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”

Coming from Ben Stiller: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Posted on August 15, 2013 at 3:59 pm

James Thurber’s most fondly remembered story is probably “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” which invites us into the daydreams of a mild-mannered and slightly henpecked husband. While he tries to remember what it was his wife wanted him to pick up at the store (puppy biscuit), he imagines himself as a surgeon, a marksman, a Naval officer, and the devil-may-care target of a firing squad. After all, who among us has not sat at our desks and imagined ourselves taking a fifth curtain call, inventing the iPhone, accepting a Tony, an Oscar, a Nobel?

The story was made into a musical comedy starring Danny Kaye in 1947.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntATWJl6Yl0

And now Ben Stiller has directed and stars in an updated version that looks wistful, even melancholy, but very touching, the kind of movie a guy might daydream about from the set of a dopey film like “The Watch.”

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The Watch

Posted on July 28, 2012 at 12:45 pm

Yet another attempt to go for the “Ghostbusters” funny-scary vibe crashes and burns in the under-written “The Watch,” originally titled “Neighborhood Watch” until the Treyvon Martin shooting created uncomfortable associations with the idea of self-appointed suburban guys with guns. But the attempt the neutralize the title does not save the idea and the can’t-believe-that-got-an-R raunch does equal comedy.

Ben Stiller plays Evan, a gung-ho guy who loves his job as a manager at Costco and his community in the quiet suburb of Glenview, Ohio. He is a one-man force for civic pride and improvement, starting up clubs and volunteer projects. One night the Costco security guard is brutally murdered, dismembered, and skinned. Even decides to start up a neighborhood watch to help find the killer and protect his community.

The only people who show up to help are Bob (Vince Vaughn), a contracter with a teenage daughter, Franklin (Jonah Hill), a guy who lives with his mother, resents failing the police academy tests, and likes to play with his knife, and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade of the British sitcom “I.T”), who is new in town and hoping to make friends, especially the kind who is willing to provide a very specific sexual favor. That’s the basis for a cohesive crack team of operatives, right! On to the stakeout and don’t forget the special jackets and the beer!

As the Watchers poke around, they begin to turn up in places were more bad things happen. A skateboarding kid and a cranky old guy (R. Lee Ermy) are the next victims. The Watchers start to do more than watch when they discover a mysterious orb that blows things up — and then the alien who is looking for it.

And all of this is an excuse for a lot of dumb destruction and vacuous verbal riffing, though once in a while there is a funny moment. The aliens leave behind green slime. There is a dumb and overlong discussion of the relationship of its properties to a particular male bodily fluid but also a nice underplayed reference to getting slimed at the Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards. Despite a script credited to “Pineapple Express” scribes Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg with Jared Sten, it feels like they were making it up as it went along. It is always fun to hear Vaughn’s randomly attention-deficit commentary and Billy Crudup shows up for some nicely creepy moments, but Rosemary DeWitt is wasted in yet another example of the Our Gang (“No Girls Allowed”) school of film comedy. The unfortunate truth is that changing the title just left us with exactly what audiences should not waste time doing . They didn’t bother to write it; you shouldn’t bother to “Watch” it.

Parents should know that this film has very crude and explicit language and sexual references, comic but sometimes graphic peril and violence, drinking (including drinking while driving), smoking and drug use, explicit sexual situations (orgy) with nudity, potty humor, attempted sexual assault of a teenager, switchblade, stockpile of weapons

Family discussion: Which character was most responsible? What surprised them the most about each other?

If you like this, try: “The Burbs” and “Attack the Block”

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Action/Adventure Comedy Science-Fiction

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

Posted on June 7, 2012 at 6:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for some mild action and rude humor
Profanity:	Some schoolyard language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Comic, cartoon-style peril and violence with chase scenes and tranquilizer darts
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters and species
Date Released to Theaters:	June 8, 2012
Date Released to DVD:	October 15, 2012
Amazon.com ASIN:	B005LAIHW2

“Madagascar 3” is the best of the series, bright, fresh, fun, and funny, with a terrific script from co-director and Eric Darnell, a series regular, and, a bit improbably, “The Squid and the Whale’s” Noah Baumbach.

