Category: Reviews

  • ‘Mirror, Mirror’ is a fun ride

    Julia Roberts and Lily Collins co-star in 'Mirror, Mirror'
    Julia Roberts and Lily Collins co-star in ‘Mirror, Mirror’

    The Brothers Grimm collected fairy tales and one of those they collected was the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, not to be confused with Snow White and Rose Red, a different tale entirely.  It’s been made into a film before, most famously in the 1937 Disney animated version.

    Director Tarsem Singh, working from an adaptation by Melissa Wallack and Jason Keller brings us Mirror, Mirror.  It is a complete reimagination of the film, although many of the plot elements of the original version of the tale are present.  Just not quite in the way you have grown to expect them, having seen the classic animated film and heard other tellings of the tale.

    Lily Collins (The Blind Side) is Snow White, daughter of the King (Sean Bean, who is perfectly cast in this role) and his chosen successor.  He adores his daughter and his kingdom is a happy one, where the villagers sing and dance to celebrate their wonderful lives.  But as she grows, the King worries that he is not capable of teaching Snow White all she needs to know, and so he searches for a Queen to help him raise his precious child.  His choice, Julia Roberts, seems inspired at first.  Then tragedy takes place and the king disappears in the Dark Woods, never to be seen again.

    Lily Collins stars in 'Mirror, Mirror'
    Lily Collins stars in ‘Mirror, Mirror’

    For the next ten years, the evil Queen rules what is now her kingdom with an iron fist in a silk glove, keeping Snow White a virtual prisoner in her room.  Then when Snow White turns 18, she strives to find out what is going on in the kingdom that she is supposed to one day rule, and runs afoul of the Evil Queen yet again.

    She sneaks out of her room and out of the castle and finds that things are not what they once were.  The village is in darkness, the people are hungry and taxed too heavily.  No one knows what happened to her father and her own existence is mostly hidden from the people, with rumors about her too ugly to mention here.  She returns to the castle, where the Queen is holding a ball and she decides to sneak into the ball.

    There Snow White meets the Prince (Armie Hammer) for the second time (you’ll enjoy seeing their initial meeting more, without knowing what is to take place) and there are sparks of attraction flying.  This isn’t good for Snow, as the Queen is in financial ruin and wants to court and marry the Prince herself, using his wealth to put her own financial affairs back into good order.  It’s helpful that unlike another wealthy man who wants her hand in marriage, the Queen is strongly attracted to the very handsome prince.  There is a confrontation between Snow and the Queen and the Queen instructs her right hand man, Brighton (Nathan Lane) to take her out into the dark woods and slay her.  He does take her out there, but cannot bring himself to kill her, so he cuts the ropes that bind her and tells her to run.

    She does and eventually comes to rest just outside the home of seven dwarves.  They don’t have the same names as those in the traditional fairy tale.  Instead they are Napoleon, Half Pint, Grub, Grimm, Wolf, Butcher and Chuckles, and rather than working in the mines, they are highwaymen and thieves.  They are also highly skilled in the arts of combat and strategy and after they decide to take in the damsel in distress, they choose to instruct her in those skills.

    A confrontation between Snow White and the Queen is inevitable, but what happens from here on in is best left to be viewed rather than be described.  It will be much more fun that way.  It also enables me to avoid telling you just how the plot devices from the original story like the poisoned apple, the kiss that breaks the magic spell and other such things are done differently here than in prior versions of the tale.

    Singh, who I remembered from The Cell, does a good job helming this magical creation that blends its life-action special effects seamlessly with its clearly voiced storytelling.  Roberts is very effective in portraying the Queen, who never feels remorse, no matter what transgressions she has engaged in to get what she wants.  Collins gives a strong performance as the young woman whose coming of age occurs amidst more personal crises than most 18 year olds will ever face.

    It’s a fun, entertaining ride.

  • ‘Bully’ is a must-see for students

    Kids head to school in 'Bully'
    Kids head to school in ‘Bully’

    For a parent to be forced to bury a child is perhaps one of life’s greatest tragedies.  But that tragedy is compounded when the child being buried took their own life because they could no longer bear the agony of the bullying that was a constant in their life, daily.

    Director Lee Hirsch’s documentary Bully looks not at those children who bully, but at five of their victims.  Two of whom are no longer with us, although they live on in the efforts of their parents to try to prevent their tragic loss of a child from happening to others.

