Selig Film News

Shrek The Musical – A Stage Review by Gary Murray

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October 1, 2010

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SHREK THE MUSICAL

BY Gary Murray

Starring Eric Petersen, Haven Burton, Alan Mingo, Jr. and David F.M. Vaughn

Book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire

Music by Jeanine Tesori

Based on the Dreamworks Feature

Shrek, the Dreamworks picture, was both a charming fantasy tale and a not so subtle dig at Disney and Michael E, the CEO at the time. The tale of the ogre called upon to save his swamp from fairy tale creatures by rescuing a princess was the right blend of magic and mayhem Since Disney has been making a ton of money and winning awards by turning their products into plays (Beauty and The Beast, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King) it would make sense that Dreamworks would follow suit. Their first is Shrek: The Musical now playing at the State Fair of Texas in the Fair Park Music Hall.

The play starts in a forest twenty years ago. Young Shrek is thrown out of his home in “Big Bright Beautiful World” a funny yet cruel set-up to the mind set of our Ogre. We are also introduced to a young Princess Fiona, sent to live in the highest room of the tallest tower of a castle waiting for her true love to rescue her. They are cleaver and dark moments.

Then we forward to today and Shrek (Eric Petersen) sings the “Story of My Life” were we get his world view in song. Soon we meet all the fairy tale creatures who are sent to live in Shrek’s swamp. Since Shrek just wants to be left alone, he takes on the mission of getting Lord Farquaad to get them all of his land. Almost immediately, he gets lost and found by Donkey ( Alan Mingo, Jr) a simple creature who is not afraid of the big green guy. They sing “Don’t Let Me Go” with gusto. On the other side of the plot, three different aged Fionas sing “Forever” which is how long she has been waiting to be rescued. It is the big, charming moment of Act I.

“Welcome to Duloc” comes from the movie, lifted word for word and note for note but with a more Broadway relish to the festivities. On stage comes Lord Farquaad (David F.M. Vaughn), all Prince Valiant with the hair and Prince the singer in stature. His smallness is done with fake legs and the actor on his knees. It must be brutal on the body to do this role but all the laughs must be a consolidation. He is vain and cruel to a comic degree.

All of our actors are in place as the plot goes into motion and the duo of Shrek and Donkey go to the castle and rescue the princess. First, they must get around the dragon. A chorus of knights warn our Donkey about ‘Her’–the dragon. Done with a giant puppet and a backstage voice, we get the biggest number of the work where the dragon laments about life. The voice just fills the rafters as the cloth and fiberglass beast commands the stage.

The Second Act starts with “Morning Person” and Fiona and a company of rats doing their best Bob Fosse. A charming number that shows the dancing ability of almost the entire secondary cast. Then comes “I Think I Got You Beat” a parallel of a classic Broadway conceit were our two leads by showing their differences eventually prove that they are much closer than either one wants to admit. The number is a literal gas.

Eventually we get to all the reveals, where the cast expresses their true feelings and intentions. The idea of what makes us special makes us strong is pushed to the limit with “Freak Flag” a song that can be taken on many different levels. The play eventually turns into high melodrama, with the audience yelling and booing the bad guy. The kids in attendance seems to be having the time of their lives reacting to the antics on stage. By the time we get to the close of the old Monkee’s song “I’m a Believer” the entire audience is on their feet.

The dialogue follows the original movie, at times word for word. We also get little cleaver moments where Donkey and Shrek play “Bunch Buggy” to a silly degree. Book and lyrics creator David Lindsay-Abaire keep all the little elements that made the film a classic while clearing up some of the little inconsistent in the original plot.

The Dragon effect, with masked puppeteers is an amazing feat of skill and art. Our Gingerbread Man is also done as a puppet, first on a wall, then on a pan. Even though we see the manipulations, it still works magic. Pinocchio’s nose does grow with a fun, slight effect. Puss’n Boots does appear but never steals the show like he does in the movies. Here he is just a background puppet.

The cast is just brilliant. David F.M. Vaughn just steals every moment he’s on stage as Lord Farquaad. The costume effect to make him look small is milked over and over but never gets tired. He is a part of two show stopping moments and does his best to get reactions from the crowd. The number “What’s up, Duloc?” showcases everything that is right about the production.

Alan Mingo, Jr is the other scene stealer. As Donkey, he gets the best lines and does the most when them. Finding ways to top the voice performance of Eddie Murphy he still gives the role his own nuances. With hoofs for hands, he is limited to the ways he can express his character but he does give the audience a winning reading.

Haven Burton has a thankless role as Fiona. She has a charming voice and winning personality. Unfortunately the world of Shrek is much more a male dominated experience and the women are secondary in the cast. There needed to be more moments to showcase both her and the role.

