Movie Review The Duchess

The Duchess (2008) 

Directed by Saul Dibb

Written by Jeffrey Hatcher, Saul Dibb, Anders Thomas Jensen 

Starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell

Release Date September 5th, 2008 

Published October 25th, 2008

Georgiana Spencer is a long time relative of Lady Diana Spencer who went on to become Princess Diana. They were destined to be related. The Duchess of Devonshire was the Diana of her time, a celebrity diva with the eyes of a nation following her every move and copying her every dress and hairstyle. They had even more in common in private where the Duchess and the Princess lived with cold hearted husbands whose dalliances were humiliating blows especially as any challenge to that behavior were so hypocritically decried.

Keira Knightley stars in The Duchess as the legendary Georgiana. At 16 she was married off to the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes). They had only met twice but when assured by her mother that she would produce a make heir, the Duke snapped her up. The wedding was elaborate and celebrated across London. Georgiana was blown away by the opulence suddenly thrust upon her but her wonderment didn't last. Soon she finds her husband taking the help to his bed. When he finally takes Georgiana the moment is awkward and workmanlike.

Her role in his life is nothing more than broodmare and when she doesn't immediately offer a male heir, the duke becomes cruel and reviled. With a maid he fathered a daughter, Charlotte who then becomes Georgiana's responsibility. Her first two children are girls and the tension in the house is ever worsening. Then Georgiana is blessed with a friend named Bess. She has just been abandoned by her husband who has taken her two sons. Georgiana offers to let Bess stay with her while she fights for her boys, in the meantime Bess is convinced to sleep with William in exchange for his help, the humiliation drives a wedge between the women that is nearly irresolvable.

Soon the Duchess herself has found someone else. His name is Charles Gray and he happens to be a candidate for Prime Minister and a childhood friend of Georgiana. She offers to help his political career, with her awesome ability to draw a crowd but his interest goes far beyond her useful celebrity. He has loved her since before she was married and hopes that he can run away with her one day. The love story is a little rushed and forced but it's not bad. 

The Duchess was directed by Saul Dibb an heretofore unknown director who also co-wrote the script based on Amanda Foreman's novel. Dibb has a strong sense of the period, the hot house melodrama of the Duke and Duchess's home and an ear for the way these characters may have talked. I thoroughly  enjoyed the presence of Mr. Fox and his obvious lover Mr. Doyle. Together they are the perfect gay best friends for the Duchess though she longs for a real girlfriend. She had found it with Bess but the relationship ended badly, as did most of Georgiana's relationship.

So what of the Oscar buzz for Keira Knightley? Much deserved. Ms. Knightley is feisty and pouty and sexy and glamorous, everything we need in a grand, mid-centuries celebrity. Even as she indulges, the Duchess has a deeper intellect than the men in her life give her credit for. She earns the respect of her friend Mr. Fox by questioning his take on freedom, a line that will become ironic in her own life, "Freedom is an absolute, you either are or you are not".The publicity for The Duchess plays up a reputation for her being a great conversationalist. That example is not in The Duchess. Aside from her thoughts on freedom, the Duchess is not demonstrated as a great thinker.

Quick on her feet? Street smart? Yes, but no Nobel Prize winner.

A strong performance from Keira Knightley is the life blood of The Duchess but beyond her the film relies on the conventions of the period piece. There is nothing in Georgiana Spencer's life that is as compelling as Eliza Bennett of Pride and Prejudice, a demonstrably witty and intelligent character. A better correlative of The Duchess would be Marie Antoinette from Sophia Coppola's biography. The Duchess has a lot more juice than that overwrought melange of pop music and pop history. The juice comes from Knightly and the immaculate period setting. Set your expectations for the movie as a whole low and you will find yourself satisfied with The Duchess.

Movie Review: 21

21 (2008) 

Directed by Robert Luketic

Written by Peter Steinfeld 

Starring Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Laurence FIshburne

Release Date March 28th, 2008 

Published March 27th, 2008 

Ben Mezrich’s book Bringing Down The House is a hectic, heady mix of glitz and brilliance. A group of MIT students developed their skill for counting cards and took their act to Vegas where they broke the bank for more than 7 figures. The movie 21 dramatizes the story of the brainiac card sharps and as directed by Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) the glitz and glamour are in place, unfortunately, minus the brains.

Jim Sturgess stars in 21 as Ben Campbell a shy, nervous, soon to be MIT grad who will need a good deal of financial help to get him to his goal of attending Harvard Medical School. Opportunity then falls in his lap when he impresses a professor named Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) with his math skills. Rosa happens to be the brains behind the underground MIT Blackjack team.

Using a unique and complicated card counting system, this smarty-pants team takes on Vegas and walk away loaded down with cash. Soon Ben is a high roller with more than enough to pay for his med school trip but the lure of greed and the lifestyle of Vegas keep him coming back for more.

His high roller status captures the attention of a longtime Las Vegas security facing extinction in the age of biometrics. His name is Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) and his maintains his tenuous position in the high stakes world of Vegas by doing the one thing computers can’t, dishing out vicious beatings to card counters before chasing them out of the city.

As soon as he is on to Ben’s game the movie gains a little bit of energy. Sadly the battle of wits and wills between Sturgess and the ever so intense Fishburne is a no contest. Young Jim Sturgess is an attractive young actor with a hip floppy hair cut of the Maroon 5 variety but a presence he is not, especially compared to Fishburne who’s basso profundo voice is more than enough to blow Sturgess off the screen.

Paired in romance with the waifish Kate Bosworth, Sturgess co-creates one of the wussiest romances of any movie since Eric Bana sulked his way through another Vegas based wet blanker Lucky You opposite Drew Barrymore. Ms. Bosworth, who showed so much spunky potential in the 2003 beach movie Blue Crush has since squandered her shot at stardom in a series of downbeat roles.

Meanwhile her multi-time co-star Kevin Spacey, whose literally made some of the same mistakes as Ms. Bosworth (Beyond The Sea, Superman Returns), actually returns to form a little in 21. Of this underwhelming cast in this underwhelming story, Mr. Spacey is the lone standout. Showing the kind of intelligence, wit and guile necessary to pull off this scam, Spacey’s Mickey is the only character you can buy as a card counter taking Vegas for a ride.

The script from writer Jim Steinfeld waters down and mainstreams the grittier, more ethnic origins of Ben Mezrich’s book. For one thing, the leaders of this group of Blackjack con men were Asian, not the model pretty anglos of 21. The change of ethnicity is so nakedly commercial, the inherent racism and ignorance so offensive that author Mezrich would have been commended for taking his name off the project, as was rumored during production.

Director Robert Luketic has a real knack for flashy, colorful visuals and is quite at home with the glitz and glamour of modern Vegas. Unfortunately, the pretty colors and flashing lights can’t distract from the puddle deep characters and predictable innocence corrupted, innocence regained storyline.

That kind of soft headed approach works for fluffy fair like Luketic’s terrifically chirpy Legally Blonde and underrated teen romancer Win A Date With Tad Hamilton but with the more crafty, suspenseful story like that of 21, Luketic’s style fails on every level and becomes tedious without the likes of Reese Witherspoon in a bunny costume to lighten the mood.

Visually dazzling and shot glass deep, 21 overstays it’s welcome at over 2 hours of stops and starts, weak attempts at romance and weaker attempts at suspense. Wasting a comeback performance by Kevin Spacey in favor of the floppy haired good looks of Jim Sturgess, 21 hits when it should stay and busts big time.

Movie Review Stop Loss

Stop Loss (2008)

Directed by Kimberly Pierce 

Written by Kimberly Pierce 

Starring Ryan Phillipe, Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish, Joseph Gordon Levitt

Release Date March 28th, 2008

Published March 28th, 2008 

I know that all of you hate it when I review a movie and discuss the film's marketing as part of the review. The fact of the matter is however that whether you like it or not movie marketing changes your perception of a movie, shapes it and creates an expectation that the movie must deliver on or suffer your opinion. Thus how the marketing of the Iraq war drama Stop Loss prevented me from finding something redeeming about this well acted but boring drama.

With the backing of MTV Films this well meaning Iraq war drama becomes a movie about buffed up supermodels playing soldiers against a heavy pop rock soundtrack. A shame because Ryan Phillippe is far too good for something this slicked up and prepackaged.

Stop Loss is directed by the brilliant Kimberly Pierce who has not worked since her Boys Don't Cry was the victim of indie politics and red state fear. Returning to work with her first relatively big budget, Pierce wants to criticize a failing US military policy in a thoughtful and dramatic way. Unfortunately, with the backing of MTV Films what we get is a soundtrack and pretty scenery.

Ryan Phillippe is the star of Stop Loss as Sgt. Brandon King. Sgt. King thinks he is done with the war in Iraq but when he goes for his exit interview he is told to report back to duty and ship out for Iraq once again. Sgt. King has stopped a policy that allows a President to extend a soldiers tour for an unspecified amount of time during a time of war.

Brandon is none too happy with this situation and vows to fight it, eventually going AWOL with his buddy Steve's (Channing Tatum) wife (Abbie Cornish) and traveling to Washington where he hopes a friendly Congressman can get him out. Steve on the other hand is happy to be going back. His post traumatic stress has caused him nothing but pain since returning home and he hopes that returning to the battlefield will center him again. 

