The Theory of Everything

Posted on November 13, 2014 at 5:31 pm

A-
Lowest Recommended Age: High School
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and suggestive material
Profanity: Some mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs: Drinking, smoking
Violence/ Scariness: Serious, debilitating illness, tense confrontations
Diversity Issues: Disabled character
Date Released to Theaters: November 14, 2014
Date Released to DVD: February 16, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN: B00QFSIIFK
Copyright 2014 Working Title Films
Copyright 2014 Working Title Films

We have seen many film biographies of great individuals (mostly men). But we have seen almost no films, fact-based or fictional, about great marriages. And we have certainly never seen any films about great marriages that end up with the couple married to other people. But that is what this is.  It is the story of a “marriage of true minds,” an equal partnership in every way, with two very intelligent and committed people working as hard as they can to be the best they can for one another.

And they are portrayed by two people of enormous talent, with both Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne giving performances of enormous depth and understanding.  Of course Redmayne has the showier, awards-bait role, and he is meticulous in Hawking’s physical decline. In his previous films like “Les Miserables” and “My Week With Marilyn,” Redmayne has shown a gift for the sensitive, doe-eyed young hero.  But as Hawking, he shows a shrewdness and wit we have not seen from him before, even at the end, when Hawking has just one cheek muscle he can control.  There is never a hint of stunt-ishness.  It is always about the character whose mind is perhaps even freer to roam the farthest reaches of the universe and of human comprehension as his body is failing and he is completely physically dependant.

The luminous Jones matches him every bit of the way as Jane Hawking ages and as she grapples with finding a way to continue to relate to her husband as an adult and an equal while caring for him.  She is also a scholar in her own right who wants to do her own work, while somehow caring for her children and her husband, an intellectual supernova who is becoming an icon.

The screenplay is based on the book by Jane Hawking, the first wife of the scientist many people think of as the greatest mind of our generation, the physicist Stephen Hawking, best known for his appearances on “The Big Bang Theory” and his mega-best-selling book for the lay audience, A Brief History of Time. (The book’s purported status as the most-bought but least-read best-seller has inspired the “Hawking Index.”) And so we get a rare glimpse into what it was like from the point of view of the “wife of.”

Jane met Stephen when they were both students.  They had very little in common.  He was studying physics. She was studying Spanish poetry.  He was an atheist.  She was a churchgoer and believer.  He was disorganized, not socially adept or at least not interested in fitting in.  She was a natural rule-follower and very comfortable in social situations.  There was never anything conventional about their encounters or conversations.  

And yet, they felt the kind of pull that is better described by poetry than physics, the kind that seems to mean that only the similarities matter.  She smiles, “I like to time travel. Like you.”

And then Hawking is given the devastating diagnosis of motor neuron disease (ALS), with a life expectancy of perhaps two years of calamitous decline of all muscles.  “Your thoughts won’t change,” he is told, “but eventually no one will know what they are.”

Hawking’s father warns Jane away.  “This will not be a fight.  This will be a heavy defeat for all of us.”  But Jane is resolute.  She is determined that they will get married and they will fight.  They get married, with him leaning heavily on a cane.  They have two children.  And he loses muscular control, more every day.  Each downward ratchet is wrenching, but ultimately he has to give up walking and move to a wheelchair as eventually he will have to give up speech and learn to operate a computer with one muscle in his cheek to have it speak for him.  Adding insult to injury, it will be with an American accent.

In the meantime, he is transforming our understanding of the universe and our place in it, and then turning those theories upside down and starting over as he attempts to synthesize the two areas of physics into one simple, elegant, beautiful formula that will explain how it all fits together.  

Screenwriter Anthony McCarten and director James Marsh (“Project Nim”) show deep understanding and extraordinary sensitivity in conveying with small, intimate details what is going on in this marriage.  Hands reach casually across a dinner table while two of the people at the table watch, just a slight tightening of the muscles around the eyes or mouth revealing what it is like to see it be so easy for other people.  They can love each other despite his awful knowledge of being a burden while resenting the healthy. And despite her equally awful knowledge of his humiliation in being a burden. We see the combined beauty and soul-destroying relentlessness of being a caretaker.  

They try to keep relating to each other as a couple, not as patient and nurse.  They have another baby. That is joyous but it is more work and more of a reminder of how little he can do as a parent. He is in many respects more dependent than the children. And Jane is exhausted.