Eric Petersen as Shrek is the hardest role. Under all the make-up he has to give a variety of emotions while dancing and singing. He does the role with such and ease and grace that one forgets just how hard his task is on the stage. Even under all the Latex, he still can convey strong emotions.

Perhaps the biggest find is little Madison Mullahey as young Fiona. She gets a few moments here and there to show off some major vocals. This is a voice that should be heard on Broadway stages for years to come.

Shrek is just a fun and magical night at the theater, a delight for children of all ages. It has all the elements to entertain and does so to a degree seldom seen on the Fair Park stage. It is a perfect match for the Midway fun at the State Fair and shouldn’t be missed.

Shrek The Musical plays at the Music Hall at Fair Park as part of the State Fair of Texas Sept. 28 to Oct. 17

www.DallasSummerMusicals.org

www.ShrekTheMusical.com

www.shrekster.com/dallas

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN – A Review by Gary Murray

Gary Murray

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October 1, 2010

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WAITING FOR SUPERMAN

By Gary Murray

Starring a bunch of kids and educators

Directed by Davis Guggenheim

Running time 105 min

MPAA Rating G

Selig Film Rating Full Price

I truly don’t remember much of my childhood education. Just about everything before 5th grade is gone in the backwash of my mind. I know that I went the first two years of school in Houston before moving to Baytown. The major reason we moved was that my parents didn’t want my older brother to go to the Houston middle school which was, because of forced bussing, in the bad part of town. Parents do everything they can for the betterment of their children. That is one of the major lessons learned in the education documentary Waiting for Superman.

The title refers to a story told by Geoffrey Canada, an educator. When he was a child, he was crushed to find out that there was no Superman. Being little, he believed that Superman would come to his ghetto and save all the boys and girls from the horrible education system he was a part of. Later, after graduating from the Ivy League, he dedicated his life to education, figuring that he could change the system in a scant few years. Then he ran into the two behemoths of education, the administration and the unions. He soon found that fixing the problem is much more complex than first thought.

Then comes all the statistics. America, once the shining light of education has become dulled We are ranked toward the bottom in just about every category of measure. We are failing the children in understanding basic reading, math and science. The kids are just pushed along, grade by grade until they eventually just drop out of the system. Money is thrown at the system and the more we spend, the worst it gets.

There is also the ‘Lemon Dance; where principals send their worst teachers to another school while taking on the lemon teachers from that school system, but never firing any teacher due to tenure rules. In NYC, the school district pays over $100 million to detained teachers who are accused of crimes and cannot be left in the classroom. The teachers cannot be fired due to union contracts and tenure rules.

One solution that seems to be working is charter schools, oasis of academic freedom where teachers teach and students learn without interference from the outside. The problem is that there are few too many schools and far too many students. So the parents have a choice of sending the kids to expensive private schools or to go in a lottery where kids have to draw the right number to get into good charter schools. The stories of Waiting for Superman focus on the parents and the children.

We meet the kids. There is Daisy, a Hispanic girl who dreams of being a doctor, with either people or animals. She is a star pupil in her school but wants to get into the ten spots of the charter school. Francisco is a kid who is a bit behind and needs some special help but is just pushed through the system. Anthony is an orphaned child living with his grandmother and hoping to get into Seeds, a special college styled boarding school. The school is his best chance to break from the cycle of death and poverty that run his little life.

Michele Rhee is another educator with grand visions. As a supertendent, she takes over the DC school district, a district that gets some of the most money and has some of the poorest results. She takes on all the waste and corruption, wanting to make a clean sweep of the system. Then the finger pointing begins. Every group blames everyone else and circle the wagons around their group. The amount of money wasted is staggering. Since every special interest is lawyered up she finds that her job is a lot harder than imagined.

The ending where the kids are waiting, seeing if they make the lottery cut which is a heartbreaking experience. The kids are faced with the reality of the future as they just learning the basic skills of life. The wanting and hope on the faces of the parents and kids just tears at the heartstrings. By the end, the audience is rooting that everyone will get into these schools, but we know that the odds are very much against them. This film is made as a wake-up call for America, a call to action to save the next generation.

This is one of the most powerful documentaries of the year and a definite Academy nomination for Davis Guggenheim. I was not a fan of his Oscar winner An Inconvenient Truth because of the flawed science and guess work that portends to be science. Al Gore has no advanced degrees in anything and uses his celebrity status to push a viewpoint where the his hopeful outcome will net him millions of dollars. It is like a ‘tiger rock’, a magical rock that keeps away tigers. Hold the rock and do you see any tigers? No, then it works. The British government makes any teacher who shows An Inconvenient Truth present evidence that disproves major points. Here Davis does some of the same manipulations, forcing stats into his narrative and ignoring anything that doesn’t fit his preconceived notions. It is the human stories that make Waiting for Superman a film one needs to see.