In the first Madagascar, four pampered animals from the Central Park Zoo leave home and find themselves on the title island off the coast of Africa. Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinckett Smith), a bunch of penguins, and a lemur (Sasha Baron Cohen) try to get back to New York, but only get as far as the mainland. The second installment was Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, where “home” took on new meaning as Alex was reunited with the parents he had not seen since he was captured as a cub. He was also reconnected with his inner animal as he learned about his heritage. As the third in the series opens, the animals are still trying to get back to the zoo. The penguins (minor characters in the first who were so popular they got their own spin-off) and chimps left for Monte Carlo at the end of the second movie and have not come back, as they promised, with the plane to take the zoo animals to New York. So Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria go after them. The chimps (dressed in absurd French finery) have been cleaning up at the gambling tables. But it is not easy for zoo animals to remain unnoticed in a casino, and soon the most lethal and relentless animal control officer in Europe, Captaine Chantel Dubois (Frances McDormand) is on the case.

There’s only one place zoo animals can hide out and be on the move at the same time. With Dubois after them, the zoo animals tell the circus animals that they are from a American circus to persuade them to let them on the train. They are on their way to Rome and then London where a scout will decide whether he wants to bring them to New York. Alex et al have to do more than hide out — they have to make the circus a success.

The storyline avoids the poor choices the first two stumbled over, which includes one character wanting to eat another and a tribal rite that involved sacrifice. This time, the circus setting is colorful and engaging, the action scenes are cleverly choreographed and briskly paced, and there is plenty for both children and their parents to laugh at. The characters seem like old friends for us and for each other, comfortable with each other and sweetly supportive. At first, they appear really old as Alex has a nightmare that they are all creaky and wrinkled. But it turns out it is just his birthday and his friends have honored the occasion by re-creating New York City out of mud. When an animated movie for children finds time to comment on the recently renovated Times Square’s “corporate lack of character,” you can be sure that the movie has some confidence and personality, not be the usual bland bore. They even find time for a meta-joke about jokes, a Marie Antoinette license plate, and a reference to the French economy, a fabulous rendition (under a spotlight) by Dubois of “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien,” and a very touching lesson about home. Bien sur, je ne regrette cette film, and it even has me looking forward to part four.
Parents should know that this film has cartoon-style peril, action, and violence, fire, animal tracker uses tranquilizer darts and other weapons, brief potty humor

Family discussion: What changed the animals’ minds about going home? Who should be the leader? What did Alex and the circus animals teach each other?

If you like this, try: the first two “Madagascar” movies

Tower Heist

Posted on November 4, 2011 at 10:09 am

If the Occupy Wall Street crowd decided to make it movie it would be “Tower Heist,” the story of 99%-ers stealing back from a 1% guy what he stole from them.

Alan Alda has a lot of fun playing a bad guy for a change, a Madoff-style villain named Arthur Shaw who takes a daily swim in his rooftop pool with an enormous painting of a hundred dollar bill along the bottom. He lives in the penthouse of a luxury building in New York with an attentive staff under the perfectionist eye of building manager Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller). The employees entrusted him with their pension money and when he is arrested for securities fraud they realize that the money they saved and counted on for retirement has disappeared. Luther, the doorman (Stephen McKinley Henderson) is so disconsolate he attempts suicide. And Josh is so frustrated and furious that he plots a heist to steal some of their money back, with the help of a lowlife neighbor named Slide (Eddie Murphy, who co-produced). Josh has spent years protecting Shaw and the other wealthy residents of the building by creating an unbreakable security system. And he has spent years losing to Shaw in their online chess game. Will he be able to take Shaw’s king?

Co-scripter Ted Griffin wrote “Oceans 11” so he knows that heist films depend on three things: (1) We have to be on the side of the thieves and it helps to have them steal from an arrogant bad guy. Check. (2) It has to be a challenge with some enormous logistical obstacles to outsmart. Check. And (3) there have to be some unexpected problems for our anti-heroes to solve as the caper is underway. Check again.

It is a pleasure to see Eddie Murphy, who co-produced, funny again in a live action film, playing a character who might be an older, less smooth relative of his “48 Hours” Reggie Hammond. Instead of trying to play all the parts himself, he blends into a top-notch ensemble cast that includes Téa Leoni as an FBI agent, Gabourey Sidibe of “Precious” as a maid who is handy with locks, an abashed Matthew Broderick as a failed Wall Streeter evicted from the building, and Michael Peña and Casey Affleck as accomplices. We could use a lot more Leoni (any movie could use more Leoni) and the conclusion feels awkwardly tacked on, but it is timely and fun.

(more…)

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Comedy Crime