2007 Viewing
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Camp on IFC (December) -- "Theatre geeks" may feel like loners in the social
world of teenagehood, but this movie shows that, even amongst their own kind
at a summer theatre camp, they struggle to connect with one another while
figuring out their own identities and goals. This camp and its inhabitants make
for a quirky microcosm, but they're all clearly human with a mix of foibles and
admirable traits that make them all appealing to some degree. It's revealing,
too, in its portrayal of teens learning theatre: What exactly is the appeal of
acting to some teens unhappy with who they are when not on stage? How
ludicrous is it to ask teens and children--in the name of theatre education--to
portray adult roles in "classic" productions (a white girl belts the black diva's
defiant anthem of lost love from Dreamgirls; a young teen portrays a
middle-aged alcoholic's cynicism in Follies)? What can theatre do for teens
other than help them develop their acting, singing, and dancing skills (think
self-esteem, social connections, creativity, artistic expression, etc.)? I found the
actors and their characters appealing with the just the right balance between
critiquing and celebrating the value of theatre camp. Plus, Stephen Sondheim
shows up in the film! (If you don't know who he is, watch this film with someone
who does--you've got some catching up to do.)
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The Golden Compass in theaters (December) -- As a family, we attended a
matinée showing of this film the day after seeing Enchanted, so the girls were
definitely not expecting it when we drove them back to the movie theater! Susan
and I have read the His Dark Materials trilogy of books, upon the first of which
this movie is based (click here and then scroll down to The Amber Spyglass for
more details), so we were eager to see this movie adaptation. The girls haven't
yet read the books but will someday, I'm sure--despite objections by some (in
the news now with the film's opening) that kids will be damaged by the books'
questioning of the authority of leaders in organized religion. They're really just
great action/fantasy books, and the movie is superb. It's visually stunning;
each detail of life in the main character's world is spectacularly created with
realistic special effects that show talking animals and phenomenal architecture
and mystical/magical elements. There are some scary parts in the film that had
the girls clutching my arms and crawling into my lap, but they really enjoyed
the movie--and so did their parents!
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Enchanted in theaters (December) -- The movie begins like a typical Disney
animated film: cartoon characters in an animated world, humans interacting
with trolls and animals that can speak, a prince in search of a bride, a comely
lass in search of a husband, and an evil stepmother/witch who worries that
whomever her stepson marries will try to usurp her own power as a ruler in the
kingdom. On the wedding day of the prince and the young peasant woman, the
stepmother magically banishes her to another world . . . which turns out to be
New York City--the real, non-animated version! From that point, actual human,
three-dimensional actors take over, and the movie is about the young woman's
attempts to figure out life outside the fairy tale world, the prince's efforts to
locate/"rescue" her, and the comedy and romance and action that ensue when
these two different worlds collide. The concept is very cleverly carried out, and
the performers are so appealing. We didn't tell the girls we were taking them to
this film, so it was a fun surprise for them to find themselves at an afternoon
matinée with buttery popcorn, cold soda, and their parents right beside them.
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Mission: Impossible III on Showtime (September) -- Not having seen the first two
movies in this series, I wondered whether I would be at a loss for crucial
background information or plot points or character traits established by Parts I
and II. Not to worry: this movie proved to be geared for the casual viewer
interested in action and intrigue. It was a nice diversion for me while stuck in a
hotel room at a conference thousands of miles away from home. The actors do
just fine, but the stars of the film are the special effects and spy gadgets
designed to amaze and keep viewers on the edge of their seats. I was sucked
in by the tension more than once myself!
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High School Musical 2 on Disney Channel (August) -- Last November, our family
watched Disney's High School Musical, a movie that had already taken the world
by storm and won over our daughters. Susan and I liked it [scroll down to read
about it], too, so we were looking forward to the premiere of this sequel. Meh.
