Chef

Posted on May 15, 2014 at 6:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for language, including some suggestive references
Profanity:	Very strong and graphic language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Comic peril
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	May 16, 2014
Date Released to DVD:	September 29. 2014
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00KQTGWPC

You’re writer/director/actor Jon Favreau. You’ve been making big-budget films, mostly huge blockbuster successes (“Elf,” “Iron Man”), but also a big-budget bust (Cowboys & Aliens, which I liked). This might put you in mind of a simpler, more satisfyingly creative time (Favreau wrote the indie smash “Swingers” and wrote and directed “Made”). And that might inspire a movie like “Chef,” with Favreau as writer. director, and star and a small-scale story with, thanks to his connections, a big-scale cast, about an artist who, like a movie director, creates the kind of art that must be appreciated by others to be satisfying. And director Jon Favreau brings the same loving care to the creations made by his character that the chef does himself. This movie will be on lists of “Great Food Films” forever, along with classics like “Big Night” and “Babette’s Feast.” The food is so lusciously photographed you can almost smell it. And the music perfectly matches the food, sensual and spicy. This is an utterly delectable treat.

No surprise — it is about a guy who has a big-time, high pressure job, loses his mojo, his inspiration and his sense of creativity, and then finds it again in a smaller venue. The job is in the title. Favreau plays Carl, a passionate chef at a high-end restaurant, frustrated because the owner (Dustin Hoffman) wants him to stick to his “greatest hits,” the solid, reliable favorites that Carl now finds boring. “You remember what happened when you put guts on the menu?” When an influential restaurant critic gives him a bad review, Carl quits in a fury. Then, in an even bigger fury, he tweets what he thinks is a private response to the critic (he is not sure of the difference between Twitter and email). It goes viral. (“You’re trending, bro.”) Carl goes into a shame spiral fueled by self-pity and blame, both self and everyone else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP6SE65F-h4

Carl’s passion for his job led to the end of his marriage to Inez (Sofia Vergara). He is a devoted but harried father to Percy (Emjay Anthony), a young social media expert who enjoys the fun activities his dad plans for them when he has time but wishes they could just plain hang out more. Inez, wanting to get Carl out of his funk, invites him to come with her on a business trip to Miami, so he can watch Percy. It will get him away from the Twitterverse gaffe of the day crowd and give him some time with his son. She also has another plan. Her previous ex-husband (a movie-stealing performance by the scene-stealing master thief and “Iron Man” star Robert Downey, Jr.), who gives Carl a food truck. Well, apparently there is a food truck there underneath the layers of grime and fry oil. Joined by a friend (John Leguizamo) and Percy, they drive the truck back home to Los Angeles, stopping along the way to feed the people who have been following Percy’s social media updates.

There are no surprises in the story, and there is not one female character with any reason to exist other than supporting/adoring Carl, but the characters feel genuine and the food is mesmerizingly luscious. Favreau has his mojo back, and I hope he will keep ours going by serving us food truck movies along with his five star restaurants.

Parents should know that this movie includes very strong and crude language and some vulgar references.

Family discussion: What is your favorite meal to cook? Why was it hard for Carl to just hang out with Percy before the food truck?

If you like this, try: “Big Night” and “No Reservations”

Belle

Posted on May 8, 2014 at 6:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for thematic elements, some language and brief smoking images
Profanity:	Some brief language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, smoking
Violence/ Scariness:	Sad death of parent (offscreen), tense family confrontations
Diversity Issues:	Race and gender issues the theme of the film
Date Released to Theaters:	May 9, 2014

Writer Misan Sagay, director Amma Asante, and actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw have created a film of exceptional understanding, honoring the life of the real-life woman who inspired the story with intelligence, sensitivity, and insight that illuminate her time and our own. Mbatha-Raw plays the title character, who must navigate her way across lines of gender, class, race, and legitimacy — in its legal and broader senses. Mbatha-Raw (“Larry Crowne”) is mesmerizing, a beautiful, thoughtful performance in a film that has all of the trappings of the best sumptuous costume dramas but has a story with unexpected contemporary meaning.

Dido Elizabeth Belle was the illegitimate daughter of a titled officer in the British navy and a West Indian slave woman. When her mother died, he brought his daughter to live with his uncle, Lord Mansfield, the chief judge of England (Tom Wilkinson), his wife (Emily Watson), and their other niece, Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon). The girls are raised like sisters but there are always distinctions. They eat together as a family if they are alone, but if there are guests, Dido is not permitted to eat with them but can join them in the parlor afterward. After her father’s death, Dido is an heiress with a respectable fortune while Elizabeth, a legitimate heiress, is cut off from her inheritance by her father’s second wife. As Dido and Elizabeth are introduced to society (Elizabeth formally, Dido does not “come out”), the eligible young men rate the women as shrewdly as Jane Austen characters. Does an impoverished young man of good breeding in need of money find Dido’s fortune sufficient to overcome her race and unmarried parents? If he does, will Dido have a choice in evaluating his proposal?

