Movie Review: Did You Hear About the Morgan's?

Did You Hear About The Morgans? (2009) 

Directed by Marc Lawrence 

Written by Marc Lawrence

Starring Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sam Elliott, Mary Steenburgen, Elisabeth Moss

Release Date December 18th, 2009

Published December 18th, 2009

Hugh Grant's usual charm combines with Sarah Jessica Parker doing a variation on her Sex and the City persona to craft an overly familiar romantic comedy in the uninspired “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” Directed by Marc Lawrence, this witless fish out of water story invites more scorn than it deserves as it limps to its conclusion.

The Morgans, Meryl (Parker) and Paul (Hugh Grant), split up several months ago. Paul cheated while on a business trip and Meryl rightly gave him the boot. Paul, despite his one time indiscretion, wants desperately to get his wife back or, at the very least, have dinner with her. When Meryl finally relents the two have an exceptionally awkward dinner followed by a walk in the rain that seems only to divide them further.

Unfortunately for both Morgans the walk ends with them witnessing a murder and, having got an up close look at the killer, they are now prime witnesses in a major murder case. How major? The feds want the Morgans in witness relocation. Over their repeated objections the Morgans are soon on a plane for Ray Wyoming a town that would comprise about two blocks of New York City.

The Morgans are welcomed by their new protectors, the town Sheriff Clay (Sam Elliott) and his deputy and wife Emma (Mary Steenburgen). Let the fish out of water fun commence! If by fun you mean listening to Meryl complain about everything that is not New York and watching Paul attempt to charm a grizzly bear into not eating him.

”Did You Hear About the Morgans?” was a bad movie from the moment that writer-director Marc Lawrence chose the hoary conceit that is witness protection. The ‘been there-done that’ factor of witness protection comedies is off the chart. Only the least inventive of filmmakers would attempt to plumb these depths. Then again, Marc Lawrence did write the script for both Miss Congeniality movies.

I could sit here and take potshots at “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” all day, that would be easy. The fact is, however, that even with the ancient plot device the film is somewhat pleasant in tone and Hugh Grant can still bring it even in the weakest, most familiar of roles. Yes, he could play Paul in his sleep and launch the same self-deprecating jibes but you will laugh at them.

You won't laugh loud, long or all that much but you will laugh and smile a few times during “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” Grant is a star whose ability to poke fun at himself seems an endless well of material. That said, the whole of “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” remains stale, predictable and not worth the price of a theater ticket.

Movie Review The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass (2007) 

Directed by Chris Weitz 

Written by Chris Weitz 

Starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, Ian McKellen, Dakota Blue Richards 

Release Date December 7th, 2007 

Published December 6th, 2007

It is the most perfect irony that church organizations are planning to boycott a movie about a Vatican-esque organization that tries to silence those who think differently from them. Church folk are livid over the new movie The Golden Compass from director Chris Weitz. The film is based on the first novel in the "His Dark Materials" series from author Philip Pullman.

Pullman has been accused and has done little to deny that his book series is anti-church with a specifically atheistic bent.  The movie however, is far from strident. The Golden Compass as a movie is not a religious or anti-religious tract. Rather, as a movie this is a family friendly adventure epic with terrific special effects, a compelling story and a star-making lead performance from young actress Dakota Blue Richards.

Lyra Belaqua (Richards) seems like a normal kid, running and playing with the other children like a classic tomboy. Spunky, smart with a rebellious streak, she lives a privileged but not spoiled existence at Jordan College where her uncle Asriel (Daniel Craig) is a welcome but controversial presence. His investigations of parallel universes and a magical dust that connects these universes together have many in power quite nervous.

An organization called the Magisterium feels that what Asriel does in his research is heresy. They go as far as trying to kill him. It is Lyra who saves his life and soon he is off for the north for further investigation. Meanwhile, Lyra is visited by Mrs. Coulter. Not often impressed with the adults around her, Lyra is surprisingly taken with Mrs. Coulter and is taken on as her guest with promises of a trip to the north to see her uncle.

Before she leaves, Lyra is given a gift, a golden compass that allows her to see into the future. Only she can interpret its symbols and make it work and she must keep it from Mrs. Coulter at all costs, Mrs. Coulter is a member of the magisterium. When Mrs. Coulter demands to see the compass Lyra runs away and thus begins an adventure north with the aid of an ancient seafaring race, a flying ace called an aeronaut (Sam Elliott) and a warrior race of polar bears.

