The Heat

Posted on June 30, 2013 at 10:33 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
Profanity:	Constant strong and crude language, use of bad language as an expression of freedom
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, drunkenness (as an expression of freedom), scenes in bars, drug dealing and some drug use
Violence/ Scariness:	Law enforcement violence, chases, explosions, murder, torture, characters in peril, injured, and killed
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie, but a number of insults of a character with albinism
Date Released to Theaters:	June 28, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	October 14, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00BEIYJ8G

By my count, I have seen some sixty jillion buddy cop movies, and they follow a format as rigid as a sonnet. One cop is by-the-book. One is free-wheeling and impulsive. There is a frustrated superior officer. There is a scene in a nightclub. There is a bad guy with access to some inside information. One is catnip to the opposite sex; one is romantically challenged or solidly married. And our heroes, initially antagonistic, learn to respect, trust, and like each other. Some buddy cop movies have more comedy, some have more action. Some buddy cop movies are PG-13, some are R. There are always many wisecracks. Quite often, we get to meet the family of one or both. Sometimes the leads are white, sometimes they’re black, sometimes it is one of each. But all of them, all of them, all of them have one more thing in common. They’re both guys. Until now.

So thoroughly conforming to the conventions of the genre that the opening credits could have been lifted from a 70’s movie, “The Heat,” is not interested in breaking any new ground except for the considerable change of a gender switch. For the first time in decades, there is an action comedy with two female leads. It even passes the Bechdel rule. That is a major breakthrough. Everything else is, well, by the book.

Sandra Bullock, basically carrying over her “Miss Congeniality” role, is the by-the-book FBI agent named Ashburn. According to her supervisor, she has inspired “countless complaints of arrogance, competitiveness, and showmanship.” She is assigned to a new case and has to work with a tough, brash, impulsive, profane local cop named Mullins (Melissa McCarthy, basically carrying over her last three roles). “If you’re not in trouble, you’re not doing your job,” she explains. She also has an exasperated boss (Thomas F. Wilson, Biff the bully in “Back to the Future”).

Pretty soon they are battling over jurisdiction and getting caught as they both try to go through the doorway at the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0HWlvP1xdk

Cue the wisecracks. “What is this, ‘Training Day?'” asks Ashburn. And there are some bonding moments, including a makeover in a nightclub ladies’ room, a joint appreciation of an impressive arsenal, and a drunken dance to “Groove is in the Heart” by Deee-Lite with Lady Miss Kier. But it feels like putting women in the lead roles was such a stretch they did not want to take any other chances with the genre.

They visit Mullins’ family, who appear to be visiting from “The Fighter.” (Nice to see Jane Curtin, Nathan Corddry, and NKotB-er Joey McIntyre, though.) Her brother’s girlfriend has breasts so significant to the character they deserve their own credit. Wait, they do. The girlfriend, Gina, is played by Jessica Chaffin, and the credits helpfully note that Gina’s boobs are played by “Jessica Chaffin’s boobs.” So, not quite the step forward for gender equality we might have hoped. And the Yale-educated Ashburn’s acid critique of a bad guy’s poor grammar loses some of its punch when she immediately follows it with a sentence that begins, with “me and her.” Not quite the step forward for literacy, then, either.

Bullock and McCarthy are both terrifically appealing and talented actresses and they have such evident pleasure in playing these roles that they are fun to watch. Maybe next time, though, they could put some more effort into the script.

Parents should know that this movie has non-stop strong, profane, and crude language with sexual references (and strong language is an expression of being free), drinking and drunkenness (including drinking as an expression of being free and open-minded and drunkenness as humorous), law enforcement violence with shooting, stabbing and explosions, murder, characters injured and killed, dead bodies, and drug dealing.

Family discussion: How are Mullins and Ashburn different from each other? How are they similar? Who is right, Mullins or her family?

If you like this, try: “The Other Guys” and “48 Hours”

Monsters University

Posted on June 20, 2013 at 6:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	G
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Mild peril, bullies, insults, hurt feelings
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	June 21, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	October 28, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN:	B008JFUPLC

“Monsters Inc.” is one of my favorite Pixar movies, filled with wit, imagination, and heart. This prequel is a lot of fun, still very funny and wildly imaginative, but a little hollow where the heart should be.

One problem Pixar just can’t solve is that a prequel has to end before the original begins. “Monsters Inc.” has a brilliant premise: there’s a monster world fueled by the screams of frightened children. The monsters themselves are terrified of humans, even a toddler named Boo.

