Laws of Attraction - 1 Star (Terrible)

Lion in Winter, The - 2 Stars (Average)

Imagine Me & You – 1 Star (Terrible)

Imagine a bride walking down the aisle on her wedding day, getting ready to marry the man she has had an intimate relationship with for years, looking at another woman at the ceremony, and starting an awakening that would lead her to question her own feelings, eventually falling in love with the other woman, ultimately destroying her marriage, but living happily ever after with her new lesbian partner.

The offering is British made, of course, which accounts for the poor sound effects of the movie, and the annoying lack of proper diction and enunciation by the actors involved. It would be hard for me to believe that Imagine Me & You advances the cause and understanding of lesbian issues.

Indian Summer – 2 Stars (Average)

Indian Summer is an easy-going, very slowly developing comedy about friends who reunite at a week-long summer camp that they used to attend as children. The camp is now threatened with closing down. Guess what happens. The characters of Matt (Vincent Spano) and Brad (Kevin Pollak) are based on the two Michigan-born founders of the Canadian clothing company Roots. Matt and Brad attended Tamakwa, a camp in Ontario's Algonquin Park, as youngsters. Indian Summer also has Alan Arkin, Matt Craven, Bill Paxton, Elizabeth Perkins and Diane Lane in the cast. Lane turns out to be a real 40+ hottie in some other films down the road, notably Unfaithful (really hot) and Under the Tuscan Sun (hot enough).

In Good Company – 1 Star (Terrible)

An ad salesman gets demoted after a corporate buyout, and his new boss, young enough to be his son, falls for his daughter on the rebound from his divorce. You want to like this movie, but the scriptwriter and director will not let you; this movie ends without an ending, and becomes worthless in the process. In Good Company is beyond disappointing, it is a pathetic waste of time.

It Runs in the Family – 1 Star (Terrible)

A Michael Douglas produced movie with Kirk Douglas, his dad, and Cameron Douglas, his son. If the title of this film is the key to its presentation, then what runs in this family is a lot of incredibly dysfunctional people who are led virtually nowhere. There are not enough adjectives to describe how poor this presentation is so I am not even going to try. Sum it up in two thoughts: 1) Am I a better person for having seen this film? No. Absolutely not, and I felt like I should have been. It was not even entertaining as a supposed “comedy.” This was so far from comedy it was very bad drama. 2) Michael Douglas had an opportunity to make a substantial film with meaning about what counts in life, and he failed miserably. When one examines the body of Michael Douglas’ work as an actor, I am hard put to find a film of substance; usually the theme is sex, warped values and bordering on revulsion. What should I have expected?

Just Like Heaven – 1 Star (Terrible)

"Just Like Heaven" is cute but not substantive. This movie effort takes off on the concept of Ghost in the reverse; instead of a dead person who can see the living but cannot be seen by the living, here we have a dead person who can also see the living, but the living can also see the dead person.

It just does not work like Ghost. Ghost is 1,000 times better than this effort. Ghost works because it is a drama and courts reality. Just Like Heaven does not work because it is a romantic comedy and has nothing to do with reality (just a minor point).

There are several more reasons why Ghost works, and Just Like Heaven does not (too many to mention in detail here). This effort entertains but lacks substance, and hence believability.

The best part of this movie is Reese Witherspoon (who would go on to win an Oscar for her lead role in the Johnny Cash story, "Walk the Line"). I would not see Just Like Heaven again, even with a monetary incentive.

Kiss the Bride – 2 Stars (Average)

Kiss the Bride centers around four sisters from an Italian Catholic family in Rhode Island trying to work out their childhood hang-ups as three of them—all self-centered, self-absorbed and out of touch with reality—return to help their little sister get married. This flick has drugs, alcohol, bad language, some brief nudity and really heavy, dramatic fights that illustrate the frustration and stupidity of the sisters who, thankfully, finally get it together by the end of the film.

Kiss the Bride is almost nonstop bickering, fighting and unpleasantness. You wonder if these people are ever going to get their act together. I ask myself, who needs it?

Am I a better person for having seen this film? Are you kidding? You would have to be on crack and standing in the middle of a train track waiting for an approaching locomotive to send you flying to think that time spend watching this film had any redeeming value. Once again we have a writer/director with the same name: Vanessa Parise. She offers proof again that being both the director and writer of a screenplay generally breeds more failure than success.

As if to outdo other writer/directors who have bombed in these dual roles, Parise takes the role of Chrissy as one of the sisters who is self-centered and self-absorbed. Maybe she should try a one-woman show so her wonderfulness could really shine through?

Parise (average rating) joins a not-so-exclusive club of fellow writer/directors who have fallen short, including Peter Weir (average rating) for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Nancy Myers (average rating) for Something's Gotta Give, Thomas Bezucha (average rating) for The Family Stone, Michael McGowan (average rating) for Saint Ralph, Jared Hess (terrible rating) for Napoleon Dynamite, Robert Rodriguez (terrible rating) for Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and Paul Thomas Anderson (terrible rating) for Punch-Drunk Love. See Kiss the Bride only once or, better yet, not at all.

October 10, 2009

"Last Chance Harvey" Gets Quality Acting, But Suffers From the Writer/Director's Effort

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Last Chance Harvey – 2 Stars – Average

Is it possible for your two leads to be nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress Golden Globe Awards and yet your magnum opus is average at best?

Yes it is, especially if your leads are Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, and the writer/director of the film is Joel Hopkins. Then you have the makings of "Last Chance Harvey". This film is far too dark and depressing to be a romantic comedy, it feeds off of more negative than positive energy.

Last Chance Harvey is no misnomer. Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is a preoccupied person who is not comfortable to be around and hardly likeable. Most of his time is spent bemoaning his condition in life. His wife dumped him years ago. His dream job was to be a jazz pianist, but he settled for a job as jingle writer for a Manhattan advertising firm, which is about to dump him for younger talent.

His wife remarried, and his daughter is closer to her step-dad than him. Harvey has made a career of being absent by choice. Now he travels to London for his daughter's wedding and gets a very cold reception from his ex and everyone who counts. He becomes a disaster at the rehearsal dinner, can't wait to leave London, and informs his daughter that he will not be attending the wedding reception.

Unfortunately for Harvey, he gets caught in a traffic jam, misses his flight, and is promptly informed that he has been fired.

He finds solace in a bar after forcing himself on Kate Walker (Emma Thompson), a survey taker who has never married and is now concerned that she will become a spinster. Long story short, these two losers find just enough in each other to tolerate being together.

In short order, Kate convinces Harvey to attend his daughter's wedding reception and he agrees as long as she accompanies him. Long story even shorter, they almost have a great time at the reception and agree to meet at noon the next day. It this scenario sounds familiar, just think "An Affair to Remember".

Harvey, of course, doesn't make the rendezvous because the elevator is broke at his hotel, he runs up the steps, has an attack of arrhythmia and is off to the hospital. Kate waits dutifully and is crushed when Harvey no shows, just like a sappy teen-aged girl. It never occurs to her that Harvey might have been run over by a Mack truck on his way to meet her; she assumes the worst because she follows miserable results like stepping in quicksand. Does it all work out in the end? What do you think? This is the reason you watch the film, such as it is.

It is not the acting that makes Last Chance Harvey an average film, it is the writer/director Joel Hopkins. Trust me when I say that Hopkins did his best to make this film an artistic and financial winner. In the end, it becomes neither.

Last Chance Harvey reminds me of a film Jack Nicholson made named "About Schmidt" that is just terrible.

As a movie buff and movie reviewer, I am into relationship pictures, human dynamics and the psychology of living and existing. Both Harvey and Kate as characters are written as people who exist, moan and complain rather than choosing to live a better life. It is a good thing that they found each other because misery does love company.

Harvey is simply not likeable as a character, and Kate is not much better.

Last Chance Harvey made $14 million at the box office; hardly a rip-roaring success. Other than the two Golden Globe nominations for Hoffman and Thompson (neither won), award givers avoided this film like the plague.

Hopkins lacks experience as a writer or a director, and has courted failure by trying to become both the writer and director. I am sure his ego did not give him much choice in the matter. For every wannabe that thinks they can make great films as a writer/director, there are at least 10 more who fail miserably.

Job one for Joel Hopkins is to learn how to become a good storyteller. Hopkins should study "Waking Ned Devine" by Kirk Jones and "Secondhand Lions" by Tim McCanlies. Both Jones and McCanlies are on the top of my list of great writer/directors, and neither had much experience when their talent was evident.

Waking Ned Devine was Kirk Jones' first effort as a writer/director, and Secondhand Lions was Tim McCanlies' second effort as a writer/director. If I had millions to invest, I would fund both Jones and McCanlies, get out of the way, and watch magic happen on the big screen.

In all likelihood, Hopkins has more talent than we have seen; he just needs to continue improving and hone his craft. And here is a postscript to start with—never name a character in a depressing movie Harvey Shine, because Harvey does anything but shine, and we are reminded about it throughout the entire movie.

August 12, 2009

Movie Review:

"Kingdom of Heaven" Sought to Be an Epic Film, But Became a Disaster in Production

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Kingdom of Heaven – 1 Star (Terrible)

Unfortunately for the "Kingdom of Heaven", what started out as an ambitious epic film about a little known time in history, became an almost disaster at its release and was only average at best. There is enough blame to spread around.

First, there is a reason why the immortal "Gone with the Wind", which involved a turbulent love affair in the American south during the Civil War and Reconstruction, took almost 4 hours to see. You apparently cannot make a quality, classic film about the Civil War in less time. Ken Burns' acclaimed documentary film "The Civil War" consisted of 9 episodes and took 11 hours to view.

Second, there may be a market for a film in the Middle Ages about the Christian Crusades, a series of military expeditions by Europeans to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims in the 11th, 12th and 13th Centuries. That market, regrettably, is very small compared to an epic about the Civil War, World War I or World War II.

Third, when 3-time, Best Director Oscar-nominee Ridley Scott ("Black Hawk Down", "Gladiator" and "Thelma and Louise") presented the film to the studio at 194 minutes (3 hours and 14 minutes), the studio execs demanded that it be cut to two hours, believing that moviegoers would not sit through a 3-hour film.

This proved to be a critical mistake in judgment. It was nearly impossible for Scott to tell the Kingdom of Heaven story in 2 hours, and when the movie received really mixed reviews and proved to be a financial disappointment in the United States, the error was clearly noticeable.

Fourth, not only was this film to be an epic story, its production cost was enormous. Most of the filming was in Morocco, and Mohammad VI, King of Morocco, provided 1,500 of his military personnel with accompanying equipment to help in the filming.

In addition, there were apparently 15,000 handmade costumes for the film that also required helmets, boots, gloves, chainmail, belts and scabbards. The flag budget for the film was $250,000. There were 7,500 weapons, 3,000 shields and 20,000 arrows used in the film. In one scene alone, there were 143 extras, 60 military personnel, 125 horses and 60 camels.

A massive replica of Jerusalem was constructed in the Sahara Desert, containing 28,000 square meters of wall that required 6,000 tons of plaster. The front set was 1,200 feet long and the walls were 56 feet tall. Good grief.

Fifth, writer William Monahan's first draft of the script was 186 pages. Executive producer Lisa Ellzey thought Fox would never approve the script because of its length, so she cut it to only 20 pages before sending it to Fox.

Sixth, Orlando Bloom was not ready to play the leading role as Balian of Ibelin, and his performance did not reflect the kind of command and presence necessary to pull it off.

Seventh, I had great difficulty as a moviegoer following the story as its presentation required much more help in context, or from a narrator, to understand what was happening when and why it was important.

Eighth, the sound in the film was terrible. There were times when it was impossible to understand the dialog and, without this essential element, there is no way the film would be rated good by my standards. Sound is too basic of a need to succeed and, when it goes unnoticed because it is well done, it is not an issue.

Ninth, this whole project was sad from start to finish. What could have become a good film could not overcome the obstacles along the way. Two bright spots in the film were the performances of Liam Neeson as Godfrey de Ibelin and Ghassan Massoud as Saladin, the great Muslim leader.

In his quest to be noble, Liam Neeson was able to deliver this dialog as Godfrey de Ibelin: "Be without fear in the face of our enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath." (Spoken to his son, Balian, when making him a knight.)

History records that Saladin and his Muslim troops did recapture Jerusalem after defeating the King of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin near the Lake of Galilee. When Saladin's soldiers enter the City of Jerusalem, they were not allowed to kill civilians, rob people, or damage the city.

In many ways, the Muslims come out looking better than the Christians in Kingdom of Heaven, and historically, they were.

Light-hearted, fun romantic comedy about two divorce attorneys who fight in court over cases and then end up together in marriage. Both Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore make this an easy film to watch, despite its lack of substance. No depth here, but it is an easy film to watch as there is no nudity, no filthy language, no violence and no sex scenes (in other words, almost a miracle of moviemaking given it is not a Disney production).

Love Letters – 1 Star (Terrible)

Love Letters is a terrible, terrible, terrible film. One of the five worst films every made among those that give a pretense of actually being good while being awful, compared to those films you know are bad and do not disappoint. This stupid story line has two adults reading letters they sent to each other over their entire life, sitting on tall furniture, gazing down as the past action unfolds. Love Letters is beyond bad. It butchers a possibly good story line, has poor direction, poor production, poor acting, poor everything. There is not a redeeming quality in this piece of garbage, not even the opening, or credit lines. The film does not even introduce itself, it takes 5 minutes to realize how bad the film really is; after 10 minutes I put Love Letters on fast forward, and it did not get any better in fast forward. Even the dialogue is bad to awful. The only worse movie I can think of ever seeing is “Pat” (the androgynous character on Saturday Night Live), and that movie I expected to be terrible, and it was. The acting performances in Love Letters were absolutely juvenile, with no depth, no character development, and no delivery worth talking about. These were not 2nd and 3rd rate actors but 8th and 9th rate actors. What a piece of nothing this turned out to be; I was beyond disappointed. I expected a decent attempt at a relationship movie and could not have been more let down.

December 18, 2006

Maid in Manhattan – 2 Stars (Average)

"Maid in Manhattan" is another J-Lo (Jennifer Lopez as Marisa Ventura) romantic comedy with Ralph Fiennes as Christopher Marshall, a senatorial candidate who thinks Marisa is a socialite.

While it does not appear that J-Lo is about to win any acting awards of substance, this may be her best effort. The script to Maid in Manhattan caught the attention of Sandra Bullock and Hilary Swank, both of whom showed an interest in playing J-Lo's lead character.

Jennifer Lopez does attract a number of special interest groups.

She was nominated for four awards: The Image Awards for Best Actress, the Razzie Awards for Worst Actress, Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Actress, and Teen Choice Awards for Best Comedy Actress, Best Liar and Best Liplock. If you think she has an audience among really young girls, you are right.

