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Susan Granger’s DVD/Video Update for week of Friday, Sept. 3:
If you’re into conspiracy theories, “Paul McCartney Really Is Dead: The Last Testament of George Harrison” explores a mystery that exploded worldwide in 1969 and was considered a hoax, as Harrison reveals secret Beatles history, indicating that John Lennon was assassinated after he threatened to expose ‘Paul McCartney’ as an imposter.
Johnny Winter “Live Through the ‘80s” is an extensive retrospective of the legendary guitarist in live performance during what proved to be an incredibly prolific and successful decade, including archival footage on the tour bus and a rare, candid interview.
New Zealand’s Fourth Most Popular Folk Parody Duo is back with “Flight of the Conchords: The Complete Collection,” a five disc compilation, including the first two seasons plus the never-before-released “One Night Stand’ special.
From Wesley Strick, who wrote“Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Cape Fear,” comes the psychological thriller “Addicted to Love,” starring Lizzy Caplan, D.J. Cotrona and Daryl Hannah, revolving around a teenage outcast who finds an effective but dangerous way to impress his popular classmates. In the same horror vein, “Squeal” follows a dysfunctional group of rockers on their first tour when their van breaks down in the middle of nowhere.
“Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes” is a full-length, animated mystery caper, starring the popular cat-and-mouse duo as they attempt to nab a clever jewel thief with the help of legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and his companion, Dr. Watson.
For little girls, “Angelina Ballerina: Love to Dance” pirouettes with an all-new look, new music, new friends and new dancing styles as she enters Camembert Academy.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Madeleine Sackler’s “The Lottery” is a controversial – and heartbreaking – documentary about the crisis of U.S. public education reform. It follows four families from Harlem and the Bronx who entered their children in a 2009 charter school lottery, hoping to avoid the failures of the traditional public school system. In a country where 58% of African American 4th graders are functionally illiterate, they represent hundreds of thousands of parents attempting to flee the system every year.
Susan Granger’s review of “Takers” (Screen Gems)
Jimmy Buffett wrote a song called “Overkill” and that’s the word which best describes this high-powered yet formulaic heist movie that’s punctuated with shootouts and explosions, particularly a stylized machine-gun gangbang with Russian mobsters that decimates a Los Angeles hotel suite.
The action commences with a cleverly staged bank robbery, culminating with the slick hijacking of a TV news helicopter as a getaway vehicle which is then landed and exploded in Dodger Stadium. The GQ-attired, cool-as-cucumber, multi-racial thieves are led by Gordon Jennings (British Idris Elba of “The Wire”) and include strutting brothers Jake and Jesse Attica (Michael Ealy, Chris Brown) along with buddies John Rahway (Paul Walker) and hip A.J. (Hayden Christensen). Bewildered by the gang’s finesse and a discouraging lack of surveillance camera clues, hardworking L.A.P.D. detectives Jack Welles (Matt Dillon) and Eddie Hatcher (Jay Hernandez) are, nevertheless, determined to track the culprits down. The lawmen catch a break when a recently released ex-con Ghost (rapper-producer Tip “T.I.” Harris) approaches the Dom Perignon-sipping, Cuban cigar-puffing thieves in their posh penthouse hangout with a tantalizing offer they can’t refuse: to orchestrate a complicated multi-million-dollar armored-car takedown in just five days.
After all, as one character says, “We’re takers. That’s what we do. We take.”
Co-written and stylishly directed by John Luessenhop (“Lockdown”), this complicated caper was obviously inspired by action helmer Michael Mann’s “Heat,” along with countless Quentin Tarantino gangster epics. Unfortunately, however, the script unfolds as if it was assembled by a committee which – with four additional screenwriters (Peter Allen, Gabirel Casseus, Avery Duff) – it obviously was. Double-crosses and betrayals abound, along with laughable clichés, caricatured portrayals, and a riveting but exhausting street chase. The two talented females in the cast – Zoe Saldana (“Avatar”), as Jake’s fiancée, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Secrets and Lies”), as Gordon’s drug-addicted sister – are given far too little to do. And as a perpectually-scowling divorced dad, Matt Dillon ill-advisedly totes his young daughter on a high-speed chase.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Takers” is a frenzied 4. Wait for the dvd.
