Category: Reviews

  • ‘Safe’ treads familiar action ground… but has a few good punches

    Jason Statham stars in 'Safe'
    Jason Statham stars in ‘Safe’

    Mei (Catherine Chan) is an extraordinary child in an ordinary schoolroom in China.

    Her father disappeared long ago, her mother is ill, but she has an incredible brain.  One that processes information faster than most computers, and she can remember anything, instantly.  As a result she’s to be relocated to a special school, but before that can happen, she’s taken by a crime organization (we’re never told if it’s the Triads, or the Tongs, or what) and told that she will work for them or they will have her mother killed.

    Her new “Uncle Han” (James Hong) is both brutal and kind with the girl.  She is sent to New York City, with the help of a corrupt NYPD Police Captain (Robert John Burke) and soon functions as the recordkeeper for all of the organization’s enterprises in New York City.

    Luke Wright (Jason Statham) is a down on his luck cage-fighter.  The events of his most recent fight and how they ended up going, as opposed to how they were supposed to go has earned him the ire of a Russian mobster.  This mobster takes his revenge on Wright in an unusual way, trying to make every moment of remaining alive a living hell on Earth.

    Mei is given a number to memorize, along with orders.  She’s to go to a second location, memorize a second number, then go to yet another location and follow instructions.  Only she never gets to the second location, as the Russians attempt to steal her from the Chinese in a sudden, violence-fraught confrontation.  She escapes to the subway where she’s being pursued.  It is then that Luke sees her and her peril.  He decides to intervene and to take her to safety.

    Now, the Russians want the girl and her number.  The Chinese want the girl and her number back.  The corrupt cops, led by that captain, get wind of the fact the girl knows something worth a lot of mone and they want her. Everyone wants her and Wright has her.

    The struggle to get her back, and to get to whatever is behind that first number, and whatever is there for the taking wherever that second location is, is the ’meat’ of writer/director Boaz Yakin’s story.  Not the best story ever for an action-adventure tale, but it’s enough for the smashing, punching, kicking and shooting that Statham’s “Wright” will be engaged in from this point forward.

    Because Luke Wright isn’t just a down on his luck, cage fighter.  He’s a former New York cop who blew the whistle on some corrupt cops (yes, the same ones who want the girl, coincidence??) and he’s among the baddest of the bad-asses around.  His “special” background will become clear as the film progresses.

    There are a number of fight sequences, some in the streets, some indoors, some with guns, some with hand to hand.  All can best be described in one word as “tight.”  Director Yakin gets the camera in close to the action and as a result it appears more intense and more violent.  Statham’s forte is his physicality and his ability to punch and kick and he uses all of his skills to their best effect in these sequences.  But he’s also better than average in his interactions with the child he’s chosen to save, and in how they work together to solve the mystery of the number and what it really represents.

    This is just another in the long-line of popcorn action films.  It really deserves a rating of 2.5 rather than 3, but I felt more generous due to the attempt to make it appear Statham speaks Russian well, the wisdom they manage to instill into a 12 year old girl who has had a hard life, and the clever ending, which comes as a surprise.

  • ‘Think Like a Man’ is a winner

    Guys night out in 'Think Like A Man'
    Guys night out in ‘Think Like A Man’

    Can’t tell the players without a scorecard, and Think Like A Man has a long lineup:

    Michael (Terrence J.) is the mama’s boy who will get involved with the single mom Candace (Regina Hall).

    Dominic (Michael Ealy) is the very talented chef who dreams of opening his own restaurant some day who connects with Taraji P. Hanson’s “Lauren”, a businesswoman who is COO of the company she works for and wants a man who is over six feet tall, earns over six figures and is her equal in other areas.

    Jeremy (Jerry Ferrara) has been with his long-time girlfriend Kristen (Gabrielle Union) for a long-time, but still can’t commit.  Not to marriage and not to advancing his own career, apparently because he’s afraid he might try and fail.

    Zeke (Romany Malco) is the ’player’ of the group and he finds himself having to work harder than ever to close the deal with Mya (Meagan Good).