Jane’s mother (Emily Watson) has some advice.  She tells Jane to sing in the church choir.  “That is the most English thing anyone has ever said,” Jane replies, but she goes, and as soon as we see the handsome young choir leader, just widowed, (Charlie Cox of “Stardust” as Jonathan), we know there is going to be trouble.  Jonathan, at a loss in his grief, offers to be of help to the family.  He is kind and understanding but he is also healthy and in a beautifully poignant scene at the beach, he runs with the children while Hawking’s wheelchair sinks into the wet sand.

Jonathan and Jane develop feelings for each other.  Hawking and his new nurse Elaine (Maxine Peake) develop feelings for each other.  Perhaps it is because she never sees him as less than a version of himself that is long gone.  Perhaps it is just that he wants Jane to have a chance to be with a healthy man.  Perhaps he knows that there is some parallel universe where they are living happily ever after.  I’d like to think so.

Parents should know that this is a sad movie about a family dealing with a very serious disease.  There are some sexual references.

Family discussion:  Why did Stephen chose that moment to talk about God to Jane?  Why was it important to her?

If you like this, try: “A Beautiful Mind”

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Based on a book Based on a true story Biography Drama DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week Romance

Big Hero 6

Posted on November 6, 2014 at 5:59 pm

B+
Lowest Recommended Age: Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for action and peril, some rude humor, and thematic elements
Profanity: None
Alcohol/ Drugs: None
Violence/ Scariness: Cartoon-style peril and violence, sad death, grieving parent becomes destructive
Diversity Issues: Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters: November 7, 2014
Date Released to DVD: February 23, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN: B00O4ZC57
Copyright 2014 Walt Disney Studios
Copyright 2014 Walt Disney Studios

Hiro (Ryan Potter) is a super-smart kid who likes to hustle underground robot fighters with his deceptively cute-looking little bot.  He has no interest in going to school until the older brother he adores (Daniel Henney as Tadashi) brings him to the robot lab at the university he attends.  When Hiro sees all of the lovable nerds (and one non-nerdy slacker named Fred who dresses as the school mascot) making awesomely cool creations, he gets very excited about joining them.  He has to invent something spectacular to get admitted, and so he gets to work and comes up with something extraordinary, a system of tiny bots who can form themselves into almost anything.

But then Tadeshi is killed trying to rescue his professor from a fire.  Hiro is devastated.  The brothers were orphans.  While their aunt (Maya Rudolph) does her best, Hiro and Tadeshi were all that was left of their family, and now Hiro is devastated at being alone.  He refuses to go anywhere or talk to anyone.

But Tadeshi left someone behind.  It turns out he was working on developing a robot called Baymax, designed to be a kind, reassuring, gentle healer.  Baymax is equipped with extensive diagnostic and treatment capacity but his look is intended to be non-threatening.  He looks like a big, white balloon, or, as one character says, like a marshmallow man.  He is as far from a weapon or fighter as it is possible to be.  But when Hiro and the robotics nerds find out that Hiro’s invention has been stolen and will be used for destructive purposes, they get together to use their skills, their courage, and, most of all, their sense of what is right to save the day.

The film, loosely inspired by Marvel’s comic book, is filled with engaging characters and imaginative touches.   The setting is “San Fransokyo,” a California/Japan mash-up that seems familiar and real but also intriguingly foreign.  It is a pleasure to see Disney’s most diverse set of protagonists ever, race, gender, and even economic. The bending of stereotypes is done with an effortless flair. And it is great to see a movie for the family that acknowledges the fun and excitement of being smart and working hard.  We get a lot of movies for kids about the importance of friends and family, following your dreams, and being yourself, and all of that is here, too.  But we don’t get many about solving problems through study and experimentation.  It’s very nice to see a film that recognizes that it is cool to be smart.

NOTE: Please stay all the way through the credits for an extra scene that is a lot of fun, especially if you are a Marvel fan.  And be sure to get there on time as the Oscar-nominated pre-feature short film “Feast,” about a hungry puppy, is completely charming, hilarious, and sweet.

Parents should know that this film includes cartoon-style action, peril, and violence, very sad sibling death (off-camera), other characters apparently killed, grieving parent who becomes destructive, and brief potty humor.

Family discussion: What kind of robot would you like to build? Which of the characters is most like you?

