Behind the Scenes: Minions
Posted on July 12, 2015 at 3:34 pm
Spy
Posted on June 4, 2015 at 5:44 pm
B+| Lowest Recommended Age: | Mature High Schooler |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated R for language throughout, violence, and some sexual content including brief graphic nudity |
| Profanity: | Very strong and crude language |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Drinking |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Extensive action-style violence, some disturbing images, characters injured and killed |
| Diversity Issues: | A theme of the movie |
| Date Released to Theaters: | June 5, 2015 |
| Date Released to DVD: | September 8, 2015 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B00YWE6LXK |
It is time to celebrate. Melissa McCarthy finally has the movie role she deserves. Writer/director Paul Feig, who directed her in “Bridesmaids” and “The Heat” has wisely given her center stage and allowed her to be quirky and awkward, which we knew she could do, and improvise crazy lines and scenarios, which we also knew she could do, but also let her play someone who is extremely capable and loyal, smart, brave, and completely captivating, which we always knew she could do, but rarely got to see more than a hint of it.
Feig does not just thoroughly understand the genre he is shredding. He clearly loves it. All of the classic spy movie necessities are there, a sultry song over the opening credits, impeccable tailoring, a beautiful car, fine wine, pretty girls, chases and shootouts, cool gadgets, glamorous world capitals, a formal high society party with tons of security that must be breached, a club scene with EDM, betrayal by a trusted insider, an evil megalomaniacal villain, and — of course — the fate of the entire world depending on our secret agent with a license to kill saving the day. Dippold avoids the usual spoof go-to “jokes” of incompetence, slapstick, and instantly-old cultural references, allowing the characters to take the stakes and the relationships seriously enough so that the comedy is honestly earned and all the funnier for it. It is genuinely refreshing to see women as not just hero and villain but also as hero’s boss and her best friend. The male stars are excellent, especially Jude Law and Jason Statham, who get to riff on their own leading man images as well as larger-scale action hero conventions. But the ladies are in charge here, and they are killing it. Imaging Miss Moneypenny and Pussy Galore plus Dame Judi Dench as M running the show, with Bond as eye candy.
McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a teacher turned desk agent for the CIA. As super-cool Bradley Fine (Law) tosses off a glass of champagne, pausing to admire the crystal flute glass before smashing it and sneaking out to find the super-powerful, super-compact bomb, Susan is talking through his earpiece, letting him know which way to turn through the labyrinthian tunnels every self-respecting bad guy has to have under the elegant party going on up above, and which direction the henchmen are coming from. He is fond but patronizing. She is capable but a bit fluttery and insecure.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of pollen in the air and Bradley sneezes at the wrong time, accidentally making his gun go off and killing the bad guy. Also unfortunately, the bad guy’s successor, his daughter Rayna (Byrne, with what looks like several dead animals hiding in her hideous hairdo), has access to the names of all of the current field agents. With no alternative, the humorless CIA deputy director (Janney) sends Susan out into the field, just to track and report, not to engage. Susan is nervous but excited, though disappointed when she receives her cover. No sophisticated bespoke attire and fancy hotel rooms. She will be a dowdy, nondescript woman with a very bad perm.
She doesn’t get the cool hoverboard from the Q-equivalent. She gets weaponized versions of the things a woman like her cover identity would have in her purse. And her cover involves hilariously tacky wardrobe and a disastrous perm-looking wig. Of course she soon abandons the “no engagement” part. A rogue agent (Statham) trying to find the bomb on his own mostly gets in the way. But she relies on her excellent observational powers, quick thinking, and some mad skillz in hand-to-hand combat, even if killing a guy grosses her out. And she gets some help from her best friend Nancy (the wildly funny Miranda Hart).
It is exciting, funny, and even heartwarming. And best of all, there’s a hint at the end of a possible sequel. More Susan Cooper, please, and lots and lots more McCarthy.