Superman/Batman Apocalypse (Bluray) – A Review by Michael Edwards

Michael Edwards

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September 29, 2010

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DC Comics as finally hit its stride in terms of animated films based on their superheroes. Marvel tried to do it a few years back, but the results were generally a little less than stellar. But DC started raising the bar when they released “Superman: Doomsday” in 2007. The idea was to begin to create PG-13 animated films based on some of the better graphic novels and it has really paid off. DC is now reaching a wider audience and sales of these films have been outstanding.

There are now nine of these films, and each one just gets better than the last. I was actually quite shocked to see the recent release of “Batman: Under the Hood”, which was based on one of the more violent graphic novels I’ve seen. It was edited quite a bit from the original materials, but it was still masterfully interpreted.

This month, we see the release of “Superman/Batman Apocalypse”, which introduces viewers to Kara… otherwise known as Supergirl. But Earth is not the only planet that wants to welcome her; it seems that the evil Darkseid has set his sights on adding the girl of steel to his mighty army. And it’s up to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to keep her safe.

“Superman/Batman Apocalypse” is epic to say the least. The storyline and ensuing battles, along with the superlative animation provide an incredibly entertaining, if not dark superhero tale. From the simplicity of Kara’s learning to be an Earth girl, to the final showdown with Darkseid every moment of the film’s 78 minute run kept my rapt attention. Even at the brisk pace, it almost seemed like it were longer (and I wish it was…)

As par the course, the voice actors were terrific. Over the course of the films, there have been different Batmans and Supermans, and all have brought something new to the table, but I was thrilled to see that they brought back fan favorites Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Tim Daly (Superman). Theirs are the voices I feel the most at home with and they were perfect for this particular story. Andre Braugher was brought on board to voice Darkseid and I loved the subtle strength he was able to deliver. Summer Glau (“Firefly”) stepped in as Kara and she did an awesome job as well.

Watching these animated films on Bluray has been a treat. The transfers have been, and continue to be, exceptional. Colors and images are sharp and crystal clear, while the sound mix is perfect.

Warner’s Bluray edition includes the third edition of DC Showcase, which features different DC characters in short animated films. In the past we’ve had The Spectre and Jonah Hex, while this time around we have Green Lantern (a personal favorite character). The story is short, poignant and worth its own release.

Extra features include a featurette on Darkseid, as well as profiles on ‘New Gods’ Orion and Mr. Miracle. There is also a sneak peak of the next animated feature “All-Star Superman”, which shows promise of being as equally good as what has come before. Additionally, there is a feature on Supergirl and 4 bonus cartoons that featured Darkseid.

Finally, there is a Digital Download of the film and finally… it is compatible with iTunes. None of the previous downloads have been compatible with the exception of Wonder Woman. I’m an iPod and iPhone guy and it has driven me crazy that I couldn’t put them on either to watch. And to make matters worse, the Digital Downloads that were available (but still not for iTunes) always gave me issues when I tried to download. So kudos to Warner for finally getting in the game as far as downloads go. Let’s keep it that way.

The DC Universe Animated Movies has added another gem to its collection. Make sure you add it to yours.

Directed by: Lauren Montgomery
Starring (the voices of:) Tim Daly, Kevin Conroy, Andre Braugher, Summer Glau
Extras: DC Showcase: Green Arrow; The Fourth World – New Gods; The New Gods; Sneak Peek – All Star Superman; Supergirl: Last Daughter of Krypton; 4 Bonus Cartoons featuring Darkseid
Specification: Widescreen 1080p (1.78:1); Dolby Digital 5.1
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 9/28/2010
MPAA Rating: PG-13
http://www.warnerblu.com

YOU AGAIN – A Review by Gary Murray

Gary Murray

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September 23, 2010

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YOU AGAIN

By Gary Murray

Starring Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman and Betty White

Written by Moe Jelline

Directed by Andy Fickman

Running time 103 min

MPAA Rating PG

Selig Film Rating Cable

Some movies are formula films, a flick that is set up so broadly and simply that just about anyone can piece together the plot. Such is a film like You Again, a simple little tale of revenge that doesn’t have any true surprises.

Kristen Bell plays Marni a go-getter of a young woman who blossomed after high school. She has recently been named VP of a PR firm and is going from California to NYC. Even though her life is great now, she had a miserable high school experience. The popular girl Joanna tormented her relentlessly, being a bully to a serious degree. Now, Marni gets to go back to her small California town to be a part of the wedding of her brother Mark (Victor Garber). She has never met the bride in the whirlwind of a romance.