Susan Granger’s review of “A Delicate Balance” (Berkshire Theatre Festival 2010)
“Creativity is magic. Don’t examine it too closely.”
American playwright Edward Albee
Like his best known play, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance” is another relevant examination of relationships, particularly marriage.
Living in upper middle-class suburbia, Agnes (Maureen Anderman) and Tobias (Jonathan Hogan) have been married for many years. Now in their late fifties, they occupy separate bedrooms, as Agnes struggles to maintain not only their stability but her sanity which is severely strained by the constant presence of her audacious, unmarried, alcoholic sister Claire (Lisa Emery). Agnes’ tenuous equilibrium is further tested by the unexpected arrival of their closest friends, Edna (Mia Dillon) and Harry (Keir Dullea), who are inexplicably “frightened” and beg to spend the night. Ordinarily, that would not be difficult since their grown daughter Julia’s bedroom is empty, but Agnes and Tobias have just heard that volatile, petulant Julia (Mia Barron) has left her fourth husband and is en route home. Then, as Albee, so succinctly puts it, “The shit hits the fan.”
Seething with unspoken anger and repressed resentment, Maureen Anderman elegantly embodies the conflicting emotions that propel Agnes, the character who epitomizes Edward Albee’s ferocious vitriol. Director David Auburn (who wrote “Proof”) has assembled an exemplary cast that deliciously delves into the precarious, sniping dysfunction that’s engendered by family and close friends. R. Michael Miller’s set is gracefully evocative of ‘60s WASP society, enhanced by Dan Kotlowitz’ lighting.
A beacon of quality theater, “A Delicate Balance” is on the Main Stage of the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, thru Sept. 4th …tickets available at 413-298-5576 and online at: www.berkshiretheatre.org. It’s a must-see.
Susan Granger’s review of “Piranha 3-D” (Dimension Films)
“No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”
Social critic/journalist H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
When many critics, including me, review a movie they take into consideration how well it accomplishes what it sets out to do. If it’s a B horror-flick, is it a real fright-fest? Do you cringe? Do you shriek? If the answer is yes – then it accomplishes what it’s meant to do, like “Snakes on a Plane.”
Every year, the population of the tiny, mythical Arizona town of Lake Victoria explodes from 5,000 to 50,000 for the bacchanal known as Spring Break. But, this year, there’s something more to worry about than vandalism and drunken teenagers. A sudden underwater earthquake sets free thousands of prehistoric flesh-eating piranhas that devour an inebriated fisherman (Richard Dreyfuss, wearing his rumpled “Jaws” costume and singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home”) who gets sucked into a whirlpool. Meanwhile, sleazy, depraved, Joe Francis-like “Girls Gone Wild” video chronicler, Derrick Jones (Jerry O’Connell), is egging on rowdy, obnoxious, bikini-clad babes, earning the stern disapproval of Sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue), particularly when he engages her teenage son, Jake (Steven R. McQueen, grandson of the famed Steve), as a location scout to guide his yacht and totes along Jake’s crush, Kelly (“Gossip Girl” Jessica Szohr).
Inspired by a 1978 Roger Corman low-budget hit, which was written by John Sayles and directed by Joe Dante as an irreverent parody of Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” this screenplay was written by Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg (“Sorority Row”) and directed by Alexandre Aja (“The Hills Have Eyes,” “High Tension”). Clumsily converted into 3-D, it’s chock full o’carnage and distracting digital deceits, including topless-and-bottomless full-frontal torsos. Christopher Lloyd does a cleverly crazed cameo as a marine-life expert assessing piranha risk and Ving Rhames scores as a tough deputy.
Not for the squeamish or faint-hearted, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Piranha 3-D” is a scary, sicko 6, spewing gallons-upon-gallons of R-rated graphic bloody gore. Not surprisingly, a succulent sequel is already in the works.