Meanwhile, a case is wending its way toward the judge that is of vital interest to Dido. Slaves being transported were jettisoned from a cargo ship. Are they to be seen as property or as people? Dido gets more information about the case from a fiery but poor young law student, risking his opportunity to study with the judge by communicating with her. As she learns more about her mother’s people and understands more about the kinds of restrictions she and Elizabeth face — some alike, some different, she begins to understand that some of those restrictions are freeing as well. If she cannot travel the usual path for young women in her society, she can learn to forge her own.

Parents should know that this movie includes discussions of legitimacy, mixed-race relationships, and slavery. There are references to the slaughter and mistreatment of slaves.

Family discussion: How many different distinctions did the family and the culture make between Elizabeth and Dido? Between the two women and the men around them?

If you like this, read more about the real story in Belle: The Slave Daughter and the Lord Chief Justice and watch “Amazing Grace” and “Amistad.”

Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return

Posted on May 8, 2014 at 6:00 pm

“Oh, Toto,” says Dorothy (“Glee’s” Lea Michelle), “This doesn’t look like the Oz I remember.”

Tell it, sister.

Why why why why why take the most beloved family film of all time, based on a cherished book, and make a charmless sequel based, not on the other books by the original author, but on a story by the original author’s stockbroker grandson?

The original The Wizard of Oz has survived other attempts to build on its imperishable appeal, and it will survive this one, too. A bigger challenge will be for the audiences who try to struggle through this version, much too long at under 90 minutes.

Here is what is not too bad. The voice talent is excellent, with Broadway divas Bernadette Peters (as Glinda) and Megan Hilty (China Princess), a kindly Patrick Stewart (a tree), a dashing Hugh Dancy (Marshal Mallow — he’s a marshmallow, get it?), Martin Short as the wicked Jester, and shambling Oliver Platt as an enormous owl called Wiser (names are not this film’s strong point, either). The opening credits spin out of a 3D tornado that is pretty nifty.

That’s about it. The animation is garish and uninspired. The songs range from forgettable to not awful. The story is dreary. And the dialog is painful. “Emerald City needs all the heart and courage it can get right now!” says the Scarecrow (Dan Aykroyd) to the Tin Man (Kelsey Grammar) and the Lion (Jim Belushi) — Cowardly has been dropped from his name. This is apparently a cue for some excruciating bro-talk like “Can it, rust-bucket!” Can you imagine a line like “I have a large piece of bark lodged in my hindquarters” in the original? TMI, Wiser, way TMI. The attempts at humor are especially tough going. When Dorothy is hauled into court, she has to face the “peanut gallery” of candy peanuts and a jury of her peeps made up of Peeps. When Wiser says he is scared of the dark, the response is, “You’re nocturnal. Get a grip.” Oh, and the flying monkeys are here, and their leader has a pink mohawk.

Emerald City is indeed in trouble and they need Dorothy’s help. In Oz, years have passed, but back in Kansas it is the morning after the tornado and yet taking place in modern times — Auntie Em wears jeans. Dorothy’s house has been destroyed and this movie’s version of Agnes Gulch is an appraiser (Short again) who says he is “government-adjacent” and condemns all the property in the area. Before Dorothy can do something about this, she and Toto are whisked through a rainbow vacuum tube and find themselves back in Oz.

It turns out the Wicked Witches of the East and West had a brother, the Jester. He is capturing people and turning them into marionettes, so he can take over Oz. He has even captured Glinda, using the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West plus a magical orb that intensifies its power.

Dorothy and Toto meet up with Wiser, Marshal Mallow, and China Princess on their journey. They have dreary adventures and finally arrive for the confrontation with the Jester, which is surprisingly violent for a film for children. Weapons include a sort of gatling gun. The China princess appears to shatter. But all is resolved, finally, so that Dorothy can go home and set that appraiser guy to rights.

The best one can hope for from this movie is that it will be a potent deterrent to those who want to try to make more Oz movies, and a powerful reminder to families that they can best go over the rainbow by watching the classic.

Parents should know that this movie has fantasy violence and peril and scenes of post-storm destruction.

Family discussion: What could Dorothy do that the others could not? How did what she learned in Oz help her back home?

If you like this, try: the Judy Garland “Wizard of Oz” and the books by L. Frank Baum (great for family reading aloud)

Neighbors

Posted on May 8, 2014 at 6:00 pm

I admit it. My always-thin ability to finds humor in movies about irresponsible jerks who won’t grow up has long since evaporated, and if I ever found irresponsibility entertaining, I can no longer remember why. Though I suspect this development has something to do with an overdose of the Apatow atelier, including Seth Rogen and writer/director Nicholas Stoller (The Five-Year Engagement). I keep remembering Mae West’s answer when she was asked what advice she had for the youth of America.