    The four guys are all friends, and play basketball every Thursday with Cedric (Kevin Hart) who is in the process of divorcing his wife Gail (Wendy Williams), while Bennett (Gary Owen) is still happily married and unafraid to not only admit it, but thrives in the fact he can’t stay out as late as his unmarried friends, because that loving wife is waiting at home.

    Regina Hall stars in 'Think Like A Man'
    Regina Hall stars in ‘Think Like A Man’

    All four women come into possession of the new book by comedian/TV Host/Radio Host Steve Harvey entitled “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.”  Advice for women on how to get men to become husbands rather than boyfriends.  After all, “boys shack while men build homes.”  And when these four relationships begin, the women are using the knowledge within the book to their advantage.

    The men are not happy, as their desires are not fulfilled.  Nor are they getting help anywhere else.  Michael’s mother calls Candace by other names, and generally does anything she can to express her disapproval of this woman.  Since the book requires that a man make the woman the #1 woman in his life, that’s not going to work out well for them.

    But the worm turns when the guys discover who’s betrayed all of their secrets.  They get together, compare notes about the questions their women have been posing and discover that Steve Harvey has thrown them under the bus, just to sell a few thousand books.  So the men wise up, get their own copies of the book and start using the plays contained within for their own benefit.

    It is working.  Working well.  But like all great plans that are doomed to fail, there’s are flaws.

    The flaw is that the women are smart enough to discover the tricks the men are playing.  Eventually, all four relationships fall apart.  The question becomes can any of them be saved, how many will be saved, and just how are the men going to work things out.

    This is one funny movie.  Kevin Hart as “Cedric” generates the most and the loudest of the laughs.  His in your face, use anyone and anything attitude is just hysterical.  Overall, the laughter was so loud in the packed auditiorium I missed a line here and there of the great dialogue penned by Merryman and Newman.

    Tim Story’s direction is adequately paced, without pausing to milk the most obvious punchlines, a flaw that some comedy directors engage in.  The women are lovely, the men handsome, the Los Angeles area (some in Culver City near the headquarters of Screen Gems parent Sony Entertainment) locations neat and clean and there’s an upscale feel to the entire project.  Even the basketball scenes in what one would expect to be a sweaty, smelly gynmasium seem a bit too good to be true.

    Think Like a Man is a winner.  The ending may be a bit contrived and could have been improved upon, but the audience is far too busy laughing and applauding to worry over such minor details.

  • ‘The Lucky One’ was lucky to have Zac Efron

    ‘The Lucky One’ was lucky to have Zac Efron

    Zac Efron in ‘The Lucky One’

    There have been seven adaptations of novels by author Nicholas Sparks thus far, with more on the drawing board.  I’ve seen four of the six previous offerings and the formula was the same in all.  Man and woman meet through unusual or extraordinary circumstance.  There is chemistry between them very quickly.  There is tragedy involved at some point.  There is loss involved at some point.

    The question becomes, do the people who are taking the vision of Sparks and bringing it to the big screen manage to get the maximum mileage from this formulaic story he recycles?

    The answer here is that director Scott Hicks, best known for his 1996 effort Shine, which brought the Oscar home for Best Actor Geoffrey Rush, does better than most with The Lucky One… but doesn’t quite hit the ball out of the park.

    Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling co-star in 'The Lucky One'
    Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling co-star in ‘The Lucky One’

    He’s aided by the quality work of Zac Efron, who is trying (and succeeding) to demonstrate he can rise above the typical tween fare he’s been relegated to thus far in his big screen work.

    Efron is “Logan”, a Marine who at age 25 is a Sergeant and on his third tour of duty when he spots something shiny on the morning after a night raid.  He goes over to see what has caught his attention and finds a photograph of an attractive woman.  By moving from where he was, he avoids certain death as a mortar round explodes right where he’d been an instant before.  When this photo becomes his good luck charm (a notion explored in much more detail in the Sparks novel), he vows that if he manages to survive, he will find this woman and thank her for saving him and making him the titular character.

    The woman is Taylor Schilling as “Beth,” a single mother living in a small town in Louisiana with her mother and her son.  Her ex-husband is a local deputy sheriff who continually threatens to take custody of her son away from her.  Since his father is the local judge, who also happens to be campaigning for Mayor, it isn’t much of a stretch to imagine him doing just that.  She and her mother run a dog kennel where they board and care local pets, in addition to training them.