    Most are familiar with the battle that the film’s distributor, The Weinstein Company. It fought and lost to get the MPAA to revise their R-rating of Bully and the decision to release it as without a rating.  That blockbuster films with tons of graphic, generic violence pass muster with ratings of PG-13, while this film’s offensive language prevented it from receiving the same rating is a travesty of double-standards.

    Alex is a student in the Souix City school system and the primary focus of the film’s view of the three surviving victims of bullying.  Born after only 26 weeks gestation, Alex’s nickname among his tormentors is “Fish Face.” He is the eldest among several children and clearly loved by his parents.  But even his siblings tease him and comment that it is his fault they themselves are teased because he is “creepy”.  His parents are unaware of the level of the bullying he is enduring when the film opens, and they might have remained so had the filmmakers not become concerned for his safety and warned the parents and the school district of the alarming increase in his being bullied.

    We watch how terribly he is treated while riding the bus to and from school and when one of the school administrators is finally confronted about how unsafe the bus he, she dismisses the parental concern.  “I’ve ridden the 54 bus.”

    Like the kids would misbehave in front of her.

    'Bully' explores the troubled lives of kids who are victimized by bullies in school
    ‘Bully’ explores the troubled lives of kids who are victimized by bullies in school

    Ja’Meya is a teenaged girl in Yazoo County, MS and we don’t get to see much of her.  Nor do we see any of the torments she’s suffered at the hands of those who bullied her.  But we do get to see video of how she reacted when she’d finally reached her limit.  She took her mother’s gun with her onto the bus and when some of those who enjoy bullying her start in, she pulls the gun out and brandishes it, terrifying everyone.

    The law enforcement official that Hirsch and company seek out comment from is dismissive of what had happened to her before she drew the gun, saying that unless she’d been beaten about the head and face, there is no justification for what she did.  “She committed 22 counts of kidnapping and could go to jail for years and years” is his focus and Ja’Meya is locked in a secure psychiatric facility for two months before her fate is determined.

    Kelby is also a teen girl, in Oklahoma, aka Bible Belt territory.  She was a star athlete and did well in life until she finally came out of the closet and admitted she is a lesbian.  Ever since, except for a small cadre of her closest friends, she is ostracized and tormented.  Not just by students, but even some of her teachers engage in less than appropriate treatment of her.  Her parents offer to take her to a larger town, where she won’t stand out so much, but she says that if she gives in and flees “they win.”

    The parents of the two victims of bullying who chose to commit suicide themselves choose to try to make something good come from their tragedy.  Gary, whose 11 year old son will remain 11 forever points out that “if this happened to a politician’s kid, there’d be a law against it tomorrow” and one is left to wonder just what it will take to get politicians and school administrators to give this problem the attention it deserves.

    It is worthy of noting here that Hirsch made a choice in how the film deals with the suicide of Tyler Long.  He does not disclose that the teen who hung himself in his closet apparently suffered from mental illness.  He was diagnosed as having ADHD as well as Asperger’s Syndrome.  There is also a report he was bi-polar.  Being bi-polar and having Asperger’s Syndrome reportedly raise the probability of one committing suicide.

    The footage obtained of Alex is both enlightening and frightening.  Hirsch and crew do a great job of illustrating that there is a problem, and that some are interested in solving it.

    If there is a major flaw in Bully, it’s that the perspective of the bullies themseves is almost completely absent.  There are a few scenes of some of these kids trying to explain their behavior to an assistant principal, but the bully’s POV is almost non-existant.  We do not see the causes of bullying, or what parents of bullies do when confronted with evidence of their children’s transgressions.  That’s what the next documentary must explore if this problem is ever going to see a real solution.

    Bully is an eye-opener and should be seen by every student, grades 6 and up.

  • Forget ‘Twilight,’ ‘The Hunger Games’ is the real deal

    Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth in 'The Hunger Games'
    Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth in ‘The Hunger Games’

    I cringed when I heard that Lionsgate was producing The Hunger Games. Not because they don’t produce good movies – I love their films —  but one in particular came to mind. It was all I could do to scream  “No! Not them! Please don’t let them turn this soon-to-be- classic story into a festival of shirtless teens and bad acting!”

    Fear not, Hunger Games fans. This ain’t no Twilight.

