Best of Enemies

Posted on July 30, 2015 at 5:23 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Not rated
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, smoking
Violence/ Scariness:	Archival footage of 1968 protests
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	July 31, 2015

Once upon a time, network television news was dignified, objective, and delivered in stentorian, voice-of-God tones by white, vaguely Protestant men, in half-hour increments at the dinner hour. And then, in 1968, third-ranked network ABC, unable to compete with CBS and NBC in gavel-to-gavel coverage of the political conventions delivered by universally respected news teams, decided to try something new. For $10,000 each, they hired extreme right-wing author/journalist William F. Buckley and extreme left-wing novelist/journalist Gore Vidal to discuss and debate each day’s events at the conventions which would end up nominating Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey.

Buckley and Vidal had a great deal in common. They were both combative, rapier-witted, hyper-verbal men from upper-class families, probably the last generation to be able to refer to themselves as “one” unironically. Both ran for office, perhaps more as theater than as real-life politics. When asked what his first act would be if he was elected mayor of New York City, Buckley famously quipped, “Demand a recount.”

And both men had in common a deep, visceral, loathing for one another that even exceeded their disdain of each other’s politics. Buckley was Catholic and a social as well as political conservative. Vidal was a proud libertine, whose most recent book at the time, Myra Breckinridge, was about a transgender woman, played by Raquel Welch in the movie version.

Their debates were unprecedented in the staid world of television news. So were their ratings. “Best of Enemies” is a new documentary about the Buckley-Vidal convention commentary. It is fascinating as theater to see two classically educated, combative, passionately partisan, men who so seldom met their matches square off against one another. Mere mortals who suffer from l’esprit d’escalier (the spirit of the staircase — the witty riposte not thought of until leaving the party on the stairs) can only envy these rapier-witted combatants try to use the upheavals of one of the most tumultuous and politically charged years in American history to score personal and political points. By the end, they were more interested in hurting each other than helping their causes. Buckley famously lost his temper and used a homophobic slur that was shocking in those days when everything on television was bland and family-friendly.

It is more than entertaining. It illuminates a significant moment in a time of enormous change. And the filmmakers are persuasive that it was a turning point that led directly to contemporary “news” that, as anchorman Howard K. Smith said to Buckley and Vidal at the end of their final segment, shed more heat than light.

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Vacation

Posted on July 28, 2015 at 6:44 pm

I didn’t like the first one. I didn’t like the sequels. Keep that in mind when I tell you that I really did not like this latest in the gross-out, mean-spirited “Vacation” series, this time with the next generation going on another car trip to Wally World. You know how kids survive long car trips with earphones and DVD players? That’s what I wished I had to help me survive this movie. I even took extra time making my notes to have an excuse to look down at my notebook instead of looking at the screen. This is a movie that finds — or tries to find — humor in mistaking a sewage facility for a natural hot springs (with extended scenes of the cast spreading the “mud” all over themselves), sibling abuse, attempted suicide, a person and an animal in separate instances getting slammed by vehicles, excruciating humiliation, suspected pedophilia, and a misunderstanding of the term “rim job.”

Ed Helms plays Rusty Griswold. He bears no resemblance to the Anthony Michael Hall, who played him in the first film, or the young actors who played the character in the sequels. But Russ bears no resemblance to the character of the earlier movies, either. This Rusty is a genial bumbler who loves his family and works as a pilot for an airline. He and his wife Debbie (Christina Applegate) have two sons. The little one, Kevin (Steele Stebbins), bullies the big one (Skyler Gisondo as James) with constant insults, attacking his manhood, personality, and overall right to exist on the planet.

Russ decides that what the family needs is some bonding time, like on that car trip to the Walley World theme park he somehow remembers very fondly from his childhood. He rents a bright blue car called a Tartan Prancer, which he describes as “The Honda of Albania.” He has no idea what most of the buttons on the car do, but that means we all get to find out together.

The family swings by to visit Rusty’s sister Audrey (Leslie Mann), who is married to a guy who looks like a Norse god, because he is played by Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth. He is a TV weatherman named Stone and he is rancher who intimidates Rusty by being handsome, muscular, wealthy, and good at everything, including being a loving husband, if you don’t count his preventing his wife from having a job outside the home. Oh, and as we and Rusty and Debbie get to see in detail (graphic detail at the end of the movie), he is exceptionally generously endowed and feels very, very good about it. And this is — really — the highlight of the movie.

Hemsworth and Applegate both rise above the material, but the material is below sea level, so that is not saying much.

Parents should know that this movie includes very strong and crude language, very explicit sexual references and some situations, graphic nudity, disturbing scenes, comic mayhem involving people and animals, attempted suicide, apparent vehicular homicide (portrayed as funny), and a lot of bad behavior (portrayed as funny).

Family discussion: What was your family’s best road trip? What road trip would you like to take?