Getting to her home town, she finds out that Mark is to marry Joanna, the mean girl from high school. She doesn’t even know Marni. The fact that the tormentor doesn’t even remember the victim enrages Marni. This supposedly sweet young girl is much more a minion of Satan than a frail little flower and must not become a part of the family. Marni makes it her goal to expose this woman’s true colors. All Marni wants is a true apology from Joanna.

Joanna’s aunt Ramona (Sigourney Weaver) is her only living relative and is planning to come to the wedding. When she shows up, the second plot point is revealed. It seems that Marni’s mom Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Ramona have a past. In a quick flashback, we find that Ramona and Gail had their own high school problems back in the 1970’s, something neither has gotten over. Where Gail is a wife and mother, Ramona is a titan of the hotel industry with posh rooms all over the planet.

Now we have a cross generational, Hatfiend and McCoy, battle royal with each woman trying to get the better of their rival. You Again proposed to be a black comedy and wimps out when in should go to the jugular. Writer Moe Jelline wants everyone in the end to turn nice in a romantic comedy style when he sets up a different kind of film. This would have worked much better if he would have just let the venom flow across the printed page, letting each group of women truly destroy each other.

Kristen Bell is taking over that ‘girl next door’ charmer that Meg Ryan had a few years back. She is all sugar and charm even when being mean. She delivers her share of laughs while giving us growing up pathos. You Again is another small step in establishing her on the A-list of actors.

Odette Yustman has the hardest role, being the character with the most arc. She has to play the hard mean high school cheerleader, the tormentor, and the pleasant fiancee. Eventually, we learn all her motivations, a turn that comes across more believable than one would expect.

Both Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver give strong readings as the older generation rivals. They both pull off the bitterness of long held grudges. Each just works off the other, giving laugh after laugh.

Two of the secondary performance are just gold. Betty White plays Grandma Bunny and just steals every moment she is on screen. Her comic timing is still pristine, taking simple lines and turning them into roaring laughs. Every glance just eggs-on snickers. Kristen Chenoweth as Georgia, the wedding planner/dance instructor is another sparkling performance. Her bits of bubble and pop just endears while still getting a solid reaction with the audience. She just commands the dance lesson scene with a Las Vegas style.

In a refreshing and unexpected turn, the men of You Again are almost an afterthought. Each is just here, not taking more that a slight notice in the story line. This is a rare woman’s picture where the men are background items.

You Again is just fluff, more like a bon-bon than a meaty film. The idea that nobody gets through high school without being scathed is as true today as it was decades ago. Here’s the problem–the forgive and forget part. The people who tormented me in high school are still jerks and even at this late stage in life and I still will never forgive them. Call me a bitter old man but I totally agree with everything Marni does in the film but without the Hollywood remorse. You Again is a tale of revenge that doesn’t deliver the revenge part.

BURIED – A Review by Gary Murray

Gary Murray

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September 23, 2010

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BURIED

Starring Ryan Reynolds

Written by Chris Sparling

Directed by Rodrigo Cortes

MPAA Rating R

Running time 95 min

Selig Film Scale Matinee

The thriller is one of the longest running genres of film. A slick little entertainment that chills and thrills as it spills on the audience are one of the bedrock ways of the Silver Screen. When done effectively, these flicks can still keep the audience glued in their seats, not wanting to miss a moment of the story. Adding to this rich heritage is Buried, the most claustrophobic flicks that has ever been put on the big screen.

The film starts in total darkness. Soon we find out why. Paul (Ryan Reynolds) is in a simple wooden coffin, buried under the sands of Iraq. He is a truck driver, a part of a military convoy. The group was hit and he was captured. Now, the bad guys want cash to let him go. All of this is discovered by Paul as he talks on a cell phone. The entire film takes place in the coffin, with only a lighter and a cell to give any light. The film never leaves this set, we never get any scenes of back story, all 90 minutes occur within the confines of the coffin.

Paul goes through all the stages of grief as he figures out his plight. He pleads and threatens on the phone, realizing that he must get into contact with US forces before his air and cell phone battery run out. He calls his US family, pleading with them to get help. He reflects on his situation as he does everything he can to get out. The unseen voices of his tormentors is used in a vicious fashion, just a bunch of guys who want cash.

Since Ryan Reynolds in the only actor in the piece, he has a Herculean task, to keep the audience interested in his plight. He delivers an Oscar worthy performance here, having to do all his acting with little movement and basically no one to play against. I know that some will think that he does nothing other than be trapped. That is the brilliance of the performance. He must use his voice to get across all the fear and anger. The role of Paul is the textbook definition of a ‘hands down’ performance. While I doubt that most of the Academy will see how difficult this role is to pull off, it is definitely deserving of an Oscar nod.