It maybe didn't help that I slept through a considerable portion of the middle of
the movie, but I wasn't as taken in by this installation (there's a third High School
Musical on the way). The music doesn't seem as contagious, the situation
seems more contrived, the characters don't seem as fresh . . . BUT the girls
loved it, and they're the target audience moreso than I am. I came out of my
sleepy haze toward the end and enjoyed some of the final happy-ending dance
sequences, as well as the outtakes shown with the final credits. It was fun to
see the movie with the girls, in any case, because of how they reacted while
watching it.
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Hairspray in theaters (August) -- Last November, I re-viewed the original
Hairspray movie [scroll down to read about it], which I had seen quite a few
years earlier. Our whole family took the opportunity to drive to Belfield, ND to
see the recently made movie version of the relatively recent Broadway musical
version of the original movie version of Hairspray (got that?!). It is terrific! The
music is upbeat, funny, moving, and reminiscent of the '60s era in which the
movie is set. The performers are excellent singers and dancers (as well as
actors), and we were pleasantly surprised by the excellent singing of James
Marsden, Zac Efron, and Christopher Walken. John Travolta plays the role of
Tracy's mother, Edna, and other than a bizarre, unplace-able accent, his Edna is
great: feminine, insecure, and ultimately triumphant. Travolta dances and acts
well underneath the fat suit and the layers of prosthetics, too, that make him
look huge! It was nice to note cameos, too, by Ricki Lake and Jerry Stiller, who
played the main character, Tracy, and her dad in the original movie. We were
all sucked into the world of the movie and its energetic music and dancing--it
was a terrific experience for the family!
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in theaters (July) -- Thanks to an in-town
father-in-law who's willing to stay with our kids from time to time of an evening,
Susan and I have been able to see some movies (which are so cheap
here--under $10 for the two of us to see this first-run movie), and we really
enjoyed this one. We're huge fans of J.K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter books,
so we've always been eager to see each movie, too. The book upon which this
movie is based is so long that it's to be expected that the movie makers had to
leave out some plot points. I haven't read the book in so long, however, that I
didn't really notice what from it was missing in the movie! It's a dark
movie--heavy emphasis on the pain Harry feels over being ostracized by
school mates, libeled by the magical world's press, harassed by the magical
world's ministry, and targeted by Voldemort, the murderous "big bad" of the
series. We enjoyed the moments of camaraderie among Harry and Ron and
Hermione, the moments of romance between Harry and Cho, the moments of
family belonging between Harry and Sirius, and the moments of suspense and
action, particularly toward the end. Imelda Staunton is superb as the paranoid,
devious control freak Dolores Umbridge. The movies are always so well cast.
And now we're ready for the release of the final novel in Rowling's series . . .
which comes out tonight!!
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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End in theaters (June) -- Chris and I headed to
the theater to watch this as a follow-up to Dead Man's Chest during "Pirate Night"
(see below). Did I enjoy it? Mostly, yes, although I was distracted throughout
by an intense urge to use the bathroom. At the same time, I didn't want to miss
a minute of the movie, so I suffered throughout, seeing all the movie but
wishing it would have ended about, oh, an hour earlier! Special effects = good;
actors = good; ratio of comedy to action = good; piratey ingredients = good. I'm
still talking like a pirate, so the enjoyment just never ends.
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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest on DVD (June) -- This movie, Part II in
the Pirates trilogy, was actually Part I in the "Pirate Night" festivities of my friend
Chris and me. We wanted to see the new movie (see above) when it opened in
theaters, but we hadn't yet seen its predecessor [I'm pretty sure I saw the first
movie during one of my incarcerations at PRACS, but it wouldn't have hurt to
re-see that one, either, for as little as I remember of it]. Therefore, we planned
a "Pirate Night" of rum drinking and movie watching. We started with this
movie at his house, and we saw very little of it. Chris got company, and we had
to visit with them but also couldn't pause the movie while visiting, because we
had timed our evening so that this movie would end in time for us to make it to
the theater for the next one. So did I enjoy this movie? I didn't take much of it
in, but the company was good, and so was the rum.