"Mamma Mia" - A Fun Film - Becomes the Highest Grossing Movie Musical in History

Mamma Mia! – 3 Stars (Good)

Every now and then a movie comes along that makes no pretense of featuring great acting, singing, directing and writing, but seeks to be only what it is—just plain fun! The most recent of these rare movies is "Mamma Mia!", released in 2008.

Based on Abba's hit single of the same name, Mamma Mia first opened as a musical at the Prince Edward Theatre in London in 1999. The original Broadway production opened in 2001 at the Winter Garden Theater in New York, and has run for more than 3,100 performances through April of this year. It has now toured in more than 140 cities in America.

Mamma Mia was nominated for Best Musical and Best Musical Score at the 2002 Tony Awards. The director of the original Broadway play, Phyllida Lloyd, is also the director of the movie. The musical book and screenplay are both by Catherine Johnson.

According to Variety, Producer Judy Craymer and writer Catherine Johnson "were broke when they first tried to put the show together . . . and now are two of the wealthiest women in England."

That would be because Mamma Mia set a new mark for the biggest weekend premiere ever for a movie musical--$27+ million. It also became the highest grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom, and would go on to become the highest grossing musical film worldwide, generating $610+ million with a production budget of $52 million.

Combine the movie with the stage productions and Mamma Mia has grossed $2 billion in revenue since opening in 1999. Much of the success has to do with Abba, the Swedish pop/dance group that became one of the most internationally popular entertainment attractions from 1972 to 1982. If you do not recognize Abba, you would recognize its music.

Mamma Mia is a treasure trove of Abba music composed by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, and includes "Dancing Queen", "Super Trouper", Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Take a Chance On Me", "Thank You for the Music", "Money, Money, Money", "The Winner Takes It All" and "I Have a Dream".

Mamma Mia takes place on a Greek Island where the never-married Donna (Meryl Streep) runs a not very successful hotel with her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), who is about to be married to Sky (Dominic Cooper). Donna invites her two best friends to the wedding—Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski); the three of them formed a trio on stage at one time.

Sophie, who has never known who her father is (her mother doesn't know either), finds her mother's diary from 20 years ago and discovers that her mother was intimate with three young men at that time—Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), Harry Bright (Colin Firth) and Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard), one of whom is her father. Not knowing which one, she invites all three to her wedding and her mother has a fit. See the movie for how it all gets resolved.

Despite getting Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture and Best Actress (Meryl Streep, who else would it be?), Mamma Mia took a lot of hits at review time, not the least of which was "this must be the only musical in movie history made up almost entirely of people who can't sing". It is true that the film did not benefit from having the cast perform its own musical numbers.

Mamma Mia did not win any major awards worth talking about, but the excellence of Abba's music and the fun atmosphere of the presentation cannot be denied, which is why I gave it a 3-star (good) rating rather than 2-star (average) rating.

I would rather not hear Pierce Brosnan sing again. You can say anything you want about Meryl Streep, but remember this: She has been nominated as Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress for 14 Academy Awards and has won 2 Oscars, and she also has been nominated for 21 Golden Globe Awards and won 5 times, more than any other actor in the history of either award show.

Don't fight it, if you want some fun entertainment, see Mamma Mia!

Only an Emperor Penguin Could Survive 100 mph Winds and Minus 80 Degree Weather

Meet the Parents – 1 Star (Terrible)

"Meet the Parents" involves Ben Stiller as a hapless fiancé who is grilled by his future father-in-law, a retired CIA agent and overzealous, protective father. This movie is almost funny in parts, but simply left me unimpressed as a comedy in the making. 

I did not like Meet the Parents as much as I thought I might. On the other hand I consider its sequel—Meet the Fockers—one of the best comedies in recent years.

The difference I attribute to a greatly improved cast with the addition of Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand, and limiting the role of Ben Stiller, who is not nearly as good an actor as Robert De Niro, Hoffman or Streisand.

November 28, 2006

Million Dollar Baby – 3 Stars (Good)

After watching so many pay-for-view, big time, hyped fights on the tube and being totally disappointed, watching "Million Dollar Baby" was refreshing because I really got my money's worth.

Million Dollar Baby is the story of Maggie Fitzgerald (Hillary Swank), a 31-year-old woman who wants to achieve her idea of the American Dream: to become a professional boxer. She finds her way to Frankie Dunn's (Clint Eastwood) gym only to get the cold shoulder.

"Scrap Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman) acts as a go-between to bring Frankie and Maggie together. Dupris realizes Maggie is dead serious, a devout trainee and stubborn in her quest. The word "no" is not in Maggie's vocabulary. Frankie eventually agrees to take her on, and she fights her way to a title shot.

Her quest to be a champion takes a heart-wrenching turn when she becomes 100% paralyzed during the title fight. Her opponent throws a cheap-shot punch after the bell ending a round, and Maggie collapses to the mat, hitting her head on the corner stool with neck-shattering force.

The bond between Frankie and Maggie becomes a "family" issue as Maggie cannot deal with her misfortune; she attempts suicide but fails, and then enlists the help of Frankie to end her misery.

How Frankie, a Catholic who attends Mass almost every day, deals with Maggie's request brings to light the controversial topic of euthanasia.

You must see this film to understand how emotional Frankie's decision becomes. The issue of euthanasia is dealt with very sensitively and in a balanced way; it is worth the price of admission alone.

Eastwood was also nominated for a Best Actor Oscar but did not win in his role as Frankie Dunn.

Paul Haggis who wrote the screenplay was nominated for an Oscar. Million Dollar Baby is based on short stories by F. X. Toole, the pen name of fight manager and "cut man" Jerry Boyd.

Some critics wore out their keyboard pads yipping about what was wrong with this film, but the award givers were far more generous. In addition to the 7 nominations and 4 Oscars, Million Dollar Baby also picked up a ton of awards (another 44 wins and 29 nominations).

Eastwood also won two Oscars for Unforgiven (Best Director and Best Picture) as well as being nominated for Best Actor which he did not win. He was also nominated for Best Director and Best Picture for Mystic River but did not win.

Million Dollar Baby is a standout compared to much of the trash Hollywood is producing today. And Eastwood? I just like him. If I had to go to war or fight in an alley, I would want Clint Eastwood on my team and in my corner, anything less and you would not qualify as a red-blooded American male.

"Miracle" Just May Be the Worst Sports Film Ever Made

Miracle – 1 Star (Terrible)

Miracle is the story of the U. S. Hockey Team that won the Gold Medal during the 1980 Olympic Games at Lake Placid in New York.

A potentially great story line that had a poor script and poor direction. I doubt whether the writer or director of Miracle has ever played competitive hockey. There was only one really good moment in the movie that should have had 30 great moments, and kept you on the edge of your seat, even though you already know the ending of the film.

I was so disappointed in the artistic effort of this movie, I consider it a petty crime to make a movie of the stunning, historic 1980 Olympic Games United States gold-medal performance with the script they had to work with.

August 19, 2009

"Miss Congeniality" Had an Identity Issue, Sandra Bullock Saved It From Disaster

Miss Congeniality – 2 Stars (Average)

"Miss Congeniality" had a real identity problem as a movie. Unfortunately for Sandra Bullock, the star of the film as FBI agent Gracie Hart, Miss Congeniality could not take her as far as her performance merited.

She did win a second Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy; her first was the same nomination for her role as Lucy in "While You Were Sleeping".

Released in 2000, Miss Congeniality is not a drama, an action adventure, a police flick, a comedy or a romantic comedy. It is a mismatch of all and a master of none. When you add in the corny, juvenile, inappropriate dialog, the film is lucky it had Sandra Bullock as its centerpiece because without her, it would have been beyond dismal.

In other words, the writers of Miss Congeniality—Marc Lawrence, Katie Ford and Caryn Lucas (and these may be the only ones who were willing to take credit for the script)—did not add much beyond the plot.

Gracie Hart is cast as an unattractive, disheveled, bumbling FBI agent who has no life beyond her 24/7 commitment to her job. When it is determined that a wacko, serial killer has set his sights on a Miss United States beauty pageant, Agent Hart is a reluctant last choice to go undercover.

Hart is such a poor choice that beauty consultant Victor Melling (played by veteran Michael Caine) is brought in to polish her appearance and performance as Miss New Jersey. Melling has 2 days to get the job done; this is just one example of an unbelievably bad script; even in this wannabe comedy, nothing rings true. It is like having a chair with no legs.

When the real serial killer is caught before the pageant ends, the FBI gets up and leaves. Hart realizes that something is amiss and hangs around on her own, suspecting that the most recent letter from the killer is written by a copycat killer for convenience. You will have to see the movie for the rest.

Even director Donald Petrie could not totally control the amount of glut in Miss Congeniality's script. There were enough sidesteps, missteps and sight gags for a novelist to write a trilogy, and none of them worked all that well. Petrie cut some of the crap out, but the writers were trying to make a career out of writing one script.

Enough carping. Miss Congeniality had a few good moments, but I would not watch it a second time. One real positive was the final still picture of Sandra Bullock at the end of the film—she never looked better.

August 31, 2009

Movie Review:

"Miss Congeniality 2" Is Not the Right Vehicle for Sandra Bullock's Potential as an Actress

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous – 2 Stars (Average)

Ah, sequels. I am trying to think of one that was better than the original and cannot, and when the original was only average, then you get the idea of where I would rate "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous".

Against my better judgment, I am giving Miss Congeniality 2 an average rating as well, but only because of the budding superstar Sandra Bullock. Bullock has made some money, has been nominated for a couple of Golden Globes, but she has not sniffed an Oscar nomination or an Oscar win as Best Actress. So why is she showcased in Miss Congeniality 2?

Even Bullock has said the fact that "the original made over $300 million (domestic and worldwide combined) probably had a little something to do with it."

Unfortunately, this sequel once again had the same three writers—Marc Lawrence, Katie Ford and Caryn Lucas—and the same result—weak, sappy lines, none of which worked well. The director, John Pasquin, is different but the result is the same—pure entertainment that is too lame without a compelling message.

The plot? Get real. Miss America (Heather Burns as Miss America Cheryl Frasier) and pageant hack (William Shatner as Stan Fields) get kidnapped following the pageant, so special agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock), now the spokesperson for the FBI, comes to the rescue.

To show you how lame this sequel is, Sandra Bullock wins the Teen Choice Award for Comedy Actress.

Let's get something straight—Sandra Bullock is a much better actress who needs a better venue than Miss Congeniality 2 to get it done. What done? I thought you would never ask. Either be nominated for or win an Academy Award as Best Actress.

What Sandra Bullock has done in her movie career to get her where she is will not be enough to get her where she wants to go. To move on and up, she needs to be paired with better actors, a better script and a better director. She needs to thank everyone that has helped her so far, and then partner with new and better talent.

If she is not careful, she will find herself on a treadmill like Will Farrell or Adam Sandler. Yes, Farrell and Sandler are making money; no, they are not getting Oscar nominations, nor will they.

Miss Congeniality 2 was released in 2005. Perhaps the 2009 release of "The Proposal" will get far better attention. Ryan Reynolds stock is rising as a leading man, Pete Chiarelli is a step up as a writer, and Anne Fletcher, a choreographer turned director, shows promise.

I will not sit through Miss Congeniality 2 again, but will wait in the hope that Sandra Bullock will take off on flights with better roles, better scripts and better movies to show us where she will eventually land.

Mona Lisa Smile – 2 Stars (Average)

"Mona Lisa Smile" is the story of Katherine Ann Watson, an art history teacher at Wellesley College outside Boston during the 1950s. Watson (Julia Roberts) supposedly has more brains than breeding and manages to turn the conservative liberal arts college students upside down by teaching methods in thought power that inspires personal growth. As a man watching this film, trust me when I say that not many guys would be watching this film a second time. I think there may have been only one guy in this film. The cast includes Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal among others who were put through a finishing school for two weeks prior to filming. Some of the outdoor scenes in Mona Lisa Smile were on the picturesque 500-acre campus at Wellesley. Wellesley is ranked by many as one of the top five liberal arts colleges in the country, and is the highest ranking women's college in this category. Mona Lisa Smile (and Julia Roberts) could not sniff an award much less win one in this film, and that is what you call average.

Monster-in-Law – 1 Star (Terrible)

Monster-in-Law has a lower class girl (Jennifer Lopez) meeting a rich family doctor (Michael Vartan), and a future mother-in-law (Jane Fonda) who decides to drive away the bride, only to do herself in, discovering that the bride has as much backbone as she does. This film is strictly entertainment and humor; there really is no story line as you know who is getting together at the end, and it will all work itself out when the comedy skits are over. I have seen Lopez do a better job in better films, such as Maid in Manhattan.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail – 1 Star (Terrible)

Here it is, some 33 years later, and some people still laugh hysterically when viewing again the scene of King Arthur systematically cutting off all of the limbs of The Black Knight in the zany comedy "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".

Make no mistake, this British-import by the crew of Monty Python's Flying Circus which originally aired on PBS in the United States, will not go away anytime soon. There is an excessive admiration for this brand of humor by a select audience, especially young people who are drunk and tired.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail finds King Arthur scouring the countryside for knights to sit at his round table. Arthur and his knights do not travel on horses, but pretend they do and have their servants bang coconuts to mimic the sound of a horse's hooves. Before the film began the budget was cut, eliminating any money to rent horses.

Eventually, God appears on a cloud and tells them to find the Holy Grail. Throughout their search they meet some really weird characters and encounter some real threats, including a killer rabbit, dreaded knights, a three-headed giant, and a legendary black beast. They also must figure out how to cross the Bridge of Death. All of these events provide comedic moments on their journey.

Finally, King Arthur and Sir Bedevere are led to the castle where the Holy Grail resides, but are denied entrance by a French soldier who taunts them with silly comments. The film ends abruptly when a group of police from the 1970s interrupt a climatic battle scene to arrest Arthur and Bedevere for the murder of Frank, the "famous historian" who was killed by a knight while Frank was narrating a scene from the film.

The Monty Python cast members included John Cleese, who played at least 6 characters, including The Black Knight, Eric Idle (7 characters), Terry Gilliam (6), Terry Jones (5) and Michael Palin (12, the most characters). The writing credits went to all of those mentioned plus Graham Chapman among others.

Terry Gilliam started out as the film's director but became exasperated with the actors, and the actors with him, so at one point Gilliam took a nap under a tree and Terry Jones took over as the director. Graham Chapman was actually fighting his alcohol addiction during the filming. When crossing The Bridge of Death in the film, Chapman suffered from delirium tremens, a side-effect of his alcoholism, and an assistant director had to fill in for him. Chapman would die an unfortunate death at 48 from spinal and throat cancer.