If you like this, try: the original “National Lampoon’s Vacation” and its sequels

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Comedy Family Issues Series/Sequel

Southpaw

Posted on July 23, 2015 at 5:58 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for language throughout, and some violence
Profanity:	Constant very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, drugs
Violence/ Scariness:	Intense boxing scenes with disturbing images, gun violence, murder, suicidal behavior, child removed from her family
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	July 25, 2105
Date Released to DVD:	October 26, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN:	B012BPM536

Didactic and unabashedly manipulative, “Southpaw” borrows from almost every boxing movie ever made. It telegraphs every development and then, in case we missed it, tells us what just happened. The dialogue is purplish and melodramatic. The filmmaking is self-consciously arty, with shadows and reflections — or smoke and mirrors. The storyline is so soapy it almost slides off the screen. As Thelma Ritter says in “All About Eve,” “Everything but the bloodhounds snappin’ at her rear end.” Scriptwriter Kurt Sutter (“Sons of Anarchy”) has to learn to trust his audience.

Heartfelt performances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, and Forest Whitaker give the story more weight than it deserves, and director Antoine Fuqua knows how to film the boxing scenes so that each is a drama of its own.

A movie hero generally has to start with nothing and get something or start with everything, lose it all, and then get it back. Gyllenhaal plays Billy Hope (this film really does hit every point home with a sledgehammer), who had nothing and now, as the movie begins, has it all, so we know he has to lose it. Hope grew up in what we used to call orphanages. All he had was a girl named Maureen who believed in him and guided him and an anger so powerful that he could use it in the ring the way Popeye uses spinach.

We see him before a title fight, his hands getting wrapped in pristine gauze under the supervision of the referees, who literally sign off on them before the gloves go on. Billy has a moment alone with Maureen (Rachel McAdams, in a richly observed performance). And then there is the fight. He gets hit until he gets furious enough to battle back with everything he has, and then he wins. He and Maureen return to their mansion, kiss their adorable daughter Leila (Oona Laurence), and go to bed. And then it is all gone, and he has to literally fight his way back, mopping floors at a dingy, inner-city gym and being trained by a crusty old pro (Burgess Meredith, no, I mean Forest Whitaker). He has to learn boxing all over again.

Gyllenhaal’s physical transformation, so soon after his skeletal appearance in “Nightcrawler,” could be stunt-ish — or just a chance for him to get back in shape. But he makes us feel the almost feral elements of Billy’s understanding of the world around him, and he shows us the way his growing understanding of himself as he has to take responsibility for his choices is reflected in the ring. His scenes with McAdams are deeply felt, tender, and sexy. The movie gets a split decision, but Gyllenhaal and McAdams are a knockout.

Parents should know that this film has constant very strong language, sexual references and a non-explicit situation, brutal and bloody boxing matches, gun violence, drinking and drugs, sad deaths of a parent and a young teen, references to domestic abuse and prostitution, child removed from family, suicidal behavior and assault.

Family discussion: Why did Tick make Billy clean the gym? Was the judge right to take Leila away? Why did Billy need to change his style of fighting?

If you like this, try: “Rocky,” “Warriors,” and “Body and Soul”

Paper Towns

Posted on July 23, 2015 at 5:37 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some language, drinking, sexuality and partial nudity -- all involving teens
Profanity:	Some strong and crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Teen drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Dead body, references to suicide, some bullying and peril
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	July 25, 2015

Everyone has one. That unobtainable dream we longed for when we were first learning what it felt like to be in love. For most of us, these impossible-to-attain objects of our desire are like training wheels to keep us from wobbling as we begin to understand our feelings. Like the Garth Brooks song, “Unanswered Prayers,” we end up grateful to apply the lessons we learned in our wiser choices. But movies often grant us the magical chance to make our fantasies a little more real by showing us characters who do find a way to love with the ones they adored from afar.

So we have certain expectations when Quentin (Nat Wolff) tells us in the beginning of “Paper Towns” that (1) everyone is entitled to one miracle and (2) that he has been deeply in love with his next door neighbor Margo since she moved in when they were kids. And those expectations are confirmed when he tells us what good friends they were as kids and how, now that they are about to graduate from high school, they barely speak. She has passed out of his league. “Her life had become a series of unbelievably epic adventures.”

Think of all the high school movies where this led to an ending that surprises everyone on the screen and absolutely no one in the audience and yet leaves us all warm and happy. But John Green (“The Fault in Our Stars”) is not about delivering warm and happy. He is about wise and illuminating and human and heartfelt, and this film is all of that.

Margo (supermodel Cara Delevingne) appears in Quentin’s bedroom window one night, as she used to when they were kids. She invites him on an adventure. “I have nine tasks to accomplish and more than half of them require a getaway car.” It turns out that her handsome athletic star of a boyfriend was cheating on her with one of her best friends and she wants revenge. “We are righting wrongs and then we are going to wrong some rights,” she promises. “Basically, it’s going to be the best night of your life.”

She soon has him feeling like a knight or a ninja as they carry out her plans, which are well thought out and involve only minor mayhem and semi-major embarrassment for the transgressors. He finally gets to bed, happy and looking forward to seeing her in school the next day.

But she has disappeared. She has run away before and her parents are ready to give up. But Quentin is not. He is certain she has left clues behind and with the help of his friends Radar (Justice Smith) and Ben (Austin Abrams) and Margo’s friend Lacey (Halston Sage), they try to figure out where she is. When Quentin thinks he knows, they all decide to drive there together and find her, and Radar’s girlfriend (Jaz Sinclair), even though it is 1200 miles away and everyone but Quentin really wants to make it back in time for the prom.