    Based on the bestselling series by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games is a brutal story set in a futuristic American society called Panem. Divided into districts, the country maintains control over the districts with a yearly, televised, fight to the death event called “The Hunger Games.” Two children from each district are randomly selected as “tributes” to play to the delight of The Capital and the horror of the districts who are forced to watch their children die. Think of it as Lord of the Flies on acid.

    This is the story of Katniss Everdeen, a young tribute from District 12, who takes the place of her younger sister in the Hunger Games. Played by Jennifer Lawrence, Katniss is the kind of female hero we’ve been waiting for. She’s smart, resourceful, pretty, and shoots a mean arrow. Josh Hutcherson, as Peeta Mellark, the other tribute from District 12, channels the innocent, doe-eyed boy who loves Katniss. Added into this mix is Gale, played with just enough smolder by Liam Hemsworth. As Katniss’s best friend back home, Gale is somewhat marginalized in this segment of the story, but the triangle between the three characters is quickly set up. Those small glimpses of Gale watching Katniss and Peeta fight for their lives has already kicked off the Team Gale/Team Peeta debate without any shiny glittery stuff or well-oiled chests.

    ALTERNATE REVIEW: Even if you didn’t read the books, ‘The Hunger Games’ is a winner

    The movie wastes no time with exposition and jumps right in on “reaping day” when Katniss and Peeta are sent to the Capital for training.  There they are primped and primed for television and for whatever awaits them in the arena. The depravity of the Capital is represented by the characters who live there. Cinna, their stylist, played by Lenny Kravitz, serves as some sort of moral voice among the whole decadent Capital bunch, while Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, is a dark Regis Philbin who interviews the tributes and presents them to the adoring crowds. Leading this whole group is President Snow, flawlessly portrayed by Donald Sutherland with just the right mix of abject evil and cold-heartedness.

    Jennifer Lawrence stars in 'The Hunger Games'
    Jennifer Lawrence stars in ‘The Hunger Games’

    While the setup is interesting, the time in the actual arena is what is most compelling. The filmmakers worked hard at keeping this film at PG-13 and in many ways, it works well. Although the arena scenes are bloody and violent – I mean, hey, there aren’t that many ways to sugar-coat kids killing other kids – it isn’t gratuitously so. Fast editing reminiscent of the shower scene in Psycho (“Knife! Blood! Lady! Knife! Lady! Blood! Knife! Body!) give you enough of a picture of what is going on. The deaths that show the least gore actually are the most horrific. You hear the screams and then see the bodies and your heart breaks a bit.  That’s not to say this is lacking in the violence department. Make no mistake, there are some nasty bits; including a scene with wasps that might stay with you for some time, and some horrid dogs that put Cujo to shame.

    Purists will no doubt bristle at the changes from page to screen, but in many ways, the film is pretty close to the original novel and the edits make sense. In fact, Katniss’ and Peeta’s mentor, Haymitch, played spot-on by Woody Harrelson, is much more likable in the film than the novel. The film also allows a glimpse into the Gamemaker world, showing the intricate structure of the games arena from a perspective not touched upon in the novels.

    This is a good film with an all-star cast who delivers the goods. There are a few eye-rolling moments before Katniss and Peeta enter the arena, and Katniss doesn’t seem to have enough time to develop the relationships with the other characters necessary for you to grow attached to them before they are killed off, but it’s forgivable. This film was fast and gripping. At two hours and twenty minutes it is on the longer side, but you will not feel it. It will have you cheering.

    With Harry Potter over and the Twilight Saga winding down, The Hunger Games is definitely the new franchise to watch.  Provided the filmmakers stick to the same formula they used for this first film, The Hunger Games will definitely be the movies everyone will be waiting for.

  • ‘The Hunger Games’ is a winner… even if you didn’t read the books

    Jennifer Lawrence takes aim in 'The Hunger Games'
    Jennifer Lawrence takes aim in ‘The Hunger Games’

    The Hunger Games is the first novel in a trilogy by author Suzanne Collins.  It was a breakout novel when first published and to give a better idea of its success and of the rest of the trilogy, Ms Collins was recently feted as being the best-selling Kindle author of all time.

    With that kind of success, a film adaptation becomes almost mandatory and that brings us The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross (Pleasantville and Seabiscuit), who is credited with writing the adaptation for screen along with Ms Collins and Billy Ray.