Susan Granger’s DVD/VIDEO UPDATE for Friday, Aug. 27:
Before “I Love Lucy” and “All in the Family,” there was “The Goldbergs” about a Jewish immigrant family living in the Bronx, starring writer/director/producer Gertrude Berg, and “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” delivers the touching, timeless message that family and friends, not possessions, are what’s most important.
As summer winds down, A&E’s “Instant Expert” offers student and lifelong learners documentary “quick guides” on a wide array of subjects like “The Story of Oil,” explaining how oil changed the world, along with dangers on land and sea; “The French Revolution” and its reign of terror; “The Mayflower,” a flight from persecution and the true story of Thanksgiving; “Beowulf,” the western world’s oldest written story; “Egypt,” the world’s first superpower; and “Ben Franklin,” publisher/inventor/founding father.
Set in 2055, when Earth is devastated, “The Age of Stupid” focuses on an archivist (Pete Postlethwaite) trying to discover why we didn’t save ourselves when we still had the chance.
It’s fortunate that Jennifer Lopez is a successful pop singer because her taste in romantic comedies is formulaic and stale, as evidenced by “The Back-Up Plan,” in which she plays a Manhattanite who realizes that her biological clock is ticking faster than her ability to marry so she decides on artificial insemination. Right after the procedure, she meets Mr. Right (Alex O’Laughlin) – and you know they’re going to wind up together.
And despite its similar Victorian London setting, don’t confuse Colin Firth’s tepid re-make of “Dorian Gray” with the original Oscar Wilde classic, starring Hurd Hatfield.
PICKS OF THE WEEK: New Yorkers, particularly those with ties to the Bronx, may feel a special affinity to “City Island,” an amiable romantic comedy about an Italian/American family, starring Andy Garcia. As a companion piece, in “Lucky Days,” triple-threat writer/director/actress Angelica Torn has crafted a sympathetic slice-of-life, film noir-like drama that’s centered on the doomed enclave known as Coney Island, playing a conflicted, confused 30-something virgin who’s trapped by family obligation. It’s the first film in which Angelica appears on-screen with her father, Rip Torn, and the late Paul Newman is credited as “producer emeritus.”
Susan Granger’s review of “Get Low” (Sony Classics)
Robert Duvall astonishes with the authenticity of his style, his skill and his overall knockout performance in this uniquely American folktale; it’s an actor’s showcase if there ever was one.
Set in East Tennessee in the Depression-era 1930s, Felix Bush (Duvall) was a prominent Southerner until he mysteriously disappeared into the backwoods 40 years ago and became an angry, eccentric hermit, living in a hand-hewn cabin and adjacent barn with a shotgun always at his side and only his beloved mule as company. Then, suddenly, he decides that he’d like to know – in advance – what people are going to say about him after he dies. He realizes that he has become a local legend, whispered about among the curious townsfolk. So Felix contacts the somewhat shady mortician, Frank Quinn (Bill Murray), and his eager young assistant, Buddy Robinson (Lucas Black), expressing his bizarre wish to “get low” and hold a mock “living funeral” to which anyone who has ever heard a story about him is invited as long as they’re willing to tell the tale in public. In addition, wily Felix proposes selling five-dollar tickets to a raffle that day for his 300 acres of virgin timberland. But what no one except widowed Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek) and an Illinois preacher named Charlie Jackson (Bill Cobbs) realizes is that dour, taciturn Felix’s conscience has been burdened with a shameful secret that he’s never revealed and he’s seeking redemption.
Co-written by Chris Provenzano (TV’s “Mad Men”) and C. Gaby Mitchell (“Blood Diamond”), who fictionalized the concept from a true 1938 incident, and directed as his first feature by Oscar-winning cinematographer/editor Aaron Schneider (“Two Soldiers”), this somewhat surreal, rural drama unfolds at its own leisurely, rather uneven and meandering pace, particularly in the beginning. Genuine to the last detail, including David Boyd’s photography and Jan A. Kaczmarek’s bluegrass music, it’s an excellent ensemble presentation and a subtle, yet compelling tour-de-force by Duvall.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Get Low” is an intriguing, unpredictable 9. It’s a slyly powerful, homespun fable.
