisia-in-300-rise-of-an-empire — Copyright Warner Brothers 2014

Here’s a new term: this movie is neither a sequel nor a prequel to 300, the story of the 300 Spartans who died battling the vastly greater army of the Persians. This is a “side-quel,” a “meanwhile” story about what was going on in a sea battle led by Spartan’s rivals, the Athenians. While “300” was based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller, itself based on historic events in ancient Greece, this side-quel was written at the same time as Miller’s still-uncompleted follow-up, to be called “Xerxes.”

We get a bit more backstory this time, too. In a previous battle, Athens’ great warrior Themistokles (hunky Sullivan Stapleton) killed the Persian king. His furious son, Xerxes (returning Rodrigo Santoro) traded his humanity for godlike powers to get his revenge by invading Greece. The leader of the Persian forces is the even-more-furious Artemisia (Eva Green), who can kiss the lips on the head she has just severed, enjoying the kiss just slightly less than the kill. She is tougher than any of her generals, more lethal than any of her soldiers, and even hungrier for inflicting desolation on Greece than her king. And she has the kind of fearlessness only found in those who have nothing left to lose and who will never win enough to feel that they have succeeded.

Themistokles needs to get the support of the resolutely independent city-states if they are to hold off the far greater Persian forces. He knows that his men have heart and dedication, but they are not trained warriors like the Spartans. I could say more about the story, but let’s face it — like the first film, this is about abs, swords, and lots of blood spurting in artistic slo-mo, drenching the screen.

The primary differences are the absence of Gerard Butler and the shift from battles on land to battles on water. We feel Butler’s loss, as he brought a bit more to the original in terms of acting and managed to give his character some depth and personality in the midst of the carnage. But that works for the story, as the death of his character Leonidas is felt deeply in Sparta. The only thing that stands out from the carnage, though, is Green, whose Artemisia cranks up the cray-cray as one of the most evil-relishing villainesses since Cruella De Vil. There’s a sizzling sex-and-fight scene (hmmm, Green did something very similar in “Dark Shadows“) that is way over the top of whatever point over the top used to be. Green has a blast striding around casting laser beams of hatred at everyone, and wipes everyone else in the cast off the screen more thoroughly than her character does to to the “farmers, sculptors, and poets”-turned soldiers of Athens.

Parents should know that this film has constant very intense, graphic, and bloody violence with many battles, swords, fire, drowning, executions, rapes, disturbing images, nudity, sexual references and situations, and some strong language.

Family discussion: What are the biggest differences between the Greeks and the Persians? Do we think about war differently today?

If you like this, try: “300” and “Gladiator”

If You Build It

Posted on February 20, 2014 at 5:17 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Not rated
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	None
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	February 21, 2014

An idealistic young couple from big cities moves to a tiny, economically depressed town in North Carolina for a project that will take advantage of what they think is “an untapped resource” — teenagers. Emily Polliton, TED talker and co-author of Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People and Matt Miller, who had just built a home in Detroit to donate to a needy family, got a pioneering school superintendent in Bertie County, North Carolina, to agree to let them create a curriculum with a daunting challenge. They wanted to revitalize the students and the town through design. They had a lot of ideas, but they knew that they could never accomplish anything unless they were clear that they were there to support the town. They knew that the students would be responsible for a big project. But what that project would be had to be decided by the people who live there.

Documentarian Patrick Creadon (“Wordplay,” “I.O.U.S.A”) observed the Studio H project that Emily and Matt brought to North Carolina over 16 months. The name stands for: Humanity, Habitats, Health and Happiness (echoing 4H’s “head, heart, hands, and health”). They began with ten bright but bored high school juniors. One of them says dryly that he hates school just as his father and grandfather did: “It’s a family tradition.” And in one of the movie’s bleakest moments, we see some of them taking mind-numbing online classes, including, ludicrously, PE. “It’s not that I’m leaving here,” another says. “There’s just nothing to keep me here.” This project answers the age-old question: When will I ever need to use calculus? And, in Emily’s words, it is a counter to the current approach, which has “the raw and unadulterated