    Jennifer Lawrence (X-Men: First Class, Winter’s Bone) is Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old girl who lives in the 12th District of “Panem,” a futuristic nation that long ago was nearly torn apart by rebellion.  The rebellion was put down and to keep the history of what happened alive, each of the 12 surviving districts must offer up two children, a boy and a girl, as “tributes” each year.  The 24 tributes compete in the Hunger Games which is watched by the entire nation on television. The games are a fight to the death and the upcoming games will be the 74thannual Hunger Games.

    ALTERNATE REVIEW: Forget ‘Twilight,’ ‘The Hunger Games’ is the real deal

    Katniss lives with her mother and young sister Primrose (Willow Shields) and life is not great.  Katniss must hunt for most of the family’s food, and her father is long-dead from a mining accident.  This year’s Hunger Games are the first in which Prim, as Katniss calls her, is eligible to be selected as tribute.  When Prim’s name is pulled from the bowl, Katniss offers herself up in her sister’s place as tribute.

    Jennifer Lawrence stars in 'The Hunger Games'
    Jennifer Lawrence stars in ‘The Hunger Games’

    The other tribute from District 12 is Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), who has history with Katniss that is revealed as the film progresses.  Katniss is given a moment to say goodbye to her family, and to her friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth), who tells her she has the skills to survive and win the Games.

    The 24 tributes are brought to the lavish, lush capitol city where they are feted and trained for four days.  The capitol, unlike the rest of the nation, is beautiful and a land of bounty, while the 12 districts that support it appear to live in continual want of food and anything else that makes life more than just a daily struggle to survive.

    Katniss and Peeta have a mentor in Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), a past winner of the games.  Each year’s victor is celebrated and showered with wealth and food and it is up to Haymitch to help his charges learn how to acquire sponsors who help with much needed items during the games.  Also on the side of Katniss is Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), a stylist who also dispenses some much needed wisdom.

    The games themselves are simple.  Held in the wild, the 24 tributes are simultaneously raised on platforms onto the field of battle, with a large cache of weapons and supplies just waiting close by.  Haymitch warns that the initial moments of the games will be a bloodbath, as the tributes struggle to get to the weapons, and he advised Katniss to ignore the caches and to head into the forest instead, where her skills at hunting will enable her to survive the initial foray.

    With 11 of the 24 tributes dying in the opening minutes of the games, Katniss makes her way deep into the forest, but she is soon being pursued by a group of tributes who have formed an alliance, a group that strangely enough includes Peeta.

    The rest of the story needs to be seen rather than told here.  It’s a strong tale, moralistic and yet cruel.  Lawrence is excellent, and Hutcherson holds his own in his scenes with her.   But it is Stanley Tucci who steals every scene he is in as “Caesar Flickerman,” the TV host of The Hunger Games, as well as the pre and post-game programming.  With a wildly colored hairdo and perfect projection as an announcer, there is an eerie quality to his work here that is reminiscent of Richard Dawson’s “Damon Killian” in The Running Man, although we will have to wait and see the true nature of Caesar as it is revealed in the next two chapters of the trilogy.

    Donald Sutherland is also wonderful in his brief scenes as the President of Panem, and I’m sure we’ll get more of him in the next two installments.

    Teens killing teens and younger children can’t help but be shocking in violence, but Ross manages to get the deaths done without making the gore gratuitous.   The visuals range from dark squalor to brilliant opulence and are well executed.

    The Hunger Games is a winner.

  • ‘The Raid: Redemption’ will kick your a$$ – and you’ll like it

    Things get close in 'The Raid Redemption'
    Things get close in ‘The Raid Redemption’

    “A good martial artist does not become tense but ready.  Not thinking yet not dreaming, ready for whatever may come.”  Bruce Lee as “Lee” in Enter the Dragon.

    Welsh director Gareth Evans has combined with Indonesian actor, fight choreographer and martial artist Iwo Uwais for the second time and The Raid: Redemption is the magical cinematic result.  Set in the worst part of Jakarta, Raid is the story of what happens when an elite squad of police SWAT officers is sent to a 15 story building to apprehend the crime lord who resides on the top floor.