Michele, Steve's wife, at first just offers to drive Brandon out of state but once on the road she becomes wrapped up in the cause and eventually wrapped up in Brandon, she rationalizes "Steve's married to the army". 

Is it fair to criticize Phillippe, Tatum, Cornish and supporting players Joseph Gordon Levitt and Rob Brown for being good looking? No. But, when MTV Films marketing department makes the movie about these guys with their shirts off and Ms. Cornish in just a half t-shirt, no bra, it becomes about their looks and less about their characters and the story being told.

Director Kimberly Pierce gets caught up in the slick, beautiful-people-only world of MTV movie making and loses sight of her story. Stop Loss then quickly devolves from thoughtful drama to exactly what the movie marketers promised, America's Next Top Model, men's edition, set to a high octane, highly salable pop soundtrack.

Worse than the marketing hooks however is the fact that Stop Loss is  boring. After a few rousing battle scenes in Iraq we return to Texas and wait for something to happen. Nothing much does. The actors go through the motions of being haunted, tormented and depressed but few get below the surface. Joseph Gordon Levitt, so brilliant recently in a string of exceptional performances, here seems especially going through the motions.

It seems every war drama has a character exactly like the one played by Mr. Levitt and the character's fate is drawn out to the same conclusion each time. Levitt plays it all with a serious brood on but he is not central to the plot and by the end his fate is utterly meaningless.

Ryan Phillippe is effective, more so than anyone else in the movie, but his over pronounced Texas drawl is distracting and his buffed up, shirtless physique gets just as much attention as the plight of his character. Channing Tatum, star of Step Up, is surprisingly effective as a meat headed guy who sees himself as a blunt instrument of war and acts as such. With a little more care there could have been something really extraordinary about Mr. Tatum's performance but beyond his desperation he is an emotional sieve. 

As Iraq war movies go Stop Loss sidesteps the pro-war/anti-war minefield by sticking close to these characters. By making this movie about these specific characters and not about a grandstanding, overarching point of view, Ms.Pierce opens her movie to a wider audience and comes off as something of a coward for not taking a stand one way or the other.

Stop Loss seems to oppose a policy which subjects our troops to treatment we wouldn't wish upon our enemies but has little of interest to say in opposition of this treatment. The abuse of our soldier's bravery and commitment is an idea that needs exploration. Stop Loss exploits it as a way of presenting pretty boy soldiers without their shirts partying to a soundtrack that will sell big on MTV.com.

Movie Review: The Forbidden Kingdom

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) 

Directed by Rob Minkoff 

Written by John Fusco 

Starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano

Release Date April 18th, 2008 

Published April 19th, 2008

The first teaming of Jackie Chan and Jet Li delivers one solid fight scene. In a monastery the two masters face each other down and neither can capture a full advantage. It's an alright scene, a good fight but with both Chan and Li playing good guys in The Forbidden Kingdom it is a brief fight and the better man is never close to decided.

In The Forbidden Kingdom Michael Angarano stars as  Jason, a Boston teenager with a love of kung fu movies. One day, when visiting his favorite Chinatown pawn shop, run by his friend, the kindly old Hop (Jackie Chan), he comes across a beautiful golden staff. Hop tells Jason that the staff must be returned to it's rightful owner and keeps Jason away from it.

Later, when Jason is attacked by local bullies they take him back to Hop's shop where they plan on his help robbing the old shop keep. In the ensuing chaos, Jason is given the staff by Hop and told to take it to it's rightful owner. Soon, Jason is unconscious and when he awakens his somewhere in China and somewhere in the past.

Taken in by martial arts master Lu Yang (Jackie Chan, again), Jason explains his extraordinary journey and Lu Yang tells Jason the story of the staff. It belonged to the Monkey King who was an immortal master, beloved by the gods but envied by the Jade Emporer (Colin Chou). Seeing the Monkey King as a threat to his power he tricks him and encases him in Jade, not before the Monkey King delivered his staff into the future.

Jason and Lu Yang must return the staff to the five elements mountain where the statue of the Monkey King resides and release him if Jason is to be returned home. Along the way they are joined by Golden Sparrow who is seeking revenge on the Jade Emporer and the Silent Monk (Jet Li) whose connection to the Monkey King is will be recognizable to the most observant viewers.

The Forbidden Kingdom succeeds when keeping things light and high off the ground. When Jackie Chan, Jet Li and the rest are flying around as if gravity were merely a choice, Forbidden Kingdom is alot of fun. However, when grounded and spouting about Monkey King's, the gods, the elements and what not, it grows tired quickly.

Director Rob Minkoff (Haunted Mansion) has a good eye for the kung fu and high wire acts but a tin ear for character and dialogue. The thudding plot doesn't too often get in the way of Chan and Li flying with the greatest of ease, but it does get in the way enough for the plot to trip along the way. Things are not helped by young Michael Angarano who looks like Ralph Macchio minus the appealing personality.

The Forbidden Kingdom doesn't exactly hit a home run for the first teaming of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. However, with these two kung fu masters getting up there in age we really cannot expect much more. We get one good face off and a number of good fights where they are on the same side. Would I liked to have seen them head to head a little more? Sure, who wouldn't but that is a different movie.

The Forbidden Kingdom is a family movie with some kung fu not a kung fu movie. Judging the intent, it's not a bad family movie. A little clunky and disposable. But not bad.

Movie Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008 

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Written by Jason Segal

Starring Jason Segal, Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Jack McBrayer

Release Date April 18th, 2008

Published April 17th, 2008

The golden touch of writer/director/producer Judd Apatow had become King Midas in reverse on his last two efforts. the brutal spoof Walk Hard and the forgettable Drillbit Taylor. Thankfully, the golden touch is back in the new romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Starring Apatow's long time friend, part of the apatow repertory players from TV and the movies, Jason Segal, Forgetting Sarah Marshall returns to the Apatow gang's comfort zone of awkward, R-Rated romance and mines it for humor of great discomfort, humanity, truth and penis jokes.

Peter Bretter (Segal) has been in love with Sarah Marshall for five years since they met on the set of her hit show Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime. Peter performs all of the music on the show. All seemed warm and cozy until Sarah decided to break up with him. Devastated, Peter drifts into a series of random sexual encounters before his brother Dave (Bill Hader) convinces him to get away for awhile.

Deciding on a Hawaiian getaway, Peter is stunned to find Sarah Marshall already on the island when he arrives and she's attached at the lips to her new rock star boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). On the bright side, a beautiful young hotel worker named Rachel (Mila Kunis) takes pity on him and decides to help him get his mind off his ex.

Jason Segal not only stars here, he wrote the smart, offbeat screenplay for Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the care he takes to avoid typical romantic comedy moments bring depth and brains to a film that could have been just another collection of broad gags. Segal crafts terrific characters, creates believable conflicts and wrings big laughs from moments that most anyone will be able to relate to.

Among the many things I loved about this terrific comedy romance is how director Nicholas Stoller and  Jason Segal balance Peter's flaws with Sarah's and avoids making her into a villain. The same can be said of Brand's airhead rocker who, though his quite shallow, proves to be something slightly more than just a walking gag.

Mila Kunis shines in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Bringing a dash of crazy, foul mouthed hussy to an idealized version of a dreamgirl, Kunis shows bravery and chops hanging with the Apatow crew's brand of sweet offensiveness. From her girl's gone wild moment to her foul mouthed tirades, she surprises at every turn, and proves to be more than the equal of her male counterparts.

On top of the strong central story Segal, director Nicolas Stoller and producer Apatow also find room for terrific supporting players like Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and Jack McBrayer. Best of all however, in the briefest of roles, in William Baldwin. In a pitch perfect send up of David Caruso's CSI Miami cop, Baldwin is a hilarious scene stealer. Really, just about everything works in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. If you can get past multiple scenes of male nudity, you will have a great time with this terrific little movie.

Documentary Review: Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (2008) 

Directed by Morgan Spurlock 

Written by Documentary 

Starring Morgan Spurlock 

Release Date April 18th, 2008

Published April 25th, 2008 

Morgan Spurlock is funny, thoughtful and charming. You have to appreciate the career he has crafted for himself off of one rather thin idea. Super Size Me was an ingenious bit of zeitgeist grabbing and self promotion. You can argue the films overall value as a documentary but it was undeniably clever. His latest effort is entirely different in topic but not tone. Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? is a jokey exploration of the post 9/11 mind in both the middle east and in the mind of a Brooklyn filmmaker with a baby on the way.

With his wife Alexandria about to give birth to their first child, Morgan Spurlock is seized with the idea of the world he is bringing his baby into. With so much turmoil in the middle east what can one documentary filmmaker do to make the world safe for his wife and child. Morgan Spurlock's idea? Find the world's most well known terrorist.

Traveling to the middle east, Spurlock first travels to Egypt to gauge the mindset of alleged American allies. He finds a thoughtful cast of people on the streets who have nice things to say about the American people but hate American policy. The trip to Egypt is revealing in how though Egypt is our ally and is seen as a progressive state their President Mubarek doesn't have trouble being reelected year after year, mostly because like many leaders in the area he uses the state to quiet dissent.

From Egypt he travels to Israel and Palestine and spends a few harrowing moments visiting the Gaza strip and coming close to actual bombs falling followed by a trip to where the bombs actually landed, an empty schoolhouse. From there it's off to Afghanistan and Pakistan and ever more enlightening and dangerous journey.