None of them have ever made anything before. None of them have ever been asked to look at what’s around them and think about design before. Day one, Matt and Emily have them getting their hands dirty — very dirty, making water filtration systems out of mud and cow patties. For the first time, they are asked to think with a pencil. “Some of your sketches are ugly, and that’s okay,” Matt says to encourage the kids to stop self-censoring. “The studio is a mess, which is fantastic,” Emily tells them. After two preliminary projects, they work with the town to decide on what their big project will be. It will be something the town will be proud of, something hopeful, something that will help the economy: a farmer’s market.

Design is about solving problems. As Emily says, “Design allows creativity to have a structure. And that allows you to come up with solutions you wouldn’t otherwise come up with.” Making a bean bag toss or a chicken coop or even a farmer’s market is one thing. Working with people is another. The visionary school superintendent is fired immediately after Emily and Matt arrive. The school board votes to keep their program but eliminate their salaries. As Matt points out, while he can fit in, Emily is a triple outcast in the North Carolina rural community — half-Asian, female, and a designer. As Emily points out, working together under so much stress puts a lot of pressure on their relationship. And, as she also notes, they are trying to build something with a construction crew made up of teenagers.

This is a compelling narrative both in its own terms and as a metaphor of many of the core themes and conflicts in America today. It is a compelling indictment of our failure to inspire our young people with meaningful educational opportunities and a thrilling glimpse of how easy it is to transform the way we think about education and re-connect to our sense of possibilities. It is also a daunting portrayal of the entrenched mindsets and lack of courage that stands in the way. Design can solve problems, but only if we let it.

Parents should know that this movie has some depictions of high-stress economic circumstances, references to prejudice, and a dead animal.

Family discussion: What was Matt and Emily’s biggest challenge? Their biggest accomplishment? Check out the movie’s website to see what happened to the students.

If you like this, try: “Waiting for Superman” and “Wordplay”

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Winter’s Tale

Posted on February 13, 2014 at 6:00 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for violence and some sensuality
Profanity:	Brief strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Supernatural and crime-style violence, some disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	February 14, 2014

“Winter’s Tale,” based on the acclaimed novel by Mark Helprin is deeply romantic but also pretty daffy. There are exquisite images and some grand themes but also some clangers, some murky mishmash in the set-up, poorly designed special effects, and one badly botched miscasting that throws everything out of whack.

The exquisite images are not hard to come by with Colin Farrell along with “Downton Abbey’s” Lady Sybil, Jessica Brown Findley with auburn hair that makes her look like a pre-Raphealite dream, and a white horse who looks like he should be pulling Cinderella’s coach. The setting feels like a fairy tale, too, first turn of the 20th century Manhattan and then a fabulous snow-covered mansion out in the New York countryside.

Farrell plays Peter Lake, left behind as a baby in America when his immigrant parents were rejected for health reasons and sent back to Ireland. They put him in a model boat with the nameplate “City of Justice” and set him off toward the shore. When we meet him, he is a thief, formerly allied with a brutal, scar-faced crime boss named Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe). Everyone has very literary names in this story except for the horse, who is called Athansor in the book but here is just known as Horse even though, according to one character, he is really a dog.

Now Soames is determined to kill Lake. Rescued once by a mysterious white horse, Lake knows he has to get out of town. He goes on one last expedition to steal enough to pay for his journey. When he is ready to leave just before dawn, the horse refuses to budge. Lake sees the family leaving a luxurious townhouse and decides to see what he can take. He has an intuitive skill with mechanics and easily breaks into the safe.

But one member of the family has stayed behind. Her name is Beverly Penn (Findley) and she is dying of consumption (the 19th century term for tuberculosis). She has to be surrounded by cold all the time, and the family has gone to the country house ahead of her to prepare a tent for her to sleep in. Lake steals nothing but her heart, and loses his own in return. Because she knows she is dying, smaller problems like his being a thief do not really bother her. “What’s the best thing you’ve ever stolen?” she asks him. “I’m beginning to think I haven’t stolen it yet.” Instantly, he knows that his purpose in life is to protect her.