    Logan tries life at home with his sister in Colorado, but when he has trouble adjusting to life without danger, he sets out on a journey with his own dog, Zeus, in order to find the woman he is convinced is the only reason he survived so many situations where he should not have lived.

    Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling in ‘The Lucky One’

    When he finally locates Beth and tries to tell her why he’s there, before he can get the words out, she intuits that he’s there about a job opening she has for an assistant at the kennel.  Soon he is hired by her mother (Blythe Danner in a delightful turn as “Ellie) and he finds shelter and employment near the woman he has been searching for.  He tries another time to explain why he is there, but it just won’t come out.

    Her ex-husband “Keith” (Jay R. Ferguson) doesn’t like the fact there’s a new man around Beth, especially when he isn’t that man.  You can tell there will be conflict between Logan and Keith and someone’s going to get the short end of that stick when the two finally collide.  Worse yet, Keith is the typically badge-heavy deputy one often finds in small Southern towns, so narrow-minded that his scratch pads are less than one inch wide.  Beth has her own issues aside from dealing with her ex, for some reason she’s left the teaching career she apparently enjoyed.  Her mother can no longer drive due to a mild stroke, so she has to drive her to and from her choir practices.  Then there is Ben, her son.

    She doesn’t like how Keith spends his time with Ben, believing he is not the best influence on him.  Ben plays chess and the violin and isn’t the athlete his father was, and Keith is not pleased with this.  However, Logan is clearly a positive influence on Ben, playing chess with him and encouraging his pursuit of music.

    Hicks gets a lot from his cast, but there are story elements missing here.  The amount of luck that Sparks gave his character in the novel didn’t make it onto the big screen.  Neither are the reasons that Beth left teaching, or why she lets her ex dominate her so thoroughly when she’s a strong woman in so many other ways.

    Had those elements been explored in more depth, The Lucky One would have been much more satisfying.  Instead, at the conclusion, the viewer is left feeling like a restaurant customer who was never served the complete meal.

  • ‘The Three Stooges’ is laugh out loud funny

    Will Sasso (l.), Chris Diamantopoulos (c.) and Sean Hays star in 'The Three Stooges'
    Will Sasso (l.), Chris Diamantopoulos (c.) and Sean Hays star in ‘The Three Stooges’

    What we know today as the Three Stooges actually began existence as Ted Healy and His Stooges, aka Ted Healy and His Southern Gentlemen, among other aliases.

    Ted would attempt to sing or tell jokes while his assistants would interrupt him, whereupon he would physicaly and verbally abuse them.  Then Mr. Healy died in 1937 and of course, the show must go on.  So, the Three Stooges were born, with their first line-up consisting of Moe, Larry and Curly.

    The act became very popular, and the Hollywood studio machine mistreated them.  Millions they could have earned were left on the table, as the studio had the actors convinced the market for short subjects was dying out, the exact opposite of the truth.

    Then Curly fell ill and Shemp had to return to the act to replace.  Curly died in 1952.  Shemp, who had a viable career of his own wanted his return to be temporary, but then he died, bringing Joe Besser to the act.  In one form or another, the Stooges were around until the last attempt to get them back on screen died along with Moe in 1975.

    Now we have a feature film that is really a couple of the traditional shorts done by the Stooges, remade in fine form, that tie together to make a typical Farrelly Brothers film.

    The boys are dropped off at an orphanage while still little tykes, and among the nuns they find there to care for them is Sister Mary-Mengele (Larry David), who refuses to take any guff off of the boys.  There is a brief attempt to adopt Moe, but it falls through and by the time the first short is over and the second is beginning, the young boys are now grown men.

    Grown physically perhaps, but their mental growth is entirely hypothetical.

    Kate Upton is unlike any nun you know in 'Three Stooges'
    Kate Upton is unlike any nun you know in ‘Three Stooges’

    The orphanage where they live is in financial trouble and needs to find $830,000 before the next month begins or they will be sold, and the kids sent to foster homes.  Larry, Moe and Curly vow to go out into the world and find the money.