The true subject of Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden is not the world's only celebrity terrorist, but rather the interviews with real middle east residents and scholars and religious leaders which reveal people with the same concerns, hopes and feelings as the average American. People who Morgan Spurlock spoke to didn't support Osama. Even the ones who are no fans of America were not necessarily fans of Bin Laden.

Some of the most fascinating conversations in WITWIOBL comes from an Egyptian professor who says Osama Bin Laden did the American right wing a favor, he gave them a reason to be in the middle east. Without the attack on 9/11, American foreign policy could not justify a large American presence in the middle east. After the attacks, even some in the middle east were forced to accept America in their backyard.

It sounds like conspiracy theory but the professor does not claim that the Bush administration or anyone planned 9/11 or let it happen to give America a reason to go to war. Her point was only that America would not be in the middle east in the way they are today without the actions of Osama Bin Laden. It's a fair point. 

All throughout Where In The World is Osama Bin Laden I could not shake the thought, why isn't Spurlock at home with his wife? She's pregnant. When he leaves he has six weeks till she is expected to give birth. As bombs go off and bullets fly, you can't help but think go home! Yes, the documentary is entertaining and has some insight but would it have been worth it if he was killed weeks before the birth of his first child?

Spurlock confronts this question near the end and the scene is a cathartic close to the film. Of course you know already he survived but the journey is nevertheless compelling and especially in his final scenes arguably within miles of Osama, if you believe the most recent rumors.

For all his self promotion and reckless personal decision making, Spurlock knows well how to engage an audience. Intelligent, funny and compelling, I was often irritated by Spurlock and his persistent need to risk his life while his wife waited, scared at home with their child on the way, but the result is somehow worth it. This is a terrific bit of filmmaking and conversation starting.

Movie Review Life Before Your Eyes

The Life Before Your Eyes (2008) 

Directed by Vadim Perelman 

Written by Emil Stern 

Starring Uma Thurman, Ava Murri, Evan Rachel Wood, Brett Cullen

Release Date April 18th, 2008

Published May 10th, 2008 

Director Vadim Perelman loves a good tragic novel. In 2002 he adapted Andre Dubus' small scale tragedy House of Sand and Fog. Though a first time feature director, Perelman exhibited the sure hand and classical eye of a veteran director. His latest feature, The Life Before Her Eyes is another adaptation of a tragedy on an even grander scale. Set against the backdrop of a bloody school shooting, The Life Before Her Eyes is an examination of the guilt of survivors. And while it is an often moving and reflective drama, there is a device employed throughout that negates some of what is very good about the rest of the film.

Two girls are chatting away in a high school ladies room. In the distance we hear screams and what sounds like gunfire. Dianna (Evan Rachel Wood) believes it's just a prank, Maureen (Ava Murri) doesn't think so. As it gets closer, the sound of screams and gunfire is unmistakable and soon the door opens. In walks the killer, a fellow student, offering a horrifying choice. The girls are to choose which of them will die.

15 years later, we know who lived. Dianna (Uma Thurman) is now in her early 30's. She has married a college philosophy professor (Brett Cullen) and has a beautiful 8 year old daughter named Emma (Gabrielle Brennan) who has the same rebellious streak her mom always had. Dianna herself is now a teacher, she teaches art and has a particular affinity for Gaugin.

Of course, not all is as it appears. As the 15th anniversary of the school shooting approaches, Dianna's survivor guilt is causing her to have visions. She sees what she thinks is her favorite teacher who was killed that day. She sees her friend Maureen. She even see's the killer. The visions don't necessarily lead anywhere.

Throughout The Life Before Her Eyes we cut back to 15 years ago and the days leading up to the killings. Dianna was not a great student. A free spirit, she preferred smoking pot and experimenting sexually with older men to school. Maureen on the other hand is a devout christian and a good student with a bright future.

The table is set for the tragedy but director Vadim Perelman dawdles ever so slightly. Watch as he obsesses about details like the rain, thunder, philosophy, the conscience, the imagination, the paintings of Gaugin. Worthy topics but why are we being distracted from the central story. The dialogue about weather and the mind and paintings is not bad but you can sense a pattern developing and you shouldn't if the movie were working.

Evan Rachel Wood is a wonderfully expressive young actress who can tell a whole story with her face. Her soulful eyes carry sadness beyond her years while her lips are far too inviting for someone so young. Her work in The Life Before Your Eyes goes a long way toward overcoming the problems of the script and the plot devices.

Uma Thurman is an ethereal beauty with talent to spare. It's a shame she isn't given more to work with. We want to connect with her guilt, her sadness. Her conflict is compelling. She has the life of her dreams and it came at the expense of a best friend who was killed instead of her. It is a compelling drama. Unfortunately, in the few moments we seem to connect with Thurman we are sent back in time for another flashback. At a mere 88 minutes, there isn't enough time for both of these terrific actresses.

Then there is that annoying plot device that in the end takes away the pay off and catharsis we long for. It's not a devastating device, the performances of these two amazing actresses are far too good for me not to partially recommend The Life Before Her Eyes, but this could have been a far more emotionally satisfying film.

Documentary Review: Young @ Heart

Young @ Heart (2008) 

Directed by Stephen Walker 

Written by Documentary 

Starring The Young @Heart Chorus

Release Date April 4th, 2008 

Published May 10th, 2008

As I sat down to watch Young @ Heart I expected good things given the positive buzz from other critics. My hesitations came from just how I would enjoy a documentary about seniors singing rock music. I can do camp, I don't mind camp but I didn't want to laugh at old people singing James Brown or Sonic Youth just for the sake of laughing. To my joyous surprise Young @ Heart overcame all of my reservations, surmounted my detachment and touched me as deeply as any movie of the last decade.

Several years ago filmmaker Stephen Walker took in a performance of a senior citizen choir in Northhampton Massachusetts. What he found was a plucky group of oldsters not just singing rock n roll songs but breathing life and magic into these well known tunes. Walker was so inspired he had to tell their story.

Young @ Heart was born 25 years ago as a vaudeville act. It was a way for active seniors to stay active. Then  Bob Cilman, the choir director, was struck with an idea. He found that the most rousing, entertaining moments of the old vaudeville show were the songs. Introducing new songs, introducing rock n roll tunes, Cilman transformed the show into Young @ Heart and audiences ate it up.

Now Stephen Walker has brought the Young @ Heart choir to the world and we are better for it. We join the story as the choir is readying their newest show. Bob Cilman is ready to take some risks. With just a few weeks to prepare he is introducing 5 new songs and not just any songs but five truly challenging tunes.

Sonic Youth's Schizophrenia is loud, noisy and incomprehensible to most of the choir. James Brown's I Feel Good is just a bit quick and tongue twisty for the group, especially for the man chosen for the lead, Stan Goldman who, try as he might cannot keep up with the lyrics. If you think I Feel Good is a tongue twister, how about Allen Toussaint's Yes We Can which uses the word can 71 times, mostly in close repetition near the end of the tune. The song comes close to being cut.

The Talking Heads Life During Wartime does not make the show for reasons that have nothing to do with the song or the performance of the choir. But the most moving and heart rending new tune is Coldplay's Fix You sung by a pair of returning vets of the choir. Fred Knittle and Bob Salvini both were forced to give up singing to deal with health problems. Each is convinced they have atleast one show left in them, Bob despite having survived repeated chemo treatments and the administration of last rites.

Fred Knittle for my money, is the star of Young @ Heart. A former regular member of the choir, Fred had to stop singing because of lung trouble. Now on an oxygen machine, Fred feels he has a show left in him. Does he ever. In him we find the roots of the old vaudeville show that was Young @ Heart. Quick with a one liner, Fred threatens to tip into parody until he sings.

Fred Knittle for my money, is the star of Young @ Heart. A former regular member of the choir, Fred had to stop singing because of lung trouble. Now on an oxygen machine, Fred feels he has a show left in him. Does he ever. In him we find the roots of the old vaudeville show that was Young @ Heart. Quick with a one liner, Fred threatens to tip into parody until he sings.

His lovely deep bass is given the assignment to sing Coldplay's Fix You. It was to be a duet but when we reach the night of the show Fred is on his own to sing the lead with the choir backing him up. It's a scene that could not be script. Poignant, heartbreaking and healing all at once, Fred Knittle delivers to us in the audience a performance of a lifetime. Fight back the tears, if you can.

One of the most wonderful moviegoing experiences of my life, Young @ Heart moved me like few movies I have witnessed. Such heart, such hope, such life. It's pure magic that will move, inspire and rock like few movies you've ever seen. Young @ Heart arrives on DVD September 16 and must be seen. This is one of the best movies of the year.

Life, death, joy and sadness, Young @ Heart runs the gamut of emotions in the same way a great song does. It lifts your heart, breaks and heals it all in the space of 108 lovely minutes.

Movie Review The Grand

The Grand (2008) 

Directed by Zak Penn

Written by Zak Penn

Starring Cheryl Hines, David Cross, Richard Kind, Woody Harrelson, Ray Romano 

Release Date March 21st, 2008 

Published May 5th, 2008 

Zak Penn crafted the detailed and clever scripts for the X-Men flick directed by Brett Ratner. A comic book nut, Penn was in his element and will hopefully show the same talent in his script for the upcoming Incredible Hulk redux. Moving into the realm of directing, his talent seems somewhat less pronounced. The new comedy The Grand features an exceptional comic cast but too often feels like something Christopher Guest thought of and cast aside.