    Uwais is Rama, a relative rookie member of the squad, and he went on this mission leaving his 7 month pregnant wife at home in bed.  The squad is commanded by Sgt. Jaka  (Joe Taslim) although the mission’s overall commander is Lieutenant Wahyu (Pierre Gruno).  Both Rama and Wahyu have personal agendas in being on this mission and their reasons are revealed as the story unwinds.

    There are nearly two dozen cops in the unit sent to take down this building and the first minor flaw in the film is that given the size of the building and lack of knowledge about how many ‘bad guys’ are inside, there should have been a larger unit sent in.  The poor strategy and tactics employed by the squad once they are inside is the other minor flaw here, but given the quality of what we’re given on screen, these minor flaws are easily overlooked.

    Iwo Uwais stars in 'The Raid: Redemption'
    Iwo Uwais stars in ‘The Raid: Redemption’

    Once they get inside, it becomes clear that the whole mission is one big set-up and it’s the cops and not the bad guys who’ve been set up.  Soon the force is trapped inside the locked down building and Tama (Ray Sahetapy) the crime lord invites the residents of his building to earn free rent for a lifetime in return for ridding him of these troublesome invaders.

    Outnumbered and outgunned, most of the cops are soon injured, dead or hiding wherever they can from the traveling squads of goons trying to eliminate them with machine guns and knives.  Rama finds refuge in a crawlspace in one apartment as he tries to care for a member of the squad who has been injured.  Meanwhile Tama has sent his two top lieutenants, “Mad Dog” (Yayan Ruhian) and Andi (Doni Alamsyah) along with some other goons to take care of the remaining cops.

    Rama is determined to get to the bottom of what has happened, whether that means escaping the building and returning with help, or just kicking ass and taking names until he can walk out with the head bad guy in his custody.  And he does some serious ass kicking throughout this film.

    Not since The Matrix has there been such a wonderful mixture of gunfight and hand-to-hand combat and the star of most of the non-gun action is Uwais, an expert in the Indonesian martial-art of Silat.  Mad Dog is no slouch either, as he happily demonstrates, and once you’ve seen the talents of both, you know there is going to be a moment of truth between the two.

    The action is intense, constant and consistent.  Uwais is clearly a star on the rise, with moves and ability to match any of the martial arts stars who have come to the big screen in Bruce Lee’s wake.  He may not have Lee’s charisma or extraordinary physical abilities just yet, but Uwais is definitely skilled and able to make best use of those skills.  The music and overall sound are also superior, as you’ll be able to differentiate between the up-close gunshot and those fired from a greater distance.

    There will be gasps, groans, laughs, and at the conclusion, applause for one of the best action films to come along in a long time.  Well worth full price.

  • Jennifer Westfeldt works wonders with ‘Friends With Kids’

    Jennifer Westfeldt works wonders with ‘Friends With Kids’

    Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt in ‘Friends With Kids’

    Jennifer Westfeldt is a serious talent.

    Writer and star of 2001’s Kissing Jessica Stein and 2006’s Ira & Abby, this time in addition to doing double duty as screenwriter and star, she also steps behind the camera to produce and direct.

    I searched the credits for anything else she might have done in the making of this gem, but apparently those four roles were enough to keep her busy.

    Jennifer is “Julie Keller,” a successful, attractive woman living in a rent-stabilized Manhattan apartment, seperated by 8 or so floors from her best friend in the world, “Jason Fryman” (Adam Scott).  They share long conversations, explore the difficult questions of life (such as would you rather die by alligator or shark), and face life’s ups and downs together, always there for one another.  They are the “virtual” couple alongside the two couples they are closest to, “Ben” (Jon Hamm) and “Missy” (Kristen Wiig), and “Alex” (Chris O’Dowd) and “Leslie” (Maya Rudolph).

    Ben and Missy are so warm for each other’s form that the list of places they have NOT had sex is very short, while Alex and Leslie announce that “they” are pregnant when the six come together for a meal in the film’s early going.  Meanwhile, Julie has trouble finding quality guys while Jason is getting plenty of action, but nothing of a lasting nature.

    Fast forward four years and things have changed.  Both of the other couples have kids, with Alex and Leslie having reproduced more than once.  The couples don’t socialize as often as they used to, and little has changed with Julie and Jason except that both are feeling the desire to reproduce.  So, the couple decides after a discussion, to have sex one time.  Together they will split the expense and responsibilities of raising the child they create together and after the child’s birth, both will go out and find their perfect partner.