It turns out that this trip is the best part of the film, and it turns out there’s a reason for that. Each of the characters is real and interesting and appealing. Each has some self-awareness and each approaches the lessons along with road with grace. The guys have an easy chemistry, the kind people have when the most important thing they have in common is their history, and they know, in their hearts, that once they leave for college that won’t be enough to hold them together the same way again. That poignance turns out to be essential in setting the stage for what Quentin will find at the end of his journey. The best thing about giving up those early romantic dreams, whether about people or about love or about getting what we deserve, is that it opens up our hearts for something even better, and it is good for people of any age to see how that story is told.

Parents should know that this film includes teen drinking and drunkenness, crude sexual humor and other sexual references and non-explicit situations, some nudity, strong language, suicide, gun, and some pranks and law-breaking.

Family discussion: How big is your comfort zone? What is your miracle?

If you like this, try: the book by John Green and “The Fault in Our Stars” and find out what DFTBA means

Pixels

Posted on July 23, 2015 at 5:37 pm

C-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some language and suggestive comments
Profanity:	A few bad words
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, including drinking to deal with stress and alcohol humor
Violence/ Scariness:	Sci-fi action-style violence, no one permanently injured
Diversity Issues:	Some sexist and homophobic "humor"
Date Released to Theaters:	July 24, 2015
Date Released to DVD:	October 26, 2015

I never thought I’d see Max Headroom or “Fantasy Island” again, much less have to explain them to someone sitting next to me who was a toddler when they were on television, but Adam Sandler is still relentlessly working his slacker way through every pop culture meme of the decade where he spent his late teens and early 20’s, and apparently the last decade he was willing to pay attention to. He’s used up most of the good ones. That means that this is another film that was pieced together from the cutting room floors of his previous movies plus VH1’s “I Love the 80’s” series. Yes, I know that it is impossible to believe that there was anything worth remembering that happened in the 80’s that they did not cover. And yet, here we are, with a movie about 1980’s arcade games that have become real-life alien invaders. If you remember and retain some affection for games like Frogger, Pac-Man, Tetris, and Q*bert, or if you like Sandler and are relieved he is not making “Grown-Ups 3,” then you might get a few smiles out of “Pixels.”

Grading on a curve, it is tempting to provide some positive reinforcement for Sandler, who in the hands of director Chris Columbus, is better than some of his recent films. But just because it is safe to say he probably will not be a winner at the Razzies this year does not merit him an endorsement. This movie is less predictable and less entertaining than the charmingly retro 8 bit games to which it pays tribute. And unfortunately, one more element carried over from the 80’s is the idea that homophobic and sexist jokes are funny and permissible. Having a female character be a capable military officer does not mean that it is okay to have the other female characters be one-dimensional (literally, one one case).

Sandler, looking puffy and bored, plays Sam, a Geek Squad-style technician who installs fancy television and gaming equipment in people’s homes. In a flashback, we see that as a kid, he had a natural facility to recognize the patterns in arcade games and made it to second in a national competition. The winner was Eddie (Peter Dinklage from “Game of Thrones”), a mullet-coiffed braggart who triumphed over him in the final round. Another competitor was a whiz kid named Ludlow (Josh Gad, “Frozen’s” Olaf) with poor social skills, conspiracy theories, and a pretty pervy obsession with a video game avatar. And Sam’s loyal friend and supporter was Cooper (Kevin James).

Footage of the competition was sent into space to introduce the galactic community to life on Earth. But it was misinterpreted as a declaration of war, and now the aliens have arrived. Just as in the era of arcade games, they wreak destruction by dissolving everything around them into pixels, according to the same rules and patterns of the original games. Fortunately, if improbably, Cooper is now the President of the United States. So he is able to call on Sam, Eddie (who has to be sprung from prison), and Ludlow to save the day. Helping to coordinate the defense is Violet (Michelle Monaghan), first met by Sam when he is installing a television/game system in her home and finds her sobbing in the closet over her husband leaving her for a Pilates instructor named Sinnamon (with an S) and he comforts and then hits on her. But it turns out that she is actually a top military officer who can muster whole new categories of weapons, train the SEALS, and engage in sizzle-free romantic banter at the same time.

The effects in the battle scenes are fun, turning these very rudimentary characters into real space invaders without losing their iconic 8 bit design. Centipede in particular is impressive, glowing like a Chinese New Year Parade dragon made from Lite-Brite as he slithers through the mushrooms. Like some of the other arcade characters, he is far more vivid and has more personality than the humans in the story.

Parents should know that this film has a handful of bad words, potty humor, sci-fi/action violence with peril and apparent injuries, brief comic view of a portion of a bare butt, and comic but crude sexual references including a threesome. There are alcohol jokes and alcohol is used to deal with stress.

Family discussion: Why did coming in second change Sam’s life? Is Violet a snob? How could the skills you have help save the planet?

If you like this, try: “The King of Kong,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” and “Galaxy Quest”