Movie/TV Reviews

Elsa & Fred

Susan Granger’s review of “Elsa & Fred” (Distrimax Inc & Mitropoulos Films)

Set in Madrid, this timelessly sublime romantic comedy about the irresistible power and total madness of passion focuses on two elderly people who discover it’s never to late to love and to dream.
When recently widowed Alfredo (Manuel Alexandre) moves into a new apartment, his new neighbor, ebullient Argentinean Elsa (China Zorrilla), is intrigued. That she backed her car into one belonging to his volatile daughter Cuca (Blanca Portillo), smashing her headlights, only serves as an introduction. After all, he has a dog named Napoleon Bonaparte and she lives in apartment J, as in Josephine. Plus, they both have controlling offspring. Hers are two sons, one a penniless painter. His is Cuca and her out-of-work husband Paco, who is trying to manipulate Alfred into investing in a cybercafé.
“Have you had any laughs?” Elsa boldly asks shy, reserved Alfred, an admitted hypochondriac. “You’re not afraid of dying. You’re afraid of living,” she observes astutely. “I’m your only salvation.”
So their love affair begins. With her active imagination, Elsa’s determined to enjoy every minute and Alfred discovers all he’s been missing in life. As their relationship ripens, Alfredo learns that Elsa is not only a Fellini fanatic but has always dreamed of re-enacting that magical moment from “La Dolce Vida” between Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni in Rome’s Trevi Fountain. If not now, when?
Directed by Marcos Carnevale from a screenplay by Carnevale, Lily Ann Martin, Marcela Guerty and Jose Antonio Felez, it’s brilliantly acted by the two septuagenarians who wallow in shameless sentimentality. In Spanish with English subtitles, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Elsa & Fred” is an exuberant, thoroughly entrancing 8. As Pablo Picasso said, “It takes a long time to become young.”

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The Happening

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Happening” (20th Century Fox)

Writer/producer/director M. Night Shayamalan has made a creepy, cautionary eco-thriller that neither cautions nor thrills. But it’s based on an interesting apocalyptic premise: what if nature turned on us? After all, honeybees are vanishing and no one knows why. Perhaps it’s an inexplicable natural phenomenon. But as Philadelphia science teacher, Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), tells students in a quote attributable to Albert Einstein: if bees disappear, humans will follow within four years. (Except Einstein never said any such thing.)
Then early one morning as leaves rustle in the wind, everyone in New York’s Central Park becomes disoriented and suicidal; construction workers leap off nearby buildings. Panic quickly spreads throughout the Northeast. So Elliot grabs his mood ring (remember them from the ‘60s?) and flees the city by train with his seemingly comatose wife (Zooey Deschanel) and gabby math teacher friend (John Leguizamo) who totes his own repressed eight year-old daughter (Ashlyn Sanchez). Scared and stranded in rural Pennsylvania, they’re on the run – but from what? An airborne neurotoxin, emanating from plants and trees? Is it some kind of ecologic retribution?
The astounding success of M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Sixth Sense” with its spooky “I see dead people” leveraged him a Hollywood career but his subsequent sci-fi sagas – “Signs,” “Unbreakable,” “The Village,” “Lady in the Water” – have gone rapidly downhill and this is another disappointment. No logic sustains the ominous foreboding of the minimal plot. There’s no palpable terror, no twist. The stilted dialogue is crammed with clichés, and since the edgy, underwritten characters behave bizarrely to begin with, they have nowhere to go emotionally.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Happening” is a fear-filled yet tepid 3. Instead of being full of dread, it’s dreadful.

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dvd update

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s dvd update for week of Friday, June 13th:

With gas prices rising and diesel fuel at an all-time high, what would happen if the trucking industry shut down? The insightful documentary “Big Rig” takes a deep look at America’s most underrated industry and the long-haul truckers who propel it.
Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games” is a suspenseful, sadistic thriller about a yuppie couple (Naomi Watts, Tim Roth) who are terrorized when they allow two polite, well-spoken psychopaths (Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet) into their Hamptons vacation home.
Another slasher fest, “The Signal,” references George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” and Kioshi Kurosawa’s “Pulse;” its three-part format revolves around hapless citizens of a fictional city called Terminus who are driven into zombie rage by a mysterious signal that jams phones and televisions.
With “The Tudors” over until next season, the royal intrigue of Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) and her sister (Scarlett Johansson) continues in “The Other Boleyn Girl” which, admittedly, is more soap opera than historical drama.
“Heavy Metal in Baghdad” is a documentary about the Iraqi band Acrassicauda and their journey from Saddam’s dictatorship, through the US invasion, to their exodus as refugees in Istanbul, as they attempt to keep both their music and themselves alive.
Adrenaline-fueled NASCAR fans can get behind the wheel with “ESPN Inside Access: Jeff Gordon,” packed with race highlights, and New York Mets enthusiasts will treasure “Shea Goodbye: 45 Years of Amazin,'” commemorating the beloved stadium in all its glory, history and fanfare.
FATHER’S DAY PICK OF THE WEEK: Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman team up in “The Bucket List,” directed by Rob Reiner. This heartwarming adventure shows it’s never too late to live life to its fullest as two men with a common bond choose rectify their regrets about all those “missed opportunities.”

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The Promotion

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Promotion” (Dimension Films)

This amusing, occasionally insightful workplace comedy revolves around two rivals for the same job as manager of a new branch of a Donaldson supermarket in Chicago.
Having been assured of the promotion by his boss (Fred Armisen), the meek veteran assistant manager, Doug Stauber (Seann William Scott), does whatever he’s told. After all, his perky medical-assistant wife Jen (Jenna Fischer from “The Office”) yearns for a house and they’d like to start a family. But complications occur with the arrival of Richard (John C. Reilly), an amiable transfer from Montreal, who’s bucking for the same, better-paying job that Doug covets. He’s married to Laurie (Lili Taylor), a Scotswoman, and they already have a baby daughter.
While Doug’s told he’s a “shoo-in,” he’s known to exaggerate his accomplishments and hide negative evaluation cards he’s received from customers. On the other hand, Richard is a former alcoholic who listens to self-help CDs, even as he smokes marijuana in the workplace. Complicating their passive-aggressive competition, as the mega-grocery chain continually tries to maintain good community relations, the tempers of both men are sorely tried by several of the local delinquents who continually cause trouble in the parking lot.
In casting this humanistic, low-key, character-driven satire, writer and first-time director Steve Conrad (“The Weather Man,” “The Pursuit of Happyness”) hit the jackpot, daring to choose clownish Seann William Scott (Stifler in “American Pie”) as the rigid Everyman, and John C. Reilly (“Chicago,” “Walk Hard”) always delivers a credible performance. These actors smooth over Conrad’s bland, repetitive style and uneven pacing. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Promotion” is a bittersweet, flimsy 5. After the gamesmanship, it’s obvious that – with their anger management issues – neither employee is really qualified for the coveted position.

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The Incredible Hulk

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Incredible Hulk” (Universal Pictures/Marvel Studios)

The summer parade of popcorn pictures based on comic book characters continues with another remake of “The Incredible Hulk.”
Nuclear physicist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) was accidentally irradiated in a lab accident, causing him to turn into a powerful green giant, The Hulk, whenever he gets angry. His uncontrollable ‘alter ego’ rage alienates him from everyone, including the woman he loves, biologist Betsy Ross (Liv Tyler), daughter of Gen. Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt), who’d like to harvest Banner’s DNA to create Super Soldiers. Then a bioforce experiment transforms power-hungry Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) into a destructive force, The Abomination, leading up to a climactic battle between the titans in the streets of New York, as The Hulk fully evolves into a reluctant hero.
Tracing its “Frankenstein”/”Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”/”King Kong” antecedents back to the 1978 TV series with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, the screenplay by Zak Penn (“X-Men”) focuses on Banner as a vulnerable fugitive on-the-run, not only from the law but also from his destiny. French director Louis Leterrier (“The Transporter”) amps up the action with f/x and fast camerawork, pointedly sidestepping logic and Banner’s angst/filled background which is pretty much covered during the opening credits and extensively in Ang Lee’s 2003 “Hulk” with Eric Bana.
Meanwhile, Professor Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) may hold the secret to Benner’s quest for a cure and eagle-eyed fans can spot Lou Ferrigno as a campus security guard.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Incredible Hulk” is a smashing 7, not as good as “Iron Man,” but a credible precursor to “The Avengers,” which will include Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, along with Norton’s Hulk, plus Thor and Captain America, who’ll eventually get movies of their own.