    They manage to have a son named Joe, and after some weeks, both meet what appears to be their perfect mate.

    Maya Rudolph and Chris O’Dowd in ‘Friends With Kids’

    For Jason it’s “Mary Jane” (Megan Fox) who is a dancer with an incredible body and very little instinct to nurture or care for anyone but MJ.  She even mentions at their first meeting that she believes herself to be totally incapable of being respondible for any other living thing.  Julie meets “Kurt” (Edward Burns) at an event where Leslie has arranged for her to “bump” into him.  Kurt is divorced, has his own kids, is grown up, and basically the poster boy for future male mates.

    The road to this point in the film is filled with funny moments.  The audience was enthralled with the writing of the picture and the execution of its very witty dialogue by the ensemble cast.  The tension that Westfeldt manages to infuse between all of the couples she has brought together is done neatly and ratchets up considerably from this point forward.

    Some are wonderful directors who cannot really act unless someone else directs them.  Some are wonderful actors who can’t direct themselves even if it were a matter of life and death.

    Westfeldt is neither, and her strong acting ’chops’ don’t suffer from her work behind the lense here.  She handles the routines of life that can be quite challenging and manages to bring forth humor and pathos from it all.

    Exploring the question of whether or not a man and woman can remain friends in spite of everything may result in a predictable ending but getting there was all the fun.

  • ‘John Carter’ was a fun meal – but could have used more spice

    Lynn Collins in 'John Carter'
    Lynn Collins in ‘John Carter’

    John Carter is good old family-friendly adventure, which unfortunately is probably just a little too fairy tale for the modern movie-going audience.

    By now Disney’s CGI-heavy epic has proven itself to be a box office disappointment. It pulled in just $30 million on its opening weekend, and since has only eked out less than $15 million more domestically. It did slightly better overseas, but not enough to shed the label of being a failure.

    I’m not going to argue that it was a great movie, but I think its unfortunate it got such bad buzz.

    The story features Carter (Taylor Kitsch), a gold-seeker and burned out post-Civil War Confederate soldier, who finds himself zapped across space to Mars. There, embued with super-human abilities, he encounters four-armed, green-skinned aliens, falls for a beautiful princess (played by the stunning Lynn Collins) and gets caught up in a conflict between two humanoid clans.

    Taylor Kitsch stars in 'John Carter'
    Taylor Kitsch stars in ‘John Carter’

    John Carter was a fun ride. A special effects extravaganza, with great spectacle that really showcased the best the big screen has to offer when it comes to life-like computer animation and character detail. The green-skinned Tharks are incredibly detailed and brought to life with fantastic exactness. The elaborate air ships are also beautiful, and move with grace through the Martian skies.

    If Carter does suffer, it is from its shallow and overly elaborate scripting. The characters aren’t terribly developed, and the film effectively tell the story, which is actually quite convoluted. Their approach reminded me a little of Tron, in how that film tried to introduce the audience to the bizarre world inside the computer by starting the film there, instead of revealing it to the audience when the main character arrives there.

    The reason I don’t think this kind of approach works very well is because the audience isn’t with the main character. They’re not sharing the experience, but instead looking at it all from a third-person perspective that disassociates them from the hero.

    If the two aren’t in it together, it loses the emotional connection. And without that, you’ve got nothing.

    As sci-fi epics go, John Carter is not unlike the 1980 version of Flash Gordon. There’s a lot of spectacle, elaborate visual efforts and out of this world characters, but also comes off as campy and goofy.

    Ultimately, as sci-fi epics go, John Carter was a light weight. A good-hearted effort that was a fun popcorn adventure, but not something you’re going to think much about afterwards or recommend to your friends.

  • ‘Jeff, Who Lives at Home’ is a rare gem

    Jason Segel and Ed Helms co-star in 'Jeff, Who Lives at Home'
    Jason Segel and Ed Helms co-star in ‘Jeff, Who Lives at Home’

    This is the first film by the Durplass brothers that I’ve seen, something I intend to rectify quickly after watching Jeff, Who Lives at Home.   It is a wonderful film, coming oh so close to the magic that generates a four popcorn rating.

    Starring Jason Segel as the titular “Jeff,” who currently resides in the basement of his mother (Susan Sarandon as “Sharon”), and Ed Helms as “Pat,” his somewhat happily married brother, Jeff, Who Lives at Home is a film set on Sharon’s birthday.