If you like this, try: “The Iron Giant,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” and “Bolt”

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3D Animation Comic book/Comic Strip/Graphic Novel DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week Scene After the Credits

The Book of Life

Posted on October 16, 2014 at 5:56 pm

A-
Lowest Recommended Age: Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images
Profanity: Some mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs: None
Violence/ Scariness: Themes of death and afterlife with some scary images of skeletons and desolation, peril including bull fights and snake bite, violence including sword fights and outlaws
Diversity Issues: Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters: October 17, 2014
Date Released to DVD: January 26, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN: B00Q599952
Copyright 2014 Twentieth Century Fox Animation
Copyright 2014 Twentieth Century Fox Animation

Jorge Gutierrez (Nickelodeon’s “El Tigre”) is co-writer and director of a dazzling new animated film that all but explodes off the screen in a kaleidoscope of color and energy and a love of life and storytelling and colorful characters and fantastic adventures.  It is filled with the richness of love and passion and life and death and music and bullfighting and courage and family.  It is a refreshing new aesthetic, inspired by Mexican folklore, with many of the characters looking as though they were carved from wood — not by trained experts and not recently.  It has great songs and stunning images, covers of songs by artists from Elvis to Mumford and Sons, with a sweet new duet from Us the Duo. Plus, there is a sensational and wonderfully varied voice cast that includes Ice Cube (superbly funny and warm-hearted), Cheech Marin, Placido Domingo, and Anjelah Johnson-Reyes (“Bon Qui Qui”).

And it is very funny and a lot of fun.

Even the opening logo for 20th Century Fox has been transformed, letting us know right from the start that we are in another world, or maybe three of them.

A museum guide tells a school group the story, which begins with a wager.  The afterlife has two parts: The Land of the Remembered, ruled by La Muerte (Kate del Castillo), where the newly dead are joyfully reunited with their families, and all is celebration, and The Land of the Forgotten, ruled by Xibalba (Ron Perlman of “Sons of Anarchy”), a bleak landscape where souls who are no longer cherished by the living are isolated and afraid.  The two rulers make a bet over which of two boys will win the heart of the girl they both love.  The winner will get to rule the Land of the Remembered.

The children grow up.  Xibalba’s candidate is Joaquin (Channing Tatum), who has become a brave soldier with a chest full of medals.  One he never lets anyone see was given to him by Xibalba, who is not above cheating to win the bet.  It gives whoever carries it courage and invulnerability.

La Muerte is rooting for Manolo (Diego Luna), who is studying to be a bullfighter like his father and all the other men in their family, but whose real passion is for music.  Both are still in love with Maria (Zoe Saldana), just returned from her studies in Spain.  Maria’s father favors Joaquin, who can protect the town from the evil, predatory bandit Chacal (Dan Navarro).  But Maria’s heart is touched by the romantic Manolo, even after his first attempt to serenade her turns into a disaster (hint: never let your companeros persuade you that the songs of either Biz Markie or Rod Stewart are romantic).  When it looks like he will lose the bet, Xibalba cheats again, sending a poisonous snake to bite Maria and Manolo.

Manolo is killed, and finds himself in the Land of the Remembered, where he is happy to see his mother and many other relatives.  But to get back to Maria, he will need to cross through the Land of the Forgotten. He meets the candle-maker (a warm and very funny Ice Cube) and a monstrous bull composed of all the bulls Manolo’s family has ever killed, makes a daring wager of his own before he gets back just in time for the arrival of Chacal.

It may seem thickly plotted at times, but that is all part of the Carnivale sensibility.  And the cavalcade of incidents and characters, both living and dead, is reassuring in its matter-of-fact approach, reminding us that it is all a part of the book of life, and that we can never lose what or who we truly love.

Parents should know that this film includes Day of the Dead-inspired images with skeletons and afterlife settings, characters in peril and some violence, sad deaths of parents and grandparent (reunited in afterlife), some scary monsters and villains, brief potty humor and some mild language

Family discussion: How can you tell when you follow your parents’ advice and when to do what feels right to you? What is the best way to make sure we remember the people who are no longer with us?

If you like this, try: “The Princess and the Cobbler” and “Rio” and the documentary “Walt and El Groupo,” about the real-life trip Walt Disney and his animators took to South America and how it transformed the look of Disney animation.