The Grand is a mockumentary that follows the progress of several different players in a 10 million dollar Las Vegas poker tournament called The Grand. Jack Faro (Woody Harrelson) is a legend on the Vegas Strip. Not for his card playing or the fact that he owns a casino, the Rabbit's Foot, but rather for his copious consumption of drugs and alcohol.

Oh and I neglect to mention Jack's 75 ex-wives. Sprung free from a two year stint in rehab, Jack needs 7 million dollars or he loses his casino to mogul Steve Lavish, an eccentric billionaire played by Chris Guest regular Michael McKean.

Facing off with Jack in the tournament are a collection of veterans, sharks and internet novices with their own unique histories and agendas. Lainie Schwartzman (Cheryl Hines) is a champion player looking to win The Grand for the first time. With her nebbish husband Fred (Ray Romano) and their three kids in tow, Lainie is a favorite to win. As is Lainie's brother Larry (David Cross). Though Lainie has more often than not beaten her brother, he remains a top player. Together they have weathered the creepy, intense competitiveness of their father (Gabe "Mr. Kotter" Kaplan) that has left them both a little emotionally crippled but great card players.

Then there are the legends. Dennis Farina looks every bit the Vegas veteran who longs for the days when mobsters busted knee caps and poker victories came with complimentary hookers. His old friend, The German (Werner Herzog, yes THE Werner Herzog) is an equally ruthless player who travels with a cadre of small animals, one of which he murders everyday to keep his instincts sharp. The wildcards in this multi-million dollar tourney are an internet poker amateur named Andy Andrews (Richard Kind) and a socially inert savant named Harold (Chris Parnell).

6 of these players will be at the final table playing for the big prize and we are told by director Zak Penn that the game being played is for real. The Grand is credited as written by Penn and pal Matt Bierman but according to Penn the actors improvised all of their dialogue based on character sketches and a barebones plot. The final card game is in fact a real game with the outcome determined by actual hands of cards between the actors. Each of the actors then delivers on whatever is expected of their character according to what the cards do for them. It's a unique idea and lends a bit of suspense to scenes that could have been quite predictable.

Other than that final hand however, The Grand remains nothing more than a clone of Christopher Guest only slightly more subdued. A talented crew of comics and actors fumble their way toward jokes, occasionally finding them, more often earning a laugh for the fumble as for the found humor. The Grand isn't bad really. The actors are fun and the poker setting is strong even as the competitive poker trend ticks down its 15 minutes of fame. I can give it a partial recommendation on the strength of a really good cast but keep your bets low on this hand.

Movie Review: Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns

Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (2008)

Directed by Tyler Perry 

Written by Tyler Perry 

Starring Angela Bassett, Rick Fox, Lance Gross

Release Date March 21st, 2008

Published March 22nd, 2008 

In Diary of A Mad Black Woman a brave dramatic performance by actress Kimberly Elise. as an abused wife of privelege forced to start over from scratch was undermined by writer-director Tyler Perry and his indulgent alter-ego Madea character who literally takes a chainsaw to the movie and destroys everything in his/her path. In Madea’s Family Reunion Perry’s call for social change and understanding amongst African Americans is once again undermined by broad comic moments between Madea and Perry’s other alter-ego old Joe.

It seemed that Perry simply couldn’t get out of his own way. Then came Why Did I Get Married? A complete departure from Perry’s first two movies and I had hoped it was a sign that Perry had matured enough to bring his honest messages of love, community, social change and humor with style and filmmaking substance. Meet The Browns squashes that maturity in the first act.

Oscar nominee Angela Bassett stars in Meet The Brown’s as Brenda, a single mom of three kids, by three different fathers, living in inner city Chicago. Things are tough and getting tougher when she loses her job. With the lights turned out and her baby daddies nowhere to be found, Brenda finds that her own father has passed away. His name was Pop Brown and he lived in a small town in Georgia where he may have left Brenda something in his will that might help her out. Traveling to the small southern town Brenda is immediately greeted by her new family.

LeRoy Brown (David Mann) is a polyester wearing, bald headed clown with a heart of gold. Though he says inappropriate things and is prone to wild, inhuman swings of mood, from wild laughter to tears, no real anger, LeRoy is a big loving teddy bear as he takes these strangers right to the Brown family home. There Brenda and the kids meet LB (Frankie Faison), his loving wife Mildred (Irma P. Hall) and Vera (Jennifer Lewis) a drunk witch whose claws come out when it comes to protecting what might be in her daddy’s will. Ultimately, Vera is harmless but she is a terrible bother throughout, functioning as the agitating force of the last third of the film.

Brenda’s son Michael (Lance Gross) is a basketball prodigy and down south he catches the eye of a scout/coach and former NBA star named Harry (Rick Fox). Actually, it’s the lovely Brenda that caught Harry’s eye but helping Michael develop his talent and deal with agents and NBA scouts that begin snooping around is a good excuse to be around Brenda. Her experience with men causes her to keep him at a distance but the romance is inevitable.

It is as if there are two movies happening in Meet The Brown’s. In one Angela Bassett is giving a pro level dramatic performance as a loving, struggling mother who discovers she can still find a good man in Rick Fox’s Harry. In the other movie are the broad, over the top and often terribly unfunny Brown family who act as ludicrous filler material distracting from the earnest, socially relevant drama happening in the other movie. Where Bassett does yeoman's work to dramatize Brenda’s struggles, the Brown’s blow into the movie, screaming and yelling, splitting their pants and ranting about pimps, ho’s and money.

Perry has a filmmakers version of multiple personality disorder. On the one hand you have an eloquent social activist with a genuine talent for telling relevant truths with great heart and humor. Then you have the A.D.D comedian Tyler Perry who nervously inserts broadly written comic moments into the drama because he doesn’t trust to stay with him when things get serious. Somehow, he overcame that nervousness in Why Did I Get Married but the jittery comic is back, to his great detriment in Meet The Brown’s.

Movie Review: Drillbit Taylor

Drillbit Taylor (2008) 

Directed by Steven Brill

Written by Seth Rogen

Starring Owen Wilson, Leslie Mann, Danny McBride 

Release Date March 21st, 2008

Published March 21st, 2008

There are three different movies going amidst the chaos of the new comedy Drillbit Taylor. One is a retreaming of producer Judd Apatow and his writer pal Seth Rogan and their style of raunchy, genital based humor. Another is an Owen Wilson movie starring Wilson in his usual charming rogue comic persona. The last is the most distasterous, an Adam Sandler movie. Stephen Brill, Adam Sandler’s pal and director of Little Nicky and Mr. Deeds, attempts to force the disparate work of Apatow/Rogan, Owen Wilson and Brill’s brand of the Sandler schtick, sans Sandler, into Drillbit Taylor and the result is utterly brutal.

Owen Wilson stars as the title character in Drillbit Taylor, a homeless criminal who accepts a position as a bodyguard for three nerdy High School freshman being bullied by a nasty senior. Nate Hartley, Troy Gentile and David Dorfman play the desperate nerds Wade, Ryan and Emmit who need protection from Filkins (Alex Frost) who has decided to make their lives hell. Offering their whole allowances week after week in exchange protection, the best bodyguard they could afford is Drillbit who claims to be an ex-military ranger and hides his homelessness.

Initially, Drillbit just wants to rob the boys and sets about stealing their stuff under the guise of helping them. Eventually however, after seeing the boys get brutalized, he decides to train them to take care of themselves. His methods are a joke but damned if they don’t give the boys the confidence to stand up to Frost leading to an inevitable final confrontation.

As often is the case my description brings order to a plot where little order exists. Drillbit Taylor stops and starts and sputters through nearly two hours of unfunny violence and cruelty. The script by Seth Rogan and Kristofer Brown plays as if half finished, filled as it is with cliches like the clueless parents and uncaring teachers, just the kinds of characters Rogan and his co-writer pal Evan Goldberg avoided like the plague in his brilliant script for Superbad. Writing with another Apatow protege Kristofer Brown, with an alleged touch up by the legendary John Hughes, the script for Drillbit Taylor features strongly sympathetic kid characters who unfortunately are transported to the Adam Sandler movie world and are repeatedly abused until we just can’t watch, let alone laugh.

Stephen Brill’s direction has the subtlety and grace of an elephant on a frozen lake bed. Scenes slam into and bang off one another in a nearly random order early on as our heroes are kept from meeting Drillbit till the beginning of the films second act. More diversions keep Drillbit out of the school, where Wilson’s charming con man thrives ever so briefly as he romances Leslie Mann’s clueless teacher, until the third act. The third act which then takes forever to play out to a stunningly violent tet still predictable conclusion. .

What director Brill thinks is funny about the abuse he puts these poor kids through is an absolute puzzle. The film lingers on scenes of violence so ugly and scarring that that the movie loses touch with any sort of reality. Drillbit Taylor becomes merely a blunt instrument attempting to bludgeon audiences into submission. Meanwhile, as Steve Brill tries to bend Rogan and Brown’s characters and Wilson’s act to fit his Sandler movie mold it is as if Brill were bullying them into his movie.