    She’s not asking for a whole lot either, in the way of gifts.  She’d be satisfied if Jeff, who spends his days smoking pot, thinking while sitting on another pot, and otherwise pondering the major questions of life, would get up off his posterior, go out and buy some glue and then fix the broken shutter.  She even left a note instructing Jeff on what to do, along with money to get the glue and him to and from the store.

    Jeff, who is a major fan of the M. Night Shyamalan film Signs is looking everywhere in life for signs and one comes in the form of a wrong number phone call.  Jeff, who appears to firmly believe there are no wrong numbers, is sent on an interesting quest by one word from that call, but the quest doesn’t go well.  But as a result of his quest, he runs into his brother Pat, standing outside the local Hooters.

    Pat had been at lunch with a colleague, after having a bad morning at home.  Seems Pat wasn’t listening too well to his wife “Linda” (Judy Greer) when she mentioned they needed to watch their spending so they can finally get into a house.  So when Pat surprises Linda with the news that the new Porsche in the driveway is ’theirs’, she’s less than pleased.

    Jeff and Pat go on an adventure together after their chance meeting outside Hooters, when Jeff spies Linda with a strange man.  The brothers attempt to track down just where the wife and her ’friend’ are going, since Pat leaps to the conclusion that they are having an affair.  Jeff breaks away from the search at one point, following that wrong number quest again, but fortune brings the brothers together when they spot Linda’s car parked at a hotel.

    Meanwhile, Mom is at work and it’s been a crazy day for her as well.  First, a paper airplane is flown across the office and landing on her desk.  When Sharon opens the airplane, there is an intricate drawing of a flower.  Soon, an anonymous Instant Message appears on her screen, and she’s introduced to her secret admirer, at least on-screen.  She wants very much to know if she’s merely the butt of a joke, or if there really is someone at work who admires her.  Her husband and the father of the two men has been dead for sometime and to say that Sharon has had a dry spell relationship wise is to seriously understate things.

    Linda isn’t having an affair, as Pat suspected, but her male friend was more than willing to listen to her complaints about the unfulfilling existence she’s currently experiencing, something Pat wasn’t prior to that point.  She points out that since they don’t jointly own anything and have never had children, it should be no problem for them to go their seperate ways.  She announces her intent to do just that, letting Pat know she’s going to be staying at her own mother’s home for the foreseeable future.

    Now, what happens here, to Jeff, to Pat, to Linda and to Sharon, is what makes this film worth seeing.  What we’ve seen up to now is interesting, informative and entertaining.  But the best moments, those that speak of the reality of human existence and the things that make life interesting and worth living are mostly found in what’s next.  What’s next after Sharon first learns who her secret admirer is.  What’s next after Jeff finds he was right to look for the signs.  What Pat discovers after he stops wanting and starts listening.

    Filmed mostly in the brother director’s home area of New Orleans, Jeff, Who Lives at Home covers a short period in terms of time, but reflects on the entirety of living, rather than merely existing.

  • ’21 Jump Street’ is funny sh*t

    Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum co-star in '21 Jump Street'
    Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum co-star in ’21 Jump Street’

    If the formula for 21 Jump Street, from directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (they previously directed Cloudy With Chance of Meatballs together) seems familiar, that’s because it should.  25 years ago, Fox Television wanted to show they had an edge and they found it with 21 Jump Street, a gritty drama about cops going undercover at local high schools.  It launched the career of Johnny Depp and managed to last four seasons.  The same year that Jump Street debuted, another gritty television cop show was being reimagined on the big screen.

    That was the Dan Akyroyd, Tom Hanks version of Dragnet.  Lord and Miller (sounds like a department store, eh?) have managed to raise the bar that was set high by the film version of Dragnet, delivering laughs, explosions and a lot of F-bombs along the way.

    Starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, the film opens as the duo are in high school themselves and they are clearly not friends.  Fast forward six years and both are recruits in the Metropolitan Police Department’s Police Academy.  Hill’s “Schmidt” is great with academics and horrible at things physical, while Tatum’s “Jenko” is a master of the physical and a complete bust in the classroom.  They form a partnership as recruits and manage to push each other through to graduation and their first assignment.