Director Rodrigo Cortes works within the greatest confines ever self-imposed on screen. By giving us nothing, he delivers everything. The suspense of the situation becomes a claustrophobic melee of emotions, never giving the audience a single beat of letting up. He just pushes every button with a madman’s glee. The script by Chris Sparling becomes a masterpiece of despair, wishing the best for our character and expecting the worst

Alfred Hitchcock was one quoted as saying (and I paraphrase) that is you let off a bomb, you scare the audience for a minute but if the audience knows that the bomb is there, about to be blown, you can build suspense much longer. That is the basic premise of Buried. This is a solid suspense laden thriller where we are given all the elements to frighten and let them spill across the screen. Buried is a unique film that proves that one doesn’t need a lot to make a great movie.

WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS – A Review by Gary Murray

Gary Murray

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September 23, 2010

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WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS

By Gary Murray

Starring Michael Douglas, Shia LeBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan. Eli Walsh, Susan Sarandon and Frank Langella

Written by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, Bryan Burrough

Directed by Oliver Stone

Running time 133 min

MPAA Rating PG-13

Selig Film Rating Cable

Oliver Stone is a maverick director, taking on subjects with little fear of the public or the critics. Some of his earlier films have been brilliant but in the last few years he seems to have lost his edge. Lately he’s been more know for the communist company he keeps than for the actions behind the camera. So when things are not working with the new path, the basic idea is to go back and dance with the one that brought you. So we get the sequel to the 1987 film Wall Street with Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

The film starts 23 years after the last episode, on the cusp of the 2008 financial crisis. Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) is recently out of prison and pushing his new financial book predicting that bad things are just around the corner. He preaches that the mother of all evils is speculation. Seeing Gekko on CNBC is Jake Moore (Shia LeBeouf) and his live-in girlfriend Winnie Gekko (Carey Mulligan). She is an activist who wants nothing more to do with her father and he is a stock market player with a dream to harness power from sea water. The scientist in charge of his pet project needs another 100 million to make it happen.

Jake works at KZI Investments for Louis Zabel (Frank Langella), an old war horse still plugging away at making money. Louis is much more like a father than a boss to Jake and the two share many strong emotional bonds. When the street gets a whiff of problems with the company, it triggers a sell-off which wrecks the reputation of Zabel’s firm. We learn that Wall Street runs on rumor and innuendo and that getting old is for sissies. Young maverick Bretton James (Josh Brolin) offers to take over KZI investment company at a huge loss. This drives Louis to take his own life by jumping in front of a subway train.

Jake believes that he knows who is responsible and decides to take a tact of deceit just to get even. The scheme causes Bretton to lose millions but it also gets his attention. Impressed, Bretton offers Jake a job. While this is going on, Jake decides to contact Gordon to ask him for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Gordon wants to see his daughter again and they work out a plan to mend fences. It all backfires but Jake and Gordon do bond. Soon Jake want Gordon to help him take down the people behind the all the Zabel rumors. The problem is that being indebted to Gordon Gekko may be the downfall of Jake Moore. How each side plays against the other to gain leverage is the basic premise behind Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

The film just twists and turns, trying to be complicated and comes out more confusing. The plethora of writers weave a tale of greed and money where the acquisition of cash is a numbers came, a way to keep score and not a means to satisfaction. It isn’t if one has enough, it is if one has more money that the other players. These are people who make money off other others, not making a better product. In the hands of Oliver Stone, it becomes more of an enlighten to what is more important.

Stone knows how to craft sequences to a dramatic whole, but like he did in JKF he just throws everything toward the screen, trying to make connections between the paint splatters. At times he makes some compelling film images and other times he is lost in his own excess. The grand plot points are not enough to save all the maestro touches. He has one of the best casts in years and makes the exercise dull

Shia LeBeouf is showing signs of becoming a character actor in the Brad or Leo vein. He gives a solid reading with some truth pathos, something seldom seen in his other roles. He is no movie star playing at acting, but a dramatic actors serving up his craft with subtle aplomb.

Of the entire cast, Carey Mulligan gives the freshest performance. She channels the spirit of a young Shirley MacLaine, with her sly smile and wicked pixie flair. She gives heart to a small role, giving a strong reading with a solid emotional focus. Her will makes this the kind of role that makes people sit up and notice.

Both Eli Wallace and Susan Sarandon have blink and you miss it roles, parts that do no justice to the actors who have taken them. They could have been played by bit actors and not seasoned thespians. Sarandon is especially wasted as Jake’s mom, a woman lost in the idea of making money over doing something meaningful with her life.

With everything that has happened in his personal life, this should be another Oscar nomination for Michael Douglas. His two roles this year showed both depth and range, giving basically unsympathetic characters with anti-hero tendencies a heart and soul. He knows how to give life to vain characters, putting flesh and bone on stock characters. This is a performance that just draws one in.