Oddly enough dear reader, if Drillbit Taylor had starred Adam Sandler and not Owen Wilson, it might actually have come out better. Wilson simply isn’t cut out to play Drillbit who is called on to be a rude, uncaring, brute who learns to care. Wilson is better suited to playing con men with a heart of gold who can only be redeemed by a good woman as he was in Wedding Crashers or The Big Bounce (not a great movie, but not bad either). No, Drillbit is perfectly suited to Sandler’s manchild, raging id persona who can be believable as an uncaring jerk, as a brutish enforcer and as the teddy bear who learned a valuable lesson.

That is likely due to the direction of Brill who has only really known how to direct Sandler. He was at a loss trying to find a Sandler-esque character in the dismal 2005 comedy Without A Paddle and he is further at a loss in trying to turn Drillbit Taylor into a Sandler movie without Sandler. What you get when he attempts to bend Rogan, Apatow and Wilson to his will is a trainwreck of slapstick violence, low key deadpan and genital based character humor. Oh what an ugly wreck it is.

Movie Review: Doomsday

Doomsday (2008) 

Directed by Neil Marshall

Written by Neil Marshall

Starring Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Adrian Lester 

Release Date March 14th, 2008

Published June 12th, 2008 

Director Neil Marshall is a talented scenarist with a flair for hardcore violence. His The Descent is one of the best horror films of the decade. For his latest effort Doomsday, Marshal tries his hand at post-apocalyptic sci fi and finds he has little new to add to this aggressive sub-genre. Though Doomsday is skilled in its violence and has a strong visual sense, the story is beyond laughable, the characters wooden and forgettable.

In some not so distant future a virus dubbed 'Reaper' has devastated much of Scotland. The blood borne, possibly airborn disease has who of the Isle terrified and left London with a damnable decision. Sentencing millions to die horrifying deaths, the government built an 18 mile wall encompassing the whole border between England and Scotland.

Years later drug enforcement cops stumble on a cache of disease victims. The reaper virus is back and another horrible decision must be made. There is however a sliver of hope. Satellites have picked up movement in Glasgow, survivors. The thought is that the legendary Dr. Kane (Malcolm McDowell may have developed a cure.

The government throws together an elite fighting force to go into the infected area, find Kane and the possible cure. Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) is charged with leading this force into battle. What she finds are a loose confederacy of survivors for whom violence, human sacrifice and cannibalism are the order of the day.

The skill of Neil Marshall's direction in Doomsday is undeniable. What is lacking is any good sense in the storytelling. Doomsday unfolds in anarchic fashion but lacking a truly anarchic spirit. Marshall can't seem to decide whether he is going for the hardcore cool of 28 Days Later or the ironic, distanced, black humor of Mad Max.

What comes of Doomsday is a failed melange of the darkly comic and the attempted tragic.

Star Rhona Mitra has the physicality and good looks necessary for this role but she is at times far too sullen and lacking in the badass cool that might turn Doomsday from gloomy to just goofy enough for guilty pleasure. I wanted to revel more in her  badassery but Mitra just won't let us in. We admire her stunt work and occasionally smirk at her attempts at humor but the performance is too flat to inspire anything more than modest admiration.

If you like bizarre you may admire Neil Marshall's use of music in Doomsday. Fine Young Cannibals, Siouxie and the Banshees and Frankie Goes To Hollywood each receive prominent placement in Doomsday in some bizarre, overly ironic tribute to the 1980's.

There was potential for Doomsday to be the kind of badass action movie that combined the spirit of Big Trouble in Little China with the horror aesthete of 28 Days Later. Unfortunately, Marshall can't quite get the mix right. His visual style is impeccable but for all the attention paid to stunts and effects, the story falters and Doomsday disappoints.

Movie Review Made of Honor

Made of Honor (2008) 

Directed by Paul Weiland

Written by Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont

Starring Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin McKidd, Kathleen Quinlan, Sidney Pollack

Release Date May 2nd, 2008

Published May 2nd, 2008

Forget about An Inconvenient Truth or Leonardo DiCaprio's recent enviro-doc The 11th Hour or any nature movie you've ever seen. The most environmentally conscious film ever is without a doubt the new romantic comedy Made of Honor, the first movie ever made entirely of recycled materials. Recycled script, recycled characters, recycled plot, recycled everything. There is in fact next to nothing in Made of Honor that isn't recycled from some other romantic comedy right down to the stock scenes of a chase to the church and a character who gets punched in the nose at a wedding.

Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey stars in Made of Honor as Tom, an amoral ladies man who lives to sleep with a different woman every night. He has the perfect set up, he sleeps with random babes but has his best friend Hannah to provide him with the kind of female companionship he truly desires. Unfortunately, Hannah has a trip to Scotland that disrupts Tom's set schedule. With Hannah out of the country and mostly out of touch Tom realizes that his life stinks without her. He decides that he loves her and will tell her when she returns. However, Hannah doesn't return alone.

While in Scotland she fell for a hunky Scot named Colin (Kevin McKidd) and accepted his proposal. On a whim, she is getting married and she wants Tom to be her Mate of Honor. If you can't predict what happens from there then you have likely never seen a romantic comedy before. From the chase to the church to someone getting punched out at the wedding, Made of Honor recycles every imaginable rom-com cliché. The movie, directed by Paul Weiland even tosses in some questionable low brow humor for good measure.

Made of Honor is so astonishingly clichéd and predictable that had it included an all cast sing along to a well known pop song it would tip completely over into an ironic rom com parody and I could recommend it. As it is, Made of Honor is an earnest attempt at romantic comedy that fails on familiarity alone. On most every level the film is... competent. Patrick Dempsey is appealing. Michelle Monaghan is love and everything from the supporting cast to the direction is competently crafted. The problem is we've seen it all before. The script from three different writers recycles every cliche in the book and somehow expects us to simply accept it.

No acceptance here, Made of Honor stinks like the compost of dozens of similar romantic comedies. No matter the appealing  elements we've seen it all before and thus there is no reason to see Made of Honor.

P.S

As for the bizarre title "Made of Honor". Now having seen the movie, I still can't make sense of it. Tom is the Maid of Honor but why the title goes with 'Made' is a complete mystery.

Movie Review Madea Goes to Jail

Madea Goes to Jail (2009) 

Directed by Tyler Perry

Written by Tyler Perry

Starring Tyler Perry, Tamela Mann, David Mann

Release Date February 20th, 2009

Published February 21st, 2009

I am one of the few critics in the country who has willfully gone out of my way to be fair to Tyler Perry. While others could not stand his Madea character, not an unfair judgment really, I stuck it out with Perry and have come to terms with his dress wearing alter-ego. My patience was rewarded with Perry's exceptionally thoughtful, funny and well considered drama Why Did I Get Married. The film was a Woody Allen moment for Perry, an adroit, adult oriented movie of honesty and emotional truth. Best of all, no Madea to blow things sky high with her over the top comic persona.

I had hoped Why Did I Get Married would be a watershed moment for Perry. A moment where he finally corralled his tremendous social conscience and channeled it through characters people could connect with. Instead, Madea was soon back on screen and blowing up everything around her. Madea re-takes the main stage in Madea Goes To Jail and Perry has regressed right back to his sad, unfortunate, Diary of A Mad Black Woman days. That film is one of the more bizarre movies of the last decade, a serious drama about a serious topic and serious characters that gets blown sky high by Perry's insistence on putting on a dress and being funny. 

Diary Of A Mad Black Woman was about a troubled marriage, an abused woman and how she was able to get out from under all the sadness in her life and come into her own. Kimberly Elise delivers a powerhouse performance as the abused woman and Steve Harris is menacing as the cheating abusive husband. The drama of the relationship is stunningly effective in some scenes, despite the awkward direction of Perry in his first time behind the camera. And then came Madea. Perry's broad comic drag character brought the movie to a dead stop every time she came on screen and despite her often insightful dialogue, the sight of Perry in the dress was distracting and his flights of broad comic fancy were just too much for the movie to take.

It was like putting a kitchen sink drama and a Jerry Lewis movie in a blender. Ugh. For Madea Goes To Jail Perry has unfortunately pulled the blender out of storage. Madea Goes To Jail tells the disparate stories of Madea getting into ever more increasing lunacy before ending up in prison and tells the story of Josh and Candace (Derek Luke and Keshia Knight Pulliam), college friends whose lives took very different paths after an incident at school. Josh went on to a law degree and a job with the District Attorney's office in Atlanta. Candace ended up on the streets as a prostitute and drug addict. The wounds of their shared trauma are ripped open when Candace is brought before a judge and Josh is the prosecutor.

After passing off the case, Josh pays Candace's bail and offers to help her in any way he can. This upends his relationship with a fellow D.A, Linda played by Ion Overman. Linda has an important secret that pays off the whole plot and ties everything together but by the time it is revealed you won't care. This is Perry's clumsiest scripting yet as he bounces between the comedy and drama in discomfiting fashion before a wrap up that you can predict as if there were an onscreen map attached. Once again the drama is well played. Luke and Keshia Knight Pulliam, yes, Cosby kid Rudi, deliver scenes of real honesty and pain. Unfortunately, they are trampled offscreen by Madea, her daughter Cora (Tamela Mann) and the ever annoying Mr. Brown (David Mann) from Perry's last unfortunate turn Meet The Browns.