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Spider-Man 3 in theaters (May) -- My wife and I were able to see this movie in
the theater due to the generosity of my boss. Susan hadn't yet seen Spider-Man
2, so we watched that first when it was shown on FX the week prior to #3's
opening in the theaters. I am predisposed to enjoy pretty much any superhero
movie; they bring me back to my childhood days of getting up early Saturday
morning to watch cartoons, my favorite of which was Spider-Man and His Amazing
Friends (Firestar and Iceman). So, of course, I was sucked in by the special
effects and the battles, even though I was bored somewhat by the umbrella
theme of revenge (but only somewhat). In terms of superhero fun, it delivered.
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Party Monster on IFC (March) -- I can't decide what I think of this movie. It tells
the story of Michael Alig, the notorious Club Kids underground party scene
club-goer from the '80s and '90s--notorious for having participated a decade ago
in the gruesome murder of a drug dealer to whom he was in debt. It's
distinctively stylistic, aiming, I suppose, to capture in its style the same sense of
purposelessness ("We don't do; we just are") and excess that defined the Club
Kids' way of life. So, although I find their lifestyle difficult to understand and
their actions in large part despicable, I can also appreciate the movie makers'
success at depicting those things through their choices of camera work, editing,
costumes, sets, casting, etc. The characters are completely unappealing to me,
but the actors do a fine job creating those unappealing characterizations. It's a
distinction that I wouldn't have been able to make many years ago; had I not
liked the characters or what they were doing, I might have dismissed the entire
movie itself in hand. (Many adults whom I know still do that, despite their age
and years of experience as movie-goers. They're not critical viewers.) In any
case, it gave me the chance to see Macauley Culkin in the lead role, super
creepy--but this time on purpose.
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The Princess Bride on Bravo (March) -- Susan has loved this movie for years, but I
had never seen it all the way through--just a scene here and there when it's
been on TV over the years. We watched it with the girls and all really enjoyed
it. It was fun for me to understand the context of the lines that I've heard from
the movie ("Twoo wuv . . . mawwiage . . ."), and the girls liked the story and the
mix of humor, romance, and action (and "scary parts").
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Spellbound on IFC (March) -- A couple years ago, our family watched the Scripps
National Spelling Bee together when it was televised in primetime on ABC. Ever
since then, we have noticed all things spelling bee-related. We laughed at an
excerpt on the Tony Awards show from the musical The 25th Annual Putnam
County Spelling Bee; we've filed away in our minds that we intend to see the
movie Akeelah and the Bee whenever we discover it on TV; and we thought it
particularly apt that Susan should be named the spelling coach at the school
where she now teaches. Spellbound is a documentary of several students'
journeys from their home towns to their regional spelling contests to the
national spelling bee. It's a fascinating look at how various students prepare
and what their motivations (and their parents' motivations) are to succeed in
spelling bees. It's also an excellent reminder of the variety of linguistic
influences on the English that we use today--and why English is notoriously
difficult to spell.
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Sugar on IFC (March) -- This movie had greater potential to turn me completely
off than did Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, yet I enjoyed it much more. On his 18th
birthday, Cliff meets another teen, Butch, who introduces him to a world of
drugs and hustling. It is shot with hand-held camera work that reminds me of
The Shield, and it seems grittier and more realistic because of it. The acting, too,
is unpretentious; actors don't make obvious choices, and that, too, adds to the
realism--as though this were a documentary and not a film. Not all questions
about every character are answered, leaving the audience to fill in some of the
blanks. In this movie, that's not laziness on the screenplay writer's part; it's an
important part of the movie experience. And Brendan Fehr, who plays Butch,
does an excellent job portraying his character's descent into hopelessness and
addiction. I can't say the characters are appealing, but I do think I've seen a
slice of life because of this movie of which I wouldn't have been aware
otherwise.
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Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss on IFC (March) -- I had probably ought to stop
watching movies in five- or ten-minute chunks over a span of weeks or months.