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3D Animation DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week Fantasy Musical Romance

Dear White People

Posted on October 16, 2014 at 5:25 pm

B+
Lowest Recommended Age: Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating: Rated R for language, sexual content and drug use
Profanity: Very strong language including racist terms
Alcohol/ Drugs: Drinking, drug use
Violence/ Scariness: Tense confrontations
Diversity Issues: A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters: October 17, 2014
Date Released to DVD: February 2, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN: B00OMCCJIS

dear white people2Before I turn to whitesplaining this film, I will begin by suggesting that you read what Aisha Harris at Slate and what my friends and fellow critics Travis Hopson and Stephen Boone have to say first. If I did not have enough humility before seeing the film about my ability to provide some insight into a movie about racism, the best evidence of the power of the film’s message is that I have more now — and that I recognize it might still not be be enough. I liked the film very much and want to encourage people to see it, so I am going to weigh in with some thoughts and hope that if they come across as disrespectful or ignorant, it will lead to some good conversations and, I hope, to greater understanding.

The focus is on four African-American students at an Ivy League school called Winchester University. Sam White (a biting but layered performance by standout Tessa Thompson) is the host of “Dear White People,” a controversial radio program with stinging, provocative commentary along the lines of “Dear white people: The official number of black friends you are required to have has now been raised to two. And your weed man does not count.” Coco (Teyonah Parris) is an ambitious woman who wants to be selected for a new reality TV series, even if that means creating a fabricated backstory and becoming more confrontational. Troy (Brandon P Bell) is the handsome, accomplished BMOC (and son of the dean) who says he has never experienced prejudice and is under a lot of pressure from his father to succeed. And Lionel (Tyler James Williams) is something of a loner because he feels he does not fit in with any of the rigid categories of the campus hierarchical taxonomy. He is invited by the editor of the school newspaper to go undercover to write about race relations at the school.

Each of these characters’ identities and conflicts is represented in their hair. Sam has tight, controlled coils. Coco has long, straight hair. Troy’s hair is cut very close to the bone. And Lionel’s hair is a marvel of untamed frizz that seems to be a character of its own. Each of the characters will face challenges to his or her carefully constructed identity, and all will be reflected in changes of hairstyle.

The dorm that had previously been all-black is now integrated following a race-blind room assignment policy. Sam takes on Troy in an election for head of house, never anticipating that she might win. But she does. This leads to some changes, including a confrontation with the arrogant frat-bro Kurt (Kyle Gallner), son of the white President of the university and leader of the school’s prestigious humor publication. Kurt is the kind of guy who expects to be allowed to eat wherever he likes, even if he is not a member of the house. He also explains that we live in a post-racial world because Obama is President. And he thinks it is a great idea to plan a “ghetto” party, with white students dressing up as gangsta caricatures.

Just to remind us that, while the movie may have a heightened sensibility for satirical purposes, it is not outside the realm of reality, the closing credits feature a sobering series of photos from real “ghetto” parties held on campuses across the country.

It is refreshing, provocative, and powerfully topical, respecting and updating the tradition of “School Daze” and “Higher Learning.” It deals not only with questions of race but with broader questions of gender, class, identity, and the way we construct our personas, especially in our late teens and early 20’s. Writer/director Justin Simien has created a sharp satire with an unexpectedly tender heart.

Parents should know that this film includes very strong language including racial epithets, sexual references and situations, drinking, drug use, and tense confrontations about race, class, and gender.

Family discussion: Where do the people in this movie get their ideas about race, gender, and class? Which character surprised you the most and why? Do you agree with what Sam said about racism?

If you like this, try: “School Daze” and “Higher Learning”

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Comedy Drama DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week Gender and Diversity GLBTQ and Diversity Race and Diversity Satire School

The Boxtrolls

Posted on September 25, 2014 at 5:59 pm

A-
Lowest Recommended Age: Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for action, some peril and mild rude humor
Profanity: None
Alcohol/ Drugs: None
Violence/ Scariness: Cartoon-style peril and some violence, comic allergic reaction, references to disturbing violence, some gross images
Diversity Issues: A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters: September 26, 2014
Date Released to DVD: January 19, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN: B00HLTDARS
The-Box-Trolls-2
Copyright LAIKA Studios 2014

LAIKA Studios (Paranorman and Coraline) has created another  loveably crooked world, this time inspired by Alan Snow’s Here Be Monsters! (The Ratbridge Chronicles).  It’s their first period setting, a sort of slightly bent Edwardian with a touch of steampunk, in the town of Cheesebridge.  LAIKA’s motto may be “No straight lines, no right angles, no perfect circles,” but this wobbly community is rigidly stratified, with the White Hats at the top of society, nibbling on exotic cheeses in the elegant Tasting Room and hosting elegant parties, the lower class Red Hats desperate to be accepted by them. There is an entirely separate group, the gentle Boxtrolls, who live underneath the city, turning rubbish into Rube Goldbergian machines and tending their garden.  They are called Boxtrolls because of their attire — discarded cardboard boxes.  And their names come from the boxes they wear: Fish, Fragile, Shoes, and Specs.