In John Cleese's role as Tim the Enchanter, he actually risked his life standing on the pinnacle seen at the beginning of the film. The windy conditions threatened to throw him off his perch. He was frightened to death but went ahead anyway because of the film's meager budget and time constraints, all of which is to say that you will do a lot of things to become famous.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail certainly has its fans. Funds earned by Pink Floyd's Album "The Dark Side of the Moon" went towards funding the film. Band members were such fans of the show that they would halt recording sessions just to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus in 1969.

There were virtually no awards for this film, only laughs from those who found it hilarious beyond belief. Premiere voted Monty Python and the Holy Grail as one of "The 50 Greatest Comedies of All Time" in 2006.

My perspective of the film has changed dramatically over the years. When first viewed 33 years ago, I had my share of laughs. Viewing it again the other night, I found it a lot less funny, and hardly entertaining. I was not a better person for seeing it again. Perhaps age has caused me to see too many far better comedies, such as "Waking Ned Devine".

"Mr. and Mrs. Smith" Is a Mindless Film Suffering from a Case of Action Flickitis

Mr. and Mrs. Smith – 1 Star (Terrible)

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (who would later be joined at the hip) are guns for hire who find their next target is each other in this sorry flick. This is a sad, disappointing movie with no redeeming qualities worth talking about.

The story line is slow to develop, it has sound problems, it suffers from action flickitis (continual killing, mayhem and explosions), and comes across as sophomoric, juvenile and simply bad to the core.

The chaotic shooting scenes are reminiscent of the early cowboy flicks where both the good guys and the bad guys are systematically firing 200 rounds out of their revolves during the face down. Good grief, if you are going to make a movie with two superstars of this caliber, bring something to the table.

Actually, this filmmaking effort was so poorly done it could not have been saved even with two superstars like Pitt and Jolie.

Adam Sandler – Poor script, poor story development but almost somewhat entertaining; clearly, without Sandler, there is no film here. Sandler is so much better than this that it hurt to watch him in this flick. Again, like Chris Farley, some of Sandler's sketches on Saturday Night Live are classics.

December 27, 2006

Introducing "My Big Fat Greek Wedding": An Independent Film Production That Became an Excellent, Big Fat Paycheck

My Big Fat Greek Wedding – 4 Stars (Excellent)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is simply one of the best movies ever made about close families and their traditions.

This film is on par with Fiddler on the Roof (winner of 3 Oscars among 8 nominations) and A Christmas Story (winner of no major awards and no Oscar nominations), proving that the biggest award-winners are not the only great movies.

A Christmas Story and My Big Fat Greek Wedding were matched bookends in that both films were not thought to be worthy of financing by typical Hollywood backers and ended up as independent films with limited distribution before becoming huge successes.

A Christmas Story, a low budget film that was not expected to do well, was released just before Thanksgiving in 1983. By Christmas the film had been pulled from theaters because it was thought to have been "played out." It was only because of complaints from moviegoers that it was brought back to life and has since developed a loyal following of fans that will not let it die.

Wilson, like Vardalos, is Greek. Wilson's reward as one of the producers with her husband and Gary Goetzman was to see the project completed. The PGA Golden Laurel Awards remembered Rita Wilson by giving her the Visionary Award in 2003. The three producers also won the Golden Laurel Award for Producer of the Year.

So we have in My Big Fat Greek Wedding a low budget, independent film that was about to make Hollywood history.

To show you how dumb the Hollywood financial backers were and how smart Tom Hanks was the estimated $5 million budget for My Big Fat Greek Wedding generated worldwide revenue of $368 million.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) became the highest-grossing independent film of all time, surpassing The Blair Witch Project (1999). It also became the highest grossing movie never to have hit number one at the box office, surpassing Dances of the Wolves (1990). Incredibly , the film was still running in several theaters even after its initial video release.

This film is essentially the story of Toula (Nia Vardalos), a 30-year-old Greek woman who falls in love with John (Ian Miller), a non-Greek man, and struggles to get her family to accept him while both of them come to terms with their heritage, cultural identity and mutual compatibility.

Her father, Gus Portokalos (Michael Constantine) says: "You better get married soon. You're starting to look old!" Gus also says, "There are only two kinds of people, Greeks and people who wish they were Greek." He believes any ailment can be cured with Windex.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is the Greek community at its most accurate and best, all of the suffocating love, demanded tradition, motivation by guilt, male ego, female influence, pride of race, sibling ties, extended family, romance and sacrifice for those we love.

The cast is not star-studded and proves that you do not need to be a headliner to deliver a headliner's performance and then some. Joining Nia Vardalos, Michael Constantine and Ian Miller with significant and meaningful contributions were Lainie Kazan as Toula's mother Maria, Louis Mandylor as Toula's brother Nick, Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula, and Gia Carides as Cousin Nikki.

Vardalos, Constantine, Mandylor and Carides were the only true Greeks in the cast.

There is a point in the film when Toula feels she is losing the battle and laments that "the man is the head of the house." Her mother Maria tells her that "the man is the head, but the woman is the neck, and she can turn the head any way she wants." Maria does so in a confrontation with her husband that should make women proud.

I once went to a Polish funeral and was amazed that when the funeral was over and the reception began, the whiskey flowed and all of the immediate family and friends had a heck of great party drinking, dancing and singing. I learned more about family traditions in different cultures at that Polish funeral. Some cultures celebrate the life of a loved one after the funeral.

Despite the complications presented in My Big Fat Greek Wedding you come away wanting to be Greek because you see the love and the fun that they have much more than any disagreements or disappointments.

At one point, Nick is impressed with Toula's ability to break with tradition (he secretly wants to study art) and says, "Don't let your past dictate who you are, but let it be part of who you will become." "Nick, that's beautiful," replies Toula, to which Nick adds, "Yeah, that dear Abby really knows what she's talking about."

Nia Vardalos wrote the script and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay, was nominated for 6 other lesser screenwriting awards and won 2. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is directed by Joel Zwick who won two minor awards for his effort. I feel he deserved more recognition.

The film garnered little attention among the big award givers but did appropriately win the People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy. Almost as an afterthought, My Big Fat Greek Wedding won the Best Independent Comedy Film Award from the U. S. Comedy Arts Festival. It would be my pleasure if some of the Comedy Film Award judges were Greek.

When I left the theater, I went looking for ouzo, the Greek anise-flavored liqueur so celebrated in the film at Greek gatherings. They would down a shot of ouzo and shout "oumpa."

I married a girl from a very traditional Italian Catholic family. Every Christmas my wife makes Italian cookies with anise-flavored frosting, no wonder I loved My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Anyone who wants a job watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding should be Greek, love ouzo and love having fun. Others need not apply unless, of course, they might want to be Greek, want to try ouzo and have fun!

November 20. 2006

"My Fair Lady" Won 12 Nominations and 8 Oscars with Audrey Hepburn as Eliza

My Fair Lady – 4 Stars (Excellent)

The 1964 musical "My Fair Lady" is one of the best movies ever made, earning 12 Oscar nominations and winning 8 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director (George Cukor) and Best Actor (Rex Harrison) among major awards.

Only Mary Poppins (with 5 Oscars) and Chicago (with 6 Oscars) has had more nominations (13) than My Fair Lady, and only West Side Story has more Oscars (10) with 11 nominations. Cabaret earned 8 Oscars with 10 nominations. Outstanding company to say the least. Personal favorites of mine also include Camelot and Fiddler on the Roof.

My Fair Lady is a must see with some of the best lyrics and music ever written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. This Broadway musical by Lerner and Loewe would become a movie with Audrey Hepburn as the Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle alongside Rex Harrison.

When the professor gloats over his triumphant victory, his perfect lady walks out on him, leaving the professor mystified by her ingratitude. In the end, he realizes his feelings for Eliza, and she tentatively returns, a happy ending that was not part of George Bernard Shaw's original play Pygmalion.

With such a great heritage and Rex Harrison in the movie (he did win the Oscar for Best Actor), this is a truly great film with a marvelous score, and great acting that gives us an absolutely heartwarming story.

See My Fair Lady with your children at home, and give them a wonderful introduction to culture and breeding in the process. One of the great tragedies of our time is a dearth of musicals; thank goodness for the arrival of Chicago in 2002.

Myra Breckenridge – 1 Star (Terrible)

This is Gore Vidal’s then (1970) controversial film about Myron Breckenridge, a man who goes to Europe for a sex change operation and comes back as Myra Breckenridge (played by Raquel Welch, who I did not like in the movie), a man-hating woman. It is not clear in the movie if Myra still retains her male parts, not that it is important to the movie, because this film is garbage with no script flow, no message, no acting and an even worse presentation. Myra Breckenridge had a chance to deliver some information and a message about its theme, but failed miserably. I cannot even begin to imagine what Gore must have been doing when he attempted to write this script. Film efforts like Vidal’s do not increase understanding, but encourage prejudice and ignorance about a controversial topic. This is one bad example of filmmaking, and deserves to die a slow death.

Mystic Pizza – 3 Stars (Good)

What do the movies A Christmas Story, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Mystic Pizza have in common? They sneak their way into your heart. All three movies were not supposed to be any big deal, and many would-be investors agreed, however, moviegoers will not let these films slide into obscurity, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding became the highest grossing independent film ever.

Mystic Pizza is about three recent high school graduates who are waitresses in a pizza parlor that experience some personal growth during a short period of time. They learn valuable life lessons in how to overcome disappointment and adversity, and in some cases discover romance. One wants to marry her way into money, another dreams of going to Yale but needs more money to go with her partial academic scholarship, and the dippiest of the three has a problem making a commitment to marry a guy crazy in love with her.

The pizza parlor is not doing well until a food critic stops by and gives it a rave review, then Mystic Pizza becomes very popular, and the story lines of the three girls become more complicated and funny.

Mystic Pizza is a real pizza parlor in Mystic, Connecticut. Writer Amy Jones was vacationing in Mystic, saw the pizza parlor, was inspired to write the story and later co-wrote the screenplay with Perry and Randy Howze and Alfred Uhry. The film, released in 1988, benefited from the rise of Julia Roberts with her successes in Pretty Woman (a Golden Globe Best Actress Award), Steel Magnolias (a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress Award) and Erin Brockovich (an Oscar and a Golden Globe Best Actress Awards).

Julia Roberts' films have generated more than $2 billion in revenue, and she has become the highest-paid actress in the world. Roberts' net worth has been estimated at $140 million, and she still has the same great look and smile.

Mystic Pizza also marked the film debut for Matt Damon. Ben Affleck also auditioned for Damon's role. Mystic Pizza won virtually no recognition upon release, but viewers will simply not let certain films die, and Mystic Pizza is one of those films. Mystic Pizza is fun to watch and becomes an affair of the heart in spite of its high jinks.

Myths and Logic of Shaolin Kung Fu – 1 Star (Terrible)

This film lets you know early on that the best Kung Fu fighting style—Shaolin—comes from the monks in China. The Myths and Logic of Shaolin Kung Fu is a sketchy, historical account of how the monks train and learn to simultaneously become a religious as well as a deadly fighting machine. These future monks begin before age 10 and never really end a lifelong quest to become a master in this fighting style; dividing their time equally between spiritual development and physical prowess. You will be amazed at the physical skills of these boys before they are 10 years old.

December 16, 2007

"Nanny McPhee" – An Excellent Movie with Magic and a Message for Children

Nanny McPhee – 4 Stars (Excellent)

Bless yourself by renting "Nanny McPhee" and sharing it with your children at home, not in the movie theater. Do this because this film is all about home and your children might relate better in the comfort of their own home. Nanny McPhee is an excellent film with a wonderful message for all children to recognize and understand.

In an entertainment world full of trashy and violent video games with movies to match that dwell on murder, rape, sex, drugs, alcohol, filthy language, broken relationships and crummy morals, Nanny McPhee is everything good about movies for children. You and your children can watch this film without fear of unpleasant and unwanted garbage rooted in sensationalism for ratings and greed.

When finished watching, you can thank the uncompromising excellence of British actress Emma Thompson and British director Kirk Jones for the incredible excellence of Nanny McPhee. I watched this film and went to bed wondering if it was as good as I thought it was. I watched it again the next night and did not wonder again.

Thompson—who has won 2 Academy Awards for Best Actress (Howards End in 1992) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Sense and Sensibility in 1995), and 2 BAFTAs for Best Actress (Howards End and Sense and Sensibility)—wrote the screenplay for Nanny McPhee. BAFTA is the equivalent of the American Oscars, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Kirk Jones (not to be confused with the American rapper and actor Kirk Jones) is a gifted writer and director with great work that has not been properly recognized. Combine Emma Thompson with Kirk Jones and you have the formula for a winning production.

In 1998 Jones wrote and directed his first feature film "Waking Ned Devine" with a budget of $3 million that grossed $90 million worldwide. I believe Jones should have two Oscars and probably would if it were not for the fact that Hollywood's voters are too busy pawing each other and posing for pictures to correct their near-sightedness.

Until a comedy is made that is better than Waking Ned Devine it shall remain my favorite comedy of all time.

If it sounds like I am gushing over Nanny McPhee, I am. There are so many good lines in this script I would not dare to recount them here. Watch the movie and enjoy the experience of listening carefully.

Nanny McPhee the movie is named for a governess (Emma Thompson) who uses magic to rein in the behavior of 7 out-of-control children of recently widowed Mr. Brown (Colin Firth).

Mr. Brown must answer to his Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) who has been financing his family's livelihood and now commands him to marry within the month or she will cut off his sustenance. His bratty children have a genuine fear of losing their father should he marry the widowed Mrs. Quickly (Celia Imrie).

The children, who collectively have driven away 17 consecutive nannies, are led by their older brother Simon (Thomas Sangster). All 6 of the younger children—Tora (Eliza Bennett), Lily (Jennifer Rae Daykin), Eric (Raphael Coleman), Sebastian (Samuel Honywood), Christianna (Holly Gibbs) and Baby Agatha (Hebe Barnes and Zinnia Barnes)—face the same fate as Simon.

Enter Nanny McPhee with her magic and old-fashioned discipline that makes the children aware of their behavior, and soon the children become models of what to do and when to do it.

Beyond the obvious endearments, what makes this film excellent is two huge but subtle elements.

One is the guts of the writer and actress Emma Thompson who creates a character for herself that is repugnant upon first sight. She has two huge warts on her face and an enormous tooth cascading down over her lower lip. Nanny McPhee will repel you upon first look. Thompson's acting skills allow her to be perfectly relaxed and confident despite her appearance. Her make-up was done by designer Peter King.

The other element is the discovery by the children that when they learn a major lesson, one of the warts disappears, and eventually through model behavior by the children, Nanny McPhee becomes better and better looking.

In many such films as this—the "Sound of Music" with Julie Andrews comes to mind—the nanny only influences the children. In Nanny McPhee, the children also become powerful agents for positive change, empowering them in the process. Never underestimate the insight and brilliance of Emma Thompson, the writer or actress.