Susan Granger’s review of “Mao’s Last Dancer” (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Think “Billy Elliot” combined with “The Last Emperor” with a touch of “Rocky.” Only a master like Bruce Beresford could envision this sweeping, audacious adaptation of Chinese ballet dancer’s Li Cunxin’s memoirs with such emotional resonance.
Plucked from his peasant parents (Joan Chen, Wang Shuangbao) in an impoverished rural village in Shandong Province by Communist officials as part of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, 11 year-old Li is sent to Madame Mao’s ballet school in Beijing. Determined to bring pride to his family, perseverant Li embraces the strict, rigorous discipline and is granted the rare privilege of continuing his dance studies in the United States. Arriving in amazement in Texas as part of an exchange program, he experiences culture-shock but adjusts quickly, deeming his discoveries “fantastic,” adopting a different ideology, even falling in love with another dancer (Amanda Schull). Then to the horror of his host/guardian, Ben Stevenson (Bruce Greenwood), artistic director of the Houston Ballet, Li decides to defect, declaring his need to be “free,” enrolling an astute attorney (Kyle MacLachlan), and becoming embroiled in a political, emotional and ethical conflict that involves sacrificing all hope of ever seeing his family again.
Australian director Bruce Beresford’s films (“Breaker Morant,” “Tender Mercies,” “Crimes of the Heart,” “Driving Miss Daisy”) run an unmatchable gamut but what unites them is an unstoppable cinematic energy that’s at the heart of his understated, yet always vigorous style. Jan Sardi’s (“Shine”) complex, non-linear screenplay effortlessly shifts between Li’s life as a youngster and his present, his childhood experiences and adult dilemmas. Graeme Murphy’s dance sequences soar, and cinematographer Peter James drenches the screen in a torrent of resonating vivid images embodying the sights and sounds of China. As Li Cuxnin at different ages, Chi Cao (principal dancer at Birmingham Royal Ballet), Chengwo Guo (member of Australian Ballet Company) and Huang Wen Bin (aspiring Beijing gymnast) are sensational, as is Bruce Greenwood.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Mao’s Last Dancer” is an inspiring, enthralling 10. Great movies transport the audience – and this left me enriched and exhilarated.
Susan Granger’s review of “The Switch” (Miramax Films)
Although Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly gave this artificial-insemination comedy controversial publicity, it’s nevertheless a formulaic and utterly predictable romance.
This story begins in New York City seven years ago as Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) realizes her biological clock is ticking. Determined to be a mother despite her lack of a husband, she tells her neurotic best friend Wally (Jason Bateman) that she’s searching for the perfect sperm donor. When she decides on a handsome-yet-married man, Roland (Patrick Wilson), she throws an ‘insemination party’ and, unbeknownst to her, inebriated Wally surreptitiously substitutes his sperm for Roland’s in the bathroom. Then Kassie becomes pregnant and moves home to be with her family in Minnesota.
Seven years later, single mother Kassie is back in Manhattan with her precocious son, Sebastian (Thomas Robinson), whose dour resemblance to Bateman is unmistakable. Meanwhile, Roland is now divorced and courting Kassie. But Kassie has no idea that Wally is really Sebastian’s biological father. And what will happen when she finds out?
Based on Jeffrey Eugenides’ New Yorker short story called “Baster,” the cliché-riddled yet underwritten script is by Allen Loeb and directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck (“Blades of Glory”), emerging as better than Jennifer Lopez’ “The Back-Up Plan,” yet paling beside the far funnier and more relevant “The Kids Are All Right” – all exploring somewhat the same concept. Credulity problem here is genetics. How could two blue-eyed, blond parents have a brown-eyed, dark-haired child?
While Jennifer Aniston displays her usual frantic perkiness, Jason Bateman specializes in melancholy prickliness, allowing moppet Thomas Robinson to steal every scene he’s in. Jeff Goldblum and Juliette Lewis are the main characters’ respective confidantes, and GMA’s Diane Sawyer makes a memorable cameo.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Switch” is a quirky, implausible 5. And since all of the genial, multimillionaire stars of TV’s ensemble “Friends” have attempted – and failed – at making a significant big screen impact, has anyone ever considered that, perhaps, they may, indeed, be smaller than life, rather than the opposite? Individually, they simply lack charisma.