I’m not going to be surprised if one sees Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps on some best of the year lists. I don’t see this film on the level of some of Stone’s earlier works but it does hold together due to the Oscar winning acting bullets in his six-shooter of a cast. The sum of the parts doesn’t equal a whole cinema experience but it is better than most everything shown in 2010.

The Town – A Review by Gary Murray

Gary Murray

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September 16, 2010

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THE TOWN

By Gary Murray

Starring Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, John Hamm and Rebecca Hall

Written by Peter Craig, Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard

Directed by Ben Affleck

Running time 2 hrs 5 min

MPAA Rating R

Selig Film Rating FULL PRICE

Over the last few years Ben Affleck has become a bit of a punch line in Hollywood. After he and Matt Damon won the Oscar for Best Screenplay in Good Will Hunting, it seemed that Ben’s career was in a bit of a tailspin. He was known more for the women he dated than his acting prow ness. All one has to do is look back at Gigli to see how much of a laughingstock he became. Slowly, his star began to get a little bit of shine. His turn as Christopher Reeves in Hollywoodland was lauded by the critics and his directing took notice in Gone Baby Gone. The latest film that puts his persona on the respect track is the new gritty crime drama The Town.

Set in Charlestown, just across the river from Boston, we are instantly told that the area is the bank robbing capital. The seedy locals are just as suspicious of the cops as they are of outsiders. The guys of the neighborhood are all tight with each other and tight lipped. Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) is a member of the crew, holding up a bank. The robbers have a tight operation, using split second second timing and leave little evidence. They don’t want to hurt anybody, they just want the money.

During their latest robbery, Jem (Jeremy Renner) takes a hostage Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) the bank manager. After the robbery, they let her go with a threat. She does get a look at Jem’s neck tattoo of the Fighting Irish.

Jem wants Doug to check on Claire, just to make sure she’s not going to be a witness. Doug follows her and makes contact, asking her out. The two start up a relationship. Jem want Doug to do another robbery, something that Doug thinks is too much, too soon. The FBI (John Hamm as the lead agent) are hot on their trail, taking pictures and trying to intimidate different individuals. As Doug falls more for Claire, the more he is pulled into things that he does not think are of the best interest of the gang. Jem, who is like a brother to Doug, senses that thinks are falling apart and he must do something to keep everything together. The good guys and the bad guys are on a convergence that will take place in a very high profile robbery target.

Ben Affleck is perfect as Doug. He shows signs of vulnerability while still keeping his macho exterior. As he reveals his life to Claire, he aches with childhood heartbreak. In moment after moment, he finds the acting details that bring a solid third dimension to the character. This is the strongest performance of his career, something to be remembered at the end of the year.

Jeremy Renner walks a tightrope with Jem. He is the firecracker with the one-second fuse, the slightest spark will set off an explosion. There is this loyalty between him and Doug that is both deep and strong. Jeremy is the kind of an actor who can do a role like this in his sleep, but he makes it all seem new and fresh. He shows that all the praise he generated from The Hurt Locker is deserved.

Rebecca Hall just draws the audience in. She is the outsider who longs for something to fill an unspoken void in her life. With every glance, she seems to signal that the pains in her life are real and unknown to the outside world. She used this same kind of sadness in her turn in The Prestige, a great little film of obsession and magic from a few seasons back.

As a director, Ben Affleck has matured. He handles multiple plot lines and difficult emotions with ease and grace. He goes from action packed chase scenes to little moments of tenderness without losing his pace. With a good deal of time and luck, he could become an actor/director of the Clint Eastwood mode. Only time will tell.

The Town is a rarity, a strong action film with interesting, thought-out characters. The film is much more of a crime drama than a shoot’em up flick, more a modern day Butch and Sundance than Bonnie and Clyde. It delivers for both the thrill seekers and those who look for something with a little emotional bite. The Town is the first film to seek out and garner critical praise. It has a very good chance to be remembered come Oscar time.

The Virginity Hit – A Review by Gary Murray

Gary Murray

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September 16, 2010

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THE VIRGINITY HIT By Gary Murray Starring Matt Bennett and Zack Pearlman Written and directed by Andrew Gurland & Huck Botko MPAA Rating R Running time 105 min Selig Film Rating Forget it!