A tip of the hat to Angela Lansbury in her role as well. Lansbury is a living legend who never goes out of character as Aunt Adelaide. From Broadway to Hollywood to television and back, Angela Lansbury is a British national treasure.

Nanny McPhee is based on the "Nurse Matilda" books by Christianna Brand. Emma Thompson said it took her 9 years to write the screenplay; it took her 5 years to write her Oscar-winning Sense and Sensibility.

Trust me when I say that Nanny McPhee was worth the wait and then some. Watch Nanny McPhee and learn with your children some important lessons in human nature.

Ed's Note: Read my other reviews on kids and youth who are inspirational, including "Akeelah and the Bee", "Saint Ralph", "High School Musical" and "2 Movies About Young Adults That Prove Their Integrity and Substance".

Napoleon Dynamite – 1 Star (Terrible)

Napoleon Dynamite is a nerd in high school who tries to make sense of his life amid a cast of almost totally dysfunctional people. As near as I could tell, there was exactly one normal person in the film.

This film relies on some corny humor to carry it along, but it lacks a central writing flaw in order to gain any shred of competence: the central character in the movie (Napoleon Dynamite, played by Jon Heder) is a nerd that is simply not likeable. The only honest psychological reaction in the movie is the standing ovation at the end, after Napoleon’s dance skit. I would not pay to see this movie again, and am not a better person for having seen it.

The Academy and its Oscars (which actually matter) ignored this film like they would a moral code (in other words, as if it was never made). Napoleon Dynamite is a "cult" film and remains very popular with the younger set; seniors like myself are hardly impressed. I believe the chief problem with this film is we find Jared Hess, the director, also shares the writing credits (if you can call them that) with Jerusha Hess (I assume a relation). When directors become writers and writers become directors the results are seldom good, as evidenced here.

February 3, 2007

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika in German) – 3 Stars (Good)

Only Walter could see it coming. His extended family in Germany could not see that Adolph Hitler would turn on his own German citizens who were Jewish. Walter was a professional, a judge and a German citizen, not a Jew who happened to be a German citizen. He would leave Germany and take his family to Africa in 1938. Walter was right.

During World War II from 1941 to 1945, Hitler and his Nazi regime would murder more than 6 million Jews in a program of planned extermination. Walter and his family would escape death, but many members of his extended family would not, they would be divided and scattered in concentration camps to suffer atrocities and die. "Nowhere in Africa" is Walter's story, based on the true story of a Jewish family that fled to a remote farm in Kenya.

Walter Redlich (played by Merab Ninidze) takes his wife Jettel (Julianne Kohler) and daughter Regina (Lea Kurka plays the younger part and Karoline Ecketz the older part) to Kenya over the objections of his immediate and extended family.

Upon their arrival, they realize that their destination and lodging are remote, desolate and humble. Walter is to function as a caretaker, a reduction in station that turns his wife Jettel into a miserable, whiny, untouchable presence. When she met Walter he was a judge in their homeland in once-comfortable surroundings. Now she is reduced to nothing, not to mention the fact that nearly all of her precious belongings were left behind. Her sense of values is all but absent.

Only their 5-year-old daughter Regina embraces her new surroundings, learning the local language and customs and finding a new friend in Owuor (Sidede Onyulo), the farm's cook.

The British Army will arrive at some point and he and his family will be whisked off to a hotel back in Kenyan civilization. Walter will eventually join the British Army in its fight against Germany, and his wife will have an affair with an officer that her daughter will notice.

As time has a way of healing some of us, Jettel grows more self-assured in her new life as Walter becomes more haunted by the life he left behind. When the war ends, Walter receives an offer to return to his old position and decides to do so. Jettel at this point is unmovable, and Regina will stay with her mother. Interestingly enough, Walter never is given credit for saving his family from the Holocaust.

Walter does leave, but on his way out he realizes the farm, which is now producing crops in abundance, is about to be attacked by migratory locusts. He somewhat reluctantly returns to help his wife, daughter, and the farm hands to fight off the locusts. We are left with the assumption that because Walter returns, he will stay with his family  and be reconciled.

Nowhere in Africa is a German film written and directed by Caroline Link. Released in 2001, Nowhere in Africa would win an Oscar as the Best Foreign Language Film, be nominated by the Golden Globes for the same award, pick up 17 more awards and 6 more nominations, many of them overseas.

Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika in German) is based on the best-selling autobiographical novel by Stephanie Zweig.

This film is worth seeing because—despite the obstacles—it tests the strength of a marriage and a family to stay together.

Read more of my movie reviews on families, including:

"A Christmas Story"

"My Big Fat Greek Wedding"

"Secondhand Lions"

"The Chorus (Les Choristes in French)"

"Waking Ned Devine"

These are all excellent films that can make you smile, laugh, cry and feel better for the experience. Don't just live life, experience life!

August 27, 2009

One of the Great Travesties in Film History: Audrey Hepburn in "Paris – When It Sizzles"

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

We may never know how Audrey Hepburn ended up playing opposite William Holden in the romantic comedy "Paris – When It Sizzles". What we can say without doubt is that it was the worst movie of her illustrious career.

She did not even look comfortable in the role of Gabrielle "Gaby" Simpson, a young assistant to Richard "Rick" Benson (William Holden), a lazy, inept, alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter more interested in frittering away his time than working.

In short, Rick is paid in advance to write a script for a Hollywood producer, and has spent months in Paris doing nothing. When push comes to shove, he has two days to do the work that should have been all but completed. Rick hires Gaby to help him do the impossible.

Rick does not have a clue where to begin, so Gaby comes up with every idea, and then the movie sends us through a convoluted series of switches wherein Gaby comes up with an idea and the two of them play out the scene on screen. To say this script gets a little confusing in the process would be an understatement. The plot becomes an absolute circus of confusion without drawing the viewer into the apparent predicament.

Audrey Hepburn was and still remains Hollywood's most complete actress. There has never been another actress in the history of movies that has combined her four timeless qualities of beauty, fashion, grace and humility. Some actresses have achieved beauty and fashion, a very few have added grace, but none of them—past or present—have also been able to add Audrey's sense of humility.

To cast her in this film was a travesty.

Audrey Hepburn won a Best Actress Oscar and a Golden Globe for her debut performance in "Roman Holiday", then won 3 other Academy Award nominations for Best Actress is "Sabrina", "The Nun's Story" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" before making "Paris – When It Sizzles".

It has been said that every leading man who played opposite Audrey Hepburn fell in love with her. William Holden was no exception. When awards time came, this film disaster was completely ignored; it was really that terrible.

Did I mention that Audrey Hepburn also received a Best Actress Golden Globe Award for "Roman Holiday" as well as another 7 nominations for Best Actress Golden Globe Awards?

It is a good thing that there are so many other great moments to remember in Audrey Hepburn films.

Passion of the Christ, The – 2 Stars (Average)

This very controversial film by Mel Gibson details the final hours and crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross by the Romans. The King James Version of the Holy Bible records the events leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. If Christ did not rise from the dead then Christianity is arguably the greatest fraud ever perpetrated upon the human race. If Christ did rise from the dead then Christianity is arguably going to reward those who believe in Christ and punish those who do not.

The Passion of the Christ is controversial because more than 5 billion people on planet Earth do not claim Christianity as their religion of choice. With more than a billion members Christianity is the most widespread religion in the world.

Belief in Christ and Christianity requires a leap of faith, not logic. Arguing about whether Christianity is real or not belies the value of its benefits to the believer. Most Christians believe in one God in three Persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) and that Jesus is the Son of God who rose from the dead after being crucified; a Christian hopes to attain eternal life after death through faith in Jesus Christ and tries to live by his teachings as recorded in the New Testament.

Mel Gibson is among the one billion plus believers in Christ. As a Roman Catholic Gibson joins fellow Christians who are Protestant and Eastern Orthodox in practicing their faith. Mel Gibson is also among the one billion plus believers in Christ who are sinners.

Millions of Christians saw this film and rated it highly because Gibson chose to honor the written word about Christ in directing the film; he literally left any Hollywood influence behind and focused on showing the excruciating way in which Christ was crucified. By doing so Gibson alienated many believers of other religions who might have felt the detailed emphasis on the method of crucifixion was overdone.

The Passion of the Christ received three Oscar nominations and no major awards. He is not without accolades as his 1995 effort in Braveheart garnered Oscar awards for Best Director and Best Picture. Gibson probably got over the rejection of critics in The Passion of the Christ by looking at his bank account. The movie grossed $611 million worldwide and became the 8th highest-grossing film in history, and the highest-grossing R rated film of all time; the R rating was for violence, not sex or language.

My best guess is that Mel Gibson would prefer to be judged by a higher source than Hollywood.

November 20, 2006

Phantom of the Opera, The – 4 Stars (Excellent)

The release of The Phantom of the Opera in 2004 was such an exciting event, bringing this great play to film so millions could see the excellence of this masterpiece, which garnered only 3 nominations and no Oscars at the Academy Awards. No matter. Perhaps the earlier success of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical composition of The Phantom of the Opera, based on the novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, was too successful to give the movie version much acclaim.

This Phantom of the Opera movie has it all: a story line, plot, great writing, great presentation, and even better music and lyrics.

A cast of unknowns was used; there is no headliner, but the female lead (Emmy Rossum as Christine) is attractive and, much more important, an opera singer who can actually sing without having her voice dubbed in.

This Phantom is not perfect, but it is very well done, and the music could not be better. There are so many great songs (as it is with all great musicals); and I loved the voice of Emmy Rossum. See this film when you can, you will be better for the experience.

September 1, 2007

"The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" is hands down the best pirate movie ever made, earning 5 Oscar nominations, and Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow delivered the best pirate performance ever. Johnny Depp looks and acts like a very likeable pirate, and his wearing of the costume and persona is second to none.

Most pirate films rely heavily on the story line and action to carry the film, but Johnny Depp trumps the story line and action in creating a centerpiece character around which only good things happen.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl captured and held my imagination from beginning to end. Even the supernatural in the film seems believable and real; the film under the direction of Gore Verbinski is that well done.

The story is really about Captain Jack Sparrow losing his ship (The Black Pearl), and embarking on a quest to find and win The Black Pearl back from his rival, Captain Hector Barbossa (played by Geoffrey Rush) who has pirated the ship away and left Captain Jack marooned on an island.

Also chasing Elizabeth is the dashing Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), a blacksmith who enlists the aid of Captain Jack Sparrow to find his lifelong love. Bloom is chasing Elizabeth, but Captain Jack is really chasing the treasure that Barbossa found first. Barbossa and his crew spent the treasure—882 Aztec coins—only to find it cursed, rendering them immortal skeletal beings whose true forms are only revealed in the moonlight.

Barbossa takes Will to Isla de Muerta (Spanish for Island of the Dead) to break the curse. In an ensuing fight, Captain Jack and Will manage to break the curse. Barbossa returns to being mortal and Captain Jack shoots and kills him.

Among the characters are Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally), Jack Sparrow's friend and first mate; Pintel (Lee Arenberg), a seedy looking pirate aboard the Black Pearl; Ragetti (Mackenzie Crook), Pintel's buddy with a wooden eye that never seems to stay in place; and Murtogg (Giles New) and Mullroy (Angus Barnett), a couple of Royal Navy inept goofballs.

Depp earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination following release of the film in 2003, but did not win, mainly because he chooses not to live in Hollywood and practice the art of kissing up, sucking up, and putting on a public display of importance.

Credit Verbinski with hanging tough. He was attracted to the idea of using modern technology to resurrect a genre that had disappeared after the Golden Age of Hollywood. Depp was attracted to the story because it was quirky: rather than trying to find treasure the crew of the Black Pearl was trying to return it in order to break its curse.

After researching 18th Century pirates, Depp compared them to modern rock stars and decided to base his performance on his friend Keith Richards, playing Captain Jack in an off-kilter manner.

Depp shot back, saying "Look, these are the choices I made. You know my work. So either trust me or give me the boot."

Eisner wised up and took his head out of his backside. The Curse of the Black Pearl grossed approximately $47 million opening weekend before doing $305 million in the United States and $654 million worldwide, becoming the 4th highest grossing film of 2003.

I have seen this film three times and would see it a fourth, which is really saying something for me.

March 5, 2008

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Pretty Woman – 4 Stars (Excellent)

"Pretty Woman" was originally scripted as a dark drama about prostitution in Los Angeles, but thankfully movie producer Laura Ziskin said "No" and what started out as a very brooding, negative film turned into one of the most popular and financially successful romantic comedies of all time. Find out why.

With a production cost of $14 million and a worldwide gross of $464 million, Laura Ziskin had to be smiling all of the way to the bank.

Pretty Woman's title character, Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts), is a down-on-her-luck prostitute who is hired by Edward Lewis (Richard Gere), a wealthy businessman and corporate raider, as arm candy for several business functions.

The arrangement works well but begins to get complicated when Edward discovers Vivian is not just a hooker from Hollywood Boulevard but also a woman of substance, and Vivian finds herself falling in love in a situation that essentially has no future.

There is nothing positive about the common perception of a hooker, but Vivian smashes through the normal perceptions by quickly getting viewers past her obvious good looks and revealing her inner beauty, transparent feelings and uncompromising commitment by not settling for a comfortable, Edward-financed lifestyle as arm candy and companion.

Her willingness to walk away from the fee arrangement for her gig ultimately gets Edward's attention, and a Hollywood story line takes over. Vivian becomes so likeable we want to cheer for her as she stands her ground and forces Edward to make a decision. Both Vivian and Edward experience some serious personal growth that moviegoers can relate to and appreciate.

The story line reminds me of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, which became the basis for the Broadway musical "My Fair Lady" with Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, a poor flower girl who morphs into a beautiful princess. The character of Vivian also reminds me of Audrey Hepburn's role as Holly Golightly, another lady of the night in "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

Director Garry Marshall completely avoids negatives in this film by wisely handling Vivian's role, and playing the characters around her like a concert master fine tuning an orchestra. His work went a long way in helping Pretty Woman win a Golden Globe for Best Picture. Richard Gere picked up a Golden Globe for Best Actor, and Hector Elizondo won a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe as the hotel manager Barney Thompson.

The shining star in Pretty Woman was Julia Roberts. She was a relative unknown at the time, and walked away with a Golden Globe as Best Actress and an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress.

Pretty Woman, released in 1990, was notable for the number of leading ladies who turned down the role of Vivian, including Molly Ringwald, Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer and Daryl Hannah. Julia Roberts really won the role by default, but she made the most of her opportunity and the movie quickly made her Hollywood's newest sweetheart, a role she held for nearly 15 years.

Al Pacino also turned down the role of Edward Lewis, leaving the door open for Richard Gere.

Here is some key trivia in the movie:

1) The opera in San Francisco that Edward flies Vivian to in a private jet is "La Traviata", the tale of a Parisian courtesan who falls in love with a wealthy young man.