As much as I am down on Madea in this review, I must say that I found the character to be funnier than ever before. Perry has found his comfort in the dress onscreen for the first time. He has her down and knows which way to twist his words to get a laugh. The long off-color backstory of Madea is an unfortunate aside but the wit is quick and the broad jokes and physical humor can't help but make you smile as I did. That said, it is not Madea that doesn't work, it's shoehorning her into this dark, urban drama with Luke and Pulliam that is the problem. It is that comedy/drama blender that is the problem. Even a great filmmaker could not pull off the mixture that Perry attempts here, the best filmmakers would have the good sense not to try.

I can't believe I have come this far and not mentioned that Oscar nominee Viola Davis is also in Madea Goes To Jail. The wonderful Ms. Davis plays a Church Minister who walks the street handing out free condoms and clean needles to prostitutes and addicts. She's no liberal sap or a saint, Davis plays the kind of character that Perry is exceptional at creating but incapable of exploiting. Her deep social conscience and unending well of caring is remarkably real. She doesn't so much preach as instruct with the help of Jesus as a backup. Perry should make an entire movie with this character and Ms. Davis and no Madea. That would be something. Something far more than the ugly sum of Madea Goes To Jail.

Movie Review Mamma Here We Go Again

Mamma Mia Here We Go Again (2018) 

Directed by Ol Parker

Written by Ol Parker 

Starring Amanda Seyfried, Cher, Christine Baranski, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Walter, Dominic Cooper

Release Date July 20th, 2018

Published July 19th, 2018

Low expectations and an upgrade in the director’s chair have combined to make a Mamma Mia sequel so unexpectedly good that I am still humming about it. Mamma Mia Here We Go Again has no right to be as fun and entertaining as it is, based off of the horror show that was the sloppy, 2008 original, and yet here we are. Director Ol Parker has brought order to the chaos of the original Mamma Mia and delivered a prequel/sequel far superior to the dismal original.

Mamma Mia Here We Go Again picks up the story of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) five years after the action of the original story. Now 25, Sophie is running her mom’s, Donna (Meryl Streep), hotel and is about to hold a gala grand opening. Unfortunately, mom won’t be there. Nor will two of her three adopted fathers, Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) and Harry (Colin Firth). Luckily, Sam (Pierce Brosnan) is at hand, along with Auntie Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Auntie Rosie (Julie Walter).

Worse yet though, Sky (Dominic Cooper), despite being Sophie’s one true love and business partner, will not be there either and is considering a job offer in New York. This leads Sophie to once again pick up her mom’s diary for some bolstering. The diary is the lead-in for a flashback to that glorious Greek summer when Donna met Harry, Bill and Sam, and became pregnant with Sophie. Best of all, it brings us the vibrant Lily James as the young Donna.

Do you recall that time you first saw Julia Roberts’ megawatt smile in Pretty Woman? If you’re my age you likely do and you remember the electricity of seeing a movie star emerge before your eyes. That’s Lily James in Mamma Mia Here We Go Again, a star bursting to life before our eyes. Sure, she was great in Cinderella and has honed her craft in other films, but here, she bursts forth with charisma to spare in a one of a kind performance.

James is so great she overwhelms all three of her male co-stars, none of whom make a dent in your memory despite being young and handsome. I could list their names but I couldn’t pick them out of a lineup even after having just seen the movie. James’ vibrancy is such that her co-stars don’t really matter, they are but mirrors through which to bask in Collins’ star-making performance. Can she sing? Yeah, well enough, but like Streep in the first film, she can sell the singing with passion and performance and that’s what matters.

I kept getting annoyed with the present day Sophie storyline for getting in the way of the flashbacks which were far more compelling. Slowly but surely however, the main story begins to turn an emotional corner. The flashback story begins to underline the action of the modern story in lovely ways and what emerges is a story for mothers and daughters and one that isn’t about the absurd and nasty notion of turning into one’s mother. One would count themselves lucky to become Donna.

As for the music of Mamma Mia Here We Go Again, my favorite performance is Waterloo, though it is arguably the most superfluous in terms of the plot. Indeed, I can recognize that praising the one performance that violates the order and structure that I have praised as a remarkable improvement over the original, is slightly contradictory. That said, Lily James and Young Harry (Hugh Skinner) really steal the show in this performance.

Director Ol Parker sets the scene in Paris where Harry and Donna met in 1979, the same summer she left for Greece. Though Donna is leaving, Harry nevertheless, throws himself at her feet and tells her he loves her and then they sing Waterloo at a French restaurant where waiters are dressed as Napoleon (Ho, Ho!). It sounds cheesy and it is, intentionally so. Director Parker directs the performance like an old school, early 80’s music video, a-la Adam Ant’s Goody Two Shoes, with wacky set pieces and even slightly grainy cinematography to really sell the bit.

Waterloo is wildly funny and a wonderfully shorthand way to bring Donna and Harry together before taking them apart. The other standout is My Love, My Life, which will leave many audience members, especially moms and daughters, a weepy mess. The trailer has spoiled that Sophie is pregnant and the correlation between her pregnancy and her mother’s pregnancy, is brought to bear on this wonderful performance with James and Seyfried singing in different time frames with the same meaning.

Ol Parker had an uphill battle to bring the unwieldy mess that was the Mamma Mia backstory into some semblance of order and he’s done an exceptional job. Sure, he takes the easy way out by mostly ignoring the problematic elements of the original backstory, but what he cobbles together works and the orderly plot helps strengthen our bond with these characters, something that was missing in the first film while we puzzled over how all of the pieces fit.

Thanks to director Parker, we can forget about the nonsense of figuring out when the film is set. It's 1979 when Donna meets Sophie’s dad, by the way, and the movie simply gets on with enjoying some Abba. The disco backlash of the early 80’s robbed us of the joy of Abba’s pop silliness and soapy dramatics and I’m glad to have it back, even if it isn’t the most respectable comeback. Abba was a heck of a lot of fun if you give over to them and we’re able to do that here with far less work involved than in the original.

By the time we reach the credits climax with Super Troupers, a reprise from the original movie, featuring the full cast in full Abba regalia, the movie has won us over with its bubbly spirit and Lily James star-calibur, Awards calibur performance. James is a powerhouse movie star. I won’t go as far as to say she deserves an Academy Award, though I am not opposed to the idea, but wow, we don’t need to see anyone else when it comes Golden Globe time, this is your Best Actress in a Comedy or a Musical, hands down.

I went into Mamma Mia Here We Go Again with a sour attitude, assuming it was going to be as insufferable as the original. What a joyous surprise to find that the sequel makes logical sense, fixes the holes punched in the space time continuum in the original, and crafts a heartfelt and quite funny story out of a bunch of goofy, funny, melodramatic tunes from one of the most underrated groups of all time. This is what Mamma Mia should have been all along, a brassy, blowsy, ballsy, belting it to the back of the room Broadway comedy in execution as much as in idea.

Movie Review Marley & Me

Marley & Me (2008) 

Directed by David Frankel

Written by Scott Frank and Don Roos

Starring Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Alan Arkin

Release Date December 25th, 2008

Published December 24th, 2008

I haven't had a dog since I was a kid. His name was Rusty. I have this painting that someone bought at goodwill or a garage sale that just happens to be of a dog that looks exactly like Rusty. I cannot walk past it without smiling. Rusty was the dumbest dog in history. He would answer to any name shouted loud enough and he chased parked cars. But he was my dog and I loved him. The new movie Marley & Me with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston inspires that sort of pet related introspection. The movie based on John Grogan's bestselling book is filled with spot on recreations of the kinds of memories dogs leave behind.

John Grogan wanted to be a globetrotting journalist who wrote the stories that changed the world. Instead, he went to work at the Sun Sentinel in Florida and covered city council meetings and wrote the occasional obituary. When he got his big break it wasn't going to Columbia to track the drug trade like his pal Sebastian (Dr. McSteamy, Eric Dane).

Nope, John Grogan's big break came when a columnist quit the Sentinel on short notice and his editor (Alan Arkin, in all his cantankerous glory) needed someone to fill 600 words in the lifestyle section. That was when John wrote his first article on his dog Marley, aka the world's worst dog, and launched himself to national syndication.

Marley was the world's worst dog. He ate everything from shoes to drywall. If there was a thunderstorm he might do more damage than the storm itself. John and his wife Jenn, also a journalist, got Marley when Jenn began talking about having a baby and John decided, behind her back, that he wasn't ready. Sebastian suggested getting the dog as a way of putting her off and it worked for a while. Eventually however, the Grogan's did have a baby and the family and Marley continued to grow.

Directed by David Frankel, the movie made from John Grogan's bestseller is filled with heart and humor in a most earnest fashion. It's something unlikely in the age of irony and disaffection for a movie to be so bravely serious about the day to day life of a family. The risk is being labeled cheesy, sentimental or cornball. Director David Frankel doesn't seem to care about the labels and in not caring the film is almost heroic.

There is nothing wrong with irony but once in a while a movie like Marley & Me is a welcome respite from the modern form of humor all detached and 'meta' and weird for the sake of weird, or awkward for the sake of awkward. Marley & Me treats the family life of John and Jenn Grogan with a seriousness that keeps the movie from becoming the Beethoven sequel so many of us imagined.