    There they meet up with a beautiful woman who is more than willing to pay them the $830,000 if they’ll only kill her husband.  But the man she points out as allegedly being her husband really isn’t and he nearly dies in an accident arranged by the boys.  Turns out that the woman’s actual husband is the young boy who was adopted in Moe’s place and who is now a successful lawyer and well-to-do gentleman, thanks to his mother leaving her fortune to him.  That’s why his wife wants him dead.

    Through a comedy of errors and lots of slapstick, their efforts to finish the killing go awry and eventually Moe is off on his own.  Naturally he falls in with a new crowd and is soon installed as the newest star, “Dnya-Moe” on the Jersy Shore.  This may lead to their ultimate salvation.

    To tell too much more of the story is to spoil it.  Just go, expect the typical humor one would expect from the Stooges, including eye-poking, eye-gouging, nose banging, top of the head pounding and so on.  There’s even a post-film cautionary demonstration from the brother directors informing their young audience “don’t do this at home!”

    Settle in for laughs.  They will come frequently, regularly and some of them will be the old-styled Laugh Out Loud that became the LOL acronym.

    Oh, and stay for the entire credits… trust me.

  • ‘Snow White: A Deadly Summer’ is a bad apple

    Shanley Caswell stars in 'Snow White: A Deadly Summer'
    Shanley Caswell stars in ‘Snow White: A Deadly Summer’

    It’s been 75 years since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and it seems like everyone except Disney is taking advantage. Capitalizing on the release ofMirror Mirror comes Snow White: A Deadly Summer on DVD.

    This version brings things into the modern day, and its contribution to the legacy pretty much ends there.

    Shanley Caswell stars as Snow Hoffman (I’m assuming Hoffman is her surname, since a sign reading it hangs up in her home). Apparently she is a delinquent who is out of control. The audience only sees her as an unknowing accomplice to a stolen joyride, but let’s take their word for it.

    She lives with her father Grant (Eric Roberts) and, of course, her stepmother Eve (Maureen McCormick). Eve is able to convince Grant to send Snow off to a military discipline camp. Not because she cares anything for the girl’s well-being, but because her paranoia – represented, how else, by talking to herself in the mirror – has taken control and she needs to eliminate the threat.

    Dragged off in the middle of the night, Snow then finds herself at Camp Allegiance along with seven other campers (get it?). In charge is Colonel Hunter (Tim Abell); he wants to turn these miscreants into well-behaved and productive members of society. His plan for this is by having them do tons of pushups and jumping jacks.

    But someone else is cutting in, killing the campers one by one (or two at a time when the chance presents itself). For some reason, Snow has dreams that predict these deaths. Not that this extraneous ability helps anyone all that much, other than providing a convenient excuse for badly shot murder scenes.

    I can appreciate that they’re doing something different than the usual trip to the Renaissance fair. I can appreciate making a film other than the exercises in soft porn that Davd DeCoteau frequently does. But I cannot appreciate the overall sloppy and unprofessional job done.

    All that need be said about the awfulness of the movie is this: there are no night shots. What I mean is, the scenes which are supposed to take place at night and the audience is supposed to believe take place at night are very obviously not shot at night, but during the day with a blue hue to disguise. I don’t think I’ve seen that “technique” since the 1960s.

    Things aren’t much better on the writing front. The characters aren’t given any more dimension than the bare minimum and pacing drags a lot in the middle, with the beginning particularly being much too brief. Later on in Snow’s dreams, we see glimpses of scenes of her with a psychologist which are so short that they are utterly worthless. Why not just film a full scene or two of a session and add it to the beginning? Shooting in the day wouldn’t be an issue there.

    The extras are a commentary with the director and two of the actors (Chase Bennett and Jason-Shane Scott), a still gallery, the trailer, and trailers for other movies.

    There is really no reason why someone should choose to see this over Mirror Mirror. Instead of breathtaking visuals, there are night shots during the day. Instead of a competent script, there’s a disjointed one. Instead of Julia Roberts, there’s Eric.

  • ‘Monsieur Lazhar’ is a lesson worth learning

    Sophie Nelisse listens intently in 'Monsieur Lahzar'
    Sophie Nelisse listens intently in ‘Monsieur Lahzar’

    Simon (Neron) and Alice (Nelisse) are among the students in the class of Martine Blanchard at a Montreal elementary school and they are at recess when Alice reminds Simon it is his turn to get milk for the class. As he hurries to complete his chore, Simon finds himself standing outside of the classroom, peering in through the window in the door and what he sees shatters his world.