2) Richard Gere actually plays the piano himself in a late night scene, he even composed the music that he plays.

3) The sports car Edward borrows at the beginning of the movie is a Lotus Esprit. Ferrari and Porsche turned down the advertising opportunity because they did not want to be associated with soliciting prostitutes. Lotus won big time as its Esprit sales tripled during the next year.

The film also benefited from its title and association to "Oh, Pretty Woman", Roy Orbison's worldwide hit recorded 26 years earlier.

I really liked Pretty Woman and not just because of Julia Roberts' jump-off-the-screen attractiveness, especially after Edward escorts Vivian to Rodeo Drive for a shopping spree, proving that clothes can complete even a very attractive woman. Even more important is her courage, determination, substance and dignity under stress.

If you like relationship movies and romantic comedies, Pretty Woman is a must see.

November 27, 2006

Pride and Prejudice – 1 Star (Terrible)

"Pride and Prejudice" is another retelling of Jane Austin’s novel set in 19th Century England about a mother trying to marry off her 5 daughters to prosperous gentlemen callers.

Unfortunately for Jane Austin and this viewer, the movie was an English presentation, which means the sound is so bad you could hardly hear lines at critical times, the script adaptation was fractured (the British love to do this as it makes the movie seem cryptic, they so love cryptic, no one else does, but they revel in it), and about 80% of the movie appeared artificial (many crowd scenes without a purpose and speaking lines while walking down the road with noise all around).

What is it with the British? They too often make films you cannot hear, and the technical flaws and lack of attention take center stage in what should be a showpiece in a classic like Pride and Prejudice.

This 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice is forgettable to me, except for two scenes, saved by Keira Knightly, who was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar but did not win; she may have won if the director of this technical undoing was worth a snap.

Pride and Prejudice did win its share of honors, with 4 Oscar nominations (no wins) and 35 other nominations from 18 different award groups. These award givers were apparently watching a great movie, it just was not the same movie I was watching.

Prince and the Showgirl, The – 1 Star (Terrible)

A showgirl (Marilyn Monroe) and a stuffy prince (Laurence Olivier) work through an unlikely romance.  The Prince and the Showgirl, made in 1957, is best left in 1957; it was too easy to tell that some of the background scenes were paintings. The most interesting thing in the film was Marilyn Monroe cast with long blonde hair (it was early in her career). Her famous pictures as a glamour girl never showed her with long hair.

The Producers – 2 Stars (Average)

The Producers is a Broadway musical featuring a washed up producer and creative accountant who set out to prove that you can make more money by failing than succeeding. Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) was once on top of Broadway's world and now cannot get a show past opening night.

When neurotic accountant Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick) arrives on the scene he proposes a nifty scheme to put Max back in the chips: raise more money than he needs and make sure his show flops so he can pocket the difference. Max comes to love the idea since he has been reduced to romancing rich old ladies to get seed money to operate.

If you guessed that the screenplay was written by Mel Brooks you are right. If it sounds familiar you are right again. The Producers is a remake of the original Producers written and directed by the same Mel Brooks 37 years earlier. Brooks won an Oscar for Best Writing in 1968, and Gene Wilder was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Role as Leo Bloom.

The name Bialystock was taken from the Polish city that was home to Mel Brooks' ancestors. Because of the "Springtime for Hilter" musical number in 1968, the film was banned in Germany, and was not shown in Germany until it was included in a film festival featuring the works of Jewish filmmakers. It has also been suggested that the term "creative accounting" may have originated in the 1968 production of The Producers.

Mel Brooks is not your usual talent. He may well be more of a stranger to sanity than comedy. Trust me when I say that the 2005 version of The Producers is meant to be enjoyed without looking for a comfortable story line or serious message. It is nothing more or less than pure entertainment.

The 2005 version of The Producers was nominated for 4 Golden Globes: Best Picture, Best Original Song ("There's Nothing Like a Show on Broadway" by Mel Brooks), Nathan Lane as Best Actor and Will Farrell as Best Supporting Actor.

You may remember Thurman from Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Pulp Fiction (1994), Gattaca (1997) and two Kill Bill movies (2003 and 2004). She earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress as Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction. Despite the nonsensical good fun, I enjoyed watching Uma Thurman as Ulla, proving that the right blond with the right sex appeal never gets old.

August 9, 2009

Movie Review:

"The Proposal" Offers Important Lessons About How Relationships Can Get Better

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

The Proposal – 3 Stars (Good)

The drive to become successful in corporate America can involve total commitment, long hours, stiff competition, and the necessary talent to overcome the obstacles. When your name is Margaret Tate, it can also mean having no life before, during and after work.

Welcome to "The Proposal" starring Sandra Bullock as Margaret Tate, an always-in-control, unfeeling editor-in-chief for a major book publisher in the Big Apple.

Tate forces her assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her in order to avoid being deported back to Canada. Paxton accepts under the condition that he achieves his primary goal in life, to become an editor. When the government investigates what appears to be a sham effort to avoid deportation, the two conspirators are forced to spend a weekend with his parents in Alaska.

Once there, Margaret Tate finds her entire life slipping out-of-control, and Andrew Paxton begins to see a totally different side of his dictatorial, intemperate boss. Could there be an underbelly to Margaret that will unravel when she encounters the close-knit Paxton clan?

Pete Chiarelli gets major props for writing a good romantic comedy here that reminds us of some very basic values that have gone out of style in our modern relationships, like truthfulness and integrity. Chiarelli’s story slowly brings us back to one of the greatest decisions we will ever make in relationships, knowing when to bite the bullet, regain your senses, become humble, and go after what you want—the person of your choice.

Director Anne Fletcher brings The Proposal all together in the end, like a perfect bow on an exquisitely-wrapped wedding present. It is not easy to direct romantic comedies, the tendency is to get sappy, sophomoric, sentimental or silly. Anne Fletcher does none of this, thanks in part to Sandra Bullock.

I have become a huge fan of Sandra Bullock. When I see her again in The Proposal, I am struck again by her ability to play the part without ever appearing to be an actress or acting.

Sandra Bullock is not drop dead gorgeous like Catherine Zeta Jones, but she is obviously an attractive woman. If you were to see her on the red carpet for the first time, you would not think arm candy. You would be stunned by her understated simplicity, depth and presence.

Bullock’s appeal on the screen is becoming even more popular. Part of this growing awareness of Bullock may be due to women moviegoers who, when looking at Catherine Zeta Jones, know they will never be able to relate fully to such a gorgeous creature, whereas, with Sandra Bullock, she could be the girl next door that could also be them.

Women can see themselves as Bullock, she is not out of reach. Moreover, guys can look at Bullock and actually think about asking her out on a date. The average guy could only fantasize about Catherine Zeta Jones, but he thinks he could date Bullock, that’s huge.

Ryan Reynolds does enough with his role to get second and third looks as a leading man. Hollywood is starving for younger leading men. Yes, there is Brad Pitt, Leonardo De Caprio and Johnny Depp, and women love them. Problem is, they are not leading men. We continually find them in action adventures, not romance dramas or romantic comedies.

Watching the film, I thought, "If this is what Alaska looks like, I want to go." However, in life, people and things are not always as they appear to be. The Proposal was actually filmed in Boston and on Boston’s North Shore. And all of those snow-capped mountains? They were added later digitally.

If you liked watching "Sleepless in Seattle" my guess is that you would enjoy The Proposal.

November 27, 2006

Punch-Drunk Love – 1 Star (Terrible)

I felt this comedy with Adam Sander might be disappointing just based on the title, and, true to form, it was disappointing. Punch-Drunk Love is a terrible film with terrible dialogue, terrible sequence and terrible throughout; the film never gets better, it is lousy to the end and stupid beyond belief.

It is not worth watching even though Adam Sandler is the lead, and that is saying something. Sandler needs a better script and a better story line to showcase his talent. Did I mention that the director of this mess, Paul Thomas Anderson, is also the writer? ('nuff said).

Any awards for Punch-Drunk Love? Are you serious, mate? I forgot the title to this film before I left the theater, and I was sober.

August 10, 2007

"The Quiet Man" Is a Love Story Set in the Emerald Isle of Ireland

The Quiet Man – 4 Stars (Excellent)

No one ever said that filmmaking was easy, only that it could be very good and sometimes enduring, as in "The Quiet Man", starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara with legendary Director John Ford.

Like a lot of great films, The Quiet Man is a story of the conflict and conquest in the courtship of a man and a woman. A woman determined to get her way, a brother determined to keep his sister from the man she loves, and a man determined to win the heart of the woman he marries.

Irish-born Sean Thornton (John "Duke" Wayne) is an American who swears off being a professional fighter after accidentally killing an opponent in the ring.

Mary Kate's brother, Will "Red" Danaher (Victor McLaglen) stands in their way. Without her brother's permission, she cannot marry Sean. The male dominance in Irish culture during this period is evident. Women were to obey, period.

Red Danaher resents the fact that Sean was able to purchase his birth home adjacent to the Danaher's property. Danaher had continually bid for the property next door but lost out to the American "newcomer" and outsider.

Eventually Danaher is duped into letting Sean marry Mary Kate, but initially he refuses to let Mary Kate take her inheritance (furniture and a dowry). The villagers persuade Red to give Mary Kate her furniture, but he stands fast on the dowry.

Mary Kate is a woman who, if nothing else, makes it clear she will be dealt with despite her ill temper and stubbornness. She believes that Sean is a coward for not confronting her brother Red. Sean simply does not want to accidentally kill another man in a fight over money.

When Mary Kate decides to leave her marriage and take the train out of town, Sean goes into action. After dragging Mary Kate off the train and through the pasture, the longest fistfight in screen history erupts.

The story of The Quiet Man reminds me of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and its movie version in 1967 starring Elizabeth Taylor as Katharina and Richard Burton as Petruchio.

Katharina is cast as an ill-tempered, strong-willed, opinionated, vocal, recalcitrant, unmanageable woman. Petruchio manages to bring her around and when he does, Katharina is content to do his bidding. I see a lot of Mary Kate Danaher in Katharina.

The supporting cast of The Quiet Man is a collection of Irishmen worthy of the name: Michaleen Oge Flynn (Barry Fitzgerald), Father Peter Lonergan (Ward Bond), Father Paul (James O'Hara) and The Widow Sarah Tillane (Mildred Natwick) among others. And, yes, there are a lot of relatives in this cast.

In 1944, John Ford, John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara made a handshake agreement to do the film version, but it would take another 8 years for Ford to raise the money necessary to produce the film.

The Quiet Man was the first American feature to be filmed in Ireland's picturesque countryside. The film almost never happened as Ford was told by producers that a "silly Irish story would not make a penny."

Finally Republic Pictures was approached and studio chief Herbert Yates relented under the condition that Ford, Wayne and O'Hara would also do a western for Republic, a sure money-maker that would offset losses anticipated from The Quiet Man. The result was the 1950 production of "Rio Grande".

Maureen O'Hara (real name Maureen Fitzsimons) was born in County Dublin, Ireland, spoke Irish and used her Gaelic language in the film. Her father was part owner of Ireland's leading football team, the Shamrock Rovers.

John Wayne was half Irish. He appeared in more than 20 of Ford's films, many of them low budget westerns and war movies. The Duke said that of all the films he made, The Quiet Man was his favorite.

Ford earned his 4th and last Best Director Oscar for The Quiet Man in 1952. His other 3 Best Director Oscars were for "The Informer" in 1935, "The Grapes of Wrath" in 1940 and "How Green Was My Valley" in 1941. Only How Green Was My Valley won an Oscar for Best Picture.

Ford received the American Film Institute's first Life Achievement Award in 1973. He has been recognized as one of the greatest directors of all time. His work had an influence on directors Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Peter Bogdanovich, Sergio Leone, Jean-Luc-Godard and Akira Kurosawa.

The Quiet Man won a second Oscar for Best Cinematography and was nominated for 5 other Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Victor McLaglen), Best Art Direction, Best Sound and Best Writing (screenplay by Frank Nugent). The Best Picture Oscar in 1952 went to "The Greatest Show on Earth".

The Quiet Man is an Irish movie filmed in Ireland for the glory of Ireland, its people and its culture. I am only 15% Irish and a third generation American, but always claim that my 15% Irish heritage is the best part of me.

A 9 Year Old Weighs In on "Racing Stripes"

August 18, 2009

"Radio"—the true story of high school football coach Harold Jones and a mentally-challenged young man named James Robert "Radio" Kennedy—might well be one of the most under-rated and under-appreciated movies in film history.

James Kennedy was nicknamed "Radio" by the townspeople of Anderson, South Carolina because he was always listening to discarded radios. As a youth he would push or ride a grocery cart down the street, talking to no one. It was 1976 and Radio did not attend school because he was mentally challenged, and an easy target for kids more fortunate.

Coach Jones (played magnificently by veteran actor Ed Harris) eventually has Radio helping out as a "coach" and sitting on the bench during the games. When Radio's new-found acceptance leads to his self-image and self-confidence rising, his enthusiasm creates a distraction for the team at a critical moment, and some boosters (like the father of a star player) want Radio gone.

Fortunately for Radio, his unpretentious love and loyalty to the coach and players resonates, and Radio is allowed to remain part of both the team and the school. At this point in time, Radio is attending school, not as a student, but as a positive influence on the students and a welcome school-helper.

Radio the movie was inspired by Gary Smith's 1996 article titled "Someone to Lean On" that first appeared in Sports Illustrated magazine. The film benefits greatly from the script by Mike Rich and direction by Mike Tollin, also one of the producers with Herb Gains and Brian O'keefe. Radio managed to generate $52+ million at the box office, but received mixed positive and negative reviews by the critics (of which I am one).

Radio was a terrific movie with a genuine message of value. Radio gets a positive answer to my most searching question as a movie reviewer: Am I a better person for having seen this film? You better believe it.

Cuba Gooding Jr. had won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor in "Jerry Maguire" (remember his famous line "Show me the money"), and was nominated for a Golden Globe for the same award.

The really good news about Radio is that Radio is still helping coach the Hanna High School team and bringing his presence to the school. He remains a story that continues to grow and radiate with positive vibes.

Road to Perdition: Pretty Gory

Rumor Has It – 1 Star (Terrible)

Jennifer Aniston (as journalist Sarah Huttinger) is going nowhere a thousand miles an hour in Rumor Has It. This movie is disjointed, not psychologically sound, and comes together like mixing four different kinds of food on your plate, eating it, and saying it tastes good. You almost want to like the film, but it underwhelms you at every turn. Director Rob Reiner was out to lunch on this one.

September 19, 2007

Ryan's Daughter – 4 Stars (Excellent)

"Ryan's Daughter" is a love story that evolves into a love triangle set in the epic splendor of an isolated village on Ireland's scenic Dingle Peninsula. Like all love triangles, it ends in a disaster that becomes a tragedy.