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You Don’t Mess With the Zohan

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” (Columbia/Sony)

Adam Sandler ventures into political satire with this new comedy, playing an Israeli hit man who flees to the United States to become a hairdresser. But in his New York neighborhood, he discovers that Arab and Israeli immigrants are carrying their Middle East tension as excess baggage when they’re forced to cope with a far greater adversary.
A legendary Mossad commando, Dvir Zohan (Sandler) fakes his own death at the hands of his arch-enemy, the Palestinian Phantom (John Turturro), in order to begin a new life. With a Paul Mitchell stylebook under his arm, he attempts, unsuccessfully, to infiltrate high-end Manhattan hair salons. Yet with the help of new friends (Lainie Kazan, Nick Swardson) and vast quantities of hummus, Zohan manages to reinvent himself as swaggering “Scrappy Coco” and land a position at a run-down salon in Brooklyn, working for a beautiful Palestinian (Emmanuelle Chriqui) while shagging a clientele of older women – until his cover is cracked by a Palestinian cabbie (Rob Schneider).
Written with customary crudeness by Sandler, Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow and directed by Dennis Dugan, the story, which deals with the cycle of Middle Eastern violence, tries not to take sides. But when three wannabe Arab terrorists phone the “Hazbollah Hot Line” for bomb-making instructions, they’re told the information is “not currently available during peace talks with Israel” and to call back “as soon as the negotiations break down.” Amid bits by Mariah Carey, Henry Winkler, Chris Rock and George Takei, the villains are Mel Gibson-loving racists hired by a Trump-like real-estate developer.
On the Granger Movie Gauge, “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” is a silky smooth, subversively silly 7, making the genial moral that Israelis and Arabs are more alike than dissimilar.

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dvd update

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s dvd update for Friday, June 6th:

If you missed the recent TV adaptation of Michael Crichton’s “The Andromeda Strain,” the excellent two-part miniseries is already available. It’s about what happens when a satellite falls in Utah, bringing with it a deadly extraterrestrial virus.
“Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights Hollywood to the Heartland” chronicles his raunchy cross-country trip with a bunch of comedians and special guests; it’s part documentary, part variety show, part buddy road picture.
Natural childbirth is the focus of the documentary “The Business of Being Born” for which actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to explore and question the way American women have babies. The fundamental question is: should most births be viewed as a natural life process or a potential medical emergency?
Another documentary, “What Would Jesus Buy?” follows Rev. Billy (Bill Talen) and his Church of Stop Shopping gospel choir travelling around the country in the weeks before Christmas putting on faux-evangelical shows attacking the demon cash register.
Clint Eastwood’s detective franchise returns with “The Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector’s Edition” with all five films, plus unique bonus features.
Finally, slapstick spoofs don’t get worse than the wretched “Meet the Spartans,” a witlessly crude, vulgar “300” parody set in ancient Greece.
PICK OF THE WEEK: “Semi-Pro” imagines a fictional ABA team, the Flint Tropics, run by Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell), a one-hit singing sensation/owner/coach and power forward, whose hoop dreams rest with his newest player, Monix (Woody Harrelson), a former Celtics benchwarmer. In its final season in 1976, the ABA engineered a merger with the establishment NBA, essentially dissolving the league so only the top teams survive. While the comedy is sloppy and crude, it captures the old ABA spirit for basketball fans who will probably enjoy it.

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War Inc.

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “War Inc.” (First Look Studios)

Actor/writer/producer John Cusack is an outspoken liberal and vehemently opposed to the war in Iraq. Yet his political views skew his common sense in this mind-bogglingly awful satire set in a Middle Eastern country that’s been invaded and occupied by a Halliburton-like corporation called Tamerlane.
Turaqistan – the mythical site of “the first war ever to be 100% outsourced to a private enterprise” – is now run by a former U.S. vice-president (Dan Aykroyd) whose resemblance to Dick Cheney is not coincidental.
In the midst of a militarized trade show, a troubled, Tabasco-swilling mercenary, Brand Hauser (Cusack), is hired to assassinate a troublesome oil entrepreneur, Omar Sharif (played by the actor Omar Sharif). Hauser’s cover is working as producer for an Americanized Central Asian pop star, Yonica Babyeah (Hilary Duff), whose resemblance to Britney Spears is also not coincidental. And poking her nose into everybody’s business is a crusading American reporter, Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Tomei).
As a writer, Cusack and his “Grosse Pointe Blank” cohorts, along with director Joshua Seftel, don’t know the meaning of subtlety when it comes to profiteering – like having an intelligence agency hidden inside a Popeye’s Chicken, as cheery amputees dance around, assisted by Tamerlane technology, and their take on “embedded” journalists’ resembles an amusement park “battle zone” thrill ride.
Unlike effective political satires (i.e. “Wag the Dog,” “Primary Colors,” “Bulworth”), this has little going for it but snickering – and celebrity spotting. Cusack’s sister Joan pops up as Marsha Dillon, his hysterical undercover secretary, and Ben Kingsley channels “Dr. Strangelove” as Walken, Hauser’s spymaster who winds up as a quadriplegic.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “War Inc.” is an over-the-top 2. It’s a savage, tediously exaggerated “Saturday Night Live” lampoon that misfires.