The Golden Compass was adapted and directed by Chris Weitz, an ambitious young director with one masterpiece (About A Boy) and one disaster (American Dreamz) under his belt in his short career. A family action adventure fantasy would not seem like material right up his alley but Chris Weitz really pulls it off. This is a terrifically eye catching adventure that combines visual splendor with terrific storytelling to create a rousing adventure.

Though Weitz has never worked with major effects before in his career you wouldn't know it from The Golden Compass. From the awesome polar bears in full combat gear and olde english accents to the icy landscapes of the north country, The Golden Compass is as visually accomplished and daring as anything in The Chronicles of Narnia or even The Lord of the Rings and with a more human voice than either of those impressive epics.

The reality of The Golden Compass controversy is this, if someone walks into this movie searching for an agenda they will likely find it. That can be said about any number of movies but applies particularly here. Those who want the film to have an anti--church agenda will find one, they will have to employ some intellectual dishonesty to get there but they will get there.

The Golden Compass as a stand alone movie however, is no tract but rather an exciting, innovative family action adventure that takes the best of the Narnia and Rings franchises and humanizes them with deeper storytelling and equal visual splendor.

Young Dakota Blue Richards is entirely unaffected by any dark agendas. Her performance is pure joy and excitement. This pre-teen British actress is a stunner in a lead role that would overwhelm most actresses her age. Her spunk and pluck are so convincing and so winning you may forget just how young she is, then her vulnerability is displayed and you are won over all over again.

Even with the stunning special effects, with an icy beautiful Nicole Kidman, even with James Bond himself Daniel Craig on screen, Dakota Blue Richards is without doubt the most impressive performer in the whole of The Golden Compass.

I urge anyone who believes that The Golden Compass is some strident anti-religious tract to see the movie. Unless you really, really force it you will not find this agenda you are searching for. My bet is that half way into this well told, visually garish epic you will have forgotten your agenda and be absorbed by this wondrous story that Chris Weitz has so well brought to the screen.

Movie Review Thank You For Smoking

Thank You for Smoking (2006) 

Directed by Jason Reitman

Written by Jason Reitman 

Starring Aaron Eckhart, David Koechner, Maria Bello, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, J.K Simmons, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy

Release Date March 17th, 2006 

Published April 20th, 2006 

Whether you call him "Yuppie Mephistopheles'', "Goebbels In Gucci" or simply "Death Merchant" you cannot say Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is not a charming assassin. In his role as lobbyist for the tobacco industry Naylor's job is to charm, cajole and if necessary deceive whomever is in front of him into seeing his industry as the underdog in an unfair and unjust war on personal freedom. Never before has anyone been more charmingly full of shit.

Adapted from a novel by Christopher Buckley, son of the unctuous conservative pundit William F. Buckley, Thank You For Smoking is an amiable and amoral look inside the life of Washington's most sinister and charming lobbyist. Like him or not Nick Naylor could convince you the sky was green while standing outside.

Thank You For Smoking directed by another prominent scion Jason Reitman son of  director Ivan Reitman (Twins, Kindergarten Cop, Ghostbusters). But do not expect anything as gentle as his father's fun loving mainstream blockbusters. Jason Reitman's talent, it would seem, is sharp satire of the most un-P.C kind.

Thank You For Smoking is shockingly not about making the tobacco industry look any more demonic than they already do. Rather it's about this character, Nick Naylor, and his insidiously powerful charms. That his charms are employed by the tobacco companies is merely part of the deep dark fun. Listening to someone convince you that a product that kills more Americans than any other product in existence, a statistic Nick prides while discussing with fellow merchants of death Polly (Maria Bello), lobbyist for the alcohol industry, and Bobby (David Koechner), lobbyist for guns, lends a black humor to Nick's charm. He knows what he's doing is wrong, that the science he misrepresents is complete B.S but being charming and winning seemingly unwinnable arguments is what pays the bills. He also happens to be really good at it.

