The Choice

The Choice

Posted on February 4, 2016 at 5:55 pm

B
Lowest Recommended Age: Middle School
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sexual content and some thematic issues
Profanity: Some mild language, someone gives the finger
Alcohol/ Drugs: Social drinking
Violence/ Scariness: Serious car accident, character critically injured
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: February 5, 2016
Date Released to DVD: May 2, 2016
Amazon.com ASIN: B01D1JDCB0
Copyright 2016 Lionsgate
Copyright 2016 Lionsgate

Nicholas Sparks is one of the rare authors who has become a brand of his own, bigger than any of his movies. One reason is their predicability; fans know what to expect and they won’t be disappointed. The other reason is his genuine gift for creating characters audiences immediately like and want the best for.

In “The Choice,” with a script by “Demolition” screenwriter Bryan Sipe, we meet easy-going Travis (Benjamin Walker, last seen as the bad captain in “The Heart of the Sea”) as he meets his new neighbor, a peppery med student named Gabby (Teresa Palmer). In the midst of studying, already furious because of his loud music, she discovers that her dog is pregnant and she goes next door to let him know how angry she is. He is captivated by her because she is different from the other girls he has known, who came to him with little effort and left with little fuss. “You bother me,” he tells her, intrigued and a little surprised.

They both discover that their initial conclusions about one another may have been wrong, but the chemistry between them is increasing in intensity, even though Gabby has a serious boyfriend, a handsome doctor (Tom Welling). Gabby likes challenging Travis and he likes having to work to get her affection.

Their side-by-side homes both look out onto the water of North Carolina’s Inner Banks, and the images of sky, water, and coast are exquisite, somewhere between travel brochure and screen saver. Sparks has to be the MVP for the North Carolina tourism bureau. All of his stories are set in this spectacularly beautiful (if plagued by storms) region. And it is certainly easy to believe that the glow from this enchantingly glorious setting makes this a sublime place to fall in love. Director of Photography Alar Kivilo and the setting itself are as important to the film as the storyline, and more important than the dialogue. Some lines are arch or cheesy: “Look who’s sassypants!” “You’re a dork!” “There you go again, bothering me.” We never find Travis or Gabby as appealing as we are asked to believe they find each other.

Sparks seems to have taken in some complaints about the formulaic nature of his stories, or maybe he just wanted to try something different (but thankfully not as different as the awful “twist” in Safe Haven). We still have a body of water, a letter, and someone who has to be taken down a peg or two. The surprises are not as surprising to us as they are to the characters. But there is something gentle about the story that is undeniably captivating.

Parents should know that this film includes a serious auto accident and questions of when someone should be taken off life support, along with some strong language, mild crude references, social drinking.

Family discussion: What small choices in your life have made the biggest difference? Why does Travis like to be bothered?

If you like this, try: other Nicholas Sparks films like “Nights in Rodanthe” and “The Lucky One”

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Based on a book Date movie DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week Romance

Warm Bodies

Posted on February 3, 2013 at 9:48 pm

B+
Lowest Recommended Age: Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for zombie violence and some language
Profanity: Brief strong language (b-word, s-word, f-word)
Alcohol/ Drugs: Beer
Violence/ Scariness: Zombie violence with some graphic and disturbing images
Diversity Issues: A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters: February 1, 2013
Date Released to DVD: June 3, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN: B008220BLG

You don’t often hear the word “adorable” used to describe a zombie movie, but that is probably because you don’t often have a story about a zombie in love.

Oh, it’s still a zombie movie.  Brains get eaten.  In fact, that’s how our undead anti-hero, known only as R (Nicholas Hoult) falls in love.  We meet him as a zombie who has a semblance of an inner life, already an arresting notion.  The whole deal about zombies is that they are undead, soulless creatures who have just one remaining motive or compulsion — they need to eat, preferably brains.  This gives them an important advantage over the rest of us, with our ambivalences, consciences, and that pesky ability to reason that requires us to consider a range of competing considerations.  They also have an even more important advantage — being undead, they cannot really be killed.