Even though drama gets all the respect, most people know that it is much harder to make a comedy. While there are easy ways to draw out the emotions of moroseness, it is more difficult to get a solid laugh. Humor is subjective and what makes someone laugh makes others wince. Such is the case with The Virginity Hit. The story is shot with that bouncing camera, faux documentary feel. Four high school buddies in The Big Easy buy a very special bong. They instantly decide that they will only toke on it when each loses their virginity. Three of them pass the test to manhood with ease, hitting on the sacred pipe within a few months of each other. The final guy is Matt (Matt Bennett) a nebbish guy with a ‘too hot for him’ girlfriend. The two are very much in love and have finally decided to give their virginity to each other. Matt makes all these plans and his best buddy Zack (Zack Pearlman) decides to film the entire proceedings. Zack dreams of becoming a film-maker, posting all of his life on U-Tube. As the big day approaches, Matt finds out that his beloved is not as pure as once thought. He is crushed but is talked into going through the proceedings by Zack. The plan is to film everything with all their buddies and cameras in very close proximity. The only person who doesn’t know the actual deed it to be filmed is the gal pal. The falling out of everything that happens to Matt gets on the Internet, which depresses him even more. People from around the world comment on his failure. But an older woman contacts him and says that she will relieve him of the scarlet V. He just has to jump through a bunch of hoops before he gets to jump in the sack. The film follows Matt as he goes deeper and deeper down the path of desperation just to get his groove on. This involves humilitation, porn stars and bowel movements. The more the comedy unfurls, the more one realizes that Matt has a horrible life, never good for a comedy. As his back story is revealed, we find that Matt is orphaned. His mother died of cancer and his father is a drug addict who abandoned him. He lives at Zack’s house but never really feels a part of the family. His nest egg of college savings becomes another downtrodden plot point. This is a sad existence where pain and tragedy do not build a solid foundation for a rachous comedy Zack Pearlman seems to be channelling Jonah Hill, giving a reading that is more of a copycat than a different character. He’s such a blowhard, an unsympathic person, one has to wonder why anyone would be his friend. He has no humanity, callow to a degree one only sees in villians. Instead of helping Matt who is almost like a brother, he basically destroys the young man, just for internet fame. Zack is the worst kind of friend one could ever have. The depiction of women in the film is appalling. They are all whores or on the road to becoming one. None of them have any personalities, just fun meat for the boys to gnaw on. Women are degraded, shown more as recepticals than people. Since most of the kids in the film are supposed to be kids, the entire exercise dances around the precepts of child pornography and pedophilia. There is not a redeaming feature in any of the male characters. All they do is get drunk and get high, oblivious to the consequences of their actions. Even in the films they are trying to hark back to, the B-grade raunch fest comedies from the 1980’s (Screwballs, Porky’s, The Last American Virgin and Joy Stick), there were elements of humanity in those scripts. The world of The Virginity Hit has no morals much less a moral compass. The college kids will find this hilarious, but it is a weak entree in the new birth of the raunchy teen sex comedy that filled the drive-in decades ago. The film is produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, two guys who are very successful and who should know better about the products they attach themselves to. If one wants to see this kind of flick, there are much better films than The Virginity Hit.

Easy A – A Review by Gary Murray

Gary Murray

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September 16, 2010

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EASY A

Starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Hayden Church, Stanley Tucci, Malcolm McDowell, and Lisa Kudrow

Written by Bert V. Royal

Directed by Will Glick

MPAA Rating PG-13

Running time 93 min

Selig Film Rating: FULL PRICE

One of the things I loved the best from Zombieland was Emma Stone. Her hard kicking character just ruled every moment of the film and made it a joy to watch. She’s been in a number of films in the past few years and finally gets a strong starring turn with Easy A, one of the most delightful Fall flicks about lying you will see.

The film starts in medius rea in the little town of Ojai CA, with Olive (Emma Stone) telling her tale of woe on the Internet. She is one of the regular kids going to high school, just another student. Like all chicks, she has a best buddy Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) and a crush Todd (Penn Badgley). She also has a tormentor, religious zealot Marianne (Amanda Bynes) Even though they have been going to the same schools for years. Marinanne really doesn’t know Olive.

In school Olive is studying The Scarlet Letter, the foreshadowing event. One of her gay friends is tired of getting beat-up by the jocks so he hatches a plan. He asks Olive to act like they are having sex at a party, just to give him some macho cred. She very reluctantly goes along with it, yet changes her life.

The phony tryst gets all around school via social networking that Olive is a wild woman. Thus, starts her downfall. Other geeky guys decide to take advantage of Olive’s rumor mill and soon she is a marked woman. Now that Olive has the interest of the entire school, she revels in gleaning bad behavior to the point of wearing a scarlet A on her breast. The rest of the film is how one little lie combined with a media obsessed culture can generate a mountain slide of deceit.

Olive’s parents are played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson. They are both the grown-up California hippies, just grooving along with few cares in this world. Each gets a few moments here and there to nail some seriously comic lines. Patricia Clarkson does such a strong job as Mom, dispensing advice while still being the cool chick, oozing charm with every beat.

