Doubt

Jun 18, 2011

It’s 1964s in the Bronx where Writer/Director John Patrick Shanley grew up and undoubtedly attended Catholic school.   The story centers on Father Flynn (Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman) in conflict with Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Academy Award winner Meryl Streep) over her iron-gloved principles (as the school Principal) where children are concerned. Or as the Catholics used to say in my day: “Raise your children with one part love, one part discipline and one part fear…” But when the young Sister James (Academy award nominee Amy Adams) suggests foul play between the Priest and a young boy, the suspicions – the ‘doubt’ – cast over the school makes for an examination of selfish behavior that could leave the Church with devastating consequences. The fact that Father Flynn is suddenly giving sermons that have underlying messages doesn’t help either.   While Hoffman is well-cast in this role, Streep is unlikable, as she should be, and will still find an Oscar nomination. Adams turns off her sexuality from “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” but maintains the innocent doe-eyed energy she has in “Enchanted” – the movie that put her on the map. But the movies biggest star in this film is by far the script. Having grown up in Catholic Boarding school, I can’t help but wonder how Shanley took his perceptions of those petrified moments we all experienced of a second grade child forced to recite three “Hail Mary’s” and spin those fears into an adult way of thinking. The only problem with this movie, is that I don’t recall there being a challenge of a Priest’s behavior and a conviction until the late 80s or the 1990s. And, unlike the play where a well-formed balance of ‘doubt’ exists on all parts, Hoffman’s performance in the movie gives us less doubt that he might be innocent.  Three tiaras.

Don’t Say a Word

Jun 18, 2011

(Rated R, 105 mins.)
Michael Douglas stars as Dr. Nathan Conrad, a respected Manhattan psychiatrist who learns that his young daughter has been kidnapped. The bizarre ransom entails having eight hours to rouse a catatonic woman (Brittany Murphy) who looks like an angel but knows the information leading to a stolen diamond. Douglas is as always, twisted and flawed as most of his leading man roles in psychological thrillers (Fatal Attraction, Wall St. Perfect Murder), but it’s Murphy who gained attention in “Clueless” but manages to truly bond with the screen in this creepy performance. Too bad the bizarre premise won’t get her the recognition she deserves and the movie is just plain revolting.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Jun 18, 2011

(rated PG-13,117 mins.)
What is a Ya Ya? Apparently a bunch of Yo-Yo Southern belle girlfriends who stick together through good and evil. As children and lifelong friends, the Ya-Yas (Maggie Smith, Fionnula Flanagan, Shirley Knight and Ellen Burstyn) bonded via a knife prick on their palms and some bizarre ritual with hideous homemade hats. Fast forward years later, and Vivi (Ellen Burstyn), a southern drama queen, is pouring herself another shot of whiskey to console herself over an interview her daughter, Sidda Lee (Sandra Bullock), a New York playwright, gave to the press about her bad childhood. Sidda Lee wallows in self-pity and lots of drawn out dialog as the three other Ya-Ya’s kidnap her to their home on a Ya-Ya mission. They hope to smolder out the bad mother/daughter flames, to eventually reconcile the two. And so the story goes on and never seems to end except for a handful of lively flashbacks where the movies true star Ashley Judd portrays Vivi (as a young Ellen Burstyn) really bringing the character to life. Bullock’s sole purpose is a catalyst to release decades of memories from some way-too-thick Ya-Ya Sisterhood scrapbook. Maggie Smith (Gosford Park) is deadpan droll and the best of the bunch, while Burstyn and Flanagan make for a feisty pair a la “Thelma and Louise”. The last friend (Knight), has a minor role as does the underused James Garner as Vivi’s husband. Screenwriter Callie Khouri (Thelma and Louise) tackles (and does a good job) as director adapting the Rebecca Well’s best-seller, but the book’s structure doesn’t really lend itself to the screen – flashbacks work better when you’re turning pages. While the story is spicier/deeper than a “Steel Magnolias” and not as smooth as “Terms of Endearment” (but not as manipulative either), we never feel we’ve learned anything new about dysfunctional families that hasn’t already been-there-done-that. This is not only a chick flick but more a senior citizen flick as any woman of 50 will go ga-ga for Ya Ya!