Darker still is Nick's relationship with his son Joey (Cameron Bright). His attempts to get closer to his son, he is divorced from Joey's mother, include attending a career day at Joey's school where he essentially convinces the children that they should make up their own minds about smoking rather than listen to mom and dad, especially if mom says smoking is bad for you.

Nick takes his son on a business trip to Los Angeles where with the help of an equally amoral superagent played by Rob Lowe, he hopes to restore the cigarrette's good standing in film. Nick's hope is that he can get the cigarette into a big time blockbuster movie in the hands of real movie stars rather than the modern norm that has cigarettes mostly in the hands of villains or europeans.

Also while in Los Angeles Nick is to meet with Lorne Lutch (Sam Elliott) the original Marlboro Man who, now dying of cancer, has become a vocal anti-smoking advocate. In a scene so disarming in its honesty and dark humor, Nick essentially bribes Lutch with a suitcase full of cash and yet convinces him and us that the money is not a bribe, but a gift that it would be rude or hypocritical to complain about publicly. Nick's son is witness to this scene and yet does not lose the esteem of his father. In fact he is convinced he would like to be more like his father.

Nick's near downfall, as it is with most men, is a beautiful woman, a reporter named Heather Holloway, who has her own unique opinion off and on the record. Heather's arc is likely the weakest in the film as her triumph over Nick is too easily overcome and the comic possibilities of the relationship are not fully discovered.

Thank You For Smoking is as nihilistic in its point of view of the dangers of smoking as Nick is. The film is not about condemning smoking, the tobacco industry, or its protagonist. In that perspective it's fair to say that film is not as sharp as it could be. A precise perspective would be welcome. However as a dark hearted satirical character study the film is whip smart and very, very funny. Thank You For Smoking is a must see.

Movie Review: We Were Soldiers

We Were Soldiers (2002) 

Directed by Randall Wallace

Written by Randall Wallace

Starring Mel Gibson, Madeline Stowe, Sam Elliott, Greg Kinnear, Keri Russell, Barry Pepper

Release Date March 1st, 2002 

Published February 27th, 2002

I have been complaining that I'm tired of war movies, there are just too many of them. Their themes and characters are becoming clichés, and there doesn't seem to be anymore stories to tell. Well, I was wrong and We Were Soldiers showed me I was very wrong.

Mel Gibson stars as an army colonel who leads the first soldiers into Vietnam in 1965. Gibson is also a family man with 5 children and a wife played by Madeline Stow. The opening of the film is surprisingly strong introducing the characters and scenes which we've seen a thousand times; the soldier who tries to be funny, the soldier with the attitude problem, and of course the teary good-byes between husband and wives. We Were Soldiers avoids any more cliches by remaining focused on Gibson and his family, and merely introducing supporting players Chris Klein and his wife played by Felicity's Keri Russell.

The beginning is strong but the film really takes off once the soldiers arrive in Vietnam and are almost immediately dropped into a hot zone where French soldiers had been massacred by the North Vietnamese months before. These scenes are as violent and bloody as anything we've seen before and maybe louder the film's soundtrack. It was at times so loud that my seat shook as if it were rigged to do so. Once in the jungle, Gibson matches wits with a North Vietnamese colonel, but unlike your typical action movie it's not painted as a one-on-one match, but a strategic match between equally matched opponents.

Not many films have had the courage to show America's enemies as human beings but We Were Soldiers does show us North Vietnamese soldiers who aren't monsters but rather just like our guys. They were defending their country and they did so by any means necessary.

The film's supporting cast is strong, especially Barry Pepper. No stranger to great war movies, Pepper stars as the first journalist on the ground who quickly finds more action than he bargained for. Pepper's war photographer is not some cowboy out to break a big story, but a normal person in an extraordinary situation.

We Were Soldiers is not a unique film. We've seen some of this stuff before, scenes that appear in every war movie as if they were required by law. But Gibson, Pepper, Chris Klein and writer director Randall Wallace make even those seemingly clichéd moments ring true and make We Were Soldiers the first great film of 2002.

Movie Review Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider (2007) 

Directed by Mark Steven Johnson 

Written by Mark Steven Johnson 

Starring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley, Sam Elliott, Peter Fonda 

Release Date February 16th, 2007

Published February 15th, 2007

Hiring Nicolas Cage to play Ghost Rider is strange for a few different reasons. The oddest thing about the choice of Nicolas Cage for this role is that he is simply too big a star for this. Any film producer would tell you that you don't hire a well known star like Nicolas Cage and then cover his face with computer generated effects. 