There is a power factory that sends them each night into children’s bedrooms. The monsters have to scare the kids without being seen by grown-ups and get home without being “contaminated” by contact. By the end (SPOILER ALERT) the monsters have discovered that children’s laughter is an even better energy source, and the audience goes home feeling happy and reassured. But a prequel has to stick with the idea that scaring children is a worthwhile goal, indeed it needs us to get on board with the idea that we should root for the characters to be really good at it. We know Mike and Sully will end up as friends. So the sweetness and the dramatic tension are dialed down.

Once again, our heroes are Mike (Billy Crystal), the anxious one who looks like a green beach ball with arms and legs and one great big eye, and Sully (John Goodman), the giant polka-dotted furry guy who thinks it all comes naturally and he does not need to work. They both pick the prestigious “scaring” major, under the stern eyes of Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren, impeccable as always) and Professor Knight (Alfred Molina).

Fans of the original will be intrigued to find that in the beginning, Mike and the chameleon-like Randy (Steve Buscemi) were roommates and friends. How that turns to rivalry while the initial enmity between Mike and Sully turned into professional partnership and personal BFF-dom is the story of the film, with some overtones of “Animal House,” “Harry Potter,” and every ragtag group of underdogs movie you’ve ever seen.

Mike is the one who studies all the time. Sully is the party animal who thinks that he can get by on charm and talent. Both find themselves kicked out of the program, with just one chance to get back in. If they can be a part of the team that wins the intramural games, they can get back in the scaring program and become professional human child scarers. They will have to work together — and bunk together — with the oddballs and rejects at the bottom of the school’s social hierarchy, the members of a fraternity known as Oozma Kappa (OK). Their fraternity house is the home of one of the members, with his mom as their RA and chauffeur.

The frat brothers are adorable, especially the two-headed Tracy/Traci (voices of Sean Hayes and Dave Foley), and a fuzzy purple log-shaped guy named Art who looks like a Muppet reject (Charlie Day). Art is a new age philosophy major who eagerly presses his fellow OK-ites to try dream journals. Don (Joel Murray) is a middle-aged guy trying for a new career (apparently there’s a recession in Monster-world, too). None of these monsters is especially smart or strong or fast or scary. They have to compete against the fearsome athletes of Roar Omega Roar (ROR), let by the arrogant Johnny (Nathan Fillion).

There are some exciting and funny moments in the competition, especially a too-knowing obstacle course where the teams have to avoid a truly terrifying foe: human teenagers. The monster-ification of the classic college movie developments is a lot of fun. In making sure each team has a quorum, Johnny sneers, “We count bodies, not heads.” Tracy/Traci only counts as one. Of course, the struggle to be liked by the cool kids is the same whether you’re a person or not.

They did not want to go for the usual ending here, which is admirable, but the result is surprisingly downbeat and disquietingly know-nothing. If is not the loud, over-done “Cars 2,” it is also not the expansive, transcendent “Toy Story” sequels. Second-rate Pixar is still better than most of what is out there, but we expect more.

P.S. As always, the movie is preceded by a marvelous animated short from up-and-coming Pixar-ians. This one echoes last year’s “Paperman” romantic (and meteorological) theme, with blue and red umbrellas finding each other in a rainy city.

Parents should know that this film has some mild peril, bullying, insults, and hurt feelings. Characters cheat and have to pay a penalty.

Family discussion: Why didn’t Mike and Sully get along at first? How were they different? What was good and bad about the fraternities in the movie and how are they like groups you know? How do they make a deficiency into an advantage? How can you?

If you like this, try: “Monsters, Inc.,” “Sydney White,” and “The Lawrenceville Stories”

Much Ado About Nothing

Posted on June 20, 2013 at 5:59 pm

A-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for sexuality and brief drug use
Profanity:	Some crude humor and sexual references
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking and drunkenness, brief drug use
Violence/ Scariness:	Mild peril and skirmishes
Diversity Issues:	Brief racial reference
Date Released to Theaters:	June 21, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	October 7, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00ECR7KX2

Joss Whedon’s take on Shakespeare’s classic tale is swanky, sexy, and sophisticated, as crisp as a dry martini poured from a silver shaker on a summer night.

In many of his best-loved romantic comedies, William Shakespeare sends his mixed-up couples into the woods so they can learn some lessons and straighten out their complicated alliances away from the strictures of society and surrounded by the natural world. But in “Much Ado About Nothing,” the two couples resolve their mix-ups and misunderstandings at home.