If Frankel and writers Scott Frank and Don Roos had given the same care to John Grogan's work life I might have a lot more nice things to say about Marley & Me. Unfortunately, the filmmakers give such a strange and distorted idea of how journalism works that it becomes distracting. Trust me when I tell you that no journalist has ever shown hesitation about being promoted and been handed double his pay as an enticement. Even if there were an ounce of truth to this story, the movie doesn't make it remotely believable by playing it as Arkin and Wilson play out the scene in Marley & Me. 

It's a little thing but it irritated me.

Aside from the job stuff, Marley & Me is a fun, thoughtful, well crafted family movie that gets right every aspect of owning and loving a dog. Even if you don't own or love dogs you will appreciate the way Director David Frankel and stars Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston never condescend to the audience. The film is serious about the way it treats the Grogan family and the humor emanates from a place of truth because of that seriousness.

Movie Review Just Like Heaven

Just Like Heaven (2005)

Directed by Mark Waters

Written by Peter Tolan, Leslie Dixon

Starring Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, Jon Heder

Release Date September 16th, 2005

Published September 16th, 2005 

A romantic comedy that marries elements of the music of the Cure with the romance of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir has far more ambition than anything that genre has seen in a long while. Throw in that it's directed by the director of Mean Girls and Freaky Friday and stars Reese Witherspoon and you have an absolutely can't miss formula.

Just Like Heaven is very much a formula picture but it's the best version of that classic romantic comedy formula than anyone has made since Tom and Meg last embraced.

Reese Witherspoon stars in Just Like Heaven as Dr. Elizabeth Masterson, a resident at a San Francisco hospital with zero social life. 24 to 36 hour shifts are nothing new to Elizabeth, nor is falling asleep in her lunch. But despite her dedication one cannot help but notice the twinge of loneliness in her eyes as her  co-workers discuss family and friends. Not that Elizabeth does not have them.  She simply has no time to spend with them.

Finally, after getting a much sought after promotion, Elizabeth gets a night off. She is on her way to her sister Abby's (Dina Spybey), for dinner with her family and a blind date. Unfortunately, Elizabeth never makes it to dinner that night. After assuring Abby she was on her way, Elizabeth crosses the path of an oncoming truck and suffers a major accident.

Cut to three months later and the story shifts to David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo) a widower searching for a new apartment. Fate leads David to choose the apartment that once belonged to Elizabeth and, to David's frightened surprise, is still her spirit's home. At first it's an occasional run in here and there that David thinks could be just a misunderstanding or voices in his head as he has been drinking a lot recently.

Soon it's clear that this is all for real and David and Elizabeth set out to find out just what happened to her and in the process they fall madly in love. There's more to the plot than my description states but I don't want to spoil the fun. If you've read a number of reviews already you probably know the twists and turns but I'm still not going to spoil them myself.

Living man falls in love with a ghostly girl is not an original plot but I doubt it's ever been as wonderfully entertaining as it is in Just Like Heaven. Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo have chemistry to burn as the man and his ghost and director Mark Waters have just the right touch of classic romantic comedy and modern movie magic. Waters is quickly becoming a master of light hearted material mined for big laughs and a tug at the heartstrings.

Waters is absolutely blessed in the casting of Just Like Heaven, not only with his terrific stars but in the supporting cast, which features Donal Logue, Dina Spybey (who happens to be the director's wife), and the brilliant Jon Heder who combines just enough of his iconic Napoleon Dynamite with a relatively normal looking character to deliver some of the film's best moments.

The script by Peter Tolan and Leslie Dixon is based on a novel by Marc Levy called "If Only It Were True" which was actually optioned by producers even before it was published. With the paucity of new and different ways for romantic comedy couples to meet, it is rather cute finding one where a live guy falls for a seemingly dead girl.  At the very least it is refreshing.

As put in play by Mark Waters and his excellent team, including Tolan and Dixon, cinematographer Daryn Okada and production designer Cary White, this concept comes magically and romantically to life. The characters are smart and wonderfully likable and the San Francisco locations, including screenwriter Dixon's own apartment standing in as Elizabeth and David's apartment, are gorgeous. The filmmakers could cut back on the fake smoke and soft lighting that creeps in a few too many times but overall the attention to detail is lovely.

I absolutely must praise the film's soundtrack headed up by Composer Rolfe Kent and Cure singer Robert Smith. The soundtrack features The Cure's original "Just Like Heaven" and a lovely cover by Kate Melua. I've never been a big fan of cover tunes but the soundtrack overflows with good ones from the title track to Kelis covering the Pretenders' "Brass In Pocket" to Bowling For Soup's very funny take on "Ghostbusters".

The soundtrack also features Beck, Pete Yorn and original recordings from Composer Rolfe Kent, who was nominated for a Golden Globe last year for his work on the Sideways soundtrack.

Despite the live boy/ghost girl approach, Just Like Heaven is still a traditional romantic comedy and as tired as that genre is this film has none of the lethargy or stagnation that most recent romantic comedies suffer from. That has everything to do with this exemplary cast. Reese Witherspoon is back after dipping into the Oscar bait in Vanity Fair. She has fully inherited the romantic comedy crown from Julia Roberts and has become the rare actress to receive bigger billing than her male co-stars.

Mark Ruffalo continues to show astonishing range by choosing unique material. He was last seen as a gritty cop chasing Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx in Collateral. Before that he made another bubbly effusive romantic comedy, the candycoated 13 Going On 30. That film was not as smart or well made as Just Like Heaven, but both showcase Mark Ruffalo's quirky approach to the genre. Ruffalo treats even the lightest material with an actor's eye toward motivation and logic. He has a natural approach to the material that refuses to be manipulated by the plot.

Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder has been hyped prominently in the film's marketing and though his role is not as big as it may seem from the commercials and trailers, Heder nevertheless makes a great impression. Playing an oddball bookstore employee with empathic powers, he can sense the presence and feelings of ghosts.  Heder does not so much shed his Napoleon-ism as play to it and then away from it. This character is smarter and more stylish but retains the endearing oddness of Napoleon.

There are plot holes in Just Like Heaven as there are in any typical genre picture. The key to overcoming those holes is to create characters who can see audiences past any illogic simply with their appeal. Witherspoon, Ruffalo and the amazing supporting cast with their easy rapport and synergy completely gloss over any logic problems or editing missteps, allowing the audience to rejoice in the magic realism and the sheer joy of romance.

I despise the term chick flick! The simpleminded anti-feminism of the phrase grates me. It's a term people use to simply dismiss a film that they have not seen. What a shame because films as funny and well crafted as Just Like Heaven deserve the widest possible audiences they can get. With so few good movies made every year, to dismiss a movie simply for its surface is such a waste.

Movie Review The Dilemma

The Dilemma (2011) 

Directed by Ron Howard

Written by Allan Loeb

Starring Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, Channing Tatum

Release Date January 14th, 2011

Published January 14th, 2011 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, my job is to talk about the movie “The Dilemma” but I'm not so much interested in this movie as I am in the fact that Jennifer Connelly, excuse me, OSCAR WINNER JENNIFER CONNELLY, is the fourth lead in a bad romantic comedy. This, I guess, shouldn't be news; she was after all the sixth lead in the far worse romantic crime “He's Just Not That into You,” but the sad trajectory of Connelly's career since her Oscar win for “A Beautiful Mind” is a strong parallel to the struggles of this well meaning but failing movie.

In “The Dilemma” Jennifer Connelly plays a Chef who is living with Vince Vaughn's typical commitment-phobic smooth talker, this time named Ronnie. It is Ms. Connelly's job to look concerned and be constantly confused by Mr. Vaughn's increasingly bizarre actions related possibly to a gambling problem he's had for years. That's what Connelly's Beth thinks anyway. Sadly, Ms. Connelly is introduced and then forced to the sidelines for most of the second act before returning for the third act in an even more diminished and forgettable fashion. 

The reality is that Ronnie has discovered that his best friend's wife, Geneva (Winona Ryder), is sneaking around with a young, tattooed stud (Channing Tatum) . Ronnie discovered the secret but when he confronted Geneva about it she threatened to lie and say Ronnie has been flirting with her. Geneva also has a blackmail secret that she hangs over Ronnie's head but none of this really matters, it's merely a way to keep the plot wheels spinning after the 'Dilemma' of the title is revealed.

Thus Ronnie sets about trying to tell Nick (Kevin James) that Geneva is cheating on him without actually telling him. This leads to a lot of sitcom level shenanigans where Ronnie tries to manufacture a scenario where Nick can catch Geneva in the act, thus relieving him of the burden of this secret. That idea has comic invention to it but it never elicits any laughs. Instead, the turgid direction of Ron Howard and Vince Vaughn's sweaty, shifty performance make the movie feel desperate as it fails to get laugh after laughter and potential laugh. 

Failing to find a tone between comedy and drama, “The Dilemma” flails about between the professional direction of Ron Howard and Vince Vaughn's sad attempts to continue his aging brand of fast talking, Peter Pan Complex humor. Certainly there is a middle ground between Howard and Vaughn but they never find it here and their styles clash like a head on collision.

The styles clash in the career of Jennifer Connelly have come as she has tried to keep one hand in the mainstream in films like “The Hulk” and “Dark Water” and one in the world of serious dramas with roles in “Little Children,” “House of Sand and Fog” and “Reservation Road.” Neither path has worked for Connelly, now she finds herself fourth name down below stars with half her talent.