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Kung Fu Panda

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Kung Fu Panda” (Paramount Pictures/DreamWorks)

Set in the Valley of Peace in ancient China, this kid flick, specifically aimed at a younger audience, is an animated adventure with colorful, stylized characters voiced by a host of celebrities.
Lumbering, lovable Po (Jack Black) loves martial arts and dreams of doing heroic deeds rather than serve customers at the noodle shop run by his father, a goose named Mr. Ping (James Hong). But it’s all just wishful thinking for the pudgy panda until the inventor of kung-fu, Oogway the Turtle (Randall Duk Kim), recognizes him, albeit by default, as the Dragon Warrior destined to fulfill an ancient prophecy by saving a threatened village from the evil snow leopard, Tai Lung (Ian McShane), who breaks out of Chorh-Gom Prison. So Po reports to the Jade Palace to train with his idols, the legendary Furious Five – Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), Crane (David Cross) and Monkey (Jackie Chan) – under the leadership of their two-foot-tall guru, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), an impatient red panda who, understandably, initially doubts his ability.
Po learns that becoming a martial arts expert requires aggressive agility, mental prowess and lightning-fast reflexes, none of which come naturally to his cuddly nature. But the most important lesson he learns is “Be your own hero,” which means believing in yourself, because “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift; that’s why it’s called the present.”
Working from a script by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, directors John Stevenson and Mark Osborne hone in on the classic, timeless fable – minus pop culture references and thematic parody. Just gravity-defying, action-packed, family comedy. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Kung Fu Panda” is an empowering 7, chaotic chop-socky fun.

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The Fall

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Fall” (Roadside Attractions)

Music video/commercial/film director Tarsem Singh (“The Cell”) channels “The Princess Bride” fairy-tale-within-a-fantasy concept, giving it his own baroque twist.
Set in 1915 in Los Angeles, a five year-old child, Alexandra (Catinca Untaru), is in the hospital with a broken arm, having fallen from a tree while picking oranges with her immigrant parents. Exuding guileless charm, Alexandra befriends Roy Walker (Lee Pace), a suicidal silent-movie stuntman whose legs are as paralyzed as his broken heart. In exchange for undercover deliveries of morphine, he tells her a tantalizing story of love and revenge.
The dazzling, delirious tale mirroring Walker’s real-life, ill-fated love triangle – involves a ragtag band of heroes, led by the Black Bandit (Pace again) with Alexandra as his daughter. There’s also an African warrior (Marcus Wesley), an Indian swami (Julian Beach), an explosives expert (Robin Smith) and a young adventurer named Charles Darwin (Leo Bill). Their nemesis is dastardly Governor Odious (Daniel Caltagirone), who has imprisoned them. And, of course, there’s the beautiful Princess Evelyn (Justine Waddell).
Cleverly utilizing a “Wizard of Oz”/”Pan’s Labyrinth” gimmick, Singh makes sure their faces are all recognizable from the hospital environs where they’re patients, staff and others. The obtuse screenplay by Singh, Dan Gilroy and Nico Soultanakis, based on Valerie Petrov’s 1981 script for “Yo Ho Ho,” lacks tonal consistency which, in turn, prevents the audience from becoming emotionally involved in either the characters or the outcome.
Because the vibrant and violent symbolic imagery is what’s most memorable, considerable credit goes to cinematographer Colin Watkinson, film editor Robert Duffy, costumer Eiko Ishioka, and production designer Ged Clarke, who toiled on location in 18 countries. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Fall” is a sumptuous 6. It’s visually intriguing but often incoherent.

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