District 9

Jun 18, 2011

Peter “Lord of the Rings” Jackson gurus a sci-fi project written and directed by Neil Blomkamp about the landing of Aliens in Johannesburg, Africa. Part documentary, part movie, this shaky-camera-all-over-the-place feels a bit like “Cloverfield” but far more intelligent.  The aliens can’t go back – they’re here to stay – and their ship is inoperable. They’re skinny, they’re hungry, they look like giant pieces of steel shrimp cocktail, and they come equipped with weapons that would thrill any terrorist. Always creative in story, and very political, at times the movie isn’t as exciting as it could be.  That said, it’s smart and it’s different, and while there aren’t any recognizable stars – Sharlto Copley plays Wikus (sort of a character out of television’s “The Office” he can’t think beyond his corporate rules.)  That said, this is certainly a thinking man’s solid science fiction film. Three tiaras

Dinosaur

Jun 18, 2011

(rated PG)
As the Queen of Screen (and a mom), the best fool-proof Disney test was to employ for an afternoon, one all-American-boy-Prince, (since I have daughters, er — Princesses), in the form of Samuel Montana D’Olimpio. “Sammy” is your blonde-hair-blue-eye-
ten-year-old-pbj-sandwich-eating-halfback/little-league-playing-
youngest-of-two-older-sisters-and-too-many-question-asking-
dinosaur-expert/skeptic. Perfect.Sammy gives me the “Dinosaur 101” all the way to the theatre. You know, “I collect dinosaur beanie babies, playing cards, posters, figurines, and know the difference between a Brachiosaur and a Carnotaurus.” Cool, Sam.

These dinosaurs look so authentic against the live-action background, that when they speak it’s almost magic. Every child’s dream come true! Sammy felt like he was really there in their huge, chompin’, stompin’ visual feast of a world. The sounds and footage will make your heart jump into your stomach and back, making for its own rhythmic soundtrack, to match James Newton Howard’s score. All I can say is, “Lion King” move over. A 3D stunning blend of digitally enhanced computer-animated creatures with a lot of heart! Soul too. Because unlike “Jurassic Park” these dinosaurs, give dinos a kinder twist with human characteristics. The seat-kicking five year old behind me shouted out “I want to touch one!” Out of the mouths of babes…

(Word to mom/dad: The hand-holding PG rating will force you to not leave the kids off at the theater while you go to the mall. Trust me, the look on their cherub little faces as they are ‘dino-struck transported” will make it worth the price of admission alone when they miss their mouths in a popcorn feeding frenzy. And, for little tikes there’s scenes that may scare you more than it will scare them.)

The story follows Aladar (voice of D.B.Sweeney) a three-ton Iguanodon, who, separated from his mommy, is raised Tarzan-style from the egg, by a clan of lemurs ((large mammals related to monkeys, for all you non-Discovery channel viewers) and eventually reunited with his own kind. There’s no purple “Barney” here. Instead, this story has these gentle creatures struggling for the bare necessities we all need: family, home, shelter and love, yet the story comes equipped with rock slides, droughts, and mean Carnotaurus, which add contrast to the tempered dinosaurs trying to make it back home to the valley (the equivalent of a human Club Med).

Della Reese as Eema, my favorite 900 pound fat-bellied-low-ground-walking character, is comical. Joan Plowright’s elegant and elderly creature of Baylene is initially a giant next to Aladar who fears being stepped on by her. Yet as their relationship grows, she begins to shrink in size. Great child/adult relationship angle. Julianna Margulies is the voice of “Neera” Aladar’s love interest that “Zini” (Max Casella) calls a babe because she’s got scaley skin, yellow eyes and big ankles.” Cute.

For a mom it does its homework in covering all we teach our children (and my pal Sammy), that life is about risk, hope, safety in numbers, respecting your elders and doing good deeds. By the way, there’s a deal I have with the theatre manager that allows me to vacuum popcorn from the lobby whenever I’m bored. Never happened. This movie is for young and old. Even question-asking Sammy, could only comment how real it all seemed on the ride back home.

Disney has done it again. Simply breathtaking. And, they’ve certainly come a long way since the days of “Steamboat Willy.” Sorry Mickey.