Ghost Rider requires that the star, in some of the movie's biggest and most important scenes, will be covered by CGI bones and flames. This is natural for a lesser known actor, not for one as well known as Nic Cage. Nevertheless, Cage campaigned for the role and got it and now Ghost Rider is out there and though Cage is missing from some of the film's biggest moments, I can't imagine the movie being as fun or entertaining without him.

When Johnny Blaze (Matt Long) was a kid riding motorcycles in carnivals with his dad, Barton (Brett Cullen), he made a deal with the devil (Peter Fonda). Johnny's father was sick and dying so Johnny made a deal that he thought would save his dad's life. In exchange rescuing Dad, the devil told Johnny that some time in the future he would return to collect on Johnny's debt.

Nearly 30 years later, Johnny (Nicolas Cage) is a world famous motorcycle stunt rider. His jumps over lines of cars, trucks, even helicopters are pay per view sensations. The life he gave up after selling his soul seems to be coming back into focus as  his childhood sweetheart Roxy (Eva Mendes), who he had once planned to run away with, comes back into his life.

The sparks ignite once again between Johnny and Roxy but unfortunately it is then that the devil returns to collect his debt. Seems the devil's own son, Blackheart (Wes Bentley), has escaped from hell and is planning on taking over the world. It will be Johnny's job as the devil's new bounty hunter to bring down Blackheart before he can get his hands on a legendary contract full of souls that could destroy the world. Thus, Johnny becomes the Ghost Rider, a flame skulled super-hero who does the devil's dirty work. Riding a flaming motorcycle and carrying a flaming chain, Ghost Rider battles evil and collects their souls for Satan.

Directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the man behind Marvel's Daredevil movie, Ghost Rider is a big time action spectacle with outsized special effects and a good deal of goofiness. Johnson knows this material well, he is clearly a fan of the comics, and his love for the material really shines through. The detail and the humor of Ghost Rider comes from Johnson's familiarity with the material and a bit of his own wit. The effects of Ghost Rider, headed up by special effects supervisor Kevin Mack, leading a team from Sony Imageworks, are exceptional. The flaming skull, the flaming motorcycle, and Ghost Rider's fiery ride up the side of a skyscraper are all very impressive computer generated effects.

Nicolas Cage campaigned hard for the role of Johnny Blaze and got it despite the fact that it was written initially for a much younger actor. Cage is a huge fan of Ghost Rider and even had to have a Ghost Rider tattoo on his arm covered with make-up for the movie. Cage brings a sardonic, off kilter charm to Ghost Rider and Johnny Blaze. The fact that the character loves Jelly Beans and Karen Carpenter are odd character details that Cage plays with gusto.

Less interesting is the supporting cast who, aside from Donal Logue's comic relief as Cage's pal, are underwhelming. Eva Mendes is smokin' hot but in an underwritten role she struggles for screen time and is made to look foolish in more than one scene. She, at least, comes off better than Wes Bentley as the film's villain. The American Beauty actor, who has done little since that Oscar winner in 1999, is too slight and affected to be a believable foe for the powerful Ghost Rider. Essentially, Cage's charisma and star power blows Bentley off the screen.

Ghost Rider is flawed and is certainly not in the class of comic book legends like Spiderman or Batman but it is a rollicking, exciting action adventure B-movie. Nicolas Cage is a big star, bigger than the character he plays, and he makes this unusual role work with quirky details and comic book cool. Ghost Rider is funny and exciting, even a little scary for younger audiences. Most important, Ghost Rider is just damn entertaining and that is what it's all about.

Movie Review: The Hulk

The Hulk (2003) 

Directed by Ang Lee 

Written by James Schamus, Michael France, John Turman 

Starring Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Nick Nolte, Josh Lucas 

Release Date June 20th, 2003 

Published June 19th, 2003 

I don't know much about the comic book version of The Hulk. My only exposure to the big green guy is the goofy live action TV version in which Bill Bixby turned into a green-painted Lou Ferrigno. I'm not familiar with the comic book mythos, his origin story, his powers, and especially his heroic purpose. I'm sure the comic has a dramatic force to it, something that the Incredible Hulk seeks, a goal he hopes to achieve. It is that goal that is missing from Ang Lee's The Hulk, a listless superhero movie without a real hero.