Whedon’s new film version of the play takes that literally. The movie was filmed in the director’s own house. Whedon had a break in filming “The Avengers” and decided to invite some friends over to make a movie. There are scenes in his daughters’ bedroom. While characters confer in Shakespearean iambic pentameter we can see the girls’ dollhouse, music box, and stacks of stuffed animals. His kitchen, back yard, and hot tub provide the settings for eavesdropping, plotting, pining, and law enforcement. Wisely, Whedon had cinematographer Jay Hunter film in a lush black-and-white that gives magic and timelessness to the modern dress and decor. It seems to dip the proceedings in moonlight, very fitting for the story of two moonstruck couples, one dramatic and one comic, who mirror each other with themes of trust, honor, and intimacy.

Every romantic comedy with witty repartee between initially antagonistic lovers can trace its origins to “Much Ado’s” Beatrice and Benedick, who spend so much energy discussing their dislike for each that other they must be in love. “There is a kind of merry war” between the couple, a character explains, with a “skirmish of wit” whenever they see each other.

A silent opening scene added by Whedon shows us Benedick (Alexis Denisof of Whedon’s “Angel”) sneaking out after spending the night with Beatrice (Amy Acker, in a performance of striking intelligence and grace). He thinks she is still sleeping. She does not let him know that she is watching him leave. Much later, he returns with his friends the Prince (Reed Diamond) and Count Claudio (Fran Kranz), triumphant after success in battle. He is welcomed by Beatrice’s uncle Leonato (Clark Gregg of “The Avengers”), but not by Beatrice, who mutters, “You always end with a jade’s trick: I know you of old.” We understand what she is remembering.
Their friends conspire to make them fall in love. They let Benedick overhear them talking about Beatrice’s love for him and when they know she is listening they discuss his love for her. The next thing you know, the sworn bachelor Benedick has changed his mind about marriage. “The world must be peopled!” he reminds himelf.

Claudio impetuously falls for the lovely Hero (newcomer Jillian Morgese), daughter of Leonato. The Prince’s bitter half-brother (Sean Maher) tricks him into believing that Hero has been unfaithful. In the middle of their wedding ceremony, Claudio accuses Hero and storms off. Claudio is so afraid of his feelings, he clings to the certainty of believing the worst rather than take on the risks of intimacy.

The capable cast is mostly made up of Whedon regulars, with Nathan Fillion a standout as the clueless cop Dogberry, who is a challenge to modern audiences with less tolerance for slapstick and malapropism than the 16th century audience at the Globe Theatre and modern actors who tend to overplay him. Fillion plays him with a light, understated touch that conveys confusion rather than coarseness.

Whedon brings the same light touch in making the comic couple in every way the heart of the story. Beatrice and Benedick may be clueless about their own feelings, but they are the only characters who have the wisdom and integrity to understand the injustice of Claudio’s accusations. That unity of understanding and purpose is as important in sealing their union as their friends’ trick was in revealing that their “merry war” concealed a deep affection. This play about the ability to see through disguise and misdirection has been brought to the screen with wit and style that illuminate its true spirit.

Parents should know that this film has some bawdy language and sexual references and situations, some drinking and drunkenness, and brief drug use.

Family discussion: Why is it hard for Beatrice and Benedick to admit their feelings? Why is it easy for Claudio to mistrust Hero and the Prince?

If you like this try: The 1993 version with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson

Epic

Posted on May 26, 2013 at 10:08 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for mild action, some scary images and brief rude language
Profanity:	Brief language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Fantasy/action/cartoon violence and peril, mostly non-graphic, arrows, swords, poison, sad deaths (one onscreen, discussion of death of parents and death of child)
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters and voices, all combatants white males
Date Released to Theaters:	May 24, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	August 19, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00CQFINCE

“Epic” means big — usually a big story filled with grand adventures. This is a grand adventure, but the story is very small, or at least its characters are. Like “Honey I Shrunk the Kids,” “A Bug’s Life,” and “The Ant Bully,” this is a story about the tiny creatures who live in the forest, riding on hummingbirds and swinging swords the size of toothpicks.

They are so little and move so quickly that most humans cannot even see them. But there is a scientist named Bomba (Jason Sukeikis) who knows they are there. He is so obsessed with tracking the little creatures that he lost his wife and daughter. Everyone thinks he is crazy.