So far, so good, but then the argle bargle about transcending time and everything being connected starts up and it feels like the rules change at random. Or, at least, that a nearly-800 page book lost big chunks in the translation to the screen by writer-director Akiva Goldsman. This relationship between Lake and Penn seems to have some grander purpose, which is why Soames is so determined that he must stop it. He seeks permission from “The Judge,” played by Will Smith. It’s not entirely Smith’s fault that it is at this point things start to completely fall apart. The role is poorly conceived and written and he is catastrophically miscast. Lake ends up getting somehow catapulted into the present day but without his memories. As he tries to piece things together, the pieces of the movie come apart. There are way too many fortune cookie-style pronouncements about eternal battles between good and evil, miracles, destiny, and how we are all connected themselves, even a few from the underused Graham Greene who appears briefly just to throw out some deep thoughts about how God, the devil, angels and demons are just “the newer names” for the forces he describes. Penn says, that “the sicker I become, the more clearly I can see that everything is connected by light.” But by the end, nothing in this movie feels connected to anything.

Parents should know that this film has sexual references and a situation, supernatural and crime violence, some disturbing images and scary surprises, sad death, and brief strong language.

Family discussion: How are the rules for this world established and why are they important? What could only Beverly understand as a result of her illness?

If you like this, try: “Stardust,” “The Adjustment Bureau,” and “The Fountain”

About Last Night

Posted on February 13, 2014 at 6:00 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Adult
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for for sexual content, language and brief drug use
Profanity:	Very strong, crude, and explicit language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, drunkenness, scenes bars, marijuana
Violence/ Scariness:	Comic peril
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	February 14, 2014

Kevin Hart, who starred in the surprisingly successful “Ride Along” just last month, is back with a much sharper, funnier comedy that is ideal for making the best use of his brash, motormouth persona. Even more important, for the first time Hart appears opposite someone who is every bit his match, the fabulously talented and knock-out gorgeous Regina Hall. It’s one of the best on-screen romantic pairings since Mae West and W.C. Fields. As a funny post-credit scene shows, she not only kept up with him every step of the way, she challenged him to do better. It is clear he is not only upping his game but having a blast.

David Mamet’s play “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” was softened a bit for its 1986 movie version, also called “About Last Night,” a romantic comedy starring Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Jim Belushi, and Elizabeth Perkins. But it was still, for its time, provocatively frank in its portrayal of two couples who were navigating a world that was post Mr. Goodbar but pre-AIDS, pre-Tinder, and pre use of the term “booty call.”

Like the original, there is a serious couple and a comic couple. As the movie begins, Bernie (Hart) and Joan (Hall) are each giving their best friends all the details (and I mean all) of the wild, drunken sex within moments of meeting at a bar the night before. Their friends are Danny (Michael Ealy, with a lot of leading man sizzle) and Debbie (Joy Bryant, with one of the best smiles in Hollywood), both serious, stable, and gunshy about relationships following some bad experiences. Bernie and Joan bring their friends along to their second meeting, otherwise known as the “this isn’t a date date.” Bernie and Joan introduce them to each other as “boring,” and that, more than any other reason, prompts them to try to interact and prove that it isn’t true. “I’m not really boring,” Debbie explains. “I just pretend to be so she can be the crazy one.” Debbie and Danny have sex within hours after meeting, uncharacteristic impulsivity for both of them, and then they worry about what it all means.

Danny and Debbie end up moving in together but poor communication, struggles with intimacy, and Danny’s insecurity over losing his job while Debbie is professionally accomplished. No one seems to know what it means to have sex, to live with someone, to say “I love you” first, to decide to get a puppy. And no one is clear about what it should mean — Danny and Debbie want to have a relationship (most of the time) but sometimes it scares them. And when one of them gets scared, the other’s feelings get hurt.