Rosy Ryan (Sarah Miles) seeks to find that certain something that is missing in her life and thinks she finds it when she announces her love for her former schoolteacher, Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum), who is old enough to be her father.

Major Doryan is a World War I hero who ends up in the village as part of the British occupation while the war continues on in Europe. The villagers resent the British presence and will jump at a chance to fight for their freedom.

Tim O'Leary (Barry Foster) leads a resistance force that awaits the arrival of German weapons so they can finally arm and defend themselves against the British takeover.

Michael adores Rosy but instinctively knows he has no chance. He feels a kinship with Major Doryan as they both suffer from profound limps. Both the limp and shell shock are from Doryan's war injuries.

Tom Ryan (Leo McKern) is Rosy's father and owner of the local pub. He is a big freedom talker who is taken at his word to be a freedom fighter by the rebel leader O'Leary, who leans on him for support in gathering up the German weapons that are dropped off at sea and floating to shore.

When the rebels seek to haul off the weapons stash, they are met by British soldiers who have been tipped off by Tom Ryan. O'Leary is shot by Major Doryan and captured while trying to escape. It is assumed he will be hung for leading the rebellion.

Once exposed, the villagers consider the unfaithful Rosy to be the "British officer's whore" as well as a disloyal and dishonorable informant when in fact it is her father. Ryan, whose wife has died, has spoiled his daughter growing up, and it is he who is the silent informer for the British that is never exposed, even when he has an opportunity to save his daughter from harm.

Major Doryan ends up on the beach with Michael who has recovered some dynamite. When Doryan realizes his affair with Rosy is over, he uses the dynamite to commit suicide.

Rosy's husband is aware of her adultery but hopes it will run its course, and he will be there when it is over. When he finds he is unable to handle it, he decides to leave Rosy. They both know that they must leave the village and are led out of town by Father Collins (Trevor Howard), the Catholic priest.

Cinematographer Freddie Young captures the raw beauty of Ireland with its ocean cliffs, green countryside, lazy pastures and hidden forest love nest. Young shot the film entirely in a 65mm widescreen format and in Super Panavision. It was the last such film shot until 22 years later when Ron Howard filmed "Far and Away" in 1992.

The storm scene is nothing short of spectacular as well as real. Leo McKern (as Rosy's father Tom) was injured and badly shaken up while filming the storm sequence and nearly drowned. McKern was so upset he vowed never to act again and did not for several years.

Sarah Miles received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and the film earned another nomination for Best Sound. Mills also won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. Sarah Miles (Best Actress) and Trevor Howard (Best Supporting Actor) won Golden Globe nominations.

A lot of critics at the time were not kind to David Lean as director of Ryan's Daughter. Lean was no slouch. He earned two Best Director Oscars for "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "Lawrence of Arabia".

Lean was also nominated for a Best Director Oscar for "Doctor Zhivago" which won 5 Oscars and had 4 other nominations. Robert Bolt wrote Doctor Zhivago as well as Ryan's Daughter and "A Man for All Seasons". Bolt was twice married to Sarah Miles.

Ryan's Daughter is a slow developing romance. The film runs 3 hours and 16 minutes. Like almost all of Lean's films, Ryan's Daughter was hugely popular with moviegoers and movie lovers alike.

Ryan's Daughter is a story about relationships and an epic film worth watching.

Saint Ralph – 2 Stars (Average)

Saint Ralph is the story of Ralph Walker (Adam Butcher), a 14-year-old boy who is raised by his single mother. He grows up without his father who died a war hero. His mother then gets ill and falls into a coma while he ends up living in his home alone telling school authorities he is living with his grandparents.

As if his life is not troubled enough, he is picked on and put down continually by his Catholic school classmates.

When he realizes he is bound for an orphanage if his mother dies, he has an epiphany that tells him if he accomplishes the miracle of winning the Boston Marathon his mother will come out of her comma and recover.

This is a good film with a good message that falls short of a great film. There are audio problems which experience and knowledge could solve. Ralph has a diction problem which maturity and experience could resolve.

The title (Saint Ralph) does nothing to lift this good film to a great one. Miracle in the Making would have been a better title than setting up poor Ralph with the task of becoming a saint. The story line is really too much of a stretch, but at least the movie will touch your heart and moisten your eyes.

I would love to give this movie a 3-star rating, because it deserves it, but it just does not get it done.

"Secondhand Lions" Is a Masterpiece of Storytelling by Writer/Director Tim McCanlies

Secondhand Lions – 4 Stars (Excellent)

A masterpiece of storytelling written and directed by Tim McCanlies (remember the name). Near as I can tell, this film generated little stir when made in 2003, and had absolutely no nominations for Oscars (what a shame).

These were some great pictures that won Oscars or nominations, and I personally saw 6 of the 8 mentioned. Of the 6 that I saw, only Whale Rider had a real life message to give beyond the glitz, gadgetry and computer-generated wizardry of Hollywood at its best.

The story of a poor excuse of a mother forcing her teenage son to spend the summer with his great uncles seems simple enough. What the teenage son (Haley Joel Osment) learns about his uncles (Michael Caine and Robert Duvall) is almost beyond belief and the viewer is left wondering if the stories he hears are a figment of someone’s imagination or the real deal.

In the process, the viewer is getting some life lessons in the importance of integrity, courage, honesty, independence, love, compassion, values, morals, manners and belief (the “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” variety, and the belief that comes from living the belief others doubt).

Despite its superb presentation, Secondhand Lions came up with no Oscar nominations; it did win a Heartland Film Festival Award of Excellence, and should have received much more acclaim in my judgment. Secondhand Lions is a very impressive film and an excellent piece of storytelling.

Secondhand Lions is a truly classic movie. I knew instinctively this was going to be a great movie when the boy opens the trunk in his room and its contents are covered with sand (you know this when you spend a year in Libya, North Africa, just above the Sahara Desert), and when the first time the boy follows his Uncle Hub outside at night and looks at the steps he has to go down before he does so (wouldn’t you, if you were going down the steps in darkness for the first time?).

Second Jungle Book, The – 2 Stars (Average)

Rudyard Kipling’s book about a young boy (Mowgli, pronounced Mo-Glee) raised in the jungle by animals, notably wolves, a bear (Baloo) and a black panther. An operative for P. T. Barnum’s Circus, traveling through India, discovers the existence of the boy and sets out to bring him to civilization and the circus. The boy’s uncle, who inherits the fortune that should have belonged to the boy they thought was dead, sets out with the operative to kill the boy and preserve his fortune. This movie has great scenes of the animals (including a Bengal Tiger) and the boy as a lead is beyond cute, he is very likable. Will the boy learn about civilization, or choose to live in the wild? Watch and see, and enjoy this family movie along the way.

Serendipity – 2 Stars (Average)

"Serendipity" begs the question: "Can you trust pure fate or destiny to bring two people together when the odds of doing so are impossible?"

A common definition of fate is "the development of events outside a person's control", and a common definition of destiny is "the hidden power believed to control what will happen in the future". Given this perspective, the odds are long and not good. Which is why we root for the two people in this movie to ultimately beat the odds.

Such is the mindset of Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale) when she momentarily meets Jonathan Trager (John Cusack) in Bloomingdale's while buying a pair of gloves. Sara is buying them for her boyfriend, and Jonathan is buying them for his girlfriend.

They both hook up for a few hours despite being committed to another, and Jonathan almost immediately decides he wants to see more of Sara. Sara, a believer in fate, is finally coaxed into giving Jonathan her phone number, but the wind blows the slip of paper away. Sara is all about reading signals, and this is the first of many.

Jonathan stays in New York, but Sara eventually ends up in San Francisco.

Ten years pass and both of them are engaged and soon to be married to someone else. Jonathan has searched for the book but never found it, and Sara wonders if her chosen one, Lars Hammond (John Corbett), is really the right choice.

They begin to search for each other as time nears for Jonathan to walk down the aisle with Halley Buchanan (Bridget Moynahan). Jonathan enlists the aid of his best friend Dean Kansky (Jeremy Piven), and Sara seeks help from her friend Eve (Molly Shannon). Without realizing it, they nearly cross paths several times before we find out what fate and destiny have in store for the wannabe couple.

While the genuineness of John Cusack in his role is believable, and there are some really great shots of Kate Beckinsale looking mighty fine, there really is no great acting going on. Despite the plot, Serendipity gets virtually zip notice for acting, directing or scriptwriting at awards time.

It is the idea of the movie—that we want to believe in the magic of these two souls finding each other in the end—that draws us in and makes it work. On this score, I am just as big a sucker as the next guy.

When we both were ready to graduate from college and she was getting married, I contacted her and questioned whether she had made the right choice for marriage. I proposed we run away together; she refused, and I refused to believe she had any more feelings for her proposed marriage partner than she did for me. I knew she was really marrying for security, not passion.

She gave me a book—The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran—and wrote this inside for me to ponder: "Time and Memories are eternal, Memories come from Time . . . , But Time from Memories, never." To this day I do not know if the saying came from Gibran's book, or if she made it up.

Today I am much older and much wiser, and I still believe in magic. Here is the kind of magic I believe in: "At any given place on any given day at any given time, something magical can happen". It happened to me once, and it could happen to me again.

See Serendipity, if for no other reason than magic can happen if you let it.

October 18, 2009

Copyright © 2009 Celeste Champagne

Alfred Hitchcock is a personal favorite of mine so seeing "Shadow of Doubt" again for the first time on a full-sized screen in a theater was a particular thrill. This 1943 film was also a personal favorite of Hitchcock’s as well, and blends humor and suspense with realism, horror and romance.

Shadow of a Doubt was filmed in Santa Rosa, California, and evokes the film noir feeling of the post-World War II era. With the screenplay by Thornton Wilder, it is slow moving but builds perfectly on the distinct fear-factor that showcases Alfred Hitchcock's creative genius.

Several locals were cast in the film, the best of whom was Edna May Wonacott who plays the Newton’s younger daughter, Ann.

The weaving of the father’s (Joseph Newton, played by Henry Travers) interest in mysteries and the games he plays with his neighbor, played masterfully by Hume Cronyn as Herbie Hawkins, further enhances the sinister subtext.

A visit to the Newton home by two detectives investigating the "Merry Widow Murders" sets off a flurry of activity. The lead detective played by Macdonald Carey (long associated with the TV soap opera "Days of Our Lives") creates the platform on which the suspicions about her uncle play out in Charlie’s mind.

Word comes that another suspect in the murders was accidentally killed in the East thus narrowing the "persons of interest" list.

With all this said, we are still sympathetic to the charm of Charles Oakley and feel compelled to root for him. His deeds are reprehensible, but his smooth-talking manners almost overshadow them. When he realizes that his niece is on to him and he must kill her, he tries to do so three times—all without success.

Shadow of a Doubt’s realism comes from the town it was filmed in and the people who live there. The thrills which take place at the end are all part of the mood created by the tight psychological atmosphere. It is a movie which holds up today with its costumes by Adrian and musical score by Dimitri Tiomkin.

There are no actors today in the realm of a Joseph Cotten, one of Orson Welles’ original Mercury Players in Welles' Mercury Theater radio production that started in 1938 in New York and would rocket Welles to fame as the biggest celebrity in radio history. Cotten died in 1994 of complications from throat cancer at the age of 88, never having received a major award for his tremendous body of work.

Teresa Wright, perhaps better known for her role of Peggy Stephenson in "The Best Years of Our Lives", lived to age 86 and died of a heart attack at Yale New Haven Hospital on March 6, 2005. Her second husband was the playwright, Robert Anderson, from whom she was divorced but maintained a cordial relationship until her death.

If suspense draws you in, there is no doubt that Shadow of a Doubt is an Alfred Hitchcock gem you should experience, preferably on the big screen when possible.

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

In its day, "Some Like It Hot" was a hot ticket, being nominated for six Oscars and winning one. Released in 1959, this black-and-white film also served as the greatest comedy platform for its three main characters—Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), Joe as "Josephine" (Tony Curtis) and Jerry as "Daphne" (Jack Lemon). Lemon was the actor, Monroe was the sex symbol, and Curtis was the looker.

The plot found two down-on-their-luck musicians (Joe and Jerry) witness the St. Valentine's Day massacre by the mob gangland-style in 1929 during Chicago's Prohibition Era. Joe and Jerry narrowly escape death, then disguise themselves as women to become "Josephine" and "Daphne", and hook up with an all-girl band headed for a gig in sunny Florida.

Billy Wilder directed this film and, while having some fun doing so, also had his patience tested. Apparently Marilyn Monroe gave new meaning to the phrase "dumb blonde". She took 47 takes in one scene to get "It's me, Sugar" correct; after 30 takes Wilder had the phrase written on a blackboard for her.

Despite it all, Some Like It Hot won an Oscar for Best Costume Design by Orry-Kelly, and had Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Jack Lemon), Best Art Direction (Ted Haworth and Edward G. Boyle), Best Cinematography (Charles Lang), Best Director (Billy Wilder) and Best Writing (Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond)—and don't even ask about I.A.L. (a pseudonym for Romanian-born Itec Domnici when he was a student at Columbia University).

Some Like It Hot also won three Golden Globe Awards—Best Motion Picture Comedy, Best Actor (Jack Lemon) and Best Actress (Marilyn Monroe). It is a good thing that the voters were not on the set for the filming.

The American Film Institute voted Some Like It Hot as the Funniest Movie of all time. The film is No. 14 on AFI's List of the 100 Greatest Movies of all time.

And, in the truth is stranger than fiction category, a California man found a little black dress in his closet (what was it doing there?) and was stunned when appraisers determined that it was worn by Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot and had an estimated worth of $250,000.

I suspect that Some Like It Hot may have been one of the first films with high viewership to include cross-dressing in the script. My, how times have changed. In today's liberal environment, we are exposed to much more much more often.

I personally would not rate Some Like It Hot as the best comedy ever made. In my book of great films, that honor goes to "Waking Ned Devine", which offered superb entertainment and also delivered a very meaningful message about relationships not only among individuals but also an entire village.

Something's Gotta Give – 2 Stars (Average)

"Something's Gotta Give" is a romantic comedy without substance that works because of Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton.

The story line involves Harry (Nicholson) as a senior citizen that never dates any woman over 30 until he meets and falls in love with Erica (Keaton). Erica, another senior citizen, meets Harry at her Hamptons beach house and discovers that Harry is dating her daughter Marin (Amanda Peet) and about to bed her.

Harry's romantic weekend with Marin is marred by some chest pains and Erica reluctantly agrees to help nurse him back to health. Once Harry and Erica are alone together, Harry develops an interest in Erica. When Harry's young doctor starts to pursue Erica, Harry must make a commitment or lose his chance at happiness.