Amanda Bynes has stated that she is retiring from acting. That would be a shame. She has such great comic timing and has proven it in film after film. There is this sunny disposition she brings to any character she plays. While this is one her smaller roles, it is a more thought out character and gives her a chance to be something more than the wacky girl next door.

There are two big wastes in the cast–Malcolm McDowell as the principal and Fred Armisen as the pastor. Neither is given much to do other than have patrons go “look who that is” moments. Both deserved better and larger parts. Penn Badgley plays the paramour but is given little to do other than be eye candy for Olive.

This film would never have worked without Emma Stone. As Olive, she is the unknown cool chick, the girl everyone wants to be around. She has a razor wit and a tommy gun mouth, shooting off killer one liners with the rhythm of a stand-up comic. As she spins her web of deceit on the World Wide Web, she never seems to grasp how detrimental this incident is going to be until it is too late to stop it. Finding out that lies thrive fast in the ether is a bitter lesson to learn.

There are so many references to classic 1980’s films like The Breakfast Club, Say Anything and Can’t Buy Me Love. Some of the references are overt and some subtle. It all adds up to a little game of ‘Who Can Catch the Reference?’ It is both cleaver and charming without being overstated. Writer Bert V. Royal knows his genre and does it justice, giving the kids something new while giving their parents a trip down nostalgia lane.

Since they are both coming out at the same time, there will be many cinematic compare and contrast debates between Easy A and The Virginity Hit. The debate is going to be a bit one sided. Where The Virginity Hit goes for the Id, Easy A goes toward the Super Ego. The Virginity Hit is crude, Easy A is cleaver. Smart and snappy comedies that pay homage to their past are few and far between, another reason to rush out and catch Easy A.

Flipped – A Review by Gary Murray

Gary Murray

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September 13, 2010

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FLIPPED

By Gary Murray

Starring Madeline Carroll, Rebecca De Mornay, Anthony Edwards and John Mahoney

Written by Rob Reiner

Directed by Rob Reiner

Running time 90 min

MPAA Rating PG-13

Rob Reiner has made some of my favorite movies. This is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and The Bucket List are just a few of his accomplishments as a director. He has captured the imagination with strong storytelling and technical expertise. His latest is Flipped.

The story of Flipped takes place within six years during the 1950’s. Bryce (Callan McAuliffe) is kid recently moved into the suburban neighborhood. Bryce soon meets the girl next door Juli (Madeline Carroll) who instantly falls for madly for him. He tries in vain to avoid her, but her young girl crush just takes a toll on him, embarrassing him with his new friends. Then the film turns to Juli and her explanations of the events. Yes, Juli does fall for our young Bryce, but things are not that cut and clear. We also meet the parents and the siblings of both sides of the street.

The film goes into junior high and Juli still feels for Bryce and Bryce still thinks that Juli is another girl. Slowly things begin to happen internally and Bryce begins to see Juli as something special. Juli, in the turning into a young woman, begins to see a bigger picture than what can be seen on the upper branches of her favorite tree. As she begins to understand the wider aspects of life around her, her attitude toward Bryce changes. So in lies the Flipped aspect of the movie. Along the way, we also find out why the adult characters are the way they are, full of shattered dreams and promises fulfilled. Nothing is as it seems on the surface and the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Except for a few details, the production nails every part of the 1950’s The sets, costumes and cars are all perfect. There is a solid feeling of place and time in Flipped, giving the right vibe for the actors to perform.

Young Madeline Carroll is note perfect as Juli, the young girl next door who begins to see life beyond her little neck of the woods. She has the soul of a artist and the heart of an activist, all just waiting to prove her worth to the world. She is the kind of character that becomes an element of change in the 1960’s. Her caring for a tree, a plot point, just tugs at the heart.

John Mahoney plays Bryce’s grandfather and delivers a strong sense of melancholy to the role. He sees all the potential in Juli and tries to open Bryce’s eyes to the jewel that waits just across the street. There is such a warmth to the reading, something that Mahoney has been giving his characters for years.

There are some weak performances in Flipped starting with Anthony Edwards. His portrayal of the dad just comes across as one dimensional. He has just a single beat of being the realist, the man who sees everything in static black and white. As he shapes Bryce in his own image, it becomes a waste of hope. Callan McAuliffe just gives a weak reading, never capturing the subtle aspects of the character

Once again Rob Reiner captures perfect elements in Flipped making the production as warm as grandma’s blanket on a winter’s night. He delivers such a loving touch to the pace of the movie, finding the soft moments and milking them for all they are worth. The film follows a pattern used in the film He Said, She Said but it does it in a much more effective manner.

Flipped is a fine little picture, full of heart and grace. It tells a universal tale but still keeps it fresh. While not legendary filmmaking, it is a nice comfortable diversion.

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