    Their teacher has hung herself.

    He tries to find an adult to get help, but Alice also manages to get a glance at the dangling body before adults begin shooing the children back out into the yard so that any evidence of the tragedy that is unfolding can be removed before children see it.

    The room has been cleansed of any reminder of Martine, and freshly painted for emphasis but the problem now is that there is no one available to teach the class.  The head of the school, Mme Vailancourt (Proulx) is relieved and confused when a man comes in off of the street and offers to take on the task of teaching this class.

    His name is Bachir Lahzar (Fellag) and he claims to be a permanent resident of Canada who spent almost two decades teaching in his home nation of Algieria.  He read of the tragic death of Mme Blanchard and thinks he would be ideal to step into the vacancy.

    Soon, he is installed as the teacher and the story of Monsieur Lazhar begins.

    Fellag stars in 'Monsieur Lazhar'
    Fellag stars in ‘Monsieur Lazhar’

    This is a complex, multi-layered story and director Falardeau peels the layers away slowly enough so that each nuance can be experienced, but not so slowly so that the revelations go from moving and intriguing to becoming boring.

    We soon learn that something transpired between Simon and Martine, but exactly what will not be revealed until near the conclusion.  We learn that Monsieur Lahzar’s story, which he does not share with his students, is not exactly the story that he told Mme Vailancourt.

    He’s not a permanent resident at all, in fact he is in Canada seeking asylum from potential persecution.  His wife and children are dead, and he fears being deported back to Algeria where he would share their fate.  Worse yet, he is not the teacher he claimed to be, having been a government employee and restauranteur.  His wife was the teacher, and it was a book that she authored, critical of the political climate in Algeria that led to his fleeing the country to make a path for his family.

    The students and he struggle to get along, and his inexperience in the classroom is obvious even before the audience becomes aware of his real background.  In spite of this, he is concerned and involved with his students and he knows that they are continuing to grieve their former teacher, even though the psychologist provided by the school says they are making excellent progress.

    The excellent performances by the two child actors in the lead roles described above, as well as those by their classmates are a wonder to behold.  The typical conflicts of children of their age are woven in and out of their strong feelings about the loss they have shared and how it has changed their lives.  Fellag is very strong as the man who wants to teach his charges to be more than the children they and their parents hold them out to be.

    The resolution seems a bit rushed and disappointing, which is the film’s one major flaw.  But the final shot is worth waiting for.

  • ‘Lockout’ will have you wanting to escape

    Guy Pearce takes a smoke break in 'Lockout'
    Guy Pearce takes a smoke break in ‘Lockout’

    The thing is, normally if someone is making a film based on “an original idea by Luc Besson”, you have high expectations.  Besson, the genius behind such favorites as Leon: The Professional, La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element and The Transporter is clearly brilliant, a serious talent and capable of creating film and film ideas that can rivet the audience to the screen.

    But something went wrong here.

    Either the original idea wasn’t properly executed by directors and screenwriters Robert Mather and Stephen St. Leger, or else the idea wasn’t that strong to begin with.  Considering that this film sounds a lot like a cross between Escape from Los Angeles,Demolition Man and Con Air in outerspace, I’m guessing the idea itself wasn’t all that great.

    Lockout is the story of a prison in space.  Why there is a prison in space, where 500 of the planet’s worst villians are being maintained in “stasis”, when it costs a fortune to maintain and provision a large, orbiting body isn’t adequately explained.  Oh there are notions that someone interested in exploring space is funding the project, but those notions lack substance.  Like a lot of what we’re treated to on screen.

    Guy Pearce stars in 'Lockout'
    Guy Pearce stars in ‘Lockout’

    The daughter of the U.S. president is making a “humanitarian” visit to this orbital prison, ostensibly to check on the welfare of the prisoners.  Emilie Warnock (Maggie Grace) is smart, attractive and well aware that the prison’s protocol of placing prisoners into “stasis” is very risky.  There is a danger that the brains of the prisoners can’t handle the process that places them into stasis, causing mental degradation that would leave the men nothing more than blitering fools, incapable of independent thought.  While that might be a desired outcome in a society that isn’t interested in rehabilitation of its prisoners, it is something she is opposed to.

