Tag: review

MOVIE REVIEW: Dolphin Tale 2

How can Sawyer go when the dolphin Winter’s status at the hospital is still in doubt?

Dolphin_Tale_2One of the useful functions of the blog is that it helps me remind me of events. In this case, it was Columbus Day weekend three years ago when The Daughter, The wife and I saw the movie Dolphin Tale, the first theatrical film the three of us ever saw all together. I liked it; the Daughter was even more fond.

The Daughter really wanted to see the sequel, the cleverly-named Dolphin Tale 2. We trekked to Colonie Center near Albany on a Sunday afternoon to whatever chain theater is out there to discover an annoying fact: 3 p.m. is the demarcation line for matinee prices, and it was the 4 p.m. showing we wanted to see. So it goes.

The plot is that Winter, the dolphin with the artificial tail, who has become a big hit at the facility where she lives, has an aging playmate. What happens when the older creature dies? USDA regulations require that marine mammals have a companion. Another dolphin is rescued. Why can’t this be the solution?

Dolphin Tale 2 is…nice. I’m not sure I would have known who all the human characters were, and their relationships had I not seen the first film. Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble), the young man who first found Winter in the last film, is still working at Clearwater Marine Hospital. The facility is headed by Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.), and assisted by a number of attractive young adults, plus his now teenaged daughter Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff). Loraine Nelson (Ashley Judd) is trying to get her son Sawyer to decide on an incredible educational opportunity, but how can he go when Winter’s status at the hospital is still in doubt? Dr. Clay has to make tough decisions, with his dad Reed (Kris Kristofferson) lending support. Can Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman) save the day again?

Any real drama in the movie takes place in the last third of the film. However, I did enjoy the ethical dilemma Dr. Haskett found himself in during the middle of the narrative. Also present in a cameo is Bethany Hamilton, a noted surfer, who came to national attention after her left arm was bitten off by a tiger shark back in 2003.

If you have an 8 to 14-year-old who wants to see it, I recommend renting the first movie and watching it, for it is the stronger film. THEN watch this one.

Movie Review: Boyhood

In creating the movie Boyhood, writer/director Linklater somehow transforms the viewer into his or her own passages of time.

boyhood.ellarmasterSteven Rea, the Philadelphia Inquirer film critic wrote of the film Boyhood, “Is it dumb to say, ‘Wow?'” I don’t care. Wow.” I’ll buy that.

From IMDB: “Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater’s BOYHOOD is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (a breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as Mason’s parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha…” This project was somehow completed, more or less, secretly.

So it is a visionary CONCEPT of a movie, a brilliant stunt, filming a few days every year for a dozen years, in the life of a boy and his family. So many things could have gone wrong.

Over more than a decade, an actor could have died or decided not to continue to participate. Linklater had gotten Hawke to agree to direct the rest of the film if HE died. On the Daily Show, Linklater told Jon Stewart that he agreed to allow his daughter to costar because he figured he’d always know where she was.

But what’s amazing is how well it works as a narrative, even though it often tends to note the day-to-day experiences of growing up. There are no on-screen titles or chapter breaks signifying “next year,” but are woven together like a quilt with slightly different colored material, a function of film editor Sandra Adair; give her the Oscar now.

Olivia, the Mom, holds the family intact, in spite of choices that don’t always work out. The sibling rivalry, particularly in the early years, was credible. The Dad, who’s not living with the family, is trying to find ways to be there for his kids, the way non-custodial parents often do, to the irritation of the primary caregiver. Both child actors went through that awkward-looking stage, as adolescents do.

One of my favorite scenes involves Mason Sr. and Mason Jr. in a vehicle, discussing the disposition of the father’s previous car. Totally different perceptions of a conversation that took place seven years earlier, and totally believable.

In creating this movie, writer/director Linklater somehow transforms the viewer into his or her own passages of time. I think that when the specifics of a narrative resonates, it becomes universal. As people come and out of the core family’s lives, you wonder what happened to them, as we do in real life. You CARE about these people.

The only thing I can even remotely compare this to is the amazing Seven-Up series that records seven-year-olds, then catches up with them every seven years. But that is currently eight non-fiction films.

A great soundtrack also helps this film along. Oh, another piece of dialogue I especially loved involved the father giving the son a mixed two-disc CD.

Eh, just go see it, like The Wife and I did at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany last week. Visit the loo first, because it’s 165 minutes long. Rated R, mostly for language and alcohol/drug use, I’d be inclined to let the Daughter see it in a couple of years.

MOVIE REVIEW: Magic in the Moonlight

The movie Magic in the Moonlight that was about sleight-of-hand was rather slight,

magic+in+the+moonlight+posterWednesday night at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany, the Wife and I went to see Magic in the Moonlight. There are still several films we want to see, but at 97 minutes, this was the shortest; when you hire a child watcher, time is definitely money.

I am a huge Woody Allen fan. Afterward, I thought it was a better than OK movie, though my wife thought it lagged in the first half. Maybe it was that we’d see too much in the preview?

We knew that a magician, Stanley (Colin Firth) is brought to the south of France by his friend Howard (Simon McBurney) to try to debunk this American “mystic”, Sophie (Emma Stone), before she defrauds the Catledge family: mother Grace (Jacki Weaver, who for some reason reminded us both of Sally Struthers), smitten son Brice (Hamish Linklater), and daughter Caroline (Erica Leerhsen, with not much to do).