    Nowhere near exciting, their first duty as bicycle patrol officers leads them to their first arrest.  An arrest that is flawed because Jenko failed to properly advise the suspect of his rights.  So they are sent down to 21 Jump Street, home of an undercover unit run by “Captain Dickson” (Ice Cube), housed in an abandoned church.  If you’re a resident of Los Angeles and you’ve driven through Koreatown more than once, the church may well look familiar.  Dickson wants his two newest undercovers to go to a local high school where a new drug has hit the campus and keep that drug from spreading elsewhere.

    From here, Lord and Miller, working from a strong script by Michael Bacall (with help from Hill on the story), are off and running.  This time things are different for our heroes.  Jenko, who was  a ’cool kid’ in high school ends up being ostracized from that group.  Meanwhile, Schmidt, who was an outcast in his high school days, gets in quickly with those same ’cool kids’ who want nothing to do with Jenko.  The reason Schmidt gets in and Jenko is left out has a lot to do with the fact that the duo are undercover as brothers, but Jenko mixed up their first names upon arrival and he’s stuck with Schmidt’s undercover identity and vice versa.

    Did I mention lots of F-bombs?  Good.  There’s also a wild party that while not up to Project X standards, certainly manages to upset a few people.  Schmidt and Jenko are willing to do whatever it takes to discover who is supplying this new drug.  There are chases, and plenty of explosions.  There are also plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, which as always, is the acid test of any comedy.

    Definitely worth checking out, even if only to see something near the ending that comes close to crossing the gross-out line most will not venture beyond.

  • ‘A Thousand Words’ is Eddie Murphy’s worst

    Eddie Murphy bombs in 'A Thousand Words'
    Eddie Murphy bombs in ‘A Thousand Words’

    Director Brian Robbins (Norbit), working from a script by Steve Koren (Jack and Jill, Bruce Almighty) gives us an unfunny comedy that fails to showcase the comedic and acting talents of Eddie Murphy, a guy who has serious chops in those areas.  Sadly, we haven’t seen a lot of his comedy genius of late, although we did get to see him doing some great acting in Dreamgirls.  But that was almost six years ago and what we’ve seen him in since is nothing to write home about.  His latest effort, Tower Heist was a serious disappointment.

    So here comes A Thousand Words, the story of a man who makes his living with words, as a slick, polished agent who represents writers, who finds himself in danger of dying if he doesn’t shut up.  Murphy is “Jack McCall”, who seems to have it all.  A great career, the great wife (Kerry Washington as “Caroline McCall”), a child, a gorgeous home and yard, even an assistant at work who would gladly do almost anything to curry favor with his boss (Clark Duke).

    Then Jack decides his next big deal is going to be getting the famous Dr. Sinja, leader of a spiritual movement that has a massive amount of followers to let him represent the book that Sinja has written.  He finds a way to get an audience with the doctor and that leads to two things.  One is an agreement where Jack will be the agent for Dr. Sinja’s book, and the other is an encounter with an amazing tree located at the ‘retreat’ where the Doctor shepherds his flock.

    Except that somehow the tree has been magically transplanted to the garden at Jack’s lovely home and with every word Jack speaks, one of the leaves on the tree falls to the ground, dead.  Soon, Dr. Sinja reveals to Jack that his life and that of the tree are somehow intertwined and if all the leaves die, then the tree will die.  Apparently, Jack will die as well.

    There wasn’t a lot that was funny up to this point and as the movie proceeds onward, this is probably where the laughs should come from, as Jack deals with trying to conduct his busy life without saying a word.   Through some mystical thing, he’s unable to write words down either, as the written word is just as deadly to the leaves of the tree as the spoken word is.  An attempted meeting with one book publisher goes awry as Jack tries to get his assistant Aaron to do the talking.  Another causes problems with his boss (Allison Janney as Samantha) and meanwhile he’s having trouble with his wife.  She’s unhappy and he wants to change that, but being unable to speak gives him almost no way to help her.  Dr. Sinja is abroad on business and has promised to try to discover anything that might help, but assistance from that front is not on the horizon.

    A comedy that is a laugh-a-minute is wonderful.  A comedy that manages to generate enough laughs from start to finish to satisfy the audience is fine.  A comedy that can’t generate a single instance of loud laughter is a failure, and A Thousand Words can’t quite reach even that lowly standard.    Someone told me that it was rated zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes and I feel that rating may well be too generous.