“Grow up.”

“Neighbors,” which Rogen has described as a loose sequel to arrested development comedy “Knocked Up,” is the story of Mac (Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne), a couple with a new baby who are not ready to cross the line into being grown-ups. They love each other and they love the baby, but cannot quite relinquish the notion of themselves as primal in the world of what is cool and happening. When a friend calls to invite them out to a club, they decide the thing to do is pack up all the baby gear and bring him along. “Baby’s first rave!” they exclaim. Then, because being a parent is so exhausting, they fall asleep. Funny!

Not.

Just to hammer the final nail in the “you’re old and boring now” coffin, who should move in next door but a fraternity, led by Teddy (Zac Efron), who, Mac admits with admiration as well as envy, is so handsome and buff that he looks like he was designed by gay men in a laboratory. Mac and Kelly convene on how to best introduce themselves to their new neighbors in a manner that shows that they are totally cool and yet conveys that it would be super-nice if the guys could just keep the noise down as there is a baby next door. A few rehearsals to make sure they have the coolness down (not too much of self-deprecatory head shake), and they go over, immediately showing themselves to be idiots by joining in the frat’s housewarming party and getting very, very high.

Mac promises Teddy that if they have any problems they will go straight to him and not call the police. Then, after his baby picks up a condom from their lawn, he calls the police, anonymously, he thinks, until the cop reminds him that they have caller ID. Teddy, feeling betrayed, declares all-out war. Mac and Kelly, unwisely, decide to escalate.

There are some funny moments, especially a Robert DeNiro-themed frat party. But they get lost in a tidal wave of stupid humor like an extended sequence with the frat members raising money by selling dildoes modeled on their own…members. Did you think you could avoid a joke about getting stuck in the mold? Sorry. Really sorry.

Rogen does the same thing he does in every other movie. Byrne is, as always, beautiful, on target, and delightfully game for whatever. It’s nice to see a female character in one of these boys’ club movies who is not relegated to telling everyone to grow up. Efron and Dave Franco as his sidekick deserve better. So do we.

Parents should know that this movie is exceptionally raunchy, with very explicit sexual references and situations and nudity and many crude jokes. Characters use very strong language, drink, and use drugs and there is comic violence.

Family discussion: Why did Mac and Kelly want the frat to think they were cool? Why didn’t Pete tell Teddy the truth? What will Teddy do next?

If you like this, try: “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up”

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Fed Up

Posted on May 8, 2014 at 5:11 pm

Here’s another inconvenient truth. Our food is killing us. And that’s because of something even more poisonous, the corruption of our political system through diversion of corporate money to politicians through campaign contributions and lobbying.

Laurie David, producer of the Oscar-winning Al Gore documentary about climate change, is back with “Fed Up” (the poster charmingly shows M&M’s labeled FU), co-produced by Katie Couric. The message of the movie is that it isn’t a lack of self-discipline and exercise that is making us the most obese generation in history. It is what we are eating. The bigger message is about why we are eating what we are eating. It is because we have outsourced public policy decisions about health and nutrition to corporations that don’t mind making our bottoms fat as long as it makes their bottom lines fatter.

For the first time ever, obesity presents a greater threat to human health than hunger. And for the first time ever children are facing obesity. This is in part because budget cuts in the Reagan years led schools to shut down their cafeteria kitchens and turn over the school lunchrooms to fast food operators, piling high-fat, high-sugar processed food onto children’s trays. How much high fat and how much sugar? What are the health effects of processed food? We don’t really know because corporations spend a lot of money to thwart government regulations and academic research that would give us that information. In one shocking segment of the film, we learn that a US cabinet official traveled to a global conference to threaten the cutting off of hundreds of millions of dollars in US funding if the portions of a report on the detrimental health impacts of sugar (putting it in almost the same category as tobacco) were not removed. That doesn’t make it less true, of course. It just makes it less known. The comparisons to the tobacco companies are not unwarranted.

The documentary is less effective when it follows several of kids and their families as they struggle with diets and self-loathing. But it is devastating when it documents the pernicious effect of corporate lobbying in thwarting government attempts to make healthier choices — or even better information — available. Think I’m exaggerating? See how they’re responding to the movie. Hint: the answer is not a candid conversation with a commitment to rigorous scientific examination of the health effects of sugar, fat, and processed food.

Parents should know that there is brief bad language, smoking, and references to the dire effects of poor food choices.

Family discussion: What would you advise the families in this film? What surprised you the most? What will you change about the way you eat?

If you like this, try: “Super Size Me,” “Food Fight,” “The Price of Sugar,” and “Food, Inc.” And try some healthier recipes!

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