As the movie begins, his ex-wife has died and his now teenaged daughter MK (Amanda Seyfried) is arriving. She has had almost no relationship with him and is not sure she wants one now especially when she learns that he still insists that there is a community of tiny beings in the forest. He has rigged up motion-sensitive cameras and he keeps detailed records of his sightings. MK decides to leave, but on her way out she has a close encounter of her own and suddenly finds herself shrunk down to the size of an insect and with the dying queen of the forest (Beyoncé Knowles) giving her custody of a magical bud. If the bud is not exposed to moonlight at exactly the right once-in-a-century moment, the forest will fall into the hands of the evil Boggens, led by Mandrake (two-time Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz).

In the forest, there is a constant struggle between the forces of life and decay. The queen is protected by an army of Leafmen, led by Ronin (Colin Farrell). Ronin is responsible for Nod (Josh Hutcherson), the impetuous and rebellious son of a close friend who died in battle. Nod quits the Leafmen in frustration, but when everyone is needed to make sure the magical bud gets to bloom in the moonlight, including Ronin, Nod, MK, and an adorable snail and slug duo (Chris O’Dowd and Aziz Ansari, the comic highlight of the film).

The co-producer, co-writer, and production designer is the brilliant writer/illustrator William Joyce, inspired by his book, The Leaf Men. The visuals are pure magic, from the grand sweep of the forest to the tiniest details of the saddle on a hummingbird. Every shot is filled with marvelously imaginative ideas, exquisitely rendered. MK’s absent-minded scientist father has a wonderfully messy office filled with charts and equipment and record books that have a slightly stem-punk, Victorian feel. Chase scenes through the trees are deliciously vertiginous in 3D. And the quiet moments are lovely, too, with MK and Nod sharing the experience of losing a parent and learning to appreciate the families they have.

Parents should know that this movie includes a discreet but sad death of the murdered queen and references to divorce and the death of parents. Mandrake’s son is killed, and characters are in frequent peril. There are some scary images and characters use brief strong (for PG) language. There is one sweet kiss.

Family discussion: “Who gives up everything for a world that’s not even theirs?” What does it mean to say “many leaves, one tree?”

If you like this, try: “Robots,” “Ferngully,” and “A Bug’s Life” and the books by William Joyce.

What Maisie Knew

Posted on May 23, 2013 at 5:41 pm

A-

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for some language
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Emotional confrontations
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	May 24, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	August 12, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00D5XC8MC

She has the face of a flower and she still believes that the world is an enchanted place that cannot hurt her. She does not understand what is going on around her, but we do.

Her name is Maisie (the exquisite Onata Aprile). She is seven and she lives in New York with her parents, a fading rock star named Susanna (Julianne Moore) and a British art dealer named Beale (Steve Coogan). They are self-centered and feckless, and she does not yet realize that their hugs are more about themselves than about her. They split up, and then, incapable of being alone and primarily to reassure themselves and spite each other, immediately take on new, very unwise partners. Beale begins a romance with Maisie’s nanny, Margo (Joanna Vanderham). And Susanna, feeling doubly betrayed, one-ups him by impetuously marrying a bartender named Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgård). This comes out when Lincoln, who Maisie has never really met, appears at her school to pick her up. “I’m sort of like Maisie’s…stepfather,” he sheepishly tells the teacher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtoYBL-mJL4

Maisie’s clothes often have fantasy elements, like a tiara, showing the gloss of fantasy she brings to her world — and the casual indulgence of the adults in her life. Moore’s neediness, as a woman who is losing her career, her romantic partner, and her child, is raw and affecting. Coogan gets a rare chance to show what a fine serious actor he can be. In one scene, he impetuously invites Maisie to go to England with him, and then immediately changes his mind. We see every thought on his face, including his chagrin at recognizing that he is betraying the daughter still young enough to believe in him.

This movie feels very much of this moment and has a very specific sense of place in its shabby chic New York settings. But it is based on a book by Henry James written more than a century ago. Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel have a delicacy and sensitivity that gives their superb cast the chance to create complicated characters. They are not afraid to mix moments of humor with selfishness, heart-wrenching loss, and tragic choices.

Parents should know that this movie deals with themes of parental neglect and family dysfunction. It includes sexual references and non-explicit situations, drinking, strong language, and many poor choices.

Family discussion: What will happen to Maisie? What will she think of her parents when she gets to be a teenager? A grown-up? What has changed since Henry James wrote the book?

If you like this, try: “Careful, He Might Hear You”