R introduces himself via an internal narration that provides a comic contrast with his very limited mode of oral expression and compromised memory.  R is all he can recall of his name.  As he explains when he introduces his “best friend,” M (Rob Corddry), “by best friend I mean we occasionally grunt and stare awkwardly at each other.”  He spends his days trudging stiffly through the airport, now the home base for the zombies, until he gets the urge to feed.  A part of him longs to be human and a bigger part of him fears turning into one of the “bonies,” a further devolution from zombie, skeletal figures who are much more aggressive, eating their own skin.  “They’ll eat anything with a heartbeat.  I will, too, but at least I’m conflicted about it.”

There is one thing he likes about eating brains, “the part that makes me feel human again, a little less dead.”  R eats the brains of a young man named Perry (Dave Franco of “21 Jump Street”), which give him access to Perry’s memories and to his feelings, especially his feelings of love for his girlfriend, Julie (the warmly appealing Teresa Palmer of “Take Me Home Tonight”).  R and Julie — yes, there is a balcony scene, too.  Julie lives in a walled, post-apocalyptic city ruled by her father (John Malkovich).  The surviving humans are at war with the zombies.  But R rescues Julie and as they are hiding out, his love for her begins to make him more human.

Hoult easily makes us understand why Julie is drawn to R, and his small, gradual awakening to the pleasures and pains of being human are beautifully chosen.  Based on the book by Isaac Marion and with able script and direction from Jonathan Levine, this works as a zombie movie and as a romance.  The massive losses have caused the humans to jettison some of their humanity for survival.  Julie’s friend Nora (Analeigh Tipton of “Crazy, Stupid, Love”) to abandon her dream of being a nurse to be an armed forager.  She has held on to a small store of make-up in hopes of a return to a more civilized life and tells Julie ruefully, “I wish the internet was working so I could look up what is wrong with you.”  The movie’s nicest moments are when Julie must pretend to be a zombie and R must pretend to be a human.  We see how superficial the differences have become and  M and some of the other zombies find their hearts re-animated through the power of longing for love and Julie’s father has to open his heart despite his grief at losing his wife.  R’s concerns about how he appears to Julie (“Don’t be creepy!  Don’t be creepy!”) are only a slightly amplified version of what we all go through when we meet someone who inspires us to enlarge our spirits and be on our best behavior.  And a simple “hi” turns out to be a poignant reminder of what being human really means.

Parents should know that this movie has fantasy/sci-fi violence, some graphic, with disturbing images, guns, brain-eating, knife, and weed-wacker attacks, some strong language (b-word, one f-word), a beer, and some lingerie.

Family discussion:  What is the significance of the names R and Julie?  What makes R more human?

If you like this, try: “Shaun of the Dead” and “Zombieland”

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Based on a book DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week Fantasy Horror Romance Science-Fiction
MVP of the Month: Teresa Palmer

MVP of the Month: Teresa Palmer

Posted on February 25, 2011 at 3:52 pm

teresa-palmer-as-tori-frederking-in-take.jpgAustralian actress Teresa Palmer stars in two films out within a couple of weeks of one another. We just saw her as the tough action heroine Number Six in “I am Number Four.” And next week she appears opposite Topher Grace in “Take Me Home Tonight,” a raunchy but sweet tribute to the films of the 1980’s. She was terrific in the under-appreciated “Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” and shows range, talent, charm, and good humor in these two films, giving more dimension to both characters than the script does, and holding her own among the special effects of “Number Four” and the wild antics of “Take Me Home.” Coming next, she appears in next year’s new “Mad Max” film from original director George Miller, co-starring with Nicolas Hoult and Charlize Theron. Sounds great!
I-Am-Number-Four-2011-Movie-Teresa-Palmer.jpg

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