    Naturally she’s accompanied by her own bodyguards, although they are required to turn in their weapons while she is “interviewing” the prisoner she is there to talk to.  And just as naturally you can predict what actually happens during this interview. If you have trouble with that, go back and watch “Con Air” and see how Colm Meany’s character violates protocol when putting his “agent” aboard the prisoner tranport flight.  The same thing is going to happen here.

    Soon the inmates are in charge, the guards and support staff of “M.S. One” are hostages and the prisoner leading the revolt wants to negotiate.  Only he’s not aware that his best bargaining chip is within his grasp, because he doesn’t yet know the President’s daughter is aboard.

    Now we’re reintroduced to “Snow” (Guy Pearce), whose first name is withheld until later.  He’s a former CIA operative (cliches, anyone) who was framed for a murder he didn’t commit and is trying to get his hands on something that might well prove his innocence.  Just like Snake Plisken was the man to go into New York City/Los Angeles to resuce the President/President’s daughter, Snow is the man to go to M.S. One, rescue Ms Warnock, while not troubling with the rest of the hostages.  Once she’s free and clear, the military will be free to go in and take care of the prisoners and save any hostages that might be left alive.

    Pearce and Grace are both too good for the material they are saddled with here.  It isn’t easy to ride sub-standard special effects, predicatable, cliche-ridden story-telling, but they do their best.  Not only are the SFX nothing to write home about, neither are the villains or anyone else.  Grace gets more to do here than in her least Besson effort Taken, but there just isn’t all that much to be done with what she’s given.

    Lockout’s final resolution will leave you more relieved than pleased, simply because the ordeal is over.  Let’s hope the next original idea from Besson is either better executed, or else just plain executed and left for dead.

  • ‘Damsels in Distress’ is a welcome return of the terrific Whit Stillman

    Megalyn Echikunwoke, Greta Gerwig and Carrie MacLemore in 'Damsels in Distress'
    Megalyn Echikunwoke, Greta Gerwig and Carrie MacLemore in ‘Damsels in Distress’

    From this point forward, it should be known as the “Deafening Silence.”

    I’m referring to the 13 year absence of the talents of writer/director/producer Whit Stillman from the big screen.  We have not seen nor heard nothing from him since The Last Days of Disco danced off into the sunset in 1998.  Now he’s back and in a big way with Damsels in Distress, a look at an unique gaggle of female students at a university that is now co-ed.

    Lily (Analeigh Tipton) is the new girl on campus, a sophomore transfer student at “Seven Oaks” (clearly a reference to the famed Seven Sisters Universities in the NorthEastern U.S.) and she runs into Violet (Greta Gerwig), Heather (Carrie MacLemore) and Rose (Megalyn Echikunwode) in her first moments on campus.  They look at her and decide instantly that she will be their next project in attempting to improve the lives of those around them.

    These girls room together, share wardrobe, perfume and thoughts on life with one another, run the university’s suicide prevention center, and attempt to date the men below them.  That’s because such men present the challenge of bringing out their potential, rather than the vapidness to be found in men who are “cookie-cutter” handsome with chiseled features.

    Naturally, Lily’s housing assignment has been fouled up by the school, so she is invited to move in with the trio, who magically have a space available for her.  Soon they are inculcating her into their unique views on life.

    Greta Gerwig stars in 'Damsels in Distress'
    Greta Gerwig stars in ‘Damsels in Distress’

    Violet is quick to point out the arrogance in others, but when Lily points out that Violet is herself quite arrogant and therefore guilty of hypocrisy, Violet gently accepts the criticism.  But one is left to wonder if she really had grasped this flaw in herself before, or if she was always aware and didn’t care.

    Violet is enamored of Frank (Ryan Metcalf), a member of one of the Roman Letter societies on campus.  Yes, I said Roman Letter societies.  There is no Greek community at Seven Oaks and never has been.  Instead it is replaced by the Roman Letter societies, which have all of the bad and apparently little of the good of traditional fraternities.  Frank will ultimately hurt Violet and send her on a journey of self-discovery that sadly discovers little except the fragrant quality of cheap motel soap and the realization that launching a dance craze is not nearly as world-changing as she had imagined.