Maybe it was the decision to suborn herself to the girlfriend role in “The Hulk, thus showing herself willing to accept less than equal billing with male co-stars of lesser star power, or maybe it was the failure of her first solo lead in “Dark Water,” something caused Jennifer Connelly to stop believing in herself and begin believing that she deserves 5th wheel roles like Beth in “The Dilemma.”

Before the release of “The Dilemma” I wrote a piece on the ‘Dilemma’ facing Vince Vaughn as his aging man-boy persona begins to fade. A similar dilemma seems to be afflicting Ms. Connelly except that she seems far more accepting of her sad fate. You can see it in her listless performance in “The Dilemma” and in her acceptance of material that would likely leave any actress a little bored.

Ms. Connelly you are better than this. Stop letting Hollywood dictate to you that you are not strong enough for anything more than the 4th lead in a crappy movie like “The Dilemma.” Flash that hardware around and find some indie movie producer who can give you the kinds of roles that excite you in ways this role clearly does not.

Movie Review: Country Strong

Country Strong (2011) 

Directed by Shana Feste

Written by Shana Feste

Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Garrett Hedlund, Leighton Meester, Tim McGraw

Release Date January 7th, 2011 

Published January 8th, 2011 

Country Strong is a stunningly bad movie. An overwrought tale of addiction, failed romance and country music, Country Strong was written and directed by Shana Feste as two different movies. One version of Country Strong is a straight drama about a falling star and the other is a gritty indie drama about an alcoholic struggling to get clean in the harsh light of fame. Director Feste crashes these two movies into one another and the result is a massive wreck at the corner of Lifetime Movie Network and the Independent Film Channel.

Gwyneth Paltrow stars in Country Strong as Kelly Cantor a country diva who evokes what Taylor Swift might look and sound like in 20 years. As we join the story Kelly is in rehab for some yet to be revealed reason. In treatment she is being romanced by an orderly named Beau (Garrett Hedlund, Tron Legacy) who happens to be a small time country singer. We know there is romance here because of their moony exchanges while Beau tries out a song for the diva in her room.

The rehab idyll is broken up by the arrival of Kelly's husband James (Tim McGraw) who announces that Kelly is leaving rehab early to get back out on the road and reclaim her career. In a fit of bad judgement James is sending his wife back out on the road just 6 months after her breakdown on stage during a concert in Dallas. Moreover, genius James is sending her back to Dallas for her big comeback show at the end of the tour.

Joining Kelly as her opening act is 19 year old Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester) a mousy wannabe Carrie Underwood with the brains of Kellie Pickler. James chose Chiles personally and the sexual tension between the married man and the rising teen diva is yet another of James's brilliant moves that seem orchestrated to drive his already fragile wife over the edge. Thankfully, Kelly has brought Beau along as both a lover and protector.

The creepy love quadrangle is one of the stranger touches of Country Strong as bot James and Beau lust after the teenager while sleeping with Paltrow's troubled 40 year old alcoholic. This is part of the wannabe indie vibe that writer-director Shana Feste wants to make even as most of the movie is a big, glossy, classically showbiz drama.

The dissonant tone of Country Strong clangs and bangs along and Shana Feste matches it with a shooting and editing style as clunky and discordant as the two movies she is banging into one. Scenes begin and end in strange places at odd angles and at times all we in the audience can do is laugh at the oddity of what we are witnessing.

How strange and out of tune is Country Strong? The one actual country music star in the cast doesn't sing until the closing credits. While actors Gwyneth Paltrow, Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester play singers and get on stage, the one person to actually sell a few country records, country superstar Tim McGraw is the one person on the screen called upon just to act.

That's not to say that the music of Country Strong suffers for having actors playing singers; each of the stars actually come off surprisingly well. Gwyneth Paltrow gave fans an earful of her warble in the long forgotten karaoke drama Duets singing alongside Huey Lewis. In Country Strong Gwyneth's voice is stronger and more confident bringing to mind a slightly less engaging Shania Twain.

Garrett Hedlund as Beau is the films one true revelation. Hedlund has a terrific deep drawling voice that fits perfectly the old school, twangy laden country songs that are Beau's forte. Leighton Meester's meek voice is well cast. The Gossip Girl star fits perfectly the role of the pretty pop country star whose best work is created in the studio with the aid of a great producer who can hide her faults.

When Country Strong takes to the stage things get lively and fun. Off of the stage Country Strong is a disaster of high camp melodrama and wannabe indie movie grit. If writer-director Shana Feste had embraced this trainwreck with a bit of irony and humor she might have turned Country Strong into a honky tonk Black Swan with Gwyneth as the cracked diva, Leighton Meester as a ditzy version Mila Kunis's scheming wannabe and McGraw taking on Vincent Cassell's taskmaster with a Tennesse twang replacing the haughty Frenchness.

It would cost the film Hedlund's voice, his character is far too earnest to survive this version of Country Strong, but it would be a better and far more interesting movie and it would free Hedlund to go make a real country record of his own. I know, I have to review the movie that was made and not dream of the movie I wish were made but I had little else to do while I waited out Country Strong's final odd yet somehow conventional twist.

Movie Review Mars Needs Moms

Mars Needs Moms (2011) 

Directed by Simon Wells

Written by Simon Wells

Starring Seth Green, Dan Fogler, Mindy Sterling, Joan Cusack

Release Date March 11th, 2011 

Published March 11th, 2011 

Motion Capture, or MoCap for you nerds out there, seems like a lot of extra work for little extra benefit. Take for instance the new movie “Mars Needs Moms” which employed actor Seth Green to portray the 11 year old protagonist only to realize as production began that Green, even attempting a voice, sounded nothing like an 11 year boy. This came after they hired Green, dressed him in a green screen jumpsuit and digitized his image as he acted out the role.

The lack of a proper voice forced the producers to hire a real 11 year old, actor Seth Robert Dusky, to provide the voice of the young protagonist Milo, meaning that the studio paid a premium for Seth Green to jump around in a digital costume, a price they could have cut in half had they simply hired an 11 year old to begin with or, if the role was too taxing for someone that young, hired a stuntman to simply handle the running, jumping and climbing the role required.

None of this would have been necessary at all had Imagemovers and Disney, the companies behind “Mars Needs Moms,” simply used traditional computer animation like the groundbreakers in Disney's own house at Pixar. Instead, millions of dollars were spent to deliver a movie that feels as disjointed and failing as the attempt to have Seth Green pretend to be 11 years old.

“Mars Needs Moms,” based on the popular children's book by Berkley Breathed, is the story of Milo who, after fighting with his mom, finds aliens in her bedroom as they are scampering out the window with mom as their prisoner. Giving chase, Milo finds himself swept up by the alien ship and eventually finds himself on Mars where the population of mostly women has been abducting Earth moms for years in an attempt to clone their parenting techniques.

After briefly being held prisoner himself, Milo is rescued by Gribble (voice of Dan Fogler, Balls of Fury), an overgrown child who claims to be an astronaut but actually has a story very much like Milo's. Gribble agrees to help Milo and they are soon joined by Ki (voice of Elizabeth Harnois), a Martian with a rebellious streak and a love of “flower power”

Together, these three misfits have to rescue Milo's mom (voice of Joan Cusack) from the nasty Supervisor (Mindy Sterling) before mom's memory is destroyed and implanted into a Martian robot.

There is a terrific story somewhere in “Mars Needs Moms.” The action has a strong motivation and the story plays out with a relatively precise logic. The problem is none of the movies are very entertaining. In attempting to give Mars a little grunge the filmmakers made the planet less interesting to look at; Milo and Gribble spend much time in an alien garbage pile which is as visually enticing as it sounds.

The humor of “Mars Needs Moms” is pitched to the ear of young kids who may chuckle here and there but there is not a memorable gut buster, even for the littlest of little ones, in all of “Mars Needs Moms.” This is a movie with a rather dramatic conceit about a boy losing his mom and fighting to get her back; you need a good sense of humor to pair with that or risk boring your core audience whose eyes and ears are yet to be tuned fully for drama.

Robert Zemecki has been trying to make Motion Capture his niche in the animated business, something to separate his brand from that of Pixar, Blue Sky Studios (“Ice Age”) and Dreamworks Animation (“Shrek,” “How to Train Your Dragon”). Unfortunately, three movies into his deal with Disney his company ImageMovers has been temporarily shuttered.

His “A Christmas Carol” was modestly profitable but at an extravagant cost the film was not a world beater at the box office. Now, “Mars Needs Moms” arrives to poor reviews and first weekend box office results that some say could be the worst cost to profit ratio in Hollywood history, barring a strong international rally.

Zemeckis’s insistence on Motion Capture was likely the death knell for “Mars Needs Moms,” a modest story that needed a more modest production if it needed to be made at all. The story simply doesn’t justify the effort involved and likely could have been produced for less than the reported 135 million dollars without all of the trappings and cost of Motion Capture.

It’s a moot point now of course, the film is out there and it has failed. ImageMovers has closed and Mr. Zemeckis hopes to relaunch it as a home for the adult themed, Beatles remake “Yellow Submarine” in 2012. It will likely be a long time before Disney or anyone else attempts another Motion Capture feature for kids like “Mars Needs Moms” and that is as much a commentary on this overwrought technology as it is on the minor pleasures provided by the story of “Mars Needs Moms.”