The film version of Hulk's origin begins with Bruce Banner's father David (Nick Nolte, looking worse than his recent mugshot). David is a military scientist working on some potion that, according to the military, is too dangerous to test on humans. Undeterred, David Banner tests the potion on himself. We are not certain what was accomplished until David and his wife have their first child Bruce, who has inherited his father’s altered genetics. David soon realizes he made a terrible mistake, but before he can find a cure for his son, the military shuts him down. So David blows up the facility and returns home where something really bad happens. It's clear to the audience, but young Bruce blocks the memory.

Flash forward and Bruce, in the person of Black Hawk Down's Eric Bana, is working as a scientist on a military base. With his ex-girlfriend Betty Ross and another classmate, Bruce is unknowingly working on the same project his father had begun years earlier, an experiment that uses gamma rays to heal injuries without surgery. What Bruce doesn't know is that his father is back from prison. David Banner has taken a job as a janitor in the lab, not only to see his son but to take revenge on the man who shut down his lab, General Ross (Sam Elliot). Oh, and the General is also Betty's father.

When Bruce's experiment goes bad, he is accidentally sprayed with gamma rays unleashing his heretofore unknown alter ego. Seeing his son for the first time as the Hulk, David Banner sees an opportunity to get his revenge on General Ross. He will manipulate his son's alter ego into destroying everything. That is the basic plot as I understood it, though there is also a quick bit with a military contractor named Talbot (Josh Lucas) who wants to harvest the Hulk's DNA to create super soldiers. However, that is an ineffectual afterthought in a plot full of afterthoughts.

Initially, when I heard director Ang Lee was going to make a so-called art house super hero movie I was excited about the possibility. I was thinking Jekyll and Hyde, a little Frankenstein, maybe even Freud. Unfortunately, I got some of what I was hoping for and I didn't like it. Lee lost the real idea that drives super hero movies and that is escapism. Lee's Hulk is so tortured that I'd rather see him in counseling than a movie. There is this protracted plot point about Bruce's repressed memories of childhood. Specifically about the day his father blew up the army lab. Though we in the audience know exactly what happened, Bruce has blocked it out. The director drags it out so far that we are left screaming the memory at The Hulk. The frustration of waiting for Bruce to unclog his memory lasts almost to the very end of the film.

One of the many problems with The Hulk is its casting of Eric Bana as Bruce Banner and the CGI face of the Hulk. Bana, who was so charismatic and exciting in Black Hawk Down, appears to have had his personality removed. This is likely due to a script that rushes him along even while he sulks like a tortured artist. Bana never communicates anything other than painful exasperation throughout the entirety of The Hulk. Maybe he was attempting to mimic the audience.

My major problem with The Hulk is that there really isn't much of a plot. The Hulk isn't the least bit heroic, save for his fight to save Betty from some vicious genetically-enhanced dogs. For the most part, I was sympathizing with the film’s supposed bad guy, Sam Elliot's General Ross. The General does what any right thinking person would do when a giant superhuman begins going around smashing things and hurting people, he tries to kill it.

Then there is the CGI effects that bring the Hulk to life. Ugh! Sadly the concerns that fans had after the poor showing in the Super Bowl commercial back in January were confirmed. The Hulk never looks like anymore than a video game character. Bana's dull facial expressions on the CGI mug don't help much. It's impressive that a CGI character could be so well integrated into the real life backgrounds but I was far more impressed with the CGI realism in Shrek, where the technology really seemed to be at its peak. Would I have been happier with a big green painted professional wrestler as The Hulk? No, it was dopey looking on the 70's TV show and it would be even dopier now, but this CGI is only slightly more satisfying. 

What The Hulk truly lacks though is dramatic purpose. The film is so wrapped up in Bruce Banner's psychology and Hulk's CGI appearance that they seemingly forgot to give the character something to strive for. Is he looking to cure himself of the Hulk? Does he want to be a superhero? Does he strive to control his new self in order to become a hero? I never understood the reason why I should care about The Hulk. And thus I didn't.