    Then there is Xavier (Hugo Becker), a grad student that Lily met over the summer.  He’s got a French accent and a “hipper than you” mentality to match.  He’s got a girlfriend, but her jealousy of his interest in Lily quickly end that arrangement and bring Lily and Xavier together.  The question becomes will their relationship survive his unusual choice of religious faith.

    Don’t forget Charlie.  He appears to be someone else at first, but like much of Stillman’s characters in Damsels, this is just another facade.  He is what Rose refers to as a “player and operator type”, although there is earnestness in his soul.  Both Violet and Lily find themselves attracted to him.

    Damsels in Distress is aptly titled, for the girls are definitely distressed and Stillman uses absolutely hilarious dialogue and story settings to tell their tales.  Depressed education majors leaping from a campus building to avoid the horror of it all, except they’re jumping from a structure only two stories in height, not nearly far enough for the fall to be fatal.

    There’s dancing, dallying and discovery of the ability to learn by Troy, one of the brothers of a Roman Letter group who doesn’t know the colors of the spectrum.  Not even the primary three.  But he is willing, and possibly able to learn them.  The girls set out to aid these doofuses (or doofi if you prefer, they actually debate the correct usage of the term) and as a result aid themselves.

    A witty and wonderfuly welcome return from the man who gave us the gem of Metropolitan.

  • ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’ will make your mouth water

    ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’ will make your mouth water

    Jiro is a genius in 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi'
    Jiro is a genius in ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’

    Shokunin translates from Japanese into English as “artisan.”  According to the experts, there is no finer artisan of the craft of making Sushi than Jiro Ono, whose life is explored in Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a documentary about this amazing 85 year old man.

    His restaurant is in the basement of a tall building in Tokyo, with no restroom and seating for only ten patrons at a time.  Serving only sushi, patrons may wait up to a year to snag a reservation.  No menus, no choices.  Diners pay nearly $400 per person for the feast of magical sushi that Jiro conjures for them, every possible detail thought of, considered and the only possible way to explain what finally appears and is eaten.

    Jiro’s life of immersion in the art of making sushi began when he left home before his tenth birthday.  His father failed at business and took to drink after having to take a job, and we know precious little else about Jiro’s childhood.  We learn that he has two adult sons, one of whom, Yoshikazu, will succeed him in the role as head sushi chef at Sukiyabashi Jiro, the name of the tiny restaurant in a basement.  His other son runs his own sushi restaurant in Roppongi.  His apprentices willingly spend ten years or more learning the craft of sushi from the master, and learn they do under Jiro’s watchful eye.

    Eighty-five when the film was made, he’s been forced to cut back a little on his workload since having suffered a heart attack 15 years ago.  Now it is Yoshikazu who performs the first step in the preparation of those oh so delicious and beautiful morsels. Going out to the fish market each morning and choosing from only the finest quality of fish.

    Given the explosion in popularity of sushi, particularly in the U.S., after the late 1970s invention of the California roll has made the finding of only the best fish much more problematic.  Still, Yoshikazu perserveres and returns each and every day with enough fish for that day’s patrons.  He purchases only the finest rice from the best vendor of rice in Tokyo.  A vendor who turned down a request from the Grand Hyatt hotel to provide rice for them, as he considered them unworth and unable of cooking such marvelous rice.

    Yes, Jiro Ono, a man in his mid 80s, works every day.  Seven days a week.  He stops only for national holidays and appears to consider such days a waste of time.  Atop his chosen profession, he strives to improve the sushi he creates, seeking to make each day’s production better than that of the prior day.  His work ethic makes most young adults look like slackers.  Experienced foodies profess nervousness at the thought of dining at the counter of the man, but he can be seen taking delight in their enjoyment of the meal he prepares.

    Meticulous planning goes into the preparation of each and every piece of sushi.  Jiro and staff memorize the seating arrangement, so that he can actually size the pieces to the person, so all will finish eating each course at the same time.  It is in showcasing these pieces of sushi that director Gelb does his best work.