Susan Granger’s review of “Nanny McPhee Returns” (Universal Pictures)
Rarely do sequels equal or exceed expectations but this comedy does, offering broad slapstick that’s guaranteed to elicit laughter from small children and their parents. Emma Thompson reprises the magical character she created in 2005’s “Nanny McPhee,” based on Christianna Brand’s “Nurse Matilda” books, not only starring but also writing the screenplay, as she did with the original.
Set during World War II, the family that the warty, uni-browed, snaggletoothed Mary Poppins-like Nanny visits this time is headed by a stressed-out mother who lives in the English countryside. While her soldier husband (Ewan McGregor) is off fighting, Mrs. Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and her three children – Norman (Asa Butterfield), Megsie (Lil Woods) and Vincent (Oscar Steer) – are struggling to survive. Their lives are further complicated by the arrival of two spoiled, precocious cousins – Cyril and Celia (Eros Vlahos, Rosie Taylor-Ritson) – who have been dispatched from London in a purple Rolls Royce to escape the bombing – and a scheming subplot attempt by their devious, despicable Uncle Phil (Rhys Ifans) to sell off their farm to pay off his gambling debts.
Nanny McPhee’s mission is to teach the tiny shrieking terrors five vital lessons that will leave the family “wanting” but not “needing” her services. And, curiously, as each virtuous message is learned, Nanny McPhee’s foreboding appearance becomes less ugly and scary. When it was released abroad earlier this year as “Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang,” the reference was to the bombs dropped by “enemy” planes on England during the Blitz.
Best known for her work on the Iraq-themed TV series “Generation Kill,” director Susannah White elicits fine performances from her entire cast, including sturdy supporting turns from Ralph Fiennes, Bill Bailey and Maggie Smith. The best scenes involve animals: flying piglets proficient at synchronized swimming, climbing trees and Scrabble, along with a pen-stealing baby elephant, flatulent black bird, barnyard mud and poo.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Nanny McPhee Returns” is an irreverent yet sweetly sentimental 7, a delightful late summer diversion.
Susan Granger’s review: “I Do, I Do” at the Westport Country Playhouse (2010-2011 season)
As Peter De Vries put it, “The bonds of matrimony are like any other bonds – they mature slowly.” And that bittersweet note is reflected by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt in “I Do, I Do,” based on Jan de Hartog’s 1940s play “The Fourposter.”
Beginning with their wedding in 1898, “I Do, I Do” chronicles the joys and pains, trials and tribulations of the marriage between Agnes and Michael for the next 50 years, as they warble gentle, tell-tale songs like “I Love My Wife,” “Together Forever,” “The Honeymoon is Over,” “Nobody’s Perfect,” “Love Isn’t Everything,” “When the Kids Get Married,” “Someone Needs Me” and the poignant standard, “My Cup Runneth Over.”
When this two-character musical opened on Broadway in 1966, it was propelled by the star power of Robert Preston and Mary Martin, producer David Merrick and director Gower Champion. Which explain why this current production, starring Kate Baldwin and Lewis Cleale as the archetypal couple, is more of charming trifle. Yet it still has the same kind of frothy, endearing, light-hearted innocence that’s made Jones and Schmidt’s other musical, “The Fantasticks,” into the longest-running production on the American stage.
Acknowledged by a Tony Award nomination, along with the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle, for her enchanting performance in the recent revival of “Finian’s Rainbow,” Kate Baldwin is sensational, which may explain why Lewis Cleale has a tough time keeping up with her, although his credentials are also impressive. Director Susan H. Schulman keeps the pace lively, centered around the large four-poster bed that occupies center stage on Wilson Chin’s simple, intimate set – with accolades to Devon Painter’s period costumes, Philip Rosenberg’s lighting and Domonic Sack’s sound.
“I Do, I Do” will run at the Westport Country Playhouse through Sept. 4th. For information, go to www.westportplayhouse.org or call 203-227-4177.
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