Who else do you know besides Jack Nicholson that has been nominated for an Oscar in five different decades? Nicholson has also won 7 Best Actor Golden Globe awards and has been a John F. Kennedy Center Honors recipient.

Jack Nicholson does make the people around him perform better. The evidence comes when you realize that every time Nicholson has won a Best Actor Oscar his film partner has won a Best Actress Oscar. Louise Fletcher won the Oscar for Best Actress in One Flew Over the Cuckoo' s Nest, Shirley MacLaine won for Terms of Endearment and Helen Hunt won for "As Good As It Gets".

Keaton is one the few actresses at age 60 who has been able to partner with bankable leading men. She pulls it off because she has her own sense of style and grace, not an Audrey Hepburn or Jackie Kennedy, but certainly someone to notice.

I found myself wanting to bond with Keaton. She seems to have found the secret to staying young, alive and attractive while Nicholson at 69 and counting appears his age and has not benefited from the passage of time. Keaton is one fine looking 60-year-old woman.

Also in the cast are Keanu Reeves, Paul Michael Glaser, Amanda Peet and Frances McDormand and some lesser lights.

How a young Marin (Amanda Peet) could be attracted to a man old enough to be her grandfather is beyond my comprehension and the comprehension of many young women in America, especially when the man of choice is Nicholson in this role.

It is very difficult to be both the writer and director of a film and many that have tried have not benefited from the effort.

Meyers (average rating) joins a not-so-exclusive club of fellow writer/directors who have fallen short, including Thomas Bezucha (average rating) for The Family Stone, Michael McGowan (average rating) for Saint Ralph, Jared Hess (terrible rating) for Napoleon Dynamite, Robert Rodriguez (terrible rating) for Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and Paul Thomas Anderson (terrible rating) for Punch-Drunk Love. The worst of the worst was Punch-Drunk Love.

Jack Nicholson does have a rep for a quickie. He is on Maxim's "Top 10 Living Legends of Sex" list with an alleged 2,000 women that he has apparently slept with; if true, the vast majority of these must have come when he was younger and on top of his game.

Some of these sex partner numbers seem ridiculous. If Nicholson slept with a different woman every night, it would take him roughly five-and-half-years to get the job done.

Some still claim that Nicholson really did bed that many women and managed to do so by being very discreet. One thing is for sure, he certainly would not need to do a tell-all book to generate income as he is already a millionaire many times over.

Spanglish – 3 Stars (Good)

Spanglish is a relationship movie with a surprise ending in that the two principal characters in the movie actually do the right thing.

The story line involves a Mexican woman who emigrates to America with her daughter following a failed relationship to seek a better life. She becomes a housekeeper for an upscale family with some relationship problems, and becomes emotionally involved with the husband.

The husband (Adam Sandler) and the housekeeper (Paz Vega) manage to almost lose it but do not act on their impulses, separating at the end with the husband going back to his dysfunctional wife (Tea Leoni) and two children, and the housekeeper moving on to another chapter in her life.

Everyone in this movie that actually matters is sensitive except the wife (who should know better) and the housekeeper’s daughter (who is young and immature).

All you need to know about the cruel wife is that she buys new clothes for her daughter that are two sizes too small as an incentive for her to loose weight. The daughter is overweight and unattractive, but she is also smart, sensitive and funny. The wife then manages to fall into an illicit affair because of her insecurity and poor self-image.

The role of the wife Deborah is cast so off the wall that she is an unbelievable character involved in what is otherwise a good film with some great messages. I give credit to Tea Leoni for taking on this despicable role, and proving that you could blow an air gun into her ear and feel a constant breeze on the other side.

It is so great to see Adam Sandler in a more serious acting effort than another inane, stupid comedy like Punch-Drunk Love. Sandler may not be Hollywood's answer to the next great actor, but he is capable of more than great comedy; we need to find out how much more.

Spanglish does not benefit at all from its title, which arises from a combination of Spanish and English (the housekeeper in the movie is initially reliant on her daughter to speak English because she cannot). Actually, there was a translator on the set because Paz Vega did not speak English and James L. Brooks (the director) did not speak Spanish.

Unfortunately, the title comes across as cute and sophomoric and tells us nothing about the nature of the movie or its message. The title, which could have helped build an audience for the film, does not induce any emotion or imagination. Spanglish picked up a couple of awards, but you will find no nominations or Oscars of significance here.

A lot of Americans just love sex, filth and violence. If you do not think so, watch a movie, turn on your television or play a video game (they make it because consumers almost demand it). Give Brooks credit for drawing the line and making the characters more important than any ratings they may generate.

September 2, 2009

Movie Review:

Why "27 Dresses" by Aline Brosh McKenna Is Better Than the Average Romantic Comedy

27 Dresses – 2 Stars (Average)

Make no mistake, "27 Dresses" is better than average for a romantic comedy with pure entertainment, but not quite able to garner a 3-star (good) rating. What separates out 27 Dresses from other romantic comedies is that the central character Jane (Katherine Heigl) does experience some personal growth in finding that special someone.

Heigl is not going to win any acting awards. She does a reliable, but not outstanding acting job as someone who has agreed to be a bridesmaid for 27 of her friends. Jane apparently has a lot of close friends, but remains secretly in love with her boss, who does not notice or care that she is 100% available as a potential mate.

Things get a little dicey when Jane's sister Tess (Malin Akerman) blows into town and gets the immediate notice of her boss George (Edward Burns), who ends up proposing to her. The fact that Jane has lost her love interest to her sister is infuriating, and now she is given 3 weeks to attend to the details of her sister's wedding.

Thrown into the mix is Kevin Doyle (James Marsden), a wedding reporter who writes under his full name Malcolm Doyle for the local newspaper's "Commitments" section. Kevin develops a keen interest in Jane, but she refuses his advances because she is too busy doing everyone else's bidding.

See the film for what happens after the theft of a day planner, a private fashion show where Jane models her 27 dresses as a bridesmaid, an automobile accident, a major rift between siblings, and a kiss Jane will never forget.

It was reported that the wardrobe department for 27 Dresses had a difficult time coming up with dress designs for Katherine Hegel because everything looked so good on her because of her figure (think fantastic body and dress size for a model).

Thank the writer of this film, Alain Brooch McKenna, for injecting some real personal growth for Jane into the script. So many of us achieve professional growth in our lifetime by earning degrees and taking training to improve our skill set and abilities, but very few of us have significant personal growth after entering adulthood.

Achieving personal growth forces us to change our core thought patterns and belief systems that have influenced us in our upbringing. This explains why highly educated and literate people can harbor prejudices and bigotry.

McKenna is a step up from some other writers as she also wrote the screenplay for "The Devil Wears Prada" and the screenplay and story for "Laws of Attraction". Despite the lack of acting talent in this film, director Anne Fletcher helps tell the story better than most average romantic comedies.

While this film is short on great acting, it does manage to win the People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy, and the Teen Choice Award for Best Chick Flick.

July 4, 2009

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

If you want some over-the-top laughs, see Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder", a very confused film that can't make up its mind whether it wants to be an action adventure, war story, comedy, satire, mockumentary or wannabe drama. In fact, it was a little of each and good at none, all of which makes it sometimes funny but an average film.

That would be because Stiller collaborated on the screenplay, directed the film, starred in it as Tugg Speedman, and was the driving force that made it happen.

There were also lesser lights, including Brandon T. Jackson (Alpa Chino—think Al Pacino), Nick Nolte (Four Leaf Tayback—think way back, on the downslide), Bill Hader (Studio Executive Rob Slolom—fresh from Saturday Night Live) and a host of family, friends and buddies who got jobs in the film.

In 22 words, Tropic Thunder is about making a war film in Vietnam after the fact and the stars encounter an illegal drug production operation. Its rated R on purpose to accommodate the pervasive sexual references to body parts, violent content and drug material.

It would be difficult for me to say with a straight face that I am a Ben Stiller fan. Stiller always seems to me to have a vacant look about him, like you know there is a person inside that body but it is never evident from his countenance. Far too much of his humor centers on the gross, filthy and sexual, like he has a lot of fantasies he is never going to enjoy after the filming is over.

The real star of this film is not Stiller, but Robert Downey Jr. who was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor. Downey also picked up the same nomination from the Golden Globes, and Tom Cruise did as well in the same category. Neither won an Oscar or a Golden Globe.

"300" really suffered from having Zack Snyder both help write and then direct a remake of the historic Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC when 300 Spartans from Greece took on a Persian army 100,000+ led by King Xerxes. Some historians point to this event as the birthplace of freedom and democracy.

The best way to describe the merit of this film is to let you know that 300 won the Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film, and Snyder won as Best Director, at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Awards. You read that correctly. There were zero nominations for Golden Globe or Academy Awards. Certainly, 300 has some great battle scenes in a fantasy world.

It has very little place in the real world of filmmaking by filmgoers watching in the real world. Why? I thought you would never ask. Here's why:

The film was shot in 60 days while post-production (also known as hocus-pocus) took almost a year as there were 1,523 cuts in the film, and more than 1,300 visual effect shots involving 8,631 visual effect elements. This may or may not be some kind of a record worthy of the sorcery of Harry Potter.

Spartan King Leonidas (Gerald Butler) manages to personally hack and whack 33 Persian soldiers, 1 Persian messenger and a wolf. I am told his number does not include Persians that he shielded off during battle sequences, as if that is important.

Trust me when I say the 300 Spartans did a great job of killing animated characters.

I am sure that Zack Snyder was really pleased with his film and awards (think Sinatra and I did it my way); I was not as pleased. 300 reminds me of why I dislike so many action adventure films—not much real action, not much real adventure, too much real animation.

August 11, 2009

Movie Review:

Even With Sandra Bullock, "Two Weeks Notice" Becomes Only an Average Romantic Comedy

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Two Weeks Notice – 2 Stars (Average)

"Two Weeks Notice" is just a tad too predictable to be a good romantic comedy, so it must take its rightful place as average when placed against other much better efforts such as "Sleepless in Seattle", "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and " Breakfast at Tiffany's".

The gist of the story brings exaggerated opposites together. There is Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock), a Harvard law graduate and social activist whose immediate mission in life is to save from destruction of her beloved Coney Island Community Center by George Wade (Hugh Grant), a wealthy developer and womanizer who makes a career out of being self-centered and dominated by his greedy brother Howard Wade (David Haig).

The Wade family has lots of money and a lush lifestyle, but no conscience. Lucy agrees to become George's chief counsel in exchange for him not tearing down the community center to put in an expensive, profitable development. George becomes totally dependent upon Lucy for all of his decision-making. Lucy finally gets fed up and gives him two weeks notice. You know where the film goes from here.

Two Weeks Notice was written and directed by Marc Lawrence, and therein is the main reason the film is average. Hollywood is littered with writer/directors taking on dual roles and producing average films; there is not enough space to list them here. You can count on one hand the number of writer/directors who can produce great films.

In fairness to Marc Lawrence, he did write two other films—"Miss Congeniality" and "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous"—that helped boost Sandra Bullock's career.

Compare Two Weeks Notice, released in 2002, to another leading role by Sandra Bullock in "The Proposal", released in 2009. The Proposal was written by Pete Chiarelli, directed by Anne Fletcher, and had Ryan Reynolds as the male lead; it was a far superior effort.

Hugh Grant has become wearisome as a male lead in a romantic comedy. He has made a career out of projecting an "I am lost", little boy, vacant look, seeking some mothering to comfort him. It is only one reason why his chances of winning a Best Actor Oscar are slim to none.

Bullock is more than a leading lady. She runs Fortis Films, her own production company, and was the producer of Two Weeks Notice. The movie was originally going to be filmed in Toronto to save production costs, but Bullock insisted upon New York City. This move helped revitalize the New York economy after the infamous terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

Sandra Bullock also produced The Proposal, and ended up with a "good" romantic comedy that could win some awards that Two Weeks Notice did not.

Keep an eye on Sandra Bullock, she has twice been nominated for Best Actress Golden Globe Awards, for "While You Were Sleeping" and "Miss Congeniality". I believe she will win a Golden Globe, or perhaps even an Oscar, in the not too distant future. Moviegoers like Sandra Bullock, and that is hard to ignore.

Unlikely Angel – 2 Stars (Average)

Unlikely Angel is a made for TV movie starring (hang on) Dolly Parton, a country music performer who meets an untimely death and cannot enter heaven until she performs a good deed back on Earth. Heavy this is not. This is an overworked story idea with not much to recommend it, but I did not find any pretense in Dolly Parton's effort. I thought Dolly Parton was being Dolly Parton and found her to be the best thing in this film. I have seen a lot worse movies with bigger acting names than Dolly Parton. If you want a list, go to the top of this page and identify every movie to which I have given a 1 Star (Terrible) rating.

A stupid movie about a woman whose husband runs off with his secretary and she is left with 4 daughters to raise. She is spewing anger, hate and insensitivity, and her family is suffering. A retired baseball player tries to bring some stability to their life.

This movie is rated R for filthy language, and rated S for stupid. It is not psychologically sound, crawls along like a slug about to be run over by a Mac truck, and gets more negative as it goes on. A surprise ending makes this script better, but it is not worth watching once, much less twice. It stars Kevin Costner, who either needed to make money, or cannot evaluate a decent film to do.

August 8, 2009

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Having seen a lot of sports movies that were over-hyped, over-rated and under-performed, it was a nice change of pace to watch "Varsity Blues", a football movie that actually had a message worth watching as well as some good acting along with the usual comedic moments and turf violence.

Most sports movies are mindless to the point of being pure, often profanity-laced entertainment—they are something to watch to pass the time of day, but you will not become a better person for having seen them because there is no message, much less a meaningful message. Varsity Blues is different because this is not a typical Texas high school football story.

This would be true for the West Canaan Coyotes, whose coach Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight) is seeking his 23^rd division title in 35 years of coaching. Kilmer has been around long enough to coach his former players’ sons, and then some. He is so driven, focused, nasty and determined enough to win that he will sacrifice the very health of his own players to get the job done.

Jon Voight is perfect in this role. Kilmer is self-centered, self-absorbed and extremely needy for power, adulation and turf success. Football is close to religion in Kilmer’s world, and he is god. One of Kilmer’s mottos is "Never show weakness, the only pain that matters is the pain you inflict."

Even though he is a Texas high school football player with some talent, Moxon is everything he should not be—football is not his priority, he wants to go to college to get an education rather than play football, and he gets caught reading a novel hidden in the play book he is supposed to be studying. Funny thing is, he leads the team right up to the championship game. What happens in the climatic ending to this film is the reason you should be watching.

James Van Der Beek picked up some notice as John Moxon in Varsity Blues. The film itself and the rest of the cast were ignored by virtually all award-givers everywhere. What remains is the message of Varsity Blues, which puts it head and shoulders above most mindless sports movies. You must be able to tolerate the usual foul language, crude jokes, nudity, sexual titillation, drug use and violence to appreciate what happens to the coach, the fill-in quarterback and his teammates.