What keeps this part of the story from bogging things down is the energy and oh-no-you-didn’t outrageousness of the bicker/banter, which starts out down and dirty and then gets even down and dirtier. From the opening blast of “Sex Machine” through a series of hilariously explicit conversations swinging back and forth between confident assertions about the most intimate specifics and panicked cluelessness about the basics of any form of interaction out of bed. So, there’s a lot of theories about how to behave and a lot of failure to carry it off. Danny’s problems at work and with an ex are under-written distractions that don’t work as well as the silly fun of a costume party that has Danny and Debbie dressed as Ike and Tina Turner. The energy and chemistry of the four leads keeps things moving so briskly that it diminishes the familiarity of the material. And, more important, it keeps us hoping for a happy ending.

Parents should know that this is a very raunchy comedy. It features extremely explicit sexual references and situations, sexual humor including many jokes about casual sex and various sexual acts and body parts, drinking and drunkenness, drinking games, and marijuana.

Family discussion: Why did Danny keep asking Debbie if they were fighting? Why did Bertie and Joan enjoy making each other angry?

If you like this, try: the original version, starring Rob Lowe and Demi Moore (briefly glimpsed in this remake), “He’s Just Not That Into You,” and “Think Like a Man”

Walking with Dinosaurs 3D

Posted on December 19, 2013 at 6:42 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for creature action and peril, and mild rude humor
Profanity:	Some schoolyard language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Dinosaur predator violence and peril, sad death of parents
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	December 20, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	March 24, 2014
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00HDKJESO

Dinosaur movies pretty much all have the same plot. Unless it is a fantasy like “Jurassic Park,” the story is pretty simple: the dinos have to migrate and there are a lot of encounters and adventures along the way. What separates Walking With Dinosaurs 3D from earlier entries like “The Land Before Time” and Disney’s then-state-of-the-art “Dinosaur” is the beauty and majesty of the great creatures, marred a bit by a jokey script with too much focus on poop and barf jokes, silly winks at the audience about the animals’ “future as an oil field,” and distracting anthropomorphism.

A brief prologue set in modern day has a brother and sister visiting their paleontologist uncle (“Star Wars’” Karl Urban) in Alaska. The girl is excited by the broken tooth found by her uncle and happy to accompany him to the dig to see if they can find more bones. But her older brother is bored. “I’m not really into digging for dead things.” He’d rather text his friends about how lame everything is.

But then a bird (voice of John Leguizamo) appears to explain that “Every fossil tells a story.” He transforms into his prehistoric ancestor, garishly colored with trailing trail feathers and toothy-looking protuberances from his beak, to narrate the story of his friend Patchi (voice of Justin Long), from just after hatching as the runt of the nest to adulthood and becoming a father with his own eggs to guard.

Our hero is Patchi, a Pachyrhinosaurus (thick-nosed lizard), whose early run-in with a predator leaves a hole in his frill that helps us identify him as he goes from hatchling to adolescent to adult. He is a cheerful, curious, friendly vegetarian, a bit in the shadow of his alpha male older brother, Scowler (voice of Skylar Stone). Their father is the pack leader who shows the rest of the tribe the way when it is time to migrate. But along the way there is danger, especially from predatory meat-eaters who find the plant-eaters delicious. Patchi’s parents are killed (off-screen) protecting their young. Scowler takes over via head-butt battle, and it looks like he may take over the pretty female Patchi likes as well (Tiya Sircar as Juniper). Will brains triumph over brawn?

Kids in the audience seemed to enjoy the slapstick and potty humor and it is possible that it tempered the scarier themes. It will certainly make fans of the television series happy, and, I hope, inspire curiosity about the real stories that fossils tell. Viewers with more serious interest in dinosaurs will want to take advantage of the Blu-Ray’s “Cretaceous” option and skip the human voices.

Parents should know that this film has dinosaur-era violence, characters in peril, injured and killed, sad deaths of parents, and potty humor.

Family discussion: Why did Patchi and Scowler make different choices? Which was your favorite kind of pre-historic creature and why?

If you like this, try: the television series and visit your local natural history museum to learn more about dinosaurs