Much to the consternation/irritation of the arrogant Englishman with a dislike of spiritual claims, yet he has difficulty discovering how Sophie pulls off the ruse if it IS a ruse.

Most of that I knew from the ads, and to say more would be a spoiler, except that whatever laughs to be had are in the second half, after all the above is established. Oh, and that the biggest delight of the movie is Stanley’s aunt Vanessa (Eileen Atkins) in a movie that also features Catherine McCormack as Stanley’s girlfriend, Olivia, and Marcia Gay Harden as Sophie’s mother.

A lot of the reviews were lukewarm towards the movie. Several critics made a similar pun/suggestion that the movie that was about sleight-of-hand was rather slight, and maybe that’s the issue. The film touches upon the issues of God, Nietzsche, and faith versus rationalism, yet perhaps isn’t substantial enough to bear the weighty topics.

I liked it well enough, particularly the period outfits and cars from the 1920s, and it has a suitable ending. But after seeing recent Woody movies such as Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine, this is clearly a lesser effort.

MOVIE REVIEW: Begin Again

Keira Knightley told Jon Stewart that in her last 10 movies, her character dies seven or eight times.

Begin-Again-2I had heard that Begin Again was an Americanized version of the movie Once, which was not a particularly inviting prospect. I mean, I liked the 2006 movie about an Irish busker quite a bit, but didn’t need to see a variation. But Begin Again is largely a different thing, though it does share the fact that music is being performed outdoors, and has the same writer/director, John Carney.

Dan, a music-business executive (Mark Ruffalo) who drinks too much, sees the performance of Gretta, a shy young singer-songwriter (Keira Knightley), and visualizes what her music could sound like in the right hands. Unfortunately, he’s burned a few bridges with his former label partner Saul (Mos Def, billed as Yasiin Bey). So they have to be a bit more creative to realize their vision.

As the story develops, you might think you know why Dan is separated from his wife Miriam (Catherine Keener, who my wife knows I have a crush on) and is only a part-time dad to Violet (Hailee Steinfeld, star of the True Grit remake), but it’s more complicated. Even more so, Gretta’s back story before she ends up crashing on the sofa of her friend Steve (James Corden) is much richer, involving her partnership with Dave (Adam Levine), and is not what one might have expected. The movie also features Cee Lo Green as Dan’s old music colleague Troublegum.

I saw Knightley on The Daily Show a few weeks ago, and she told Jon Stewart that in her last 10 movies, her character dies seven or eight times. This is a nice change of pace. She sings more than adequately, though no particular song, save for the first one, I remember that well.

There are contrivances here and there, and the movie does develop a certain let’s-put-on-a-show vibe, as though it were a Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney film, so I suppose it’s not as fresh as Once. Still, you feel as though Dan and Gretta earned their chance to…(see title).

Movie reviews: Chef; and The Hundred-Foot Journey

We saw TWO food movies in four days.

chef-uoWARNING: do NOT got to the movie Chef if you’re hungry. The Wife and I saw this film Sunday at The Spectrum Theatre in Albany, and we were practically salivating by the end. We’ve seen a lot of foodie movies, notably the classic Big Night, and this was among the best. I mean, a grilled cheese sandwich looked “to die for.”

Moreover, the music was great. The Wife is chair dancing, in the theater, and she is not traditionally a chair dancer. (I am in my office, but I was too.)

Chef Carl Casper (the movie’s writer/director/co-producer Jon Favreau) is a high-powered chef at a chic Los Angeles restaurant, has a good crew (John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale), and an ambiguous thing with Molly (Scarlett Johansson), who runs the front. If he could only ignore the controlling owner (Dustin Hoffman), life would be great.

OK, not so great. His work ethic has wrecked his marriage to Inez (Sofia Vergara) and has strained his relationship with their young son Percy (a very solid Emjay Anthony).

I could explain more, but all I’ll say is that the Oliver Platt and Robert Downey, Jr. characters play important roles in what comes next in the film, which is a relationship movie, a road movie – did I mention the food? The Wife thought the first half could have been tighter, and some critics agreed, but I liked it all. A scene involving Carl and Molly was very sensuous, but it involved no sex, only food. The film is rated R, largely for language, which is salty.

hundred-foot-journey-quadThen on Wednesday, we saw The Hundred-Foot Journey, about a family forced to leave India, who ended up in a little town in France, aided by fate, and a young woman named Marguerite (the lovely Charlotte Le Bon).

This is another food movie, as the papa (Om Puri) decides to open a restaurant VERY close (see title) to a Michelin star restaurant, much to the resistance of his family, even his culinarily gifted son Hassan (Manish Dayal) and his siblings. But open it they do, much to the consternation of the competing establishment’s head, Madame Mallory (the always great Helen Mirren).

There’s a bunch of stuff about intolerance and acceptance and a fun little war between Madame and Papa. Marguerite is often enigmatic. But by the time Hassan makes a major breakthrough, you know how the film is going to conclude. And given the long exposition at the front end, it was a difficult film for me to love.

I mean it was fine, it was nice, it looked nice – filming in India and France helps. The language was much cleaner than Chef, rated PG. It’s your basic 2 1/2 to 3-star film; 65% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. It was like a movie you might expect to be produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, which, with Juliet Blake, it was. But while there was lots of delicious food, it wasn’t filmed as beautifully as the cuisine in Chef, and I cannot explain, on a technical level, why.

I wish I had seen these movies in the opposite order.

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