And then there is Eggs (Isaac Hempsted Wright).  He thinks he is a Boxtroll, but he is a human, left as a baby by his father, who was trying to keep him safe.  Apparently Cheesbridge follows Noam Chomsky’s theories of language: while the Boxtrolls speak in a sort of mumbly pidgin talk, Eggs speaks flawless and rather aristocratic-sounding English.  Their happy life is disturbed by Snatcher (Sir Ben Kingsley), the leader of the Red Hats, who conducts raids to capture the Boxtrolls.  He knows they are harmless, but he has persuaded the White Hats that the Boxtrolls capture and eat human children so that they will depend on him to exterminate them.  If Snatcher gets rid of all of them, the Mayor of Cheesebridge has promised to give him a White Hat and allow him into the sanctum sanctorum, the Tasting Room.  There is one problem, though.  Snatcher, despite his protestations to the contrary, is massively lactose-intolerant.

Mayor Lord Portly-Rind (Jared Harris) and his wife Lady Portly-Rind (Toni Collette) have a daughter named Winnie (Elle Fanning, the sister of “Coraline” star Dakota Fanning).  She longs for them to pay attention to her.  Their neglect has led her to develop a macabre fascination with what she imagines are the atrocities of the Boxtrolls and she decides to investigate.  When she finds out that the Boxtrolls are harmless, she agrees to help Eggs tell her father that Snatcher has lied.  Eggs will need to be persuaded that he is in fact human and then taught some of the basics of human interaction so that he can deliver the message.

The word “immersive” is often used to describe movies with 3D effects that seem to make the images surround the viewer by extending both in front of and behind the screen.  But LAIKA’s films are more deeply immersive than that because of the intricacy of the world they create.  Most animated movies use miles of code to show us how every individual hair in an animal’s fur rustles in the wind.  But the handmade touch and infinite care of LAIKA’s stop-motion films, where figures and props are nudged ever so slightly for each individual frame and craftspeople spend months creating practical (not digital or virtual) effects to evoke water, fire, and clouds, creates an environment that is tantalizingly complex and invites many viewings to explore its wonders.

LAIKA is perfectionist in its dedication to not being perfect.  It embraces the messiness of life.  The Boxtrolls’ cavern is grimy and dank, and the Portly-Rind home filled with dessicated finery, but both are brimming with endlessly inventive detail, especially the elaborate mechanics of the Boxtrolls’ cave and the meticulous choreography of the White Hats’ ball.  Every single object reflects the care taken by the filmmakers and every detail reflects some element of character and story, which are messy as well.  Winnie, who has so much, is lonely and neglected.  But she is brave and honest.

Eggs, who has so little, is surrounded by love.  He is loyal and courageous.  And Snatcher, who is so desperate for acceptance that he will don an elaborate disguise, make libelous accusations, and put his health and even his life at risk, is ultimately not really able to destroy the Boxtrolls.  His henchmen, played by Tracey Morgan, Nick Frost, and Richard Ayoade are less wicked than existentially confused, trying to persuade themselves that they are on the right side.

The visuals are deliciously grotesque at times, but the message is a sweet one: families come in all sizes and shapes, sometimes biological, sometimes not, but what defines them is love.

NOTE: Be sure to stay through the credits to see some existential ponderings by the characters and a brief cameo by animator/CEO Travis Knight.

Parents should know that there are some comic but grotesque and macabre images.  Characters are in peril and apparently killed, though shown later to be imprisoned.  A character appears to have lost his mind.  Another character explodes (offscreen).

Family discussion: Why was it so important for Snatcher to be a White Hat?  Why didn’t Winnie’s parents pay more attention to her?  Why did some of the Red Hats think they were the good guys?

If you like this, try: “Coraline,” “Paranorman,” and “Monster House”

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3D Animation Based on a book DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week Fantasy For the Whole Family Scene After the Credits Stories About Kids
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