I would probably enjoy them more if I were to "experience" them--take the time
to get into their world, willingly suspend my disbelief, and go with the flow. As
you might be able to tell, that wasn't the case with this film. Sean Hayes (of Will
& Grace fame) turns in a subdued and mostly realistic performance as a
fine-arts photographer (who uses only a Polaroid camera, by the way) who
develops a romantic interest in one of his models. Brad Rowe (from an
assortment of movies and TV appearances) plays the "is he or isn't he?" model,
and Meredith Scott Lynn (a character actress you'd find familiar--"where have I
seen her?"--upon seeing) is Sean's character's supportive best friend. The
remainder of the cast seem to be appearing in their very first filmed production,
eager to go out there and "act"! Yuck. The story isn't that compelling, and the
nicely done camera work and visuals don't compensate for the script and
supporting cast's shortcomings.
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Love and Death on Long Island on IFC (February) -- This movie had the
unfortunate effect of making me want not to read the novel upon which it's
based. The novel may very well be better, but I'll never know, for I was too
bored with the movie version to investigate the book. It's not the slow pacing,
which honestly is a nice change from so many other modern movies. It's not
the acting, which is fine with the notable exception of Fiona Loewi's amateurish
turn as Jason Priestley's character's girlfriend (and, yes, I didn't say anything
negative about Jason Priestley's acting! on purpose!). It's not really even the
story, which is unusual and has good potential to keep one's interest (a widowed
British author becomes infatuated with a young American actor and seeks him
out to confess his unrequited love for the young man). It must be some
unfortunate combination of those elements that led me to wonder, "This is it?!"
when the movie's credits started to roll. Lots of buildup, very little payoff.
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Guess Who's Coming to Dinner on AMC (January) -- On Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., Day, my daughters and I sat down to relax in the afternoon and found
this movie showing in honor of the day. I hesitated to watch it with them
because of all the complicated issues it touches on and the language it uses, but
it served as an excellent springboard for discussion. We talked about "colored,"
"negro," "nigger," and "black," as well as "jack ass" when it doesn't mean an
animal. We talked about the difference between people's beliefs 40 years ago
and society's mores today. We also talked about the acting, which is quite
good. And I had forgotten that Isabel Sanford of The Jeffersons fame is featured
in the movie in a fun role. This cinema classic is entertaining and educational.
And its lengthy scenes and intelligently verbose monologues stand in stark
contrast to today's movies, which feature brief scenes and chopped dialogue as
either a cause or effect of modern viewers' short attention spans.
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Napoleon Dynamite on Comedy Central (January) -- This bizarre movie makes
me laugh mostly because of its eccentricity, not because of any particular
jokes. It also takes me back to a time when people actually wore the hideous
clothes and hair styles featured in the movie, oblivious to the fact that we would
someday look back on them with shame. The main character, Napoleon, is an
oddball in a family of oddballs, resigned to the maltreatment he gets at school
because of his nonconformity. Certain events lead him to meet and befriend a
couple more misfits, and it is for their benefit that he commits himself to the
ultimate public display of socially unacceptable behavior--with happy results.
My brother- and sister-in-law attended a costume party one Halloween as
Napoleon and his friend, Pedro, and I shall forever think of them whenever I
recall this movie and some of its signature lines, such as, "Tina, you fat lard,
come get some dinner!"
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Amelie on IFC (January) -- The full title of this movie is Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie
Poulain, which should indicate to you that it is, yes, a foreign (French) film. Some
people unimpressed with the notion of reading subtitles would stop at this point,
but I urge you to give this film a try, if you have not already discovered the gem
that is Amelie. The story is charming, the characters are quirky, and the mix of
visual elements and camera techniques supports the film's style perfectly.
Amelie is an oddball in her own right, a withdrawn but observant student of the
minutiae of daily life. She embarks on a mission to bring joy (anonymously) to
others' lives and, in the process, finds an opportunity for love in her own. This
film deserves rewatching, I think, in order to discover all that it has to offer. It's
great.
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