Varsity Blues was written by W. Peter lliff (not a misspelling on the last name), and directed by Brian Robbins. Both deserve credit for lifting Varsity Blues up to a higher level beyond sheer, mindless entertainment.

Waking Ned Devine – 4 Stars (Excellent)

Sooner or later one has to come clean. When pigeonholed about what is my favorite comedy, I said some time ago that "Meet the Fockers" was the best comedy I had seen in a long time. What I did not say was what is the best comedy I have ever seen. So let me say it here and now: as of Sunday, March 11, 2007 the best comedy I have ever seen is "Waking Ned Devine" and it is not even a close call.

It would be easy to throw around a bunch of adjectives like outstanding, fantastic, remarkable, extraordinary, superb or phenomenal but why bother when you can say this: there are not another five writer/directors in America that are better than Kirk Jones and his creation.

Let me name some writer/directors whose effort in a dual role bred more failure than success: They include Kimberly Peirce (terrible rating) for Boys Don't Cry, Vanessa Parise (average rating) for Kiss the Bride, Peter Weir (average rating) for Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World, Nancy Myers (average rating) for Something's Gotta Give, Thomas Bezucha (average rating) for The Family Stone, Michael McGowan (average rating) for Saint Ralph, Jared Hess (terrible rating) for Napoleon Dynamite, Robert Rodriguez (terrible rating) for Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and Paul Thomas Anderson (terrible rating) for Punch-Drunk Love.

The worst of these efforts was Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love.

Kirk Jones is almost unique because this was his first effort at being a writer/director. He was in very dangerous territory but talent, judgment and sensibility can overcome a lot of mistakes. I would put Kirk Jones in the same incredible class of writer/directors as Tim McCanlies in Secondhand Lions. Both Jones and McCanlies are great writers-not-yet-discovered who become artists painting a masterpiece when directing. Waking Ned Devine is set in Ireland but filmed on the Isle of Man, an island in the Irish Sea that is a British crown possession with home rule.

"In 63 countries around the world, dozens of lottery machines spin hundreds of lottery balls. It takes seconds for the winning numbers to be selected . . .seconds for the losers to realize that they have lost. But for the winners, it is an event that will undoubtedly change their lives forever . . . lucky sods!"

In the tiny Irish village of Tullymore two best friends—Jackie O'Shea (Ian Bannen) and Michael O'Sullivan (David Kelly)—discover that someone among them has won the Irish lottery, and they go to great lengths to find the winner.

When they find the elderly Ned Devine with the winning ticket is in his hand he is dead. Imagine Ned Devine at his moment of triumph. He survived endless storms upon the sea as a fisherman but ends up dying of shock in his lazy boy upon discovering his good fortune. Jackie O'Shea, being the good Irishman he is, does not want the money to go to waste and convinces his reluctant friend Michael O'Sullivan to go along with his plan. You simply must see what happens when these two pikers get about the business of dealing with Ned Devine's body.

When Jackie and Michael were skinny-dipping in the sea, they bump into the claims inspector as he is coming to interview Ned Devine to settle the claim ticket. Jackie takes the claims inspector on a wild goose chase while trying to find "Ned's" house, and Michael is left to jump on a moped naked and make a mad dash back to the house before the inspector arrives.

Michael, nervous as a cat, does pull it off, and the inspector lets Michael know that his payout will be almost $6.9 million Irish pounds. If you can only see one other comedy bit ever, see Michael O'Sullivan, buck naked, riding that moped like a man possessed. It is beyond comedy, it will be legend for those in the know. Only when Jackie discovers that the winning ticket is worth $6.9 million Irish pounds does he realize how out of the control the situation has become, and that the entire village will have to become involved to pull off a deception of this magnitude.

When pushed Lizzy (I hope my memory serves me right in thinking this is the right character) makes good on her promise, and wheels herself up the road to the pay phone by the cliff. Fortunately for the villagers, Lizzy dies when the lottery claim inspector's car spins out of control and forces an oncoming van to crash into the phone booth, sending Lizzy over the cliff before she can report the fraud.

Jackie O'Shea who is delivering the eulogy slides into some instant Irish resourcefulness with this brilliant piece of oratory: "Michael O'Sullivan was my great friend. But I don't ever remembering telling him that. The words that are spoken at a funeral are spoken too late for the man who is dead. What a wonderful thing it would be to visit your own funeral. To sit at the front and hear what was said, maybe say a few things yourself.

"Michael and I grew old together. But at times, when we laughed, we grew young. If he was here now, if he could hear what I say, I'd congratulate him on being a great man, and thank him for being a friend."

Waking Ned Devine is the funniest film I have ever seen. Because Ned Devine is a comedy and also a story about relationships among common people, this, as much as anything, gives it such solid goodness despite the deception. I mean really, who wants to give $6.9 million Irish pounds back to the government when it really belongs to the people?

We learn of the romance between Maggie O'Toole (Susan Lynch) and Pig Finn (James Nesbitt), a pig farmer Maggie would like to marry if she did not have to smell him. We learn that Maggie has a son, and Pig Finn wonders if he is the father. We learn that the real father is none other than Ned Devine, and that the son is rightfully due the entire $6.9 million pounds as the legal heir. Maggie, thankfully, realizes that a rising tide lifts all ships to a better place. Waking Ned Devine ends with Jackie O'Shea, Michael O'Sullivan, Maggie's boy and Pig Finn all raising a toast to Ned Devine while standing on a cliff overlooking the sea. A better comedy I may not see in my lifetime.

There are 6.9 million reasons to see Waking Ned Devine, but here is the best one: Kirk Jones. I raise a second toast of Jameson's to Kirk Jones' effort. I may only be 15% Irish, but it is the best 15% of me. I am a better person for having seen Waking Ned Devine.

After experiencing a Wanda Sykes comedy routine for the first time, you might ask yourself, "How could a college graduate in a secure position with the National Security Agency degenerate into a foul-mouthed, unladylike joker with no job security.

Then again, you might quickly realize that you have just been listening to and enjoying the most original, funniest female comedian in America today. There is currently no second to Wanda Skyes if you want unrestrained, pure laughter. If you cannot filter out language and put it into perspective, your experience will be slightly less funny. Wanda Sykes does use the f-word.

Sykes is the counterpart to Chris Rock, the most original, funniest male comedian in America today. Both Sykes and Rock have something in common—their humor has a nasty way of unmasking the truth of our life. It can hit so close to home that you have no alternative but to laugh.

Between the f-words, sexual images and raw emotion, Sykes is really handing out some needed social commentary for society's ugly underbelly.

She got a break opening for Chris Rock and was soon hired to write for "The Chris Rock Show", and took advantage of the opportunity to win a writing Emmy. That led to winning the American Comedy Award for Outstanding Female Stand-Up Comic in 2001. The rest is history, including another Emmy.

Two presentations will make you quickly aware of Wanda's sassy, squeaky delivery and sharp tongue. The first is "Wanda Sykes: Tongue Untied" when Wanda takes on the stock market, national security and some Catholic priests among others. The second is "Wanda Sykes: Sick & Tired" at Seattle's Moore Theatre, where Wanda turns comic truth and common sense into some thought-provoking humor.

Please do not buy or rent either of these presentations unless you are willing to laugh so hard that you might fall off of your chair. If laughter is truly the best medicine, then you may address Wanda as Dr. Sykes.

September 1, 2009

Movie Review:

Great Writing, Directing, Acting and Music Make "Steel Magnolias" an Excellent Film

Steel Magnolias – 4 Stars (Excellent)

It isn't often that a guy could get pulled into a movie about a bunch of women sharing their lives, loves, hopes, dreams, struggles and tragedies in a beauty shop, but Steel Magnolias reeled me in like bait on a fishhook.

Maybe it was because I am a sucker for relationship movies that undress and expose our psychological strengths and weaknesses, and human dynamics as we interact with others.

Maybe it was because I am always so impressed by a movie that sends a meaningful message by capturing my heart, and then playing it slowly like a maestro conducting an orchestra.

Perhaps it was an act of pure voyeurism to see exactly what a bunch of cackling women do and say when behind closed doors, and out of the earshot of men.

Or better yet, the performance of Julia Roberts who netted an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as Shelby, and won a Golden Globe Award in the same category. Or the performance of Sally Field who was nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe as M'Lynn, Shelby's mother.

Or the performance of Shirley MacLaine who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award as Ouiser Boudreaux. Did I mention that Steel Magnolias was filmed in Louisiana? In the small town of Natchitoches, a lovely setting that could easily take you back to rural America of yesteryear.

Sally Field should have been nominated for an Oscar, and Shirley MacLaine for a Golden Globe. They were both that good.

Let me not forget the additional outstanding acting performances of Olympia Dukakis as Clairee Belcher, Tom Skerritt as Shelby's dad Drum, Daryl Hannah as Annelle, and even Dolly Parton as Truvy Jones, the beauty shop proprietress.

It was said that after a poor take, director Herbert Ross reprimanded Dolly Parton and asked her if she could act, to which Dolly replied, "No, but it's your job to make me look like I can." You have to love Dolly Parton; she has no illusions about her acting ability and still remains Dolly, very confident in what she can do.

Steel Magnolias was released in 1989 and written by Robert Harling, who wrote the play "Steel Magnolias" in honor of his sister who died after surgery. All of the great acting in this movie started with the great writing of Robert Harling. The play ran for 136 performances on Broadway.

This movie has been classified as a "chick flick" but the designation does the film a great disservice. The moniker ignores the great writing, great direction, great acting and great music that make up the total presentation of this excellent movie. I was about a third of the way through the film when I noticed the great musical background by composer Georges Delerue; it was stunning and compelling.

Steel Magnolias runs the gamut of human emotions—from sheer happiness to delightful comedy to sharp wit to grave concern and the tragedy of a mother's worst nightmare. Through thick and thin, it transmits the importance of family and true friends as a support group that women cannot do without.

Shelby is really the centerpiece of interest. It is she who is about to be married, and much of the early going on centers around preparations for the exciting ceremony. Shelby is also a diabetic before we had insulin. Her mother wants her to adopt children rather than conceive.

Shelby opts to get pregnant, feeling that she "would rather have 30 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special." She seeks her mother's support but does not get it. The ordeal that unfolds is heart-wrenching, but it is also why you should see Steel Magnolias.

I promise you that if you are a woman, you will not get through this film without laughing your heart out, and crying your heart out. Heck, I'm a guy normally in complete control of myself and my emotions, and I almost lost it.

The title to Steel Magnolias has been said to suggest that the main characters are delicate as magnolias but tough as steel, even though the movie does not make it obvious. The title reminds me of Aubrey Andelin's book Man of Steel and Velvet.

This movie and the characters in it are not pretentious. Trust me when I say that all of those names like M'Lynn, Truvy, Ouiser, Clairee, Drum and Shelby originate in the South. These are down home people, living out their lives on their terms, not society's.

Steel Magnolias is an excellent film because it answers my most salient question in watching any film: Am I a better person for having seen this movie? In this case, it is a resounding yes. Do not leave this planet without seeing Steel Magnolias. Life is never easy, but it is rewarding.

My mother used to say, "It's a great life if you can stand to live it." Man, was she right.

June 30, 2009

Movie Review:

Two Funny Comedies, "Talladega Nights" and "Wedding Crashers", But Only One Is a Good Film

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Wedding Crashers – 3 Stars (Good)

Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby – 2 Stars (Average)

There are comedies that can make you laugh that are not good films because they lack any meaningful substance or worthwhile message. An example would be "Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby", worth a few laughs with Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby, but not able to get you emotionally involved in a character's plight.

Then there are comedies that can make you laugh that appear to have a lack of substance, but slowly pull you into a character as you become emotionally involved with his situation. An example would be "Wedding Crashers" with Owen Wilson as John Beckwith.

So what makes one film good and another just average? The difference is in the script, the direction and the acting.

For openers, Talladega Nights was written by Will Farrell, who also plays the lead role, and by Adam McKay, who is the director. My experience has been that when the director of a film also writes the script, the script, the direction and the movie all suffer the majority of the time. When the lead actor of the film is also a writer of the film, the situation becomes compounded, like the blind leading the deaf through a minefield.

Both Farrell and McKay try to tell a story with their comedy but fail because not only is the comedy unbelievable, but the character of Ricky Bobby is not likeable enough to convince us that there is human drama unfolding here.

McKay joins a long list of other writer/directors who have bombed in these dual roles, including Vanessa Parise (terrible rating) for Kiss the Bride; Peter Weir (average rating) for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; Nancy Myers (average rating) for Something's Gotta Give; Thomas Bezucha (average rating) for The Family Stone; Michael McGowan (average rating) for Saint Ralph; Jared Hess (terrible rating) for Napoleon Dynamite; Robert Rodriguez (terrible rating) for Once Upon a Time in Mexico; and Paul Thomas Anderson (terrible rating) for Punch-Drunk Love.

Exceptions to this dual role as writer/director are Kirk Jones (excellent rating) in Waking Ned Devine, and Tim McCanlies (excellent rating) for Secondhand Lions. Both Jones and McCanlies are master storytellers in these films, and other writer/directors who have failed could learn a lot from them.

Wedding Crashers, another funny comedy, is just the opposite of Talladega Nights in that Steve Faber and Bob Fisher can tell a good story, and David Dobkin can direct a good comedy film. Their effort comes together because Owen Wilson as John Beckwith is likeable and has the acting style and ability to emotionally connect with the viewer.

We can see ourselves in his predicament—living a life of fun and pleasure at the expense of others, and then developing a conscience that foreshadows personal growth.

After taking advantage of so many lovely, unsuspecting bridesmaids, he slows down enough to notice Rachel McAdams as Claire Cleary, who shares his sense of humor and light-heartedness. The more he sees of Claire, the more he wants to look at Claire.

Claire, however, is spoken for by a person she has not yet discovered is really a self-absorbed, dictatorial, manipulative, rich jerk, whereas John Beckwith appears more worthless but is wanting and willing to change his ways.

It is interesting that Vince Vaughn as Jeremy Grey's character, Beckwith's wedding crasher partner and best friend, is not nearly as likeable, although he also decides to get married to Claire's immature, dippy sister Gloria Cleary (Isla Fisher).

I saw the unrated and uncut version of Talladega Nights, and the uncorked (not rated) version of Wedding Crashers, the theatrical version was rated R with sexual content, nudity and filthy language.

Despite watching the additional footage not shown in theaters, and enduring the sexual content and language, I would watch Wedding Crashers again but would not watch Talladega Nights again if you offered to pay me.

Moviegoers are fooled less often than you may think, and it becomes evident at awards time. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, was nominated in 2007 for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Comedy, but did not win. Wedding Crashers was nominated in 2006 for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Comedy and did win.

December 18, 2006