Parents should know that this film includes very strong and crude language, sexual references, sexual humor, and non-explicit sexual situations, graphic nudity, extensive violence with some graphic and disturbing images, and characters injured and killed.
Family discussion: What do you think it takes to be a great spy? If you were going undercover, what would your name be?
If you like this, try: “Get Smart,” “Bridesmaids,” and “The Heat”
Trailer: Days and Nights With Katie Holmes and Allison Janney
Posted on September 16, 2014 at 8:00 am
Inspired by Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” this is the story of a weekend at a country house that includes a famous actress, her discontented son, and people who love the wrong people and are angry at each other — sometimes at the same time.
A Thousand Words
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:59 am
C-| Lowest Recommended Age: | High School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG-13 for sexual situations including dialogue, language, and some drug-related humor |
| Profanity: | Some strong and crude language |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Drinking, including drinking to deal with stress |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Comic peril and violence, references to sad death of parent and dementia |
| Diversity Issues: | Homophobic humor, diverse characters |
| Date Released to Theaters: | March 9, 2012 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B005LAIGIM |
“A Thousand Words” was filmed four years ago, when George W. Bush was President and a joke about the massive popularity of Hannah Montana was timely. Four years later, it is being not so much released as exorcised as Dreamworks cleans out its backlog. It isn’t a horrible movie, at least not in comparison to Norbit from the same star and director, but it is a dispiritingly dull and cynical one. Nicolas Cage is listed as a producer, which suggest that at some point he might have planned to play the lead role of a fast-talking literary agent who learns that he is down to his last 1000 words. Once he used them all up, he will die. Cage might have brought something interesting to the role of a man who speeds through life and then has to learn to choose his words very carefully and to begin to listen to others. But Murphy is barely present in the role at all, throwing some wild gestures and facial expressions at us and failing completely at conveying any sort of lessons learned.
Murphy plays Jack, who will say anything to anyone to get what he wants. He lies about his wife being in labor to get to the front of the line at the coffee shop (intrusive product placement alert). He lies about having read the books he is supposed to represent. He is inconsiderate to his wife and their toddler son and nasty to his assistant (Clark Duke), forcing him to pick all of the marshmallows except for the yellow moons out of his breakfast cereal. At his therapists, he talks non-stop but does not say anything.
Dr. Sinja (handsome Cliff Curtis, maintaining some dignity) is the nation’s most prominent spiritual leader and Jack is determined to represent him in the sale of his book. He promises to devote himself fully to Sinja’s project but he does not mean it. And then a mysterious tree appears in Jack’s yard, and it loses a leaf for every word he says.
He uses up a lot of words arguing and complaining and then we get to see him struggle at work (he cannot speak in meetings) and at home (he cannot communicate with his wife). It is supposed to be funny when poor Ruby Dee, as Jack’s mother struggling with dementia, talks crudely about the body parts of another resident of her assisted living facility, and when Kerry Washington, as Jack’s wife, puts on bondage gear and offers to perform “all the naughty things you want” — and he can’t ask, get it? It is even less funny when Jack mistakenly knocks on the hotel door of an overweight gay man expecting a male prostitute. The condescension and superficiality of the closing scenes, complete with choir-of-angels soundtrack with not just a reconciling visit to a cemetery but a healing conversation with Jack-as-a-child, is painful. Murphy’s great strength is his extraordinary verbal facility. His great weakness is a palpable anger that sometimes comes across as contempt for his audience and his material. A movie about an actor with prodigious talents who keeps coming back to material so wrong for what he has to offer — now that might be a movie worth seeing.
Parents should know that this film includes some crude sexual humor, some strong language (s-words), some homophobic humor, a woman in bondage gear, drinking to deal with stress, and references to dementia and a sad death of a parent.
Family discussion: How did not being able to talk make Jack a better listener? What were the most important words that he said and why?
If you like this, try: “Shallow Hal,” “Liar, Liar” and “Bruce Almighty”