    If you can sit through even part of those images without begining to salivate for a bite of what you see, you possess incredible willpower.  I wanted a bite after seeing just one piece and the desire to taste Jiro’s work grows throughout the film.  Better yet, these visions of deliciousness are perfectly set to wonderful performances of classical music (lots of Phillip Glass) that just serve to make them seem even more beautiful.

    When Jiro finally decides to retire, which may never come to pass, or when the inevitable were to occur, for even sushi masters are mortal, the big question is will Yoshikazu be able to live up to his father’s lasting legacy.  He may well have to be twice as good just to be considered on a part with Jiro, and while unfair, that’s just part and parcel of being the son of a legend.

  • ‘American Reunion’ brings the band back together for more pie

    Jason Biggs and Alyson Hannigan in 'American Reunion'
    Jason Biggs and Alyson Hannigan in ‘American Reunion’

    In 1999, American Pie became more than just the title of a hit song.  It was a coming of age film that showed us the journey of four high school boys who had entered into a pact to each lose their virginity by the time the sun rose the morning after Prom night.

    We’ve seen them reunite twice since then, in American Pie 2 and then in American Wedding where Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) got married.

    Now, 13 years later, the time has come for the first official high school reunion.  The married couple, albeit not quite so happily since the birth of their child apparently sank their healthy sex life together, along with Oz (Chris Klein), Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) are going home a few days before the reunion to spend time with friends and family.  The one person who didn’t get an invite to the pre-reunion reunion is Stifler (Seann William Scott), who still refers to himself as the “Stifmeister,” and who has apparently regressed any and all of the character growth we watched him painfully endure in American Wedding.

    Almost everyone from the original film returns, with the one notable exception being Jim’s mother.  Jim’s Dad (Eugene Levy) lost his wife three years earlier and Jim wants to push his dad out the front door and back into the world, but Dad isn’t quite ready to budge.

    Eugene Levy is back in 'American Reunion'
    Eugene Levy is back in ‘American Reunion’

    They all need this reunion badly.  Oz is now a sports host for some kind of ESPN clone while Kevin appears to have become his wife’s wife and apparently lets her hold the remote control when they watch Real Housewives.  Finch became a global adventurer and rides into town aboard a hot motorcycle.  Kevin’s wife will be there for the reunion, as will Oz’s squeeze Mia. Jim encounters the little girl next door that he used to baby-sit and she’s about to turn 18, is all grown up and still has a thing for her former babysitter.

    If you’ve seen the original or either of the earlier sequels, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect.  Stifler is going to show up, going to make an ass out of himself and in general upset the applecart.  Stifler’s mother is still the blonde bombshell hidden upstairs or wherever MILFs hide out.  Yes, MILF Guy #2 managed to get away from White Castle to return to East Great Falls as well.

    There are encounters with the current crop of miscreant teens, the obligatory beach scene in order to show off fit bikini bods, and loads of laughs of the type that were sought and achieved in the original and its sequels.

    Where American Reunion fails actually ends up making it a success.

    We loved to hate Stifler for being such a horse’s ass and when it looked like he might turn into a useful member of society we wanted to cringe at the sight.  He’s reverted back to full-on dickhead and it ends up being just fine.  The guys love/hate relationship with that Stifler is what they want and need from him.  Some men just never grow up and they don’t have to be Peter Pan in choosing not to mature.

    The raunchy humor is back and you’ll see more of Jason Biggs anatomy than ever displayed on-screen before.  The Sherminator manages to squeeze in a moment or too and maybe this time he’ll do better.  Jessica (Natasha Lyonne) is also there for a nano-second and is woefully wasted in a quick appearance.

    Mena Suvari is also back as Heather and she and Oz have unfinished business, even though each is involved with someone else.  Tara Reid is also back so the filmmakers can remind us that no matter how many time one loves in a lifetime, that first love is always something special, meaningful and unforgettable. Making a cameo appearance as someone else’s Mother is the still gorgeous Rebecca DeMornay.

    In the end, this is nothing more than good execution of a film formula that works, and when the characters are wrapping things up with a promise that they will get together again long before the next high school reunion, you will probably want to join them.